Hey, Welcome everyone to another edition of Orlando Magic Pod Squad. Dante Marcatelli, Jake Chapman, George Galante recap the NBA trade deadline from an Orlando Magic perspective in Magic Fans Magic Pod Squad brought to you by the FIDA Department of Transportation. They remind you the fans, don't let fans drive drunk. If you've been drinking, don't get behind the wheel. Instead, find a sober driver or catch a ride service. Remember, drive sober or get pulled over. Have a great night and drive stafe. Lots to get to on this edition of Magic Pod Squad, one of the final ones before the All Star break, as we recap the busy NBA trade deadline and the Orlando Magic thinking going into this one and the decision to ride with what you got in a great position for this Magic team here down the stretch, what it looks like the final thirty games of the season, and a busy All Star weekend for Polo ban Carrol and great national exposure coming up for the Orlando Magic organization starting next week in Indianapolis. All that coming your way on this edition of Magic Pod Squad. Those fonds of Oaro if the Orlando Magic. This is col Anthony Missus, Jennon Suggs, this is Paulo Man Carroll of the Orlando Magic, and you're listening to the Pods Squad and welcome everyone to another edition of Orlando Magic Prod Squad. Dante Marca, Telly, George Galate, Jake Chapman.
Here with you.
Lots to get to. This Orlando Magic team now sitting here at twenty eight and twenty four at the time of this taping, three games left before the All Star Break. You win game one of a four game homestand a big home stand coming up, meaningful games here the last three big night coming up with Shaquille O Neil getting this jersey retire. We get a lot to get to and we'll do it here on this edition of Orlando Magic Pod Squad. The trade deadline has come and gone. What looks like? What does it look like for the final thirty one games of the season for the Orlando Magic as they make their playoff push. Magic sitting in a great position, and we'll recap all of it here for you. But first of all, all star plans, all star plans for everybody. George, you have an All Star in Polo ban Carrol, But from what I understand, you will not be anywhere near Indianapolis. Probably a good move.
How'd you get out of that one?
I well, I think it's just his tenure. Tenyure got me out of All Star Weekend. I really have no other excuse other than that. Listen, I love the festivities, deaths Rand. It's a grand event for the league, but I said it on this format before that for an employee that has to go to All Star Weekend, and and God bless Trish Wingerson, she's going to be doing she's.
Taking it for She's taken it. She's taken one for the team. Oh okay, gotcha.
He's gonna fall on the grenade for All Star Weekend.
Man.
And now it's like, you know, we're so excited that Paolo is in the game off absolutely so, it's and we'll get to that. It's but now he's in the Skills Challenge on All Star Saturday night, he is in the Rising Stars event on Friday. I thought, you know, he would pull maybe back off the Rising Stars event since he's now going to play in the game. But that means Trisha's got to get up there on Thursday. Oh, no, so she she will be busy Friday. Yeah, she will be busy Saturday night. She will be busy Sunday night. And then I asked, asked, well what time? She said, I got a five thirty am flight out Monday morning. Oh my goodness. And uh, it's just it's along at first.
Well, it's even if he's not in all those events, it's a busy night with him. Just anyway, right, going to going to all the appearances and everything, you're going to have it.
He's going to have a media circuit to go through, which is great, you know, and it's.
Going to be great for absolutely.
Absolutely, He's going.
To get to do some things he has never done before. And uh, he'll be excited and everybody will be excited in his camp. It's his first time there, and there's nothing like going there for the first time. Uh, it's uh, but I plan on being nowhere near Indianapolis. I plan on being here in Orlando. My kids will still be at school. The lacrosse season Dante has started.
Oh yeah, okay, okay, okay, it's big.
We'll be doing that.
You're in the business season, well, Jake, just so you know, when we go to Indianapolis to play the Pacers. He doesn't stay in Indianapolis anyway. He stays in Chicago and then drives over.
So special exemption.
That's how about you.
Thank you, Jay Jake. You get a chance to decompress a little bit, right with that? What almost ten month old?
I do? I do? We're gonna have to wait.
I'm not sure if decompresses the way to describe it. We're gonna go on our first plane flight with uh with with little Josie he is recently ye oh, that's big news, hitting nine months, and we're gonna go to Philadelphia, see my sister. My parents are gonna drive from Cleveland to Philly.
So just a few days.
We're gonna fly on on Friday and come back on Monday, and then hopefully get a beach day on Tuesday or Wednesday. Hopefully the weather is good enough because we need one of those.
You may get less rest, You may get less rest than Trish.
Right exactly.
In my mind light alone, just order to know exactly that's Georgie. That's busy doving, that is that is a lot of work. And I'm gonna tell you this right now as soon as you sit down, everyone around you goes, oh boy.
Oh yeah, I am going to have my eye you know, when you walk on the plane. I'm not somebody who puts my head down and walks forward. My eyes are dropping around. I always make eye contact with people when I get on the plane to see what I'm working with. And of course you always identify the first potential crying baby. And now that's gonna be me. It's gonna be me, Kelly, You're gonna walk down the plane when we're gonna identify. Yeah, one of these things is as soon as we walk by, Hey, what can you do?
Right? I figured absolutely good.
It's a good what two hours in a little change flight. It's not too bad. We're not going to Seattle. And you know, try to tie it up. You get a bottle, you get a nap in there, and absolutely yeah, it works.
He's listening eds.
Crying kids cry.
Everybody understands, right, George, the crying kids, you sometimes you just get. It's it's the ones that make no attempt to stop. It is where you have the problem. Right, It's the parents that say, okay, it's fine. Hey, you know what, it's a crying baby. I'm not gonna do anything, do everything you can to get the baby to stop. And if she doesn't, she doesn't. But but you gotta, you gotta give it an effort, and I know you will. That's exactly it. And and we've are we're already taking the proper precautions. We went to the doctor and make sure she didn't have any ear infection.
We get yeah, blue.
Boot listen, she'll have them when you get back. Yeah, she'll pick what up on the player's aid, right, Yeah, ear infection when you get the doctor.
By the way, this is why I love her doctor. She literally said, keep her in bubble wrapid before until you get out there. Play there you go out of We got a week in the time, so but we're ready. I'm excited for it, and your nods.
You'll be totally fired. Then then you wake up and she's sucking on the armrest and you're like, okay, this is doctor, I never get it. But you've been they're not sterilized. Then you'll be surprised. There's not a feral cleaning process on those planes. Oh that's great, you'll have a great time. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not. I feel like we've been We've been around enough, so we're just gonna We're just gonna hump her down and enjoy a couple of days off and be ready to go here for the last thirty what I guess twenty seven at that point, twenty seven games of the seat as they make their playoff push. Probably not a huge surprise, guys. The NBA trade deadline came and went and not a huge uh, not any moves, not a single move for the Orlando Magic. But you didn't know that there would be. They've got a full roster, and you know, I'm sure you know, as we know with Jeff Wellman, he's making calls, he's fielding calls, and if there was something out there that that made sense for this Magic organization, he would have done it. He's we've seen in the past he's not afraid to make a move if one is there. But I'm not privy to a ton of insight more than that. But George, I guess we can surmise without the deal, without a deal being made, that there wasn't something he feeled he felt comfortable pulling the trigger on. And of course it always takes two to tango, so so you need someone else.
To help you as well.
And maybe partly there's the feeling that with these with this roster that we have, now, if we're fully healthy, with thirty games left, let's see what we can do here with the guys that we currently have on the team.
You basically just took everything I was going to say and already said it. So, yeah, Jeff is not going to be one to sacrifice something for the future just to try to accomplish something short term. Now that's not to say that he's not interested in, you know, like everybody else here, making the playoffs and making that ship and doing everything we can. I think we have to always kind of take a step back a little bit and look where we are. And right now, like you said, we're what we were four games over five hundred. If somebody would have told you I know it, I know it, or a training camp that listen at the All Star break, you're gonna have the chance to be sick, you know, anywhere from four to seven games over five hundred at the All Star break. There is not one person in Central Florida or anybody that wears Magic.
Blue in the world direct correct what.
Is signed that would have said sign me up? For that sign.
And a half a game out of six. Let's let's just add that to the mix, too. Right.
You can't control you can't cotrol the other teams, right like you can control what they're doing. You can only control what you're doing. And if you would have said that you can be anywhere from four to seven games or over over five hundred at the All Star rate, there is not one person that would be said, we should be better than that, right, correct, And so I think the Magic are very happy with where we are. I think that. And that's not to say that Jeff didn't try to improve the roster. He's always looking in the basketball operation staff is always looking to find ways where they can improve. But it's not going to be at the sacrifice of something where you know you're looking two years down the road and oh crap, we shouldn't have done that move. So sometimes, and we've seen it in another places, sometimes the best move is no move. Only time will tell whether that was the right decision to make. I do think that the Magic are now looking at their roster and seeing we have a full healthy roster for the first time all season. Our schedule does after the All Star break and we've already accomplished what we've accomplished in the first fifty plus games with having guys in and out of the line yep, with being very road heavy, two West coast trips, two very long East coast Midwest trips. I think the Magic we cannot be in any better of a situation than we are right now. And if we can get say two of these final three games in this home stand before we go to the All Star Break, I think everybody in Magic Nation should be very happy with where the team stands going into the home stretch.
Well, they have a chance to be four or five games over five hundred going into the break, very realistic, if not better going into the All Star Break, which is phenomenal. Then you look at that, Jacob. The other part of that is this team is seven and four with the starting lineup that we saw last night. Okay, so that's three games over five hundred. That's kind of your difference right there. But it's a been eleven games. You've had that intact in the starting lineup for eleven games, let's see, right, So I guess one way to look at it, just to kind of piggyback on what George said, and again there's always magic fans that say, why don't you take the expiring contract of whoever and turn it into Buddy Heals, Or why don't you you know, why didn't you trade Admiral Schofield and go get to Jantey Murray. Well it doesn't work that way, but that's what magic fans do, right They look and say, okay, well there must be scenarios where we can add to it. First of all, I don't think anyone should ever expect that there would be a wholesale change, right. If anything, it would have been a minor deal, maybe to add some shooting or things like that. Then you watch them last night they knocked down what they shoot fifty nine percent from three, and think, okay, maybe maybe they've got it in up. Maybe they're not in the tank to get through the final thirty games, but maybe your moves are simply Jake, you've got a fully healthy roster. That was eleven times you've had that starting lineup last night. Let's see what they can do for the final thirty one. Dan, you think about the bench all this on.
You've got ten guys who you know we envisioned as your rotation at the beginning of the season, and it's been twelve games or whatever that we've had, you know, from one to ten, the guys in the in the spots that we envisioned for them. I think, you know, I think there was a thought that, you know, we know they're not a great shooting team, can we add some shooting? But like, who who in that the top ten is going to slide out? We have shooting there, it's just a habit.
Who's going to replace four we have?
At the same time, we've got twelve road games left for drying out at I mean, you will talk about how how how top heavy and front heavy the schedule was, and and and and here we are so basically everything George said I agree with. I just don't understand, especially because we were the fourth youngest roster in the NBA on opening night, Like we have a majority of our rosters best basketball is in front of them. You could make the argument that everybody on our roster, their best basketball is in front of them. You don't want to trade away a guy too early and then all of a sudden, it's two three years from now, and you, boy, that would be nice, and to me it Storge the way, George Foot it like you got to kind of stick to the timeline. Paul is in year two, Franz Is in year three. When those guys are at the height of their powers, is when we want the flexibility to be able to make that one move that we think puts us over the top. And you got to keep all your chips in your corner for that moment, and it might be a big move, bring it in in a you know, a perfect third compliment, or it might be a small move at that point. You tried a couple twos. But Oklahoma City did that, and then they're able to make a move. And whether or not we think Gordon Ayward is the one to put him over the top, Oklahoma City was in every conversation yesterday. Sam Presley could have done almost whatever he wanted to because he nailed the draft for a few years and because he added all those assets and resisted the urge to make a small move for a few three or four wins this season. You always have to have and this is what I love about Jeff Weltman and the front office. You always have to have that sort of long term vision in mind because you want to build something sustainable and you know, prove positive is the Atlanta Hawks. They mortgage their future for Dejona Murray. He's a good player, you wann't enough to make them a championship contender, not even close. So I think the idea of of sort of putting it all in when you're early on in the timeline and Pollo in year two is first All Star appearance just doesn't make a ton of sense.
It's very listen. I it's very hard if it because if it was me, I would be like, yeah, let's go get whoever, let's forget whatever. All Star now. Like the problem is is that it's not fantasy basketball. Right, We've all played fantasy basketball, and we all feel like, well, we know what we're doing, and we all know now I can trade this, you know this super you know this, these two guys for a superstar. It's good that we have guys in our front office that can look bigger. I am not one of those people. I want to I want to win now.
I want to win. Sure, yes, exactly exactly right, right, they don't. It's it's just I want to play Isaac forty five minutes. I'm with you.
I know, it's really in January.
I want to do yes, yes, exactly.
There has to be bigger picture thoughts when it comes to how this team is going to go, and Jake hit it right on the head, I think we are setting this up or when And that's not Again, this is not to say we're not going to go try to get a playoff spot this year. It's not say we're going to go try to win a playoff series or two this year. Of course we're going to do that, but you do have to have bigger picture in mind. And like you said when Fra, I love that when Franz and Paolo hit their super superpower.
I yeah, exactly, exactly.
So, and then that hopefully you have set this up correctly. Oklahoma City is in a different place than we are. As much as we want to try to compare ourselves with that, there are Listen, they're in first.
Place in the West, absolutely absolute worst place in the West.
The magic or not, and so you can't. You can't. It's not it's not a parallel road with us in oklahom with somebody like Oklahoma City. Our time will come. And again we've played twelve thirteen games with our full roster out of fifty two, and now we have it again. And now from in a stretch between March and April, we're going to have ten of eleven home games against teams that are sub five hundred, which we've done very well at, especially at home. This schedule will let up and we're poised to have a nice strong finish to this season and then maybe we can make some noise in the playoffs.
I'm all for that. And listen, you look at the guys you've got. I think the thing that frustrates some Magic fans is this is the second round. Is the second round picks that you get something to fill in need? Right? I think that's when you look and say, okay, well you got this guy for just to pick you don't even have to lose a player.
But then I think to.
Kind of you guys's point as well, well, who does that person replace in your lineup? Right? Because you're kind of rolling along right now, everybody kind of understands their roles. You look at a guy like Gary Harris, so I think everybody thought maybe with that contract, you know, that would be a desirable thing for other teams. And I'm looking at it. You're nineteen and twelve. When Gary plays, you're nineteen and twelve. In games when he plays, you're seventeen and six when he hits a three, one three. The difference for this team if somebody can step up from time to time and make an additional three, it means halt the world to this team. Right. They're one of the top third in the NBA in clutch games that they've been in decided by five points or less. You're one or two made baskets away from having a completely different record, right, and that's just one guy who's playing about seventeen eighteen minutes.
Listen, I called you yesterday after the deadline, and we just had a chat like we normally do, and I said to you, like, we don't even need Let's just take Gary and Joe for example, right, I don't even need them to hit a three, correct, Well, that's two. I need them to be on the floor to take a guy right eighteen inches off the block.
Yeah, that's right.
I don't need the magic to be to shoot thirty nine. It'd be kick ass and amazing if the magic you're thirty nine percent from three. But just the fact that those guys are on the floor and can be on the floor. And I think that goes to the numbers you just said and being healthy, being old, and so I think we are set up in a great place downstretch here.
No, yeah, no, I completely agree. So that I think that you factor all that in And those are just a couple of small examples that you look at if you're the front office saying, all right, well, let's roll with what we got, right. We don't know what the future looks like for Markel, We don't know what the future looks like, you know, for for some of these other guys on the roster. But we've got to this point, we're going to have them for the rest of the for the rest of the duration. Let's let's see what they look like here down the stretch, right, So that's in every piece of good around. Yeah, I know, me too, Me too, me too. Now that being said, you haven't had a record of health for these guys, so it is hard to bank on that for the final thirty games. But hey, we're in a good position as far as that goes. There might be a couple of back to back scenarios where you may not have a guy or two, you know, for for a handful of games, but for the most part, this is the roster you have in tach so that I think we would all agree, right, so that the trade deadline comes and goes. Maybe those were some of the factors that went into it. And this is what we've got for the duration, not forgetting anything right. We we think we've covered all that.
Yeah, so it is the last thing I was gonna add is like when I was sitting there and going through, Okay, who are guys who might be available, who might be a good fit, I was basically naming other teams version of Gary Harris and Joe Ingold right right right for that, Yeah, exactly bringing it a veteran who defends well you know at the point of at that doesn't need the ball in his hands, in a good spacer for Paul and Frantz. Oh wait a second, we have that guy. He's just that's injury issues so far this year. So if he is, if he is locked in a healthy coming down the stretch. It's that That's the perfect example of when you see it in another in another jersey, you're going, oh, we need him, we need that guy. Emmanuel quickly when everybody was talking about it, he was available from the Knicks, and and I see all this discourse on Twitter, I'm going we have a Manuel quickly. His name's cole An. Like you know, like everybody, it's always it's always kind of the grasses greener over there. We've got we've I think we have the roster in place here and they've proven it so far without health and with the schedule, as we mentioned.
Here, we are four games about five hundred.
We've had a lot of conversations over the years, all of us, with other teams, you know, broadcasters, pr staff, whatever. Where we look at somebody from Afar, I'm like, wow, we'd really like to have that guy. And then you have a conversation with that guy and they're like, oh, you can have him.
Right, It's very interesting like that.
Yeah, you can't say. And it's people like people, people would have no idea the caliber of stars, even where you've had a conversation and you're just like, man, he's got to be great, you know, like I'd love to have him, and they're turned around. It's just like you said, the grass is always greener somebody else. Another girl is always prettier, Like it's not necessarily the case so like, yeah, let's right, let's ride with what we have. Let's let's let's let's.
Well and and and if you want to make a move, you can do it this summer. You're two months away, right, You're two months away from the you know from from the playoffs starting, so you can go. You can pursue anything you want. You haven't given up any any you haven't given up any assets, any draft compensation. And I guess the last part of this I will piggyback on. Guys can say they don't worry about the trade deadline. All they want. Guys can say they don't care. Coach can say, you know, control the things you can control and all that, and that's right, that's how you have to approach it. But there was a different feeling in that locker room yesterday before the game, knowing that okay, this is everybody's here. There were a lot more smiles, there was a lot less tense. You went on, had one of your best offensive games of the season. I think guys weren't pressing. I think that's another part of it, right, the final thirty games, and we'll touch on that next. You know, guys got to play better. There are some guys that got to you gotta shoot better, you gotta play better, you gotta protect the ball better. And that's what happens. You need that in the playoff push anyway. But don't you feel like, Okay, this is this is what you gotta And it looked to me like it was it was just the weight was lifted off a lot of guys shoulders last night.
Jake, you were at cheat around and yesterday, I mean, there were a lot of guys. It's it's it's human nature. We were all on our phones. We were all on our phones as guys started to do media availability yesterday, and that's when a couple of the you know, a couple of the Knicks deals went down or they you know, it's just it's wojbomb after Sham's bomb after woj bomb. Yeah, right, And we're not the only ones that do that. I mean, like Jay Jalen came out to do an interview for me, and the first thing he said was he's like, well grab you see you know, see the Knicks just got you know, Bogeton. It's like they're all looking at it. And but the problem, the difference between me and them is that they could go at any minute?
Yeah, true, Yeah, exactly.
That has to be an unnerving feeling, absolutely for for a young guy like that that's on his own, for a guy that has a family like oh question. It's a very nervous time for all the players, no matter who you are, because it's been proven over the years that nobody is is untradeable, right, nobody's untradeable.
So it's well and into Jeff's credit. With all that being said, am I gonna pull the trigger? Am I gonna do something just to do something right and uproot someone for something that I'm not convinced is gonna is gonna be that much better than what we've already gotten, What's.
Going to affect the other guys in the line?
Yes?
Absolutely.
Or I'm really tight with player B and player B goes and that messes up player A.
Yeah, that's what That's what I was gonna say. It's it would never be the reason you want to make a deal, because we want to keep our locker room together. But we have talked all season long about the chemistry and the vibe with the locker room, and it is unique. I think we've been around long enough to know that not all teams are built this way, and and and chemistry is chemistry. You take away one piece and you have no idea how it impact. Let alone, who are we bringing in? Are they going to take shots away from the guys that we need to still be developing. There's just so much more edited in how many years are on their contract, you know who who represents them. There are so many layers to all of this. When you make a move like that, and and and we are not in the situation where the Detroit Pistons are where it's like this, clearly is it working.
We need to do so.
Like goodness, they needed to do stuff for the sake of doing stuff because very clearly what they were doing was not working. We we we feel like we're we're onto something here, and even those small, minor moves can sometimes have big impacts.
Now, don't get me wrong, I would have liked to had Buddy healed for a second round pick, but but that deal wasn't out there.
And it takes two to tang.
It takes two to tango. You're you're exactly right. That was that was a prominent thought. That was prominent thought on Magic Twitter. Yeah, that's but that was the bottom three guys in my roster. It's not gonna happen. Want that too, So I did like I did, like the tweet from Bill Simmons. We need to we need to, we need to rethink if Detroit should be allowed to make moves. I thought that was brutal in the way they just blew that whole thing up. My goodness. So now, the electricity in that building last night was sensational. I think one of the things that stood out to me was Jonathan Isaac rejecting the dunk attempt by Victor weban Yama. He's caught a couple of people, and at some point people are gonna stop, uh trying to attack Jonathan Isaac. Right, you know, Jeff says it on the broadcast. Think twice, Think twice, and then they'll shoot and you'll swadd it away. Jonathan Isaac the final third games. Right as you sit here now, with thirty games left, the minutes will start to creep up. We've seen games where he finishes the entire fourth quarter. Right, He's going to be a secret weapon or an X factor for this team if they're going to move up in the standings and ultimately clinch a playoff spot. What does it look like for him as we look at minutes, as we look at where he's going to be potentially at the end of the season, because he's a difference maker. And that was unbelievable. That's a seven to four guy trying to throw it down over the top of you and you sent it into the stands.
It's got to be really hard for Jamal Mosley to keep him. I mean you've seen it Dante where he kind of yes, right solver and asks, you know, you or me or Joel Glass, how many minutes is jiat.
And what do we say? And what do we tell him?
I tell him four, even if it's the fourth quarter and he's played at least twenty minutes, that four minutes he got sixteen four. You're all good, everything's he's clear, But you still have to listen. You know, the All Star break is not where we want to get with Jonathan Isaac. March first is not where we want to get to Jonathan Isaac. We want to get to May with Jonathan Isaac. You're right, I mean we and and a full healthy Jonathan Isaac. The more he plays, the more he can get through games. You know, with a slight tick up in his minutes. The more the more mentally healthy he has to be too to be out there as well. And I think that's a big thing with Jonathan is you know, he starts off slow. He plays ten minutes a game and all right, my legs are good. I can I can get through that.
Now.
Now we're up to fifteen, Now we're up to twenty. I'm not saying by the time we get to May, he's going to be playing thirty five minutes a night. That's not going to happen because this guy that's been, you know, suffered through so much, so we can't can't go ahead and do that to him. But as as the season progresses here and he does what he did, I mean last night was a was a masterclass I thought by Jonathan Isaac. Just and on the offensive end too. He's hitting the glass, he's running the floor. I mean, he runs like a gazelle.
Nice pull up jumper. Yep.
He had a really good all around game last night. And you're right, I don't think I don't think he's going to surprise anybody. Everybody knows who Jonathan Isaac is. It's a matter of him staying on the floor, and it gives us so much versatility with lineups. The things that Jamal has already. I mean you've seen it with the end of game lineup that he's been thrown out there sometimes where you have Fronds at basically at the two, where you have six ' ten six ' ten six ten seven foot I mean, that's a that's an l of a lineup, it really is. And he can just he can do so many more things. Jamal. When I say he knowing that Jonathan is healthy again available, remember.
Last year when we were all excited about bull Bull and Mobamba and and all of a sudden footers. This is the practical application of that. This is the one that works when you go giant down the stretch. I pulled the numbers the other day. Ji's played one or more minutes five times this season, and teams are averaging one hundred and one point four points per game.
Against us in those games.
It's just a matter of getting him on the poor And I think what's frustrating or the I think the reason that sometimes fans can't figure out why he isn't playing twenty eight thirty minutes a game is because he's not like a shooter sitting in the corner who can't move anymore, and this is all he's able to do. He is one of the most athletic, amazing freaks in the league. When he's out there, he's one of the only guys that you can even consider in the same class with a guy like Webban Yama, because he's able to move his feet on the perimeter, he can switch, he can do absolutely everything you want from an NBA defender in twenty twenty four. But there is that history, and so you know, a lot of it is being cautious. If the playoffs were tomorrow, maybe he could get away with twenty eight minutes, depending on how he feels, but they're not, and so we need to be careful, you know, sort of inching his way in.
But we see it.
I mean, when coach Boseley has twelve minutes in his back pocket headed into the fourth quarter of a closed game, that's a secret weapon, man.
And he is.
I mean, he just absolutely rex rex offensive game plans for opponents. It's gonna be really big, just keeping them right. And and look, I don't if we need if he needs to skip it back to back here and there, or absolutely Miami were absolutely because come the back end to April, hopefully we're gonna need a big filup.
We're gonna need a big filat But also, and I'm not saying he's gonna shut these guys down, but he's gonna make these guys work. In the first round playoffs, here is you start sizing up who you could match up with. Right, if you end up getting eighth, then you play Boston to have the ability to put twenty minutes of Isaac on Tatum at least make him work for right that you haven't had that right for the for the last couple of years. I mean it's Milwaukee with Giannis. Right, you started sizing up every freedom, absolutely, but a lot of the a lot of the iron at the top of the conference are are exactly who he would guard, right, So I think you started at least to give yourself a chance right to to to at least try to slow down a guy like that as much as humanly possible if they can be slowed down. So I think he he becomes critical and I think we out when Franz Wagner was out, we saw the usage rate climb up for Apollo, Bancaro and you wonder, Okay, at some point, you got to ease off of that guy, right, and we've seen it here the last couple of weeks. I think the All Star Break is going to be good for him. Not that not that he's going to get a ton of rest, but it's not going to be hard on his legs. He's not going to be out playing competitive basketball games. The Rising Stars Challenge, the Skills competition, the All Star Break, I think you see, you know, you don't go hard in those things. And then he's going to have the four days off after one of them being a travel day to get up to Cleveland. So I think that's going to be a break. Whereas conversely, if Franz Wagner hasn't had a break in three years, right since he's come to the NBA with FIBA.
And all that stuff.
So I think those eight games off that he had with the ankle, he probably needed three days off with the ankle, but you decided to give him a little extra rest, And I think that's why the last couple of games we've seen thirty eight, thirty four last night against San Antonio, I think that guy's fresh, and I think that's going to help him here going down the stretch.
It's the thing.
I love it, and you and Q touched on it post game last night after the Spurs game. This team is just built to where let's take Palobank care a right, he had a street going last night of seventeen games in a row or eight, I'm sorry, eighteen games in a row with twenty and five assists, twenty points of five assists, and he was close to it last night, but he knew Franz had it going and he doesn't. You know, it's all about they're so team oriented and it's and it's great that your top two players are team oriented like they. Franz does not care if he scores twelve and Palo goes for thirty five. Plo does not care if Franz is going for thirty and he's only got fourteen. It's all about who has more points at on the scoreboard at the end of the night. And it's just that refreshing.
It's refreshing real, that's sh Yes.
You've seen it the other way where somebody's got to get theirs and listen, that's why this team is having success again. If you would have told me, we would be in this position in August, you'd all have taken it. Everybody would have taken it. And I think it just goes back to how team is shaping up. I agree fns is hitting his stride. I mean, we knew Franz wasn't going to shoot nineteen percent from three for.
The whole year.
Right, water usually settles and he's gonna he's gonna tick that back up to him.
I'm not gonna lie I thought we might as a team. I'm not gonna lie to.
But but you're right.
But I knew it wouldn't be him. But we're we're coming out of that too, which is nice.
And maybe you're right, maybe those maybe that was a little you know. And that's not to say those guys don't work hard when they're out, because they're working hard to get back on the floor. But everything has looked better for Franz. Not to say he was playing bad before the injury, because he was averaging twenty. But the three is starting to look better. It's got a little more arc on it. He looks fresher, Like you said, his legs maybe got a little break where we wouldn't have anticipated that in January.
Now, listen, two more things. I always want to touch on the on the last thirty games of the season, kind of what that looks like. And then All Star weekend right with Pollo and all and the Magic are well represented, which is going to be pretty cool. But at the time of this right, the Magic, by the way, are fighting off a Chicago Bulls team that seems to have caught life. Right, So Chicago's right behind you, three games behind you. Probably you know, Atlanta is catching fire too, although they've lost two in a row, they have the ability to catch fire. So those two teams aren't going anywhere.
You're going to have to.
Fight them off the rest of the way. But you're tied with Miami, right, so you lose the tiebreaker because they win the season series. But you're you know, so you're you're half a game out of six with Indiana, who you've beaten twice. You play them two more times, but you've already beaten them twice, and now you start looking at things. Guys, Listen, anything's possible here in the Eastern Conference. You have to win it all starts with what you do in this locker room. And I think the big thing is you've got what thirty games left, you have seventeen games against opponents that are five hundred or under, right, so that should be setting up. Finally, you haven't had that. We just came through that twenty two game stretch where you're hoping to be above five hundred at the end of it, and you are. You're now four games over five hundred. So the schedule should like up for you here down the stretch, your home game heavy, You've got an eight game homestand now you start thinking, and again you don't want to get too ahead of yourself, but freezing Miles j You're three games behind Philadelphia. Who knows what Philadelphia looks like with the Joel Embid situation, right You don't know when or if you're going to get him back. But they're free falling right now. We assume that New York is going to get these guys in take off, and I think they will. I think they will because Jalen Brunson is just on a mission right now. But what if it doesn't work? What if it doesn't work with New York? And then the last part of it is anyone convinced that Milwaukee is gonna take off? Right? They're one in five since they've hired Doc Rivers. I don't think it was all Adrian Griffin's fault.
I don't think.
I'm not saying this is Doc's fault, but clearly there's something that just isn't quite working with Milwaukee. You're one and one against the Bucks and you play him two more times at the end of the season. Now that terrifies me. I think Milwaukee's going to figure it out. Now ultimately get second in the Eastern Conference, but we don't know. We don't know. You go potentially as high as fourth, maybe even third in the Eastern Conference if you get red hot.
So the overarching theme of this edition of Pot Squad is we're gonna be the second best team and we're gonna win the East. We're gonna that's That's just we just went from trying to battle for six seven into like Dante's like, hey, you know what, screw We're winning the East everywhere everything.
When I sit down with Josh, I sit down with Josh Cohen and he goes, you know, I kind of ran some of the numbers, and I don't know what that means. I don't know what that means, but I.
Know Josh saying, especially with Josh.
From Orlando Magic dot com. But I know, I I know ninety seven percent of his life is crunching the numbers. So I don't doubt what he says that's true. And he said there is a path, you know, if everything plays out how it should and this team beats this team, and is that the Magic could get fourth in the Eastern coprofence if he crunch the numbers.
If we go twenty nine and one for the last, that's the number.
He's crushed the number.
But I don't doubt.
I don't doubt that he's got the lights off in his room and he's got a black light and he's brighten on the walls, and he's crunching the numbers. He's got it all figured out.
Was he doing it in black I don't know why he's doing it there.
It's just it's just how I imagine he fronts numbers about that.
He can't be doing that in black lightness.
While he's developing the film when in the back he's got the guy.
It works better. He's got the Guy's a multi media name for crying out loud.
Yes, he's got a methful to the madness, believe me. But I but anyway I look at it, I say, they're so I don't know, we don't know what the East is gonna look like, so could Yeah, I think at the bare minimum risk Magic team should be fighting like heck to get to avoid play it. I think there's a real possibility you could grab six, maybe even go as high as as four or five in the East.
Yeah.
I when you look at who's playing well right now. You mentioned Chicago, it seems like they found something. I'm not particularly worried about them. They also lost that lavine for the rest of the year, but you know, it seems to have help.
It seems well.
But but I think long time that's fine.
And by the way, Kobe White, I think we should probably be talking about the year that that guy's have and he up and light out and Booch is playing really well as of late. And they did think the fact that they sat on their hands at the deadline probably tells you that they feel okay about themselves. Either that or they think that's the best chance to not get everybody fired, which is probably more more.
Likely is the case.
You know, you got to get to that point this time of year, Boston is Boston. The Cavaliers have been insane. You're right about Milwaukee like there was something wrong there and and I don't care if you bring in Greg Popovich. You can't fix it like that immediately. No coach has that much power. So we'll see. I mean, Milwaukee's got more talent and just about anybody, but but there is there's clearly like some issues eron. It's mostly on the defensive end. I'm scared of New York, to be honest with you, I think the question made yesterday. Absolutely they're right up beyond that. So I just did Boston, Cleveland and New York. I think are are playing the best in the conference. And I think catching any of those three I aside from that, I could see a free fall for any of these teams. Indiana and unscary at all. And the Sixers is gonna be really interesting to see Ken Tyres Batsy slide into that role and carry a team for thirty games and kind of tread water until potentially and b plays again. I have a feeling we won't see him again this year.
It just doesn't it with the.
Way they go or open, but with how cautious they are with him for sure. I could certainly see that art eart.
Yeah, I don't think so. So you're right, and that's where we are right now. And I think that's one of the reasons you don't make a move and mess with it, because you do look ahead and say, look, if we just kind of keep doing what we're doing right now, that's right. Even if we you know, even if we tread water the rest of the way and we're sitting there four games above five hundred at the at the end of the season, are heading into April, that could be good enough to be out of the playing depending on what teams like Philadelphia and Indiana end up doing. So I think you're in a good spot. And it certainly helps that we have so many durn home games coming up. That game homestand in March is a god said, I mean, that could put you in a good but.
I'm well aware we wouldn't be saying any of these things if we lost to San Antonio last night. So this thing comes and goes counts and goes game by game, right but right now it's set you. You're you're you're winning the games you're supposed to win. That's all, especially the three of us. Can you imagine if we lost that game last night and then we got.
I mean, there'd be there would be no podcast, there.
Would be no you guys can go pound seeing when I bought a podcast.
You're right, but you but you. But they do what they're supposed to do. They they you know, they've struggled at times, but they've beat some of the best teams. But they're beating the teams they're supposed to beat. And that's that's all you can ask for here down the stretch real quick before we get out of here, The Magic is going to be well represented next week and next week on pod Squad Jake Chapman and I you're going to catch up with with Pete delas Sandro in the front office for the Orlando Magic. So that's gonna be fun and salary Cap will kind of get into some numbers and I'll be curus.
That Josh Cohen on with the black Light with Pete on that I'm not a good point.
I want to compare. I want to see how he crunches numbers as opposed to Josh Cohen.
How had you say real fast? I imagine bed a meal.
Josh Cohen that is that's perfect. That is the perfect way to get ready for a broadcast, because I kind of murdered no matter what, that dude is NonStop info.
I need one of you.
Two to add. That should be Pete. Your first question to Pete is does he crunch the numbers for the capin with a Black Live?
Yes'm fair enough.
I think that would set the tone for the podcast next week.
I think, like the number like the movie twenty three and everybody's just righting on the walls and with numbers. But that's probably not how it is. That's probably not how it is for all, not for all analytics people. The Magic are going to be well represented during All Star Weekend. This is gonna be cool guys with with Paulo Banker obviously in the Big Game the Rising Stars Challenge, you're gonna have Mac McClung with the Ostiola Magic. I think that I'd love to see that guy get a chance with your Orlando Magic at some point. The problem is it would come at someone's expense. And now that's hard to look and say who you want to get rid of, because but you want the guy to get an opportunity.
He's tearing out rid of saying, who do you want to get rid of?
Oh, boy, don't do that.
No, you can't know that. That's the thing. Everybody you've got. You've got two or three guys that can I think can really help you, but can't even get on the floor. Yeah, you know it'd be because you've got guys in front of you that are just offer more right now.
Guy, I think you've got started to come that like seventy games or so. That's the thing.
That's the thing. You've got guys waiting in the wings that are very good NBA players that just can't get on the floor right now. So so if you even if you added mac McClung, it's not like you could add him on to the floor. I hope an NBA team gives him a chance because I think he's an NBA player. But he's going to be representing the Osteolo Magic in the Slam Dunk Contest, and we know how electrifying he was last year. Jalen Brown will be a part of the Dunk Contest. This is gonna be cool, guys, to see the magic heavily represented. You're going to get some national attention with Shaquille O'Neil having his jersey retired in your building. That'll be the first jersey to go up in the Magic rafters. Kind of some fun national attention coming Orlando's way. Finally here coming up next week.
I'm as Clario playing his first nationally televised game. Yes, it has already been named an All Star. Is that that's right?
Right?
Like that's I mean, yeah, trust me, I've had lots of count I had somebody call me from the NBA the other day and say something about Paolo at All Star and doing some media stuff or whatever for for ESPN or TNT, and I was just like, well, why, why why am I in.
A hurry days.
Like Adam BOYNT.
I was kidding, I was, I was, well, I was. I had my time to cheek. But they know that, they know that every time they bring up National TV or something to do with the national affiliates that there before I agree and say yes, which I which we do, I'm always gonna kind of give him a little jab.
Yeah. Yeah.
We haven't been on national TV very much in the last twelve plus years. Bill, you have the number one pick. He was almost a unanimous Rookie of the Year and you still only gave us one. But I digress. Now see you're get me all riled up.
But but but the counter to that is, we have not been four games over five hundred on February ninth since twenty twelve, A long time. It's twenty twelve, it is, and it's hard to look. It's hard to look and say, boy, we've got to have that team on national TV. But but we've had better. We have had. We have certainly been more deserving than no games.
I would like I would like to hope that as teams, you know, we see it all the time, games get flexed out as the year goes on. Right, there's there's a long stretch here where I do think there's a good possibility of us getting you know, getting games picked up here along the way as they If we can keep doing what we're doing and heading into the playoffs, we're going to be hard to ignore. Paolo is going to be at All Star weekend. The guy is so deserving. I mean, everybody's seen the night where he got you know, where he finally got the nod and and the reserves were announced. Just that feeling for him and the team and then everybody involved very excited for Palo, very excited for the Magic. Listen, this is what we've been wanting, right, there's craving for years and it just this is the light at the tunnel and this is what we've been hoping for and you can see it now from a distance and it's a very very exciting time.
And I get Magic fans pushing for you know, dodr Wy, why aren't you pushing for nationally televised games. I don't work nationally televised games. We don't broadcast those. So when it's on TNT, we don't. We have the night off, which is cool once in a while. It'll be awesome on Tuesday for the Shack thing, but you're never gonna hear me push. I like when the games are on Bathley Sports Florida, when we can go up against ESPN. But for those that don't know, you know we we we are not. It's and exclusivity. TNT has the rights and it's not like we broadcast simultaneously. But I love the exposure. We got to get the exposure when we're in the conversation now and it's coming. Absolutely absolutely, there'll be more and more games, and I don't think we can hide from it next year for sure, and we've earned it, right, We've earned it, and we'll be and Jake will be with Josie on Jet Blue looking on the plane right watching, watching the highlights coming back. It'll be it'll be a lot of fun here next week, all right, guys, well, good stuff. We we got thirty games to go and good luck to us. It'll be a lot of fun here. The last two months we've not had probably been about ten twelve years since we've had the kind of this excitement going into the final two months of a season. Let's enjoy it. Let's avoid the play in. Let's grab a playoff spot here in the next two months.
I'll do my best, Dante, all right.
Do your best, do your best. That'll do it for this edition of Magic Pod Squad. We'll see you next time with Pete Delessandro will join Jake and I next week. You don't want to miss that on Magic Pod Squad.