TURMOIL: Magic’s DISASTROUS Start Sparks CONCERN | Making the MOST of Desmond Bane

TURMOIL: Magic’s DISASTROUS Start Sparks CONCERN | Making the MOST of Desmond Bane

The Magic got this shiny new toy this off season, so why aren’t they playing with it? Today on Locked On 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 October 27th, 2025. My name is Philip Rosik. I’m the senior writer over at Orlando Magicaily.com. Credentialed member of the Orlando Magic media since the 2012 season. On today’s episode of Lockdown Magic, we’re going to dive into why the Magic aren’t getting the most out of Desmond Bane. Why that is a symptom of a bigger problem for the team. We’ll do that plus the numbers to know from three games already for the Orlando Magic. We’ll get to that coming up here in just a moment. But first, we want to thank you again for making Lock Magic part of your day every day. No matter when you listen to us, whether it’s first thing in the morning, whether it’s right, we upload. We truly appreciate you making locked up magic part of your day every day. We truly appreciate all of our Orlando Magic dailies who make Lock on Magic their first listen of the day and listen five days a week. Appreciate all of you who are part of the show. You can find it all on the Locked On Network. It’s your team every day. Today’s episode of Lockdown Magic is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code lockdown NBA for $20 off your first purchase. We’ve been talking about this since Father’s Day back in what, June. Um, it’s been four months of anticipation, four months of eagerness, four months of excitement, four months of belief of what this Orlando Magic team was capable capable of, what this Orlando Magic team could do. We have all been super duper excited. And so, obviously, this weekend was a letdown. You can listen to my recaps of both the Atlanta Hawks game and the Chicago Bulls game uh from the last two episodes. But to sit here after this three-game home stand to start the season at one and two and to see many of the same and familiar offensive frustrations that were supposed to be fixed by the acquisition of Desmond Bane, by the new offense and the pace the team is trying to play at. To see this team struggling with a lot of the same things, it is frustrating. Now, I will agree with the players and I will agree with everyone else and I will warn you all. Not the time for wild accusations and conclusions just yet. It’s not the time to jump ship. It’s not the time to necessarily panic. But it’s frustrating and frustration is the right term and the right word and the right feeling to have because quite frankly this regression or or this falling back into these bad habits is counteracting the potential this team has and everything that they should be trying to do. I’ve talked about this for years, whether it was Gary Harris, whether it was Katavius Klo Pope, and now whether it’s Desmond Bay. When the offense is working, these guys were successful. That honestly, the clue that the offense was working was always Gary Harris got four threes. Contavius Cwell Pope got five, six threes. And now it seems like even though Desmond Bane hunts for his own shot a little bit more, and that is what makes him different. is what makes him a better player. Now it’s the ball needs to find Desmond Bane. And when the ball doesn’t move, you get games like Saturday’s game against the Chicago Bulls. You get a two three-point attempt game from Desmond Bane. Now, let’s be clear. Despite Desmond Bane only getting two three-point attempts, he still scored 15 points. This is not a Gary Harris repeat. This is not a Contavius Cwell Pope repeat. Desmond Bane will stay involved even if he’s not getting the three-point shots, but the Magic signed him or the Magic acquired him to get three-point attempts. Desmond Bane went on several podcasts and said, “I am planning to shoot the most threes I’ve shot in my career. The Magic want me to shoot the most threes I’ve shot in my career through three games. That isn’t happening.” And again, like, let’s just go through the numbers real fast. It’s because the Magic’s offense isn’t operating optimally. Now, look, Bane has still given the Magic a lot. He’s averaging 17.3 points per game through these first three games. So, you know, 23, I think, in the first game. He’s shooting only 43.2%, which is well below his average, but getting 14 and a half 14.7 field goal attempts up. He’s shooting 26.7% from three on five three-point attempts. He is, if I can do my math correctly, four for 15 from three. This is obviously not what the Magic signed up for. They signed up for efficiency and he’s shooting five three-point attempts per game, which is would be the lowest since his rookie year. Quite simply, the MA, you know, yes, Bane may not be shooting at the level that the Magic want him shooting at. He’s doing okay with assists. He’s doing really bad with turnovers. 3.7 turnovers for him. And some of that is just getting used to his teammates and maybe trying to do a little too much. But honestly, I would say the Magic have tried to use Desmond Bane more as an attacker and creator rather than a shooter. And again, like I think this is two-way street. I think Dez is trying a little too hard to fit in. And and honestly, I would rather him take some shots, just be the outside shooting threat. But it’s all part of a bigger problem that the Magic just simply aren’t moving the ball enough despite despite the increase in pace. Magic areable about 107 possessions per 48 minutes right now, which is insanely high. They’re under 100 last year. The Magic, I think, are still top 10 in the league in pace. They’re playing fast and and and I would still argue that’s a good thing for Orlando. Um their trans if you look on like Synergy, their all their offensive numbers are bad except for their transition and they were bad in transition on Saturday. I’m not going to put it past. I’m not going to deny that. Um they were not good in transition on Saturday. I’m going to stall while I pull up the numbers here real fast so I can give you exact numbers. But the Magic are playing fast and still not passing the ball a ton. According to NBA.com and and tracking stats from Second Spectrum, I’m going to just pull this up now. The Magic are passing are making only 285.3 passes per game. That is in the bottom 10 in the league and total and passes per game. So that’s 285.3. Last year when they were this again the slowest pace team in the league, the Magic made 279.3. So again about you know maybe maybe a little bit more than a possession more a little bit more than a one more pass per possession. This is the heart of the Magic’s problem. Yes, the shots didn’t go in the other night, but they also didn’t pass the ball enough to get shots. The Magic this season so far, three games, not a lot. So far this season, the Magic are averaging the fourth fewest potential assists per game. Only 40.7 potential assists per game. That a potential assist is merely you pass to an opportunity to get an assist. You pass to a shot opportunity. And this is where Desmond Bane is supposed to thrive. This is where Desmond Bane is supposed to get the most out of things. Now, in this game, in the game Saturday, the Magic only had 26 transition opportunities. They scored only 96.2 points per possession or 96.2 points per 100 possessions in those transition opportunities. But for the season, for the season, the Magic are scoring 118.3 points per possession points per 100 possessions in transition according to our friends at Synergy. So yeah, I like look, we can all agree a little bit better in the half court. We’ll talk about turnovers here in a minute, but speed has been good for this team. The more transition opportunities they get, the more they can press advantages against defense, the more I think Desmond Bane will get. There’s a control of tempo that they have to get, but they got the right idea there. But ultimately like what’s holding them back is they don’t trust each other. And that’s not trust as in in I like in like anything malicious or anything. It’s they’re still learning to play together and they’re still learning to play and trust this speed. And so all these problems are interconnected because once they start moving the ball and passing it more and passing it more effectively, then Desmond Bane’s going to get his shots. Desmond Bane’s going to be that dude that the Magic thought they were going to get. How many times are we watching Paulo get doubled in the post and he’s hesitant to pass the ball to the corner? That’s muscle memory from last year. And again, the Magic are playing so much faster now. are trying to make these fast decisions and and they’re struggling a little bit with it. There’s no doubt about it. They need to simplify some things. I’m not going to pretend like everything’s hunky dory and just say, “Hey, keep ramming your head against that wall. Eventually, it’s going to break down.” No, there are things they need to change. And trusting that pass, trusting that process, trusting those shots to go down and passing to those open shots, that’s going to be what gets them there. And there’s going to be a breakthrough at some point. Like again, this team is way too talented. Like despite playing so poorly in Friday’s game and playing so poorly in Saturday’s game, they had chances to win those games in the fourth quarter. All they needed was to wake up for five minutes. If they would have woken up for the last two minutes of that game against Atlanta on Friday, they would have won that game. If they would have woken up for any five minute stretch of the fourth quarter against Chicago, they would have won that game. Again, I’m not throwing intentionally throwing shade at Atlanta or Chicago. They won those games. They deserve to win those games. Orlando was coming from behind because they’re making a ton of mistakes. But if the Magic want to make the most of this team, this roster of Desmond Bane, it’s got to start with that trust and it’s got to start with moving and passing the ball. And that gets to the other big takeaways from these first three games. We’ll go through some numbers to know about the Magic’s first three games coming up here in just a moment. But first, today’s episode of Lockdown Magic is brought to my friends over at Monarch. Let’s be honest, most of us can’t even name all our financial accounts, let alone what they’re worth. 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Just plain and simple. Just they’re this team is used to playing a certain way and they are trying to change it and there’s friction between the old way and the new way. I think some of the problems are just simply just adjusting to new players and adjusting to to new thought processes and mindsets. And that’s why I’m a big fan. That’s why I’m kind of a bigger fan of right now like simplifying some things, maybe scaling back the pace and ratcheting it back up when everyone’s a little bit more comfortable, when everyone’s a little bit more on the same page. The big number I I think that defines the Magic through these first three games is unfortunately turnovers. I think that so much of the reason the offense is just so out of whack is like look, there’s a lack of trust in the shooting. I I honestly think the second half on Friday and the and the whole game Saturday just had this feeling of dread of here we go again. We’re back doing this again. I felt it. You felt it. I joked about it on the show. Players will never admit it. But there was just this you could just see that lack of confidence. There’s a lot of scarring and and that’s not going to go away as long as like there’s people with that institutional memory. It’s it’s an institutional rot. And look, it there’s the only way to get out of it is just to just to forget about it. Um, and there’s not enough new players who who are just, you know, who knows? And I’ve seen people suggest like, oh, maybe the lighting in Kia Center is weird. Maybe they’ll shoot better on the road. We’ll talk about the road trip here in a bit. The Magic though are 25th in the league with a 17.7% turnover rate. They had more than 20 turnovers in each of the last two games. One of the reasons they beat Miami was they did a really good job or a relatively good job controlling their turnovers. And I would say there’s a lot of aggressive turnovers. I would say there’s a lot of turnovers where they’re trying to make the right pass or make an extra pass when they shouldn’t and they’re trying to do the right things. But there’s also been a lot of sloppy turnovers. Turnovers like that Desmond Bane turnover. Desmond Bane is averaging more than three turnovers per game which you would kind of expect with him learning this team still. But there have been a few turnovers where the pass is just off. They drop it goes out of bounds or you know a lot of turnovers frankly in transition where they’re trying to run back. trying to do the right thing and they’re trying to force a play instead of doing the simple thing. If if I were Jamal Mosley, my message to this team was keep it simple. Simple, simple, simple, simple, simple. Be simple. And that will get this team, I think, where they want to go and in a in a better spot for them. But they got to solve the turnover problem because so many of these turnovers are just momentum killers. You could see shoulders droop, heads drop, you could see frustration building because now they’re not even getting a shot. I would rather get and miss. I’ve said this a million times. I would rather miss a million threes than stop taking them. And I would rather get a get a shot than turn it over. But again, like there’s just a it’s just a lot it’s a lot of lack of just trust in what they’re doing yet. And and the only way to do that is to do it and be successful. You got to build that trust. And so like the magic are all saying like we’re trusting our process. We’re, you know, we know this stuff works. We believe in this stuff. It’s just about executing it better. And again, I I I sometime I say this a lot, too. It’s like I wish the problems were complicated because complicated problems make for more interesting talk and more interesting thoughts and more interesting solves. But it’s just like, yeah, make shots. Stop turning the ball over. You’re going to do a little bit better. You know, the ball movement is a big piece of this. it is, you know, the Magic are forcing difficult passes. Teams are still kind of crowding them and not believing in the three-point shooting. So, you got to loosen that up somehow. Um, it’s still a lot of like learning how to make decisions quicker and and speeding up your thought process. And and I just I don’t think this game is slowed down enough for the Magic to be successful at the pace that they’re playing at. So, I’d like to see them slow it down. And anyways, like I I’ve talked about this, pace is one thing, tempo is the control of that pace. And I don’t think the Magic has done a good job playing at a pace that they’re comfortable at. So, yes, like look, the Magic are scoring more in transition. I I gave you the transition numbers. They’re they’re one of the better teams in the league at scoring in transition this year. They’re averaging only 16 fast break points per game. 107 possessions per 48 minutes. They’re playing at a pace that they want to play, but they’ve got to move the ball a lot better. They’ve got to get assists. They only had 13 assists or 12 assists in in Saturday’s game and they got to work together a lot better. There’s just been far too many times where it feels like Paulo and Fron, but I would say especially Paulo, it feels like where there’s just times where both of them and honestly Dez will do this too and I think a lot of player and AB’s done this and I think AB’s showed a lot more confidence offensively which I’m happy for. It just feels like everyone’s trying to do too much. And so that’s where you turn the ball over when you’re trying to do too much. It’s that whirling dervish pass that AB made uh in the second half against the Bulls when he had a simple layup and he just tried to slip it to window Carter over his shoulder and it the pass wasn’t there. And AB’s, as good as AB’s been, and I’ve been really really happy with how AB’s offense has looked. He surprised me on that end. He has turned the ball over a ton. His decision- making is just not great. And so like between the passing and the turnovers, the Magic aren’t going to fix their problems until they fix those two things. Just plain and simple. Value your possessions, share and move the ball. That’s what’s going to get this thing back in the right direction. And look, we’ve seen them do this. We saw them do it against New Orleans in that last preseason game. We saw them do it against Miami. We saw them do it for the first half against Atlanta. It’s not like they’re far off. And again, like the way things work, it’s going to click. And you know, who knows? Maybe it clicks Monday, maybe it clicks Wednesday. Once once it starts clicking, you got to stack games where it clicks. And that’s how you build confidence. And that’s how you build this trust that that it just feels like the Magic are lacking. It is. Look, going one and two on this threeame home stand. It’s a disaster. It’s not good. It’s not panicinducing. It’s not It’s frustrating for sure because who knows that game against Atlanta might mean something. You got to go steal back those games somewhere. You don’t get them back. They’re gone. They’re done. And now you got to figure out how to come together. And unfortunately for the Magic, they’ve got to figure out how to come together on the road against some teams that will be surprisingly difficult. I’m seeing a lot of fans really pitch like, “Oh, this road trip’s no problem.” Wrong. But this is a big road trip for the Magic. We’ll talk a little bit about what the Magic need to do on this road trip coming up here in just a moment. But first, today’s episode of Lockdown Magic is brought to my friends over at FanDuel. The NBA is back and there is no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you missed the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team is making that late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanuel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. When the schedule came out, I circled these first eight games and I said, “These first eight games are a great challenge. These first eight games feel like they would give the Magic an opportunity to to race out to the lead. It was not like it was some crazy difficult stretch or crazy difficult schedule. It felt manageable and beatable with some good wins sprinkled inside to make it say like, “Oh, like no, this isn’t some fluky thing. The Magic aren’t just feasting on bad teams. They’re beating some quality teams.” Obviously, we had high expectations for this home stand. The first three games, we thought that would be a great base. All three are winnable games. you lose to Miami or Atlanta, not the end of the world, but all three very winnable games and and a potential chance to make a statement in the Eastern Conference in the Southeast Division especially. And then you go on the road for what is your longest road road trip of the season by both I believe by both games and by tie and you get a chance to beat a big rival in Detroit. Another south another match with the Southeast Division rival in Atlanta. A chance to beat some beatable teams at least on paper that you should have no problem with. Now obviously a lot of perception has changed. You’ve now gone one and two at home. You looked pretty anemic for six quarters on offense. You needed late fourth quarter comebacks in all three games. You’re able to accomplish it in one, nearly accomplished in another, and never, you know, never quite got up off the mat in the in the third. And now you got to go on the road and play some teams that are playing surprisingly better. the Philadelphia 76ers tonight on Monday. A lot of people when I tweeted out that Joel Embiid’s going to be out, I saw a lot of people go, “Great news. Makes it a lot easier for the Magic.” And I’m like, uh, actually the Sixers have really struggled Joel Embiid’s minutes. They might be a better team without him right now. And again, I I think they should be playing Joel because ultimately they will be better with Joel, but they might be better without him. and not having him on the floor for however many minutes he would play could actually harm the Magic. In any case, the Sixers have a really dynamic back court. Tyrese Maxi is taking another leap. We saw him in that first quarter what he did to the Magic’s defense and Magic starters with Tyus Jones in there um in that fir in that preseason game. Jaylen Suggs only going to play three to four minute spurts still. He’s going to play on Monday, but he’s only going to play three to four minute spurts. It’s it’s no guarantee. And at the end of the day, Philadelphia is currently sitting at Let me pull up their debt rating here. Um, Philadelphia is currently sitting at 2 and 0. Couple of really close wins, but two wins nonetheless over Charlotte and I don’t know and over Boston in their in their first game. Boston not playing well. Charlotte playing pretty well. We’ll get to them in a minute. But a 118.6 six offensive rating. This team can score. Now, I I trust the Magic’s defense. I My takeaway from the weekend was the Magic’s defense got progressively better. The defense is going to be there. It’s just question of whether the offense could score. And I was telling people throughout the course of the weekend when they were saying like, “Oh, the Magic’s offense, you know, it wasn’t elite.” And I would agree it wasn’t at the level it was last year. I’m not going to sit here and pretend otherwise. But I was like, you know, I’m not worried about the defense. The defense is straightening itself out. It’s getting used to playing at this pace. The bigger issue is whether the offense can provide the consistency to make that matter. And very clearly they could not in the second half against Atlanta and the defense collapsed in the fourth quarter of that game. They could not at all against Chicago and the defense eventually collapsed in that one. This defense needs some offensive support and this team is built to give that support and they just aren’t yet. In fact, after Dallas’s win, Orlando now has the worst offense in the league through three games. Chicago second worst offensive league because Orlando’s defense was really, really good. I know again, Orlando is currently sixth in the league in defensive rating. So, say what you want about anything else, the Magic’s defense is doing its job right now. The Magic’s defense is giving them a chance to win if they could not be the worst offense in the league. But that goes to show you that like Philadelphia is not some team to sleep on. They’ve got a positive bet rating. They’ve been winning games. They’ve been winning close games. And they got guys that make sense and can score the basketball. Now, they’re obviously not alone. And 118.6 offensive rating is sixth in the league. Six sixth best offense in the league right now. Detroit is Detroit. And Detroit hasn’t played a lot yet. Detroit’s I believe uh Detroit’s two- one at this point. offense kind of scuttling. Their defense is pretty solid, but they’re Detroit. Like, they’re a quality playoff team. That game on Wednesday is going to be tough. The game on Thursday at Charlotte is going to be a lot tougher than I think people give it credit for. Now, Charlotte destroyed the demolish Washington in the second half on Sunday, but Charlotte sitting at two- one. Beat Brooklyn, beat Washington. So, maybe not the most impressive wins, but they currently have the best offense in the league at 124 and a half points per 100 possessions. This is what Charlotte does every year when they’re all healthy coming out of camp. They they run, they play super fast, 106 possessions, so Orlando’s playing faster than them, but they play super fast. They get up and down the court and they have the firepower and the scoring to deal with it when they’re playing well. The difference right now is Charlotte’s actually defending. I know if you go to our friends at Locked on Hornets, you go really anywhere on the internet, there’s this debate going on about LaMelo Ball and whether he quote unquote makes winning plays. I think we’d all agree that Labella Bal had that had that struggle over his career and he’s got a lot to prove early in the season is when he’s typically engaged on that end and he is very engaged on that end. He’s taking strides on the defensive end and Charlotte has been a much better much more energetic team. Again, it’s super early. It’s super super early in the season. You don’t know what’s going to last. You don’t know what’s going to be sticky. But you take teams as you play them. And Orlando right now is a team struggling to score and Charlotte’s the best offensive team in the league. So you get them on the second night of a backtoback when Jaylen Suggs likely isn’t going to play. So who you going to stick on LaMelo Ball? You going to stick Desmond Bane? You stick France Vagner. You got some work to do. Now again, Charlotte doesn’t have a center. Their two wins are Brooklyn and Washington. Not exactly murderers row, but I I’m not I don’t think we can be in the business of counting anything as a win because the Magic just aren’t playing at a level that would suggest that they can win games easily. Now, again, I I I’ve hinted at this. The Magic are playing B and C level games and still have shots to win against like postseason teams. Like Chicago can be a playin team. Atlanta certainly is a playoff team. Miami certainly can be a playoff team. certainly a a playin team as well when they’re as well. The Magic aren’t playing great and still have shots to win. So like to me that speaks to the talent level that Orlando has, but you can’t sleep on any of these teams. And I don’t even think you could sleep on Washington. I I know everyone’s ready to dismiss Washington hat out of hand. And look, they just took a really bad loss against the Hornets that skew all of their stats. We’re still at the stage where one really good game shifts your entire statistical profile. the Magic come out on Monday and beat the Sixers 120 to 90, they’re going to not only have the best defense in the league, they’re going to be middle of the pack and offensive rating again. So, like I I share these numbers to show you to say like, hey, like don’t overreact to things. Washington has been playing extremely energetically. I’ve been really impressed with what I’ve seen from Washington and and some of the highlights that I’ve seen from them. I’m not counting them as a gimme win even if it certainly is more possible that that’s the that’s c it’s c I think it’s certainly fair to say that’s the easiest game on this road trip on Saturday and then you play Atlanta again who he just played on the road this time probably with Christophs Porzingis although he’ll he may be still dealing with the flu probably with Zachary by that point and at the end of a long road trip which can always be challenging like I I counted that Atlanta game was a schedule loss and I was ticked off that it was going to be on NBC because that’s going to be the toughest game of this road trip because of the travel and yes, Orlando will have a practice. They’ll be in Atlanta for a few days, but everybody looks to come home at the end of those road trips. And so I don’t think you can sit here and start counting the wins. The Magic just aren’t at the level yet. They’re certainly at the talent level and they should be at this level, but we’re not at the stage of the season where we can like kind of tick off wins. Well, like where we say like if the Magic just do the bare minimum of what they’re supposed to do, they’re going to win. And look, that may still be true, but we haven’t seen the Magic consistently do the bare minimum. We’re still kind of getting a feel for what this team’s identity is. And again, that’s part of what the process right now is figuring out what the formula to win is. The defense is there, and if the defense is there, they’ll give themselves a chance to to continue like testing some things out. that this team is still figuring out the formula. The only good news is that road trips like this and and especially at times like these can be really galvanizing. They can be really helpful. And I think more than anything, these next five games, they’re going to they’re going to be they’re going to either bring this team closer together and get them to the team that we want them to be and the team that they know they can be. Whatever expectations you have for them, the Magic believe they’re that much better. and they’re not delivering what they want to deliver right now. So, they’re they’re as frustrated as you are. They’re more frustrated than you are. I can almost guarantee you that. This road needs to be a a a joining force. It needs to be the glue that brings this team together. And we’ve seen it do that in the past. In the 2024 season, the Magic played that first game at home and went immediately out west. They went two and two on that road trip. But they played really well. They came home energized and and made their big push, their first big push to to build their record into what they would ultimately become. Um, last year the first road trip was the first game was the game that Powell got hurt. They went 0 and5. They figured some things out. They had to learn how to play without Paulo on the road, but they came home, figured things out, and made their first big push that built their record out to be what it was. you think, you know, I honestly like say I I would say that that Chicago game reminded me most of the Magic’s play in January and February of last year, like right after Paulo came back. This is um it reminded me most of of those games. So now, what did the Magic do after that one and six home stand that they had in February? They went on the road and went three and two. got nice wins over Milwaukee, over Minnesota, and over Cleveland. And that road trip turned the season around. That road trip became a galvanizing force. And again, it was just a three and two road trip. They still dropped some games on that road trip. That’s what this road trip has to be. This road trip has to be a galvanizing force. It has to force this team to focus on themselves. There’s no family. There’s no being at home. There’s no being apart. These guys are gonna be forced to live together for the next week and a half. And that should be a galvanizing force. That should be something that brings us together. This could be the perfect time for a road trip like this. And look, there are still challenging games. I’m not expecting the Magic to go 500. If they go three and two, they’re four and four on the season heading into the first NBA Cup game against Boston. And hopefully that means some momentum. They figured some things out and they’re moving in the right direction. You go four- one and and we’re frankly back on track. You go four- one, you’re five and three. I think we all said five and three, six or two would be pretty good. Pretty good these first eight games. You’re back on track right now. It’s about finding your sta your your stabilizing force and and coming together as a group. And that’s what this road trip has to be. It won’t be easy. I don’t think again like I I I’m not counting any of these games as win. I would say Washington is the easiest game. Philadelphia is going to be tough. Charlotte’s going to be tough. Detroit’s certainly going to be tough on the road. Atlanta’s going to be tough. This is not some gimme road trip. Doing well on this road trip will be genuinely impressive and something this team has to do if they’re going to be the team that we all think they can be. Going to be exciting to watch this team on the road and see what they come up with. 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. Find me on Twitter, phipr_omd, and on blue sky, phip r. You can subscribe to the podcast, on Apple podcast, you’re tuning in, Google Play, Spotify, Odyssey, and all the fun places to your podcast enabled listening device. You can also check us out on YouTube. Just search for Locked On Magic. For the latest on the Orlando Magic, be sure to check out orlandomagicdaily.com. You can find us on Twitter, omagic Daily. And for even more Orlando Magic content, be sure to check out my newsletter, um, the Orlando Magic Hub at patreon.com Orlando Magicub. We talked to Desmond Bane in the locker room after Saturday’s game. Chat a little bit little bit with him about his adjustment to coming to this team. I have an article up on that around noon on Monday. So, definitely subscribe and check out the video I wrote I did after Wednesday’s game talking about how Desmond Bane changed the Magic’s offense in Wednesday’s game back when the Magic had an offense that looked good. You can check that out again at patreon.com/orland Magicub. As always, thank you for your support. Now that you’re done listening to me, go make locked on fantasy basketball your second listen of the day. Josh Lloyd host the number one fantasy basketball podcast give you daily tips and helping you win your league all while making you a smarter NBA fan. Find Locked on Fantasy Basketball on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcast all part of Lockdown Podcast Network. It’s your team every day. That’s going to do it for me today though. I want to thank you all again for listening to today’s episode of Locked On Magic. We’ll be back tomorrow to recap the Magic’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers. Until then, for Orlando Magic Daily and Locked on Magic, this has been Philip Rossman Reich. We’ll see you all again next time for another episode of Locked On Magic.

The Orlando Magic acquired Desmond Bane to help solve their offensive issues. But the last six quarters shows there are still some bad offensive habits to break.

If Orlando wants to make the most of their new player in Desmond Bane, they need to break these habits and start moving the ball more. It comes with experience and trust. And the Magic are lacking both right now, holding them back.

Orlando also needs to reduce their mistakes and turnovers if the team wants to get its offense moving again.

The Magic will have to do all of this on the road as they take on a five-game road trip that might be more difficult than initially believed.

0:00 Intro: Magic’s struggles with new acquisition
5:13 Analyzing Magic’s offensive issues and ball movement
10:48 Turnovers and lack of trust hurting the team
16:26 Simplifying the offense to reduce mistakes
21:31 Upcoming challenging road trip for Magic
27:13 Scouting report on upcoming opponents
32:49 Road trip as potential turning point

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