Summer League Pregame Show | Presented by AdventHealth
have 20 okay and welcome to the Orlando Magic pregame show presented by Advent health I’m Kindra Douglas joined by Orlando Magic’s Dan Savage Dan how are you doing I’m doing great today we get some or orando Magic Basketball quench our thirst a little bit during this summer dry spell so it’ll be nice to to watch a little bit of this action today I’m super pumped too because we have not seen Tristan D Silva play in A Magic uniform that’s something that we’re going to be able to see so that is exciting of course we get to also see Jet and ab out on the court as well them going into year two which I feel like for them is kind of like a you know this is their chance to show their leadership skills a little bit so what are you looking forward to in today game I mean you touched on two big ones uh the one thing with Tristan that’s going to be really interesting is I think his game in particular really translates to the NBA level he’s a smart cerebral player Cuts well Moves In Space can get downhill a little bit he’s willing to defend and in the summer league setting that always doesn’t translate uh we saw that with fron Vagner where he had Sensational summer league practices but then when he was cutting open to the basket he wasn’t necessarily always being found summer league tends to favor volume scorers guys who are willing to Jack shots up and that is not the way he plays the his game at all he’s very unselfish but in the summer league practice sessions he has looked very impressive very poised makes the right plays sets up his teammates and he’s got a good starting group with him so I think he could overcome that and I think we could see a very impressive summer league debut for D Silva that’s awesome I’m excited and I want to say thank you again to all of the magic fans joining us today you were watching the summer league pregame show presented by Avan health I see a couple coming in saying go magic go magic all Nico 124 says I love y’all we love you too Nico so thank you guys for watching us but let’s hear what Tristan has to say and how excited he is to debut with the summer league team um you know this the first time we going out there and uh to do it with a group group of guys like this is is very special um so I’m I’m pumped uh just playing the right way you know uh passing guys like like Jay Huff the ball um nah but um you know we we got a good good group of guys that all know how to play and I’m I’m trying to fit into that um byy into this culture of the Lando of magic um and just play my my style of basketball buying into the culture is something that really stood out to me I think because you know you’ve heard from the guys with how things happen this year it was all about buying into the culture all about all about buying into Mosley and how he plays so for you you know what is the culture and what do you think Tristan needs to do during this summer league uh debut well I think you touched on the key word there which is culture standard whatever you want to go by you know it’s funny today’s three years ago to the day or just about 3 years ago to the day that Jamal Mosley was hired and one of the constants since his arrival uh has been the defensive standard that the Orlando Magic have set forth if you want to earn minutes in this Orlando Magic’s rotation you have to play defense you have to give a 100% effort if you want to make the Orlando Magic roster you’re going to have to do that if you want to be a member of acola you’re going to have to do that if you want minutes in summer league you’re going to have to do that so that is something that Lon schmer who’s the Magic summer league head coach has emphasized in those practice sessions to a man whether it be AB jet or Tristan they’ve emphasized the importance of displaying that aspect of their game I thought jet in his uh you know media session the first one of Summer League where he said look it doesn’t matter if you’re with the parent Club in acola summer league it’s all the same it comes down to defense so I think the Orlando Magic are going to really try to set the tone on that end just as they’ve done in the regular season playoffs Etc and I think they’ve got a number of guys who can really help accentuate that Anthony black takes tremendous Pride on it it’s an aspect of his game that jet Howard’s trying to show in order to earn more time we’ looked at you know a guy like CHR Silva he’s got the do it and one guy not to sleep on if you’re if you’re you know just kind of gaining access and knowledge to this magic summer league team is Jay Huff that guy was a 2022 23 g League Defensive Player of the Year and his defense is shown in some of these summer league practice sessions so it’ll be interesting to see if that carries over to the court as well and speaking of the Court as you can see we’re getting a live look at summer league in Vegas I hate that we’re not there but I love that we get to like show this for our fans as well so those who are watching us that’s the live look at Vegas right now seeing the guys getting warmed up and ready to play at 400 p.m. um let’s see we have Michael Orlando saying excited to see what ab and Jet do I think we both are um Edward magic Play the song I think they would love to also continue to play the song even for summer league too so um excited about that but let’s listen to chers because he does talk a little bit about just Tristan’s game he knows how to play the game he’s very smart um he knows timing he knows spacing and uh he’s willing to play with other guys which is very important and he’s even communicating a lot which is great for a young guy I think he’s really tough I think um he’s underrated tougher than uh people give him credit for uh and he’s quick he can get down he can Stampede drive and he’s a really good passer honestly especially coming off the left he makes really good decision passes so um I want him to stay aggressive and um shoot the ball but I also want him to show other parts of his game as well it’s so good to hear from chers too talking about this team and what he’s looking forward to this is his first year coaching with the summer league group so I’m excited for him but when you hear him and how he talks about Tristan you know we are going to talk about this rookie a lot he’s the only one we got right now we know that ab and Jet are going into year two but what excites you about you know what you’re looking forward to him and his progression yeah now at first I thought uh the El Train was talking about himself with the way he used to play people forget he was drafted by the Clippers played a number of years overseas uh Mel pet magic Legend Mel petrius was taking in one of the Magic’s summer league sessions and we were talking about Lionel and and his playing days so it’s great to see him get the opportunity as a head coach but you know back to Tristan I think this is an opportunity for him to to really work on you know the rotations mentally picking up the speed because whether it be going from the college level to Summer League practice sessions to Summer League to pre-season to training camp to the regular season uh there are different speeds to this and I think this will be a good test of his progression of how quick he could pick up the rotations how quickly he could make decisions and start to play off some of the teammates that he may even have in Orlando Magic preseason and regular season action because when you look at that second unit guys like Anthony black and Jet Howard could both be on it so it’s a good time to build some chemistry as well so I think it’ll be a good test for his mental progression and I think he has the capabilities to do that coming in as an older rookie you know you just mentioned ab and actually Anthony U commented Dan what improvements have you seen in ab’s game over the summer so far if you’ve been able to yeah I think it it’s really early on the eye test is with his aggressiveness I think that’s twofold I think you know some people wanted to see the Anthony black in college being aggressive I think magic coaches scaled that a little bit back in his early in his season made sure he was making the right plays first I think that as he enters year two Training Wheels start to come off a little bit and especially in a summer league session I think we’ll see him get downhill more be more assertive getting the B basket and a little bit more decisive in his is decision-making I think the key in summer league sessions is going to be limiting turnovers because the game can get mucked up real quick and we’ve seen in some of the you know summer league sessions for other teams playing in some of the other summer leagues that turnovers can rack up real fast fouls can you know rack up real fast and it’s going to be on AB as a floor General as a guy with some experience in this setting to set the table for his teammates and take care of the basketball so if he could do those things uh I think he’s he’s going to be set up for a successful summer league and look his shot steadily made progress from what he did in college to year one and I think he’s put a lot of work into that and I’m looking forward to seeing how that translates here in summer league yeah I am too and one guy who was on our screen right now that was jet Howard that just zoomed by so actually I do want to talk a little bit about jet but let’s hear how he feels about going into his second season of Summer League for sure I for sure have more confidence more comfortable um a little leadership quality just cuz I know everything and um Ben did it already so just helping out if like you know a guy doesn’t know a defensive drill or a principle and um just helping in that aspect for sure I feel like I’m a pretty good passer um coming in I felt like that and um you know I kind of gets overlooked a little bit um but um it’s a good time to Showcase it I feel like so is there something you really want to fight like in your game for yourself could coaches probably the defensive side of the ball and just understanding you know how to perfect my role and um be good at that and not get out of that um so just probably just perfecting I definitely feel like this is a great opportunity for jet to continue to grow this season so what are you looking forward to with seeing jet progress other than his new hairstyle which I’m not I’m not going to lie when they set up for I believe it was like the final day of practice before taking off for Vegas and they go out into their three different units you have your starters your second unit and and that are filtering with the third and I was like where’s Jet and I re I looked down at his jersey number I was like oh wow he switched up the hair a little bit so I like the new style um you know that’s a that’s a good start for jet I think the number one thing he emphasized that he wants to do is have the game slowed down for him I think in his first summer league he rushed to get shots up I think this time you’ll see him look for the right shots uh one of his underrated aspects of his game is his playmaking I think if he could showcase that alongside some other good Playmakers in that Orlando Magic summer league starting unit uh he’ll look really good so I I just look for the game for him to slow down and if he could showcase his defense that’ll be big because that’s what’ll earn him time with the parent Club yeah for sure and I’m so happy that we got to do that live look inside Las Vegas and see the guys warming up and getting ready hopefully you guys are getting excited the team will play at 400 p.m. so just in a couple of minutes and thank you again for tuning in our summer league pregame show presented by Avent Health looking at some more questions um Dan what other players stand out to you well you know I I mentioned him Jay Huff is going to stand out because he’s going to be the center point for the Magic’s defense uh holding it down as the big man there he’s got uh you know skins under his belt with uh you know 20222 23 g-league Defensive Player of the Year another guy you know also cracking the Magic’s uh start rotation is Jared Culver who was a you know top 10 pick for the Phoenix Suns it went six overall back in the day and then you know you got some other guys like Xavier Moon who’s a Speedster uh he’ll come in probably with that second unit you’ll see him fly up and down the court uh you’ve got a few of the Magic’s g-league players returning and in guys like uh myON Gardner JC hillsman and Trey Scott so those are guys some of the guys that I would keep an eye on in this first summer League session not everybody’s going to get playing time in in in game one we saw that before remember that last summer league where everybody was banging the table for Kai SoDo but uh you have to remember the Orlando Magic look at this holistically they’re not only looking at guys for how they could translate to the Magic’s parent Club but also for their g-league team prospects they want to give a shot to so uh there’s a bigger approach than just wins and losses there’s a lot they’re looking at over the course of the summer summer league sessions yeah without a doubt another question is I like this one what do you think are realistic expectations for this season oh that’s a good one I I want to pick up right where we left off and continue to earn more wins than we did the prior season now will it be double digits again that’s hard to imagine doing two years in a row but I thought adding double digits last season after the season before would be hard to do but if you could just pick up where he left off really hone in on making an impact on the defensive end and uh and at the same time improving the offensive efficiency I’ll be very happy with the way the season unfolds I think adding kcp was huge I think there’s a reason he was a top Target for Jeff Waltman and Company uh because he slides in and fits in perfectly helps improve the Magic’s defense a top five type of Defender when it comes to looking at guys who are willing to take on tough challenges and at the same time has the capability of shooting over 40% from three which as we know uh was a weakness of this Orlando Magic team so you add him into the mix you guy perhaps like jet Howard who we’ll see today with his three-point shooting in the mix Tristan D Silva has an opportunity to earn minutes uh we may have more Shooters at our disposal which could be a good thing without sacrificing defense so that’s that’s really big it is really big and one guy who we’ve been talking about we didn’t really get to hear much about was AB that you were kind of mentioning so let’s hear from some of the guys as they talk about ab and just seeing him in summer league doing a great job of communicating uh we’re we’re having him use his voice more and he does it and he’s starting to recognize when he’s not doing and he’s aware of it which is grow so I think he’s doing a good job right now and he’ll continue to get better and better you know he’s making threes now consistently um he’s growing as a leader um we’re following his League this summer league and um you know I think he’s doing a good job so far following his league in summer league I think that both J ab and Jet have that whole mentality where they are going to be leaders going into this next season especially with these guys and Summer League 2 so I’m excited we’re going to wrap things up in a little bit I want to get your final thoughts on just what you expect during the summer leak some people have high expectations some people don’t even know what to expect final thoughts before we wrap up yeah I think the one thing that’s been key for summer leagues look I’ve taken them in closely for the last 20 years and do not overreact to anything good or bad with Summer League you know there were people who after fron vogner’s uh you know first summer league action wanted you know we like he was he was overdrafted Etc and now those are the some same people that are like okay fron is is worth a a Max you know rookie or contract coming off his rookie season so you can’t overreact to anything remember the team and staff is looking at things differently than you are they want to make sure players are picking up Concepts and seeing the right things so that’s something I’m focusing on too and it just a good opportunity for growth for These Guys these are you know just kind of a little more than glorified scrimmages you have to keep that in mind and you know when coaches decide to look at guys at the end of games and maybe your top players AR in there don’t overreact to everything that’s so that’s my big thing do not overreact don’t overreact that is the model we’ll be going into the summer league I just want to say one Dan thank you for taking the time to come and chat with us and you the fans thank you so much for chatting with us and getting us ready for game one as the magic look to take on the Cavs at 400 PM the summer league pregame show is a wrap presented by aan Health we will see you guys later and hey good luck and go magic and we’ll see you next time for more reactions yes
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