EP. 386 – Hockey Puck In A Tree w/ Jeff Turner – Orlando Magic Podcast
This is the Sixth Man Show an Orlando Magic podcast with your hosts Luke Sylvia and Jonathan Osborne covering all things Magic Basketball by fans for fans go magic what’s going on Orlando Magic fans you guys are back with the six-man show today is January 25th 2024 my name is Jonathan Osborne as
Always joined by my co-host Luke Sylvia Luke what is going on my friend this happened one other time this year Jonathan and I just I this is where I got to start off I’m not happy about it the magic play Monday Sunday Monday and then you don’t play again
Till Friday I think this has happened once or twice one or two other times this season I don’t know I don’t know how it happens cuz I don’t think the we played the Cavs on that back toback to uh Monday and I don’t think the Cavs play again till like Thursday or Friday
Like they got a break too I don’t know what the reasoning is but I just you know I I I spend you’re you’re in season mode and you’re like your brain is conditioned that every other night pretty much at least you’re going to be sitting down to watch a magic
Game and then I got to wait Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and then finally Friday night this team plays again I don’t remember if that’s common but it’s crazy I think the stretch you’re referring to is uh when we played Saturday December 2nd and then we went Sunday Monday Tuesday without a game and
Then played Wednesday December 6 so that was when all of the inseason tournament games were getting figured out like if you weren’t moving on to the knockout stages they had to schedule those two games in between but it does feel like we’ve had more stretches like that this
Season than most and I think that is probably why like that other pocket that we had and now we do have this like a typical stretch where you don’t play Tuesday Wednesday Thursday but then you play Friday like coming off of a backtack and then you have one day off
And you go immediately into another back toback so it’s definitely a weird pocket of the schedule that we’re in right now for sure and it doesn’t help that we lost in terrible fashion the most recent one so we just got a stew for few days before we even get to see them redeem
Themselves hopefully against the Grizzlies yeah that was super unfortunate the loss to the Cavs Monday night6 to 99 in which we’ll talk a little bit more in in a few minutes about and then folks don’t forget well don’t forget but I mean you probably read the the show notes or the
Description whatever we did here uh Jeff Turner color commentator for balet sports Florida in the Orlando Magic in front of the podcast um has pledged the last couple of years to meet with us like after each quarter of the season so now we’re a little bit past the second
Quarter and the halfway mark of the season so Jeff Turner jumped on the show to talk a little bit about how the magic had been performing you know the second quarter of the Season obviously the the injuries being a big part of that and then we got to talking about Sha’s
Jersey retirement and the Rejuvenation I guess we would say of the Orlando Magic theme song so all that was really really fun make sure that you stay tuned in for the the later part of the episode to hear our conversation with Jeff always appreciate his time Luke we’ve got a
Couple of housekeeping items to touch on before we get into Magic Basketball here next watch party folks coming up not this Friday but the next Friday February 2nd crazy to say that we’re already in February already uh that night the magic are in Minnesota to take on the
Timberwolves we will be at Elixir downtown Orlando I don’t have that address in front of me I I’ll try to pull that up in a second here Luke but elixir we were there once last season uh for the the the season opener against the Pistons and one thing that I
Remember from Elixir is they have one heck of a patty melt so they’re located at 9 West Washington Street downtown Orlando Florida that game tips off at 8 o’clock so we’ll be there around 7:30 but Elixir is a really cool layout awesome Vibes last season it was so much
Fun obviously it was the first game of the season and uh yeah we’re looking to get a win this time against Minnesota Luke it would be nice if we could do that and you mentioned the Melt the patty melt patty melt was literally out of this
World I did not get to attend the last time we were at Elixir so I’ll have to do that you’re a big melt guy you you might be the honorary podcast melt efficient a expert I’m the Melt man you’re the yeah sure um so melt man I’m
Going to try the the Melt when we’re at the uh Elixir there on what’ you say February 2nd yeah next Friday starting at 7:30 part’s going to jump off around that time tip offs at 8:00 and I hope to be like deep in a in a patty melt uh
During that first quarter there so whatever kind of visual you want to take from that that’s up to you yeah oh man what a start to the Pod folks if you are part of our patreon tonight if you’re listening to this on Thursday January 5 is going to be our
Next Patron Zoom for our Hall of Fame and Elite tier patrons so if you are one of those already Hall of Fame Elite tier Patron please be sure to join us at 8:00 on zoom we’re going to post the link in the patreon if you haven’t joined our
Patreon yet this is a great opportunity and a great time to do so again at the hall of fame or Elite tier level where we’ll hang out and just talk Orlando Magic basketball so we check in with everybody see how everybody’s doing magic are sitting two games above 500
Here almost at the end of January so everybody should be feeling relatively good about the magic so looking forward to that again tonight at 8:00 and Luke vot votes for allar has ended we talked about this on the last pod so tonight again as you’re listening uh the
Starters are going to be announced on Inside the NBA on TNT next Thursday is what we’re really going to be paying more attention to at least I think it would be crazy if Pao was voted as an All-Star starter in his second year but next Thursday the reserves are going to
Be announced so we’re going to be tuning into that to see if Paulo makes the All-Star Game we’re going to try to time it so that we’re on playback when that announcement happens or if Shams leaks it whatever it would just be really cool
I think to be able to react to that in real time either to be super pissed and burn down the entire world because paa got snubbed or to celebrate that our guy made his first All-Star game now to the state of the magic Luke this week the magic are 0 And1 so far
With a loss to the Cavs on Monday at home they currently sit eighth in the Eastern Conference with a record of 23 and 21 on the year they are 11 games back of first place Boston seven and a half games back of Milwaukee seven games back of Philly four and a half games
Back of Cleveland four games back of New York a game and a half back of Miami one game back of Indie two and a half games up on Chicago four and a half games up on Atlanta 5 and a half games up on Brooklyn and seven games up on Toronto
Luke it’s starting to feel like I think you were were texting about this earlier or or later last week that the seatings are are sort of being settled a bit we’re not seeing teams just like jump all over the place like they were a couple of weeks ago where we were fourth
And then we were seventh and then we were fourth and then we were eighth and then we were fifth and then we were sixth we’ve sort of settled into these spots here you know 42 games in some of the team teams at the top of the Eastern
Conference are are creating space but in regards to Cleveland New York you know we’re four and a half games back of Cleveland four games back of Chicago a game and a half back of Miami a game back of Indie four and a half games is starting to to feel further and further
Away but especially with Miami and Indie and you’ve got Chicago two and a half games behind you you know these 6 seven8 n spots are starting to feel a little bit tighter than they were a couple of weeks ago go yeah and the the important thing to note is
That you the good news is you can always look ahead on the schedule and see despite the current circumstance of the standings there is a path even in the near near future for the magic to jump up even one spot right because you’re only a game behind the Pacers and the Pacers on
Thursday the Pacers end up are playing the 76ers so the Pacers play the Sixers and then guess what the Pacers play the Suns on Friday just beat Memphis and at that rate you’d be ahead of the Pacers because if they lose on Wednesday or uh yeah on no tonight
Thursday your half game you beat Memphis they lose to the Suns you’re up you’re you’re handily in seventh and then you know the the heat even play the Heat play the the Celtics on Friday I believe or Thursday so there’s always ground to make up there’s still not maybe you know
As much margin right now or like difference between rankings as there will be toward the end of the season you might see two two and a half game leads that people have that teams have but where you’re at right now just beat Memphis on Friday and then see where
Everything goes in heading into Sunday but I’m hopeful that the magic will at least have moved up a spot by that point we talked to Jeff Turner about this and although the magic haven’t been playing as well recently with all the injuries if you would have gone back to preseason
And said hey on January 25th you’re 23 and 21 you’re sitting there at8 you’re a game back of seven and a game and a half back of six we’re right where we would have wanted to be at that point Luke had you told October early October Jonathan and
Luke that hey you guys are going to be two games above 500 towards the end of January and you’re going to be squarely in the playoff picture we we would have been thanking the heavens we would absolutely would would have been okay with that and I think it’s important for
Us to just take a step back like there’s there’s plenty wrong with this team still like we we’ve been talking about that I don’t want to turn this into another Super negative podcast because it feels like we’ve had a couple of those in a row but if we just take back
You know step back and breathe a little bit and just look at the big picture like we are we’re doing AOK okay we’re we’re right where this team probably should be the nine game winning streak got us a little bit you know prematurely excited a bit and now we’re we’re sort
Of coming back to the mean sort of coming back down to earth and and the magic are really in a good spot I I mean at the end of the day like you said this team isn’t perfect by any means but no team that’s on Pace to win
42 43 games is perfect but you know what they usually are a postseason team and that’s what we can handle right like if you tell me this team ends with 42 43 wins either they take care of business in the play or they are you know sitting
At the six spot I think it’s going to take more like 44 wins 45 wins probably even to get to six or five but regardless beginning of the Season like you said you take that scenario it if you told us the magic have a great possibility to be the seventh seed host
The play in game and essentially for them at that point it’s double elimination for them to even get knocked out of the playoff picture you take it right and you would host two games in that instance exactly and during our conversation with JT when we’re going through all of that
The scenarios and he’s saying you know this team you know you’re trying to stay out of the plan and I caught myself because in that moment I was like man I really don’t want to do a playin game but then I thought back to you and I
Talking about it before the season where you and I were genuinely hyped up thinking about the magic hosting even one playin Tournament game we would have killed to be in that position so like you said just kind of stepping back looking at the full picture and yeah you
You take that scenario 10 times out of 10 going into the season the magic have a great great chance to be in the playin I mean you named it right like the groupings it still feels like we’ve got a obviously we’ve got decent separation from the the eighth spot the ninth spot
The 10th spot right so still trying to or the ninth spot and the 10th spot I should say so I yeah I it’s it’s easy to get wrapped up in the in the current but right now if you just right now is a good time you got a few days where the
Magic aren’t playing think about what you thought before the season started think about what the possibilities still are today and that nine game win streak maybe put expectations a little too high for some people but it’s going to contribute heavily to the win total at the end of the season that’s what
Matters I think the the question that I have now is we we’ve been talking in the last couple of PODS about the magic making a move and and and should they make a move and what if they should what should that move be I’m sort of at the point
Where I don’t know the negativity starting to creep back up in me as I as I try to announce these these positive thoughts like if the magic just stay Pat and they move forward with the team that they have if this team is relatively healthy that should be good enough to
Still get you as high as five or six but it’s like do you trust this team to be relatively healthy and that’s where the the pessimism is is is creeping back like it wants to come out right now I’m gonna say this as positively as I can
I’m going to look into the camera and smile I don’t trust this team to stay fully healthy but right now everything’s okay everything is okay right now like we’re we’re we’re in a good spot but let’s just see we got two weeks from today until the trade
Deadline and all we can do is sit back and watch we tweeted this out this earlier this week because Indiana went out and got Pascal cakam New York went out and got ogan anobi Miami went out and got Terry Rosier and they’re swapping his minutes for Kyle Lowry who
Is absolutely garbage so you know it’s it’s a addition by subtraction plus you’re getting a a really really good player in Terry Rosier who’s been great this year Miami’s gotten better Indiana’s gotten better New York’s got gotten better those are the three teams immediately above us in the standings
And what the magic do the next couple of weeks is going to tell us how much they value playoff basketball this season not postseason basketball playoff basketball not the playin but the actual game where you actual Series where you get at least four games how much does this team value
That for this group this year and this group I’m talking about guys like Paulo and fron and Jaylen Suggs not necessarily Joe Engles Gary Harris Marquel folz guys that may not be around in the the not too distant future here but for those guys how important is it
That we see those guys in the playoffs this year front office is going to tell us everything that they think about that over the course of the next two weeks here I think that’s also the the the frame of mind that’s tough because you you thought you talk about the strides this
Team has made and the nine game win streak setting you up for maybe bigger expectations than necessary or you should have but when it comes to the moves it’s like you stay relatively healthy you can probably snag that the eighth spot at at the worst it feels
Like and I just it’s so hard because you want to say yeah go get a guy at the deadline get make this team improve take care of the shooting issue maybe a little bit or the turnover problem a little bit but at the same time you you still have to step back and
Say this front office still very very well could just prioritize growing what they’ve got riding into free agency and seeing what you can do from there now there’s arguments to be made who can the magic this off season really pick up in free agency that’ll be a great pickup for this team I’m
Hoping that they can pick up some people by overpaying because Orlando hasn’t been a free agency destination in a long time so there’s a lot to think about but I’m I’m hopeful that you do just a minor thing to either address like I said the problem or the turnover problem at this
Deadline just show me something show me something that says we aren’t just set on developing because our guys are young Our Stars Are Young I just want them to experience even more winning and setting them up and the sooner that they can grow in an optimal environment being Pao
And frond the more reps they’re getting in that environment the better they’re getting quicker so I I think it is important that you make a move I don’t know that I’m of the mindset maybe the front office is still of right now which is like no we’re not we’re going to sit on
Our hands and you know continue with the master plan this offseason and Beyond well the the other sort of side to the coin is if you do just sit on your hand and say hey we’re we’re good with the team that we have we’re just going to hope that we stay relatively
Healthy you said that hey if this team does stay relatively healthy that eight feels like the floor if you go through this deadline with the team that you have now to me that’s this front office saying we’ll be good at 9 or 10 like as long as we make
The play in which you know like 10 probably feels like the absolute floor for this team when you look at the standings like Toronto is sitting there they’re seven games back of us right now they’re two and a half games out of the playin Atlanta’s sitting there at 10
Brooklyn is sitting a game back of the play in so that sort of feels like the floor like the the playing at this point feels like the floor for this team and without making a move to me the front office is saying if we end up N9 or 10
So be it we’re good with that we’re not going to force any moves here and you know everybody’s going to have different opinions on if that is the right approach or not I just wanted to take again we’re trying to stay positive here but I just want to take like two minutes
And lift maybe 30 to 40 free agents that are coming up in in this coming season and this is all in order of how much money they’re making this year so there’s a a few guys you know like the top like 10 or 12 I would say the magic
Probably are not going to be pursuing here LeBron Paul George Klay Thompson Tobias Harris James Harden Pascal seum Drew holiday Gordon Hayward Kyle Lowry I would literally rather die and eat a pile of crap than sign Kyle Lowry demard de rozan now we’re getting into the more potential like realistic buddy hee Mike
Conley I don’t think Mike Conley I think he’s going to be you know aging a bit out of our timeline if he hasn’t already uh Bruce Brown and Lonzo ball both of those guys have Team options so we we’ll sort of see what happens there Joe
Harris Evan forier it is a team option so he’ll probably be a free agent Spencer Den witty ogn and noi has a player option he’ll probably opt into D’Angelo Russell Gary Trent Jr Marquel folz Marcus Morris senior kabius Caldwell pulp has a player option Jonas valent chunis Malik Beasley tus Jones
Luke Canard has a team option Doug McDermot Gary Harris Kelly oen Robert Covington rwn Holmes has a player option Nicholas Batum PJ Tucker has a player option Joe Engles has the team option ton Horton Tucker Alec BS James weisman’s going to be a restricted free agent Malik monk Grayson Allen Monte
Morris Victor leipo Royce O’Neal Kyle Anderson see where we’re getting here like you see like what what level we’re getting to there’s a few other like somewhat exciting names uh like Nicholas Claxton who I would love Isaiah hartenstein like if you go down the list there are some guys to get excited about
But I just don’t think this team is going to go on a spending spree in free agency to really meaningfully improve this team this summer I just don’t really see a path to that right now I would not mind a Gary Trent Jr option the issue and just so you guys
Know he’s he’s shooting five and a half threes a game at 42% I would take Gary Trent Jr in that respect but the issue right now is that a lot of these guys it’s hard to know which one of them are going to like good shooters that can
Contribute and also determined by their age which of these guys are going to really want to go to a team that’s just kind of getting started versus a team that can win a championship the season that they sign and I think that unfortunately that’s that’s kind of the
The trend is that anybody that’s valuable whether it’s a shooter every you’ve seen it the Lakers are in on every Rumor for every player that can contribute just a little bit so stupid and players will do it because they have the Bron and Anthony Davis and hopeful
That they can make a run at a ring or whoever else right whether it’s the box or the Sixers or the Celtics like we we see it all the time so that’s my other thing with free agency it’s such a crapshoot and you really do have to
Overpay if you’re a young team that’s up and coming to get some of these guys it’s you know you just got to hope that they’re all like Joe Engles and they’re making decisions for their family at that point and what they want to do towards the end of retirement if you’re
Going to acquire a vet shooter or just leader in general yeah all right let’s bring this back in here going back to the state of the magic looking at the injury report Gary Harris has now missed the past 10 games with a calf strain no update recently on his status so it probably
Still might be a little while or a couple of weeks here he did like very little contact today is what Mosley said I missed that fantastic very little contact I still don’t feel super optimistic about that probably still you know at least a week or a couple weeks
Away for Gary Harris Markel folz and ji uh both missed the last game due to injury management didn’t reag gravate anything didn’t pick up anything new just trying to as they come back from the injuries and the time that they’ve been out team is being really cautious
And those guys probably are not going to be playing backto backs for a while and then Jason Bey of the Orlando Sentinel uh he Sentinel I don’t know why I said it like that he announced today um or or was passing along from uh Matt Melle over with the Orlando
Sentinel as well um that the Orange County Commission approved $600 million in tourist development tax money for upgrades to Camping World stadium and the Kia Center uh the newly renamed Kia Center this is from Matt Mel’s article where the NBA’s Orlando Magic play their home games won a pledge of $226 million
To update and improve the facility funded by the six cent of the tourist development tax or TD T So of that 600 million Luke the magic are receiving $226 million to update and improve Kia Center look with that $226 million what is like one thing you would like to see
Updated or improved that anyway for me it would be a clear bottom infinity pool over the court so you could swim in the pool and look down and watch the game during games that would be my first choice I think that would be sick probably a safy Hazard probably not
Going to happen but would be Wicked that wow I was going to go like realistic things uh oh I mean first you got to look at the video board right like that would be a lot of fun to just have an upgrade there in some capacity I
Don’t know that you go as as big as the into it dome uh there in LA you you saw that that just that’s so stupid crazy to me I yeah the I do think of the in Dome and I I think it’s a dome right that’s what they’re calling it pretty sure it’s
A dum I think it’s the end to it anyway we’ll just call it the end to it one of the things that they do that would they’re doing is like with their seats they every seat has a charger on it like a phone charger which is pretty crazy um
And then they also have like thousands of of bathrooms like toilets I should say and he Balmer said I don’t want anybody to stand in line I want you to go to the bathroom he’s like I that’s my biggest pet peev Arenas is when they have lines out of the restroom and
People are getting back to their chairs late in the third quarter you see them trickling in whatever it might be right he said that we’ve invested in making sure we have enough units or toilets or urinals or whatever that it just won’t be an issue lines won’t be a problem
That would be interesting I don’t know what that takes I don’t think we have the room at Kia for that yeah you might have but we’ll see I’m interested to see what they do but um I I would guess for sure video board some type of upgrade and it’s interesting because we’ve
Gotten to this point when Amway when it was Amway rip the Amway Center when it opened it was like one of the most advanced Arenas in the league and still is not a bad Arena by any means so to hear that they’re doing these upgrades is kind of wild to me
Honestly but yeah I don’t I don’t know what else what I’m sure there’s a ton you can do I’m sure that they are salivating over that much money to be able to find out what they’re going to do but I assume maybe two big upgrades two or three big upgrades and then your
Money’s probably gone but who knows I if we were worried about like the time that people are spending in between quarters and halftime and like not getting back to your seats for me it would be a way to improve like the Quee for like the concession stands the
Bathrooms in recent years haven’t seem to too bad especially the guys like let’s be real the ladies they just take longer in the bathroom like they we don’t have to get into the particulars about that but guys going in the bathroom take care of our business and we’re half the dudes unfortunately
Aren’t even washing their hands which is a big which is a major problem I don’t know if you all are aware but we just went through a worldwide health crisis we got folks out here in 20124 peeing not washing their hands still so y’all are disgusting for that but but that
Probably has something to do with guys taking less time in the bathroom because half of them just aren’t washing their hands for whatever reason but I would much rather cut down on like concession times because sometimes I’m like I just want to drink I want to get some food
But I’m like I don’t want to wait 25 minutes and Miss half of the third quarter to get a a hot dog or you know whatever it is but it’ll be interesting to see where those uh improvements will be now Luke for the part of the the Pod
That you and I are are probably least looking forward to let’s go to this game against the Cleveland Cavaliers which from the jump it seemed like the magic didn’t have a chance to win this game for whatever reason you’re down 19 Luke after one after the first quarter just getting
Obliterated you’re down 25 you’re down 72 to 47 at the half and then come the third quarter here you’re outscored again 35 to 27 so you’re down 30 almost 40 points for basically the entirety of the fourth quarter and it really came on the back of the three-point shooting of the
Cleveland Cavaliers Sam Merill in particular he comes in Off the Bench shoots eight of 13 from the floor eight of 13 from behind the arc for 26 points for Sam Merill and the magic just could not get like it wasn’t an atrocious offensive game for the magic you shoot
45% from the floor almost 38% from the three-point line now you do Miss 10 free throws which again has been a problem for months now for this team but allowing Cleveland to shoot 56% from the floor and 20 for 38 good for 52% from behind the arc genuinely one of the
Worst defensive performance perces of the season but the Cavs who I believe shoot about 34 35% on the season shot 18% better this game while almost shooting 43s against the magic Luke you just unfortunately didn’t have a chance in this one this is maybe this I think this is
The second game because I believe we had one recently my memory is awful and I watch these games I promise guys but I don’t remember a lot about this specifics of who we played anyway there was a game recently that we played where it just looked like like we didn’t
Care what the other team did it was just kind of like we’re just clocking in clocking out it was the only time and I think you had said it on the episode you’re like it’s the only time this year that I felt this way where it just
Didn’t really feel like the effort was there that was the case with this Cleveland Cavaliers game it’s like they just got so defeated by guys like Sam Merill coming in and knocking down threes that you just decided you weren’t going to rotate and you weren’t going to help you weren’t going to close
Out and those type of things that happen where it just continues to pile up and you make the decision to not rotate not do what you’re supposed to do defensively leaving guys like Sam Merill in the corner wide open right and just to reiterate eight threes made for him eight of
13 ridiculous Dean Wade three of three stru two of four but Sam Marl was the reason that they were shooting so well from three in general and it just comes a point where it’s like well if you’re not going to if you’re so defeated you’re not going to
Get out on these shooters then you’re not going to set yourself up for a comeback because clearly you just like don’t really care you’re apathetic I get it it’s an 82 Game season you’re like oh there’s no way this dude’s killing us tonight we’re just going to kind of
Stop because it like you said the shooting percentages weren’t bad like you shot 46% from the field 38% from three when normally you’re like a 34% three-point shooting team you shot about your average threes a game you shot 29 you got killed in the paint not really killed but you perform poorly in
The paint they outscored by six the Magic in this one get down by as much as 36 and about a minute into the fourth quarter I did something I don’t believe I’ve done this year I looked at the TV I said they made Cavs made another three they
Just weren’t missing there was no sign of a comeback and I was like I’m checking out I’m turning the TV off for my sanity these guys don’t care I shouldn’t either nothing’s going to happen these last 10 minutes anyway I’m going to go watch Netflix with with
Lauren it was a great decision by the way and I am telling Magic fans listening to this it is okay if you were at at home watching TV and Jonathan won’t probably agree maybe you will maybe you won’t nope I don’t agree but to each their own your team is down by
36 I don’t care if you go and eat yourself a good dessert turn off the TV leave it on as background noise go in another room fold some laundry take a load offing laundry wait let’s not get crazy here let’s not get crazy that game would had you just being okay with
Holding laundry would have been would would have been a better use of your time for sure yeah so I’m telling you guys Jonathan and I doesn’t show the same belief and that’s fine my belief is that you are more than able to do that you you can do that I promise take a
Load off enjoy the rest of your night don’t let this team get you down anymore than they already did and then we regroup on Friday it’s a beautiful thing there’s a a big big part of me that is just a masochist and I’ve seen just so many awful performances over the years that
It it does it it’s not that it doesn’t phase me but it’s like oh I need to bring the calluses back out tonight like you think this is bad you have no idea what I’ve seen in my day and I just sit there and I I suffer through it and then
I watch all the postgame stuff like an idiot to see like oh let’s see if they’re G to you know say anything found tonight and unfortunately not really it’s a whole it’s another hey we got to give them credit for knocking down shots which hey give them credit for knocking
Down shots but like whoever was was who who whoever’s assignment was Sam Merill didn’t have a chance because all of our guys are getting beat at the point of attack by Donovan Mitchell and then the Bigg is coming over to help and then whoever supposed to be on Sam Marill is
Dropping down to try to help the big and then Sam Marill is just wide open again and again and again so that’s that’s been a big issue recently is just like point of attack defense obviously there was no Markel fults in this game but you got Jaylen Suk you got Anthony black and
Those guys weren’t up to par in this one like like I said especially the perimeter the point of attack that’s where it all starts if you can’t stop other team’s guards from getting penetration you’re leaving your your bigs and you’re leaving your helpman in in really bad situations and you’re
Daring guys like Sam Arrow hit threes and I think I saw a stat earlier this week that like the the the Cavs like don’t have like a single guy on their roster shooting 40% from three this year and they’re one of the worst teams in the league in three-point percentage
This year and maybe like the magic the game plan for the Cavs is like hey let’s make them take threes and they took 38 of them and hit 20 and if that’s what you’re going to give a team and they’re just going to keep knocking them down we
Saw this in the last couple of weeks with the magic you know giving Sacramento a run for their money beating Denver because we were knocking down threes and the game plan was hey if they’re going to beat us with threes then so be it and that’s what we did
With Cleveland and it feels like the last four or five times we’ve played Cleveland to okay let’s make them knock down threes and they just continue to find guys to knock down threes so didn’t love the effort defensively from the magic um but it it seems like
Part of that was the plan like hey if we’re getting beat off the dribble we’re going to give up the corner three and it was open all night shockingly Sam Merill is the best three-point shooter on the Cleveland Cavaliers he actually does shoot over 40
He shoots 43 on six attempts a game well I’m sure eight for 13 certainly helped that helped his percentage and Dean Wade shoots a flat 40 which in that game also helped because in that game he uh shot three of three so that helped a little
Bit there there and uh yeah Isaiah Moy he shoots 50% but he takes less than one a game he’s only played three games so it doesn’t really matter um it just one of those nights one of those nights where they they the magic took the night off after seeing that it just wasn’t
Going to go their way and is what it is I said after the game that I I sort of feel like we should be past this point where it still feels like any any team in the league is going to have a couple of these games a year maybe even
A handful of these games a year for the magic it just feels like recently we’ve been having one of these games like every couple of weeks like it it it sort of felt that way uh even against Philadelphia right Joel embiid Tyrese Maxi those guys were going crazy it just
Like you never you never felt like you were going to win that game going back to the the Minnesota game where you lose you know 113 to 92 you just get absolutely crushed right didn’t feel like you had a chance in that one we go back to both of the Boston games right
Where from the jump it just feels hopeless couple of weeks before that the loss in Brooklyn 129 to 101 where you just get crushed that is sandwiched by the nine game win streak and at the beginning of that well the game before that win streak started you had the
Brooklyn game where you lose 124 to 104 so like we’ve already had a handful of these games this year where another team gets hot from behind the arc and you just feel like you don’t have a chance and to your point Luke watching the fourth quarter just feels like a
Formality like you’re just okay we have 12 minutes until this game is over probably going to be about 20 to 22 minutes and I’m like hey at what point can we Implement a freaking running clock here like why is the B why is the clock stopping when when the ball goes
Out of bounds I don’t care if that’s a middle school rule a high school rule you’re down 30 plus in the fourth quarter it’s GG you have at that point forfeited your right to mount any type of comeback if you’ve been getting your butt kicked that badly for 36 minutes
Guess what you got another game coming in a couple of nights people at home want to get to bed people in the building want to leave plenty of people left with like five six minutes to go in this game and yeah just not a fun game
To watch and a lot of people the the Marquel folz truthers were coming out of the woodwork oh K folz really would have made a difference in this game potentially but I don’t think so not that much of not that not this much of a difference that you’re just getting
Blasted left and right Marquel fult isn’t going to get these guys jazzed up to go close out on Sam Merill for the 10th time in the game that’s just not happening and you know part of it was this was you know the the second night
Of a backto back when you had the the big win over Miami so maybe you were you know going to have a let down I guess so that’s that’s the other part to it you can’t totally just throw that out of the window because it definitely is a factor
Magic the last couple of Seasons haven’t performed particularly well on the second night of backto backs but I mean when we we we continue to look at this schedule you’re two games over 500 now and you’ve got the Memphis game the phix game the Dallas game San Antonio go two
And two here you’re 25 and 23 you’ve made it through January you you survived the gauntlet and then we move on to you know easier parts of the schedule and you hopefully are able to start racking up some wins here I don’t think we need to go into too much further detail about
This Cleveland game I think we’ve both vented appropriately and and got our feelings out let’s talk a little bit about patreon and then we’ll talk some chicken before we get into our conversation with Jeff Turner so talked a little bit about patreon at the beginning of the episode here um if
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Out and talk about the Orlando Magic season to this point and we give them a special shout out on each and in every episode so we’ll go ahead and start with court cousins Drew Gooden Arman Carson tulo Jonathan borgas normal magic player history Gabe Gaines Whiffle Michael Martin Jamal Miller Michael salop pong
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Bar stool magic adbo 1980 a big thank you to all of our patrons you can find us at patreon.com the six man show Luke talk about some chicken Jam Hot Chicken some of you guys most of you guys have heard us talk about this but if you haven’t Jam Hot
Chicken is a Nashville and La inspired Hot Chicken Shack locally owned and operated and Winter Park Florida more specifically 400 West New England Avenue sweet 13 and Hannibal Square you can find them on Jam at Jam Hot Chicken on all their social media they’ve got one
Of the best marketing just like looks of most social media pages that I’ve ever seen when it comes to a restaurant you know trying to advertise themselves and do their thing they’ve got a big following there and it’s super uh impressive and just really indicative of the success that they’ve had you know
Further Beyond even that so go check them out all their chicken is hormone and antibiotic free made fresh and fried in 100% peanut oil you can also check them out order online as well ahead at damot chicken.com let them know that we sent you go check them
Out and now the reason you listened and tapped into this podcast the moment you have all been waiting for let’s get to our conversation our quarterly Midway through the season checkin with Jeff Turner all right Orlando Magic fans we are now joined by a very special guest
We seem to be you know making a habit of this a sort of like a quarterly check-in uh with color guy or magic Legend Jeff Turner Jeff how are you doing sir how have you been I am good I’m uh you know The Season’s been pretty Road heavy um
So um I feel like if I can get through this the month of January then uh February the All-Star breaks right around the corner and then hopefully start seeing you guys at the Kia Center instead of absolutely it this season Jeff for us is feeling like it’s been flying by now
You all have been on the road so much you’re getting ready to go on the road yet again here at you know at the end of the week but this season has it flown by for you all or has it been dragging because of the
Travel well I don’t know I feel like I mean you know you look and you’re you know you’re surprised you’re through 40 uh you know 40 plus games but you know for me the I I just don’t remember a season where you know we started off
You know right in October we’re on a West Coast trip and uh you know it just seems like it’s not really led up so um you know we started this year you know in January uh new years’s were on the road um and so this has been this has
Been a tough month um and so you know that that’s one of the reasons why I’m kind of proud of this team is they’ve been able to keep their head above water here um you know not give back uh you know you know all the the margin that we
Had built up early um so that that’s been a good thing but it’s it’s been tough it’s tough for us old broadcasters Dante is doing fine by the way Dante doesn’t have any trouble it’s just you know like I you know I was the young guy when David Steele was my
Partner now I’m the old man on the airplane so je do you uh is there a point in the season maybe it’s in every season you can pinpoint it is there a time where you’re like man I uh I could I could really use a nap or or 12 is there a
Point in the season where like I’m ready for All-Star break is it you know different because it is so Road heavy when when did you kind of reach that point where you’re like man Allstar break can can come whenever it wants yeah no that’s uh you know that I feel
Like that’s always been the case I think the All-Star Break um has always been a nice you know exactly what it says it’s a Break um you know I was one of those very fortunate guys that never got picked to playing an All-Star game so mine was just a vacation which was kind
Of nice um to the first part of your question I’m always looking for a nap I find you know especially when I’m on the road so um yeah you look for little spots like you know it’s really been nice um you know that uh you know we’ve
Had a little two days off you know between Cleveland and Memphis um as we’re recording this so those little breaks just you know just anything where you’re not um you know it’s but it’s like the way the NBA is you know you win or lose a game it doesn’t matter you got
Another one the next night or in two nights um it’s just kind of nice to just take a break and step back and um you know do something else besides sit down and you know dig into the numbers about your next opponent Jeff when we left you
Last the magic had finished uh 22 games there were 15 and seven um not too far remov from the nine game win streak there since then the magic have had a you know a slew of injuries and different illnesses and have gone 8 and 14 to that point now when the
Schedule came out in August myself Luke Kevin we all looked at this January well really like the second week of December through the month of December through the entire month of January we’re just now almost to that point the magic h 23 and 21 a couple of games above 500 what
Do you think have other than the injuries um which is a big part of it but what do you think has been the biggest um setback I guess for the magic during this time and what are we looking to see out of them as they turn the
Corner and we turn the page to February in a couple weeks here yeah obviously you know obviously the injuries are a big part I mean you know I think we talked about this last time the you know what the biggest factor I think in the
Early success and you see it with a lot of teams um is has been the health right like you know I give you a great example you look at that um Oklahoma City team right like we you know we played them a few weeks ago just they just don’t miss
Games you know their core guys um have not miss more than two three games um and that’s a big part of the now they’re very talented but they’re all on the floor which really helps so I think that’s been the big part of it um certainly I think the the challenge of
Our schedule uh someone told me I you know I don’t really kind of follow this stuff but I guess uh after the All-Star break we have one of the what is considered one of the easiest schedules remaining schedule uh I guess that’s depending on what the records of the
Teams we’re going to play maybe it’s from February on I’m not sure um but it does say the type of teams we’ve been playing we’ve been playing a lot of you know plus 500 playoff type teams um I think that’s a big deal and the other part of it is when you start
You know 15 and8 whatever it was 167 I think we were at one point and everything and you’re sitting at top the conference you’re not sneaking up on anybody anymore right like you’re um you know teams are not looking at you as like oh it’s the
Orlando Magic you know we can arrest a couple of guys or you know do things like that um so you’re getting everybody’s best not their best shot maybe like we’re not the Boston Celtics but um you know you’re not getting teams looking at you like oh this is a
Cakewalk um I think coaches are prepared for what you know what uh Jamal Mosley and his staff are going to bring you know got the guys bring in every night which is great hustle and intensity and strong defense so um you I think that’s all been a big part of it the injuries
To me though um probably the biggest thing because really the injuries changed the way we played um just because of the talent you know that we were putting on the floor was a little different right it’s you know we became more of a three-point shooting team because you know that’s what Caleb
Houston that’s what chumo KK uh and those guys that’s what they bring uh so if they’re going to be on the floor um you know that’s what that’s how they’re going to play so um it was good in certain you know certain games and not so good in others
The you know when you talk about the strength of schedule the remaining one Jeff the the site that really lays it out where people are getting a lot of that data from is tank.com yeah and they they say that yes that the magic the opponents for the rest of the season
Have essentially like a 44 and a half percent win percentage if you do it that way right so the remaining games and this is also for the listeners the remaining games the magic C is you got three against the W uh the Pistons one against the Wizards Two Against Spurs
Three against the Hornets one against the Blazers so those are kind of the the big picture there of what you’ve got left I’m curious as a player our like Jonathan myself and Kevin like you said we sat down in August we mapped it out we said we we figured out a couple
Things right what are the what are the stretches that that we need to look forward to the ones that we need to get through also what road game are we going to go to as a as a group um so it’s the important things but as a player do do
Players or did you sit down and look at the schedule before season started and kind of pinpoint things or was it kind of just oh I guess this is you know who we’ve got this month or however it might be when I was a player did I look at it
Yeah I think I mean I think you always do you want to look at um you know the the stretches um kind of as the season goes on first thing you know like you always do um you know I played my entire career on the east East Coast so you want to
Know where when are you going west right um they actually break those up a little bit more um than they used to it used to be you know you’d hit half the teams on one trip and you know uh another half or another third and then you would do the
Texas Swing you would hit all the Texas the three Texas teams in one um and so you know if you did that you can imagine you’re going to be away from home quite a bit so you’re always kind of looking at that um you’re always counting up the
Back Tob backs how many back Tob backs are there right and you know there used to be a lot of those um so you know that’s um that’s a big now as a broadcaster I do the same thing I want to know um you know the same thing is
Like what’s my travel SK going to look like you know how do I plan around you know whe whether it be birthdays or Christmas or whatever that is but I’m more tuned in I think now guys for you know like like you are you know looking
At the team itself what are the tough stretches um things like that I think as a player you’re not thinking of it as as much as a oh you know well we’ve got you know the you know five you know top eight teams on this trip or whatever um
You’re you’re more looking as a game to game type situation so um I think I probably looked at it now more like you guys were Jeff going back you were talking about the the recent stretch where the magic just lost so many bodies and really had to change the way that
They played and essentially became a three-point shooting team I want to go back to that Sacramento game uh you know that road trip because that’s really where it happened you know chuma KK has that crazy run to start the fourth quarter in that game the magiker sort of
Getting themselves back into that game you and Dante are are laughing almost in disbelief CU you couldn’t really I think at least the the sentiment was we all shared it we could not believe this team kept knocking down shots kept answering every run that Sacramento had and chuma
OK was just having the the quarter of his career and then late in that fourth quarter you know the clock is winding down and Palo banero hits the the three there and you let out one of the the loudest kayas I think of your career so
Can you just go back and talk about Pao B Caro’s sort of stretch that started with that Sacramento game just how much fun that game was in Sacramento it was a blast you know going into that game you know we we we’ve got a healthy France Vagner you know going
Into the game and um you know we’re playing a certain way right like you know it’s in Golden State and Phoenix on that trip um you know we had played where our the way Magic Basketball plays out as we attack the paint we got fron and Pao getting into the paint as you
Guys well know during that you know up until that point we were last in the league and three-point field goal prec I think going into that game last in three-point field goal percentage last in you know takes I mean we just weren’t taking a lot um I think there was a
Stretch there where if we took more than 35 I think we were 0 and N uh or something like that um and it last in makes right and and what to me the funny part is the other team knows that right like they know and so they game plan for it
And so and what’s really funny is even the broadcasters on the other side they’ve done enough homework um and so you know the way Seattle is set up uh or Seattle excuse me Sacramento The Way Sacramento is set up is we’re on the second row we’re on
The court we’re on the second row and so it’s Dante and then me to his left and then we have we call a stage manager sitting next to me and then directly the next person is Katie Christensen who is the color commentator for Sacramento and
So we know talking to her is like well you know and listening to Mike Brown get prepared for the game his comments he’s like well we gotta you know we gotta lock down the paint we got to keep them out of the paint we gotta you know force
Them to play on the perimeter and so everybody knows it and so all of a sudden you know we’re keeping close and then Here Comes This barrage of three pointers and Sacramento’s doing everything right they they are not letting us get to the basket and we’re
Just kicking it out and then chuma goes on that run and Dante and I are just like I I think I I think I said several time what is happening here because it was so unbelievable and and then I look to my left and and Katie is just she’s
Looking at me like what what is what is this you know like this is you didn’t say this you said the team struggles to shoot the basketball you’re a paint team and so she was getting frustrated with what was happening because it was happening so that that kind of built the
Energy a little bit for me and Dante um because it was so incredible and then you know the frustration with the Sacramento people um you know they they thought they because they were rolling along pretty good Paul’s you know po even went to the locker room remember
That Paulo rolled his ankle after fron went to the locker room so we were pretty down at that point and then Here Comes Paulo back and and and you describe the rest it was uh it was pretty uncredible but that kicked off then we go to Denver and you know same
Thing we knocked down 17 threes you know and you could tell Mike Malone was frustrated right because again Denver was taken the pain away I mean we went from a second in the league and points in the pain almost 56 a game to we went
On a stretch there we were lucky if we broke 30 it felt like um and it you know but again you know we’re just playing to our Personnel pao’s usage was up a lot he was taking more threes obviously because uh you know the teams were just
Throwing him different looks but we were relying on Caleb we were relying on uh on chuma and then my goodness how about jayen Suggs he was going crazy as well so um it was it was all good until it wasn’t right and then you know that’s the great thing about the uh the
Three-point line is like it just changes you you can make up the difference of not getting into the paint you know with the long ball if you’re making them um but then we went through a stretch where you know teams we played some teams that were getting out and doing both you know
Could defend both Minnesota um and it just it wasn’t working as well so um being healthy I think that that the big thing that we learned from it is there has to be a balance right I think there’s a there’s a balance and you look at the really
Good teams and and they they just have a nice balance of their paint points you know maybe it’s 45 to you know 52 somewhere in there but then their three-point uh makes are somewhere 12 to 15 somewhere in there um you know so if that’s the key for us right is to find
That balance um and continue to rely on our defense to you know in the meantime to help us generate points specifically after the Sacramento game where we see Pao obviously erupt and put the team on his back for the 43 points Jonathan and I sat down recorded
An episode I believe it was that night and I had said something to the effect of fron being out could do a lot for pao’s game right now that he is going to learn what it’s like to solely be the guy there’s no one a 1B anymore it’s
Just one right and so he had to learn in that stret how to put the game on his back and he didn’t have a choice there was no deferring there was no fron has it going I’m going to let him do it thing can you just talk about maybe what
You learned from Pao during this stretch where the team had been so battered and and bruised there for a little while what did you learn about Pao well that’s a great question I think that just a couple of things first is I really I really got to appreciate his
Temperament um because teams were throwing all kinds of different defenses at him um and so he was forced to you know rely and Trust his teammates um and so you know you you make a play and you kick it to somebody and they you know Caleb Houston all right kick it to Caleb
And he misses a shot you kick it to Caleb he misses another shot Paulo his temperament was he never he never showed frustration he never showed any of that his leadership abilities really kind of stood out to me in that moment because Paula would go
Back to him right like he would you know he would get Caleb the basketball again and then you know if he knocked it down you know you saw the fist pump or you know something like that it’s um I think as a young player that’s huge right to
Be able because he knew that the pressure was on him and he knew that he was making the right reads and if you make the right reads over and over and your teammates don’t reward you with a bucket um that can be that can be frustrating I think um so that was one
Of the things that I learn the other thing is you hear Jamal Mosley talk all the time about Paulo’s basketball IQ right and so you know that’s we see that right like we we see some things that he does and you say okay he gets it you
Know the you know he’s able to make some pretty good passes when when defenses are are are built are tailored just to stop you and to make life difficult for you when you haven’t had that necessarily I’m sure he did you know at Duke and maybe in high school and
Everything but at this level um because we’ve had a full lineup That teams haven’t been able to do that um it really it really puts a premium on your basketball IQ so I think that’s the other thing the temperament and then watching him go through the process of
Seeing where the defenses were where the the double team was coming from or you know where they were loading up on one side of the floor on him which was happening a lot um trying to make him make a difficult pass um the adjustments he made and how
Quickly he picked that up I think that’s you know my biggest takeaway uh from watching him during that stretch were those two things I think um you know scoring we know Paulo can score right um but being able to pick up all those other things that’s that’s pretty
Impressive Jeff the last time that we talked we we met mentioned how during that win streak and all the success towards the beginning of the Season how expectations and sort of the standard might have shifted during that time now since then the magic have dealt with a
Ton of injuries and right now they’re they’re almost as healthy as they’ve been at any point during the season do you think sort of the the tough stretch that we’ve had recently have maybe shifted expectations back to where they should be at the beginning of the Season sort of where are your expect
Now and how do you see the magic getting there well I I I you know I I think the easy thing is to say Hey you know look we had some tough times and we’re right back uh we’re we’re right where we thought we would be right like at the
Beginning of the season I think you know like if You’ to asked Jeff welman and Jamal Mosley at the beginning of the Season you know you’re two games over 500 you know at the halfway point going into this you know this stretch uh you’re in eighth place they would have
Taken that right but to me I you know I feel like and again this is just me I don’t you know I think the last time that we talked um I think I said this is like I think the gold now uh the expectation is to try to be in those top
Six right if if you’ve got this big home stretch coming up in March right and then you’ve got some you know some winnable Gam games obviously home and on the road um taking yourself into April when you you know there are some tough ones we got some tough trips and
Everything like that I think that’s where you want to be competing to try to stay out of the playin right like you don’t want your season to come down to something like that if you’re seven or eight um you don’t want to be in the
Play in right if you’re nine and 10 oh the playin is great right it’s seven and eight you know you battled all season to get to this spot and then it’s you know it could be one two games and you’re out um instead of a you know seven game
Series I think that’s why the goal still should be um to get that six spot the six or above right and I don’t see why with a healthy roster um if that’s the big if right if we have a healthy roster and we start getting guys back why we can’t do that I
Mean we got healthy for one game against New York and we you know we handled them pretty well um or excuse me Miami Miami um the Miami game at home um and so I thought that said a lot now we we had a back toback and we didn’t have Marquel
Or ji um so that changed things for us a little bit but if we’re healthy and we have our pieces I I don’t think youd lower the expectations from where we talked about earlier that’s me I don’t know I’m not speaking for Jeff or
Or Jamal but you know for me I think um you you’ve proven that you can win at a high level in this league um that’s what you shoot for yeah we add that disclaimer you know the the thoughts that he’s sharing are strictly his own they do not reflect the Orlando Magic
Organization so on and so forth Jeff unfortunately I wish that was true if if anybody takes offense I I’ll hear about it so uh Allstar voting has officially ended this past week can you just talk a little bit about you know Palo banero the way that he’s played uh this season
And and whether or not you believe Palo Bank Carol should be playing in in Indiana in a few weeks here I definitely do I mean I think you you look what he’s done um you know especially um in the month of January without you know Paulo or without France uh playing alongside
Him with all the injuries what he was able to do to keep this team you know it’s connected uh in the playoffs and you know some of the the games that he you know put up the numbers that he put up um I certainly you know think I mean
You look at a guy um each month has improved his scoring output we’re in the mix right we’re in the eighth spot we deserve you know I would think as a team you certainly would want to reward the Orlando Magic with a with a player right
Um as one of the coaches choice now I I you know I’m probably much like you guys and like the and you start looking at who the fans voted in and then you start looking at the other people around the uh conference who are equally deserving
Probably um and you wonder where this is all going to play out but I think Paulo has done enough um to deserve a um an All-Star selection a couple of questions here Jeff before we uh before we wrap up our time with you here Shaq officially
Going to be the the first jersey retired in in in the history of the Orlando Magic could you just speak a little bit about the time that you got to spend with Shaq and his time here and you know just uh you know share your your feelings on his retirement uh Jersey
Retirement announcement yeah I’m I’m I’m really you know I I’ve pretty been pretty outspoken about this but I think it’s uh you know he had to be the first right like I I just um you know I was talking with uh some people the other
Day and you know every body is you know a lot of times people will like yeah but like he left us you know like he was only here for four years and he left us and uh you know my my point to them is name name a star who has left a
Franchise and everybody’s thought oh well good for him you know it just doesn’t happen when you lose a great player there’s bitterness right and and things are said but my point to my friends was focus on the four years focus on the four years and what happened to this franchise with him uh
As as the central figure what happened for the city of Orlando you know and this in Central Florida over those four years um you know we were you know I laugh and I said you know we were the same team right basically so we were an expansion teams that third year uh you
Know we won what 20 20 games 21 games games so we get the first pick right we get Shaquille and we didn’t really add anybody to the roster it was the same roster and then we added Shaquille O’Neal to right and then he elevated the
Rest of us so well that we won 20 20 plus one more games the only way we didn’t make there was it went down to a fourth tiebreaker uh for us to be eliminated from the playoffs um you know just crazy set of circumstances um and then after that
Boom you know that now we’re 50 win team uh going forward and you know so to me um you know like there’s there’s all kinds of things right just his personality what he brought to the court you know we I tell people you know those
Days with Shaq all of a sudden you know we’re we have a charter plane all of a sudden we’re staying in the nicest hotels you know why because we couldn’t stay at the holidome or wherever anymore because there were other people there we he had to have security because he was
So big and so popular you know we we I you know my joke is we were like the Rolling Stones I mean we would get into h a hotel um you know two in the morning and there’d be hundred people outside you know all yelling Shaq sha Shaq for
What had been an expansion team uh um so he just elevated everything he was such a big personality he put Orlando the Orlando Magic on the map here’s the other thing that I I think people sometimes don’t think about Tracy McGrady right grew up in Central Florida
And was an Orlando Magic fan a lot of that you know and and he grew up watching those teams with Shaq and Penny you know obviously Penny was his favorite player he could relate to and everything thing but you know he grew up watching those guys right and so who
Knows if we’re still just a you know an expansion team Allah you know Charlotte or Minnesota for years right does does Tracy McGrady even want to come to Orlando does he want to be part of that when free agency starts right can we get a grant hill can we get free agents like
That if we hadn’t had the success that Shaquille gave us uh during those teams of the 0 the early 90s so you know I’m I maybe I’m biased because he’s my teammate and I love him to death but I saw it firsthand um you know who knows you know
Like if any of us would still you know be around you know maybe you know we don’t get shaed they make changes Jeff Turner’s playing somewhere else Nick Anderson’s playing somewhere else Dennis Scott you know without Shaq you know are those guys still you know considered
Magic royalty you know who knows um it’s just he brought so much attention and made all of us so much better um I I just think you know it’s an easy choice and it had to be the first guy up there for me last question here Jeff and we
We’ll leave you with this there seems to be a calculated but welcomed uh Push by the pr team recently uh surrounding the the Orlando Magic theme song You Know Play the song You Were Here Play the song baby you were here when the the song was introduced what has it been
Like for you to sort of see that song like its Revival fans embracing it and now this like organizational push to make play the song a thing it is so funny because like David steel um has for years said why don’t we bring back the theme song the Orlando
Magic theme song we we love that song right so you know it’s so funny because you know there’s always a run out song right like so in those early years you know every time we ran out on the court we ran out to the Orlando Magic theme song right and um it’s funny
Because that’s kind of embarrassing but we really didn’t know all the words right like we didn’t know all of the words and certain things sound you know like how songs are certain things sounded differently so the joke was so there’s a there’s a part of the song
Where it it goes there’s a heartbeat pounding in the street you know if you that’s but it’s a heartbeat pounding in the street you know kind of one of those deals I don’t sing very well but there you go uh for forever it sounded to we used to laugh because we weren’t sure
But it sure sounded like there’s a puck in the tree so instead of heartbeat pounding in the street so we would just sing it as um there’s a hockey puck in the tree you know just it’s just you know there’s just so many it’s sort of like kapaya it’s just ties you to
Another time and place in the organization when that song was ever Pat Williams had that commission that song was everything uh and it’s just so great now that it’s coming back and you know we’re pushing it more to play that song play that song when we win so I’m glad people
Like it um it is a good thing though to go ahead and get the sheet music and figure out the words before you start making things up like I did we’re trying to as fans we’re trying to make it a thing like you know last year the
Sacramento Kings had light the beam yeah they were up you know 12 or 15 points with a few minutes to go the entire Arena would be chanting light the beam so we’re trying to turn that into Play the song at the end of games hasn’t exactly caught on yet but we’re
Nonetheless we’re gonna keep trying to to push that Jeff so okay I like it I think it’d be great all right well Jeff Turner thank you all as always for for taking the time here we’ve got uh what are we 23 and 21 so 44 games so we’ve got another 38 games
To go here and then hopefully we’ll have some uh some playoff basketball to to talk about here uh come April and come May so try to get some rest got another uh road trip coming up and then you’ll have a nice uh Allstar break so Jeff
Turner thanks so much uh for taking the time always good to talk to you all right guys good to talk with y’all thanks Jeff there’s a hockey puck in the tree Jeff Turner always a lot of fun always appreciate his time his Insight he does not have to take time out of his
Schedule to come and talk with us like a night off that he doesn’t have to think about the magic that he doesn’t have to take talk about the magic that he’s not traveling he’s home with his family and he takes the time out to come and talk
With us always appreciate that always a ton of fun a big shout out to Uncle Jeff Jeff Turner one thing that he said that he said it and it just clicked and registered and I was like oh that makes a lot of sense when he was talking about
The Orlando Magic theme song he said that Pat was Williams was the one that commissioned the song it would not surprise me it would not surprise me if it was all his idea like it wasn’t just that he had the final say I am I am pretty confident
He’s the one who came up just like knowing Pat’s personality being the cheerleader that he is always a good time it it had to have been him and just like the upbeat Vibe of it I am sure he cast The Vision for that song and they delivered so shout out to him a
Legend been on the show before friend of the Pod you know but uh but yeah that that that was one thing he said that I was like I should have known I should have thought about that and known that was definitely a pat thing yeah he talked about it on our pod
But if you haven’t it’s one of the more recent pod squads that they did with with Sid Powell where they were talking about they would get to these hotels at 2 am on the road there’d be hundreds of sometimes of people outside of the hotels and one night Jeff Turner is
Getting off the bus and a fan calls over Jeff Turner Jeff Turner and Jeff walks over and the kid’s like can you get Shaq’s autograph for me like the kid knew he wasn’t G to get Shaq’s attention but knew calling out Jeff he would get Jeff’s attention and then that was his
Opportunity to weasel his way to Shaq so he didn’t talk about that on our our he talked a little bit about Shaq and the the time that you know they got to spend together when we asked him about the the Jersey retirement so that was a lot of
Fun and yeah you just you get the feeling that this team just needs to get healthy Luke and we talked to Jeff before we started recording and he was the one that sort of snapped my perspective back that hey you would have asked us would we take this exact same scenario four months
Ago everybody overwhelmingly would have said yes absolutely give us 23 and 21 you know 44 games into the season we’re all over that so appreciate Jeff taking the time Luca we got a few more games here this week play Memphis tomorrow then on Sunday we’re home for
Phoenix would be awesome to get two wins to end the week here it would I’m checking real quick to see if that Heat game has finished up yet they were playing tonight uh yes they lost to the Grizzlies so the Miami Heat as you guys already know or maybe you don’t you’re
Listening to this first thing Thursday Miami Heat and the Pacers are both one game up on on the Orlando Magic again like I said at the beginning of the show Pacers and the Heat have some challenging games up ahead the Pacers got the Sixers and the Heat have the
Celtics on TNT tonight Thursday as youall are listening to this so iMagic could be a half game back going into that game game against the Grizzlies on Friday that’d be a big win to get because you got the you you do have the tiebreaker against the
Pacers and you’d be sitting at 7th and then uh just go into Sunday’s game get try to get a win there in Phoenix the 6 PM Eastern tip off so there is a chance that with a a win over Memphis that the magic go from 8 to 6 if I’m reading these standings
Correctly and if if you’re able to to get the win Sunday over over Phoenix that’ll definitely do it if that if if a win over Memphis on Friday doesn’t so win a win a couple of games here and you have a reasonable expectation that you
Should be sitting at six as we turn into the next week I think that because the heat are they have the tiebreaker correct yeah cuz they they’ve beat us twice right um with a loss for them and a win for us it would make us equal in the standings so they have that
Tiebreaker but then they do play on Saturday against the Knicks at 3 pm at Madison Square Garden so hopefully that’s the game they drop and then the magic can move up even further there to the six spot that would be incredible all right let’s wrap this one up again a
Big thank you to to Jeff to Jeff Turner uh for Luke silia this has been Jonathan Osborne you all have been listening to the six-man show and we will catch you guys next time see you thanks for listening to the Sixth Man Show be sure to subscribe on iTunes
And Spotify to get new episodes downloaded directly to your phone if you enjoyed the show please take a minute to give us a five-star rating and a review it helps out the show a lot follow us on Twitter Instagram and Facebook @ 6man show we’ll catch you guys next time go
Magic let’s go magic let’s go magic let’s go
There’s a hockey puck in a tree…or something like that! Jeff Turner is back for the haflway checkpoint on the season to talk what has gone wrong for the Magic and what their expecations should be for the rest of the season. Luke & Jonathan also breakdown the disappointing performance against Cleveland.
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Music: Prod. by Tantu Beats
0:00 – Intro
6:56 – State of the Magic
28:23 – Magic vs Cavs
40:44 – Patron Shoutout
43:01 – JAM Hot Chicken
44:13 – Jeff Turner
1:18:09 – Outro
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