It’s Summer League! What the Orlando Magic need to see from Da Silva, Black and Howard
summer league is here so what do the magic need to see from the three key players we’ll talk about storylines for Tristan D Silva Anthony black and Jet Howard as the magic gets set to go to Vegas it’s time for lockon Magic you are locked on Magic your daily Orlando Magic podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and you are indeed locked on Magic today is July 9th and will be July 10th 2024 my name is Philip rosik I’m the senior writer over orlandomagic.com you find me on Twitter Philip rror on today’s episode of lock on Magic it’s time for summer league so let’s talk Tristan D Silva Anthony black and Jet Howard what they have to prove over the next weekend let’s be real they’re gonna play two games probably what they have to prove out in Las Vegas as the magic gets set for their summer league action we’ll talk about that coming up here in just a moment but first we want to thank you again for making lock 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 lock on Magic part of your day every day remember there’s a great lock on podcast covering every single team in the NBA to search for lockon and the team you’re looking for the lockon podcast Network it’s your team every day today’s episode of Locked on Magic is also 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 terms apply summer league is officially here we got talk to the magic summer Leaguers over on Monday uh before they get ready to go to Vegas um and we’ll break down the games magic open are the very first game of Summer League Friday so we will have a full report from that game uh coming up Friday we’ll do a full episode we’ll back to kind of game episodes here um we’re not going to skip skip steps here in the process we will treat these like relatively normal games they’re obviously not quite normal but this is our first opportunity see Trist in this Sil and obviously we’ve talked a lot about him the draft was only a few weeks ago and in reality this is our first introduction to him yes I am sure we have poured over all the YouTube highlights of Tristan the Silva we have broken down his game we thought about how he’s going to fit into the puzzle and fit into this team but there’s obviously more to it than that there’s obviously more work to do there’s obviously uh uh a lot more about this and we don’t know how he’s going to fit or what he’s even going to look like in the NBA and look this week in Las Vegas or this these NE this next set of games in Las Vegas is not going to tell us it’s not GNA help us make any final conclusions um I often tell people this about about Vegas and about summer league um you don’t find out who can play you find out who can’t play and you know magic summer league coach Lionel Chalmer said it pretty e pretty well about the Magic’s players I just want them to be themselves you know be leaders you know get get your work in but I’m not looking for them to do anything different or anything expansive I want our players to be themselves and that is an important point to a certain extent you you are just hooping um as Anthony black said he’s looking forward to going up against some competition they’ve just been working in the gym for the last two months now since the season ended everyone’s eager to to try and play a little bit to to get that get those competitive juices flowing just a little bit we’ll get to what Anthony black and Jet Howard have to do coming up here in a minute but for Tristan the Silva what this week represents is an introduction to Magic Basketball it’s an introduction to the basics of who the Orlando Magic are now we of course know who they are we’ll talk about jet Howard here in a minute but this is a defensive team there this is a team that expects you to put in a full effort a full 48 minute effort in this case a 40 minute effort when you’re on the floor they expect you to commit on the defensive end play for each other play as a team to learn from your mistakes and evolve as the game goes on that is part of who this team is and what the magic are doing here and where the magic start is with this they want to introduce Tristan to Silva to who the magic are and that’s why the practices are just as important as the games but the magic want the Silva to get his feet wet to begin to understand how the magic operate who the magic are and what will lead to their success this is the goal of summer league and it’s a goal for every rookie we probably you could probably go back a year I probably am saying the same thing about Anthony black and Jet Howard’s rookie here is look it’s it yes we want them to play well we of course want to see them perform well but at the end of the day this is their introduction they’re on the roster Tristan D Silva signed a contract he’s got a guaranteed two-year deal with Team options on the third and fourth year he’ll will be in training camp in September um that part that part’s in stone but what the magic want to see and what we need to see it’s just stilla begin to learn how the magic operate and that’s why a having a staff that’s obviously comprised of Regular Magic coaches that’s why having that staff begin to teach the magic way is so vital look we know that Tristan Silva is a smart player that’s that’s something the magic value and the magic want to have too um he knows you know he said the way he plays what he wants to show is that team first mentality making the right plays making the smart Play That’s who he is and that’s why we all feel like d Silva is gonna fit right in that D Silva is is going to be a great piece for this magic team and someone who’s going to make a difference now obviously we got to see him perform we got to see him what he looks like integrated with the group but for now it’s about getting down these Basics it’s about getting that jump start for o for September because guess what the magic aren’t waiting for rookies anymore that was evident last year the magic are a winning team now we got to change our mindset about these rookies um a lot of I think still a lot of fans are having trouble with that because we’ve just been in this ringer for so long and yes the m magic are still a developmental outfit they want to give young players their opportunities and a chance to grow but we’re trying to win and so you got to show us that you can help this team win and the only way to Silva is goingon to be able to do that is if he gets the basics down now the basics that are being taught here in summer league the basics that he’s expected to show us during the games that start Friday this is what is on the line for the magic this is what the magic want to see from their rookie because this is about the base Foundation of what the magic are trying to do that’s that’s what the magic want to see from all these guys we’re going to talk a little bit more about what the magic are hoping to see from Anthony black and really what Anthony black is hoping to see from himself as well as jet Howard because there is a lot on the line for the Magic’s foundational players or the three players that we care about here in summer league the three players that we care about seeing in this in this competition like no offense to the other guys I have my names I think Tom Thursday will probably uh Friday’s episode Thursday for Friday get my days confused um Thursday for Friday I’ll probably go over some of the names to look at deeper into the magic summer league roster but there are three guys that we really care about no offense to TA madon to uh t to Tyler you know to to to Joff to Xavier moon to to um Jared Culver no offense to those guys we’re here to see Tristan n Silva we’re here to see Anthony black we’re here to see jet Howard and the foundation that gets laid this week and this month that’s going to carry them into what everyone hopes are rotation roles for these players so what do we want to see from Anthony black and Jet Howard I’m glad you asked we’ll talk a little bit about that coming up here in just a moment but first today’s episode of lockdown magic is brought to you by our friends over at game time look it is summer there are still plenty of events going on here or in Orlando there’s a big concert on Wednesday tonight over at Camping World Stadium I I have seen journey and Cheap Trick before uh it was actually almost 15 years ago now they rocked then I’m sure they Rock now so if you’re going to that big concert tonight Kudos you if you don’t have your tickets yet for the concert I’ve got your way in that’s game time with killer last minute deals all in prices views from your seat and the lowest price guarantee game time takes the guest workk out of buying tickets to any event whether it’s concerts whether it’s shows whether it’s sporting events 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Sports World 247 from the local experts who know their team best yes the national story The National shows might increase the volume and Shout their opinions louder at you but they don’t know they don’t follow these teams religiously that’s what the lockdown that’s what the lockon podcast network does and on lockon sport today you get the best of the lockon podcast Network plus the local analysis and expert analysis from local experts who know their team best check out lock on sports today streaming 247 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day when it comes to sophomore players uh we expect them to be a little seasoned um no doubt it’s always concerning when a second-year player who’s coming to Summer league for the second time does not look the part um no doubt that is always concerning if a if if a guy who has done this before doesn’t look like he’s done this before that’s kind of the the hard truth of this thing um we do expect Anthony black and Jet Howard who both looked good in Summer League last year by the way to look comfortable to look like the adults in the room and at least judging by how they talk to the media um both have grown up a lot I I I would love to be able to show these guys how they spoke to us a year ago to how they spoke to us now they’re very different much more confident players confident people confident young men um you know they’re they’re maturing and they’re growing up um AB if you did see the the the video on uh your L Magic’s Twitter account we were all there he’s you know this this this team is still young they like they like to kid around um but there is some serious work that the magic do need to see from Anthony black because as the roster stands now there is a lot being asked of Anthony black it I wouldn’t say the whole season turns on this but the magic right now are going into the season with Anthony black as their backup point guard and while he played very well in Long stretches last year and and I think it I think it is fair to say that he did deserve to get some playoff minutes and deserve to get some get some seasoning on that front the magic did not deliver that um I think it’s perfectly fair to say that Anthony black is a rotation level player at this point but that doesn’t mean there’s not areas where he has to improve and he you know we were we asked him like what he hopes to get out of Summer League this time around this will probably be his last summer league hopefully it’s his last summer league if it’s not his last summer league we got problems um but he said what the magic want to see from him is to be more aggressive to take on a little bit more of that point guard role that he really didn’t do his rookie season uh for long stretches he’s kind of the nominal point guard he played we all know he can defend no one’s doubting that he’s going to defend at a high level and whoever whichever guard he goes up against he’s gonna make that guard’s life miserable and we want to see that that’s the kind of leadership you want to see in the summer league setting but what what Anthony black wants to show is a little bit more aggression to be able to get downhill and get to the pain a little bit more in a way that he didn’t last year this is the truth this is the truth of it like just look at the numbers 4.6 points per game 46.6% shooting 39.4% from three only 3.6 field goal attempts per game and 16.9 minutes per game only 1.3 assists per game I point this out too he had a usage rate of 12.7% that’s essentially when he was on the floor only 12% of possessions ended with him that’s a shot that’s a turnover that’s a free throw this is not a player who was super aggressive and the frustrating thing I think about his rookie year and I I share this frustration too he did not look like a point guard the magic did not use him like a point guard instead the magic just kind of had him out there and so you know whether whether that was because he was a rookie and they really wanted to narrow his role and say hey just focus on defense spot up shooting all that and the shots come a long way by the way you look at a summer league compared to where he was last year I’m really excited to see him shoot this this this time around because you know he’s been working all summer on that um Anthony black was just kind of on the floor he was you know I joke about this love you to death Mo harkless um he was just doing harkless Cuts standing in the corner out of the way look for your opportunity to cut take an open three when you when the ball swings to you that that was his role and so if the magic were a little hesitant to pull the trigger on him in the playoffs it’s because he didn’t give them a lot to do well now they are now they’ve got to know if they need to use that last roster spot on a point guard on a veteran point guard perhaps if there is the potential for the magic to still do something and I don’t think they will but if the magic still need to do something it’s gonna be because they’re not sure if Anthony black can fill the role they have imagined for and that is again to be the backup point guard that is that is what the magic are intending here and so black has to show us that he can be aggressive that he can get downhill and create I want to see that assist number up four or five assists would be awesome six or seven would be better the scoring is whatever I’d like to see him score I think we’re all comfortable to say that he could score at that level but I want to see him be a Creator I want to see him be a leader I want to see him be a floor manager he’s right he needs to show that he can turn that aggression back on that he can get back to being the player he was at Arkansas when we talked to Black on Monday he said it repeated reply I want to get back to being the player that I was like he he wasn’t playing the Anthony black role last year well now the magic need to see that now the magic need to see him become the player that they drafted if you’re sitting there saying I this this is exactly what I’ve been saying I agree with you guys Anthony black showed us a lot of what he can do with Arkansas and the magic did not use him that way the magic did not let go of the Reigns on their rookie maybe a theme throughout all of last season so the magic need to see Anthony black get aggressive they need to see him push the pace they need to see him be the assertive one if they want to get the most out of summer league and that’s what we will see if he turns up or if he plays like this week in Vegas the most intriguing man on the magic summer league roster the one that could be the biggest swing for the Orlando Magic is jet Howard we’ll talk about what he is looking to accomplish coming up here in just a moment I still get a lot of questions about jet Howard um and and I and and there’s still a lot of like wide ranging opinions on jet Howard so I want to repeat this part of the puzzle and repeat this this line you don’t draft rookies for their rookie year you get two years you get four years with a first round pick and ultimately you are hoping to get whatever you can out of a rookie rookies are bad like remember that like poo ban Carol is a rookie is the worst he will ever be you hope that rookies are almost always terrible they don’t know what they’re doing you know they run into the rookie wall they’re bad you’re not drafting you hope to get whatever you can out of a rookie like obviously Pao had a great rookie but um and for his you know like I I remember watching Pao in his first Summer League game and him having that big first half against the rockets and I said to myself I said I I think I I was watching from from home here and I literally said to myself at halftime we’re done here we don’t need to see any more Pao like he’s ready he’s he’s he’s good um obviously then we would have been robbed of that great game against Sacramento in the second summer league game but you know that’s that’s the legend of Pao um rookies are bad though and so a lot of people not being deprived of jet Howard in his rookie because he played only like 60 minutes total appeared in 18 games for the magic he did not play his rookie it’s not even worth telling you what his stats were with the Orlando Magic because he didn’t play I think he played meaningful minutes just once in his career and that was against the Clippers on Halloween like he did not play any minutes that meant anything I think he shot like eight for 27 from three he got him up like he’ll shoot we know that and so we all have to ask ourselves okay Jed Howard got a gap here in the g-league now he’s back with the Orlando Magic now he’s back with the main roster and the expectation is that he will stay with the main roster that he will be in the mix and a player of the magic will lean on the question is then how does he get minutes what do the magic have in him number one but how does he get minutes look I’ll tell you this when we met jet Howard last year we could not get a word out of him media wise and and and look I know people don’t care like I I generally operate under the assumption people don’t care about how the sausage gets made and how the media operates but I’m telling you this because I do think it is emblematic of something because I’ve you know and I see this all the time with young players especially that first year 18 19 years old you’re in the NBA you got a bunch of microphones in front of you you’re shy and that’s okay like we’re not like especially us here in Orlando we’re not out here to bite you we don’t want to hurt you we got questions we got to ask but we’re not here to harm you but you’re shy and I get that it’s weird media gaggles are really weird all of us in new situations are probably going to be a little shy and a little bit hesitant to to interact I will say this and I I I I I would agree about this you know and like Tristan D Silva I would say a 23y old went to a big School in Colorado it’s probably been in the media Spotlight a little bit in Bolder carries himself much differently than 18y olds do like I joke with people like look Anthony black is still very much a child Tristan the Silva carries himself much more mature he’s a little bit more grown up but I would say this jet Howard especially we could not get jet Howard to say a word when we talked to him at Summer League last year this year he felt much more confident and and much more at ease with where he’s at and that may not matter ma matter but I don’t think it does it not matter if that double negative makes sense jet Howard understands who he is as a player more understands the whole summer league process and understands what he has to do to get on the floor look Jed Howard summer uh stats last year in the g- league were excellent 18 and a half points per game and 31.9 minutes per game shot 37.7% from three on nine and a half attempts per game it’s worth noting his true shooting percentage which takes into account points which takes into account three-pointers which takes account free throws is true shooting percentage last year was 59.8% usually a 60% true shooting percentage is considered you’re an elite shooter Jed Howard can get shots up we know that we know he’s not afraid to shoot that’s why the magic drafted him I have no doubt he will be able to shoot effectively in the NBA when given the opportunity he’s got a quick release he’s come you know he’s going to get better on that front but Jed Howard knows that his ticket to get on the floor the biggest reason the magic probably had him in the g- league to begin with the thing that he had to learn is how to defend you don’t play for the Orlando Magic if you don’t defend that’s why we’re not talking about Anthony Simons that’s why we’re not talking about tus Jones that’s why we’re not talking about d’angel Russell or any number of bigname players and big time scorers that magic fans were targeting and really wanted in free agency it’s why we’re talking about a lot of the same roster it’s why we talk about cavius calwell Pope this team their identity is defense and if you don’t defend you’re not going to play and that was one of the big weaknesses for jet Howard in college at Michigan and look the g-league is the g-league it is not a defensive league as much as the Oola magic probably try to defend probably try to maintain the same defensive principles as the parent Club it’s going to be hard to be able to say well does defense translate will Jed how you know does JED Howard’s defensive improvements in the G league mean anything did he improve at all defensively because the G league is such a a weird League like that this is the place where jet Howard and it starts in practices in summer league obviously this is the place where jet Howard begins to prove that he can defend that he can get to that level now I don’t think necessarily Jed Howard has to be a like stopper or a great a great defender yet he has to show an understanding of where he’s supposed to be leadership in his communication and how he gets to those spots and just a willingness to defend effort is half the battle effort is so much of the battle with defense you put in some effort your teammates will cover for you that’s that’s the truth of it and you’ll have good Defenders around him you know Tristan Silva should be a good Defender Anthony black is a good Defender uh jarro Culver is an excellent Defender Jay Hoff has a big body behind him if he plays there’s a couple other guys the magic could look at Todd Davis could also be a Defender behind him as well jet Howard just has to show that he’s understanding where to be on defense and putting in the effort that will go a long way to getting him on the floor because look the magic need the shooting we all know this we all know the magic need the shooting they drafted Jed Howard to be a shooter and he’s got to be able to make shots obviously that’s the start of everything make some shots um and you know we will judge him a little bit on his ability to make shots because the magic need that you know quality of his shots how he’s getting his shots um jet Howard said that you know he understands he will get shots he’s not afraid of he’s not he’s not worried about him about his his shots you know his ability to get field goal attempts on this team but he knows if he wants to play next year if he wants to be on the main roster if he wants to contribute to this team it’s about his defense and that’s what we will have to watch very carefully as summer league tips off on Friday but that’s going to do it for me today I want to thank you all again for listening to today’s episode of Locked on Magic who find me on Twitter Philip rore OMD subscribe to the podcast and apple podcast SE your tuned in himay Google Spotify Odyssey and all the F on podcast to your podcast enabled listen device but lat on the Orlando Magic be sure to check out Orlando Magic daily.com you you can of course follow us there on twtter Magic daily and also be sure to check out my patreon page the Orlando Magic hub for even more Orlando Magic content you can find that at patreon.com orlandomagic HUB now that you’re done listening up to me be sure to check out the lockon sports today 247 streaming Channel on YouTube and now available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app lockon sports today is here for you 247 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local Experts of lockon plus our national shows covering every League find locked on sports today now available on the free Fire TV channels app that’s good do it for me today though I want to thank you all again for listening to today’s episode of lockd on magic on tomorrow’s episode of lockd on Magic let’s we’ll talk Jaylen Suggs I want to talk jayen sugs and tavius cwell Pope and maybe do a little Olympic preview maybe talk a little bit about uh some frond and mo Vagner for team Germany uh Goga baz and Georgia have already been eliminated so might talk some international basketball we’ll see if I want to record after the US game or before we’ll we’ll find out but whatever we talk about tomorrow until then for Orlando Magic daily and locked on Magic this has been Philip Rossman right we’ll see you again next time for another episode of lockon magic
Summer League is here! As the Orlando Magic get set to head to Las Vegas, they have three roster players looking to get the foundations of Magic basketball down in this crash course to the team. While Tristan Da Silva gets his feet wet, both Anthony Black and Jett Howard have a lot to prove as they look to grow and expand their games and roles in their second season.
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