0:06

On this edition of Orlando Magic Pod Squad,

0:08

we catch up with ESPN senior writer

0:10

and the host of the Low Post podcast, NBA

0:14

insider Zach Lowe, kind enough to join

0:16

us here on this edition, and of course it's brought

0:18

to you by the Florida Department of Transportation. Reminds

0:21

you that fans don't let fans drive drunk. If you've

0:23

been drinking, don't get behind the wheel. Instead,

0:25

find a sober driver or catch a ride service.

0:28

Remember, drive sober or get pulled

0:30

over, Have a great night, and drive safe.

0:32

All lots to get into here on this edition

0:34

of Magic Pod Squad, including a national

0:37

perspective from Zach low on the

0:39

success of the Orlando Magic this season

0:41

and what lies ahead, the terrific

0:44

rookie season of polo band Caro, year

0:46

two of Franz Wagner,

0:49

it may be the best quietest

0:51

story in the NBA, the return

0:54

of Markel Fultz. We get into all of that, and

0:56

of course he's a big fan of David Steel and Jeff

0:58

Turner on the broadcast, get into

1:00

is this anything? And we have a proposition for

1:03

Zach at the end of this show.

1:05

You're gonna enjoy it. This one with our

1:07

good friend Zach Low on Magic

1:09

Pod Squad. There's fawns

1:11

long enough to Orlando Magic.

1:13

This is Cole Anthony, this is Jennon Suggs.

1:15

This is Paulo Man Carroll the Orlando Magic

1:17

And you're listening to the Pod Squad, all

1:22

right, and.

1:22

Welcome everyone to another edition of Orlando Magic

1:25

Pod Squad. Dante, Marc and Telly, David

1:27

Steele, Jeff Turner, George Galante.

1:29

And it's my pleasure to bring in our guest. He

1:31

is Zach Low, senior writer for ESPN

1:34

Broadcaster Extraordinaire. He's the

1:36

host of The Low Post podcast, writer

1:38

of lowst ten Things. Is there anything else

1:40

that I left Zach off the list? You do it

1:43

all, You do it all.

1:44

I cooked dinner twice a week, mediocre

1:47

dinners.

1:49

I'm an okay driver, don't you

1:52

know? I have some other skills, not

1:54

very many, but some other skills.

1:56

Do you have a go to dish? What's this dinner dish?

1:58

You got to?

1:58

I know, I generally cook

2:00

whatever Blue Apron tells me to cook, although

2:03

I did discover how to make a cilantro

2:05

sauce on my own, which my daughter really likes. She always

2:08

wants my cilantro sauce on things

2:10

that it shouldn't go on. But

2:12

that's suppressive. I have very

2:14

few culinary skills, but I can follow instructions

2:17

decently enough.

2:18

Chicken nuggets. Chicken nuggets with cilantro

2:20

sauce. Is that what she's looking for?

2:22

She well, chicken nuggets. She knows that's

2:24

Ketchup's that's when

2:26

the half the bottle of ketchup is used

2:28

in one shot.

2:30

Well listen, Zach, it's a pleasure for us to

2:32

talk to you. We're excited about this to talk all

2:34

things Magic and NBA. First

2:36

of all, you've been so kind to the broadcast,

2:39

especially David and Jeff over the years, so I

2:41

know I speak for everybody. We're very appreciative

2:43

of that. We wonder why you're watching so many games

2:46

for the Orlando Magic, but we love it. We certainly

2:48

appreciate that. So thank you very much, Zach.

2:50

That means a lot.

2:51

Well. People people are are always

2:53

like even last week, someone was like, why do you

2:55

have Devin Vassel from the Spurs

2:57

in your in your ten things? I'm like, it's

2:59

my job to watch the whole league. I mean, you

3:02

do end up watching the best teams a

3:04

little bit more because when they play each other,

3:06

like Celtics Bucks in a couple of days,

3:09

you have to watch that game. That's a must watch. But

3:11

I like watching those are where you find, you know, the

3:13

developmental stories, the cool stories, and look

3:16

I've I also criticize

3:20

broadcasts that I don't particularly

3:22

enjoy because they're homers, or they're just

3:24

the tone I don't like, or whatever it

3:26

is. So when I do say

3:28

nice things, I mean it. And you

3:30

guys, all of you everyone on this call,

3:33

Dante, George and Joel who's

3:35

not on here, and David and Jeff

3:37

as the front men on the actual broadcast.

3:39

It's just it's a joy. It's

3:41

like it's like every time I watch a magic

3:43

game, it's like getting into a warm bath or something. It's

3:45

just the personalities are are nice, The

3:48

tone is exactly what I want.

3:50

The mix of humor and x's and o's,

3:53

and the chemistry between David

3:56

and Jeff. It's like it's like I can when

3:58

they're doing is this anything, which I assume

4:00

we'll talk about. I can just imagine

4:03

Jeff coming down into the lobby at the

4:05

hotel on the road, and David's

4:08

got his cup of coffee and like a

4:10

laptop up and Jeff comes down, all

4:12

right, what are you? What are you looking at now? And you okay,

4:14

Well, let me tell you this crazy thing I found. I

4:17

feel like I'm there with you, guys.

4:19

I did not tell him

4:20

an that's

4:23

all just pure.

4:25

It's usually in a coffee shop. But yeah,

4:27

exactly, that's exactly.

4:29

On the warm bath.

4:30

I'm not sure about the warm Bath. Pretty

4:33

good, Zach.

4:34

Well, you guys do great work. It's it's it's fun to

4:36

listen to and the chemistry really comes

4:39

through on the broadcast, which is really

4:41

what's important.

4:44

Appreciate that.

4:45

And Jack,

4:47

I wanted to ask you, why do you think more

4:49

writers like yourself don't

4:52

watch more of the NBA This This is a

4:54

pet peeve that I have that it

4:56

seems like the NBA national

4:59

media cover which is so Laker,

5:02

Knicks, Celtics, the big markets,

5:04

you know, the high profile teams. But you

5:06

know there are a lot of fans out there that

5:09

that would like to read more and find out more

5:11

about their teams. I think you've

5:13

tapped into that. I just don't understand why

5:15

more writers don't take that approach.

5:18

I think more do than you than you might

5:20

think. I

5:23

even if they do, I'm not sure how incentivized

5:26

they are maybe to talk about it publicly like or

5:28

write about it, But I think people are paying

5:30

attention, maybe not as much as I do. Look,

5:33

I mean it's on the

5:35

simplest level. There are more fans of those teams,

5:37

and so you get more clicks when you do it. But I've always

5:39

told I've always told people like if you

5:42

you if you go to any market like

5:45

Milwaukee when the Bucks were bad, or

5:48

Detroit or Orlando, and you

5:50

you go there for four or five days and

5:52

you get good stuff. If it's

5:54

good, people will read it. People

5:57

will not not as many people as will read

5:59

anything about On or the Lakers or Stephan

6:01

the words that's just life, but enough

6:03

people that you would feel fulfilled

6:06

by the time you had spent there. I'm a big believer

6:09

in that. Like, yes, I know, if

6:11

I go to Detroit this season, unless

6:15

like some crazy scandalous

6:18

thing happens while I was there, it's

6:20

not going to draw a huge amount of eyeballs.

6:22

But if it's good, it's good, and people

6:25

will read it. And honestly, like in

6:27

the blink of an eye, Orlando or Detroit

6:29

or San Antonio is going to be a relevant team

6:32

and you're gonna have a head start

6:35

if you've been paying attention to the team on its

6:37

path to relevance instead of just

6:39

sort of being like, all right, let me figure out who this Franz Wagner

6:41

guy is. Zach.

6:44

I'm curious. You know you obviously,

6:47

as David called to, you watch a

6:49

lot of basketball. What

6:51

does a what does a typical day for

6:54

Saklo look like? When does it

6:56

start? Are you recording games? Or like

6:58

how does that all work that you're able to do

7:01

all this and be by the way, make dinners,

7:03

be a daph.

7:05

I'm like a C plus at those other things.

7:09

So, I mean, my whole thing

7:12

is time management, right, Like watching

7:14

a game live is

7:18

forget the pregame, postgame stuff. That's

7:20

a two and a half hour commitment. So if

7:22

I'm at a game, like I'm going to the Knixt game tonight,

7:25

I will have up on my laptop

7:28

one of the seven or seven thirty Eastern

7:30

tips. Like a Magic game, for instance, is a

7:32

seven o'clock tip. God blessed the seven o'clock

7:34

tips. Never go to seven thirty,

7:38

and I'll watch that game. You know, if

7:40

it's a seven o'clock game, the Knicks are seven thirty,

7:42

so I'll watch the first quarter before the next game

7:44

even starts, and then halftime commercials,

7:46

and like you'd be surprised, you can crank out almost

7:48

an entire second game while

7:52

the game you're watching is unfolding. Then

7:54

in the car rider on the train ride back, I might

7:56

watch crunch time of another game, or

7:59

you know, if I'm home, if I'm not going to a game,

8:01

Like technology is amazing, I

8:03

can put my daughter to bed reader some books,

8:06

sit down at eight fifteen and

8:09

in two and a half hours watch two games

8:11

like it's it's if you play in

8:13

your days, right, It's not that hard to watch

8:15

that much. I mean, it's not like people always

8:17

like do you watch every game? And even

8:19

my friends like how many games you watch? Like ten to night.

8:21

I'm like, do you really, like, do you understand

8:24

that that's just not humanly

8:26

possible to do that. My religion

8:29

is two games a day. That's the closest thing I have,

8:31

Doue religion is two games a day, and I

8:34

stick to that. Zach.

8:36

For those that don't know, tell everybody how

8:39

you got your start, how you got

8:41

to where you are, just a little

8:43

bit of background just on you.

8:45

So I have a crazy, strange, like

8:48

totally non replicable, well maybe

8:50

I don't know. I was. I got out of college and

8:52

I was a high school teacher for two years just

8:55

because I liked kids and I liked teaching, and I like

8:57

reading and I like writing, and that's my Both

8:59

my parents are teachers, public school teachers,

9:01

so that's kind of what I just thought I would do. Then

9:05

I went to graduate school to get

9:08

maybe a PhD in history

9:10

and become a professor and live

9:12

like on college campuses for the rest

9:14

of my life. And about a year or

9:17

two into that, I got bored and

9:19

I realized it was something I didn't want to do. And

9:23

I always loved sports when I was a kid. I wanted

9:25

to be a sports writer. And I started

9:27

as a stringer covering high school football

9:30

in Virginia on Friday nights and

9:33

really liked it and thought, Okay, this feels

9:36

like something I want to do. Got

9:38

into journalism, didn't

9:41

get a sports job. I was covering crime courts,

9:44

just all sorts of stuff that wasn't sports.

9:46

But anytime there was a sports assignment that they needed

9:48

someone to do. I would try to do it, and

9:51

then I just long story

9:54

short, I was like, I think I want to do

9:56

sports. I want to do sports. I want to make

9:58

the transition. And I started meeting with editors

10:00

in New York and through connections that I had, and

10:02

what kept coming back to me this is like two thousand and eight,

10:05

two thousand and nine, was we don't

10:07

have enough people covering the NBA. We need

10:09

people covering the NBA. Would you like to do some freelance

10:11

NBA stuff for us? So I did a lot of freelance NBA

10:13

stuff, like a year or two of it. Sports

10:16

Illustrated then hired me to be their blogger

10:18

and that is my career

10:21

now. And I always tell people, and I don't mean this facetiously,

10:24

like I owe my job and

10:26

a lot of people in NBA media owe their jobs

10:29

to the decision in twenty

10:31

ten, the Lebron decision in twenty

10:33

ten, because that landed in

10:35

sports media like an earthquake,

10:38

and every publication

10:41

was caught off guard by the level of interest

10:44

in the decision and the just

10:46

the clamoring for where's

10:48

he going to go? The heat becoming

10:50

the villains, who's the next guy

10:52

who's going to pair up? Like, no one really saw

10:55

that coming as a huge the

10:57

level of interest in it. So that's that's

11:00

the very short version of what is a

11:02

strange strange path?

11:05

You know, it's interesting, Zach. We get asked a lot and

11:07

how do you break into broadcasting? How do you get

11:09

your start? And we'll start to say some of those things

11:11

high school sports or be a stringer or free

11:14

and you can just see the eyes go in the back

11:16

of their head. They don't want to put in

11:18

the work. Not everybody, but there's a lot of

11:20

that. What do you tell people when they ask you

11:22

how do I get started?

11:23

Or what do I do?

11:24

What's your advice to people to get

11:26

started?

11:27

It's really really hard and

11:29

sometimes I honestly want to tell people

11:32

try something else, Like it's just because

11:34

the media industry is tough and it's getting

11:36

tougher and worse every year. Entry

11:39

level pay is horrible, and

11:43

just the reality of it is like I had

11:45

I freelanced for two years. I had two

11:47

jobs for two years. I had a job that was

11:50

like paying the bills job at a magazine,

11:52

and it was a good job and I loved it and I worked hard

11:54

at it. And then that job would end and I would

11:56

run home and start doing my other job, which

11:59

was paying no bills and was covering

12:01

the NBA, hoping to get my

12:03

work noticed. And it's not really the way

12:05

that it should be. And there's obvious,

12:07

you know, privilege sort

12:10

of underlying that, like who can

12:12

actually afford to give away their time for free? And

12:14

why are they in those circumstances. But I

12:17

had two jobs for two years just to try

12:19

to break into sports writing, and it's it's

12:22

hard. It's just hard, like it's I remember

12:24

being a stringer at the high school football games in Virginia

12:26

for I don't know how. I probably made fifty bucks a game.

12:29

And I would sit there and that was

12:31

back in the day where I would be writing down like number

12:33

thirty three three yard rush, like play

12:35

by play by play, all the way all the way down.

12:38

That's great, that's good. Now you're

12:40

here talking at Georgia.

12:42

I grew up in an era where

12:44

you know, I couldn't wait to get the sports illustrated

12:47

every everything and read Curry Kirkpatrick

12:50

or Dan Jenkins

12:52

or you know the great sports writers of that

12:54

era. To me, you're

12:57

you're a throwback and to me, there are

13:00

not that many journalists, especially

13:02

in sports, that right the way that

13:04

you do. I mean, you know, you're very clear

13:06

and concise, but you also have some

13:09

personalities, some panash you. You

13:11

know, you come up with interesting angles to look

13:13

at things. Why why

13:15

is it so rare these days? I mean, is media

13:18

just so watered down because of all

13:20

the available you know, bloggers and

13:23

I mean, you know, obviously newspapers are

13:26

all but gone. So you know, people

13:28

with your kind of skill are trying to figure out how

13:30

to make a living, which you've done as well

13:32

as anybody in the country. But what

13:35

I guess, I guess my question is why

13:37

aren't there more people that that handle their jobs

13:40

like you do.

13:41

I worked at newspapers for four years, and

13:43

it was it was hard then, like you didn't.

13:45

And it's just I can't even imagine how

13:47

how hard it is given the staffing reductions

13:50

at every newspaper are the ones that still

13:52

exist and publish seven days a week. You know,

13:56

even my job now, like I

13:59

podcast more equally than I used to, because

14:01

I guess that's where the demand is. I

14:03

have I do TV more frequently than I used

14:05

to because that's what the demand is. I don't have as

14:07

much time anymore to go luxuriate

14:10

in Orlando for four days and talk to Aaron

14:12

Afollo and you know, all the I'm

14:14

talking about what big features

14:16

I did years ago, Like, I don't have as

14:19

much time to do that anymore. And

14:21

I think, I

14:23

think, I think part of it is the

14:26

demands to just feed the

14:28

beast are such that,

14:31

I mean, you see writers, you probably see it sitting

14:33

there where you guys sit there in games. Writers

14:36

are filing their stories at

14:38

halftime, or they have to finish their

14:40

notebook column from what the coach

14:43

said at pregame, or shoot

14:45

around because the paper needs someone needs

14:47

that now. And it just that's

14:50

really hard work. And it's hard to multitask.

14:53

It's hard to do that and do deeper,

14:57

more analytical stuff. It's just if

14:59

you want to have any kind of life outside

15:02

of the game, if you have a family, it's

15:04

just hard. And I'm I'm really lucky

15:07

that I don't have to do as

15:09

much of the daily grind as I used to. I mean, when I was

15:11

a Sports Illustrated I was writing four blog

15:13

posts a day, which probably a twenty

15:15

five year old now thinks is nothing, but for me, was

15:17

like my hair was on fire all the god damn day long,

15:20

and I didn't have time to do really anything,

15:22

Like I didn't have time to go meet people for coffee. I mean,

15:24

that's how you make connections in the business, right you go to Orlando

15:27

and you sit down with the GM and the assistant GM

15:29

and the coaches and the scouts and you have a

15:31

beer and you talk about basketball,

15:33

and like that's it's hard to find time for that.

15:35

Now, Well, we always value

15:37

your insight and your input. I know Magic fans

15:39

do too. This Magic team, as we sit right now, Zach

15:41

at ten win turnaround from last year.

15:44

That's the largest turnaround in the Eastern Conference.

15:46

It's the right as we sit now, it's the sixth

15:48

largest in franchise history. Just

15:50

from a national perspective, Let's

15:53

get your thoughts on kind of where this organization

15:55

is headed in your opinion, I.

15:57

Think, are they twenty seven and twenty

15:59

four in they're last fifty one something like that,

16:01

right, so they're like, yeah, over five

16:04

hundred over two

16:06

thirds of a season now or some significant

16:08

sixty percent of a season, Like that's a real that's

16:11

a real thing. And they

16:13

did that with you know, I

16:15

mean, not that Terrence Ross and Mobamba were playing

16:17

huge minutes, but they're gone. Bow Bowl's not

16:19

playing anymore. He was the sort of feel

16:21

good story of the first forty games of the season. Even

16:25

Gary Harris is kind of up or down as your

16:27

fifth starter. Sometimes he's one of four, like last

16:29

night he was one of four, one of five. The

16:33

two forwards are going to be All Stars, both

16:35

of them, ban Carro and Wagner. And

16:38

you can find a lot of people around the NBA who would, if

16:40

you force him to pick, would rather have Wagner, which I

16:42

think would surprise a lot

16:44

of casual fans are just regular fans who just

16:46

Banko is such a monster for a

16:48

rookie and he's putting up so many points.

16:51

But that's how well regarded Franz Wagner is.

16:53

And that

16:56

Vucevich trade, I know it hurts to

16:58

lose a guy who is a core part of your team for so

17:00

long, a really popular teammate, popular

17:02

with the fans, popular with you guys. You know, part

17:04

of the Dwight trade back in the day to

17:08

get Wendell Carter Junior and Wagner

17:10

and another pick coming in, whether it's this year or

17:12

next year. Whenever it is, They're pretty

17:14

well set up. I

17:17

think the guard conversation

17:19

is going to be very interesting. Do

17:21

they regard Folts as a

17:23

stone cold lock starting point guard

17:26

on a on a team that wants to make playoff noise

17:28

next season? Do they regard him as

17:30

that? Alongside ban Carro

17:32

and Wagner, who need the ball a lot

17:34

and are very creative players. Is he a good off

17:37

ball pairing for

17:39

them? Where does Suggs fit in? He's

17:41

had an injury, you know,

17:43

has cost him a lot of games. He's been up

17:45

and down. Cole Anthony has

17:48

sort of settled it now as a really

17:50

good backup point guard. Is he happy with that?

17:52

Are they happy with that?

17:53

So?

17:53

I think the guard stuff is interesting,

17:57

But clearly they're on the

17:59

three man front court of Bankaro, Wagner,

18:01

Carter is a legit good NBA

18:04

front court that will be even better next year.

18:07

Zach Talker, your observations

18:10

of Polo, You know, we

18:12

try not to be too biased

18:14

and everything, but we have a bias towards Paolo

18:16

for Rookie of the Year. You

18:19

know, personally my opinion,

18:22

I don't see how it's not a unanimous pick,

18:25

but I know there's a lot of talk about some other

18:27

players.

18:27

What are your thoughts on Polo?

18:29

It's not going to be an animus pick. I

18:31

can tell you that for sure.

18:34

Amazing, I am not.

18:37

I am not sure who I'm voiding for yet.

18:40

Oh come

18:42

on now, hey, look, do you want me to come on the podcast

18:44

and be honest? You want yes and

18:46

just say whatever whatever you want to hear.

18:51

Inside you're about Polo,

18:53

Ranchero sauce courtesy or George.

18:56

We're gonna get into that.

18:58

I do like I do like hot sauce. I

19:01

put hot sauce on way too many things.

19:04

Look, it's one of these things things I've had some

19:06

people within the league just totally impartial people,

19:08

people on none of the teams started involved

19:10

in the say hey, have you have you

19:13

looked at Walker Kessler for Rookie of the Year.

19:15

I mean, look at his numbers, look at the efficiency, look at

19:17

what he's doing defensively on a team that's better than

19:19

expected. And I say, yeah, I've looked at it. And

19:23

with all respect to that guy who's going to be

19:25

on my ballot for sure somewhere and is

19:27

a no brainer first team All Rookie, he

19:30

has a twelve percent usage rate, Like

19:32

his job is to play defense and screen

19:35

and roll and get offensive rebounds. It's like

19:37

it's it's not even just apples to oranges

19:39

between him and a guy like ban Caro, who is thrust

19:41

into the role as number one option

19:44

on a rebuilding team. And when you are

19:46

that and when you are what is he twenty years old,

19:50

You're you're going to have low

19:52

shooting percentages and you're going

19:54

to shoot. He's at forty three percent overall, twenty nine

19:56

percent on threes. Like that's the price that

19:59

you pay for that, and it's a price Walker

20:01

Kessler doesn't have to pay. And I think he's a great

20:03

player, to be clear, I think

20:05

in between those extremes,

20:08

the kid in Oklahoma City is coming

20:11

and he has played like a borderline

20:13

All Star for the last two months of the season

20:16

in a role that isn't as

20:18

voluminous as ban Caro's. He's not the number

20:20

one option. They have a number one option

20:23

scoring thirty one points a game in Shake Gildess Alexander,

20:25

but he's oftentimes the number two option

20:29

and he's up to like fourteen a game. Ban

20:31

Caro's at twenty, So there's a raw points

20:33

difference there, but the efficiency that he's

20:35

doing fourteen to fifteen points a game is

20:38

pretty high. And I think he's probably a better defensive

20:41

player right now than ban Caro. Ban Caro's defense

20:43

has been better than I thought it would be

20:45

given what I had heard about him at Duke and stuff. I think

20:47

he's been fine. I

20:49

think it's a two man race between those guys, and I

20:51

don't think it's going to be unanimous. I hate to I

20:54

hate to be the bearer of I think it's

20:56

actually probably up in the air. I

20:59

would be I would bet bank

21:01

Hero wins, but it's close.

21:03

Oh oh, I wish it wasn't the

21:05

rookie of the last two months instead of the last

21:07

rookie of the year.

21:08

Well, two

21:10

months is thirty something games, Like two months

21:12

is not is not nothing, and it

21:16

is interesting, Like some

21:19

people the first

21:21

two months is what they prioritize

21:23

and like that kind of sets the baseline

21:25

and everything after that becomes a haze. And some

21:28

people have the recency bias

21:30

of like the last two months is what sticks in their

21:32

head. And I'm not sure either one of those is

21:34

better or worse way of perceiving

21:37

than the other.

21:37

I mean, but I think it's gonna be close. Sorry,

21:40

well, can I make the argument? And I wonder if it's I

21:42

wonder if it's even founded on anything. But you look

21:45

at if Polo had a clear number one, right

21:47

and now he's number two, right. You look at

21:49

the attention that that person's getting. What would Polo's

21:51

numbers look like if there was a thirty point

21:53

score alongside. I kind of think of Scottie

21:56

Barnes last year playing with two All Stars

21:58

that just kind of freed him up. You know, I

22:00

think Jalen Williams second, third, fourth

22:02

on scouting reports where Polo has

22:04

been first. Any validity to that possibly.

22:07

Or how do you accept? That's

22:09

what I was getting into, and sort of the difference between

22:11

a guy like ban Caro and Kessler, and that there

22:13

is a difference, it's just one of a smaller

22:16

degree between ban Caro and Jaleen

22:18

Williams, and it just some of it will

22:20

be you know. I mean,

22:22

this is a year where almost every awards

22:25

race, it's March twenty ninth,

22:27

there are like six seven games left. There

22:29

are so many of them are still up in the air

22:31

because so many teams are still playing for

22:33

stuff and part of it will be. I

22:35

mean, Jalen Williams had thirty three last night.

22:37

I think are thirty one last night in a game without

22:40

SGA that they lost. But those

22:42

games that the Thunder and other teams

22:45

are playing in are going to carry

22:47

all lot away because they're all going to be big games. And if

22:49

he shows out in the next six to seven games, I think

22:51

that's going to make a difference. The magic are hanging

22:55

by a thread in the play and race the game. The

22:57

stakes aren't quite the same. Tough

22:59

loss to the grizz last night, but playing

23:01

well, playing playing hard and playing well, so

23:04

Zach.

23:05

As a writer, Dante joked around it, you're going to

23:07

get a packet of ranchero sauce,

23:09

But do you get in

23:11

Because we, you know, Joel and I and Trish

23:13

and everybody in our department, we have our own way

23:15

of handling it, the way we've handled it for years. We

23:18

usually don't get into the to the gimmicks.

23:20

We don't. We don't send a box of cereal

23:22

or anything like that. As

23:24

a writer, okay, I mean, do you

23:27

appreciate that that tactic

23:29

because we we like to do things a different way,

23:31

and you know, I want to hear from

23:33

a writer's perspective what you

23:35

feel about getting the uh, you know, the

23:38

the box of Hamburger items

23:41

or something like that.

23:41

I've very my my

23:44

where I lost it

23:46

was living

23:48

in a small New York City apartment. The

23:51

Rockets sent me a million things.

23:53

Among them was a Chandler

23:55

Parsons themed Monopoly

23:58

game, outing

24:00

him as most improved players. I don't remember,

24:02

okay, And I just thought to myself, I

24:05

don't have space for any of this stuff anymore.

24:08

And I have more space now that we've

24:10

moved out and we have a house now. But I

24:13

just like put it this way. I

24:15

called ESPN like five six years ago,

24:18

and I was like, I told them, because they

24:20

would forward me stuff from Bristol or

24:22

La like that's where some of these things would arrive.

24:25

And I told them, stop, whatever you

24:27

get, just give it to people who are in the

24:30

office there. Do not send it to my house.

24:32

I don't want it. I don't want to like have to recycle

24:34

the boxes. I don't want to have to give it away.

24:38

And now, of course you guys have access to our

24:40

home addresses. In a lot of cases, I don't know if we're in

24:42

the blue book or where we are, so I can't stop

24:44

the flow of it anymore. But I'm

24:47

just looking around my office now, I

24:49

have stuff from All Star. I'm

24:52

literally meeting a friend of mine

24:54

today to drop off a

24:57

Donovan Mitchell themed All Star item

24:59

from the Cavalier is. It's like a cube

25:01

that lights up and does all sorts of stuff

25:03

that has his name and number on it. Her

25:05

son is a gigantic Donovan Mitchell. Fans

25:08

like, you want this? I don't want. I don't have any space for it.

25:10

So I appreciate the

25:13

minimalist approach to awards

25:16

campaigning, and so does my wife, who

25:18

is like, what is this stuff? Why is it taking

25:20

up our living room? What is this gigantic

25:22

box? So that's that

25:25

works for me.

25:26

Okay, good, because that's what you're gonna get from the

25:28

magic. You know, it's

25:31

not going to be fancy, and it's not going to be you

25:33

know, not gonna have light up.

25:36

If there are some that are really clever, I

25:39

will I will tip my hat to the

25:41

cleverness before figuring

25:43

out what to do with this object that now

25:45

lives in my house somewhere. But I at least

25:47

at least make it. If you're gonna do something, at least make

25:49

it clever.

25:50

But he don't influence your vote,

25:52

though it's.

25:53

Oh god, the idea. I

25:55

don't think teams do this to influence votes.

25:57

I don't think. I think teams do this

25:59

be because they want to show their players and

26:02

by extension, other

26:04

players in the league, like, Hey, this is how much

26:06

we care about our guys. This is what

26:09

we do for you while we're here. I

26:11

hope you remember this when you're a free agent,

26:13

or when you talk about what the Orlando

26:15

Magic or the Houston Rockets or whoever about. I don't

26:17

know if they think they're swaying votes.

26:23

They must not think very highly of the media

26:25

voters if they think a cube

26:28

or a cassette player or a

26:30

lamp or a shirt is going to be

26:32

like, you know what, I

26:35

think I do want this guy third Team All NBA.

26:37

This shirt is really nice. Like, they must

26:39

not think very highly.

26:42

We got to find him a Hedo Turka glue stick.

26:44

I was still one of my favorites. We got to find one

26:47

just for a nostalgia. I love the article

26:49

you wrote. You mentioned in one of your

26:51

ten Things Markel Fultz one of the quiet, quietest

26:54

best stories in the NBA, we feel

26:56

that way. We love the comeback story. There's

26:58

been fifty five, fifty consecutive games,

27:01

he's healthy. Just your thoughts on how

27:03

good can Markel Folts be. It's

27:05

a great story.

27:06

Yeah. The best part about it is soon it's

27:08

not going to be a comeback story anymore. Soon it's

27:10

just going to be Mark l Foltz is a good

27:12

NBA player. And if

27:15

you look back at just what happened to him in

27:17

Philly, the just

27:20

forgetting how to shoot, and you

27:22

know all of that, and

27:24

then he goes to you guys in what turns

27:26

out to be a good trade for both sides and

27:30

miss is almost two full seasons with injuries. I

27:32

think towards eight. One of them is an ACL tear right, I don't

27:34

remember if there was another one. Yeah, And

27:37

you just throw all of that on top

27:40

of a player number one pick

27:43

bust can't shoot. What

27:46

happened to him? It's a mystery that no one has

27:48

really solved, and then you throw the injuries on top of

27:50

it. It just feels like eight times

27:52

out of ten that story ends with the

27:54

he's out of the league. Now, that's just he's gone or

27:56

he's in overseas, or it's just he's

27:58

a twelve guy just getting just

28:01

sticking in the league. By a hair, he's

28:03

a good NBA point guard. Now he's

28:05

a legit NBA starting point guard. I

28:08

don't know if he's, like I said before,

28:10

if he's the ideal fit next to ban Caro and

28:12

Wagner, just because he's still a pretty

28:15

reluctant three point shooter. Mid range shot

28:17

is nice. Now free

28:19

throws he's alway shot free throws well, which is one of

28:22

the strange things about the whole thing. But

28:27

there are only thirty NBA starting point guards

28:29

on Earth, and he's one of them, and he deserves to

28:31

be one of them. And I don't know if he's eighteenth,

28:34

twentieth, fourteenth, twenty first,

28:36

wherever you want to rank him, that's still pretty damn good

28:38

considering where he was. And

28:40

I just think it hasn't gotten enough

28:42

attention, Like Ben Simmons

28:45

has gotten to use another sixer

28:47

just as comparison, his current

28:50

predicament and the vanishing

28:53

of his game has gotten a ton of attention

28:55

because we all look at the car crash, right, I mean, it's

28:57

like irresistible media coverage. He's been in big

28:59

markets. I don't think Fults's

29:01

story has got enough national attention. It's a great, great

29:03

story, and he's now it's just a story of

29:05

a guy who plays well and hard every night.

29:09

That kind of circles back to what we talked

29:11

about earlier. The Simmons thing gets more

29:13

attention in part because it's

29:15

a train wreck, but also in part because he's

29:18

in the markets that national people like

29:20

you cover and Mark L. Fultz is not.

29:22

So, you know, that's what That's what we

29:24

were talking about earlier. I wanted to ask

29:26

you, also, Zach, about the

29:29

effects of the play in tournament. Now we're

29:31

several years into this, we've talked

29:33

about it. It was the subject of it is this anything?

29:35

I think at one point along the way I

29:37

saw that one how few teams there

29:40

are now that really down the stretch

29:42

in the last month of the season that don't have

29:44

very much to play for in terms of, you

29:46

know, incentive late in the season.

29:49

We feel like it's worked out really well,

29:51

even though Jeff was a reluctant play

29:53

in tournament guy when the idea was

29:55

first broach, but now I think even JT's

29:58

on board.

29:58

What are your thoughts, well, the ultimate test

30:00

cases lebron Right who called for poor

30:02

Evan wash the architect of the

30:05

play in although he didn't name him, to get fired

30:07

in it is the first year of it, because

30:10

you know it was it was antithetical to

30:12

how he thought the league operated. And then when the Lakers needed

30:14

to play and all of a sudden, I was like, God,

30:16

nice to have this backdoor into the

30:18

playoffs. It's an absolute home

30:20

run. I mean you every this

30:22

used to be half

30:25

the games. By now we're unwatchable, if not, if

30:27

not more than half. Just they were

30:29

like eating a plate of broccoli, Like, all

30:31

right, I gotta watch tm

30:33

X versus Team Y because I feel responsible

30:36

to do it, and I got a column to write it, and blah blah

30:38

blah. And now there every game

30:40

feels like it's

30:42

a big deal that SGA's out this

30:44

game and this Pelican's Warriors come

30:46

back last night. It's a huge game with playoff

30:49

implications. It just it's it's awesome.

30:51

Every year there will be a couple of teams who,

30:54

because of injuries and circumstances and losing streaks,

30:56

kind of parachute out at the last minute and

30:59

say, you know, the flip

31:01

side of the play in tournament. Is that it's

31:03

more profitable than it used to be to be in the middle

31:05

of the lottery, so let's try to improve our odds

31:07

there. And that's kind of Portland this year is

31:10

doing that, and you know, maybe some other teams

31:12

will join them. But overall, I mean,

31:14

I don't even is there

31:16

even a counter argument anymore that it's

31:18

been a massive success? Is there? Is there even

31:21

is there a fringe of people who are like, I don't

31:23

want to play internam I don't even think that exists.

31:26

And couple that with the draft, with

31:28

the odds that shifted three or four

31:31

years ago. I just think the combination of both

31:34

has really been effected for the league.

31:36

Do you guys like the way they do it, like the seven

31:38

versus eight, the nine versus ten

31:41

kind of single and you if you've heard better

31:43

ideas than that.

31:44

No, But I also think like the team

31:46

that's in seventh, boy, they really must I

31:49

mean, say they finish one game out of

31:51

seventh, but five games ahead of the team that's

31:53

eighth, and they still have to go through,

31:56

you know, the process. But at the same I mean, there

31:58

has to be a line somewhere, and that

32:01

seven spot I mean, it does seem you can't really

32:03

think of another way to do it. I

32:05

just think that, like, boy, that's seven is so

32:07

so close to six and further away from

32:09

eleven. But but I get it, I

32:12

get it. I'm a I'm all on board because honestly,

32:14

like the Magic are still We're still

32:16

alive, right, and if this was another Staria

32:19

where the player exists, we would

32:21

have been over probably two weeks ago. So it's

32:23

it's from our perspective, it's great.

32:25

Yeah, I think that was my original

32:28

skepticism probably came

32:30

from you know, I think in the bubble

32:33

if you remember, I think we were what were we George

32:35

seven or eight and

32:38

then Washington was like five

32:40

six games behind. It's like they were

32:42

really basically eliminated and it gave

32:44

them an opportunity, which you know,

32:46

I thought at the time maybe that would

32:48

be the case, but you know, going

32:51

forward, but I think they've tweaked it enough with

32:55

the games that I think it's it's

32:57

good for the league, no doubt,

32:59

no doubt.

33:00

Well, Zach, I gotta get your thoughts on is this anything

33:03

before we let you go? I mean, when you watch it, right,

33:05

you watch all these broadcasts, I mean you got

33:07

to see behind the scenes. First of all, the

33:09

pitch is amazing, Right, He comes in with about

33:11

four ideas, knowing last

33:14

is going to be the one he really wants to sell.

33:16

But he'll throw some feeders out there.

33:18

I'm kind of working on this, kind

33:20

of working on this guy six to eleven

33:22

from Harlem, kind of got this whole thing, and

33:24

they'll throw that out there and get some nibbles.

33:27

And then he comes with the zigger and it's a

33:29

doozy every night. It's amazing, isn't it.

33:31

Well, and you've now created this suspense

33:34

where the truck, this this disembodied

33:37

truck somewhere is going

33:39

to be the ultimate judge of this, like

33:42

an unseen god or Wizard

33:44

of Oz or something. And you have Jeff

33:46

as the foil, who sometimes

33:49

is on board, sometimes

33:51

will get that seems like a little bit

33:53

of stretch.

33:54

You can tell you can tell what he's not though, can't you.

33:56

You can tell he's got on board, yeah.

33:58

And so, and it's

34:00

just it's one of those things. It's one of the reasons I

34:03

love Your Guys broadcast is because it's just

34:05

you can't you

34:07

can't overscript those things. They

34:10

just flow out of how you guys

34:12

process and think about the game, and

34:14

they turn into this thing that is, I'm

34:17

assuming beloved among your fans. You

34:19

know, whether it's a ding, I see it. There's a Twitter account

34:21

that tracks the dings and the non things,

34:24

and I'm honestly, the most impressive

34:27

thing to me is someone who digs around basketball

34:29

reference quite a bit in his normal, sad,

34:31

everyday life. Like if he's

34:33

coming in with four ideas, David,

34:36

you have no staff, You're doing this on your own, Like that's

34:38

actually we're sitting here chuckling about

34:40

it. That's work. That's time. That's

34:43

time you could be doing other things. That's

34:45

hard work. But like, don't

34:47

be facetious about it, like that's all

34:50

of this stuff is hard. Is work,

34:53

whether you consider it hard or not, it's

34:56

work, and it's time. It's

34:58

time that you could be spending doing

35:01

other things. And it's just my wife that

35:03

well, I'm sure, I'm sure there are days

35:05

I'm actually maybe I would ask you. I'm

35:08

sure there are days where you wake up

35:10

you're like, oh my god,

35:13

I don't have it. This is anything,

35:15

And I really would like to go

35:18

on the treadmill or have a coffee

35:21

with my buddy and whatever city we're in,

35:23

and I don't got to. I don't know if I'm gonna be able

35:25

to squeeze it in like it's I'm I'm not

35:27

making light of it, like it's a real it's work.

35:30

That's David.

35:32

That sounds like that sounds like twenty

35:35

twelve to seventeen right there. That that

35:37

exact expression.

35:40

Zach, you'll appreciate this. Like

35:43

the amazing thing is when

35:45

we travel, it doesn't matter

35:47

what city we're in. You'll

35:49

be walking somewhere and there'll

35:51

be somebody that yells, David,

35:54

was it anything?

35:56

You know?

35:56

I mean, it's like people are

35:58

just I just think it's amazing. You know

36:01

that he's created this, you know,

36:03

and basically he created

36:05

it just to kind of to

36:07

entertain ourselves on the bat,

36:11

and it's it's a big part of what it is, you

36:13

know, it's just.

36:15

How many how many people are in the

36:17

truck? Is there one person in the truck that

36:20

is the actual arbiter? Or is all of this state

36:22

secret and you can't even talk about.

36:23

You can't even talk about it. I can't talk about it.

36:26

Right, It's kind of got to stay. But I think

36:28

should we arrange a visit from Zach,

36:30

and you know, bring Kevin Clark with you. I know you guys are

36:32

great talking together. You know,

36:35

he does such a great job too. We'd love to have you

36:37

guys whenever you come down. Maybe we can. Can

36:39

we send them in the truck, guys, David, you think would be

36:41

up for that? David would

36:43

be interesting.

36:44

I think I think that's a I think that's a column,

36:46

Zach. I think that's a column.

36:51

That's like, that's

36:53

like opening the inner sanctum of the Hall of Fame or

36:55

something, and that's truth

36:58

be told. I

37:00

I would feel I

37:02

would feel nervous being in the presence of the truck.

37:05

And if there's a bell, I assume

37:07

there's a bell somewhere. And

37:13

one team that I will not name three

37:16

four years ago because I have another. I'm

37:18

a little up upset that Stuff has not made

37:21

an appearance here because I have a you know, I'm a mascot

37:23

guy, and Stuff is one of my favorite mascots. Stuff

37:26

the Magic Dragon is I assume that's

37:28

his full name, Stuff the Magic Dragon.

37:29

Yes, Stuff Dragon or magic

37:31

mascot.

37:32

I think another another team that

37:34

shall not be named. Once asked me, Hey,

37:36

would you like to come be our mascot

37:39

for a game and write about

37:41

it, and you know, do the

37:43

trampoline dunk and see what it's like.

37:46

And I thought I thought about it, and I was like,

37:48

I don't know if I want to do the performative, I

37:52

probably should have done it. But the bell

37:55

feels the truck feels workable.

37:57

We can do that.

37:58

Hold on, I will tell you, guys, I had a

38:00

couple of beers the other night with with the

38:02

truck and uh and the and the truck.

38:05

The truck is the truck is angry that he hasn't

38:07

been asked to be on the pod squad apparently

38:10

that I didn't know about.

38:11

So oh interesting.

38:12

You may be facing seven five more buzzers

38:15

here.

38:15

At the end ooh, at the

38:17

end of the year. Wraps up controversy,

38:20

controversy.

38:21

Very interesting, very interesting.

38:23

Well, Zach, we can't thank you and off I know magic fans.

38:25

Well, we'll enjoy this. Keep up the great work,

38:28

and we hope you get you down here soon. We'd love to have you

38:30

here in Orlando and we'll and we'll talk to you soon. We'll

38:32

let you get back to your cilantro sauce.

38:34

And and everything that you got

38:37

it's my pleasure, guys.

38:38

I hope to make a visit next

38:40

season. Uh it's it's always

38:42

a good market to see and the weather is always good

38:45

and I could take my daughter to Disney maybe

38:47

or something like that. But it truly it's a pleasure to

38:49

hang with you guys, and you guys

38:52

do great work. And I tell people all the time, if

38:54

you're watching a Magic game, watch the Magic broadcast.

38:56

It's just a joy. So thank you for all the work

38:58

that you put in and the good vie you send

39:00

out and the enjoyable broadcasts eighty

39:02

two times a year. Thank you, guys.

39:04

That means a lot. Thank you very much, Zach, we'll talk to you soon.

39:06

That'll do it for this edition of Magic Pod Squad.