Orlando Magic HQ Podcast – Ep. 181 – “Adversity“

Orlando Magic HQ Podcast – Ep. 181 – “Adversity“

Live from Orlando Florida you’re listening to the Orlando Magic HQ podcast the voice of magic fans join us every week for a unique fan perspective on all of the latest Magic news and updates the show starts now what’s up magic fans welcome back to another episode of the Orlando Magic HQ

Podcast brought to you by the believe podcast Network and bet online where you host Al myself Anthony today is Friday January 5th 2024 and in today’s episode we’re going to continue talking about injuries because we’re the magic why the hell not um also we’ll be talking about the magic

Going into double overtime and a very tough loss against the Sacramento Kings and how do we not talk about the newly announced magic doing the unthinkable and finally putting up a Jersey in the rafters and talk about um our reactions to that but before we get into all that

Magic stuff uh just a quick word from our sponsors bet online with NFL playoffs right around the corner in the NBA season in full swing bet online has you cover with all the up to the second odds news and scores with additional odds lines Trends and info on both

Desktop and mobile you can access the world’s best wagering information anytime head there today to get into the action see all the updated odds remember to use promo code believe to receive your 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit bet online where the game starts so jumping really right into it um we’re

Recording this Podcast Thursday night it’s 10:00 p.m. uh we just got the announcement just a few hours ago that the Orlando Magic will be retiring Shaquille O’Neal Jersey the first jersey retirement for the Magic The Magic were one of three originally before this announcement of teams in the NBA that

Haven’t had a retirement Jersey um in the Raptors now leaving behind as the Clippers and the Raptors it’s a shame that Vince Carter doesn’t have a jersey retirement inter WR that’s insane but besides that Al give me your your initial reactions shaas jersey retired at the new Kia Center what are your

Thoughts I mean uh I think unexpected like the timing of it you know it wasn’t like it was announced in the off season or it was announced early in the season like it’s right in the middle of the season so kind of weird timing um but I

Did see a lot of kind of confusion amongst magic fans and and really unhappiness with the fact that Shaq is going to get to be that first person and I think that’ll Le some debate between me and you today because I get it I do understand that the whole La situation

How he left since he left Orlando he hasn’t really repped the city of Orlando that much um so it’s a lot that can be you know broken down and discuss about that topic but to me it makes sense man like he was the first person that put us

On the map he was the first person that took us to the NBA finals so if you think about someone that deserves it in the sense of being the first one to go up in the rafters I think Shaq is that person and not only that let’s talk

About politics a little bit in the sense that he’s still a very big influence in media he’s still someone that has a lot of attention just in general so from that perspective too I think it’s a good look for the magic to to kind of amend that relationship in in a

Way um but to me personally I’m okay with it I’m just happy the team has finally embraced retiring jerseys we talked about that for years on the podcast if you’ve been listening to our show you can hear those episodes and you’ve heard us talk about this topic

Like why don’t we do it guess what it’s finally happening so for that I give the magic a lot of credit it will long overdue yeah um so uh I I look at it two different ways um so the the the first aspect of it is

Really I mean I’m more excited about the magic finally retiring a jersey more so than it being Shaquille O’Neal um and and these are the reasons why when it comes to Shaq Shaq is such a a polar figure that there’s there’s no in between you either love them or you hate

Them and there’s there’s a good amount of magic fans there are more on the the hatred Spectrum um I will say that um when the the 30 for30 documentary came out um with with This Magic Moment On on ESPN I I think that kind of released some of the tension off of Shaquille

O’Neal and the hate so I feel like the fan base that that narrative kind of supported the fan base um or or changed the mindset of the fan base of kind of accepting Shaq a little bit more um and in terms of mending fences I feel like

The magic already kind of did that with Shaq you know when they inducted him into the Orlando Magic Hall of Fame and gave him a nice little plaque um the retirement Jersey I’m not I’m not I’ll be honest with you I’m not I’m not crazy

For I’m not jumping out of my seat um am I accepting of it sure um but this puts the Magic in a in a very in my opinion awkward situation because when it comes to retirement Jersey uh they’re in debt man they’re they’re in debt there’s a

There’s a good amount of players that deserve having their jerseys um in the rafters and the idea of just having Shaquille o’ Neo as a sole recipient right now feels a little it feels like sloppy seconds if I’m being 100% honest with you more so because you’re you’re

Talking about retiring a jersey yes Shaquille O’Neal was the man that put us on the map Shaquille O’Neal is an individual that really forced his his dominance right he he always talks about him being a dominant player he was exactly that he is a defining reason why

The Orlando Magic were at least very respectable early on and we weren’t you know the Charlotte Bobcats as an example right but at the same time this is somebody that considers himself to be a Laker Legend we are retiring a Laker Legends uniform in our Rafters this is

Somebody that you know although we’re we’re in okay terms now or good terms now this is somebody that um really wasn’t an advocate for the magic for a good amount of time um so that that’s kind of that’s kind of my my drawback from it it it’s they they built him a

Statue in La man like jersey retired in La he’s not he’s not a a m he’s he’s no longer a magic player in my eyes he’s more of a Laker player and doesn’t matter what he says he he can say whatever he wants you know he there

There was a quote from him um I can’t remember how how far back where he talks about you know I I regret um leaving the Orlando Magic if I was to go back in time I would I would do it the DeVos family they they deserve titles and blah

Blah BL blah that’s that’s all fine and dandy but that wasn’t the case this is somebody that is is a big name in NBA basketball we know that he’s a big public figure but my man he won a championship for the Lakers he won a championship for our instate Rivals at

Miami Heat we we had four years with them that’s not not a whole lot of time it’s not so again it’s it’s more and and and this is the weird part right the fact that the announcement really came from him a few days ago on his big

Podcast is even more weird like the magic don’t operate that way I’m sure that that’s not I’m sure they weren’t happy when they found out that he was the one that mentioned it before and it’s the fact that the magic don’t do stuff like that and Shaq is the type of

Person kind of boosts himself up every chance that he gets that I don’t think people really took that serious you know so I’m I’m happy that we’re doing it if Shaq has to be the first one then Shaq has to be the first one I’m not jumping

Out of my seat that it is Shaquille O’Neal but I’m I’m at least happy that they’re finally opening that door because that that allows for opportunity for other well-deserving players to have their jersey in the rafters and I think I agree with you 100% I think that’s the

Exciting part that we finally opened that door we can go to the Kia center now for years to come and see new new jerseys being you know put up in the rafters that’s going to be exciting I think we need to put up something up

There cuz we don’t have much um but it’s it’s true what you say though you know Laker Legend Miami Heat championship you know so when you think about like our Rivals who we really kind of don’t like as a fan base he represents those two teams really before we come to mind at

Least when it comes to where he accomplished the most um but let me ask you who do you think then goes next because to your point I don’t think Shaq can be up there by himself for a long time I think at some point the next year

Or so um we’ll see someone else go up there who do you think that person will be you can make the argument for Nick Anderson um but I mean obviously the the name that comes to mind is how how do you not if if you’re retiring and this

This is the the weird part not necessarily weird but the where we kind of have to think all right so you’re retiring Shaquille O’Neal’s Jersey what is now the criteria like is it is it accomplishments is it um Fanfare is it uh marketing like what what is really

The criteria for a player that was only with us for four years right so you have to assume Penny Hardway is is it’s a lock like that that has to be a lock when when you talk about iconic uniforms uh iconic numbers like number one anyone rocks a number one you’re the first

Person you’re thinking about is Penny Hardway and depending on your age you might think is T-Mac but now I’m I’m not even Crossing off T-Mac as not being a possible option T-Mac was only with us for for one year he was he was also for four years and he was also another you

Know polar figure um I I it to me it would have to be Nick Anderson uh Penny Hardway Penny Hardway has to be up there but just to kind of take it a step forward this also almost damn near guarantees that Dwight Howard is also

Going to get his jersey up there if you retired Dwight Howard how do you not retire Jamir Nelson like there there’s just going to be an ongoing the magic are in in in debt they’re truly in debt with um who deserves to be up there and you know it’s again I’m glad that

They’re doing it because this will allow for us to be able to establish history um but again for Shaquille O’Neal I’m not I’m not going to look up and you know be like oh my God yes Shaquille O’Neal and the rafters at 32 looks beautiful like I just I don’t know I

Don’t know like I I’m I’m struggling right now to even think of another player that that that war number 32 for the magic outside of Shaquille O’Neal like CJ Watson comes to mind yeah like it’s not like it’s still like watching um you know traveling Queen wear number

12 to me is really weird like it’s still that that to me doesn’t sit right you know what I mean Jonathan Isaac wearing number one that doesn’t sit right if a player comes in and wears number 32 I I I’m not I’m not batting in I I’m just

I’m just not it’s it’s okay acceptable in my yeah I think for me personally I think you got you got Shaq number one I think for me the next one would have to be if you ask me Dwight Howard and I’m only saying that just because you’re

Going to start with those who have taken you to the finals who have taken you the furthest I guess as a franchise and to me it’s the two of them and then to me then Penny T-Mac will be the next ones to follow followed by in my mind Nick

Anderson like it’s it’s tough to say but if the criteria is not quite there right now we’ll see what they do in the upcoming years um who comes next and things like that that may give us the answers um but to your point they do

Have a lot of pay back to do I think there’s a lot of debt as to as to who goes next and guys that deserve to be up there and the rafter so at least we know it’s going to happen I also found it weird that they never made an

Announcement about this hey by the way starting with our 35th Anniversary we’re going to start retiring jerseys so we knew it was coming it was kind of out of the blue and to your point Shaq set it first and we on social media talked about it and we were like nah that can’t

Be real the magic don’t do that so again the timing of it and the way they’re handling it it’s kind of weird I get it’s anniversary year but again it could have be made a bigger deal the fact that the franchise is now doing this because

The fan base has been asking for this for years yeah I mean listen e even so much so that we we didn’t even make a post about it like we we just completely we ignored it um but again I’m I’m glad that they’re doing it um the ceremon is

Going to be on February 13th so I’m sure that you know it’s maybe our perspectives will change I hope hope that when they do retire at his jersey I hope that it’s just a retirement of the name in The Jersey I hope that they don’t put like the date on there uh that

Was my only thing just because I I don’t I don’t I don’t know man it’s it’s the fact that the tenure was was really small like jir Nelson playing with us for a decade like that that to me is like you know it’s that’s wow that’s huge that’s that’s that’s honorable man

You should celebrate that but Shaquille O’Neil with us for for four years as in act F and huge as he was I get it um I just feel like man when when we talk about people that talk highly about the magic or talk about us in a positive

Light the only time Shaquille Neil has ever really truly done that is when we talked about wanting to own the NBA franchise so true um I don’t know congratulations to him that’s that’s another thing that he can add to his his rap lyrics which is cool that he can

Brag about um outside of that uh it is it is awesome awesome that the magic have now uh found a way to truly truly honor uh some of these players outside of um the Hall of Fame the Hall of Fame I’ve always I I’ve liked it because this

Allows for them to be able to honor you know more more players that maybe wouldn’t get a chance to have their jersey retired um and this definitely should be you know reserved for the elites um so we’ll we’ll see we’ll see I’m I’m curious now like what what is

The time span right like to me that’s that should be the next question like all right is this something that you’re going to look at every five years are we now you know at the 35th Anniversary do we now wait for the 40th and then the

50th like how much long in between do we now have to wait for you know the the next one I I just man I I don’t know man I feel icky with Shaquille O’Neal being the only jersey retired in our Stadium um and and again in my mind he’s

He’s he’s a he’s a Laker player and he’s he’s super proud of his little statue that he has in LA and you know it’s it to me is more of of another another asset that you can brag about yeah but I I think they should over the next five

Years maybe do the next five jerseys and then after that start doing it every five years from there but they have enough to do one every year for the next five and then after that kind of dial back just kind of what I think they should do yeah but hey they’ve done it

Congratulations is it is Long Time Coming definitely a surprise and a shock but definitely well overdue all right so let’s talk about the week and review so the magic uh big win against the Knicks 117 and 108 and then we kind of go on to losing streak not kind of we 100% Going

On to losing streak with a loss against the Suns 112 to 107 loss uh against the Warriors 121 115 a loss against the Sacramento Kings 138 to 135 it’s been a very very tough tough road trip um the magic have been we we’ve been struggling

A lot of that is attributed to the fact that we just can’t stay healthy it’s just it it never fails us if there’s one thing that you can bet on is a magic not being healthy I feel like you know this has just been our story every season

Long and it is it is binding us and it’s biting us pretty pretty bad so um I want to spend some time talking about last night’s game because last night’s game was was awesome it was awesome in ways that it shouldn’t be awesome but but it

Was for those of you that were um uh brave enough for those of you that had the energy for those of you that had the effort to stay up until past 1:00 in the morning to watch this game into double overtime kudos to you I did not have

That energy in me I just I just didn’t I tried my hardest and could not I got two kids I got a job early in the morning it was just impossible um luckily Bal Sports they they got me locked in with the replay it was awesome I was able to

Catch up to it but if you watch the game live I’m sure that that was something epic because knowing watching that game on replay the morning after this morning and knowing the outcome uh of of scoring and and and just from the highlights that I saw I I was still anxious

Watching in the replay so give me give me your quick thoughts around uh you know what what what are your likes and what what stood out to you in that Kings game I mean honestly the first thing that comes to mind is the fact that I don’t know about you guys listening you

Anthony but once France went down and we were trailing at Halftime by double digits my mindset was we’re done we’re not going there’s no way we’re going to compete there’s no way we’re going to keep up with the Kings they’re a really good team and to make matters worse

We’re playing the second game of a of a back toback so I’m like we have no chance on top of that Paulo Springs his ankle in the third quarter and you’re like okay here we go not only did we lose France now Paulo’s heading to the locker room and some way somehow after

He came back thankfully he did it was just literally Magic from there like the team just caught fire Paulo was Unstoppable we were hitting threes left and right and just a fight so again I’m going to give credit to coach mostly for one thing man like we’ve said it before

The way he gets the guys to fight I don’t care who gets on the court if it’s G leager if it’s the third string whoever it is they play hard they fight and last night was a perfect example of this like this team fought so hard Paulo

And Cara mean he scored the last 18 at one point he had a 18 18-point run where he was just by himself scoring against the Kings and keeping us in this game big bucket after big buckets if you’re wondering if this kid is an All-Star just watch last time last night’s game

There’s no way you can debate that um unfortunately it came down to a few tough tough calls uh that we can look back and say man those ended up costing us the game and guess what today the the two-minute report came out uh by the NBA

And there were about four calls in the final two minutes of that game that were completely missed by the refs and called incorrectly unfortunately against the magic so I went from this mindset of we’re going to lose doesn’t matter what happens we’re playing hard we’re competing but to see that today it made

It sting a little more the fact that we lost a game on some calls that were really really questionable to begin with especially that sabonis crane against uh Queen like that was complete BS like that was a game Cher um but outside of that it is what it is behind us amazing

Game amazing performance a classic this is now back toback years we go on a crazy game against the Kings I remember that that buzzer beater by Fox last year from half court that happened here at mway it’s crazy like we we got this thing with the Kings where some classic

Games happen but it was tough just because if we could have won won that game it would have made the road trip a little bit better knowing what we now know the fact that France is hurt the team keeps getting hurt Gary Harris is

Hurt again um but man 0 and three in the road trip but that game last night was a blast what were your thoughts yeah so so what was awesome about uh last night’s game I is is the fact that the magic found a way to be competitive with weird rosters uh

Rotation excuse me so we we saw traveling queen that played a total of 30 8 minutes Caleb Houston 31 minutes um you had uh chuma okk played 27 minutes and it this game reminded me a lot of uh this might have been a few seasons ago

But it reminded me a lot of uh the game that the magic played against the Lakers and we were able to beat the Lakers with you know players like uh your guy was it Brandon Johnson what’s his name the guy BJ Johnson excuse me BJ Johnson Wesley

Aandu um you know Marquel FZ was in in that game it it reminded me a lot of that game because uh man it it it was every literally everyone giving a ton of effort um for the magic it’s surprising for the magic being a team that struggled so much from behind the

Three-point line uh it was fun and funny uh to listen to Dante and Jeff Turner kind of talk about our shooting and how how crazy it was just everything seemed like it was going in the magic ended up scoring a franchise record of how many three-point shot that they made behind

The three-point line and 25 to me that that was fun yeah 25 Jaylen Suggs with 50% um from three-point line shot um 6 for 12 Paulo Bank Carroll 6 for9 they were going crazy uh chumo KK finally show some life which was super dope because this is a player that every

Single f um rolled off completely even myself um so the see him give a give a little life and and really just kind of go in guns blazing Fearless looking for a shot uh you can even tell like he he felt like he could have done more but it

Wasn’t just it wasn’t just his three-point shooting it was his rebounding uh it was him fing Pao B Carol with the inbound pass um it was him playing defense he was literally doing everything you may not see it on the stat sheet you know he only scored

You know 11 points but you know during his you know 27 minutes he was Plus and it was it was awesome like if if chuma is able to give some type of energy like this um you know on a consistent basis he he’s going to find minutes on the

Floor like you it’s it’s you have to play him it’s just we need to be able to see that consistently because there’s times where you know he’s been thrown been thrown in in garbage minutes and he’s just trying to look for his own shot because he’s trying to take

Advantage of the little time that he has um but I I really love seeing you know uh what we expected from Trum from chuma when we first drafted him so that was fun um and you know traveling Queen I I’m sure he had no idea he was going to

Be playing this many minutes it it just was not it didn’t cross his mind and then Caleb Houston awesome also four from six from the three-point line uh the purest shot on the team man every shot that he takes it it looks like it

It goes in um he’s he’s a pure shooter I love what he brings so it was fun it was fun um seeing guys that we don’t normally expect much from give us their all and and I think that no matter win or loss obviously we want that win uh

You you can this is a loss that you can definitely build on for sure it’s unfortunate now that we know what we know so the injury report came out for tomorrow’s game and seems like we’re going to get Cole Anthony back but unfortunately France which we expected that that ankle injury unfortunately we

Haven’t talked about it too much yet but that ankle injury did look bad initially um he ended up not coming back into the game and now we know he’s not playing tomorrow but not only that now we see that Gary Harris is also not going to play tomorrow in Denver which must suck

For him the fact that he’s going back to Denver where where he kind of started his NBA career and uh people love him there so he won’t be able to play there uh Wendell Carter is questionable so it’s like I don’t understand man like this list just keeps getting weirder and

Weirder and we’ll transition to injuries I guess and I’ll ask you like what I mean what do we do this is what the sixth year in a row injuries is an issue for the Orlando Magic and we talked about it early in the season like we were winning we’re playing well and a

Big part of that was we had we had healthy bodies we had a team that was available to play and we saw the results we won nine in a row we were we were nine games over 500 at one point but unfortunately we’re back to reality now

Injuries are a big deal but we can’t get guys like Gary Harris who St healthy wend Carter keeps struggling with the the wrist the knee and let’s not even talk about Marquel faults and the fact that he keeps going from questionable which gets gets excited to then being

Listed out back to back games after that again the same thing happened last month against Boston so like what do you make out of all these random injuries but then how we’re handling them because I haven’t even talked about ji yet the fact that he has precaution took a day

Off against the Cavs a few weeks back and since then it went from a a sore hamstring to now a hamstring strain to now he having missed the last almost two weeks what are your thoughts on that I know it’s a a topic we’ve we’ve discussed plenty in this podcast but

What are your thoughts on what’s happening again with the team injuries suck it’s just it’s just what it is and it’s unfortunate because it feels like we’ve been cursed with this injury bug for years so whoever pissed off whoever apologize to whoever it is that you need to apologize to because we we

Need to be able to shake this off um but but truthfully y you know it’s it’s it’s a blessing in disguise that it’s I would rather it happen now than it happen later in the postseason so get get all that out of your system now because when

It comes closer to you know the the end of the season we’re really going to need all our guys to be able to really make noise fortunately the magic they we you know when we went on that nine game winning streak it it gave us a good uh a

Good cushion in between so right right now the magic are tied um for the six uh seed with the Cavs and the Knicks where we’re all tied 19 and 15 but the magic need to start winning some ball games and the only way that that’s really going to happen is us getting healthy

And that needs to happen soon and if it’s not getting us getting healthy we need to start bringing guys back in like Marquel folz like it’s it’s now time early or not it’s now time to start bringing him back like Pao Bank Carroll Pao Bank is going to end up hurting

Himself more if he doesn’t have help like he’s he’s doing a lot and and the way that poo Bank Carroll plays basketball it it’s not like he’s he’s playing with finesse he’s playing with body with contact like at every play he’s he’s trying to muscle his way

Through and it’s going to it’s going to hurt him in the long run if he doesn’t have that support um and and fron allows for that to to take that pressure off with France out of the game I mean you’re you’re talking about somebody that you know barely had 22 points at

The end of the third quarter my man ended with 40 plus so he’s he’s doing a lot he’s a stud you need to be able to find him help and we can’t just rely on on him it’s it’s a lot different if we’re relying on a player like Steph Curry

Who’s shooting from behind the three-point line a majority of his of his game to where Paulo B Caro again he’s putting a lot of strenuous movements on his body and I think that you know if we don’t do something quick um we’re we’re really going to hurt

Oursel in the long run because we we absolutely need poo B Carol like we we need him for us to be able to do any kind of noise any kind of damage this season yeah man I’m just hoping that to follow up on that we we need France also

Available right because he he’s the one that takes that that the load off of Pao some sometimes when he’s getting those double teams and triple teams they can’t do it when France is in the game so I’m hoping that he only misses a couple of games historically France has been a

Made out of iron this two does not miss games so I’m hoping that he only misses a couple of games maybe at most maybe a week um but we we need some good news there from him so hopefully tomorrow there’ll be an update um from Denver on

How he’s doing well we’re not getting much we’re going to get the same thing they day to day we’ll see what happens but um to your point man we need this guy’s healthy we need ji we need Marquel like it’s been a long long time and

My thinking is so the front office we knew it was going to be a evaluation year we knew they’re going to be thinking about who fits how do we build from here what are your thoughts on that like if you were in the front office right

Now what are you thinking when it comes to guys like ji Marquel Gary Harris that have proven to you now for two years that they cannot stay healthy is it when is the time to to kind of cut ties and say hey we need availability we need

Guys that are here to help our team win and to your point from last last week we talked about this the trade the line’s getting closer and we got to figure out like do we make a move now do we wait it out until the end of the year what are

Your thoughts on that yeah so I mean re reality is that we have certain players that they just cannot stay healthy for a good stretch amount of games Gary Harris is one of them Jonathan Isaac is another Marquel folz like they they just can’t stay healthy um now a player like

Jonathan Isaac isn’t a player that I would like to move on from for the simple fact that we’re not really relying on him as much as we we’re relying on Markel folz or as much as you know you would say that we would kind of rely on Gary Harris right Jonathan Isaac

You know his contract isn’t strenuous um when he plays it elevates our team just that much his impact is just that great right um but you you really have to answer start answering tough questions like you know if we can’t if we can’t rely on you then what what good are you

For us for this team Paulo needs help France needs help and if we can’t get it then the magic need to start really thinking about you know what’s what are we going to do that’s going to best Elevate this team around Apollo and France and the NBA trade deadline is is

Now the good opportunity do you try do you try and save the season if we if we’re still if we’re still dealing with these injuries the magic have to decide is this the season that we’re going to really push to make the playoffs is is that what’s most important to us because

If it is then you’re going to have to make moves to be able to save the season now you you would hate to make a a move like that because you don’t want to jeopardize anything for what’s happening now like and our front office has never operated that way right they’re they’re

Not going to do anything um they they don’t worry about now they worry about long term so you know it makes it makes the situation difficult because uh you you want to be able to provide support we just haven’t been able to be healthy we know that with a healthy team um you

Know we’re we’re we’re a great great basketball team um and we’ve talked about this before strength by numbers in order for us to be really successful we need to be able to have everyone our death is our strength and we just don’t have that right now like traveling Queen

Plane almost 40 minutes it’s not like it it was it was it’s a great basketball game we enjoyed it it was surprising he had a nasty block he had a nice dunk but we can’t rely on that like we can’t rely on uh jayen Sugg scoring six three-point

Shots like every game Pao banero doing the same thing us scoring 20 plus thre points three-point shots in a game that’s just not it’s just not consistent that’s just not not the reality of it so the Imagine go three and seven in the last 10 games and you know five and 10

In the last 15 games so my question to you then is are you worried about our spot like are are you worried about us falling far down to where we kind of jump back into reality where hey maybe the reality is that we’re we are a playing team so that that’s the fear

Right so this month is is a beast of of a month the schedule is not easy at all um so if we cannot get healthy that’s why I said like France missing maybe a couple of games games okay but if it’s like a two week thing a month thing it’s

Brutal for us a huge hit um Marquel and ji now coming back or like anytime soon that also going to is going to play a factor so we need to win a few games in January I’m not expecting a winning record in January but something close to

It the key to me is this team being three games above 500 to Five By the time of February getting here like we got to be above 500 if we’re falling behind that then to your point it’s going to be rough although the schedule does get easier after February and

Hopefully we’re healthier by then we can go on a run um I’m of the preference of us kind of protecting that lead that we’ve built you know at one point we were nine games over 500 that was incredible I I want to at least stay above 500 a decent amount by the time

That the schedule eases up in February um so yeah I am a little concerned I do think the Cavs and Knicks have had their struggles I don’t think they’re going to go on some crazy run here and distance themselves from us by a large number but

If we continue to lose we may ourselves be hurting ourselves about if we canot find a way to win some games so I think personally for me I’ll be honest like if we make the playing game that was my goal entering the season that was what

We were kind of hoping for so if that’s what we end up it’s kind of disappointing now but that’s still an accomplishment to go from a tanking team to a rebuilding team to now a playing Team progress right but after where we were third seed fourth seed in the East

With some potential showing and the injuries hurt us again it’ll be a tough Hill to swallow to go from April through October knowing that we we could have been better um so yeah I am a little bit concerned but let’s see what the next couple of weeks uh bring for us but what

About you what are your thoughts when it comes to where we are today and where we may be heading yeah I mean personally I don’t care get in if it’s through the playin it’s through the playin if we’re blessed enough to where we get things rolling again then and and we don’t have

To be in the plan then ideally that that would be the route to go but as long as the magic find their way into the postseason that’s all that matters because we we know that this team is just nobody was expecting for that from us last season we really wanted it but

No one was really expecting that this season we go on a run we start winning games games we start getting a little recognition and now our expectations has adjusted right but we’re going through the injuries and we know that the injuries is just a part of magic is it’s

Just part of our brand at this point it’s just what we deal with and it’s it’s a major major deal um so for for me ideally do we want to stay out of it of course but if not it’s not it’s not the end of the world as you said is it’s not

A failure it’s still success if anything playing tournament I don’t want it knock on wood if anything a playing tournament will kind of help set the tone for a young team like the magic going into the playoffs right so if they have to battle it out in the playin and

They still find their way into the playoffs man you you talk about a confidence booster you talk about a good simulation you know you you talk about how much the team has already grown from an inseason t tourament and being in that level of of competition for

Basketball you know it allows for the team to grow even that much more so um in my opinion just get there you know you’re you’re going to go through adversity this is just the the the time where the magic are going through our adversity we’re dealing with it now um and through

That Paulo Ben Carroll I mean he’s he’s just shining from it bro we’re we’re talking about um in the 4 game West Coast trip so far far Paulo B Caro is averaging 32.7 points per game 8.3 rebounds uh six assists 3.73 points me like like this dude is just balling

Balling and with that unfortunately he’s still not getting the respect that he deserves when it comes to the uh Allstar voting so the the first batch of votes that finally came out and Pao M Caro was listed as the 10th most votes amongst fors in the Eastern Conference um right

Behind KY kozma and you know maau Bridges bridges I understand I I like bridg Bridges is a baller Kyle kosma for the life of me I I have I don’t know I there’s no he plays for the Wizards Wizards are trash kma is is is

Kozma do you still see like do do you believe that Pao Bank Caroll is a lock for the allstar game and mind you this is just to be clear this is fan voting I I think so I think he will be and to the point this is fan voting I never

Expected Paulo to be you know a top three top four in the voting from fans like it wasn’t going to happen no matter how many votes we as magic fans submit per day per week per month it’s just not going to happen unfortunately fans are

You know how it is man they’re going to go for the dudes that they see on ESPN every day and NBA TV and TNT that’s just the way it is to your point though Cal is not on National Television he is not on a winning team but why is he there

Because he’s LeBron’s old teammate that’s the reality of it so all I’m going to say is as magic fans let’s ignore the fact uh Let’s ignore this voting like let’s not pay attention to it it doesn’t matter I know we want the recognition but at the end of the day

The way that Paulo’s going to get in is a reserve and that’s the only way right so we’ll worry about this later in January once TNT announces the reserves I firmly belief Apollo’s name will be there and man you talked about Apollo playing well France another guy that was

Building up he was averaging over 25 points uh in the last few weeks Pao doing the same so that duo that we’ve talked about so much about being Unstoppable in years to come we’re seeing why they’re they’re hitting that try now where they’re both hitting 20 plus every night again man we’re going

To be a winning team here very shortly winning very very often thanks to these two guys so two other I think even France might get some some love if there’s a lot of injuries in the East uh because again France is balling out he needs to do it more consistently but uh

Paulo for sure yeah the magic will have the second to last most difficult schedule for the remaining of the season so hopefully January um there there’ll be an opportunity for us to be able to win some more basketball games and and kind of get us going um towards the

Second half of the season so kind of talking about the week ahead so tonight we have the Denver Nuggets followed by Sunday against the Hawks and then Tuesday against the wolves um the last time that we recorded when we had our predictions one out of the two of us

Said that we would go one and three and unfortunately that person was correct um so what would you say is uh your projections now uh realistically Al for the week ahead you nail man you had that that one and three and exactly what we

Are I I didn’t want I didn’t want to be right though I didn’t want to be right I to my defense I was I I had us two and two and it would have been that Warriors game had we been healthy unfortunately we weren’t and here we are but looking

Ahead man things are get any better that Denver game unless something miraculously happens uh no way we win tomorrow night or tonight here in Denver with so many injuries that we’re dealing with I am really really hoping come back home on Sunday face the hog Sunday

Afternoon game marel is back ji is back Joe Engles is back at the very least France we’ll see what happens but getting some depth it’s going to help us because we need that against his teams in the East like the Hawks um so hopefully we win that one and the Wolves

Man they’re a great great team uh that’s going to be a tough battle again if injuries continue to be an issue even though the game is at home it’s another challenging game for us so I’m going to hope for one and two but again if injuries continue to be this bad it

Could easily be another 0 and three week and uh we’ll be hitting what six game losing streak at that point hopefully that won’t happen yeah for me buckle up is going to be bumpy tonight against Denver Denver Nuggets you you already know that that’s going to be a rough one we’ve struggled

With the Hawks and then the Timberwolves they’re they’re just playing really good basketball right now Anthony Edwards is is a dog so um I’m I’m a little I’m a little worried the the part that um is a Shining Light is the fact that the Hawks

Game and the Wolves game will be will be at um those game will be at home so we want to be able ble to take advantage of homec Court um and hopefully one of those games will will fall our way but if I’m predicting and I’m putting my

Money on it uh sports betting is now legal in the state of Florida I would not be putting any money on the magic at all for these upcoming games it’s just with with injuries how can you if we had a healthy roster it would be a different story unfortunately that’s just not the

Case for our guys um and and this is kind of where it’s at so the question is now that the match are really dealing with these injuries is this an opportunity for us to really get a chance to be able to see J Howard J Howard has been absolutely

Balling for the osula magic can we can we see do you predict is there an opportunity I mean we’re we’re seeing traveling Queen playing heavy heavy minutes is there a world will we see Jay Howard I mean I I I hope so I really think that he’s not

Playing tonight in Denver they didn’t call him up just because the road trip’s already ending so kind of no purpose in flying him out across the country to just play one game but I am hoping that Sunday night here in in um in Orlando facing the Hawks we see him again if the

Injuries continue to be as bad as they are today hopefully that changes let’s get that very clear but if it doesn’t there’s no way you cannot play this kid I mean you have to at this point Hees he has a skill a shooting skill that we

Need and I mean look at Caleb Houston his job is to go up and down the court play decent defense and shoot the open threes that’s exactly what Jah needs to do um if he can do that and hit a couple threes a game that’s a nice start to his

Career but he’s got to find a way to hit the court he was the 11th pick in the draft for a reason I’m hoping they saw some sort of talent that they that they liked well let us see that because I think the time has come but we need his

His help here so hopefully we see him um but at the same time if injuries can can heal and some of the guys that we know they’re going to play can get back like Joe Engles and and Marquel and ji then I’m I’m hoping for that first but uh if

Not I hope we see him yeah so uh J Howard he’s averaging 20 points a game for Oola uh averaging 37.7 uh 3o percentage from behind the arc at almost a 103 point shot attempts a game in the last six games so um this is definitely someone that that can help

From help the shooting it’s just we we need to be able to transition what he’s developing from aola into the vars team so um on that note man tough tough games ahead a lot of exciting things to to be excited for in the future of the Orlando

Magic um and we will’ll just wait to see man can we survive this span with with injuries how long were France Vagner really be out um we’ve always called him the Iron Man hopefully we get to see him back soon and this isn’t one of those um

Magic stepping in and extending uh for precautionary purposes uh Keem and fron Vagner Al for for a really long time so on that note the show was presented by B online it is a rap catch you guys next week for all the latest Magic news and updates visit Orlando Magic hq.com and

Follow us on Instagram at Orlando Magic HQ and on Twitter at om magic HQ also remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel And subscribe and leave a five-star review on your favorite listening platform

In this episode, Anthony and Al discuss the retirement of Shaquille O’Neal’s jersey by the Magic. They debate the timing and significance of the decision, as well as who should be the next player to have their jersey retired.

They also discuss recent games and discuss the impact of injuries on the team’s performance. Both also express concern about the team’s spot in the standings and the need for healthy players. They also discuss the All-Star voting and the possibility of Jett Howard finally getting some playing time due to all of the injuries. The episode concludes with predictions for the week ahead.

Timeline:

00:00 Introduction
01:31 Retiring Shaquille O’Neal’s Jersey
03:56 Debate on Shaq’s Jersey Retirement
08:32 Who Should Be the Next Jersey Retirement?
15:36 Review of Recent Games
25:38 Injury Concerns
37:01 All-Star Voting and Projections
40:18 Predictions for the Week Ahead
42:42 Possibility of Jett Howard Getting Minutes
45:06 Conclusion

***

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