0:02

Hey, Welcome everyone to another edition of Orlando

0:04

Magic Pod Squad. Dante Marcatelli, Jake

0:06

Chapman, George Galante recap

0:08

the NBA trade deadline from

0:10

an Orlando Magic perspective in Magic Fans

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Magic Pod Squad brought to you by the FIDA Department

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of Transportation. They remind you the fans, don't

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let fans drive drunk. If you've been drinking, don't

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get behind the wheel. Instead, find a sober

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driver or catch a ride service. Remember,

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drive sober or get pulled over. Have

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a great night and drive stafe. Lots

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to get to on this edition of Magic Pod

0:30

Squad, one of the final ones before the

0:32

All Star break, as we recap the

0:34

busy NBA trade deadline and the

0:37

Orlando Magic thinking going into this one

0:39

and the decision to ride with what you

0:41

got in a great position for this Magic

0:43

team here down the stretch, what it looks like

0:45

the final thirty games of the season, and a

0:47

busy All Star weekend for Polo ban

0:50

Carrol and great national exposure

0:52

coming up for the Orlando Magic organization

0:55

starting next week in Indianapolis.

0:57

All that coming your way on this edition of Magic Pod Squad.

1:00

Those fonds of Oaro if the Orlando Magic. This

1:02

is col Anthony Missus, Jennon Suggs, this is

1:04

Paulo Man Carroll of the Orlando Magic, and you're

1:06

listening to the Pods Squad and

1:11

welcome everyone to another edition of Orlando Magic

1:13

Prod Squad. Dante Marca, Telly, George Galate,

1:15

Jake Chapman.

1:16

Here with you.

1:17

Lots to get to. This Orlando Magic

1:19

team now sitting here at twenty

1:21

eight and twenty four at the time of this taping,

1:23

three games left before the All Star Break.

1:25

You win game one of a four game homestand

1:28

a big home stand coming up, meaningful

1:30

games here the last three big

1:32

night coming up with Shaquille O Neil getting this jersey

1:35

retire. We get a lot to get to and we'll

1:37

do it here on this edition of Orlando

1:39

Magic Pod Squad. The trade deadline has

1:42

come and gone. What looks like? What does it look

1:44

like for the final thirty one games of the season

1:46

for the Orlando Magic as they make their playoff

1:49

push. Magic sitting in a great position, and

1:51

we'll recap all of it here for you. But first

1:53

of all, all star plans, all

1:56

star plans for everybody. George, you have an All

1:58

Star in Polo ban Carrol, But from what I

2:00

understand, you will not be anywhere near Indianapolis.

2:04

Probably a good move.

2:05

How'd you get out of that one?

2:06

I well, I think it's just his tenure.

2:09

Tenyure got me out of All Star Weekend. I really

2:11

have no other excuse other

2:13

than that. Listen, I love the

2:15

festivities, deaths Rand. It's

2:18

a grand event for the league, but

2:21

I said it on this format

2:24

before that for an employee

2:26

that has to go to All Star Weekend, and and

2:29

God bless Trish Wingerson, she's going to be doing

2:31

she's.

2:31

Taking it for She's taken it. She's taken one

2:33

for the team. Oh okay, gotcha.

2:34

He's gonna fall on the grenade for

2:37

All Star Weekend.

2:38

Man.

2:39

And now it's like, you know, we're

2:42

so excited that Paolo is in the game off absolutely

2:44

so, it's and we'll get to that. It's

2:47

but now he's in the Skills

2:50

Challenge on All Star Saturday

2:52

night, he is in the Rising Stars

2:54

event on Friday. I thought,

2:56

you know, he would pull maybe back off the

2:59

Rising Stars event since he's now

3:01

going to play in the game. But that

3:03

means Trisha's got to get up there on Thursday.

3:06

Oh, no, so she

3:08

she will be busy Friday. Yeah, she

3:10

will be busy Saturday night. She will

3:12

be busy Sunday night. And then I asked, asked,

3:14

well what time? She said, I got a five thirty am

3:17

flight out Monday morning. Oh

3:19

my goodness. And uh, it's

3:21

just it's along at first.

3:23

Well, it's even if he's not in all those

3:25

events, it's a busy night with him.

3:27

Just anyway, right, going to going to all

3:29

the appearances and everything, you're going to have it.

3:31

He's going to have a media circuit to go through, which

3:34

is great, you know, and it's.

3:35

Going to be great for absolutely.

3:36

Absolutely, He's going.

3:37

To get to do some things he has never done before.

3:39

And uh, he'll be excited and everybody

3:42

will be excited in his camp. It's his first time

3:44

there, and there's nothing like going there

3:46

for the first time. Uh,

3:48

it's uh, but I plan on being nowhere near

3:50

Indianapolis. I plan on being here in Orlando.

3:53

My kids will still be at school. The lacrosse

3:55

season Dante has started.

3:57

Oh yeah, okay, okay, okay, it's big.

3:59

We'll be doing that.

4:01

You're in the business season, well, Jake, just so you

4:03

know, when we go to Indianapolis to play the Pacers.

4:05

He doesn't stay in Indianapolis anyway. He

4:07

stays in Chicago and then drives over.

4:10

So special

4:12

exemption.

4:13

That's how about you.

4:14

Thank you, Jay Jake. You get a chance to decompress

4:16

a little bit, right with that? What almost ten

4:18

month old?

4:19

I do? I do? We're gonna have to wait.

4:21

I'm not sure if decompresses the way to describe

4:23

it. We're gonna go on our first plane flight with

4:26

uh with with little Josie he is

4:29

recently ye oh, that's big news,

4:31

hitting nine months, and we're gonna go to Philadelphia,

4:34

see my sister. My parents are gonna drive from Cleveland

4:36

to Philly.

4:36

So just a few days.

4:37

We're gonna fly on on Friday and come back on Monday,

4:40

and then hopefully get a beach day on Tuesday

4:42

or Wednesday. Hopefully the weather is good enough because we need

4:44

one of those.

4:45

You may get less rest, You may get less rest

4:47

than Trish.

4:48

Right exactly.

4:51

In my mind light alone, just order to know exactly

4:53

that's Georgie. That's busy doving, that

4:56

is that is a lot of work. And I'm gonna

4:58

tell you this right now as soon as you

5:00

sit down, everyone around you goes, oh boy.

5:02

Oh yeah, I am going to have

5:04

my eye you know, when you walk on the plane. I'm

5:07

not somebody who puts my head down and walks

5:09

forward. My eyes are dropping

5:12

around. I always make eye contact with people when

5:14

I get on the plane to see what I'm working

5:16

with. And of course you always identify

5:19

the first potential crying baby. And now that's

5:21

gonna be me. It's gonna be me, Kelly, You're gonna

5:23

walk down the plane when we're gonna identify. Yeah,

5:26

one of these things is as soon as we walk by,

5:28

Hey, what can you do?

5:29

Right? I figured absolutely good.

5:31

It's a good what two hours in a little change

5:34

flight. It's not too bad. We're not going to Seattle.

5:37

And you know, try to tie it up. You get

5:39

a bottle, you get a nap in there, and absolutely

5:42

yeah, it works.

5:43

He's listening eds.

5:43

Crying kids cry.

5:44

Everybody understands, right, George, the crying

5:46

kids, you sometimes you just get. It's

5:49

it's the ones that make no attempt to

5:51

stop. It is where you have the problem. Right,

5:53

It's the parents that say, okay, it's fine. Hey, you know what,

5:55

it's a crying baby. I'm not gonna do anything, do

5:57

everything you can to get the baby to stop. And

5:59

if she doesn't, she doesn't. But but you gotta,

6:02

you gotta give it an effort, and I know you will. That's

6:04

exactly it. And and we've are we're already

6:06

taking the proper precautions. We went to the doctor

6:08

and make sure she didn't have any ear infection.

6:10

We get yeah, blue.

6:11

Boot listen, she'll

6:13

have them when you get back. Yeah, she'll

6:16

pick what up on the player's aid, right, Yeah, ear

6:19

infection when you get the doctor.

6:20

By the way, this is why I love her doctor. She literally said,

6:23

keep her in bubble wrapid before until

6:25

you get out there. Play there you go out of We got a

6:27

week in the time, so but we're ready. I'm

6:29

excited for it, and your nods.

6:30

You'll be totally fired.

6:33

Then then you wake up and she's sucking on the armrest

6:35

and you're like, okay, this is doctor, I

6:38

never get it. But you've been they're not

6:40

sterilized. Then you'll

6:42

be surprised. There's not a feral cleaning process

6:45

on those planes. Oh that's great, you'll have a great time.

6:47

I'm not going anywhere. I'm not. I feel like we've

6:49

been We've been around enough, so we're just gonna We're

6:51

just gonna hump her down and enjoy a

6:53

couple of days off and be ready

6:55

to go here for the last thirty what I guess twenty

6:58

seven at that point, twenty seven games of the seat

7:00

as they make their playoff push. Probably not a huge

7:02

surprise, guys. The NBA

7:04

trade deadline came and went and

7:07

not a huge uh, not any moves,

7:09

not a single move for the Orlando Magic. But you didn't

7:11

know that there would be. They've got a full roster,

7:14

and you know, I'm sure you

7:16

know, as we know with Jeff Wellman, he's making

7:18

calls, he's fielding calls, and if there

7:20

was something out there that that made sense

7:22

for this Magic organization, he would have done

7:24

it. He's we've seen in the past

7:26

he's not afraid to make a move if one is there.

7:29

But I'm not privy to a ton of

7:31

insight more than that. But George, I

7:33

guess we can surmise without the deal,

7:35

without a deal being made, that

7:38

there wasn't something he feeled he felt comfortable

7:40

pulling the trigger on. And of course it always takes two

7:42

to tango, so so you need someone else.

7:44

To help you as well.

7:45

And maybe partly there's the feeling that

7:48

with these with this roster that we have,

7:50

now, if we're fully healthy, with thirty games

7:52

left, let's see what we can do here with the

7:54

guys that we currently have on the team.

7:57

You basically just took everything I was

7:59

going to say and already said it. So, yeah,

8:02

Jeff is not going to be one to

8:05

sacrifice something for the future

8:08

just to try to accomplish something short

8:10

term. Now that's not to say that he's not interested in,

8:13

you know, like everybody else here, making

8:16

the playoffs and making that ship

8:18

and doing everything we can. I think we have

8:20

to always kind of take a step

8:22

back a little bit and look

8:25

where we are. And right now, like you said,

8:27

we're what we were four games over five

8:29

hundred. If somebody would have told

8:31

you I know it, I know it, or

8:34

a training camp that listen at the All Star break,

8:36

you're gonna have the chance to be sick, you know, anywhere

8:38

from four to seven games over

8:40

five hundred at the All Star break. There

8:43

is not one person in Central Florida

8:46

or anybody that wears Magic.

8:47

Blue in the world direct correct

8:49

what.

8:49

Is signed that would have said sign me up?

8:51

For that sign.

8:53

And a half a game out of six. Let's

8:55

let's just add that to the mix, too. Right.

8:58

You can't control you can't cotrol

9:00

the other teams, right like you can control what they're

9:02

doing. You can only control what you're

9:04

doing. And if you would have said that you can be anywhere

9:06

from four to seven games or over over

9:09

five hundred at the All Star rate, there

9:11

is not one person that would be said, we

9:14

should be better than that, right, correct, And

9:17

so I think the Magic are

9:20

very happy with where we are. I think that.

9:22

And that's not to say that Jeff didn't try to improve

9:25

the roster. He's always looking in the basketball

9:27

operation staff is always looking to

9:29

find ways where they can improve. But

9:32

it's not going to be at the sacrifice of something

9:34

where you know you're looking two years down

9:36

the road and oh crap, we shouldn't have done that move.

9:38

So sometimes, and we've seen it

9:40

in another places, sometimes the best move is no move.

9:44

Only time will tell whether that was the right

9:46

decision to make. I do think

9:48

that the Magic are

9:50

now looking at their roster and

9:54

seeing we have a full healthy roster for the

9:56

first time all season. Our schedule

9:59

does after

10:02

the All Star break and we've

10:04

already accomplished what we've accomplished

10:06

in the first fifty plus games with

10:09

having guys in and out of the line yep, with

10:11

being very road heavy, two

10:13

West coast trips, two very long

10:15

East coast Midwest trips. I

10:18

think the Magic we cannot

10:21

be in any better of a situation

10:23

than we are right now. And if we can get

10:26

say two of these final three

10:28

games in this home stand before we go to the

10:30

All Star Break, I think everybody

10:32

in Magic Nation should be very happy

10:35

with where the team stands going into the home stretch.

10:37

Well, they have a chance to be four or five games

10:39

over five hundred going into the break, very

10:41

realistic, if not better going into the All

10:43

Star Break, which is phenomenal. Then

10:45

you look at that, Jacob. The other part of that is this

10:48

team is seven and four with the starting

10:51

lineup that we saw last night. Okay,

10:53

so that's three games over five hundred. That's

10:55

kind of your difference right there. But it's

10:57

a been eleven games. You've had that

11:00

intact in the starting lineup for eleven

11:02

games, let's see,

11:05

right, So I guess one way to look

11:07

at it, just to kind of piggyback on what George said,

11:09

and again there's always magic fans

11:11

that say, why don't you take the expiring contract

11:14

of whoever and turn it into

11:16

Buddy Heals, Or why don't you you know, why didn't

11:18

you trade Admiral Schofield and

11:20

go get to Jantey Murray. Well it doesn't

11:23

work that way, but that's what magic fans do, right

11:25

They look and say, okay, well there

11:27

must be scenarios where we can add to it. First

11:29

of all, I don't think anyone should ever expect

11:32

that there would be a wholesale change, right. If anything,

11:34

it would have been a minor deal, maybe to add

11:36

some shooting or things like that. Then you watch

11:38

them last night they knocked down what they shoot fifty

11:40

nine percent from three, and think, okay, maybe

11:43

maybe they've got it in up. Maybe they're not in the tank

11:45

to get through the final thirty games, but

11:48

maybe your moves are simply Jake, you've

11:51

got a fully healthy roster. That was

11:53

eleven times you've had that starting

11:55

lineup last night. Let's see what they can do for

11:57

the final thirty one. Dan, you think about the

11:59

bench all this on.

12:00

You've got ten guys who you know we

12:02

envisioned as your rotation at the beginning

12:04

of the season, and it's been twelve

12:07

games or whatever that we've had, you know,

12:09

from one to ten, the guys in the in the spots

12:12

that we envisioned for them. I

12:14

think, you know, I think there was

12:16

a thought that, you know, we know they're not a

12:19

great shooting team, can we add some shooting? But

12:21

like, who who in that the top

12:23

ten is going to slide out? We have shooting

12:25

there, it's just a habit.

12:26

Who's going to replace four we have?

12:28

At the same time, we've got twelve road games

12:31

left for drying out at I mean, you will talk about how

12:33

how how top heavy

12:36

and front heavy the schedule was, and

12:38

and and and here we are so basically everything

12:41

George said I agree with. I just don't

12:43

understand, especially because we were the fourth youngest

12:45

roster in the NBA on opening night,

12:47

Like we have a majority of our rosters

12:50

best basketball is in front of them. You

12:52

could make the argument that everybody on our roster, their

12:54

best basketball is in front of them. You don't

12:56

want to trade away a guy too early and then

12:58

all of a sudden, it's two three years from now, and you, boy, that

13:00

would be nice, and to me it

13:02

Storge the way, George Foot it like

13:05

you got to kind of stick to the timeline. Paul

13:07

is in year two, Franz Is in year three. When

13:09

those guys are at the height of

13:12

their powers, is when we want the flexibility

13:14

to be able to make that one move that we think puts

13:16

us over the top. And you got to keep

13:18

all your chips in your

13:21

corner for that moment, and it might be

13:23

a big move, bring it in in a you know,

13:26

a perfect third compliment, or

13:28

it might be a small move at that point. You tried a couple

13:30

twos. But Oklahoma City did

13:32

that, and then they're able to make a move. And whether or not we think

13:34

Gordon Ayward is the one to put him over the top, Oklahoma

13:37

City was in every conversation yesterday. Sam Presley

13:39

could have done almost whatever he wanted to because

13:41

he nailed the draft for a few years and because he added

13:44

all those assets and resisted the urge

13:47

to make a small move for a few three or

13:49

four wins this season. You always have to

13:51

have and this is what I love about Jeff Weltman and

13:53

the front office. You always have to have that

13:56

sort of long term vision in

13:58

mind because you want to build something sustainable and

14:01

you know, prove positive is the Atlanta Hawks. They

14:03

mortgage their future for Dejona Murray.

14:05

He's a good player, you wann't enough to make them a championship

14:08

contender, not even close. So

14:10

I think the idea of of sort of

14:12

putting it all in when you're early on

14:14

in the timeline and Pollo in year two is

14:16

first All Star appearance just doesn't make a ton of sense.

14:19

It's very listen. I it's

14:22

very hard if it because if it was me, I

14:25

would be like, yeah, let's go get whoever,

14:28

let's forget whatever. All Star now. Like

14:30

the problem is is that it's not fantasy basketball.

14:33

Right, We've all played fantasy basketball, and we

14:35

all feel like, well, we know what we're doing, and we all

14:37

know now I can trade

14:39

this, you know this super you know this, these

14:41

two guys for a superstar. It's

14:45

good that we have guys in our front office

14:47

that can look bigger. I am

14:49

not one of those people. I want to I want to win

14:51

now.

14:52

I want to win. Sure, yes, exactly

14:54

exactly right, right, they don't. It's it's

14:56

just I want to play Isaac forty five minutes. I'm

14:58

with you.

14:59

I know, it's really in

15:01

January.

15:02

I want to do yes, yes, exactly.

15:04

There has to be bigger picture thoughts

15:07

when it comes to how this team is going to go,

15:09

and Jake hit it right on the head, I think

15:12

we are setting this up or

15:14

when And that's not Again, this is not to

15:16

say we're not going to go try to get a playoff spot

15:18

this year. It's not say we're going to go try to win a playoff

15:20

series or two this year. Of

15:23

course we're going to do that, but you

15:25

do have to have bigger picture in mind. And

15:28

like you said when Fra, I love that when

15:30

Franz and Paolo hit their super superpower.

15:33

I yeah, exactly, exactly.

15:34

So, and then that hopefully you have set

15:36

this up correctly. Oklahoma City is

15:38

in a different place than we are. As much as we want

15:41

to try to compare ourselves with that, there are Listen,

15:43

they're in first.

15:44

Place in the West, absolutely absolute worst place

15:46

in the West.

15:46

The magic or not, and so you

15:49

can't. You can't. It's not it's not a

15:51

parallel road with us in oklahom with

15:53

somebody like Oklahoma City. Our

15:55

time will come. And again we've

15:58

played twelve thirteen games with our

16:01

full roster out of fifty two,

16:04

and now we have it again. And now from

16:07

in a stretch between March and April, we're

16:09

going to have ten of eleven home games against

16:11

teams that are sub five hundred,

16:14

which we've done very well at, especially at

16:16

home. This schedule will let

16:18

up and we're poised to

16:20

have a nice strong finish

16:22

to this season and then maybe we can make

16:24

some noise in the playoffs.

16:27

I'm all for that. And listen, you look at

16:29

the guys you've got. I think the thing

16:31

that frustrates some Magic fans

16:33

is this is the second round. Is the second

16:35

round picks that you get something

16:38

to fill in need? Right? I think that's when you look and say, okay,

16:40

well you got this guy for just to pick you don't even have

16:42

to lose a player.

16:43

But then I think to.

16:44

Kind of you guys's point as well, well, who does

16:47

that person replace in your lineup? Right?

16:49

Because you're kind of rolling along right now,

16:51

everybody kind of understands their roles. You look at

16:53

a guy like Gary Harris, so I think everybody thought maybe

16:56

with that contract, you know, that would be a desirable

16:58

thing for other teams. And I'm looking at it.

17:00

You're nineteen and twelve. When Gary plays,

17:03

you're nineteen and twelve. In games when he plays,

17:06

you're seventeen and six when he hits a three,

17:08

one three. The difference for

17:10

this team if somebody can step up from time

17:13

to time and make an additional three, it

17:15

means halt the world to this team. Right.

17:17

They're one of the top third in the

17:19

NBA in clutch games that they've been

17:21

in decided by five points or less. You're

17:24

one or two made baskets away from

17:26

having a completely different record, right, and that's

17:29

just one guy who's playing about seventeen eighteen

17:32

minutes.

17:32

Listen, I called you yesterday after the deadline,

17:35

and we just had a chat like we normally do, and

17:37

I said to you, like, we don't even need Let's

17:40

just take Gary and Joe for example, right,

17:42

I don't even need them to hit a three,

17:45

correct, Well, that's two. I need

17:47

them to be on the floor to take

17:49

a guy right eighteen inches off

17:51

the block.

17:52

Yeah, that's right.

17:54

I don't need the magic to be to

17:56

shoot thirty nine. It'd be kick

17:58

ass and amazing if the magic you're thirty nine

18:00

percent from three. But just the fact

18:02

that those guys are on the floor

18:05

and can be on the floor. And I

18:07

think that goes to the numbers you just said

18:09

and being healthy, being old,

18:12

and so I think we are set up in a

18:14

great place downstretch here.

18:17

No, yeah, no, I completely agree.

18:19

So that I think that you factor all that in And those

18:21

are just a couple of small examples that you look at

18:23

if you're the front office saying, all right, well,

18:25

let's roll with what we got, right. We don't know what the

18:28

future looks like for Markel, We don't know what the future

18:30

looks like, you know, for for some of these other guys

18:32

on the roster. But we've got to this point, we're going

18:34

to have them for the rest of the for the rest of

18:36

the duration. Let's let's see what they look like here down

18:38

the stretch, right, So that's in every piece of good

18:40

around. Yeah, I know, me too, Me too, me

18:43

too. Now that being said, you

18:45

haven't had a record of health for these

18:47

guys, so it is hard to bank on that for the final

18:49

thirty games. But hey, we're in a good

18:51

position as far as that goes. There might be a couple

18:54

of back to back scenarios where you may not have a

18:56

guy or two, you know, for for a handful of

18:58

games, but for the most part, this is the

19:00

roster you have in tach so that I think

19:02

we would all agree, right, so that the trade deadline

19:05

comes and goes. Maybe those were some of the factors

19:07

that went into it. And this is what we've got for the duration,

19:10

not forgetting anything right. We we think

19:12

we've covered all that.

19:13

Yeah, so it is the last

19:15

thing I was gonna add is like when I was sitting there

19:17

and going through, Okay, who are guys who might be available, who

19:20

might be a good fit, I was basically naming

19:22

other teams version of Gary Harris and Joe Ingold

19:25

right right right for that, Yeah, exactly

19:27

bringing it a veteran who defends well you know

19:29

at the point of at that doesn't need the ball in his hands, in a good

19:31

spacer for Paul and Frantz. Oh wait a second,

19:33

we have that guy. He's just that's injury issues

19:36

so far this year. So if he is, if

19:38

he is locked in a healthy coming down

19:40

the stretch. It's that That's the perfect example

19:42

of when you see it in

19:44

another in another jersey, you're

19:47

going, oh, we need him, we need that guy. Emmanuel

19:49

quickly when everybody was talking about it, he was available

19:51

from the Knicks, and and I see all this discourse on

19:54

Twitter, I'm going we have a Manuel quickly. His name's

19:56

cole An. Like you know, like everybody,

19:58

it's always it's always kind of the grasses

20:00

greener over there. We've got we've I think we have the

20:03

roster in place here and they've

20:05

proven it so far without health and with the schedule,

20:07

as we mentioned.

20:08

Here, we are four games about five hundred.

20:10

We've had a lot of conversations over the years,

20:12

all of us, with other teams, you

20:14

know, broadcasters, pr staff,

20:16

whatever. Where we look at somebody

20:19

from Afar, I'm like, wow, we'd really like to have that guy.

20:21

And then you have a conversation with that guy and they're

20:23

like, oh, you can have him.

20:26

Right, It's very interesting like that.

20:27

Yeah, you can't say. And it's people like

20:30

people, people would have no idea

20:32

the caliber of stars,

20:34

even where you've had a conversation and you're just like,

20:36

man, he's got to be great, you know, like I'd love

20:38

to have him, and they're turned around. It's

20:41

just like you said, the grass is always greener somebody else.

20:44

Another girl is always prettier, Like it's not necessarily

20:46

the case so like, yeah, let's right, let's ride with what

20:48

we have. Let's let's let's let's.

20:50

Well and and and if you want to make a move, you can

20:52

do it this summer. You're two months away, right,

20:54

You're two months away from the you know from from the

20:56

playoffs starting, so you can go. You can pursue

20:58

anything you want. You haven't given up any any you haven't

21:00

given up any assets, any draft compensation.

21:03

And I guess the last part of this I will piggyback

21:05

on. Guys can say they don't worry about

21:07

the trade deadline. All they want. Guys can say they

21:09

don't care. Coach can say, you know, control

21:11

the things you can control and all that, and that's right, that's

21:14

how you have to approach it. But there was

21:16

a different feeling in that locker room yesterday

21:18

before the game, knowing that okay, this is

21:20

everybody's here. There were a lot more smiles,

21:22

there was a lot less tense. You went on, had one of your best offensive

21:25

games of the season. I think guys weren't pressing.

21:27

I think that's another part of it, right, the final thirty games,

21:30

and we'll touch on that next. You know, guys got to play

21:32

better. There are some guys that got to you gotta shoot better,

21:34

you gotta play better, you gotta protect the ball better. And

21:37

that's what happens. You need that in the playoff

21:39

push anyway. But don't you feel like, Okay,

21:41

this is this is what you gotta And it looked

21:43

to me like it was it was

21:46

just the weight was lifted off a lot of guys shoulders

21:48

last night.

21:49

Jake, you were at cheat around and yesterday, I mean, there were

21:51

a lot of guys. It's it's it's human nature.

21:53

We were all on our phones. We were

21:55

all on our phones as guys started to do media availability

21:58

yesterday, and that's when a couple of the you know, a couple

22:00

of the Knicks deals went down or

22:02

they you know, it's just it's wojbomb

22:05

after Sham's bomb after woj bomb. Yeah,

22:07

right, And we're not the only ones that

22:09

do that. I mean, like Jay Jalen came out

22:11

to do an interview for me, and the

22:13

first thing he said was he's like, well grab

22:16

you see you know, see the Knicks just got you

22:18

know, Bogeton. It's like they're

22:20

all looking at it. And but the problem,

22:22

the difference between me and them is that

22:25

they could go at any minute?

22:26

Yeah, true, Yeah, exactly.

22:28

That has to be an unnerving feeling, absolutely

22:31

for for a young guy like that that's

22:33

on his own, for a guy that has a family

22:36

like oh question. It's a very nervous time

22:39

for all the players, no matter who you

22:41

are, because it's been proven over

22:43

the years that nobody is is untradeable,

22:46

right, nobody's untradeable.

22:47

So it's well and into

22:49

Jeff's credit. With all that being said, am

22:51

I gonna pull the trigger? Am I gonna do something

22:54

just to do something right and uproot

22:56

someone for something that I'm not convinced

22:59

is gonna is gonna be that much better than what we've already

23:01

gotten, What's.

23:02

Going to affect the other guys in the line?

23:03

Yes?

23:05

Absolutely.

23:05

Or I'm really tight with player B and player

23:08

B goes and that messes up player

23:10

A.

23:10

Yeah, that's what That's what I was gonna say. It's it

23:12

would never be the reason you want to make a deal, because

23:15

we want to keep our locker room together. But we have talked

23:17

all season long about the chemistry and the vibe

23:19

with the locker room, and it is unique.

23:21

I think we've been around long enough to know that not all

23:23

teams are built this way, and

23:26

and and chemistry is chemistry. You take away

23:28

one piece and you have no idea how it impact.

23:30

Let alone, who are we bringing in? Are

23:32

they going to take shots away from the guys that we need

23:35

to still be developing. There's just so much

23:37

more edited in how many years are on their contract,

23:40

you know who who represents them. There are

23:42

so many layers to all of this. When you make

23:44

a move like that, and and and we

23:47

are not in the situation where the Detroit

23:49

Pistons are where it's like this, clearly is it

23:51

working.

23:51

We need to do so.

23:53

Like goodness, they needed to do stuff for the sake of doing

23:55

stuff because very clearly what they were doing

23:57

was not working. We we we feel like we're

24:00

we're onto something here, and even those small,

24:02

minor moves can sometimes have big impacts.

24:05

Now, don't get me wrong, I would have liked to had Buddy healed

24:07

for a second round pick, but but that deal wasn't out there.

24:10

And it takes two to tang.

24:12

It takes two to tango. You're you're exactly right. That

24:14

was that was a prominent thought. That was prominent

24:16

thought on Magic Twitter. Yeah, that's but that was the

24:19

bottom three guys in my roster. It's

24:22

not gonna happen. Want

24:24

that too, So I did like I did,

24:27

like the tweet from Bill Simmons. We need to we need

24:29

to, we need to rethink if Detroit should be allowed

24:31

to make moves. I thought

24:33

that was brutal in the way they just blew that

24:35

whole thing up. My goodness. So now,

24:37

the electricity in that building last night was

24:39

sensational. I think one of the things that stood out

24:41

to me was Jonathan Isaac rejecting

24:44

the dunk attempt by Victor weban Yama.

24:47

He's caught a couple of people, and at some point people

24:49

are gonna stop, uh trying to attack

24:51

Jonathan Isaac. Right, you know, Jeff says

24:53

it on the broadcast. Think twice, Think twice,

24:55

and then they'll shoot and you'll swadd it away. Jonathan

24:59

Isaac the final third games. Right as

25:01

you sit here now, with thirty games left,

25:03

the minutes will start to creep up. We've seen games

25:05

where he finishes the entire fourth quarter. Right,

25:08

He's going to be a secret weapon

25:11

or an X factor for this team if

25:13

they're going to move up in the standings and ultimately clinch

25:15

a playoff spot. What does it look

25:17

like for him as we look at minutes, as we look

25:19

at where he's going to be potentially at the end of the

25:21

season, because he's a difference maker. And that was unbelievable.

25:24

That's a seven to four guy trying to throw

25:26

it down over the top of you and you sent it into

25:28

the stands.

25:29

It's got to be really hard for Jamal Mosley

25:31

to keep him. I mean you've seen

25:33

it Dante where he kind of yes, right solver

25:36

and asks, you know, you or me

25:38

or Joel Glass, how many minutes

25:40

is jiat.

25:41

And what do we say? And what do we tell him?

25:43

I tell him four, even

25:45

if it's the fourth quarter and he's played at

25:48

least twenty minutes, that four minutes he

25:50

got sixteen four. You're all good, everything's

25:52

he's clear, But you still

25:55

have to listen. You know, the All

25:57

Star break is not where we want to get with Jonathan

25:59

Isaac. March first is not where we want

26:01

to get to Jonathan Isaac. We want to get

26:04

to May with Jonathan Isaac. You're right,

26:06

I mean we and and a full healthy

26:09

Jonathan Isaac. The more he plays,

26:11

the more he can get through games. You

26:13

know, with a slight tick up in his

26:15

minutes. The more the

26:18

more mentally healthy he has

26:20

to be too to be out there as well. And I think

26:22

that's a big thing with Jonathan is you

26:24

know, he starts off slow. He plays

26:26

ten minutes a game and all right, my

26:28

legs are good. I can I can get through that.

26:30

Now.

26:30

Now we're up to fifteen, Now we're up to twenty.

26:33

I'm not saying by the time we get to May, he's going to

26:35

be playing thirty five minutes a night. That's not going to

26:37

happen because this guy that's been, you

26:39

know, suffered through so much,

26:41

so we can't can't go ahead and do

26:43

that to him. But as as

26:45

the season progresses here and he does

26:47

what he did, I mean last night was a was

26:50

a masterclass I thought by Jonathan Isaac.

26:52

Just and on the offensive end too. He's

26:54

hitting the glass, he's running the floor. I

26:56

mean, he runs like a gazelle.

26:58

Nice pull up jumper. Yep.

27:00

He had a really good all around

27:02

game last night. And you're right, I don't think I

27:04

don't think he's going to surprise anybody. Everybody

27:06

knows who Jonathan Isaac is. It's

27:09

a matter of him staying on the floor,

27:11

and it gives us so much versatility

27:13

with lineups. The things that Jamal has already.

27:16

I mean you've seen it with the end of

27:18

game lineup that he's been thrown out there sometimes

27:20

where you have Fronds at basically

27:22

at the two, where you have

27:25

six ' ten six ' ten six ten

27:27

seven foot I mean, that's a

27:30

that's an l of a lineup, it really is. And

27:33

he can just he can do so many more things.

27:36

Jamal. When I say he knowing that

27:38

Jonathan is healthy again available,

27:42

remember.

27:42

Last year when we were all excited about bull Bull

27:45

and Mobamba and and all of a sudden footers.

27:47

This is the practical application of that. This is the

27:49

one that works when you go giant

27:51

down the stretch. I pulled the numbers the other day. Ji's

27:54

played one or more minutes five times this season,

27:57

and teams are averaging one hundred and one point four

27:59

points per game.

28:00

Against us in those games.

28:02

It's just a matter of getting him on the poor And I think what's

28:04

frustrating or the I think the reason

28:06

that sometimes fans can't figure out why

28:08

he isn't playing twenty eight thirty minutes a game is

28:10

because he's not like a shooter sitting

28:13

in the corner who can't move anymore, and

28:15

this is all he's able to do. He

28:17

is one of the most athletic, amazing

28:20

freaks in the league. When he's out

28:22

there, he's one of the only guys that you can even consider

28:25

in the same class with a guy like Webban Yama,

28:27

because he's able to move his feet on the perimeter, he

28:29

can switch, he can do absolutely everything you want

28:31

from an NBA defender in twenty twenty

28:34

four. But there is that history,

28:36

and so you know, a lot of it is being cautious.

28:38

If the playoffs were tomorrow, maybe he

28:40

could get away with twenty eight minutes, depending

28:43

on how he feels, but they're

28:45

not, and so we need to be careful, you

28:47

know, sort of inching his way in.

28:49

But we see it.

28:50

I mean, when coach Boseley has twelve minutes in his

28:52

back pocket headed into the fourth quarter of

28:54

a closed game, that's a secret

28:56

weapon, man.

28:57

And he is.

28:58

I mean, he just absolutely rex rex

29:02

offensive game plans for opponents. It's

29:04

gonna be really big, just keeping them right. And

29:06

and look, I don't if we need if

29:08

he needs to skip it back to back here and there, or

29:10

absolutely Miami were absolutely

29:14

because come the back end to April, hopefully

29:17

we're gonna need a big filup.

29:18

We're gonna need a big filat But also, and I'm not saying he's

29:20

gonna shut these guys down, but he's gonna make these guys

29:22

work. In the first round playoffs, here is you start

29:24

sizing up who you could match up with. Right,

29:26

if you end up getting eighth, then you play Boston

29:29

to have the ability to put

29:31

twenty minutes of Isaac on Tatum at

29:33

least make him work for right that you haven't had

29:35

that right for the for the last couple of years. I mean it's

29:38

Milwaukee with Giannis. Right, you started sizing

29:40

up every freedom, absolutely,

29:42

but a lot of the a lot of the iron at

29:44

the top of the conference are

29:47

are exactly who he would guard, right, So I

29:49

think you started at least to give yourself a chance right

29:51

to to to at least try to slow

29:53

down a guy like that as much as humanly possible

29:56

if they can be slowed down. So I think he he becomes

29:58

critical and I think we out when Franz

30:00

Wagner was out, we saw the usage rate climb

30:02

up for Apollo, Bancaro and you wonder, Okay, at

30:04

some point, you got to ease off of that guy, right, and we've

30:07

seen it here the last couple of weeks. I think the

30:09

All Star Break is going to be good for him. Not that

30:11

not that he's going to get a ton of rest, but it's not

30:13

going to be hard on his legs. He's not going

30:15

to be out playing competitive basketball games.

30:18

The Rising Stars Challenge, the Skills competition,

30:20

the All Star Break, I think you see, you know, you

30:22

don't go hard in those things. And then he's going to

30:24

have the four days off after one

30:26

of them being a travel day to get up to Cleveland. So I think

30:28

that's going to be a break. Whereas conversely, if

30:31

Franz Wagner hasn't had a break in three years,

30:34

right since he's come to the NBA with FIBA.

30:35

And all that stuff.

30:36

So I think those eight games

30:38

off that he had with the ankle,

30:40

he probably needed three days off with

30:43

the ankle, but you decided to give him a little

30:45

extra rest, And I think that's why the

30:47

last couple of games we've seen thirty eight,

30:49

thirty four last night against San Antonio,

30:52

I think that guy's fresh, and I think that's going to help

30:54

him here going down the stretch.

30:55

It's the thing.

30:56

I love it, and you and Q touched on

30:58

it post game last night after the Spurs

31:00

game. This team

31:02

is just built to where let's

31:05

take Palobank care a right, he had a street going last

31:07

night of seventeen games in a row or eight, I'm sorry,

31:09

eighteen games in a row with twenty and five assists,

31:12

twenty points of five assists, and he was

31:14

close to it last night, but he

31:16

knew Franz had it going and he doesn't.

31:18

You know, it's all about they're so team

31:20

oriented and it's and it's great

31:23

that your top two players

31:25

are team oriented like they. Franz

31:28

does not care if he scores twelve and

31:30

Palo goes for thirty five. Plo

31:33

does not care if Franz is going for thirty

31:35

and he's only got fourteen. It's

31:37

all about who has more points at on the scoreboard

31:39

at the end of the night. And it's just that

31:43

refreshing.

31:44

It's refreshing real, that's sh Yes.

31:46

You've seen it the other way where somebody's got

31:48

to get theirs and listen, that's why this

31:50

team is having success again. If

31:52

you would have told me, we would be in this position in

31:55

August, you'd all have taken it. Everybody

31:57

would have taken it. And I think it just goes back to

31:59

how team is shaping up. I

32:01

agree fns is hitting his stride. I mean,

32:04

we knew Franz wasn't going to shoot nineteen

32:07

percent from three for.

32:08

The whole year.

32:09

Right, water usually settles

32:11

and he's gonna he's gonna tick that back up to

32:14

him.

32:14

I'm not gonna lie I thought we might as a team. I'm

32:16

not gonna lie to.

32:17

But but you're right.

32:18

But I knew it wouldn't be him. But we're we're

32:20

coming out of that too, which is nice.

32:22

And maybe you're right, maybe those maybe that was

32:24

a little you know. And that's not to say those guys

32:26

don't work hard when they're out, because they're working

32:28

hard to get back on the floor. But

32:31

everything has looked better for Franz. Not

32:33

to say he was playing bad before the injury,

32:36

because he was averaging twenty. But the

32:38

three is starting to look better. It's got a little more

32:40

arc on it. He looks fresher,

32:42

Like you said, his legs maybe got a little break

32:44

where we wouldn't have anticipated that in

32:47

January.

32:48

Now, listen, two more things. I always want

32:50

to touch on the on the last thirty games of the

32:52

season, kind of what that looks like. And then All

32:54

Star weekend right with Pollo and all and the

32:56

Magic are well represented, which is going to be pretty cool.

32:59

But at the time of this right, the Magic,

33:01

by the way, are fighting off a Chicago

33:03

Bulls team that seems to have caught life. Right, So Chicago's

33:06

right behind you, three games behind you. Probably

33:08

you know, Atlanta is catching fire too, although

33:10

they've lost two in a row, they have the ability

33:13

to catch fire. So those two teams aren't

33:15

going anywhere.

33:16

You're going to have to.

33:17

Fight them off the rest of the way. But you're

33:19

tied with Miami, right, so you lose

33:21

the tiebreaker because they win the season series. But

33:24

you're you know, so you're you're half a game out

33:26

of six with Indiana, who you've beaten

33:28

twice. You play them two more times, but you've already

33:31

beaten them twice, and now you start looking

33:33

at things. Guys, Listen, anything's

33:35

possible here in the Eastern Conference. You have

33:37

to win it all starts with what you do in this locker

33:39

room. And I think the big thing is you've

33:42

got what thirty games left, you have

33:44

seventeen games against opponents that

33:46

are five hundred or under, right, so that

33:48

should be setting up. Finally, you haven't had

33:50

that. We just came through that twenty two game stretch

33:52

where you're hoping to be above five hundred at the end

33:54

of it, and you are. You're now four games over

33:57

five hundred. So the schedule should

33:59

like up for you here down the stretch, your home

34:02

game heavy, You've got an eight game homestand now

34:04

you start thinking, and again you

34:06

don't want to get too ahead of yourself, but freezing

34:09

Miles j You're three games behind Philadelphia.

34:12

Who knows what Philadelphia looks like with the Joel

34:14

Embid situation, right You don't know when

34:16

or if you're going to get him back. But

34:18

they're free falling right now. We

34:21

assume that New York is going to

34:23

get these guys in take off, and I think they will.

34:26

I think they will because Jalen Brunson is just on a mission

34:28

right now. But what if it doesn't

34:30

work? What if it doesn't work with New York?

34:33

And then the last part of it is anyone convinced

34:35

that Milwaukee is gonna take off?

34:38

Right? They're one in five since they've hired Doc

34:40

Rivers. I don't think it was all Adrian

34:42

Griffin's fault.

34:43

I don't think.

34:43

I'm not saying this is Doc's fault, but clearly

34:46

there's something that just isn't quite working

34:48

with Milwaukee. You're one and one against

34:50

the Bucks and you play him two more times at the end of the

34:52

season. Now that terrifies me. I think Milwaukee's

34:54

going to figure it out. Now ultimately get second in the

34:56

Eastern Conference, but we don't know. We

34:59

don't know. You go potentially as

35:01

high as fourth, maybe even third

35:03

in the Eastern Conference if you get red hot.

35:05

So the overarching theme of this edition

35:08

of Pot Squad is we're gonna be the second best

35:10

team and we're gonna win the East. We're gonna that's

35:13

That's just we just went from

35:15

trying to battle for six seven into

35:18

like Dante's like, hey, you know what, screw

35:20

We're winning the East everywhere everything.

35:21

When I sit down with Josh, I sit down with Josh Cohen

35:24

and he goes, you know, I kind of ran some of the numbers, and I don't

35:26

know what that means. I don't know what that means, but I.

35:28

Know Josh saying, especially with Josh.

35:30

From Orlando Magic dot com. But I know, I

35:32

I know ninety seven percent of his

35:35

life is crunching the numbers. So I don't doubt

35:37

what he says that's true. And he said there is

35:39

a path, you know, if everything plays out how

35:41

it should and this team beats this team, and is that

35:44

the Magic could get fourth in the Eastern coprofence

35:46

if he crunch the numbers.

35:47

If we go twenty nine and one for

35:50

the last, that's the number.

35:51

He's crushed the number.

35:53

But I don't doubt.

35:54

I don't doubt that he's got the lights off in his room

35:56

and he's got a black light and he's brighten on the walls,

35:58

and he's crunching the numbers. He's got it all figured out.

36:00

Was he doing it in black I don't know why he's doing

36:02

it there.

36:03

It's just it's just how I imagine

36:05

he fronts numbers about that.

36:07

He can't be doing that in black lightness.

36:09

While he's developing the film when in the back

36:11

he's got the guy.

36:12

It works better. He's got the Guy's a multi

36:14

media name for crying out loud.

36:16

Yes, he's got a methful to the madness,

36:19

believe me. But I but anyway I look at it,

36:21

I say, they're so I don't know, we

36:23

don't know what the East is gonna look like, so

36:25

could Yeah, I think at the

36:27

bare minimum risk Magic team should

36:29

be fighting like heck to get to avoid play

36:32

it. I think there's a real possibility you could

36:34

grab six, maybe even go as high

36:36

as as four or five in the East.

36:38

Yeah.

36:38

I when you look at who's playing well

36:40

right now. You mentioned Chicago, it seems like they found

36:42

something. I'm not particularly worried about them. They

36:44

also lost that lavine for the rest of the year, but

36:47

you know, it seems to have help.

36:49

It seems well.

36:51

But but I think long time that's fine.

36:53

And by the way, Kobe White, I think we should probably be talking

36:55

about the year that that guy's have and he up and light out and

36:57

Booch is playing really well as of late. And they did

37:00

think the fact that they sat on their hands at the deadline

37:02

probably tells you that they feel okay about themselves.

37:04

Either that or they think that's the best chance to not

37:06

get everybody fired, which is probably more more.

37:09

Likely is the case.

37:11

You know, you got to get to that point this time of

37:13

year, Boston

37:16

is Boston. The Cavaliers have

37:18

been insane. You're right about Milwaukee

37:20

like there was something wrong there and

37:22

and I don't care if you bring in Greg

37:25

Popovich. You can't fix it like that immediately.

37:27

No coach has that much power. So

37:30

we'll see. I mean, Milwaukee's got more talent and

37:32

just about anybody, but but

37:34

there is there's clearly like some issues eron.

37:36

It's mostly on the defensive end. I'm

37:38

scared of New York, to be honest with you, I think

37:40

the question made yesterday. Absolutely they're

37:43

right up beyond that. So I just did Boston,

37:45

Cleveland and New York. I think are are playing the

37:47

best in the conference. And I think catching

37:49

any of those three I

37:52

aside from that, I could see a

37:54

free fall for any of these teams. Indiana and

37:56

unscary at all. And

37:58

the Sixers is gonna be really interesting to see

38:00

Ken Tyres Batsy slide into that

38:02

role and carry a team for thirty

38:05

games and kind of tread

38:07

water until potentially and b plays

38:09

again. I have a feeling we won't see him again this year.

38:11

It just doesn't it with the.

38:13

Way they go or open, but

38:15

with how cautious they are with him for sure.

38:17

I could certainly see that art eart.

38:19

Yeah, I don't think so. So you're right, and

38:22

that's where we are right now. And I think that's one of the reasons

38:24

you don't make a move and mess with it, because you do

38:26

look ahead and say, look, if we just kind

38:29

of keep doing what we're doing right now, that's

38:31

right. Even if we you know, even if

38:33

we tread water the rest of the way

38:35

and we're sitting there four games above five

38:37

hundred at the at the end of the

38:39

season, are heading into April, that could be good

38:41

enough to be out of the playing depending on

38:43

what teams like Philadelphia and Indiana end

38:46

up doing. So I think you're in a good

38:48

spot. And it certainly

38:50

helps that we have so many durn home

38:53

games coming up. That game homestand in

38:55

March is a god said, I mean, that

38:59

could put you in a good but.

39:00

I'm well aware we wouldn't be saying any of these things if we

39:02

lost to San Antonio last night. So this

39:04

thing comes and goes counts and goes game by

39:06

game, right but right now it's set you. You're

39:09

you're you're winning the games you're supposed to win.

39:11

That's all, especially the three of us. Can you imagine

39:13

if we lost that game last night and then we got.

39:15

I mean, there'd be there would be no podcast,

39:18

there.

39:18

Would be no you guys can go pound

39:20

seeing when I bought a podcast.

39:24

You're right, but you but you. But they

39:26

do what they're supposed to do. They they you know,

39:28

they've struggled at times, but they've beat some of the best

39:30

teams. But they're beating the teams they're supposed

39:33

to beat. And that's that's all you can ask for here down

39:35

the stretch real quick before we get out of here, The Magic

39:37

is going to be well represented next week and next week on

39:39

pod Squad Jake Chapman and I you're going to catch up with

39:42

with Pete delas Sandro in the front office for the Orlando

39:44

Magic. So that's gonna be fun and salary Cap will kind

39:46

of get into some numbers and I'll be curus.

39:49

That Josh Cohen on with the black Light with Pete

39:51

on that I'm not a good point.

39:53

I want to compare. I want to see how he crunches

39:55

numbers as opposed to Josh Cohen.

39:57

How had you say real fast? I imagine

39:59

bed a meal.

40:00

Josh Cohen that

40:02

is that's perfect. That is the perfect way to

40:04

get ready for a broadcast, because I kind of murdered

40:06

no matter what, that dude is

40:09

NonStop info.

40:10

I need one of you.

40:11

Two to add. That should be Pete. Your first

40:13

question to Pete is does he crunch the numbers

40:15

for the capin with a Black Live?

40:17

Yes'm fair enough.

40:18

I think that would set the tone for

40:20

the podcast next week.

40:23

I think, like the number like the movie twenty three

40:25

and everybody's just righting on the walls and with

40:28

numbers. But that's probably not how it is. That's probably

40:30

not how it is for all, not for all analytics

40:32

people. The Magic are going to be well represented

40:34

during All Star Weekend. This is gonna be cool guys

40:37

with with Paulo Banker obviously in the Big Game

40:39

the Rising Stars Challenge, you're gonna have Mac

40:41

McClung with the Ostiola Magic. I

40:43

think that I'd love to see that guy get

40:45

a chance with your Orlando Magic at some point.

40:47

The problem is it would come at someone's expense.

40:50

And now that's hard to look and say who

40:52

you want to get rid of, because but

40:54

you want the guy to get an opportunity.

40:56

He's tearing out rid of saying, who do you want

40:58

to get rid of?

40:58

Oh, boy, don't do that.

41:00

No, you can't know that. That's the thing. Everybody

41:03

you've got. You've got two or three guys

41:05

that can I think can really help you,

41:08

but can't even get on the floor. Yeah, you know it'd

41:10

be because you've got guys in front of you that are

41:12

just offer more right now.

41:14

Guy, I think you've got started to come that like seventy

41:16

games or so. That's the thing.

41:18

That's the thing. You've got guys waiting in the wings that

41:20

are very good NBA players that just can't get on

41:22

the floor right now. So so

41:24

if you even if you added mac McClung, it's not like

41:26

you could add him on to the floor. I hope an NBA team

41:29

gives him a chance because I think he's an NBA player.

41:31

But he's going to be representing the Osteolo Magic in

41:33

the Slam Dunk Contest, and we know how electrifying

41:35

he was last year. Jalen Brown will be a part of

41:37

the Dunk Contest. This is gonna be cool, guys,

41:39

to see the magic heavily represented.

41:42

You're going to get some national attention with Shaquille

41:44

O'Neil having his jersey retired in your

41:46

building. That'll be the first jersey to go up

41:48

in the Magic rafters.

41:51

Kind of some fun national attention

41:53

coming Orlando's way. Finally here

41:55

coming up next week.

41:57

I'm as Clario playing his first nationally

41:59

televised game. Yes, it has already

42:01

been named an All Star. Is that that's right?

42:03

Right?

42:04

Like that's I mean, yeah, trust me, I've had

42:06

lots of count I had somebody call me from

42:08

the NBA the other day and say something

42:11

about Paolo at All Star and doing

42:13

some media stuff or whatever for

42:15

for ESPN or TNT, and I was just like,

42:17

well, why, why why am I in.

42:18

A hurry days.

42:21

Like Adam BOYNT.

42:22

I was kidding, I was, I was, well, I

42:23

was. I had my time to cheek. But they know that,

42:25

they know that every time they bring up National

42:28

TV or something to do with the national affiliates

42:31

that there before I agree and say

42:33

yes, which I which we do, I'm

42:35

always gonna kind of give him a little jab.

42:38

Yeah. Yeah.

42:39

We haven't been on national TV very much in the

42:41

last twelve plus years. Bill,

42:43

you have the number one pick. He was almost a unanimous

42:45

Rookie of the Year and you still only gave

42:48

us one. But I digress. Now see you're get me all

42:50

riled up.

42:51

But but but the counter to that is, we have

42:53

not been four games over five

42:55

hundred on February ninth since

42:58

twenty twelve, A long time. It's

43:00

twenty twelve, it is, and it's hard to look.

43:02

It's hard to look and say, boy, we've got to have that team

43:05

on national TV. But but we've

43:07

had better. We have had. We have certainly

43:09

been more deserving than no games.

43:11

I would like I would like to hope that

43:13

as teams, you know, we see it all the

43:15

time, games get flexed out as the

43:17

year goes on. Right, there's there's

43:19

a long stretch here where I

43:22

do think there's a good possibility

43:24

of us getting you know, getting

43:26

games picked up here along the way as they If

43:28

we can keep doing what we're doing and

43:30

heading into the playoffs, we're going to be hard

43:32

to ignore. Paolo is going to be at All Star weekend.

43:34

The guy is

43:37

so deserving. I mean, everybody's seen the

43:39

night where he got you know, where he finally

43:42

got the nod and and the reserves were announced.

43:45

Just that feeling for him and

43:47

the team and then everybody involved very

43:50

excited for Palo, very excited for the

43:52

Magic. Listen, this is what we've

43:55

been wanting, right, there's craving for

43:57

years and it just this

44:00

is the light at the tunnel and this is what we've

44:02

been hoping for and you can see it now

44:04

from a distance and it's a very very exciting

44:07

time.

44:07

And I get Magic fans pushing for you know, dodr

44:09

Wy, why aren't you pushing for nationally televised

44:12

games. I don't work nationally televised games.

44:14

We don't broadcast those. So when it's on TNT,

44:17

we don't. We have the night off, which is cool once in

44:19

a while. It'll be awesome on Tuesday for the Shack thing,

44:21

but you're never gonna hear me push. I like when the

44:23

games are on Bathley Sports Florida, when

44:25

we can go up against ESPN. But for those

44:28

that don't know, you know we we we are not.

44:30

It's and exclusivity. TNT has the rights

44:32

and it's not like we broadcast simultaneously.

44:35

But I love the exposure. We got to get the exposure

44:37

when we're in the conversation now and it's

44:39

coming. Absolutely absolutely, there'll be more and

44:41

more games, and I don't think we can hide from it next

44:43

year for sure, and we've earned it, right, We've

44:46

earned it, and we'll be and Jake will be with

44:48

Josie on Jet Blue looking on the plane

44:50

right watching, watching the highlights

44:52

coming back. It'll be it'll be a lot of fun

44:54

here next week, all right, guys, well, good stuff. We

44:57

we got thirty games to go and good luck to

44:59

us. It'll be a lot of fun here. The last two months we've

45:01

not had probably

45:03

been about ten twelve years since we've

45:05

had the kind of this excitement going into

45:07

the final two months of a season. Let's

45:09

enjoy it. Let's avoid the play

45:11

in. Let's grab a playoff spot here in the next two

45:13

months.

45:14

I'll do my best, Dante, all right.

45:15

Do your best, do your best. That'll do it for this edition of Magic

45:17

Pod Squad. We'll see you next time with Pete

45:19

Delessandro will join Jake and I

45:21

next week. You don't want to miss that on Magic Pod Squad.