Orlando Magic aren’t sneaking up on anyone in 2025

Orlando Magic aren’t sneaking up on anyone in 2025

the Orlando Magic aren’t sneaking up on anyone anymore how that changes how we approach the season and what to expect from the season plus can the magic really find success Beyond results I’ll pause that question and probably answer it the way you think I’m going to we’ll get to that plus fron Vagner prepping for the Olympics on today’s lock on Magic you are locked on Magic your daily Orlando Magic podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and you are indeed locked on Magic today is July 15th and will be July 16th 2024 my name is Philip Rossman I come the senior writer over at orlandomagic daily.com you of course find me on Twitter at Philip romd on today’s episode of lockon Magic the Orlando Magic no they aren’t sneaking up on anyone anymore the challenge that that brings to the magic we’ll talk about what Jamal Mosley uh said on that to our friend Mike Mike Scot of hoop site plus can we measure success Beyond results how the Magic’s two paths here may make it hard to assess the season we’re going to get into some we’re going to get into some of those thoughts these are kind of big thinking questions here uh in just a moment but first we want to thank you again for making lock on Magic part of your day every day no matter when you listen to us whether it’s first thing in the morning whether it’s right when we upload we truly appreciate you making lock on Magic part of your day every day remember there’s great lock on podcasts covering every single team in the NBA to search for locked on and the team you’re looking for the lockon podcast Network it’s your team every day today’s episode of lockdown magic is brought to you by FanDuel every moment more as the playoffs have come to a close as summer league draws to near an end as we get past the quietest part in the sports calendar with the MLB All-Star Game the Sports Stop sports sportsing but this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long visit fanduel.com to get started today do L Magic won 47 games last year they were the five seed on the final Sunday of the Season before the final before game 82 they were sitting pretty in the two seed life was really good for the Orlando Magic last year and I I don’t ever want to take away what the magic accomplished and the stage that they set in the 2024 season um I know we’re all eager to get to the next phase and we’re going to talk a little bit about that in our second segment but never forget how special the 2024 season was because there is frankly nothing more fun than a team figuring out how to win for the first time a team that has been together for however long they’ve been together have gone through losses and rough Seasons to grow together and finally experience success those seasons are awesome 1994 let’s go heart and hustle 20 the 2000 season 2001 as well uh 2007 2008 we’ll give 2008 when they won the division for the first time 2019 I’ll give you 2019 on that as well the season where you first put those pieces together and win it’s just a blast because you’re just happy to have that success you’re there’s no expectations so the expectations are probably at a low enough level that you’ve surpassed the expectations you just feel everything else is gravy that everything else is just added bonus to to what you’re hoping the team would become it’s just fun but that time gives way to pressure there is always pressure in the NBA because if you’re not moving forward you’re going backward that’s the reality of the league um you’ve got to find a way to keep getting better to keep building on success and nothing nothing is more stressful than trying to build on success to say I am not satisfied with this good feeling I have I need a little bit more it’s a little bit greedy and you got to be greedy to get the big gold trophy the one that we all want to get the big gold trophy you got to be greedy you got to hurt you got to go through some pain and you got to keep wanting to be better so the magic had their honeymoon season last year that honeymoon is over we’re done with it because not only did the magic make it to the playoffs not only did they make it to the postseason get to a game seven do all the things that have us so excited for this team’s future and what’s coming down the pike not only did the magic do all of those things but now they got to do it again they’re not catching anyone by surprise anymore and that is if you’re the skeptic and yes there are Skeptics about this magic team that was the argument that ke I kept getting is oh the magic beat this team because they thought it’s just the magic and yeah the national media still talks about the magic that way too because we had had a decade of being awful everyone’s still getting used to the idea that you come to the Kia center it’s going to be a rough night for you magic had the third best home record in the Eastern Conference last year everyone starting to figure out oh this magic team’s pretty good and that’s going to be one of the biggest challenges for the 2025 season because yes I think this magic team is better adding cavius calwell Pope makes this team better he is a better player than Gary Harris and the magic kept Gary Harris on top of that I do believe this magic team is better but copying last year’s results is still going to be incredibly tough let alone trying to build on it trying to improve on it trying to be better it’s going to be a humongous Challenge and the magic are entering this off seon knowing that knowing that it what they’re to go through in the 2025 season is going to be completely different than what they went through in 2024 the magic will get some national TV games knocking vigorously on wood probably four or five that that’s all that’s all we’re really asking for they’re going to be in the spotlight I am looking at the Futures on our friends from FanDuel which we’ll read that ad add in a little bit the magic are fourth or fifth in the odds to win the Eastern Conference they are the betting favorites to win the Southeast Division the magic got a big write up in the ringer saying they want they quietly won the off season and are building a team that is capable of challenging for the Eastern Conference Finals maybe as early as this year and I’m not here to douse those Flames I think it’s possible I think anything is possible this team is good enough and they’re are going to be they’re going to be as good as their individual players grow but they’re good enough to compete with the bucks with the Sixers with the Cavs with the Knicks with the Pacers in a very tight Eastern Conference the magic are good enough to compete but now everybody knows they’re coming Jamal Mosley spoke to Michael Scot of Hoops hype and said quote you’re no longer going to sneak up on anyone you embrace the expectations of people knowing you’re going to be better and that you have the experience of not just the regular season but also the playoffs you embrace the expectations you Embrace what’s coming but you know you have to tighten up everything a little bit more you’ve got to be able to dive into the details you’ve got to focus on the little things in the game which is what the game of basketball is you continue to work hard continue to focus on the details and push each other end quote this is the ultimate lesson now for a young team they got to do it again and it is not simply oh we show up and we’re this good again it takes even harder work to not only maintain your place in this very crowded Eastern Conference but to advance further and this isn’t a time to relax because now everybody knows just how good you can be the curse of playing so well last year and getting to a game seven is now those teams aren’t going to take you lightly now those teams like the Hornets did that April evening are looking at you as a game they want to get you are no longer just the hunter you are the hunted when you roll into an arena there’s a buzz in the building and look these are humans National TV games get bigger Buzz playing against teams that are contending for titles get bigger buzz it is a different mindset a different approach a different Focus you need to have when you’re EXP expected to win every game and let’s make this 100% clear the magic are not going to go like 72 and 10 or anything like that but there’s probably only four or five teams in the entire NBA that equal rest Advantage you don’t you don’t you expect the magic to beat every team except for maybe four or five teams and frankly Denver’s probably one of them and the magic swept Denver last year you’re probably only looking really at Boston honestly Boston OKC magic beat Minnesota last year there aren’t many teams that the magic should feel like they have no chance against they should feel they are capable of beating every team in the league and that is a different mindset than what we’ve seen from this team recently it is and we got a long way to go before the 2025 season so I don’t want to we will repeat this message it is a brand new era and a brand new ball game for this Orlando Magic team they’re not sneaking up on anyone anymore they are the favorites and they are expected to do things so then how do we measure success is it simply about results or is there something more we’re going to ponder these questions we’re not going to make conclusions and yes I will say winning matters but we’re going to ponder some of these questions about whether the match can find success Beyond results coming up here in just a moment but first today’s episode of lock on Magic is brought to you by our friends over at eBay Motors passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to make maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED 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name and it’s stressful like even if they weren’t shouting at each other just knowing that a shouting match or some ridiculous point is around the corner it’s stressful when you want to know what’s going on in the World of Sports you want to hear from the local experts who know their team best and that’s what the locked on podcast Network brings you and that’s what locked on sports today is it brings you the can’t miss analysis opinions and news streaming 247 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app that’s all part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day I want to preface this next conversation by saying we are in a results business the Orlando Magic are in the results business and the expectation externally at least it’s not only to return to the playoffs it’s to get to the second round if you are up 18 in the first half of a game seven the next logical place for you to grow for a clear sign that you are now better than you were last year is to make the second round this is this is how we’re going to measure this team and and you know youve probably heard me say this where I’ll say a season is not a failure if x happens but it’s not a success unless X happens I’m gonna kind of set those parameters today the season cannot be a success unless the or line no magic are in the second round of the playoffs hold me to that freezing coold take me do what do whatever you got to do clip this part of the episode we don’t have our AI software up and running yet um the 2025 season for the Orlando Magic is not a success unless they’re playing the second round of the playoffs unless they get out of the first round and are one of the final four teams in the Eastern Conference maybe there’ll be qualifiers we do have to get through a season and and see how things shake out and everything deserves context but sitting here in mid July that’s how I feel sitting here in mid July I I will say unequivocally if the team is getting better they are advancing further in the playoffs but I do think it is important to remember what Jeff welman has said um and and and I like I’ve said a million times my Approach I’ll let them set the guard rails of like okay this is how they’re viewing the team let me talk about them in their language let me speak you know the GM’s giving me GM GM speak let me speak their language Jeff hman has said that the magic are in this very tricky position and it guided them this off season so clearly this is something that matters yes the magic want to win they want to compete they are a playoff team there is nobody in their right mind that is say saying the Orlando Magic are not a playoff team in 2025 every prediction you go buy the magazines we do our when we do our lock on podcast it will be the second year in the history of the lock on the third year in the history of doing lockon that I am not in the tanking group it will be the the the I I don’t even know what group they will put me in for the ultimate NBA preview I’m very excited to be in a new group and to say hey everybody I’m Phillip the magic are good again yay um the magic are on that level they are a playoff team bar not and the season is an absolute failure if they are not in the playoffs let’s let’s set that guard rail pretty clearly too um but Jeff Wiman also said this season is still about development at the end of the day this is still a development project Paulo banero is 21 fron vogner’s 22 23 years old wend Carter’s still 25 years old somehow um Jaylen Suggs is 22 like there are so many young players on this team that a very clear goal for the magic was to allow those young players to continue developing to continue growing to give them the space in the cushion to keep growing and keep building that is something important to consider too as we begin to formulate and think about what the goals for the season are and H perhaps how do we define success this is all really important stuff to think about how do we define success for this team and obviously results matter again I’m not going to S you pretend otherwise but it does feel like the magic are reaching for something more and there has to be this realization too the Eastern Conference is significantly better and we saw last year that the magic entered game 82 where if they won they were the five seed and they lost they were the eight seed there’s maybe some more complications and ways they have climbed a little bit higher but at the end of the day if the magic won that game they were the five seat if they would have lost that game to the Bucks they would have been the eight that’s how this season’s going to be too I imagine spots two through seven and perhaps two through eight I still have decided if the Miami Heat are going to be good I don’t think Miami Heat have decided if they’re gonna be good yet um but spots two through seven are going to be separated by two three games probably maybe it game 82 is going to matter again and personally you know yes results matter you end up where you end up but personally for me I I don’t like judging an entire season based off of one game based off of oh everybody was sick in January when the magic had to go to Sacramento or go to Atlanta for instance oh there was this schedule loss that there was nothing anyone could do about and every team has those I don’t want to judge a team solely by that one game but obviously you got to be able to perform under pressure too and one of the big lessons the magic told us uh during exit interviews is the biggest thing they learned this year is that every game truly matters that losing those games in January when everybody was sick ultimately cost them homec court advantage and in a series where the road where the home team won every game that would have meant something and quite frankly I think Orlando was a little bull rushed in those two first two games in Cleveland I think they might beat Cleveland in five or six games if they would have had game one and two at the Kia Center that’s me I don’t know but the fact of the matter is this is a very competitive Eastern Conference and I think while results matter and and and obviously we’re going to worry about wins and losses throughout the season I don’t know if we can measure progress or success necessarily by the team’s record the magic are a better team now than they were in May but getting to 47 wins again could be very tough getting the 47 wins and the five seed may not happen either it’s going to be little things that’ll be the difference between that five and that six seed that’s the truth of this that’s the truth of how competitive this league has become and this conference has become and so I got criticized for this but this is what I mean for saying this I believe the magic can be a better team but with a worse record than they had last year and even with a worse seating than they had last year because those margins are so narrow and so I think results are important and the magic have to be competitive in whatever playoff series and frankly thinking and speaking in hypotheticals like this is not going to help anybody we’re going to need the context of the season to evaluate everything um like I said I have my guard rails missing the Playoffs is failure success is getting to the second round there’s a lot of wiggle room in between in between those those two things to to to help us decide okay what did what did we learn what did we see in the 2025 season but I want to prepare you guys prepare you my audience to seek success Beyond results to say this got better this positioned the magic better for the future they did this better than they did last year it just so happened that 48 wins was the six seed this year or 47 wins was a the six seed this year or oh they dropped this game that they may won last year won a few more games that they should have won one area of the magic do have to get better at is beating good teams they beat plenty of good teams but they were among the worst teams that made the playoffs in Eastern Conference on that on that Mark there’s a lot of things that we’re going to have to consider to judge success and un frankly results will just be a shorthand for that US basketball snuck by Australia not a lot of Joe Engles in that game not that we care anymore love you Joe love you Grandpa Joe how France Vagner is performing for Germany and why fans are a little bit concerned yes we’ve been following we’ll get to that coming up here in just a moment but first today’s episode of lock on Magic is brought to you by our friends over at FanDuel like I said earlier this is the Dead part of the season for sports it’s the MLB All-Star game so there’s no baseball going on the WNBA is coming to the end coming to the end of its regular season and taking a break for the Olympics I believe T I believe today is the or tomorrow is the last game I know the aces play their last game before the Olympic break tomorrow on Tuesday um we’re the soccer stuff is the soccer tournaments are over we got MLS and nwsl go Pride but Sports is kind of stopping right now but at FanDuel it let they let you keep the sports going and stay interested in what’s going on whenever you want all you have to do is open the app and dream up bets anytime you’re in the mood and this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone all summer long I checked out some of the odds on FanDuel today a lot of good interesting magic stuff going on um obviously we do have they do have summer League spreads which if you’re a sicko you should you should do that but more than that the Orlando the Orlando Magic are actually the favorites to win summer league I check that out they them in the Houston Rockets currently the betting favorites to win summer league if you’re looking to bet Futures the Orlando Magic currently fourth in the odds at plus 2,000 Celtics Sixers Nicks and Bucks heavy favorites to win the Eastern Conference but the magic are right there are you know they’re not right there but plus 2,000 that’s the best of the rest of them that’s something and of course the magic favored to win the Southeast Division at minus 140 over the Miami Heat at plus 125 the odds for Atlanta Charlotte and Washington are hilarious Washington’s plus 30,000 so that’s that’s a that’s a that’s that’s a bet if you want to make it so head on over to fanduel.com and start making the most out of your summer today FanDuel is an official sports betting partner of Major League baseball so we’re in the runup to the Olympics we’re now a week and a half away from the Olympics the Olympics tip off or start they don’t tip off opening ceremonies are July 26 that is the same day as thatp and Wolverine so play your things accordingly you can actually I think see the opening ceremonies at the at Select theaters which is fun I don’t know if they’re doing it live or doing the replay um I will be watching the replay with my family cuz we love the Olympics um and opening cmon is going to be really really cool um but the Olympics are coming uh and Team USA had a rough go against Australia they look very much like a team that’s played two games together and have had about a week of practice together um a rough game a lot of turnovers um a lot of settling for jumpers just not very engaged after they took a big lead in the first half so frankly typical Team USA stuff I am if you’ve listened to me talk about the Team USA program I am not a fan of how they run Team USA I am not a fan of trying to smash a team to kind of slap a team together at the last minute I know it’s been successful I know it works but God it’s it it it’s rough at times I’d rather to see them develop a team that grows together over time with players who are committed maybe you have a a little bit larger pool to give guys some Summers off here and there but you know France vager goes every summer to play for Germany I I don’t see really why Team USA can’t get that kind of commitment from their players other than no one wants to give up their Summers unless it’s for a nice location like Paris or Los Angeles in four years that’s either here nor there we as Orlando Magic fans will be watching Team Germany very very closely obviously France and moger playing for the defending World Cup champions as they look to medal at the Paris Olympics and like Team USA Germany has started to get its prep work done they open with they opened uh they played a game against the Netherlands over the weekend they open with a game against I believe Serbia in in their first in their first game um and and OB or against France sorry they they opened a gate with a game against France um over the week over theuh over the weekend um Germany’s looking good like they they know what they’re doing uh France they played they played a double header against France France and mo sat out the first games to sign their contracts played the second game both did their thing like that it’s like the stat lines are are pretty solid you know nothing crazy here um nothing crazy here sorry I’m just reading a w AO tweet that is not important right now um they’re doing things that we expect them to do but obviously a lot of magic fans are really focused on his three-point shooting um look fron against France without Victor wama mind you fron vager had 17 points in like 21 minutes like he’s still capable of scoring at a very high level and he gets downhill works his way to the basket finishes around around the paint hit some mid-range jumpers very typical fron Vagner type stuff um stuff that we are very used to seeing fron Vagner be successful at and and why he’s you know such a really interesting player because he will get to the basket whenever he wants that is the fun part of fron Vagner uh but that is not what we’re here to see um he kind of took it easy against the Netherlands I never saw a full stat line against the Netherlands the other day but the Netherlands are not an interesting team they’re not really a competitive team we will see Germany play the US in London uh uh over the weekend I believe let me double check when that game is excuse me uh on Monday yeah on Monday we will see Germany play the us so we will get we will get to see fron Vagner in a marquee game here right before the Olympics begin that’s the last warmup before the Olympics but of note FR Vagner is 0 for seven on threes in the first two exhibition games he went 0 for two against France so not settling 0 for five against the Netherlands uh people who watched the game told me that there’s a lot of Step backs not a lot of spot up threes so not you know nothing crazy nothing to be worried about but it is the continuing trend of this is the thing the magic need France voger to be good at to a worth the contract that they’re paying in but be to help Elevate them to that second round this is the Improvement they need to see and so far in competitive games we are not seeing that um I would only say this a we’re dealing with very small sample sizes um B we are dealing with friendlies which are in and out you know friendlies are you know you’re working on different things you’re maybe not always as intense as Team USA was against Australia on Monday I’m going to withhold judgment until we get to the Olympics so we get to games that matter and see if you know when you lock in a little bit see if things change um you know I think that I have I have always believed France is going to bounce back with his shooting um you know I was never quite concerned with it he still had a career year did a whole podcast on his a his awesome terrible SE his terrible awesome season um I still believe fron can be a very effective player uh even as a mediocre shooter but he just cannot be a a sub 33 point he’s got to get to at least 33 34% uh to be at least a nominal threat out there um and these games these competitive games are our chance to just get that check up on him now a lot of people would say this is why fron shouldn’t be playing for the national team he’s playing for the national team that you’re signing up for that when you’ve drafted him uh he is a national team player it matters to them it’s a big big deal it should be a big deal for us here in America it’s not because who knows why um this is a big deal he’s going to play I will say this the Olympics end August 10th or 11th um they end in early August typically let’s say season ends in may we had two months between the end of the season and the beginning of summer league and you can see how much work Anthony black put in and his shot to be ready for summer league we will have roughly a month and a half between the Olympics and the start of training camp so whatever fron is struggling with he’ll take you know a week or two off after the Olympics ends so you know that that does cut into the time but he still has time to work on his game and be ready for the regular season to to rest his body especially and be ready for the regular season this isn’t thba where the World Cup ends and you have two weeks before training camp having said that we need to see fron be fron we need to see fron make shots and make shots regularly and have a good shooting summer and it is fair to be concerned that he’s over for seven his first seven three-pointers he’s in the hole already um these games don’t count they’re not meaningful they’re practice games they exhibitions they’re friendlies they’re working on things we know Germany’s going to be competitive we know they’re gonna have a long run in this tournament but we want to see France be France and we know the drives are going to be there we know those shots around the basket going to be there we know that defense is going to be there we got to see the three-point shot develop and that’s been the part that hasn’t quite come to pass yet Germany is back in Action let me just make sure I know when they’re back in Action uh Germany is back in Action uh on Friday afternoon against Japan so we will get to see frons we will get at least be able to see reports of fron playing then they’ll play Team USA on the 22nd on Monday uh and then that is the last game they play before their Olympic opener so we will see them uh in the Olympics at shortly after that but you know we’ll get we’ll get plenty of fronds and we’ll talk plenty about the Olympics as it comes up but but that’s going to do it for me today I want to thank you all again for listening to today’s episode of lock on Manch you find me on Twitter @ Philip rore OMD you can subscribe to the podcast and apple podcast that you’re tuned in him Google Play spoify Odyssey and all the fun place on podcast to your podcast enabled listening advice you can also check us out on YouTube to search for locked on Magic And subscribe to us there as well thank you all for doing that for the latest on the Orlando Magic be sure to check out orlandomagic daily.com you can follow us there on Twitter Atomic daily and for even more Orlando Magic content you can check out my patreon page the Orlando magichub at patreon.com orlandomagic HUB and as always thank you for your support now that you’re done listening to me be sure to check out the lock on sports today 247 streaming Channel on YouTube and now available on Amazon Fire TV in the free Fire TV channels app lockon sportsday is here for you 247 covering covering the top sports stories of the day with the local Experts of locked on plus our National shows covering every League find lockon sports today now available on the free Fire TV channels app well that’s going to do it for me today I want to thank you all again for listening to today’s episode of lockdown magic for Orlando Magic daily and lockdown magic this has been Philip Rosman Reich we’ll see you again next time for another episode of lockon magic for

The Orlando Magic have been one of the “it” teams of the offseason after they grabbed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Certainly, the team is expected to do a whole lot more this season. After that breakthrough to the Playoffs, it seems like nothing short of a second-round trip will be the measure for success.

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