Are the Orlando Magic built for the Playoffs? | Magic answers are already here

Are the Orlando Magic built for the Playoffs? | Magic answers are already here

we have an Eastern Conference Champion what the Indiana Pacers taught us about the Orlando Magic in their defeat to the Celtics plus some new bid tier free agency rumors and why the answers to the Magic’s problems may already be here it’s time to take a step back for locked on Magic you are locked on Magic your daily Orlando Magic podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team everyday and you are indeed locked on Magic today is May 28th and will be May 29th 2024 my name is Philip Rosman I’m the senior writer over at Orlando magic.com you follow me on Twitter at Philip rrd on today’s episode of lock down magic what the Indiana Pacers lost to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals tells us about the Orlando Magic we’ll talk about why the Pacers lost that series and why it kind of proves something good about the magic from their playoff run we’ll get to that plus new mid-tier free agents uh free agent targets to discuss and why the magic may already have several answers to their problems in a house we’ll get to all that coming up here in just moment but first we want to thank you again for making making locked on Magic part of your day every day no matter when you listen to us whether it’s first in the morning whether it’s right when we upload we truly appreciate you making locked on Magic part of your day every day remember there’s a lock on podcast covering every single team in the NBA to search for locked on and the team you’re looking for the locked on podcast Network it’s your team every day today’s episode of Locked on Magic is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase so the Boston Celtics are your Eastern Conference champions uh no surprise there they were kind of lapping the field I don’t think as much as we would have all love as much as I would have loved to have spent a couple days in Boston for games one and two maybe game five a lot of us were not super optimistic at the magic would would be able to do much with the Celtics either um I I don’t know how magic fans still feel about Boston I’m still bitter about 2010 to but uh but the Celtics are worthy champion and the way the Eastern Conference Finals went and and sweeps are never fun but the way the Eastern Conference Finals went saw three games that felt very similar and and and I’m recording this as the Timberwolves are playing the Mavericks we’ll talk I think a little bit about the Timberwolves and why they are losing their series but it’s gonna be very it’s gonna be something very similar to what we saw from Indiana the Pacers flubbed at the end of games there’s no way about it they had leads and the last five minutes of three of the four losses in the series and the Celtics were a metronome that didn’t waver just kind of kept at their Rhythm and the Pacers were the ones going left and right and all over the place and this is you know not that the Pacers weren’t capable of winning these close games but in the playoffs it’s a different style of basketball it’s a different game and I’m a big believer that when you get to the playoffs you can’t change who you are you are who you are you have to be what got you there and and you have to tr you trust things you trust things obviously at a certain point but you you have to be what got you there and the Pacers were fast breaking all the time taking quick shots High possession team and that’s fine like that’s that that style can win but it leaves the door open open to things that happened repeatedly against the Celtics and the Pacers taking quick shots couldn’t slow the game down couldn’t milk some clock couldn’t get quality looks and quality shots at a slower Pace to bleed the Celtics dry to bleed the Celtics out and get to the end of these games I’m not going to blame the Pacers for doing what they did um that is who they are um you know I I was talking to some people who you know were watching the playoffs didn’t really wa didn’t really watch a lot of Pacers and they asked me do the Pacers usually play this fast like what’s the is is this pace normal for the Pacers I’m like yeah this is how they play this is what they do you’re not changing that at this point in the playoffs certainly not this deep in the playoffs and obviously Indiana made the Conference Finals they made the championship of the inseason tournament the Pacers have something that works but I would argue the reason why Indiana wasn’t more competitive in their conf final series is they met a team that could match their pace and then slow it down in control as well and this is this gets me to something about the magic that I think is a positive the magic and the way that they play and and the way that certainly poo banko is comfortable playing that’s a style of play that will work in the playoffs at the end of the day like I I hate that we put so much emphasis on the playoffs and don’t value the the season as a whole but at the end of the day the Larry O’Brien trophy given out for the playoffs it’s important to be able to play and succeed in the playoffs is important now when we look back at the Magic’s playoff series against the Cavs we can both we can say a lot of things you know you know we could say a lot a lot of things about it we could say that we could say that the magic overachieved and we could and honestly we could say that the magic overtreat because they were comfortable at a slower Pace they thrived in an environment where their defense could dictate the terms where they could play a half court game and even if their offense wasn’t chugging as long as they were preventing Cleveland from running they were in good shape in fact if I’m not mistak the team with more fast break points won five of the seven games in the series fast break points was actually a pretty good indicator of who was winning the basketball game and when you’re playing against two really good defenses like Orlando and Cleveland had your ability to get out in transition and beat that defense before it could get set is a key marker it was a it was a huge factor in that series but it’s not everything and obviously you’re only going to get so many fast break opportunities in a game and that I think is the the roadblock that Pacers ran into they were able to get by obviously they were able to succeed they won two playoff series but at a certain point you’ve got to be able to execute in the half court and Pao banero said it after the series the playoffs were really to his liking the pace of the games the intensity of the games the way everything just kind of slows down and grinds you a little bit Paulo ban Caroll said he loved it he thrived in that environment and this magic team as a whole thrived in that environment I do you know I would say this if Orlando was more experienced they would have come out better in games one and two they would have won game five and we’d be talking about the team going to the second round a more experienced team wins that series no offense to Cleveland they won the series they earned it I’m not sitting here saying otherwise a more experienced team from Orlando wins that series I had so many people from the Cavs say the magic had the exact playoff series the Cavs wanted last year a competitive Series where you learn a lot take some lumps take some scars like we talked about earlier that that’s what the magic got the magic got what they needed out of their playoff experience but they also in my opinion got proof of concept in my opinion they got a sample size a feeling of oh what we’re doing what we’re building the way that we play our defense our offense it works now the trick is the magic begin to develop and grow is okay how do we get it you know we we we have really good breaking ball how do we get a fast ball how do we speed ourselves up how do we get into our sets faster how do we become more efficient how do we expand our efficiency and honestly that’s a lot of what we’re talking about this summer is okay let’s get a point guard to manage this team let’s get some shooting to spread the floor that’s that’s the game here but the magic do have a style that elevates this team in the playoffs they have a player who is comfortable doing the things and playing at the piece the playoffs prefer and that to me is a big lesson not that the Pacers aren’t good Pacers the Pacers are capable but at the highest levels they had one way to play and when they got put under pressure that way failed them because they were taking quick shots they were letting Boston back into games they were making critical mistakes down the stretch and Boston made them pay for every single one of them that’s the ball game it’s like like we said throughout the entire playoff series like we said throughout the entire season like we will say forever now the margin for error in the playoffs is very very small the difference between winning and losing a game is an Evan Moy block or Paulo banero and one or uh Sam Merill 3 at the end of the second quarter it’s very very fine things it’s not all always the big thing but you got to ask yourself why you’re in these close games and when when stuff repeatedly happens how do you fix it like I’m not going to sit here say the magic should play at the slowest Pace in the league no they actually need to pick up their Pace a little bit not not necessarily in the number of possessions but how quickly they run through things and again I think Cleveland did a really good job switching and and bottling up those initial actions and the magic didn’t really have anywhere else to go so diversity of attack is going to be really important for this magic team to develop that that’s one of the things we learned from the playoffs but overall this magic team is built for it perhaps in a way that the Pacers aren’t at the highest levels I think this magic team when they get to a Conference Finals when they get to a second round it’s going to be exactly like what this year’s playoffs were there might be some Shock from the inexperience but they’re gonna respond and play and look very comfortable with it we’re catching up on news around the league couple of rumors talking about mid-tier free agents we’re going to draw this microscope back from the big gu big guns and talk about some role players the magic might be looking to add we’ll get to that coming up here in just a moment but first it’s time for quick word from our friends over at game time game time time makes getting NBA Finals tickets even faster and easier and look you’ve got a week to get them Thursday Thursday June 6 is the opening of the NBA Finals we got a long way to go before the finals open up in Boston so if you’re trying to get to the game game time is the place to go prices on the game time app actually go down the closer it gets to tip up with killer last minute deals all in prices views from your seats and their lowest price guarantee game time takes the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets there’s some major events coming up here in Orlando it is the summer of soccer in Orlando Orlando City the eight game unbeaten streak eight game win streak not on beaten streak first place in the nwsl Orlando Pride I always believed in the Orlando Pride plus the Continental Classico between the US and Brazil all coming up in June if you want to be at pitch level for any of these events game time is your place to go save up to 60% off buying last minute for sports concerts comedy theater whatever you’re going to this summer you can even save more with exclusive inapp deals on select seats ahead of the game or event and Zone deals help you save even more when choosing a section and letting game time choose the seats for you take the guesswork out of buying NBA finals or whatever you’re interested tickets with Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account redeem code locked on NBA that’s l c Ed o n NBA for $20 off your first purchase download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed we want to thank you for making lockdown magic part of your day every day if you’re like me and you work from a home you usually have some sports thing on TV or in the background if you want the best sports news the best sports analysis don’t go to the National networks they’re just kind of touch and go they don’t know what’s going on go to the lock on sports today 247 streaming channel to get analysis on the biggest news in sports from local experts who know their team best lockon sports brings you can’t miss analysis opinions and news streaming 247 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app that’s part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day so you know we’ve obviously been talking kind of big picture stuff we had the last three episodes with Keith Smith again thanks to Keith Smith of spot track for jumping on the show if you missed any of those episodes last three episodes in our archives Go go download them go listen pretty lengthy conversation you split it up into three parts obviously um but good stuff kind of get you set for the offseason uh as a whole a lot of our focus a lot of the focus uh for a lot of fans has been on some of the big names those $25 million Year guys Malik monk D’Angelo Russell tus Jones Paul George Clay Thompson on the trade front Anthony Simons um Darius Garland Donovan Mitchell the big names in free agency and the magic are expected to are expected to make a major push we are expecting that the magic will go after a starting guard to supplement their roster to add to their roster we we are indeed expecting that um and it it feels almost a necessity because it’s it’s not likely Gary Harris is coming back and with all the money the magic have to spend um the magic do need to spend it do need to be aggressive but as I’ve said my ideal summer uh is is not to spend all that on one player I I don’t see the magic throwing $35 million at Klay Thompson or Paul George I don’t think that’s what they want to do now they may they may do that I’m not going to pretend like that’s off the table but that’s my suspicion that is not the direction the magic are heading um that that would be my suspicion um the the way I have this summer mapped out is I do think the magic you know they have about $32 million in cap room I think that they will you know if if they’re doing what I think they’re going to do that does probably mean they’re going to decline the team option on Joe Engles to get that number up to about 4344 million I think they will spend about $25 million of that on a starting guard um I think then they will spend the next part of that on a third Center um to replace Goa bad and then probably a backup Wing um or or just add some depth so I I I see this team adding three players to the roster um as as Keith Smith said there’s a possibility the magic um the magic uh declined the option on Mo Vagner but bring him back under the room exception which is about $8 million so no change in salary there so he spent 25 on one guy and then they have they have bird rights on him so that that’s that’s not a problem even under the under the room exception um but you have you have a big free agent and then maybe two small free agents at like the 10 12 million range who those players are though is is still kind of tough to figure out and and and maybe we haven’t do Dove and deep enough into those players but we did get a pair of reports suggesting the magic might be might suggesting the magic might um might be standing in here um Kelly Aiko of the athletic and I think we talked about this earlier now that I’m now that I’m mentioning it but I’m G mention it here um Kelly Aiko of the Houston Rockets reporter for the athletic had a bunch of free agency notes about the Rockets among among many things that the that they’re they’re monitoring what’s going on with Donan Mitchell but he added the Rockets appear to be targeting Milwaukee Bucks forward Malik Beasley to add some spacing and adds that among the teams interested in the Florida state guard are the Orlando Magic and the Golden State Warriors um this Malik Beasley is a player who’s expected who had a really solid years you know kind of a late summer addition to the bucks but had a really solid year last year averaging 11.3 points per game making 41.3% of a 6.9 three-point attempts per game a really solid outing a really solid showing from Beasley and he’s been a pretty consistent shooter a career 38 and a half% three-point shooter he shot 44.4% on catch and shoot three-pointers and 38.7% on pullup three-pointers I actually think that’s a really important stat too the magic just need more volume Malik Beasley’s been in this league for a little while now he is a decent Defender but more than anything else he is an excellent three-point shooter he’s an excellent floor spacer he always has been he’s had some spury games but he is a Rel viable three-point shooter and and again that’s that’s what the magic need and he is a starting level player started 77 of 79 games that he played in for the bucks last year very very capable of being a starter um they had a one a good Defender bucks had a 11 12.6 defensive rating with Beasley on the floor compared to 115 with him off so he was on he was involved in good defensive lineups and 1126 is pretty solid so he’s definitely some you know he is not going to you know I don’t know if he will get $20 million a year I I’d say I’d put him in that 15 to 18 range but that he’s a guy that’s going to have a market he had a really good year in Milwaukee a player that can add the newest rumor and it’s not so much a rumor but it’s more of a connected to um is kentavius Caldwell Pope as as a potential landing spot um everyone is expecting calwell Pope to decline his player option with the Nuggets looking to cash in and get a bit of a pay raise the Nuggets do have rights that can that can grab them um but it’s going to be interesting to see what the magic ultimately do or whether the magic go after a guy like cavius calwell popee he brings you know I’m big on the horse grain Theory bringing in players with championship experience to a young team especially is a good thing and kcp kcp is really good um and a really solid Defender and really solid player averaged 10.1 points per game shot 40.6% from three on 4.13 point attempts per game last year added 2.4 assists per game not bad for kind of a uh uh not bad for a guy who is essentially a exclusively a shooter gavius call will Pope just for the reference here is opting is probably gonna opt out to get a bigger salary he will be opting out of $15.4 million so if you want to get him he will definitely cost you $20 million a year so you know you’re looking at a threee $6 million dollar deal probably um and I had some people ask me like would you give a guy three three-year deal or not I would say yes for bird rights purposes just get that three-year deal get the guy get get some get the bird rights I I think that’s probably the smartest thing to do unless you’re not sold on someone which if you’re not sold on someone why are you signing them um the magic needs some depth no doubt about it and and and and while they did have the fourth highest scoring bench in the league the Magic’s bench didn’t really show up in the playoffs you know Cole Anthony struggled obviously Jonathan Isaac was up and down Mo Vagner had a really strong start but petered out toward the end of the playoffs I think a lot of it is a FR fron was up and down too and and he didn’t play he had some good moments in the playoffs but also some really frustrating moments um the magic I think need more a more Dynamic attack off their bench and so you know obviously these players are starting level players kcp started for a championship team Malik Beasley started for a championship team um or started for a championship level team um are they the starters that the magic need no because they need playmaking I like maybe Jaylen Suggs is still a PO a capable kind of stand in for a point guard he really didn’t show that this year um you know it it’s still a struggle for him knowing when to drive and how to and how to pass and how to be a better distributor you know turnovers were his big problem and you know we’ll talk about the Magic’s offense um because I looked up some numbers and you know there’s there’s a lot of things the magic can do just them to improve their off offense and and one of those things is turnovers they were 28th in the league or 26 in the league in turn bottom five in the league in turnover rate at 15% that’s just an area they’ve got to be better at so these are mid-tier free agents but they’re they’re starting level free agents that are going to get paid starter money and you know it’s gonna be tough to squeeze them into what the magic are trying to do but obviously the shooting fits and and a lot of this right now is professional dock connecting I hate to say it it is a lot of professional dock connecting right now um but the magic obviously have a lot of options the one option though we haven’t talked much about is what they have in reserve some of the answers to these difficult questions the magic have might already be on the roster we’ll talk about the rookies and the season they had coming up here in just a moment so I I’ve I’ve mentioned this throughout this runup to the summer throughout this runup to the offseason that a lot of what Jeff welman and his staff are having to evaluate um at this juncture is how much how much do we have or what you know for the things that we need how much can we improve internally and what do we need to externally bring into the fold um you know this this is the question like if you believe the magic have a rim protection issue which maybe they do maybe they don’t um I’m I’m bull I’m 5050 on that I’ll just say that but if you believe that magic have a room protection problem that the the the quest the an the question that Jeff welman and his staff have to ask is can Wendell Carter bounce back from a really poor season this year frankly and have a better season next year and provide that protection or is that something we need to add externally a lot of us think that the point guard position like I would argue point guard is the biggest need for the magic this off season the magic do probably need to add add that externally playmaking they need to add that externally three-point shooting Jeff wman seemed to hint at ex interviews that he’s not as concerned about the shooting as as everyone else might be finished 15th in the league after January 1st and three-point field goal percentage um I would say yes that is that is something the magic need to improve on and while internal development will help make that better so too with adding an actual gravity shooter and and a volume shooter at that but the magic of two pieces in reserve here that could very well change the trajectory of things and how much the magic believe in those two players and their ability to contribute next season could inform a lot more about about this summer than a lot of us think and a lot of us are planning I am of course talking about Anthony black and Jet Howard the magic had two rookies who played pretty sparingly in their rookie Seasons that do provide a lot of the needs the magic are looking for Anthony black came in was excellent defensively fit this culture perfectly he had a really strong start to the season when he was pressed into duty um really improved as a shooter as a season one like his is his Improvement as a shooter was one of the most impressive things about the season him being a 40% a near 40% three-point shooter was just stunning and and I I cannot wait for summer league to see just how much further he’s grown as a shooter but he’s a natural point guard everyone believed that he would be a playmaker be someone who could get downhill be some you could create for others [Music] but he didn’t really play point guard his rookie year magic kind of took the ball out of his hands made him a stand still Corner shooter made him a slasher they didn’t put the ball in his hands and trusted me a point guard and that’s why that point guard need feels so big but maybe Anthony Black’s that guy maybe the magic weren’t ready to turn him loose as rookie year but next year maybe they will be we talk about three-point shooting and volume three-o shooting that was something we all understood was a need on draft night I said it a million times last year ahead of the draft that if the magic don’t exit draft night whether by Trader trade or by draft with a shooter I would be very disappointed we none of us really had jet Howard on our board but jet Howard was a shooter we all understood he was a shooter and so the magic accomplished that goal only to keep jet Howard in the G league and and look that’s that’s not the end of the world I’ve SE I’ve had a lot of magic Fans Say say see this is why we should have drafted Derk Lively or or whatever the case may be and i’ be like guys like calm down um the you don’t draft a player for their rookie year and we’re seeing this more and more teams are parking their rookies in the G league and giving them that extra year to develop and and that extra year to grow and Jet had a very strong campaign in the g- league he shot the ball very very well looked to be a little bit more improved defensively looked to be a better playmaker which is I think ultimately what the magic envisioned for him and why they picked him over some of the other players uh that were available in that draft jet Howard had a strong year but now we got to see him do it in the NBA and and and if you’re the magic how much are you willing to risk that he’s ready how much are you willing to bet that he’s ready are you not going to headed your bet and bring in a shooter to to compete for that role and compete for that spot you’re going to need everybody on your roster at some point uh during the season we all know that but here’s my thing whatever the magic do this off season they have to create the space for both of these players to to have a path to minutes to have a path to compete for playing time whether that’s Anthony black filling in for the Marquel fultz R you know we’re expecting the magic to let Marco folz walk in free agency Anthony black should slot in and fill those minutes I I am very comfortable with him playing that role that Marco folz played last year um jet Howard could very easily fill in either the Caleb Houston minutes and the Caleb Houston role or the Joe Engles minutes and so there are you know two guys you’re letting go now you have to do is fill in for Gary Harris and then look for ways to improve the roster elsewhere what the magic ultimately do and and and how they set their roster up and the trades that they make that it that does in a lot of ways depend on what they believe these two young players are capable of doing that is a big piece of the puzzle for the Orlando Magic that is a big piece of what the magic are going to try and accomplish this summer but both of these players as we look at what the magic need three-point shooting playmaking uh you know secondary secondary creation these two players fill and fit a lot of needs the magic already have and a lot of needs to Magic already know and so the answers to a lot of our questions may already be inhouse but we will see they need the opportunity first and the magic have to either trust them or not but the answers May already be there for a lot of our questions we’re going to answer a lot more of those questions actually on tomorrow’s episode of lockdown magic we’re to do our draft Tuesday on a Thursday um and talk about how the magic address their needs in the NBA draft talk about some prospects that fill some some clear needs and whether the magic are worth taking them at 19 we’ll get to that on tomorrow’s episode of lockdown magic but that’s going to do it for me today I want to thank you all again for listening to today’s episode of lockdown magic you of course find me on Twitter Philip rore OMD subscribe to the podcast and apple podcast your tuned in himay Google Spotify Odyssey and all the fun place podcast to your podcast enabl listening device you can of course find us on YouTube search for locked on Magic and for the latest on the Orlando Magic be sure to check out Orlando Magic daily.com you can find us there on Twitter at o Magic daily for even more Orlando Magic content I’m starting player evaluations you can find that at the Orlando Magic Hub my patreon page go to patreon.com orlandomagic HUB and as always thank you for your support now that you’re done listening to me be sure to check out the lockon sports day 247 streaming Channel on YouTube and now available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app locked on sports today is here for you 247 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local Experts of locked on plus our national shows covering every leap find lock on sports today now available on the free Fire TV channels app that’s going to do for me today though I want to thank you all again for listening to today’s episode of lock on Magic for Orlando Magic daily and lock onic this has been Philip Rossman we’ll see you again next time for another episode of lock on Magic

The Orlando Magic performed better than expected in the Playoffs. Is their style built for success in the Playoffs? With the way the Indiana Pacers struggled to slow down in the biggest moment, perhaps the Magic are better equipped to make a deep run. Plus, the Magic are seeking shooters. But maybe the answers are already on the roster.

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