October 8, 2025 • 21 mins
Jake Chapman and Dante Marchitelli break down the latest from training camp in today's Magic Insiders. The duo talks about the Magic's effort to pick up the pace, and sizes up the rest of the Eastern Conference ahead of the regular season
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Magic Insiders with Dante Marctelli and Jae Chapman.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
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down to fire.
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He's gonna go for the word.
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Shout us up, Tony Farker, you are fantastic.
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into the corner to Silva. Good luck for three, Got.
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It go, Rook cast it in. This is your daily
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They can't stop the Georgian Beach.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Magic Insiders is presented by International Diamond Center, your local
diamond experts since nineteen eighty one. And now here are
your hosts, Dante Marctelli and Jake Chapman and welcome everyone.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
It is another addition of Orlando Magic Insiders. Dante Marcitelli,
Jake Chapman here with you. The magic back in action.
In two more days preseason game number two, they will
visit the Philadelphia seventy six ers. First game was in
Puerto Rico Game two. We'll be in Philadelphia and we're
gonna have that game for you right here on ninety
six to nine to game seven o'clock on Friday night,
(01:13):
the Magic at the Sixers. Jake won't be at that game,
but he will be broadcasting that game alongside Jeff Turner.
They'll get you ready for preseason game number two. Another
day of practice for the Magic. They'll have another day tomorrow,
and then they're gonna head on up to Philadelphia to
get ready for that game on Friday. And Jake kind
of an odd thing. You don't usually wait six months
(01:34):
for the start of the season, and then you come in,
you play on the fourth, and then you got to
wait another six days for your second preseason game. It
is a I get you. You're out of the country.
You're down to Puerto Rico, get a chance to come
home and kind of get your legs under you. But
you're home for five days and you're right back out
to play Philadelphia. Then you finally can be home after
that game. So you'll get home on the morning of
(01:54):
the eleventh, and then you won't have to go anywhere
till about the twenty sixth. Right twenty six to twenty seven.
So once you get through this game in Philadelic, kind
of an odd preseason schedule, but it does layout pretty
nicely for you after that.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Yeah, we got two sleeps until Magic Basketball on the radio.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
Dantepe Oh, I like it, Josie as Josie listening too sleeps.
Josie's very excited obviously for the broadcast on Friday. You
I'll just make a quick quick reference you you referenced it.
It will be the last broadcast from the Juice Box,
which is very, very exciting. It's bittersleeep for for many reasons.
(02:29):
But we'll have a lot of fun on Friday. Brandon
is gonna come down after he gets done with game on.
We won't have a pregame show, but Brandon will be
with us.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
He'll have the halftime show and Jeff and I will
take us through that one. And then you're right. We
got two home games before we get going for real.
It's almost like a second week of training camp. It
feels like this week for coach Mosley and staff. You
make another quick trip up to Philly and then you're
back and you can kind of lock in, like you said,
d with those two final preseason games, another good week
hopefully of practice, and then you start the season with
(02:59):
three home game. So I do think kind of spending
the lion's share of October after those first two trips, Yes, yes,
I'm here at home and kind of settling in is
a good thing for a team that early in the season.
You know, we remember two years ago the message heading
into training camp this time of year was, Hey, the
games in October and November count just as much as
the games in March and eight.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Amen.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
It's a tough schedule travel wise this year for this
team period. Would you throw a trip to Puerto Rico
in the preseason? You throw a trip to Europe in
January into the mix. And then of course we're in
the southeastern corner of the country, so we always have
more travel than a lot of other teams, and we
do have a big trip early on in the season
there at the end of October. But got to try
(03:41):
to stack some wins early on, and those three big
games at home to start the season will be a
good opportunity for sure.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Oh they loom large, They loom large, and it sets
up well for you with that three game home stand.
But the three of those games are in four nights
and then to take off for a Monster five game
road trip right in which you're waiting in Atlanta for
three days. Offer that that game, that tribute you wanted
to get back on the road. You wanted to get
back on the road. He says, yeah, here you go.
That's a nice ten day trip right out of the gates.
(04:08):
Lots to get to today, and I want to see
what we want to do our best to do this
and kind of lay it out for the rest of
the week because I think there's a lot being said
about this Magic team and wanting to play with pace,
so I kind of want to address that and get
into that offensive rating. Kind of look at that. And
you know, there's a lot said about this Magic team,
you know nationally, right whereas we get the clips from Joel,
we read them ourselves. You know, you scour the internet,
(04:29):
you do your own research, and there are a lot
of national people that are saying the Magic can come
in top three in the East, they can win the East.
But regardless of what happens, Jake and I want to
set this up for the second segment. Your window is
efficiently open. There are not a lot of teams around
you in the Eastern Conference whose window is just opening.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
The teams that you are chasing arguably might be in
the last year of that window right when you look
at it. And it will address that in the second segment.
But you know, all is not lost if you don't
win a championship this year. The goal is to be competing.
The goal is to go into the second round. The
goal is to go as far as you can in
the Eastern Conference. But your window is just opening, and
(05:07):
we'll address all of that. But I think to get there,
one thing you've furred out of training camp and referred
to the last couple of days with practice is pace.
This team wanting to play with a quicker pace. And
here's why. Last year the Orlando Magic as far as
pace goes. And you know, Jake, because you wrote it
in your notes every game, dead last, dead last pace
last year. Now, a lot of that was by design, right,
(05:28):
That allows you to set up your defense, that allows
you there were some mistake, There were a lot of
mistakes that were made. You were kind of a middle
of the pack to higher in the pack turnover team, right,
so you made us sort of playing with quicker pace
led to more turnovers.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
You address that.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
You went out and got two guys that are steady
handling the basketball and Desmond Bane and Tyas Jones, and
you're counting on Anthony Black coming in now to year three,
and you're counting on the addition to Jace Richards, and
you're counting on Pollow and Franz being better handle in
the basketball. Right, So those mistakes you're hoping are going
to go down. So this allows you by getting those
two guys to play a little faster. But pace isn't everything, right,
(06:05):
Jacob's points per possession, points per one hundred possessions, and
the Magic are at ninety six point five, right, So
technically ninety six point five points per one hundred possessions.
Right above you at twenty nine is the Boston Celtics.
So that's not a miserable place to be. And I'll
address why next, but I want to get your thoughts
on that because this is going to help your offensive rating.
You can be thirtieth in pace, you can't be thirtieth
(06:27):
in offensive rating, and the Magic in the bottom of
the pack in offensive rate. And we'll look at those
numbers next. But how do you when you hear pace pace?
We got to push pace. How does that hit you
because it sounds like that's a message coming out of
camp and that will help a Magic team that was
thirtieth last year in pace.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yeah. Look, a lot of things impact impact the actual metric.
That pace metric, as you mentioned, that's just how many
possessions you have per game. And so if you are
a team, you know that that, for instance, generates a
whole bunch of offensive rebounds. There are different things that
can impact that when you're watching the team, right, are you?
Speaker 2 (07:05):
And Jake? And Jake, you're right, I said points per
possession that is offensive ratings, So you're right, it is possessions.
It's it's possessions. You know during the course.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Of the game exactly you're measuring. You're measuring possessions, right,
But but I know exactly what you meant because when
you start to tie it together, what's most important is
that you are not turning the ball over and you're
making shots when you're in when you're when you're utilizing pace,
when you're in early offense, we want to get down
the floor. We want to get threes set before defense
or threes up before defenses are set. But if you
(07:35):
do that and this is what we talked about last season.
If you do, if at the expense of that, you
end up turning the ball over and missing threes anyways,
then if you're if.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
We always joked about it, if you're rubbing faster into
missed threes, that that postum probably doesn't help you. And
then there's that, you know, there's a quot you think
you're playing faster. Well, it's just more possessions. It's more
possessions per forty eight minutes to your point, right and exactly,
and so you need to be you need to be
smart about it. And that metric I think does matter.
I think ideally, especially for a team that's as good
(08:05):
defensively as we are. And Boston's unique because you know,
Boston shot fifty three is a game last year, you know,
I I think, but let me throw this actue, let
me throw this attu too. So twenty ninth in pace
was Boston, twenty eighth was Brooklyn, Okay, they weren't playing
for anything. Twenty seventh was Miami, who got into the playoffs,
right and not a juggernaut. Twenty sixth was New York,
(08:26):
twenty fifth was Minnesota. Right, so you can be a
good team if you're in the bottom five.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
And who were in the top five Charlotte and a
whole bunch of teams, right, that's right, would have any
control over themselves.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
And number one, number one was Memphis, right, who was
supposed to be better than they were. Number three was
Atlanta playing with Trey Young, but the NBA champion Oklahoma
City Thunder fifth Okay in pace, number seven the Indiana
Pacers represented the Eastern Conference, so two two of the
top seven teams in pace went to the NBA Finals. Now,
that is not turning the ball over, right, that's capitalizing
(09:01):
on your possessions. That's making threes. That score. That's not
running down and missing threes. That's making threes that ind
or it's not transition points. But it's you. You're you're
capitalizing on your possession. You're getting the you're getting the
defensive rebound, you're giving your offensive chance to go down
with another possession.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
And let's and I think you bring up too, you know,
two good, good examples, any sort of unique examples when
you're talking about Indiana and Oklahoma obviously both in the
NBA Finals last year, but two of the best point
guards in the league. And so when you have I guess,
Hurt and Shay they're all in, say hey, scoot and
get us a good look or get yourself something. Then
(09:39):
you know that works. We're we're constructed a little bit
differently because the you know, our offense runs. I think
we're gonna look a little closer to Boston, right because
our offense is running through two wings who like to
operate in the half court ideally, But when you're a
good defensive team, and that is what we have in
common with Oklahoma, that is able to generate turnovers, that
is able to generate misses, especially on three those long misses,
(10:01):
you gotta get out and go. You have to be
smarter about it. Uh, you have to be able to execute.
We were really bad shooting threes in transition last year,
as we just mentioned, and I think you know, we
talk about Desmond Desmond Bain and his secondary playmaking, but
as you mentioned, Tias Jones is gonna play a big
role in all of this. I think no question actually
being that for general, and just you know, when you
get out in transition, it's just a lot of times
(10:22):
it's just how long have you been doing it? In
this league? You know, the tricks of the trade, all
of that stuff. I think Tyas Jones is going to
help immensely in that regard.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Well, one of the best in the NBA taking care
of the basketball. So that is going to be huge.
And you know, and I think that bodes well. I
just hearing the comments, uh that coach Mosley liked how
how they played quicker in that preseason game in Puerto
Rico against Miami. Buddy wants it to go even better.
That was a good start, but we can go even faster.
And I love Polo's comments. You know, let's get the
ball to Tias, Let's get it to Desmond, Let's get
(10:53):
it to Jalen. I can handle it. But let's push
the pace. And I think that'll I think that'll be
huge because you look at the teams that were around
you in pace. If you can get up, can you
get to the middle of the pack. Right you're at
ninety six possessions per game? The leader in pace was
one hundred and three. Can you get that thing? You know,
can you get two three more possessions per game? If
(11:14):
you can. If you can get that thing up to
ninety nine, that's three more possessions. You're eighteenth in the NBA,
and that could be a big difference between between winning
fifty two games and winning forty seven. That could put
you in a position to come in top three in
the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
And it's one more thing before the break. I mean,
we're young still and so there we should be scoring
points on the break. We should be getting out and
running right exactly with our size, with our athleticism, and
we you know, yes, it was a key for literally
every game last year after the first ten. But making
things easy on the offense, that's what you're looking for.
You want to play complimentary basketball. You're so good defensively,
(11:53):
it needs to help the offense a little bit more.
This season.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
It's about offense, about getting the offense going, and you're
hoping listen, just by showing up doesn't mean you're gonna
be the second defensive team in the NBA like Rid
last year. Still going to work on that, but we
know the defense will be there. Can we catch the
offense up and I love that's what we've seen in
training camp. That's what you're going to see in the
rest of the preseason, and hopefully that's what we see
throughout the rest of the year, while Magic fans reserve
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(12:18):
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the season with the fresh look available for in store
pickup only at Magic Authentics Team store. When we come back,
Offensive rating, why that is important and how this playing
(12:40):
with a quicker pace can help this Magic team achieve
a better offensive rating, which is critical, much more critical
than paced. When we return to Magic Insiders, Here at
a moment and welcome back at his Magic Insiders were
presented by International Diamond Center Dante Marctelly, Jake Jabman. Here
way through the Magic I can action on Friday night,
(13:01):
though visit Philadelphia seventy six ers. We'll have it for
you at seven o'clock right here, ninety six to nine
in the game. Jake Chapman, Jeff Turner, we'll have the
call on that one. And then the only two preseason
games of the home schedule, and that will be on
Sunday that will be here and we'll have that for
you at six o'clock and then we'll close it out
on the sixteenth, right here on ninety six to nine
(13:21):
in the game as well, let's get to our call
the game. It's brought to you by Clip from rings Central.
Rethink the way you work with secure meetings and messaging
on any device with Clip by RingCentral. Visit clip dot
com to learn more. So my call the game, Jake
is I'm loving this playing with more pace, getting more
possessions because that's gonna help if you protect the basketball,
and if you do get more possessions, to me, that's
(13:42):
gonna help your offensive rating. I don't think you have
to be a top five pace team to win a championship,
but I do think you have to be top five,
maybe top ten, but definitely top five to win a
championship in offensive rating. And you look at where the
Magic were last year twenty seventh offensive raiding. You were
just ahead of the Brooklyn Nets, you were ahead of Charlotte,
(14:04):
and you were just ahead of Washington. Those were the
only teams that you beat better than you offensively were
the Raptors, the Pelicans, the Jazz the Philadelphia seventy six ers,
the Portland Trailblazers. You were twenty seventh in offensive raiding.
You got to go all the way up to twenty
one to get the next playoff team, and then after
that you gotta go to eighteen to get Dallas. And
(14:26):
you're talking about you're talking about Miami that won their
way in as a ten seed in Dallas who did not. Right,
So that that that says where you were offensively, whereas
if you where was Boston d two? Yeah, Cleveland one, yeah,
Boston two.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Okay, Cleveland. So we're not gonna be Cleveland. But but
when you look at Boston, that's what that's what we
gotta we gotta. We gotta try to approximate their statistical profile.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
In my opinion, Well, I look at it, okay, so
oka see so okay, see, I think you look at
Indiana right market. I think you look at the dynamic
players that you have potentially when they had a healthy Halliburton.
But you're right, but you can be what pot you
can do it Boston all, maybe not the fifty threes.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
We just you canns to play with as slow a
pace as we play with and then be bat right
like that, Like that offensive rating is pace adjusted. The
whole thing is how efficient are you? And so we
were not only slow, but we were slow and bad
like us.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
It's point it's points per one hundred possessions. So per
one hundred possessions you're getting one hundred and eight points
per game. You were not scoring that many per game.
Some games you didn't get a hundred possessions, right, so
you're not so you're not getting it. Didn't even average
one hundred and eight points per Well, that's the the
Cleveland Cavaliers one hundred and twenty one in offensive raid, right,
So there's a big difference. I don't think you have
to get You don't have to get up to Cleveland
(15:40):
or Boston or be one twenty one, one nineteen. But
can you get in the top ten? Can you get
in the top fifteen? Can you get middle of the
pack if you have a top two defense and then
you have a middle of the pack offense and eventually
top ten. Now we're cooking, Jake, and you've got the
horses to do that.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Yeah, absolutely, I think that's that's what you're aiming for.
I think there's you know it's gonna look a little
bit different, and obviously there's gonna be an adjustment period.
But we said all last season that if you just
shoot the basketball league average, and this is sort of
part of that. Obviously, it's, you know, shooting the basketball
is the last act of the offensive set, and so
there's you've got to utilize your defense to get out
(16:19):
and get some stuff early. And then you know, just
one more thing while we're going through and kind of
picking through different stats and what we think is going
to be good indicators this season, you know, fast break points.
That's sort of an imperfect measurement on its own. We're
talking about early offense. We're talking we're not talking about
the Showtime Lakers, but we're talking about before a defense
(16:39):
gets set, can you operate with a little bit of
sense of urgency. Can you get the ball pass mid
court at whatever time coach mostly wants eighteen seconds or
whatever on the shot clock nineteen seconds? Can you get
into your first actions a little bit earlier? And can
you just be a little bit more crisp. I think
that's the ideal sort of application of all of the
(17:00):
is not being necessarily go go, go, go go, but
it's just being a little bit sharper and and and
having a little bit more of a sense of urgency
without sacrificing turning the ball over as we mentioned.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Okay, so now let's get into this rre hearing everybody
talk about health and that obviously that's a huge thing.
That's a huge thing, but that's you know, the health
is gonna be a big part of it. And as
we say that, right, we're encouraged. Jalen Suggs Uh and
Mo Wagner were able to go through their individual non
contact workouts on Wednesday, and then both of them coached
during the team's scrimmage. So you're so you're slowly bringing
(17:33):
Jalen Suggs and Mo Wagner back into this thing, right,
And again, the target date for Jalen Suggs is opening night,
and you're hoping, uh, Mo Wagner, you know, what's that
going to look like? Christmas? Ish? Maybe shortly after that,
hopefully before So he'll Jalen's gonna come back much sooner.
But health is such an important part of this thing.
But but now you're banking on Jalen Year four Fronds
(17:53):
year four pollow or I'm sorry, those guys. Year five
Pollow going into year four, right, and you got Desmond
Bay going into year six, guys that are going to
be smarter with the basketball innately right they are now
they're now get creeping into that veteran category where you're
banking on them making better decisions running the offense as well.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
And all locked up for at least what three years
for the shortest term. I mean, that's really exciting. Paulo's
extension hadn't even kicked in yet and we're already having
these conversations.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
It is, and that's what I want to talk about
and that's what I want to talk about tomorrow. This
core is locked up. And then you look around the
Eastern Conference right where this Magic team sits right now.
And you know last year you were seventh. If you're healthy,
maybe you can make up the three games and get
up to Detroit. You know, you've got some other teams
that whose windows arguably are opening as well with Detroit,
possibly Atlanta, but some windows are closing and you're coming
(18:47):
into it. You're coming into a wide open stretch where
you've got a large, large window here, but you've got
to capitalize. Touch on that here tomorrow. But you're right
you've got this corps locked up for quite some time.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
No, and I one of our I forget if it
was Eddie or Sam on NBA Radio Serious was talking
about Okay, like if I'm Jamal Moseley, I'm not looking
at the rest of the Eastern Conference and saying, guys,
this is our opportunity. You know, Tyrese, Tyrese Elberton and
Jason Tatum are hurt right now. We got to pounce.
But you and I can say that like this is
(19:18):
a unique year to Georgia. Yes, absolutely that Steep's last
season lost their primary players, shim have two all stars
missing and two franchise type players on championship contending teams
that are likely going to miss the entire season. We'll
see as far as Jason Tatum goes. And so yeah,
there are other teams that you look around, Okay, Detroit
maybe on the on the creep. A lot of people
(19:40):
like Atlanta this year and Cleveland and New York have
been there and and have a pretty high expectations. But
it is it's it's I think a year that the
Eastern Conference is at the very least a little bit down.
And you know, we're not talking about only this season.
We're talking about something that you're trying to build organically. Yes,
so it is a law term goal, to be sure,
(20:01):
but you do have a chance this year, Dante Heck,
I look at our division and I say, okay, when
you look at Washington and Charlotte, right, right, you better
stack some of those wins. It's a year that Miami
maybe a little bit down at the very least, they're
one of their best two players is going to be
injured for the first six eight weeks of the season. Right,
you should be able to you know. And there's a
(20:21):
reason that our friends in Vegas are projecting us to
win more than fifty games. That's right, that there are
very high expectations. Now, how does that change with a
young team? Kind of the way you approach night in,
night out. It's gonna be anxious to watch all of
that pressure is a privilege, as we always talk about,
but it's it's gonna be fun to see them a
tempt to rise to the occasion this season because it's
(20:42):
the first time that a lot of these guys have
dealt with those real expectations.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Right, It certainly is, and you just love that you're
in the position because it has been since twenty ten, right,
it has been since twenty ten, maybe that ten to
eleven season, whatever, when you've had kind of expectations like this,
where where, and you now have ideas, identified the needs,
and you've gone out and addressed them, and now you
can see you've got guys that are not mistake players,
(21:05):
not saying the ones you had were, but guys that
are very good at protecting the basketball and are going
to help well, help you get there. You have to
improve your offense. That has to be the primary goal
this year. You have to maintain that defensive intensity, but
you have to be better offensively, and you will with
the guys that you've addressed, with the guys that are
internal development, and all those make for a very exciting season,
(21:28):
make for high expectations, and is why this team very well,
very well could be representing the Eastern Conference in the
NBA Finals, And wouldn't that be one heck of a year?
More coming away tomorrow when we return for Magic Insiders
six o'clock right here at ninety six to ninety game,
have a great not everybody
You're listening to Magic Insiders with Dante Marctelli and Jae Chapman.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Cons Parker surveys the landscape looking for help. John clocked
down to fire.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
He's gonna go for the word.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Shout us up, Tony Farker, you are fantastic.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Crop gets the wind down at the free throw line
into the corner to Silva. Good luck for three, Got.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
It go, Rook cast it in. This is your daily
destination for all the latest on the Orlando matchiat.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Man Carrol Centerton spin moved to the rack, He's fouled.
Got it up and end Wataze. He'll climb the ladder
and have her a through.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
They can't stop the Georgian Beach.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Magic Insiders is presented by International Diamond Center, your local
diamond experts since nineteen eighty one. And now here are
your hosts, Dante Marctelli and Jake Chapman and welcome everyone.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
It is another addition of Orlando Magic Insiders. Dante Marcitelli,
Jake Chapman here with you. The magic back in action.
In two more days preseason game number two, they will
visit the Philadelphia seventy six ers. First game was in
Puerto Rico Game two. We'll be in Philadelphia and we're
gonna have that game for you right here on ninety
six to nine to game seven o'clock on Friday night,
(01:13):
the Magic at the Sixers. Jake won't be at that game,
but he will be broadcasting that game alongside Jeff Turner.
They'll get you ready for preseason game number two. Another
day of practice for the Magic. They'll have another day tomorrow,
and then they're gonna head on up to Philadelphia to
get ready for that game on Friday. And Jake kind
of an odd thing. You don't usually wait six months
(01:34):
for the start of the season, and then you come in,
you play on the fourth, and then you got to
wait another six days for your second preseason game. It
is a I get you. You're out of the country.
You're down to Puerto Rico, get a chance to come
home and kind of get your legs under you. But
you're home for five days and you're right back out
to play Philadelphia. Then you finally can be home after
that game. So you'll get home on the morning of
(01:54):
the eleventh, and then you won't have to go anywhere
till about the twenty sixth. Right twenty six to twenty seven.
So once you get through this game in Philadelic, kind
of an odd preseason schedule, but it does layout pretty
nicely for you after that.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Yeah, we got two sleeps until Magic Basketball on the radio.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
Dantepe Oh, I like it, Josie as Josie listening too sleeps.
Josie's very excited obviously for the broadcast on Friday. You
I'll just make a quick quick reference you you referenced it.
It will be the last broadcast from the Juice Box,
which is very, very exciting. It's bittersleeep for for many reasons.
(02:29):
But we'll have a lot of fun on Friday. Brandon
is gonna come down after he gets done with game on.
We won't have a pregame show, but Brandon will be
with us.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
He'll have the halftime show and Jeff and I will
take us through that one. And then you're right. We
got two home games before we get going for real.
It's almost like a second week of training camp. It
feels like this week for coach Mosley and staff. You
make another quick trip up to Philly and then you're
back and you can kind of lock in, like you said,
d with those two final preseason games, another good week
hopefully of practice, and then you start the season with
(02:59):
three home game. So I do think kind of spending
the lion's share of October after those first two trips, Yes, yes,
I'm here at home and kind of settling in is
a good thing for a team that early in the season.
You know, we remember two years ago the message heading
into training camp this time of year was, Hey, the
games in October and November count just as much as
the games in March and eight.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Amen.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
It's a tough schedule travel wise this year for this
team period. Would you throw a trip to Puerto Rico
in the preseason? You throw a trip to Europe in
January into the mix. And then of course we're in
the southeastern corner of the country, so we always have
more travel than a lot of other teams, and we
do have a big trip early on in the season
there at the end of October. But got to try
(03:41):
to stack some wins early on, and those three big
games at home to start the season will be a
good opportunity for sure.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Oh they loom large, They loom large, and it sets
up well for you with that three game home stand.
But the three of those games are in four nights
and then to take off for a Monster five game
road trip right in which you're waiting in Atlanta for
three days. Offer that that game, that tribute you wanted
to get back on the road. You wanted to get
back on the road. He says, yeah, here you go.
That's a nice ten day trip right out of the gates.
(04:08):
Lots to get to today, and I want to see
what we want to do our best to do this
and kind of lay it out for the rest of
the week because I think there's a lot being said
about this Magic team and wanting to play with pace,
so I kind of want to address that and get
into that offensive rating. Kind of look at that. And
you know, there's a lot said about this Magic team,
you know nationally, right whereas we get the clips from Joel,
we read them ourselves. You know, you scour the internet,
(04:29):
you do your own research, and there are a lot
of national people that are saying the Magic can come
in top three in the East, they can win the East.
But regardless of what happens, Jake and I want to
set this up for the second segment. Your window is
efficiently open. There are not a lot of teams around
you in the Eastern Conference whose window is just opening.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
The teams that you are chasing arguably might be in
the last year of that window right when you look
at it. And it will address that in the second segment.
But you know, all is not lost if you don't
win a championship this year. The goal is to be competing.
The goal is to go into the second round. The
goal is to go as far as you can in
the Eastern Conference. But your window is just opening, and
(05:07):
we'll address all of that. But I think to get there,
one thing you've furred out of training camp and referred
to the last couple of days with practice is pace.
This team wanting to play with a quicker pace. And
here's why. Last year the Orlando Magic as far as
pace goes. And you know, Jake, because you wrote it
in your notes every game, dead last, dead last pace
last year. Now, a lot of that was by design, right,
(05:28):
That allows you to set up your defense, that allows
you there were some mistake, There were a lot of
mistakes that were made. You were kind of a middle
of the pack to higher in the pack turnover team, right,
so you made us sort of playing with quicker pace
led to more turnovers.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
You address that.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
You went out and got two guys that are steady
handling the basketball and Desmond Bane and Tyas Jones, and
you're counting on Anthony Black coming in now to year three,
and you're counting on the addition to Jace Richards, and
you're counting on Pollow and Franz being better handle in
the basketball. Right, So those mistakes you're hoping are going
to go down. So this allows you by getting those
two guys to play a little faster. But pace isn't everything, right,
(06:05):
Jacob's points per possession, points per one hundred possessions, and
the Magic are at ninety six point five, right, So
technically ninety six point five points per one hundred possessions.
Right above you at twenty nine is the Boston Celtics.
So that's not a miserable place to be. And I'll
address why next, but I want to get your thoughts
on that because this is going to help your offensive rating.
You can be thirtieth in pace, you can't be thirtieth
(06:27):
in offensive rating, and the Magic in the bottom of
the pack in offensive rate. And we'll look at those
numbers next. But how do you when you hear pace pace?
We got to push pace. How does that hit you
because it sounds like that's a message coming out of
camp and that will help a Magic team that was
thirtieth last year in pace.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yeah. Look, a lot of things impact impact the actual metric.
That pace metric, as you mentioned, that's just how many
possessions you have per game. And so if you are
a team, you know that that, for instance, generates a
whole bunch of offensive rebounds. There are different things that
can impact that when you're watching the team, right, are you?
Speaker 2 (07:05):
And Jake? And Jake, you're right, I said points per
possession that is offensive ratings, So you're right, it is possessions.
It's it's possessions. You know during the course.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Of the game exactly you're measuring. You're measuring possessions, right,
But but I know exactly what you meant because when
you start to tie it together, what's most important is
that you are not turning the ball over and you're
making shots when you're in when you're when you're utilizing pace,
when you're in early offense, we want to get down
the floor. We want to get threes set before defense
or threes up before defenses are set. But if you
(07:35):
do that and this is what we talked about last season.
If you do, if at the expense of that, you
end up turning the ball over and missing threes anyways,
then if you're if.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
We always joked about it, if you're rubbing faster into
missed threes, that that postum probably doesn't help you. And
then there's that, you know, there's a quot you think
you're playing faster. Well, it's just more possessions. It's more
possessions per forty eight minutes to your point, right and exactly,
and so you need to be you need to be
smart about it. And that metric I think does matter.
I think ideally, especially for a team that's as good
(08:05):
defensively as we are. And Boston's unique because you know,
Boston shot fifty three is a game last year, you know,
I I think, but let me throw this actue, let
me throw this attu too. So twenty ninth in pace
was Boston, twenty eighth was Brooklyn, Okay, they weren't playing
for anything. Twenty seventh was Miami, who got into the playoffs,
right and not a juggernaut. Twenty sixth was New York,
(08:26):
twenty fifth was Minnesota. Right, so you can be a
good team if you're in the bottom five.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
And who were in the top five Charlotte and a
whole bunch of teams, right, that's right, would have any
control over themselves.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
And number one, number one was Memphis, right, who was
supposed to be better than they were. Number three was
Atlanta playing with Trey Young, but the NBA champion Oklahoma
City Thunder fifth Okay in pace, number seven the Indiana
Pacers represented the Eastern Conference, so two two of the
top seven teams in pace went to the NBA Finals. Now,
that is not turning the ball over, right, that's capitalizing
(09:01):
on your possessions. That's making threes. That score. That's not
running down and missing threes. That's making threes that ind
or it's not transition points. But it's you. You're you're
capitalizing on your possession. You're getting the you're getting the
defensive rebound, you're giving your offensive chance to go down
with another possession.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
And let's and I think you bring up too, you know,
two good, good examples, any sort of unique examples when
you're talking about Indiana and Oklahoma obviously both in the
NBA Finals last year, but two of the best point
guards in the league. And so when you have I guess,
Hurt and Shay they're all in, say hey, scoot and
get us a good look or get yourself something. Then
(09:39):
you know that works. We're we're constructed a little bit
differently because the you know, our offense runs. I think
we're gonna look a little closer to Boston, right because
our offense is running through two wings who like to
operate in the half court ideally, But when you're a
good defensive team, and that is what we have in
common with Oklahoma, that is able to generate turnovers, that
is able to generate misses, especially on three those long misses,
(10:01):
you gotta get out and go. You have to be
smarter about it. Uh, you have to be able to execute.
We were really bad shooting threes in transition last year,
as we just mentioned, and I think you know, we
talk about Desmond Desmond Bain and his secondary playmaking, but
as you mentioned, Tias Jones is gonna play a big
role in all of this. I think no question actually
being that for general, and just you know, when you
get out in transition, it's just a lot of times
(10:22):
it's just how long have you been doing it? In
this league? You know, the tricks of the trade, all
of that stuff. I think Tyas Jones is going to
help immensely in that regard.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Well, one of the best in the NBA taking care
of the basketball. So that is going to be huge.
And you know, and I think that bodes well. I
just hearing the comments, uh that coach Mosley liked how
how they played quicker in that preseason game in Puerto
Rico against Miami. Buddy wants it to go even better.
That was a good start, but we can go even faster.
And I love Polo's comments. You know, let's get the
ball to Tias, Let's get it to Desmond, Let's get
(10:53):
it to Jalen. I can handle it. But let's push
the pace. And I think that'll I think that'll be
huge because you look at the teams that were around
you in pace. If you can get up, can you
get to the middle of the pack. Right you're at
ninety six possessions per game? The leader in pace was
one hundred and three. Can you get that thing? You know,
can you get two three more possessions per game? If
(11:14):
you can. If you can get that thing up to
ninety nine, that's three more possessions. You're eighteenth in the NBA,
and that could be a big difference between between winning
fifty two games and winning forty seven. That could put
you in a position to come in top three in
the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
And it's one more thing before the break. I mean,
we're young still and so there we should be scoring
points on the break. We should be getting out and
running right exactly with our size, with our athleticism, and
we you know, yes, it was a key for literally
every game last year after the first ten. But making
things easy on the offense, that's what you're looking for.
You want to play complimentary basketball. You're so good defensively,
(11:53):
it needs to help the offense a little bit more.
This season.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
It's about offense, about getting the offense going, and you're
hoping listen, just by showing up doesn't mean you're gonna
be the second defensive team in the NBA like Rid
last year. Still going to work on that, but we
know the defense will be there. Can we catch the
offense up and I love that's what we've seen in
training camp. That's what you're going to see in the
rest of the preseason, and hopefully that's what we see
throughout the rest of the year, while Magic fans reserve
the new Orlando Magic Statement Edition jersey today as the
(12:18):
only Jordan brand jersey in the lineup and influenced by
the Magic's original on court warm up jackets, this jersey
blends heritage with modern style. Pre Order yours now at
Orlandomagic dot com Slash Jersey pre Sale and step into
the season with the fresh look available for in store
pickup only at Magic Authentics Team store. When we come back,
Offensive rating, why that is important and how this playing
(12:40):
with a quicker pace can help this Magic team achieve
a better offensive rating, which is critical, much more critical
than paced. When we return to Magic Insiders, Here at
a moment and welcome back at his Magic Insiders were
presented by International Diamond Center Dante Marctelly, Jake Jabman. Here
way through the Magic I can action on Friday night,
(13:01):
though visit Philadelphia seventy six ers. We'll have it for
you at seven o'clock right here, ninety six to nine
in the game. Jake Chapman, Jeff Turner, we'll have the
call on that one. And then the only two preseason
games of the home schedule, and that will be on
Sunday that will be here and we'll have that for
you at six o'clock and then we'll close it out
on the sixteenth, right here on ninety six to nine
(13:21):
in the game as well, let's get to our call
the game. It's brought to you by Clip from rings Central.
Rethink the way you work with secure meetings and messaging
on any device with Clip by RingCentral. Visit clip dot
com to learn more. So my call the game, Jake
is I'm loving this playing with more pace, getting more
possessions because that's gonna help if you protect the basketball,
and if you do get more possessions, to me, that's
(13:42):
gonna help your offensive rating. I don't think you have
to be a top five pace team to win a championship,
but I do think you have to be top five,
maybe top ten, but definitely top five to win a
championship in offensive rating. And you look at where the
Magic were last year twenty seventh offensive raiding. You were
just ahead of the Brooklyn Nets, you were ahead of Charlotte,
(14:04):
and you were just ahead of Washington. Those were the
only teams that you beat better than you offensively were
the Raptors, the Pelicans, the Jazz the Philadelphia seventy six ers,
the Portland Trailblazers. You were twenty seventh in offensive raiding.
You got to go all the way up to twenty
one to get the next playoff team, and then after
that you gotta go to eighteen to get Dallas. And
(14:26):
you're talking about you're talking about Miami that won their
way in as a ten seed in Dallas who did not. Right,
So that that that says where you were offensively, whereas
if you where was Boston d two? Yeah, Cleveland one, yeah,
Boston two.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Okay, Cleveland. So we're not gonna be Cleveland. But but
when you look at Boston, that's what that's what we
gotta we gotta. We gotta try to approximate their statistical profile.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
In my opinion, Well, I look at it, okay, so
oka see so okay, see, I think you look at
Indiana right market. I think you look at the dynamic
players that you have potentially when they had a healthy Halliburton.
But you're right, but you can be what pot you
can do it Boston all, maybe not the fifty threes.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
We just you canns to play with as slow a
pace as we play with and then be bat right
like that, Like that offensive rating is pace adjusted. The
whole thing is how efficient are you? And so we
were not only slow, but we were slow and bad
like us.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
It's point it's points per one hundred possessions. So per
one hundred possessions you're getting one hundred and eight points
per game. You were not scoring that many per game.
Some games you didn't get a hundred possessions, right, so
you're not so you're not getting it. Didn't even average
one hundred and eight points per Well, that's the the
Cleveland Cavaliers one hundred and twenty one in offensive raid, right,
So there's a big difference. I don't think you have
to get You don't have to get up to Cleveland
(15:40):
or Boston or be one twenty one, one nineteen. But
can you get in the top ten? Can you get
in the top fifteen? Can you get middle of the
pack if you have a top two defense and then
you have a middle of the pack offense and eventually
top ten. Now we're cooking, Jake, and you've got the
horses to do that.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Yeah, absolutely, I think that's that's what you're aiming for.
I think there's you know it's gonna look a little
bit different, and obviously there's gonna be an adjustment period.
But we said all last season that if you just
shoot the basketball league average, and this is sort of
part of that. Obviously, it's, you know, shooting the basketball
is the last act of the offensive set, and so
there's you've got to utilize your defense to get out
(16:19):
and get some stuff early. And then you know, just
one more thing while we're going through and kind of
picking through different stats and what we think is going
to be good indicators this season, you know, fast break points.
That's sort of an imperfect measurement on its own. We're
talking about early offense. We're talking we're not talking about
the Showtime Lakers, but we're talking about before a defense
(16:39):
gets set, can you operate with a little bit of
sense of urgency. Can you get the ball pass mid
court at whatever time coach mostly wants eighteen seconds or
whatever on the shot clock nineteen seconds? Can you get
into your first actions a little bit earlier? And can
you just be a little bit more crisp. I think
that's the ideal sort of application of all of the
(17:00):
is not being necessarily go go, go, go go, but
it's just being a little bit sharper and and and
having a little bit more of a sense of urgency
without sacrificing turning the ball over as we mentioned.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Okay, so now let's get into this rre hearing everybody
talk about health and that obviously that's a huge thing.
That's a huge thing, but that's you know, the health
is gonna be a big part of it. And as
we say that, right, we're encouraged. Jalen Suggs Uh and
Mo Wagner were able to go through their individual non
contact workouts on Wednesday, and then both of them coached
during the team's scrimmage. So you're so you're slowly bringing
(17:33):
Jalen Suggs and Mo Wagner back into this thing, right,
And again, the target date for Jalen Suggs is opening night,
and you're hoping, uh, Mo Wagner, you know, what's that
going to look like? Christmas? Ish? Maybe shortly after that,
hopefully before So he'll Jalen's gonna come back much sooner.
But health is such an important part of this thing.
But but now you're banking on Jalen Year four Fronds
(17:53):
year four pollow or I'm sorry, those guys. Year five
Pollow going into year four, right, and you got Desmond
Bay going into year six, guys that are going to
be smarter with the basketball innately right they are now
they're now get creeping into that veteran category where you're
banking on them making better decisions running the offense as well.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
And all locked up for at least what three years
for the shortest term. I mean, that's really exciting. Paulo's
extension hadn't even kicked in yet and we're already having
these conversations.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
It is, and that's what I want to talk about
and that's what I want to talk about tomorrow. This
core is locked up. And then you look around the
Eastern Conference right where this Magic team sits right now.
And you know last year you were seventh. If you're healthy,
maybe you can make up the three games and get
up to Detroit. You know, you've got some other teams
that whose windows arguably are opening as well with Detroit,
possibly Atlanta, but some windows are closing and you're coming
(18:47):
into it. You're coming into a wide open stretch where
you've got a large, large window here, but you've got
to capitalize. Touch on that here tomorrow. But you're right
you've got this corps locked up for quite some time.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
No, and I one of our I forget if it
was Eddie or Sam on NBA Radio Serious was talking
about Okay, like if I'm Jamal Moseley, I'm not looking
at the rest of the Eastern Conference and saying, guys,
this is our opportunity. You know, Tyrese, Tyrese Elberton and
Jason Tatum are hurt right now. We got to pounce.
But you and I can say that like this is
(19:18):
a unique year to Georgia. Yes, absolutely that Steep's last
season lost their primary players, shim have two all stars
missing and two franchise type players on championship contending teams
that are likely going to miss the entire season. We'll
see as far as Jason Tatum goes. And so yeah,
there are other teams that you look around, Okay, Detroit
maybe on the on the creep. A lot of people
(19:40):
like Atlanta this year and Cleveland and New York have
been there and and have a pretty high expectations. But
it is it's it's I think a year that the
Eastern Conference is at the very least a little bit down.
And you know, we're not talking about only this season.
We're talking about something that you're trying to build organically. Yes,
so it is a law term goal, to be sure,
(20:01):
but you do have a chance this year, Dante Heck,
I look at our division and I say, okay, when
you look at Washington and Charlotte, right, right, you better
stack some of those wins. It's a year that Miami
maybe a little bit down at the very least, they're
one of their best two players is going to be
injured for the first six eight weeks of the season. Right,
you should be able to you know. And there's a
(20:21):
reason that our friends in Vegas are projecting us to
win more than fifty games. That's right, that there are
very high expectations. Now, how does that change with a
young team? Kind of the way you approach night in,
night out. It's gonna be anxious to watch all of
that pressure is a privilege, as we always talk about,
but it's it's gonna be fun to see them a
tempt to rise to the occasion this season because it's
(20:42):
the first time that a lot of these guys have
dealt with those real expectations.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Right, It certainly is, and you just love that you're
in the position because it has been since twenty ten, right,
it has been since twenty ten, maybe that ten to
eleven season, whatever, when you've had kind of expectations like this,
where where, and you now have ideas, identified the needs,
and you've gone out and addressed them, and now you
can see you've got guys that are not mistake players,
(21:05):
not saying the ones you had were, but guys that
are very good at protecting the basketball and are going
to help well, help you get there. You have to
improve your offense. That has to be the primary goal
this year. You have to maintain that defensive intensity, but
you have to be better offensively, and you will with
the guys that you've addressed, with the guys that are
internal development, and all those make for a very exciting season,
(21:28):
make for high expectations, and is why this team very well,
very well could be representing the Eastern Conference in the
NBA Finals, And wouldn't that be one heck of a year?
More coming away tomorrow when we return for Magic Insiders
six o'clock right here at ninety six to ninety game,
have a great not everybody
Hosts And Creators
Dante Marchitelli
Jake Chapman
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