Nightmare on Church Street: Reacting to the Orlando Magic Scary Start to the 2025-26 Season

Nightmare on Church Street: Reacting to the Orlando Magic Scary Start to the 2025-26 Season

[Music] What’s up, Magic fans? Welcome back to another episode of the Atlanta Magic HQ podcast brought to you by the Believe Podcast Network. We’re your host Al, myself, Anthony. Today it’s Halloween night and the Magic just got done taking down the Charlotte Hornets, breaking their four game losing streak, beating Charlotte 123 to 107. Al, it must finally feel good to uh be able to get a win uh under our belts because it it’s been it’s been a rough week, man. We we’ve needed this so badly, man. I can’t believe it’s only one week into the new season and uh we got four losses already. I don’t know how that happened, but uh definitely not the start that we expected from from our team. Yeah, it’s it’s been rough. I feel like I have more grays in my beard. I feel like somehow I got boulder. Um it’s been it’s been rough. So, we’re going we’re going to break down some of the games in today’s episode. The Magic also making some news on the Jay Howard front. um and alongside Anthony Black uh and Tristan Dilva. So, uh before we get into that, just a quick reminder, don’t forget uh to make sure you like and subscribe on our YouTube if you’re watching YouTube and to stay up to date with all the latest Orlando Magic news and updates. You can follow us at Orlando Magic HQ on Instagram and omagic hq onx and can also check our website at Orlando Magic HQ.com for all magic content. So, Al, just kind of jumping real quick into it. Uh, Magic started off with a a loss against the Atlanta Hawks 111 107. This is without Chris Abs Porzingis and without their number one draft pick. Um, where we lose against the Chicago Bulls who was out um who Kobe White was out. So, they were short-handed there. Then we also lose against the Philadelphia 76ers without Joel Embiid, without Paul George. They’re obviously without their rookie sensation McCain. Uh we really got um uh destroyed by by their rookie, which I thought was was at least fun to watch. If you’re a basketball fan, it was at least fun to be able to watch somebody that young and that impressive early on. And then you also lose uh against the the team that people like to talk a lot about when they reference the Magic. Um and this is a team that is just as young and have some really really good young talent um in the Detroit Pistons. We lose that game 135 116. Um and then obviously we get this dub uh against the Charlotte Hornets. So um the Magic back on track. Um, you know, this is well needed, especially since we’re still going through this road trip. Uh, what would you say is the biggest thing that really stood out to you, uh, when it comes to, you know, this four-game losing streak? I mean, where do you start? I think that it’s hard to put it into words, man. And I’ve tweeted that, I think, twice this week. Just the fact that I’m I’m like at a loss for words. I’m speechless. And I and I and I still am to some degree. just when you compare like the expectations to what has taken place in the last week. Um I will say though, man, like the Magic have six games played in one week of the first uh the first week of the of the new season. That’s a lot of games to get under your belt on a team that’s just trying to figure it out. They’re getting adapted to playing with Tyus Jones, Desmond Bane. Not an excuse, a reality. the fact that they have so many games that first week that didn’t help. Um, I can go so many different ways and you know kind of passing the blame, but I would just say it the turnovers, the missed free throws and the weird rotations is where I kind of draw the line. Like I feel like those are things that we’re definitely going to clean up as the season goes on. But man, it’s consistently turning it over 18 times. It’s consistent consistently missing 10 to 12 free throws a game. and then see mostly make some weird decisions, man. Like top of mind, and we’ll talk about it later, playing a rookie that we drafted to be a a raw rookie that was going to spend a lot of time with Thought Oyola in Noah Penda playing him over Jonathan Isaac, for example. Like, what’s the thought process behind that when we’re allowing consistently 110, 111, 136, 125? You would think you would want to play the vet. That’s one of the best defenders in the team supposedly, but no, we’re seeing no appenda play. Okay, we go through this droughts in third quarter, so we can’t score. And guess what? Tristan Dilva has been averaging double digits every single game. Why is he riding the bench in those moments when we need an offensive punch? Tyus Jones being used as a corner spot-up shooter instead of being a point guard that go comes with brick and rolls and creates plays. So, I don’t want to put all the blame on co on coach Moski because he’s not the only he’s not the one missing free throws and and turning it over out there time and time again, but a lot of the blame does have to go to him. Um, so it’s been a funky week. I hope it truly is just a funk that they’re in right now, just like they went through it in January of last year. But they got to figure it out, man, because it’s been a rough week. It truly has been difficult to watch this team kind of just collapse, not be able to stop anybody, not make shots, not make free throws. Um, tonight, thankfully, we beat the Charlotte Hornets. It feels good. I’m glad we’re recording tonight and not last night. Feels a little bit better. Uh, but man, in your opinion, what have you seen? What’s concerning you? And what are you liking so far? Let’s also try to be positive a little bit here. Um it so there there’s so many there’s so many different elements man and you can point to uh a lot of different things that you can blame. Can you blame coach Moses’s uh rotations? Sure you can blame you can blame the rotations. Can you blame on the the new uh scheme of trying to play fast? Yeah, you can you can blame it on there. Um the one of the the part that hurts the most um and what you fear the most is the Magic losing their defensive identity, which is the thing that that teams fear. Like you think about the Orlando Magic, you think like, you know, holy we’re we’re going to have to like go to sleep early and play this team because they they play tough, right? Um, I’ve heard uh Gilbert Arena probably said this uh he said this recently uh where he says the the Orlando Magic is probably a team where you don’t want to see in the first round because even if you play them in the first round and you beat them in the first round, you’re still going to have to struggle um your first matchup because they’re going to take you to five, six, seven games and it’s not going to be easy. They’re going to play tough. They’re going to play rough and they’re going to push you around and and try to play bully ball. Um, and I feel like we we we kind of lost that early on. And it might just be because we’re we’re focusing on trying to play at a faster pace. Um, which is a decision that they made and it’s a direction that they’re going, but they need to be able to find the right type of balance. or may maybe they they are pushing the ball or or created the strategy of pushing the ball too fast too early where they maybe should have kind of eased their way in so that they’re still carrying a top three defense in in the NBA. Obviously, there’s personnel change. Uh you’re you’re seeing more from other players and it’s going to take time to adjust. So, luckily, if there’s a a silver lining, it’s that it’s it’s it’s happening now. like I rather the struggles happen early on than midway through the season towards the end of the season when it’s really um you know goal time. So, um I still I’m still holding out faith because uh it could turn around. I I think that the players just need to kind of get used to it. Um if there’s something that I’m really excited about, it’s probably been Tristan Dilva’s play. like he’s somebody that has really really surprised me um right now carrying the torch of most improved player for for the Magic just being consistent. Uh Anthony Black obviously having a really really strong game against the Hornets. It was fun to be able to see him kind of step up and hopefully we get some consistency there from uh a production standpoint. But man, Tristan D Silva has been has been fun fun to watch and I I love to be able to see the growth and the fact that, you know, this is sophomore season for him. Um, and he’s just calm, cool, and and collective. It’s it’s it’s refreshing to be able to see and it’s something that you can have somebody that’s coming off the bench that you can really rely on. Yeah, man. We talked about it all off seasonason long like hey we I think we needed to add one more offensiveminded player to come off the bench and it seems like right now that would be Tristan Dilva. He’s having a great season so far through six games averaging 12 points shooting 47% from the field 38% from three-point range and just consistently coming off the bench man and being productive. Um, so that that’s been definitely a great thing to see. And I’m also going to highlight another positive so far. France Vagner, right? So, we were so concerned about his three-point shooting and oh my god, can he get it together? Man, he is shooting at this moment 44% from three-point range on four attempts. So, he’s shooting a decent number, making them. Um, however, for some reason, Paulo Ben Carro is the one that now has gone on this like cold stretch that that he cannot make threes. He’s only shooting 21% from three-point range. And our new guy, Dustin Bane, the one that we’re like, “Hey, finally got a shooter. Uh 25% so far uh for the season.” So again, still very early. Uh a lot to be concerned with on the defensive end like we talked about. Uh but definitely some some good things that we’re seeing as well. Um like you mentioned, AB Tristan Dilva off the bench. Those guys are going to be super important from us once for us once once we figure things out once Jaylen is playing, you know, 30 minutes a night once again. Uh those guys will need to come in and give us a boost on the offensive end. Um but yeah, let me ask you, I know I think we had in the agenda, but Tyus Jones, I know he’s a guy that you’ve been wanting personally for a while in our team. What do you think is the reason why he’s not quite working out just yet? Uh he’s playing 15 minutes a game, averaging two points at this moment, 2.3 points, and only shooting 16% from three-point range. Um what do you think is causing that? Is it is it the coaching staff not using him correctly, or is it him just adapting to a new team still? Yeah. Uh listen, Taius Jones is he’s I would probably say that I’m one of the advocates that really wanted Taius Jones in Orlando. Um, a lot of it had to do with uh Jaylen Suggs last year going down and us having to rely on Corey Joseph to be the primary point guard. Uh, when you take a look from a stat perspective, Ty Jones has had a lot of years, a lot of seasons, collected seasons where he shoots the basketball extremely well. We’re looking at, you know, five, six years straight of him shooting above 37%. So, we know that he’s a good shooter. Um, and I think that there’s enough data in there to not lose faith in in his ability. Um, teams are obviously taking advantage of their size of his size. Um, so defensively it’s it’s a liability, but it’s what we expected. Like no, nobody did not not expect for him to be a liability on the defensive end. Um, just from his size. But I think shooting wise, we we just got to be patient. Um, I I think that the team just in general is struggling with the pace and I think that once we get some level of comfort with it, then we’re we’ll start to see those those shots knocked down or if you know the the Magic decide to slow the pace down just a little bit, that that’d be nice, too. Um, but I I’m not I’m not hitting the panic button on Tus Jones just yet. But let’s not let’s not kid ourselves, man. He he’s been it’s been it’s been rough for Tus. Yeah, it’s been it’s been trash basketball from Tyus. Yeah, and I think uh the most alarming thing for me is again I think the way that we’re using him is not the right way. If you ask me, I think that putting him in a corner to just, you know, shoot a a potential open three that that’s great and all, but that’s not his role. It’s never been in the NBA. So, it’s been a point guard that creates that runs pick and rolls that runs those little floaters and then that that shoots threes in rhythm. And I feel like right now we’re not doing that with him. where can kind of just put him in the corner tonight against the the Hornets. He did play that role a little more and he looked better. Um, but you said it you said it best. He’s been a guy that you’ve been able to use on winning teams. He’s been able to to shoot threes really well. He’s been able to playmake really well. Um, so I think there’s some some research there that we need to do as a coaching staff and figure out what are we doing wrong with him and how can we use him the right way because right now you you got this guy to be a a a differencemaker on this team as a vet and right now people are saying can we play the rookie instead in Jay Richardson and again I don’t think that’s the answer if you ask me because we’re trying to win and when you’re playing guys like Jays and Noah Panda in my opinion that’s developing and that’s that’s great and all if injuries force you to go that route Great. But if you have a healthy Tus Jones, man, you got to figure out how to use him the right way. That there’s no reason why he’s been such a great vet in the NBA his whole career. He comes here and now he can’t play. Like, that doesn’t make any sense to me. Yeah. I mean, you’re you’re talking about a point guard that was that was a starting point guard for the Phoenix Suns um on a team with Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, you know, Bradley Beal. Obviously, that team didn’t have a ton of success, but uh you’re you’re he’s still out there playing, finding ways to be able to impact the game and score when you have a a starting five that can easily drop um 20 25 a piece any given night. So, um he he’s not somebody that will take anything away. And he’s supposed to be known for to be a player that um minimizes on turnovers. I I think that’s just a custom of getting to know everyone’s tendencies. Um again, getting used to the pace. We’ve already mentioned that several times, but uh I’m not worried about Titus Jones just yet. I’m not worried about the Orlando Magic just yet. I think that it’s going to take some time. Um I actually like the fact that we have this road trip early on um because it’s going to give them uh an opportunity to uh you know, only strictly do basketball, man. We don’t we don’t have they don’t have the um the interruptions of everyday life. like they’re they’re away from their home, their their family, and all they can do is be around each other and and hoop and play ball and onto the next city. So, um I I think that this this is a a a good stretch for them. Um and it’s really good to see that they got this one under their belt. But yeah, man. Yeah, it’s it’s it’s no secret Taius is struggling and he’s got to be the one that that figures it out. Um, you know, he finally got that that first three out of his system. Uh, which was was fun because at at at this point it was, you know, are we taking the over, the under on Ty Jones being able to hit one and, you know, it’s been it’s been under for a couple straight games. So, the fact that he finally was able to to at least get one on the board, he hit another one tonight um is good to see. We just need to see a little more volume um from him. Yeah. Yeah. So, I don’t think I’m concerned with him. I I just hope Mosley again uses him a little bit better um with the bench unit, but outside of that, I think he’ll be fine. We just got to give him some time to get to get used to things. Um and man, perfect timing. I mean, we’ll talk about it in a few minutes, but we have a a pretty good looking schedule coming up. Some some easy opponents that you should be able to beat. Uh but again, at this point, the way that we’ve been playing, no opponent is easy. So, I don’t want to assume anything at this point, but it definitely starts with winning tonight. Feels good. Uh, I think we we put some some some bad things over our shoulders, man. Because it’s been negative on X, it’s been negative on Instagram. It’s been negative on social media. We we’re getting punked on social media. People keep making fun of Paulo for getting blocked, for the things he’s saying at the free throw line that he misses the free throws. It’s been a rough week to be a Magic fan. But I’ve tweeted this. I hope that we look back, man, at this first week of the season and say, “Man, we were fools. How how quickly we were willing to give up on this team. How quickly we we got demotivated by the way they played. There’s 82 games. It’s a long season ahead. I truly believe we’ll figure it out. Uh we got to get through this funk. It really reminds me of last year in January like that. It was rough, man. Those games and then we bounce back out of it. So, we’ll see if they can figure it out because we definitely need to to turn it around here. We don’t want to start the season, you know, three and nine, three and 10. No, we got to figure it out right now. So, I I was talking about this earlier today. I I think I had it posted on on X, but uh I I feel like there was just way too much expectations for uh the Orlando Magic this season, at least from uh not only a national media perspective, cuz we we’ve obviously heard the noise, but also from a fan base. Like, we know that this team cannot get stuck in that first round again. There’s too much money that’s being invested. Uh we’re already like this is going to be, you know, the the third year of us actually like really making a fight in the playoffs. So it what I do like is the fact that now we’re we’re kind of putting ourselves like now people are doubting the magic, right? The the national media, they’re doubting the the Magic, the fan base. We’re hearing all the negative talk. So now the Magic kind of put themselves in a position to where they’re back to being the underdogs again. And the Magic, they just operate better with with that on them with with the chip on their shoulder. So I hope that they they listen to every single word. I I hope that they are not happy about we’re they’re obviously not happy about it. But for them to play with uh uh chasing more so than um just competing with the expectations, I I think it’s it’s going to help at least the demeanor of this team. Um and you know, we’re we’re seeing a little bit of it. Like a prime example would be a player like Jonathan Isaac who today uh against the Hornets had a way better game, probably his best game of the season. struggled offensively. I think he was zero from four from the three-point line, only had two points and, you know, 15 minutes of play. But defensively, he looked like prime prime Jonathan Isaac and somebody that that we we need. It’s part of our identity. uh you know on our on our Patreon Discord we you know I was a little vocal in regards to how I feel about Jonathan Isaac but um as of right now from a playing standpoint that’s we we need that consistently if he can hit a corner three for the love of God that would be amazing and that would be top tier elite level it’s exactly what we need um unfortunately not expecting it um would love for it to to go in at least once at least once would be nice, but defensively, man, it it was just it was fun to see that part of Jonathan Isaac again. Um, so, uh, being the underdog, listening to the criticism, I hope that they do and I hope that they take that, um, and kind of roll with it because that’s we we just play better that way. Yeah, man. I’m glad that we saw mostly play Ji. I don’t I really don’t know what happened there. Like, he was actually in the rotation a lot in preseason. we saw him even start one game and then the season started and we didn’t see GI for some reason. Like he was getting two minutes here, two minutes there and then not until tonight did we see him actually play 15 minutes. And to your point, three blocks, three rebounds, one steal, he was all over the place. That’s what he does best. Yes. Okay. If he hits a three or a couple of layups, that’ll be amazing. That that to me is a plus. He his his ad to the team is not going to be offensively. That’s not what his plus every night is going to be. it’s going to be defensively. And I think when you consider that we had allowed 130 points or more in the last couple of games, you had to make a shakeup and you had to make something where you you’re playing one of your best defenders. Um, so I’m glad that happened. I’m glad that he answered the bell and he he did well tonight. Again, offensively, a lot to be desired, but on the defensive end, he will he put on a show. He did an amazing job there. Um, so hopefully we’ll see JJ some more, man, because I get it. like offensively he’s hurting us, but you just cannot forget 100% of of off defense. Like that just can’t happen. And when you got you got guys like AB, Jaylen Suggs, and um Ji, you got to play those guys. You they have to be on the court. They have to be stopping the opponents. Otherwise, it’s going to be a long night the same way that it was um those back to my games that we allowed 130 or more. Yeah. And I think that everyone just needs to get settled in. Uh coach Mosu, uh you talked about the rotations. The rotation has been all over the place. Uh we we don’t know who the main person coming off the bench is going to be any given night. It really changes. It adjusts. It was Tristan Dilva it felt like at one point. Uh Penda was the first one off the bench today which is crazy. Like it it’s just it it’s all it’s all over the place. Penda getting more minutes over you know Jonathan Isaac it’s is uh pretty crazy. And uh you see Tus Jones struggling but then we don’t see Jay. So, it it’s it’s it’s we want to be able to see consistency and I think that the team um in general, the players, they they should expect or at least know uh when they’re when they’re going into play, when they’re going to be incorporated. I think that that would help um uh along the way, too. So, what are your thoughts on the rotations that Coach Moles has been putting? Um and what would you like to see happen? Yeah, man. They they don’t make sense, unfortunately. Um, today was a little better, but let’s be real. Some of the the things that he decides to do at certain point in the game just don’t make sense to me. Um, you have, again, you you’re struggling offensively. Somehow during that run, you have Tristan on the bench. Okay. Defensively, you’re struggling and all of a sudden you’re sitting AB and Jaylen Suggs and maybe playing your weaker defensive team with having Tyus Jones out there on the court with Goal. It’s just random decisions and it feels like he’s sticking to this like tight rotations. Oh, France is going to play from the 12minute mark to the six-minute mark and then he sits and then this guy comes in and he’s sticking to that the whole game. I would rather him be more like in the in the flow of the game. Hey France, how’s it going right now? Hey Paulo, you come out first tonight because he’s feeling it tonight. Or hey, the team won a 100 run uh the opponent. Let me bring in Ji AB and sucks and kind of spark something defensively right now because we we need we need to wake up. It just feels like he coaches to a rotation, man. Like this, right? It’s written before the game starts. This is the rotation. That’s how it’s going to be. And no matter the outcome of the game in that moment, he’s going to stick to it. And that just in my opinion doesn’t work. Um yeah. So like for for me, I’m I’m okay. So I’m okay with him operating that way. um because you’re you’re you’re following your game plan more so than just reacting, right? There’s a time and place for the reacting and I think that that’s in the postseason. Um but in in my opinion, it’s it’s okay for him to do that. But to your point, yeah, it should be in the flow of the game. So it the part that kind of bothered me today was that Jonathan Isaac obviously he was in the game already for five six minutes but he had just came back from getting three defensive stops like back to back to back and then immediately after he took him out of the game. So granted we we were up we were winning we’re ahead but why are we stopping the momentum? Why are we stopping the flow? I would have liked to see Jonathan Isaac still in the game a little bit longer, especially after him having such a big impact on the game in those moments. Yeah. And again, that also adding the going back to what we talked about earlier with like uh no appenda getting minutes. Who had that in their bingo card that Noah Penda was going to be a part of the rotation on games four, five, and six of the season? like nobody had that cuz again this this is a guy that we brought in to develop in Oola over the next season or two if JI gets traded we might see him get some minutes but nobody had him ahead ahead of Ji in the rotation again some might say offensively Ji cannot do anything Jai I get it but we’re trying to win man so you got to play your bets you got to rely on those guys that are getting paid the most money that are supposed to contribute the most and they might struggle a couple games but stick to it that’s what that’s what builds again consistency and allows the rotation to figure it out. The same units playing together, they can figure it out. But yeah, it’s been it’s been off. And again, that’s something that for years I’ve been saying about co coach Mosley that he needs to do a better job of going with the flow of the game and um sticking to a plan like like you cannot go from Ji and then two days later, oh Ji struggle tonight, go back to Penda and then again go back to Ji. Like it just creates this mistrust in your players. We saw actually happen with T uh Tristan D Silva I think against the Bulls where he barely played because he he made a few mistakes the night before and you’re like how can that happen? It’s a young guy who had a bad night. It’s okay. Like let him play through it. He’ll figure it out. So rotations wise I think coach Mosley has a lot of work to do. Um call in timeouts when teams call on big runs. Tonight tonight he did a better job but there there’s been some games the Hawks games comes to mind. They came all the way back in the in the fourth quarter and no timeouts were called. Um, so I feel like he has some work to do, man. I think coach Mosley, I like him. I hope it works out. I I I am rooting for him. But ultimately, man, you got to make some changes because we’re now a contending team. We’re no longer a young team trying to just make the playoffs. And uh, unfortunately, if this bad play continues, his the fingers are going to be pointed right at him. Unfortunately, right away, not the players. Yeah. And this is this is a coaching staff that added um you know new coaches, a lead assistant obviously adding Shamg into the mix as well. So uh there’s a lot writing on coach Mo. So something’s got to happen. Something’s got to change. Something’s got to click. Uh Coach Mo isn’t the one that’s out there missing free throws. So it’s a it’s a two-part deal. It’s Coach Mo, but it’s also the players. They they they got to hit shots, man. We we struggle too much with our shooting and when the shots are are literally free for us and we’re a team that go goes to the line especially a player like Paulo Ben Carol that is going to see the line often we got to be able to knock down those shots because we’re literally leaving points on the table that uh goes a long way for us. Um, so, uh, defensively, uh, a better night defensively only allowing, uh, you know, getting very close and keeping Charlotte under 100 po 100 points. So, it would have been fun to be able to get a team under 100. Um, but 107 is is not bad. It’s a lot better than um, you know, the 135 that we gave up against Detroit, the 136 that we gave up against Philadelphia. Uh, you know, it’s it’s it’s been rough offense uh defensively. So, it’s nice to be able to see that we at least kept the team, you know, under 110. Yeah, man. That that’s our identity. That that’s what makes us be the Orlando Magic. To your point earlier, when you come to Orlando or the M the Magic come to your town, you’re expecting a tough game. Again, that’s going to come down to to defensive stops. You’re going to have a tough night offensively. That hasn’t been the case early on. Uh so, they have to do a better job. I think it starts also with taking care of the ball. Right now, we’re turning it over so much that’s leading to easy fast breaks, easy shots for the for the other team, and our defense is not set. We need to have our defense set in order to be able to to be a good defensive team. Um, so I think they’ll figure it out. I’m not too too concerned there, but a lot to clean up, man. It feels like the opponents are just getting right by our perimeter defense going inside for layups and it happens time and time again. Especially like fast guards like Terres Maxi, LaMelo Ball, they were just literally walking to the basket time and time again and you’re like what is going on? This is not the Orlando Magic that we’ve seen and and known for the past few years. Yeah. So, uh we just got to they they got to continue working at it. again that there needs to be a balance between pace and defense. Um, and you hope that with this first like true uh, you know, week under our belts that uh, you know, the we’re starting to get a little more strength in our legs and our conditioning and and we’ll be able to keep up. So, I’m expecting for the defense to be better. Uh the good news is that by the next time that we record, the Magic only have about two games. So there’s going to be time for them to be able to rest up and uh kind of get back to it. Um so some some hot topic news. The Magic are declining guard Jet Howard. Uh fourth year rookie club option that’s worth 7.3 million in 2020 20 in 2026 and 2027. in the Magic exercise or third-year team option on for Trist um for Tristan Dilva as well as fourth year team option on Anthony Black. So, what are your thoughts on the Magic making that decision? Um do you feel like they’re kind of admitting that they made a mistake with uh Jet Howard? I think so. I mean, clearly, you’re not picking up that option. He’s now a unrestricted free agent heading into the the off season. um you’re pretty much saying it didn’t work out, right? The weird thing is um I don’t know about you, but it feels like we never gave the the kid a chance. Like he does have a skill that we need him to help us with, and that is shooting. In the limited minutes that he has played, whether it’s been preseason, whether it’s been in the few minutes he’s played in the regular season, he’s able to make some shots and kind of gets he’s a streaky shooter. He gets it going sometimes. I makes two, three in a few minutes and you’re like, “All right, that’s what we drafted him and then we don’t see him again for two weeks.” Um, that’s kind of where where my head is at. Like I feel like we never gave him a chance. And again, I get it. He might not be the best defender. He might not be the best. Maybe in the locker room there might be some some issues. We don’t know. But it feels like we’re giving up on him way too soon without really giving him a chance. Um, I thought this would be the year that Tristan is saying, “These are my minutes and I’m not giving them up.” Uh, do you play him over Tyus Jones if the struggles continue and have a BB be the point guard? We’ll see. But yeah, man, it’s a weird decision because you could tell that he he’s not happy here, man. He I think he needs a fresh start. I wouldn’t be surprised if Brooklyn either sign his signs him in the offseason or we trade him there so he can be there with his dad. But, um, it’s a weird situation. Uh, we were shocked when we heard the pick a few years back and we’re equally shocked today. like, hey, it didn’t work out. But the shocking part is we didn’t give the kid a chance in my opinion. Do you feel like the Magic gave him a chance to to prove himself or what are your thoughts on that? Yeah, I I I think they have. There there’s obviously a a missing element. Defense has always been an issue, but it’s not like our defense is crazy good right now anyways, but um yeah, I I think that it’s it’s a lot of different things. It it could be just that the Magic or Now has a pretty hefty payroll and paying 7 uh7 million for Jay Howard. I think that that’s it sounds crazy to the Magic. I think it sounds crazy to me. So, um I get it. I understand it and I’m not I’m not upset about it. We were surprised that he got picked as early as early as he did. Um he obviously doesn’t seem excited about it. Um, I think I I I saw a picture earlier today of his uh his media day from year one to to this year and it’s completely night and day. So, I thought that that was that was pretty comical. And but I I think that if you’re looking at um the NBA trade deadline, uh Jed Howard is is still young enough to where it can be easily portrayed in a story that he just needs a different scenery or needs uh to be on a team that gives him an opportunity and a chance. So he’s a young piece that you can add uh to to a player to kind of make a trade happen to where you’re able to bring something more in for for the Magic. But, uh, I don’t think anyone is losing any sleep if something were to happen to J Howard to where he’s not a part of of the team anymore. Yeah. No. And and hopefully what happens is if we do make a trade at the trade deadline, he’s part of that package that we’re sending out. Um, because to your point, we no longer can afford to pay anybody money if they’re not playing or producing for us. Like we we are tight capwise. Um, so yeah, he was a victim of of, you know, the new cap rules and he he’s going to be gone. I think I don’t see Jawar saying Orlando past the trade deadline. If he’s here past that, this offseason he’s gone. I I don’t think that uh we’ll see him here past this season. Yeah, but it does it does and this is probably a topic for another podcast, another episode, but um it it does make you wonder or the debate of once the Welman era is completed, whenever whenever that is, we take a look at the draft history and this is J Howard being put into the same category as the the Moamba, the Chumo KKK, uh that that group of guys that it just did not did not pan out for us. Didn’t pan out for us, didn’t pan out for them. Just weren’t good draft picks that really didn’t provide much value for us. Yeah, man. That’s the difference between being the Magic today and not being another second coming of OKC, like having those cheap contracts around because if you could have had Chuma work out or have someone like uh Moamba work out, now you add J Howard to the mix. all all high picks, you know, all first round picks that can help you win games. Um, unfortunately, those are three guys that came to Orlando. We gave him a chance and unfortunately they didn’t pan out. So, there’s some questionable decisions that were made with some draft picks. Thankfully, we got Paulo, we got France, we got Sucks, and that kind of made up for all of it. Now, we got Tristan in the mix as well. Um, hopefully Jayce Richardson, Noah Pend will pan out as well. But, uh, when you look back, there’s some questionable draft picks that make you say like, what were they thinking at that time? Again, on paper, J Howard made sense, but we had other guys on the board that were like, “Hey, why not go with a more proven guy like Grady Dick?” Uh, there were some other people out there that we were like, those are the guys. Lively was was on the board still. So, it’s like you look back, you’re like, man, if we could have made those decisions a little bit different back then, where could we be today? Yeah. But you can highlight the fact that Tristan Dilva has been great with uh for us and this is a player outside of the lottery. Uh you know Jason Richardson looks promising. So lotteryies that’s that’s the thing about the lotteryies man with these players you you just you just don’t know. Sometimes you hit sometimes you don’t. Uh we got really lucky with some of the draft picks that we’ve had uh in terms of decision- making and then also we gotten pretty pretty unlucky. So it it just it is it is what it is. Um, so we we look forward, right, we look forward to Saturday’s game against the Washington Wizards. Um, and then Tuesday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks, um, which will be on NBC. And this is an Atlanta Hawks team that may not have Trey Young. We haven’t seen the updated report to see, you know, how bad that knee sprain is, but um, the Magic have an opportunity to write the ship and play a little catchup. Um, which is great. uh the Washington Wizards, not not a team that um on paper should should be anywhere near um the talent of the Orlando Magic. So again, the Magic just need to go out there and they need they need to take care of business, man. They need to start beating teams that they should be beating. And these are two prime examples for the Magic to go out there and do it. So on that note, it is it is a wrap. Uh Al, you got one last I feel like you had one last final say. Yeah. I know. I was simply going to say you got to win these two games, man. Especially if Atlanta is without Trey Young. Uh you cannot come back home and not be at least 500 to to play Boston that Friday night. Uh after we come back home. So take care of Washington. They’re a similar team to to the Hornets. Young team, they play fast. They score a lot. You should be able to beat them. Hopefully get a win on national TV against the Hawks. Come back home four and four. And then you have a fairly easy schedule when you come back home. You got uh the Celtics back toback. I think you have Portland. So you don’t have any major opponents right now. So this is a time right now to kind of say, “Hey, we started slow. We have a a nice little break here for the next week. We can go back home, get some practices in. Very important time for the Magic to kind of ride the ship and and turn things around because these are some good opponents opponents to do.” So yeah, win or lose, man, the most important thing is that Magic basketball is back. Um and if you are if you are upset about the Magic losing, good. you should and good. You should be because it is okay to be passionate about your team. Um, and be vocal about it. Don’t let anyone tell you to tone it down, sew it down, voice up, let it be known. Um, and hopefully we get a better basketball product on the floor. On that note, it is a wrap. I appreciate everyone for listening. We’ll catch you on the next one. Heat. Heat. [Music]

Anthony and Al break down the Magic’s rough start — from a four-game skid to a much-needed win over the Hornets. They dive into key player performances, some questionable coaching decisions, and how Tyus Jones has looked early on. They also react to the decision to decline Jett Howard’s option and look ahead to what the team must do to rediscover its defensive identity.

Timeline:

00:00 Magic’s Rollercoaster Start to the Season
07:10 Analyzing the Four-Game Losing Streak
10:48 Spotlight on Key Players: Tristan De Silva and Franz Wagner
12:08 Tyus Jones: Struggles and Expectations
19:38 Coaching Decisions and Rotations
22:57 The Impact of Expectations on the Team
35:03 Jett Howard’s Future with the Magic

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