Markelle Fultz returns… but the pressure is on before the trade deadline | Who do the Magic trade?

Markelle Fultz returns… but the pressure is on before the trade deadline | Who do the Magic trade?

Marquel folz is back in the lineup but the questions still remain plus a wendle Carter trade rumor perhaps we’ll get into some of that plus the lock Jam in the Eastern Conference it’s time for locked on Magic you are locked on Magic your daily Orlando Magic podcast part of

The locked on podcast Network work your team every Day hey and you are indeed locked on Magic today is January 9th 2024 my name is Phil Ros Mike I’m the expert in site editor over at Orlando magic.com you if you can’t tell I am still a little bit sick but feeling a lot better you course find me on Twitter Philip

Rrd on today’s episode of lock on Magic we didn’t address it a lot last night but Marquel folz back in the lineup for the orine magic will break down what he showed us in his first game why patience is still the word of the day but why

Time is running out for him to make his Mark and there are lots of concerns we’re going to get to that plus the wend Carter trade rumor coming up in just a moment first we want to thank you again for making lockdown magic part of your

Day every day no matter when you listen to us whether first in the morning where that’s right when we upload we truly appreciate you making locked on Magic part of your day every day remember this great locked on podcast covering every single team in the NBA just search for

Lockon and the team you’re looking for the lockon podcast Network it’s your team every day today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more right now new customers get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 money line bit that’s 150 bucks if your team wins visit

Fanduel.com lockon to to get started today don’t forget you can catch every game of the Orlando Magic’s regular season on the serus XM app you can catch the home radio broadcast with our pal Jake Chapman on the Sirius XM app to search on the sxm app for Orlando Magic

The Magic take on the Timberwolves tonight at 7M at km okay we didn’t really get to it yesterday a lot of things happening a great clutch win for the Orlando Magic yesterday as as they defeated the Atlanta Hawks but a really joyous momentous occasion um I know that there

Are a lot of fan circles and I’m in these and I’m thinking about these things we’re going to discuss some of it here there’s a lot of these fan circles that are always thinking about the next steps and thinking about the Beyond and thinking about the future seeing Marquel folz walk back

Onto the court and get the Ovation that he got from the soldout Kia Center crowd on Sunday was a reminder or should be a reminder that marel is an absolutely beloved figure with this team uh he is a player that that just connects with this fan base and connects with everybody um it’s

He is he is a solid player say what you want about everything else he is a solid solid player um and we’ll get to some of the issues here in a minute but it was everyone was very happy to see Mark on the floor he’s played just one game

Since October 31st has not played since November 9th um it was a long time coming for to be back on the floor and generally except for some big things but generally I thought he played well he had four assist got the ball moving had a steal got downhill did a lot of

Marquel FY things and undoubtedly you know we see what Jaylen Suggs does how he likes to push the pace and get the ball down the court quickly they’re thr on this team that controls the pace of a game quite like Marquel folz um for all his shortcomings for all his

Weaknesses this team needs a point guard and Marquel folz is by far the best point guard on this team and so even in even in the limited minutes we got we only got 15 minutes with him he’s gonna you know he’s not on a minute limit of

About 16 minutes um even in 15 minutes we saw how folz can help this team and and look you can’t expect a player to Dive Right In and yeah you miss that much time to Dive Right In and just look you know this ain’t 2K guys aren’t fully

Healthy just jumping right in it takes some time to get that pace down to get that speed down speed of the game down down pad um you don’t see a lot of guys just come back and maybe that first game looked fine but that first weak a lot of

Ups and downs it’s fine um folz Dale did some good things but undoubtedly everyone also looked to the important thing with marel fols um and unfortunately with Kell as good as he is as much of a leader as he is on this team for as much as he helps

Stabilize this team shooting is a big deal and unfortunately his shot looks rough and obviously with Mar fults there is a lot built into a shot it has been something that has been much discussed you know the thoracic outlet syndrome took away a lot of his kind of explosiv not his

Explosiveness but took away a lot of his range of movement with the shoulder and affected his ability to do some very simple things on the basketball board um he was 0 for two from the floor and 0 for four from the foul line they hitch that everyone obsess over was very

Present and honestly like I would say this he’s always had a little bit of a hitch in his jumper um even in fluid motions it’s always been a little bit of a hitch but he always do win to release the ball that the timing of that release

Just feels off um I remember watching that one play along the Baseline it felt like he released on his way down that that hitch was just too pronounced or mistimed and so maybe he needs to get the timing of it down again maybe that’s the issue so I would say

Yes discouraging on the shooting front because that’s so important for him but give him time give him a little bit of slock um as much as you can um obviously it’s a big deal the magic are shooting better right now but teams still don’t view this as a shooting team

For the whole season the magic have not been a good shooting team as well as they’re shooting right now they’ve not been a good shooting team um so I get it but I think you do got to give fols a little bit of time just a little bit to

Figure it all out now having said that the pressure’s on I know we talked about this last week but I want to reiterate this the pressure is very much on we’re going to talk about the standings at the end of the episode but the winning window for the this magic team is open

The magic do not have the time to I don’t want to say waste that’s too harsh but they should not spend valuable resources and valuable time on players who can’t help them win and look Marquel can help them win and and I so firmly believe Marquel folz has earned the

Right to prove himself in the playoffs he’s never played a full playoff he’s never been healthy for playoffs he’s earned the right to show us what he can do in a playoff situation having said that he’s a free agent this summer having said that I think a lot of us

Have concluded or come Coos to concluding that a non-shooting point guard is not what the magic need and so the cjy could not have happened at a worse time for him because yes there are options on the table a lot of magic fans obsessed with tus Jones I’m obsessed with Malcolm

Brockton a lot of magic fans obsessed with Anthony Simons dejonte Murray could potentially be available in a trade as well we saw him play with the Hawks on Sunday I am not saying the magic are connected to any of these names there’s been some reporting you know saying Ty maybe Ty

Jones you know I’ve seen a couple people say Deon B would be a good fit with the magic like there’s a lot of professional dot connecting going on right now and and and we’ll get to some more dot connecting here in a minute there’s a lot of professional dot connecting going on right

Now but the magic do not have time to waste they do not have the time to sit and wait they’ve got to get their team ready to win they’ll make the playoffs this year and that’s enough but next year it’s gonna be about advancing it’s going

To be how do we make this team better so that we can compete for a championship we’re getting we’re not there yet it’s a journey don’t you know don’t lose sight of the journey for the destination it’s a journey it’s going to be a couple years before we’re seriously competing for a

Title but you got to start building that team now and so Marquel folz is back and that is undoubtedly a good thing he is going to help this team he’s going to make this version of this team better but the pressure is on him to get healthy number one first and foremost get

Healthy and number two show that he can be a part of this thing and obviously he’s just one game don’t overreact to it he needs time to get back into Rhythm but Sunday night was rough for that big picture it was fine for the short term it was fine for the little

Picture of this season and making this team better but it was rough for the long term and unfortunately I have to say this marel folz is back that is great great but he’s still got a long long way to go and so obviously we are talking about

The trade deadline and thinking a little bit about what’s coming up in the next month so let’s chat a little bit about it with the trade rumor that came out about Wendel cter we’ll get to that coming up here in just a moment but first it this podcast is

Sponsored by our friends over at better help look we all need a moment you know jayen Suggs had such a great message after Friday’s game over the Denver Nuggets you know he said you know he you know he’s talked about it all year about how he’s spending he spent a lot of this

Off season getting in touch with himself um getting in making sure his mental health was was in a good place acknowledging that some of the expectations that were heaped upon Him weigh down weigh him down and made it difficult for him to be successful to be

Himself more importantly and so a lot of this summer for him was taking care of himself and and obviously he said this great message on Friday about his mental health making sure his mental health was in such a good spot we may not have media covering our every move we may not

Have people breaking down our every decision but we all put that pressure on ourselves too and sometimes we need an encouraging word we need a different perspective to get ourselves through it and that’s really what therapy does that’s what therapy does for me and I’m

Sure it can do for you if you’ve been if you need therapy or if you feel like you just need someone to talk to better help is a place to go to find that trusted voice if you’re thinking of starting therapy please get better help or try it’s entirely online designed to be

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NBA we want to thank you again for making locked on Magic your first listen every day for your next listen check out the locked on sports today 24/7 streaming Channel on YouTube it’s the first 247 streaming Channel covering the top sports stories of of the day with

The local Experts of locked on plus our national show is covering every week go to locked on sports today on YouTube and subscribe to the first ever National Sports 247 streaming Channel today um I apologize uh first and foremost here um my voice just decided to cut out on me

While I’m recording this talking for 30 minutes straight is a little bit stressful for me right now uh I am if you listened to yesterday show you could probably hear from my voice that I am feeling much feel from hear from my voice and my energy am feeling much

Better today than I did yesterday still getting over an illness so I appreciate you all for sticking with me through that and and dealing with um the Hess of my voice and and a few coughs here and there which I’m gonna do right now excuse me um cough away from the mic um

But you know we’re we’re officially a month away from the TR trade deadline February 8th is the trade deadline and look I’m going to repeat this I know it’s not going to make all of you all of y’all happy I am expecting a quiet trade deadline for the Orlando Magic and I’m

Going to explain why in this segment why I think it’s going to be quiet um it’s not that the magic don’t have areas they need to improve we’ve talked a lot about the point guard issue Marquel folz is there as a place it feels like as a

Placeholder um with a chance to prove himself and I want him to prove himself um I think they want to explore what Jaylen sugs can do a little bit more so that they can figure out okay can we rely on him to be a ball handler what

Kind of offu do we need next to a jayen sucks um obviously this team needs shooting as well as they’re shooting right now we don’t expect that to last but they need shooting very very badly um we see that we know that and so it’s not that the magic don’t have needs it’s

That a we’ve seen from Jeff welman in his history that he tends to be cautious that he believes very much in a team’s continuity and isn’t likely to disrupt what the team has built so far um it doesn’t feel likely that he is going to

Kind of throw you know take the pin out and throw a grenade into the middle of this season um there’s they don’t want to save this season um we’ll talk about the standings here in a minute but they want to build something for the long term so it’s only a trade that makes

Sense for the long term um and at the end of the day I think they want to give this group the chance to see how far they can go um to to see this group tested in the playoffs and figure out what works and what doesn’t work and you

Know I’ve talked a lot about this in the wend Carter context where he’s not an above the rim rim protector can that succeed in the playoffs can you get away with that in the playoffs my suspicion is no you can’t but Wendel Carter when he’s healthy has at least earned the

Opportunity to prove that thesis right or wrong without making a decision beforehand the magic are in a rush but in no rush if that makes sense however this is a playoff team now like I said the winning window is open the Magic’s opportunity to win the Magic’s chances to be competitive is

Open and look they’re playing Minnesota tonight it’s a great team to that’s an example of that Minnesota made the playoffs with a young star Anthony Edwards or they made the play in tournament won the play in tournament made the playoffs got a taste of that

And we’re like we got to push some chips in made that huge trade for Rudy goar disappointing season a lot of injuries to Carl Anthony towns especially another play in tournament another playoff series now they’re the number one team in the west the magic I don’t think are going

To push their CH their chips in that much to go get a guy like rudo bear but having said that this is kind of where the magic are at you know they’ve got to be willing to make that deal when it comes around um the winning window is open

They can’t be so married to their players and so that leads us to Wendel Carter Wendel Carter was recently listed in a report by Mark Stein Mark Stein on his substack said several rival front office Executives believe Wendel Carter could become available in this trading cycle

So the way it’s phrased in his article does not suggest The Magik rout shopping wo Carter again the way things are phrased the way things are mentioned that stuff matters read between the lines you know all that stuff um but with the magic having goab batad and mo

Vagner playing really well there are some people that think that when that now might be the time to maximize wend Carter’s value and so with him being dealing with injuries and being an out of lineup the magic might make a move or teams are wondering you know could we

Pry him for probably cheap um since is he’s not playing very well I’m skeptical that happens again the way the reporting looks the way the reporting goes certainly suggests that it’s other teams making this pitch it’s other teams speculating and surmising it’s not the Magic The Magic aren’t the ones kind of

Driving this rumor remember that please um it’s not the magic driving this thing but I do think there’s one important note to make out of that forget about who the magic might acquire for a second you know we got our list Brogden let’s go you know Brogden Murray

Cory kissper throw Luke Canard in there with the Grizzlies now that that John Miranda is out um Daniel Gafford might be on that list again uh tus Jones obviously with the Wizards might be on that list there’s a list of players that the magic are you know i’ I’ve seen

Magic fans around d’angel Russell which no um which no no no but there’s a list we all have our list forget who the magic might acquire flip it back around what might the magic give up what are the magic willing to give up most of us have probably built our

Trade scenarios around markl foltz’s salary expiring contract that’s not going to get you much on the market because markl folz isn’t playing obviously right now sort of damage goods and there aren’t a lot of great free agents in this draft in this free agency class there’s Gary Harris having a really bad

Down year dealing with injuries again veteran probably GNA get you some value but another expiring contract not GNA get you a ton Jonathan Isaac’s Jonathan Isaac same deal and then you have wend and you have jumo K who’s in and out of the rotation maybe someone takes a

Second draft on him but who’s really given up a ton for him and then you have Wendell Carter Team friendly contract a really solid Center when he’s healthy but he’s not healthy right now what team is buying him and if you’re selling him what are you really getting back in

Return you know I had a friend of mine say wend Carter right now is playing like Chicago wend Carter are you trading wend Carter you’re not doing the V deal and Nicola vuich might be available at this this deadline too you’re not doing the nicoa vuich

Deal uh so how much is wend Carter really worth at the end of the day it’s this side of the equation that makes me that makes me hesitant to say the magic are going to make deals this this deadline because all the guys that they would trade are

Hurt who in they’re starting line up who on their rotation are they moving that can net them longterm term value forget trying to get a team that’s better this year long-term value think about the next two to three years who do the magic have that could get them buddy

Healed with the way guys are playing with the guy way guys are in and out of the lineup that deal just isn’t there on top of that the magic can just go out and sign him in the off season for free and not give up anything it’s the same

Thing with tyus Jones that’s why I’m skeptical if the magic are interested in tus Jones that’s why I’m skeptical the magic trade for tus Jones unless you know they really feel like someone’s going to steal going to be able to steal them from him and take his

Bird rights or would you know grab his bird rights and resign him that’s the problem for the magic and that’s why it does make a little bit of sense that wend Carter’s on the market because I think at this time of year we thought maybe markl fultz will be worth

Something Gary Harris will certainly be worth something to someone because he’s a veteran and the magic want to free up some room for Caleb houst for jet Howard it makes me think that the magic aren’t actually going to be buyers at this deadline the market is probably going to

Want to treat them like Bu The Magic probably wants you act like buyers to improve their roster but in reality the assets they’re willing to give up at this juncture are all sell assets they’re not assets they’re not asset they’re not assets that are going to buy you something they’re sell

Assets and to me unless wend Carter returns and starts playing a whole lot better and the magic just decide to cash out which I doubt that to me means there isn’t a deal out there to be made but we’ll see what happens when we come back we’re going to

Talk about an oddity in the Eastern Conference standings we’ll get to that coming up here in just a moment but first it’s time for quick word from our friends over at FanDuel the NFL season is over regular season is over at least the playoffs are starting this weekend and there’s still time to

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NFL again I apologize for my voice for cracking um been rough been a rough day I am feeling a lot better do appreciate everyone who listened the show messaged me said hey hope you feel better that was really really rough I know Sunday was really really rough for me um was

Definitely more out of it I’m definitely more into it today if you can if you’re watching on YouTube you can see I’m probably a little more animated a little bit more excited but um the talking for 30 minutes is is a lot so I’m gonna make this last segment quick like I did

Yesterday um let’s talk about the standings um is it too early to look at the standings probably um it’s it’s probably trly we’re not halfway through the season yet we’ll at the halfway mark of the season next Wednesday in Atlanta um I’m very excited for that one um mostly because

I’ll be there um but um the sings right now in the East I think are fascinating and and I I want to point this out because we’re in a quirky time right now and I don’t think this is going to change uh I know Tyreek salurn had a

Major scare tonight um we’ll see how long he’s out but I don’t think the general gist of the standings are going to change so here are the east standings first place is Boston at 23 and8 they’re or 288 not 238 288 they’re probably going to hang on to the one seed barring

Again a collapse but they’re in the one seed pretty comfortably three and a half games up on the Milwaukee Bucks who are 25 and 12 bucks are struggling defensively right now took a bad loss to the jazz tonight is what it is they’re a game up on the Philadelphia 76ers at 23

And2 your top three Boston Milwaukee Philadelphia feel pretty locked in now Philadelphia is five and five in their last 10 Milwaukee’s five and five in their last 10 none of these teams are making up crazy ground but Boston feels like they’re gaining distance at one Milwaukee Philadelphia are

23 two and a half games behind Philadelphia in fourth fifth sixth seventh and eighth place are the Miami Heat Orlando Magic Indiana Pacers Cleveland Cavaliers New York Knicks all at 21 and 15 let me repeat that in case you don’t believe me go go to nba.com standings look it up the Miami Heat

Orlando Magic Indiana Pacers Cleveland Cavaliers New York Knicks are all 21 and 15 4 through 8 are all completely tied I will say this I don’t think this is going to change I mean yeah teams are going to lose teams are going to win they’ll go on hot streaks they’ll go on cold

Streaks I think four through eight is going to be this tight the rest of the way like look Miami is probably the favorite to get homecourt advantage in that first round just because they’re Miami every wouldn’t trust them New York and Cleveland might be the favorites to get five and six pushing

Orlando and Indiana down to the 78 game but I don’t think there’s going to be much separation between these teams and I want to point this out to Ay let everyone know that okay Orlando’s going through a really difficult January we’re gonna play New York on Monday the

Magic play Miami on Friday they play Miami again next Sunday this is a big month to get some separation to play some of these teams uh and and to kind of establish where we are for the stretch run because Orlando has at least by the Numbers the

Easiest schedule in the league after the All-Star break the magic should be fine to pick up a seed line and pick up ground after the allar break provided they can take care of their business which they largely have they’ve been very good against Bad teams this

Year and they’ve been very good at home they have an eight game home stand coming up uh in March um the standards are going to be like this the rest of the way and it’s going to be tight we are in a playoff race folks we are in a tight race to the

Finish and I imagine that these games are going to stay that that this these this team is going to feel this pressure all the way through to the end of the season now you know I think the magic are aware of where they sit in the standings but they’re not obsessed with

It and I would say I’m putting out the standings today because of this Quirk don’t look at the standings very much for the rest of the rest of the year let’s give it till the All-Star break essentially like my belief has been get to the all-star

Break the Magic schedule sets them up to pick up a seed line if they’re in the playing tournament I think they can get to six because I don’t see this team as bad as they played they’re five and five in their last 10 games they’re Treading

Water right now which is all which is like pretty good good I don’t see this team falling too far back maybe two games back that they can’t make up that distance that they can’t make up that ground and there you know they still got to see Miami three more times they still

Got to see New York a couple more times you know they got Indiana one more time at home um they’re going to see these teams again and they will have their chance to beat them and they will have their chance to make their mark in the

Standings the East is going to have a log Jam in the middle and I don’t think that’s going away so just be aware of it because we’re in a playoff race every game’s going to matter every game’s going to count I want to thank you all again for

Listening to today’s episode of lockdown manic you course find me on Twitter Philip romd subscribe to the podcast Apple podcast your tune in himay Google play Spotify Odyssey and all podcasts to your podcast a device you can force find us as well on YouTube at youtube.com/

Lockon magic if you want to see my smiling face instead of just listening to my terrible voice uh when I’m sick you could see me be sick as well um for the latest time the Orlando Magic be sure check out Orlando Magic da.com get follow us on Twitter omic deal and of

Course be sure to check out my patreon page the Orlando magichub check it out at patreon.com orlandomagic HUB don’t forget to check out the locked on podcast networks 247 streaming Channel locked on sports today you can find that on YouTube get the latest from the local experts on the biggest stories

In sports from around the sports world as well as our national shows check it out on YouTube at lockon sports today on tomorrow’s episode of lockon magic we’ll break down the Magic’s game against Minnesota Timberwolves but until then for Orlando Magic daily lock on Magic this been Philip Ros we’ll see you again

Next time for another episode of lock on Magic

The Orlando Magic got some welcome news with Markelle Fultz’s return Sunday. He looked rusty but generally played well as a driving force and pace-setter for the team. Fultz generally needs more time to get acclimated. But concerns over his shot abound and with a month before the trade deadline, Fultz’s questions are only getting sharper. It begs us to ask the question: Who are the Magic actually going to trade if a deal presents itself?

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