Are The Orlando Magic Ready For A Blockbuster Move?

Are The Orlando Magic Ready For A Blockbuster Move?

they have what I’ve grown to call your Choose Your Own Adventure cap sheet like depending on how you value their own free agents they could have anywhere between like 20 plus million or like they could go past 60 million pretty easily do you think and I’m starting to think that the answer from you is no based off what you just said that the front office is going to operate with a semblance of if it’s not urgency then aggression this offseason not just because they have these tools at their disposal but oh hey we’re we’re really good so the answer isn’t no but it’s that I don’t know definitely not aggression I don’t see them making a particularly aggressive move this offseason because there are still so many questions about all of the young players on this roster that it’s not really about like well we could be like a Conference Finals team which they could be anyway because they could just get better next year um but I do think that there are specific moves that they can make that aren’t necessarily aggressive but urgent address the the need to answer some of the questions about the young players on this roster something that we talked about uh already we talked about shooting and we talked about the need for um maybe a floor General as well and so I think that there are there’s like a range with both of those um with both of those directions and maybe they try to get both uh in terms of like going for like the star that could give you this thing versus like a a more margin piece whether it’s in free agency or a small trade to you know fill either of or both of those roles is there I I it’s it’s a stupid question when it comes down to it because if you’re there you’re not going to sign if you’re signing like an elite Playmakers chances are they’re pretty good shooter too like what do you view as the more urgent need for them is it to improve the functional shooting around them words oh we need someone who is not Cole Anthony not P banero not marel FZ to to organize our offense I 100% think that if there’s only one thing they can do they should address getting a floor General because to me the shooting was definitely a problem especially for the way that teams were defending both poo and France um both of them also need to improve their their own individual shooting however the bigger problem to me was the frequency with which everyone on this team turned the ball over oh I remember I was like game two against the Cavs and I think uh Pao and Jaylen had five turnovers each in the first quarter it was a problem uh and it continues to be a problem it’s a problem their I believe 23d in turnover rate on the season I remember looking this up because the Phoenix Suns were worse and I was like how are you worse than the magic um they were like they came I think they led the league or maybe it was Memphis which would make sense because they were their roster was changing every night they were they were in the top I’ll say they were in the top three of turnovers from just stepping out of bounds which is like there’s a lot of dumb turnovers too yeah when you’re talking about the play better button or the play smarter button that’s what you mean it’s like hey maybe don’t step out of bounds as frequently as you were right but the live ball turnover is a really big problem like you said just the halfcourt pace getting into their sets getting guys in the best positions to succeed um one of the things that they need to address with both Paulo and fron like you said like what’s the next Frontier for pal what’s uh what are the ways that that frons would need to improve to get um to get to the point where the front office feels comfortable giving him this uh the max extension is getting somebody on the floor that you feel comfortable is going to get to say the 80 or 90th percentile outcome on every possession when it comes to organizing the offense seeing what fron and Paulo are going to do when they are put in positions to succeed right and if any if I learned anything from this regular season from the Nuggets to basically any team I watch it’s the importance of point guards not just ball handlers not just like a combo guard but your primary decision maker and the the the initiator the guy who’s handling the ball whether it like I said even the Nuggets like yog is great but you need you need your point guard to to make everything flow to like its optimal level um and I think that watching the magic this year was like the most maybe not the most because there are definitely worse teams one of the most glaring examples of the need for particularly these younger teams to have someone that they trust Joe Eng Les was their backup point guard Off the Bench he actually did a really good job of calming the offense and just like running basic actions um also spelling both Pao and frons when only one of them was on the floor so that they weren’t constantly having to initiate too but you know he’s not he’s not like amazing right but get he could get everybody in their spots and run basic pick and roll um also like a good uh connective passer Etc things like that and so it’s like well I wish they had my I wish they could get my con like he’s like ideal because he also provides the shooting but will play off Ball but also play on Ball and like everything gets chaotic uh but the the name that a lot of people have been floating around for over a year now is Anthony Simons he’s not like the best decision maker but he’s okay and he provides that shooting so in terms of finding someone that gets you that combo but there are other options that like tus Jones or if they could pick up Kyle lowy on a either a minimum or a lowlevel deal just to have someone there as that option so you could still play your starting lineup the way that you like to but you can also mix and match and you create these like really like I said they like to go with these jumbo lineups and it creates like absolute Havoc defensively for opposing teams but then it’s like okay we can’t score because one they don’t respect our spacing and two like we don’t know what to do here um so KY lar is an option people have been floating Darius Garland as an option as well he also provides some of the shooting although like the um his willingness to shoot is a good question for me I actually think he could really Thrive with the magic when he’s surrounded by a bunch of really good play finishers yeah yeah um and guys that would take pressure off of him offens like the thing with the magic is that a lot of them are really good at getting open off the ball but they’re not good at doing that while like kind of alternating possessions being the guy that’s initiating and trying to set other guys up too so I actually think that yeah floor General is the absolute um priority and I think that should be prioritized over um overshooting I do think that Klay Thompson has been floated I don’t love the idea because it eats into what you could do to get a really good point guard but I think he could be like decent Off the Bench and this team could use some like movement shooting they did draft jet Howard last year he didn’t really play much yeah um I don’t know if the questions were like what about defensively blah blah blah maybe he gets better this year but I actually watched for something I was writing some jet Howard g-league tape and nice he is someone that I thought that’s not a brag my point was for what they needed I don’t know why they just didn’t try him out more just watching how he was moving and navigating the floor I don’t understand why he wasn’t part of the especially when it’s like that was what they needed like it’s not like he would have infringed upon someone else who was really important minutes like you could and he’s and he’s 68 that’s another thing is like I don’t want Clay Thompson because I think they should just give more run to Jet Howard right and also like wouldn’t at this point like I maybe they’d be cheaper if they are I don’t know what the Market’s saying but like I would prefer to have next season for the next couple Seasons buddy hee or even Malik Beasley based off what he showed this season as opposed to a Klay Thompson I actually wouldn’t mind buddy hee because he comes from uh comes from an offense in in Indiana anyway that plays in a lot of different lot of really creative ways um in the way that they run their sets and everything I think he could actually really Thrive with some of the things that the that the magic to because like you said like Jamal Mosley actually does really creative things with their offense but other teams don’t respect respect their spacing um they end up like inverting they like to invert the offense a lot and they like other teams absolutely do not respect the shooting of of poo or fron and things like that but having somebody like buddy out there he’s also a really smart player like he can uh he sets like really good screens off the ball and he can read the floor sort of mid broken possession like oh but I can get this guy open or like set this flare screen and get myself open and we can kind of save this uh so that that could be interesting but uh again I wouldn’t prioritize it over the floor General I still Simons is probably my favorite Trader free agent Target for them even though I think I agree with he’s trying to save an fory which is also fair right um but also I could see them going the route of and I don’t necessarily think he he kind of checks in the same vein as well he doesn’t check any box primarily but like a Malcolm Brogden if they’re going to go the placeholder route like has one year on his deal I actually like someone I I actually thought that the magic might take a go out at the treade deadline that they didn’t right uh and another name I thought of just because his contract is so friendly and I I I really think he’s better than people are giving him credit for I know Atlanta sucks but Deonte Murray on that deal like I know he’s not the best shooter but like he he’s an upgrade over marel F he was a lot better this last year my thing is the decisionmaking like I just prioritize that so much more than anything else and I think he plays really good with a really well with a lob threat um this team doesn’t actually have that many of them for a team with so many big guys uh so he wouldn’t be ideal but he’s on a good deal he’s on a good uh contract and uh yeah he could provide definitely that spacing and some more off the dribble juice like he can just break down defenses uh quite a bit better than any of the guards that Orlando has right now so not a bad option [Music]

Dan and Grace Jean from @WhatsinaGameNBA discuss whether the Orlando Magic will aggressively look for upgrades via trades and free agency this summer, and who they should target if they do. CHECK OUT THE FULL EPISODE, FEATURING MUCH MORE MAGIC TALK: https://youtu.be/ZztK8fplxDA. SUBSCRIBE TO WHAT’S IN A GAME HERE (https://www.youtube.com/@WhatsinaGameNBA) AND HERE (https://open.spotify.com/show/0jcmG5tuLWROu99aNIuiqA?si=b7fce8b494c9472d)! CHAPTERS BELOW.

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