October 22, 2025 • 21 mins
Dante Marchitelli and Jake Chapman are back on Magic Insiders ahead of Season 37 for the Orlando Magic. Jake and Dante preview the Magic's season opener against the Miami Heat. The duo talks about the return of Jalen Suggs, who has been announced as available for tonight's game. They look into Paolo Banchero's numbers ahead of the 2025–26 season and what he can do entering Year 4 with the Magic.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Magic Insiders with Dante Marctelli and Jane Chapman.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Dons Pardner surveys the landscape looking for help. John clocked
down to fire.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
He's gonna go for the way.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Shout us Undy Farkery, you are fantastic.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Rob gets the windown at the free pro line into
the corner to Silva. Good luck for three, Got it
go Rook casting in.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
This is your daily destination for all the latest on
the Orlando Matchiat.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Mat Carrol Centerton spin moved to the rack, He's fouled,
got it up and end Watase.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
He'll climb the ladder and have it through.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
They can't stop.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
The Georgia 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 Marcitelli and Jake Chapman and.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Welcome every one of his Magic Insiders presented by International
Diamond Center. Dante Marcitelli, Jake Chapman, doing with you and
it is finally here. Opening night for the Orlando Magic.
The NBA started last night a couple of games. The
Houston Rockets fall to the Oklahoma City Thunder and the
Golden State Warriors defeat the Los Angeles Lakers. That was
the action last night. We'll get into all that. We'll
(01:13):
preview tonight's contest. Who's back maybe in the starting lineup
for the Orlando Magic. We'll have that for you as well.
We've got the broadcast for you at six thirty, so
coming your way in about thirty minutes right here on
ninety six to nine in the game, our first game
of the season, opening night. Jake Chapman will have the call,
and then we will have it for you at six
thirty on FanDuel Sports Network as well as soon as
(01:34):
I finished this show, I'm gonna hoof it over there
and get ready for the pregame show. But Jake, I
think before we get started, you know, we got some
changes here to the radio broadcast, to the crew. So
why don't you kind of run down your crew, the
people that you work with on a nightly basis, and
introduce the radio broadcast team for all games on ninety
six to nine in the game and throughout the network
(01:55):
right here in Orlando.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yeah, good call. The first of all, big shout out
to Time or Karen. What three seasons it was. It
was Tyler and I kind of rowing rowing upstream.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
You guys built this thing. You guys got this thing
launched and off the ground, no question about it. Tyler, well,
I'll go back so much of it that he thought
so much of it that he changed industries entirely.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
That.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
He made the leap that we all have thought about
it exactly we've all come with. Was Tyler nothing but
the best. He was an absolute godsend for me, certainly
over the last couple of seasons. So Sweet Tea is out.
In is some combination of Kyle Cassandra and Jaden Grimes,
both very familiar names over at iHeart Orlando and on
(02:44):
ninety six nine in the game. They will be producing
our broadcast with the help of Christy Birdsall, who many
are very familiar with already the job she's done with
our social media stuff. She's been absolutely awesome our graduate
associated for this year. So you're still gonna have Brandon
Kravitz in pre and post for All eighty two. He'll
be on in halftime as well producer role. Again. I
(03:06):
like to call him our director of quality control, Kyle
Cassandra because he knows all the ins and outs and
he's been, He's been absolutely invaluable over the course of
the last year. Jayden Grimes is gonna work in We're
gonna train him over the course of this weekend. We'll
get him in the mix. So very excited about the
team we have this year. And then, as we mentioned,
I'm gonna be out on the road, so yes, yeah,
(03:26):
I got to kind of let my baby go. It's all.
It's a whole lot had to do that. Hard to
do that, and it's very difficult to do. But I
will be I'll be in some arena and they'll be
running the show back and I heard control. So very
excited for this season. Very excited to hit the road
as well.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Well. You mentioned it was you and Tyler when we
started this thing, and now you that's at least four
or five names, so we have at least grown this
thing a little bit.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
We've added to it a little bit.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
And again all of those you know, all of those
people you mentioned play some part of a role as
well throughout the year on this show Magic Insiders as well,
and we're grateful to all the folks will in ninety
six to nine for all their assistance throughout the year.
But we got magic basketball opening night, and you know, Jake,
this is season twenty eight for me, which is crazy,
which is crazy to think about that, but you still,
(04:11):
you know, you heard some of the guys saying it today.
You heard the coach saying it. I know what and
what what season opener would this be for you? With
all your different teams and stop right.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
This would be this would be number sixteen if you
include Detroit, and seventeen if you include my intern year.
So absolutely we do. You have you have years.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
You have started seventeen seasons and the NBA is starting
season eighty. So that is almost a quarter of the
NBA seasons right in history that you have worked. Right,
It's crazy when.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
You think about Okay, think it like what I need
a minute. You think about it like that exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
But when you think back to you know, it doesn't
matter if it's your intern year, it doesn't matter what
stop you were on, Cleveland, Detroit, Orlando, whatever it may be.
There's something special about opening night and we're gonna see it.
All the white T shirts are on the seats. It's
a white out in Orlando. You got the new uniforms,
we got the new scoreboard, we got the new locker room.
Fans are pumped. We had nineteen thousand for a preseason
game against these very same heat. There is nothing like
(05:10):
opening night.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Jake Chapman, Well, first off, Happy New Year to you. Dante, Well,
there you go.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Amen to you.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Happy New Year to you as well.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
There.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
It's funny because I asked Jamal Mosley the exact same thing.
I said, this is number five for you. But they
don't get old, do they? He said, it feels just
like it did in twenty twenty one. Yeah, And I said,
if you could go back and tell that guy something,
what would you say? And he said the same thing
I told myself this morning. Enjoy it. To keep pouring
into your players. You know, it'd be appreciative of the
opportunity that you have. All the stuff that we love
(05:40):
to hear from Jamal Moseley and just he's Assault of
the Earth guy, and then he's also one of the
best head coaches on planet Earth. It is, man, It's just,
you know, I think there's something we You and I
are both big or at least at one point in
our lives, we were big baseball fans Opening Day in
the springtime upnor Bring just something special about all thirty teams.
(06:03):
I guess twenty six now, you know, with a clean
slate and thinking they have a chance in the NBA.
We talked about this the other week. The NBA is
in such a great place as far as parody goes.
There's about twenty twenty two teams that probably legitimately think
they have a shot this season, which is a really
great place for the league to be. And certainly the
expectations we have for the team around town right now. Boy,
(06:24):
we you know, the last couple of weeks, it's been like,
let's just get to Opening Night. We were ready to go.
We've been chomping at the bit.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
So it is.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
It's special. Always you put on a great show. There's
the nerves, there's all the fun getting the season going.
But certainly this year's season thirty seven of magic basketball,
with the core that we have, the people that we
have in place, and some lofty expectations, I'm ready to
get started.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Well, I want to throw this at you and again
more not to bury the lead. But we do find
out today at practice that Jalen Suggs is available. Jalen
Suggs will be available here tonight. So that's huge when
we're talking basketball the game tonight, x's and o's, and
we'll break that all down for you. In the next segment,
you'll hear from Jalen himself get you his thoughts on
what excites him about Opening Night and being back and
getting around the guys again. So we'll hear from Jalen
(07:10):
Suggs in the next segment here for I want to
get a thought on on Polo Banco before we go
to break as well. But what just one more thing
to kind of tie up Opening Night in the start
of the season. Fans feel it. It feels different to
fans around town this year. This buzz, the electricity about
this Orlando Magic team feels different to these fans, feels
different to us Jake. This year feels different to the players.
(07:34):
If you walk around that building, the staff, the players,
everybody that has a touch point with this Orlando Magic team.
You know. Coach Mosley even said this morning, the magic
is a vibe right now right there there. There is
a there is a different feeling about what this team
can accomplish this year. It's a maturity there. There's there
seems to be you know, not not that they weren't
(07:55):
mature before, but there seems to be an understanding of
what this team is expected to do and what they
want to set out to do when that journey starts tonight.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Yeah, and there's and here's something else to you And
this goes coincides with Jalen. We're healthy, man, I mean
both boxers on on the men and coming back. But
there's no nagging injuries at the start of the season.
There's no sort of question marks. I think you have
an idea of who's going to be in the rotation.
There's maybe some minutes in playing time up for grabs,
especially early in the season when you were trying to
(08:25):
keep guys fresh, but it does it feels like there's
just not you know. And the Jalen thing was we
were a little bit just okay, will it be opening
night or will it be a little bit past how's
it feeling. He hadn't been practicing necessarily, boy, And you
know you said you buried the lead. I think that
you know, that was the lead yesterday, getting knowing that
Jalen was that close to being a good back, good
point we started the week. I just didn't know necessarily
(08:46):
what to expect because as we keep saying you wanted
to make sure that Jalen felt one hundred percent confident
he clearly does. Yes, there will be a minutes restriction,
but you gonna have your starting lineup in place tonight
that you expected it to be when you made the
trade for Desmond Bay and and.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Started that played How many games together last year was?
Speaker 3 (09:05):
Yeah, the three The three guys played three guys seven
minutes combined last year together over the course of the season.
You know, you and I, You and I have played
more than ninety seven minutes combined. And innermurals, I think.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
It's it just it.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
I think there's there's obviously expectations, and some of it
has to go with with the what the maybe lack
of delivering on expectations last season. A year ago, we
were all gung ho and we were excited and injuries
sort of sidetracked that, And then I think maybe we
were a year early. You got a core in place,
There are guys that were proud to be wearing a
(09:43):
magic uniform. You have a head coach entering year five. Now, Yes, yes,
there's just not every other team has question marks, and
it feels like we know who we are. We have
an identity. We have a young core in place that
we're expecting to grow together. Things are sort of lining
up for us to be able to make a deep
run this year. Again, you got to go out and
you got to take care of business. But that was
(10:05):
sort of the last box to check was what's where
is Jalen right now?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Correct?
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Correct? As we've wrapped up the preseason, and boy, I
think knowing that he is in a good place puts
us all in a much better place.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Wouldn't it be nice to go through the entire year
and not be asking guys, how it feels to be back?
Speaker 3 (10:22):
How close are we are? You limited?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Will there be a minutes restriction tonight?
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Coach?
Speaker 2 (10:26):
What can we expect from this player?
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Can we do back to backs? Can we do?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
How's the hamstring?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
You know? All the wouldn't it be writers are gonna
need some new material.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Get toed some we're all gonna need some new The
players themselves and they got to be tied up. Now
it's the story and you've got to answer the questions. Uh,
and you got to ask the questions. But wouldn't it
be nice team to do a year to not have
to deal with that and hopefully this is the year.
Hopefully we're just talking about everybody's healthy, everybody's playing a role,
and how good can the magic be? Can they come
(10:53):
out of the east. I want to get your thoughts
on this, Jake. We you know, we we have a
service here, this sport Radar service that helps us with
nuggets from time time. But you know, as we all
do our research and get ready, and we know how
special Polo ban Cao is and how special Franz Boagner is,
but this note jumped out at me and it's unbelievable.
Polo ban Caro is going to begin season four. Right
through his first three years, ban Carrow has joined just
(11:16):
four other players all time to amass four thousand points,
thirteen hundred rebounds, nine hundred assists, and one hundred blocks. Right,
so that's through your first three years. Four thousand points,
thirteen hundred rebounds, nine hundred assists, one hundred blocks. You
want to know who his names are? Brad Dougherty. Brad
(11:37):
Doherty was one of them, Grant Hill, Larry Bird, Lebron, James,
Polo Banko. The flora is yours, The flora is yours, Jake.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Jack Well, first off, you know where I'm going. First
and foremost, big shout out to Brad Doherty. Grew up
watching him. Absolutely, two caves on that list. You didn't
see that coming, right, Two calves on that list, A
Piston and two magic men because we claimed Grant as well.
D I mean, look, there's you know, sometimes your eyes
roll back in your head when you start to hear
(12:08):
those you know, the the four thousand, nine hundreds and
one hundreds. But that is a pretty clear indication of
a complete basketball player, one who has not needed to
kind of ease his way in. Like remember the first
basketball game Paulo Ben Carrol played in the NBA when
he jumped over Corey Joseph. Yes, yes, I do, Yes,
I do remember. Okay, here we go.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
We got the guy about Game five last year when
he had fifty, right, this guy.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Five and don't ask me what happened in game six.
That's he, dude, he is. He's so special and like,
I think, the thing that I like most about him
is I look around and bloy, there's so much good
young talent in the league. But man, I don't know
if any of the under twenty fives are as much
of a quote unquote killer as our guy is, because
this dude is just all business. I mean, he just
(12:56):
it doesn't nothing matters to him other than winning the
basket game. And you know, it's sort of hurting your
feelings a little bit in the process. He's just a dog,
and I can't wait to see what this year looks
like for him. Knock on wood. If the guy's healthy,
I think we're gonna see, you know, perhaps perhaps hikes
from an individual player that this franchise has never seen before.
(13:18):
And there's some pretty good names on that list as well,
well rounded.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
When you talk about everything that he can do in
all capacity him, he's already done that.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
We've always had bigs. It's always been biggs. Yeah, we're
talking about the best players in our franchise's history, with
the exception maybe a Penny Hardaway and t mac Okay,
maybe they aren't always bigs, but anytime we're talking about
these lists, right, it's Shack and Dwight and Paula. Vaccaro
is a complete basketball player that makes a big difference.
Oh and I love that.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
We can't wait to see it. He was business like
this morning as well, like this guy understands the mission.
At just twenty two years old at his fourth NBA season.
What's at stake, what's expected of him, the kind of
the scrutiny that comes with being one of the teams
to expect it to compete for a championship.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
All that is new.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
This is all on chartered territory for polo in the
Orlando Magic for the last fifteen years. And these guys
are going to have to deal with that, and I
know they'll be ready. Certainly starts with the head coach
and he will have them ready, There's no question about it.
Magic Fans catch every moment of the Orlanto Magic on
FanDuel Sports Network for the twenty five to twenty six season.
Get two Magic tickets when you sign up for a
FanDuel Sports Network season pass. Watch every game from the
(14:22):
comfort of your couch, plus get the thrills of the
in arena action at a game this fall. You can
subscribe now at Orlantamagic dot com, slash FanDuel Sports Network
and use the code Magic fan at checkout. That's one
word magic fan. We've got more Magic insiders, including some
sound from Jalen Suggs. We'll hear from him when we return.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
In a moment, Hey Hey, this is Jalen Suggs of
the Orlando Magic and you're listening to Magic Insiders with
my guys Dante and Jake.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Hey, great to have you with us.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Everyone back on Magic Insiders, presented by International Diamond Center
of Dante Marcateelli, joined by Jake Chapman, who will have
the call right here on this station. We tip off
here in about oh forty five minutes or so.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Jake will have the call.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Brandon Kravitz La, have your pregame show all season along
right here on ninety six to nine in the game
and we'll get you started on the television side at
six point thirty on FanDuel Sports Network. Right now, let's
get to our call the game. It's brought you by
Glip from ring Central. We think the way you work
with secure meetings and messaging on any device with Glip
by RingCentral.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Visit glip dot com to learn more. We have waited,
We have waited a long time for this.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
You got to go all the way back to the
middle of January, the last time Jalen Suggs played an
NBA game. He is available tonight. Let's hear from the
Magic Guard on his return.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
Jalen, you put in so much work to make this
a reality, and how awarning is it to be available
on opening night? Yeah, very awarding. I don't think I've
sat with it too much yet. I've really just been
excited to get to seven o'clock. But just going through
shoot around this morning, watching the him intently, knowing that
I'm going to use these things tonight to come out,
(15:56):
you know, and put him in action, and it feels great. Honestly,
I'm sure in my reflection I'll feel some emotion, you know,
both happy and emotional. But I mean, this is just
such a special moment, you know, not only for me,
but everyone who's pouring like this was not just my journey,
you know, it's from Ryan back up in Chicago to
Lorel here doing all the sold body, to everyone on
(16:17):
the medical staff at Arnie Samil. It's been a full
group effort getting here. So I hope everybody gets to enjoy,
you know, that celebration, and you know, I get to
help put out the good product tonight. What are your
expectations for tonight for your for yourself and your team
for playing minutes lines? Just what do you what do
you see going on tonight, could just continue applying to
things that I've tried to build up both this summer.
(16:37):
You know that's good strength, good confidence, good trust in
my intuition, you know, over trying to overthink plays and
and whatnot. You know, really building up you know what,
I feel like my instincts are, you know, hanmering those
homes so that I can just go out and be
And that's all I want to do tonight, have fun,
enjoy Opening Night in Orlando, special time. I haven't had
one in a in a couple of years, So very
excited to start the year off here on a couple
(16:58):
of games and uh yeah, really get to build some
real momentum going in. It's a first road trip in
the beginning of the season. So I'm just excited to
step put on the course of the end that.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Day you start trying to profit and Open Night do
come back whole lot of I feel like that.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Either to be able to play tonight. Sorry, I wanted
to be ready when I started camp, so, you know,
just knowing that and accepting you know that that wasn't
the reality of the situation, and there was more time
to be patient. You know, It's a bit challenging, but
him coming out and saying that, I think also gave
me a bit more confident to get everybody on our
staff a bit more confidence to you know, this is
(17:37):
a target that that we can realistically hit. And like
I said, every day we've been hammered at home, you know,
whether it's in here and physically going through things, weight room,
on court on off days, no true off days, because
it's been a ton of body work and getting everything
else around the knee and the knee right. So really
just such a long process, but I think it's came
(17:57):
at the right time, you know, be able to start
the year off, no matter how it looks, no matter
how long it is, just to be able to be
on the floor with the guys to start to build
up that repertoire, you know, that gel, that chemistry in
real time, you know, rather than just sitting and watching.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
You know, it's gonna be really big time. So like
I said, I'm just excited to put the jersey on,
run out there for warm ups, just be ce see
what the night holds.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
You hear from Jalen Suggs right there, and a lot
of excitement, a lot of emotions, but even him, he's
trying to keep him in check. He did let his
guard down a little bit and say, you know, I'm
still gonna be fired up. There's gonna be some emotions,
but I love what he said. You know, not gonna
go a million miles in an hour. Here, We're gonna
harness this thing a little bit. We're gonna show some emotion,
but it's it's not gonna be chaos. It's not gonna
be out of control.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Jalen.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Jalen's grown up a little bit like everybody else and
understands that the best term for the best chance for
longevity is to kind of is how he approaches this thing.
Doesn't mean he's not gonna play hard, doesn't mean he's
not gonna wear his heart on his sleeve. He's still
gonna give you everything he's got every minute out there.
But I like his approach coming into coming into his
first game back and coming into the season.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Yeah, I mean three of his first four seasons have
been hampered by injuries. I think you can say that realistically,
so there does probably need to be a little alteration
of the way he plays. And like you said, but
you don't want to lose what makes him special, and
I and I think he'll be fine. I think the
part of that is just aging naturally, right, Like as
you get older and they start hurting more, you figure
(19:21):
out better ways to stop that from happening. He's got
a new haircut. I think that that. I don't know
if that matters at all, but anytime somebody comes in
with a fresh do you always take note? For sure?
Rich says, look good, play good. I expect Jalen's new
found approach to last about twelve minutes of game time,
(19:44):
and then he's going to go all out opening nights too.
I mean that's good. Miami across the way, the place
is going to be electric. No, I know, I do think.
I think there are there are certain ways to be smarter.
We talked about it a little bit yesterday. I think
back to guys like Dwayne Wade and Derek Rowe, and
some of that's just sort of and again, those guys
were attacking the basket, but they always were landing on
(20:05):
their back and on their head and on their shoulders.
And you know, maybe not a great example because Derek
Rowse's career was sidetracked due to injuries. But I think
there's there's only so much you can change your DNA,
and so I think, Jalen, yeah, maybe you want to
be a little bit smarter about hurling your body all
over the place. But but you know, stick to what
makes Jalen sug special and that is that's that's the defense,
(20:28):
that's the hitting the deck for loose balls, that is
that is playing with an emotional uh kind of charge
that you just don't get from any players across the league.
And then tonight Opening Night, in his first game since January,
in front of the Kia Center crowd, Yeah, he's gonna
have to scale it way back tonight if if he
wants to stay true to his word. There's just gonna
(20:50):
be a lot of energy in the building.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Yeah, everybody's gonna have to scale it back. Everybody's gonna
have the butterflies going. You got to go back to
January twenty fifth, his last game will win against Detroit
here on this floor, two hundred and seventy days Jake
two to seven zero since Jalen Suggs last took the
floor in an NBA game. He looks good in practice,
he looks good and shoot around and he'll be ready
to go, we'll find out. We imagine I'd be part
of that starting line up here tonight for Jamal Moseley
(21:14):
and the Orlando Magic. We're gonna have the game, the
Magic in the Miami Heat. It's Opening Night comes your
way next right here on ninety six to nine, the game.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
I have a great night, everybody,
You're listening to Magic Insiders with Dante Marctelli and Jane Chapman.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Dons Pardner surveys the landscape looking for help. John clocked
down to fire.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
He's gonna go for the way.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Shout us Undy Farkery, you are fantastic.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Rob gets the windown at the free pro line into
the corner to Silva. Good luck for three, Got it
go Rook casting in.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
This is your daily destination for all the latest on
the Orlando Matchiat.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Mat Carrol Centerton spin moved to the rack, He's fouled,
got it up and end Watase.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
He'll climb the ladder and have it through.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
They can't stop.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
The Georgia 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 Marcitelli and Jake Chapman and.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Welcome every one of his Magic Insiders presented by International
Diamond Center. Dante Marcitelli, Jake Chapman, doing with you and
it is finally here. Opening night for the Orlando Magic.
The NBA started last night a couple of games. The
Houston Rockets fall to the Oklahoma City Thunder and the
Golden State Warriors defeat the Los Angeles Lakers. That was
the action last night. We'll get into all that. We'll
(01:13):
preview tonight's contest. Who's back maybe in the starting lineup
for the Orlando Magic. We'll have that for you as well.
We've got the broadcast for you at six thirty, so
coming your way in about thirty minutes right here on
ninety six to nine in the game, our first game
of the season, opening night. Jake Chapman will have the call,
and then we will have it for you at six
thirty on FanDuel Sports Network as well as soon as
(01:34):
I finished this show, I'm gonna hoof it over there
and get ready for the pregame show. But Jake, I
think before we get started, you know, we got some
changes here to the radio broadcast, to the crew. So
why don't you kind of run down your crew, the
people that you work with on a nightly basis, and
introduce the radio broadcast team for all games on ninety
six to nine in the game and throughout the network
(01:55):
right here in Orlando.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yeah, good call. The first of all, big shout out
to Time or Karen. What three seasons it was. It
was Tyler and I kind of rowing rowing upstream.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
You guys built this thing. You guys got this thing
launched and off the ground, no question about it. Tyler, well,
I'll go back so much of it that he thought
so much of it that he changed industries entirely.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
That.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
He made the leap that we all have thought about
it exactly we've all come with. Was Tyler nothing but
the best. He was an absolute godsend for me, certainly
over the last couple of seasons. So Sweet Tea is out.
In is some combination of Kyle Cassandra and Jaden Grimes,
both very familiar names over at iHeart Orlando and on
(02:44):
ninety six nine in the game. They will be producing
our broadcast with the help of Christy Birdsall, who many
are very familiar with already the job she's done with
our social media stuff. She's been absolutely awesome our graduate
associated for this year. So you're still gonna have Brandon
Kravitz in pre and post for All eighty two. He'll
be on in halftime as well producer role. Again. I
(03:06):
like to call him our director of quality control, Kyle
Cassandra because he knows all the ins and outs and
he's been, He's been absolutely invaluable over the course of
the last year. Jayden Grimes is gonna work in We're
gonna train him over the course of this weekend. We'll
get him in the mix. So very excited about the
team we have this year. And then, as we mentioned,
I'm gonna be out on the road, so yes, yeah,
(03:26):
I got to kind of let my baby go. It's all.
It's a whole lot had to do that. Hard to
do that, and it's very difficult to do. But I
will be I'll be in some arena and they'll be
running the show back and I heard control. So very
excited for this season. Very excited to hit the road
as well.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Well. You mentioned it was you and Tyler when we
started this thing, and now you that's at least four
or five names, so we have at least grown this
thing a little bit.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
We've added to it a little bit.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
And again all of those you know, all of those
people you mentioned play some part of a role as
well throughout the year on this show Magic Insiders as well,
and we're grateful to all the folks will in ninety
six to nine for all their assistance throughout the year.
But we got magic basketball opening night, and you know, Jake,
this is season twenty eight for me, which is crazy,
which is crazy to think about that, but you still,
(04:11):
you know, you heard some of the guys saying it today.
You heard the coach saying it. I know what and
what what season opener would this be for you? With
all your different teams and stop right.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
This would be this would be number sixteen if you
include Detroit, and seventeen if you include my intern year.
So absolutely we do. You have you have years.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
You have started seventeen seasons and the NBA is starting
season eighty. So that is almost a quarter of the
NBA seasons right in history that you have worked. Right,
It's crazy when.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
You think about Okay, think it like what I need
a minute. You think about it like that exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
But when you think back to you know, it doesn't
matter if it's your intern year, it doesn't matter what
stop you were on, Cleveland, Detroit, Orlando, whatever it may be.
There's something special about opening night and we're gonna see it.
All the white T shirts are on the seats. It's
a white out in Orlando. You got the new uniforms,
we got the new scoreboard, we got the new locker room.
Fans are pumped. We had nineteen thousand for a preseason
game against these very same heat. There is nothing like
(05:10):
opening night.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Jake Chapman, Well, first off, Happy New Year to you. Dante, Well,
there you go.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Amen to you.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Happy New Year to you as well.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
There.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
It's funny because I asked Jamal Mosley the exact same thing.
I said, this is number five for you. But they
don't get old, do they? He said, it feels just
like it did in twenty twenty one. Yeah, And I said,
if you could go back and tell that guy something,
what would you say? And he said the same thing
I told myself this morning. Enjoy it. To keep pouring
into your players. You know, it'd be appreciative of the
opportunity that you have. All the stuff that we love
(05:40):
to hear from Jamal Moseley and just he's Assault of
the Earth guy, and then he's also one of the
best head coaches on planet Earth. It is, man, It's just,
you know, I think there's something we You and I
are both big or at least at one point in
our lives, we were big baseball fans Opening Day in
the springtime upnor Bring just something special about all thirty teams.
(06:03):
I guess twenty six now, you know, with a clean
slate and thinking they have a chance in the NBA.
We talked about this the other week. The NBA is
in such a great place as far as parody goes.
There's about twenty twenty two teams that probably legitimately think
they have a shot this season, which is a really
great place for the league to be. And certainly the
expectations we have for the team around town right now. Boy,
(06:24):
we you know, the last couple of weeks, it's been like,
let's just get to Opening Night. We were ready to go.
We've been chomping at the bit.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
So it is.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
It's special. Always you put on a great show. There's
the nerves, there's all the fun getting the season going.
But certainly this year's season thirty seven of magic basketball,
with the core that we have, the people that we
have in place, and some lofty expectations, I'm ready to
get started.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Well, I want to throw this at you and again
more not to bury the lead. But we do find
out today at practice that Jalen Suggs is available. Jalen
Suggs will be available here tonight. So that's huge when
we're talking basketball the game tonight, x's and o's, and
we'll break that all down for you. In the next segment,
you'll hear from Jalen himself get you his thoughts on
what excites him about Opening Night and being back and
getting around the guys again. So we'll hear from Jalen
(07:10):
Suggs in the next segment here for I want to
get a thought on on Polo Banco before we go
to break as well. But what just one more thing
to kind of tie up Opening Night in the start
of the season. Fans feel it. It feels different to
fans around town this year. This buzz, the electricity about
this Orlando Magic team feels different to these fans, feels
different to us Jake. This year feels different to the players.
(07:34):
If you walk around that building, the staff, the players,
everybody that has a touch point with this Orlando Magic team.
You know. Coach Mosley even said this morning, the magic
is a vibe right now right there there. There is
a there is a different feeling about what this team
can accomplish this year. It's a maturity there. There's there
seems to be you know, not not that they weren't
(07:55):
mature before, but there seems to be an understanding of
what this team is expected to do and what they
want to set out to do when that journey starts tonight.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Yeah, and there's and here's something else to you And
this goes coincides with Jalen. We're healthy, man, I mean
both boxers on on the men and coming back. But
there's no nagging injuries at the start of the season.
There's no sort of question marks. I think you have
an idea of who's going to be in the rotation.
There's maybe some minutes in playing time up for grabs,
especially early in the season when you were trying to
(08:25):
keep guys fresh, but it does it feels like there's
just not you know. And the Jalen thing was we
were a little bit just okay, will it be opening
night or will it be a little bit past how's
it feeling. He hadn't been practicing necessarily, boy, And you
know you said you buried the lead. I think that
you know, that was the lead yesterday, getting knowing that
Jalen was that close to being a good back, good
point we started the week. I just didn't know necessarily
(08:46):
what to expect because as we keep saying you wanted
to make sure that Jalen felt one hundred percent confident
he clearly does. Yes, there will be a minutes restriction,
but you gonna have your starting lineup in place tonight
that you expected it to be when you made the
trade for Desmond Bay and and.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Started that played How many games together last year was?
Speaker 3 (09:05):
Yeah, the three The three guys played three guys seven
minutes combined last year together over the course of the season.
You know, you and I, You and I have played
more than ninety seven minutes combined. And innermurals, I think.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
It's it just it.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
I think there's there's obviously expectations, and some of it
has to go with with the what the maybe lack
of delivering on expectations last season. A year ago, we
were all gung ho and we were excited and injuries
sort of sidetracked that, And then I think maybe we
were a year early. You got a core in place,
There are guys that were proud to be wearing a
(09:43):
magic uniform. You have a head coach entering year five. Now, Yes, yes,
there's just not every other team has question marks, and
it feels like we know who we are. We have
an identity. We have a young core in place that
we're expecting to grow together. Things are sort of lining
up for us to be able to make a deep
run this year. Again, you got to go out and
you got to take care of business. But that was
(10:05):
sort of the last box to check was what's where
is Jalen right now?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Correct?
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Correct? As we've wrapped up the preseason, and boy, I
think knowing that he is in a good place puts
us all in a much better place.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Wouldn't it be nice to go through the entire year
and not be asking guys, how it feels to be back?
Speaker 3 (10:22):
How close are we are? You limited?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Will there be a minutes restriction tonight?
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Coach?
Speaker 2 (10:26):
What can we expect from this player?
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Can we do back to backs? Can we do?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
How's the hamstring?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
You know? All the wouldn't it be writers are gonna
need some new material.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Get toed some we're all gonna need some new The
players themselves and they got to be tied up. Now
it's the story and you've got to answer the questions. Uh,
and you got to ask the questions. But wouldn't it
be nice team to do a year to not have
to deal with that and hopefully this is the year.
Hopefully we're just talking about everybody's healthy, everybody's playing a role,
and how good can the magic be? Can they come
(10:53):
out of the east. I want to get your thoughts
on this, Jake. We you know, we we have a
service here, this sport Radar service that helps us with
nuggets from time time. But you know, as we all
do our research and get ready, and we know how
special Polo ban Cao is and how special Franz Boagner is,
but this note jumped out at me and it's unbelievable.
Polo ban Caro is going to begin season four. Right
through his first three years, ban Carrow has joined just
(11:16):
four other players all time to amass four thousand points,
thirteen hundred rebounds, nine hundred assists, and one hundred blocks. Right,
so that's through your first three years. Four thousand points,
thirteen hundred rebounds, nine hundred assists, one hundred blocks. You
want to know who his names are? Brad Dougherty. Brad
(11:37):
Doherty was one of them, Grant Hill, Larry Bird, Lebron, James,
Polo Banko. The flora is yours, The flora is yours, Jake.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Jack Well, first off, you know where I'm going. First
and foremost, big shout out to Brad Doherty. Grew up
watching him. Absolutely, two caves on that list. You didn't
see that coming, right, Two calves on that list, A
Piston and two magic men because we claimed Grant as well.
D I mean, look, there's you know, sometimes your eyes
roll back in your head when you start to hear
(12:08):
those you know, the the four thousand, nine hundreds and
one hundreds. But that is a pretty clear indication of
a complete basketball player, one who has not needed to
kind of ease his way in. Like remember the first
basketball game Paulo Ben Carrol played in the NBA when
he jumped over Corey Joseph. Yes, yes, I do, Yes,
I do remember. Okay, here we go.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
We got the guy about Game five last year when
he had fifty, right, this guy.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Five and don't ask me what happened in game six.
That's he, dude, he is. He's so special and like,
I think, the thing that I like most about him
is I look around and bloy, there's so much good
young talent in the league. But man, I don't know
if any of the under twenty fives are as much
of a quote unquote killer as our guy is, because
this dude is just all business. I mean, he just
(12:56):
it doesn't nothing matters to him other than winning the
basket game. And you know, it's sort of hurting your
feelings a little bit in the process. He's just a dog,
and I can't wait to see what this year looks
like for him. Knock on wood. If the guy's healthy,
I think we're gonna see, you know, perhaps perhaps hikes
from an individual player that this franchise has never seen before.
(13:18):
And there's some pretty good names on that list as well,
well rounded.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
When you talk about everything that he can do in
all capacity him, he's already done that.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
We've always had bigs. It's always been biggs. Yeah, we're
talking about the best players in our franchise's history, with
the exception maybe a Penny Hardaway and t mac Okay,
maybe they aren't always bigs, but anytime we're talking about
these lists, right, it's Shack and Dwight and Paula. Vaccaro
is a complete basketball player that makes a big difference.
Oh and I love that.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
We can't wait to see it. He was business like
this morning as well, like this guy understands the mission.
At just twenty two years old at his fourth NBA season.
What's at stake, what's expected of him, the kind of
the scrutiny that comes with being one of the teams
to expect it to compete for a championship.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
All that is new.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
This is all on chartered territory for polo in the
Orlando Magic for the last fifteen years. And these guys
are going to have to deal with that, and I
know they'll be ready. Certainly starts with the head coach
and he will have them ready, There's no question about it.
Magic Fans catch every moment of the Orlanto Magic on
FanDuel Sports Network for the twenty five to twenty six season.
Get two Magic tickets when you sign up for a
FanDuel Sports Network season pass. Watch every game from the
(14:22):
comfort of your couch, plus get the thrills of the
in arena action at a game this fall. You can
subscribe now at Orlantamagic dot com, slash FanDuel Sports Network
and use the code Magic fan at checkout. That's one
word magic fan. We've got more Magic insiders, including some
sound from Jalen Suggs. We'll hear from him when we return.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
In a moment, Hey Hey, this is Jalen Suggs of
the Orlando Magic and you're listening to Magic Insiders with
my guys Dante and Jake.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Hey, great to have you with us.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Everyone back on Magic Insiders, presented by International Diamond Center
of Dante Marcateelli, joined by Jake Chapman, who will have
the call right here on this station. We tip off
here in about oh forty five minutes or so.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Jake will have the call.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Brandon Kravitz La, have your pregame show all season along
right here on ninety six to nine in the game
and we'll get you started on the television side at
six point thirty on FanDuel Sports Network. Right now, let's
get to our call the game. It's brought you by
Glip from ring Central. We think the way you work
with secure meetings and messaging on any device with Glip
by RingCentral.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Visit glip dot com to learn more. We have waited,
We have waited a long time for this.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
You got to go all the way back to the
middle of January, the last time Jalen Suggs played an
NBA game. He is available tonight. Let's hear from the
Magic Guard on his return.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
Jalen, you put in so much work to make this
a reality, and how awarning is it to be available
on opening night? Yeah, very awarding. I don't think I've
sat with it too much yet. I've really just been
excited to get to seven o'clock. But just going through
shoot around this morning, watching the him intently, knowing that
I'm going to use these things tonight to come out,
(15:56):
you know, and put him in action, and it feels great. Honestly,
I'm sure in my reflection I'll feel some emotion, you know,
both happy and emotional. But I mean, this is just
such a special moment, you know, not only for me,
but everyone who's pouring like this was not just my journey,
you know, it's from Ryan back up in Chicago to
Lorel here doing all the sold body, to everyone on
(16:17):
the medical staff at Arnie Samil. It's been a full
group effort getting here. So I hope everybody gets to enjoy,
you know, that celebration, and you know, I get to
help put out the good product tonight. What are your
expectations for tonight for your for yourself and your team
for playing minutes lines? Just what do you what do
you see going on tonight, could just continue applying to
things that I've tried to build up both this summer.
(16:37):
You know that's good strength, good confidence, good trust in
my intuition, you know, over trying to overthink plays and
and whatnot. You know, really building up you know what,
I feel like my instincts are, you know, hanmering those
homes so that I can just go out and be
And that's all I want to do tonight, have fun,
enjoy Opening Night in Orlando, special time. I haven't had
one in a in a couple of years, So very
excited to start the year off here on a couple
(16:58):
of games and uh yeah, really get to build some
real momentum going in. It's a first road trip in
the beginning of the season. So I'm just excited to
step put on the course of the end that.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Day you start trying to profit and Open Night do
come back whole lot of I feel like that.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Either to be able to play tonight. Sorry, I wanted
to be ready when I started camp, so, you know,
just knowing that and accepting you know that that wasn't
the reality of the situation, and there was more time
to be patient. You know, It's a bit challenging, but
him coming out and saying that, I think also gave
me a bit more confident to get everybody on our
staff a bit more confidence to you know, this is
(17:37):
a target that that we can realistically hit. And like
I said, every day we've been hammered at home, you know,
whether it's in here and physically going through things, weight room,
on court on off days, no true off days, because
it's been a ton of body work and getting everything
else around the knee and the knee right. So really
just such a long process, but I think it's came
(17:57):
at the right time, you know, be able to start
the year off, no matter how it looks, no matter
how long it is, just to be able to be
on the floor with the guys to start to build
up that repertoire, you know, that gel, that chemistry in
real time, you know, rather than just sitting and watching.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
You know, it's gonna be really big time. So like
I said, I'm just excited to put the jersey on,
run out there for warm ups, just be ce see
what the night holds.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
You hear from Jalen Suggs right there, and a lot
of excitement, a lot of emotions, but even him, he's
trying to keep him in check. He did let his
guard down a little bit and say, you know, I'm
still gonna be fired up. There's gonna be some emotions,
but I love what he said. You know, not gonna
go a million miles in an hour. Here, We're gonna
harness this thing a little bit. We're gonna show some emotion,
but it's it's not gonna be chaos. It's not gonna
be out of control.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Jalen.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Jalen's grown up a little bit like everybody else and
understands that the best term for the best chance for
longevity is to kind of is how he approaches this thing.
Doesn't mean he's not gonna play hard, doesn't mean he's
not gonna wear his heart on his sleeve. He's still
gonna give you everything he's got every minute out there.
But I like his approach coming into coming into his
first game back and coming into the season.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Yeah, I mean three of his first four seasons have
been hampered by injuries. I think you can say that realistically,
so there does probably need to be a little alteration
of the way he plays. And like you said, but
you don't want to lose what makes him special, and
I and I think he'll be fine. I think the
part of that is just aging naturally, right, Like as
you get older and they start hurting more, you figure
(19:21):
out better ways to stop that from happening. He's got
a new haircut. I think that that. I don't know
if that matters at all, but anytime somebody comes in
with a fresh do you always take note? For sure?
Rich says, look good, play good. I expect Jalen's new
found approach to last about twelve minutes of game time,
(19:44):
and then he's going to go all out opening nights too.
I mean that's good. Miami across the way, the place
is going to be electric. No, I know, I do think.
I think there are there are certain ways to be smarter.
We talked about it a little bit yesterday. I think
back to guys like Dwayne Wade and Derek Rowe, and
some of that's just sort of and again, those guys
were attacking the basket, but they always were landing on
(20:05):
their back and on their head and on their shoulders.
And you know, maybe not a great example because Derek
Rowse's career was sidetracked due to injuries. But I think
there's there's only so much you can change your DNA,
and so I think, Jalen, yeah, maybe you want to
be a little bit smarter about hurling your body all
over the place. But but you know, stick to what
makes Jalen sug special and that is that's that's the defense,
(20:28):
that's the hitting the deck for loose balls, that is
that is playing with an emotional uh kind of charge
that you just don't get from any players across the league.
And then tonight Opening Night, in his first game since January,
in front of the Kia Center crowd, Yeah, he's gonna
have to scale it way back tonight if if he
wants to stay true to his word. There's just gonna
(20:50):
be a lot of energy in the building.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Yeah, everybody's gonna have to scale it back. Everybody's gonna
have the butterflies going. You got to go back to
January twenty fifth, his last game will win against Detroit
here on this floor, two hundred and seventy days Jake
two to seven zero since Jalen Suggs last took the
floor in an NBA game. He looks good in practice,
he looks good and shoot around and he'll be ready
to go, we'll find out. We imagine I'd be part
of that starting line up here tonight for Jamal Moseley
(21:14):
and the Orlando Magic. We're gonna have the game, the
Magic in the Miami Heat. It's Opening Night comes your
way next right here on ninety six to nine, the game.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
I have a great night, everybody,
Hosts And Creators
Dante Marchitelli
Jake Chapman
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