The Close Up with Alex Kennedy

The Close Up with Alex Kennedy

All right all right all right welcome to another episode of the closeup a part of the Orlando Magic HQ Network I’m your host Stephen Cameron and today we got a fun one we got my friend Alex Kennedy of pretty much everything writer at ESPN the editor at NBA alums uh Legends

Magazine he’s got his his show host of uh running up the score um and he’s still very active senior editor at basketball news uh Alex Kennedy what’s going on man how you doing welcome to the show thank you for having me I’m doing great I can’t complain uh had to

Pull out the Magic Hat uh for the show here uh things things have been good I I I’m doing really well how are you I’m doing well I can’t complain we are recording this Monday February 19th and I’m not working today so like I I’m really not complaining today Alex um

You’ve you’ve been all over the place recently you’ve you’ve we we’ve all been busy with allair weekend you were at the Sha Jersey retirement which is also the magic TNT game we’re going to get into all that plus a whole lot more um but before we get into all that listeners I

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Code stated we are part of the believe podcast Network thank you believe Alex all right we got all the we got all the ad reads and and and the reminders to the audience done we can talks and basketball you’ve been busy man um you you’ve we we’ve had a busy fun some

Might say fun some might say not fun Allstar Weekend but but before we get into that I I do want to touch bace you were at a pretty cool pretty cool event for the magic you know you’re at the TNT game our first national televised game

With TNT a very very long time um which also led to the J the the the the Sha Jersey retirement um I just want to pause there for a second before we get into uh more current stuff how was that experience for you what was the

Atmosphere like at the game what was the you know from your perspective how was the Jersey retirement and um was there anything that like stuck out good and then anything that stuck out bad to you what was that all about yeah you know I

I thought it was a ton of fun um you know I think it was a long time coming obviously for Shaq and the mag are kind of in a tough spot because they’ve had a couple stars now Superstars that have left on you know strange terms or you

Know ugly terms and uh I think that’s one of the reasons why Shaq was the first to have his jersey retired because you could argue you know Tracy McGrady uh Dwight Howard there’s other guys that you know I mean obviously Shaq called out a number of them too Penny Nick

Anderson there’s plenty of guys that you know you can look at other teams and and they probably would have had their numbers retired in other organizations but the magic have really not really done that uh and I’m glad that they’re starting to retire jerseys and I thought

It was really cool you know Shaq said that of the different Jersey retirements because this is his third Jersey retirement now um and he said this is the one that meant the most to him because he never thought it would happen because of how the relationship ended uh

You know it seemed like it was a really special night for him and I think Shaq is a Class Act I think the fact that he used his speech to kind of shine light on his teammates and the other great magic players throughout franchise history that also deserve to be honored

I thought that was really cool and we’ve seen like the magic have brought Tracy McGrady Rashard Lewis hedo turku uh Nick Anderson there’s all these guys that they’ve brought out and they’ve they’ve honored them you know at halim and and things like that um they’ve done that in

Recent years but to actually have his jersey retired I know that meant a lot to Shaq and I’m excited to see who gets their jersey retired next I’d imagine uh Tracy McGrady has to be high in that list uh you know he’s obviously even though things didn’t end perfectly I

Think if you talk to most magic fans they still love Tracy McGrady and a lot you know he’s for me he’s the player that really got me into basketball like he was my favorite player growing up and so that’s a huge one for me and I would

I would love to to go to his jersey retirement someday uh hopefully soon uh Dwight it’s tough because that not only ended on bad terms but you know he’s also uh you know been in the media for some some bad things in lately and I’m not sure uh we’ll see that happen

Anytime soon but uh he’s still I mean he’s still playing professionally too you know like yeah he has he just he just worked out for the Warriors last off season he’s he’s he’s still you know would probably welcome a chance back in the NBA I think it’s just too soon to

Even and bring up Dwight as far as you know potential like that’s another five years down the road 10 years in my opinion yeah Nick Anderson he’s been the most involved of everyone in the organization you know he’s at every home game he’s been like a community

Ambassador things like that so you know I wouldn’t be surprised if someday you know his jersey retired as well but yeah it was a really cool event I I thought it was a ton of fun I know some magic fans were upset about like the the text

Or like the font on the actual jersey number it’s pretty bad but um and I thought it would have been cool to have each jersey like from the different eras you know I know I think that would look cool to have the different MERS like whichever Jersey the guy played in uh

Have that be the Jersey but no it was it was a really cool fun event that’s how most teams do it like if you look at the Lakers if you look at the Celtics you look at the Spurs I was just in Sacramento a few months ago for the

Kings game it’s like they all have unique feels to them none of them have this consistent font so it’s like it’s kind of strange that that’s how they want to go about doing it but you know hey I don’t make those decisions they get those people get paid probably a lot

More than I do to uh to make those calls so we’ll see how that turns out but um you know we’ll see we’ll see I thought it looked pretty cool I’m glad they waited to do the the ceremony at the end because it was a very long lengthy one

And allowed them to to kind of like just not interrupt the flow of basketball um which granted that was a rough game for the magic anyways but it wasn’t exactly uh a great basketball game versus the the Oklahoma City Thunder but um you know I still think like even though it’s

Hard for the fans have to stay there even longer and you know some of the momentum of the night might be gone because it’s the end of the game still think holding it at the end of the game versus having it the beginning or even the middle is the right call um because

It could just like totally flow off players flows and stuff like that but it’s cool to see the Shaq cool to see the Shaq Jersey I have some thoughts on it that like I don’t you know it’s fine if they’re gonna retire Jersey and they they want to change their their

Standards on what gets a jersey retired I think it’s fine to have Shacks there but I could also bring up a couple arguments on to why I don’t think he or even Tracy should have their their jersey retired you know um but but you know it’s cool we’re here it’s up he’s a

MAG magic Legend whether his jersey is gonna be retired or not and uh ultimately he did a lot of really cool things for the franchise and I really liked it so we’ll see man I think I think we wait a few more years until they they retire another Jersey like I

Don’t think this is going to be a thing that they do every year to to C up all of a sudden I think it’s probably going to be timed out a little bit what are your thoughts on that yeah I could see that you know after waiting so long with

Shaq uh I could see them waiting a couple years and um I see your point you know neither Guy brought a championship to Orlando um four years but I think yeah they yeah didn’t play there very long so I can I can see the argument um

I guess for me I I think you know if you can give a guys flowers and uh celebrate you know their stint here I guess I don’t look at it as like it should be something that’s very uh rare and uh obviously you don’t want to give it out

To everyone but like you know it’s it’s been three decades now of Magic Basketball I think honoring the best players and again if it’s the best handful of guys you know two three four guys I think that something that makes sense and and there’s plenty of guys

Around the league that have gotten their jersey retired for much less I would argue too you know he was he did kind of help Orlando become super popular and um took him to the finals and and had a great stint when he was there obviously everyone would have hoped it ended on

Better terms um I I like the comment Shaq made too about trying to buy the team someday at the very end like hey give me a call I know that’s something he want to do for a while there um but yeah you know I think again when you

Talk to Magic fans people like Shaq Tracy McGrady you know they brought a ton of fans to the organization again I just mentioned I fell in love with basketball because of Team back so I don’t know I don’t have a problem with it but I do agree they shouldn’t just

Completely you know start handing them out left and right it should be something that is safe for the best players in franchise history I don’t necessarily have a problem with it I just like I mean if you’re going to do it and you’re going to change your

Standards for that that’s fine um but I’m like I also feel like isn’t that sort of what the the Hall of Fame was like the magic Hall of Fame that we have and you know that’s that’s how we honored them and then the the the you know because their whole thing for years

Is why we didn’t retire Jersey is because you haven’t brought a championship to this this team yet and that’s why they had that’s why they had the Hall of Fame and so it’s just kind of weird and then when you look at you know the fact that it’s like only four

Years but at the same point like it’s not that serious he did some cool things for the franchise put us on the map um you know still you can kind of say he still loves the franchise there’s definitely things that he said in past that that makes you question if that’s

Actually true or not but but ultimately he’s done a lot more good for the magic franchise than bad and and and uh it is cool to see his jersey up there retired I’m definitely going to be smiling and looking at it next time I’m in the uh

The Kia Center which will be be pretty sweet um Alex now since then that was one of the last games we played the magic played they played the the Thunder Jersey retirement then the very next night they they beat the Knicks which was a really good game almost in my

Opinion more important than the Thunder game um because that one actually is a ver a uh somewhat directly in front of you in the standings you know there you know the the the Nets the Knicks are just a few spots away from them um in the playoff standings and any any win in

Your own conference is a good win to keep you pushing in my opinion so but but but then before but but after that we got into the allstar Paula Beno made an All-Star in his second year which is pretty incredible the 21y old was the

Youngest allar um on any of the teams um you know he was voted in by the coaches not an injury replacement what are your thoughts around just like in general seeing Paulo wearing an All-Star uniform that’s not just in the rookie sophomore game I was really happy for him I interviewed Pao

Before the season on my show writing up the score and I asked him you know what his goals for the season were and the two things that he said that were like accolades were you know Allstar and all NBA um and he said you know I just want

To take the next step and really make a big leap this season and I know how much making the allstar team meant to him and to do it at such a young age I mean that was really impressive uh and I think anytime you can kind of get your star

Player at the All-Star Game we’re playing with Team USA where you’re around a bunch of star players you know it can only really help uh from a confidence standpoint from you know with Team USA I think it helps uh in terms of coaching and learning from other players

And things like that and also you know one thing that we’ve we’ve heard a lot over the years from like a recruiting standpoint there have been plenty of stories where guys start talking during All-Star Weekend or Team USA stin and kind of get close and then whenever they

Make that call during free agency or before a trade deadline or things like that um they already have a relationship an existing relationship that you can kind of build upon or pick up a conversation where it previously left off so I think it’s great I I know he

Had a lot of fun with it I have my issues with the All-Star game I’m sure we’ll get to that in a second but for pao I’m glad that he got a chance to experience that you know I saw after the game he you know got his shoe signed by

The whole team and like you could tell it meant a lot to him so um and I can’t say that for a lot of the guys that were there clearly uh so I thought it was really cool that he got honored and um you know hopefully the first of many

Many many All-Star appearances for for Paulo yeah and you know I feel very similar like we we’ll get into the the events themselves here shortly but I just think like how cool is it to for him to be around all these great players all at the same time after you know kind

Of being around some of them um and some newer fa you know some different faces but but a lot of familiar ones like Holly and stuff like that uh in Team USA and it’s just like being around guys that are the best at their their craft

And the best in the league um you know and and being able to you know potentially pull you know Yannis to the side be like hey man can I ask you a couple questions and like have a five minute conversation about certain things like I mean I don’t know if that’s what

He’s doing but the having the ability to do that if he wanted to and I’m sure he has in some aspect but just building those relationships building those those you know connections like you know we know he’s got a relationship with Kevin Durant has worked out with him over the

Summmer but like hey maybe this summer because of Allstar he might go work out with Giannis for a little bit you know or something like you just don’t know what this could be leading up to and I just think that’s like super fun and really cool and just really nice way for

Him to continue to get integrated with like the best of the best in the league which is really fun he does strike me as a type that would take advantage of the opportunity like I interviewed him a while back uh and he and Jason Tatum got close whenever he committed a Duke and

He and Tatum would talk all the time and would text and like they became really close to the point that Tatum helped him find an agent get a shoe sponsorship like he he he said that Tatum was the guy that was helping him more than anyone throughout the pre-draft process

When it came time to kind of you know do those things and then even uh right before his rookie season Tatum’s giving advice about playing his first game and things like that so you know he he’s done that with Tatum you mentioned the KD connection I feel like he’s someone

And he’s talked about how like when he gets a chance to match up against those big Superstar players uh it’s still kind of surreal for him and and you know he loves that because he went from playing as these guys in NBA 2k a few years ago

To now you know being the number one option facing off against them as you know uh peers and to now be peers in a different way at an All-Star game I I do think he’s the type that would pull these guys aside and ask for advice or

Make plans to work out or or things like that um which is what you want to see I think you know a lot of times nowadays players will say oh I’m not I don’t recruit or they don’t really want that uh out there because I think some of

Them think it’s like a slight to their current teammates if they’re going out and talking to other star players and recruiting guys but howo seems the type that I think he would be okay with that and BAS basically just put himself out there and be like not only just from a

Recruiting standpoint but also again getting advice and making the most of those opportunities and relationships yeah you know he’s a very thoughtful person um you know he puts a lot of um just energy into how he approaches relationships and conversations and um you know doesn’t just say the first thing that comes out

Of his mouth I I I think that that it’s going to allow him to just continue just like grow a network within this organization and in this league and just just build build relationships for the future you know like some of these guys are going to be requesting trades and

Becoming free agents in the next couple of years and maybe there’s ways that Paulo is making relationships today that might might cause someone to be a little bit more interested in Orlando and that’s that’s ultimately an awesome thing um and yeah man like gosh we should see PA what make what’s your

Guess maybe maybe 10 12 All Stars in at in his careers like as long as he stays healthy I mean he’s he just made his first one at 21 in his second year if he plays you know 18 years and you know he hasn’t even reached his Peak yet

And I feel like 10 should be pretty obtainable for him at least yeah I totally agree I think I think Palo when you look at his ceiling if he realizes his full potential you’re talking about a guy that makes 10 plus All-Star games talking about a guy that could be like a

Top five top 10 player in the NBA he’s that good and he’s that mature too I mean obviously we see his game and just how how great of a player he is but uh physically and like emotionally you talk to the guy and he does not seem like he

Just turned 21 years old you think he’s you know you think he’s like early 30s late 20s like he’s very very mature for his age so yeah I mean obviously there’s a lot of factors that go into that injuries things like that uh but if all

Goes right for him he could be a 10 to 15 time Allstar for sure which is what you want I mean yeah that that’s the dream for an NBA team especially I mean seeing him do it at 21 it’s just it’s a huge accomplishment yeah for sure um and

And and you know it’s fun man like like we said he’s 21 he just played in the rookie sophomore game did you get a chance to watch that I actually didn’t watch the rookie sophomore game um I just had other things going on that day and I didn’t feel like going back and

Rewatching it to be fully transpar I did not I’ll be completely honest with you and this is part of my issue with Allstar Weekend I did not watch the rookie sophomore game I watched some highlights afterwards and you know saw what happened and edited an article

About it and stuff so I know what happened you know benedi Ma went MVP I know there was the upset with the G Leaguers and all that like I I saw what happened afterwards but I’ll be honest I watched very little of the actual All-Star game I turned it off because I

Was just it was horrible I and I in recent years that’s been happening more and more frequently like when I was younger I would look forward to the all-star game and you know T-Mac throwing the ball off the backboard and you know the it was cool back in the day

Now I just feel like I’m like you know what I’m gonna go enjoy the night out or or go out to eat or something like I look at it as like okay this is one day I don’t have to watch basketball so I turn it on for a second I turned it off

So you know I again I know what happened but I did not watch much of the actual allstar game and I know the issues with it I mean I I think there’s a lot wrong with the allstar game I don’t know how the NBA can fix it like to me Allstar

Saturday night has always been kind of the peak of all-star weekend like especially when the dunk contest was great did you watch Satur contest I did watch Saturday and I really enjoyed it I actually thought Saturday was really good too I loved it until the dunk contest that was obviously rough but

Like the Three-Point Contest was great I really enjoyed the skills challenge I thought the Steph or Sabrina matchup was really cool that I think there’s more things the NBA can do I I tweeted this out on Saturday night but I would love to see them incorporate some like recently retired

Players too and have like a Three-Point Shootout or like even like a modified shootout where maybe they each shoot fewer shots or you know they don’t have to run around as much or something but it would be like I think if they had a Three-Point Shootout and you had Ray

Allen JJ reick ped sto yakovich Kyle corver Rashard Lewis like you had some of the best Shooters of all time uh Reggie Miller I know mentioned during the broadcast if he had a month he could still go out there and shoot well like you don’t lose your shot typically when you’re uh a

Former NBA player like you i’ I’ve been at games and seen you know some of these assistant coaches that are in their 40s and 50s and they’re just knocking down shot after shot I think it’d be cool to have something like that obviously there’s a lot of talk about like a

One-on-one matchup or one-on-one tournament that would be really cool to see they tried horse and that was kind of a bust but I don’t know I think the NBA has to do something because the All-Star Game I see more criticism now than before it seems like it’s gotten

Really bad and and people just aren’t tuning in they kind of know what to expect at this point um Allstar Saturday night I think it’s still really good but I think the dunk contest is a problem really I actually like this year’s Dunk Contest I mean

Like there was some like there was some questionable stuff with like some of the judging but like ultimately a lot of guys made their dunks on their first try there was only a couple that didn’t which that’s that’s what you want right hands down just make your dunks and and

They all did them I thought there was some creativity in the dunks uh obviously Mack had some good creativity with his dunks um you know I I was Jaylen Browns dunks the best in the world no and did they push him a little bit harder than others no or yes they

Did but like yeah ultimate I don’t really have a problem with that at all just because like Jaylen Brown’s one of the first bigger names we’ve had in the dunk contest in years in years probably since the Zack LaVine era and and Aaron Gordon and he’s definitely a much bigger

Name than those guys were at their time when they entered and it’s like if they can give that guy a little bit of extra cushion just to maybe motivate some other names to join in the future that’d be great now did it was a little bit of

A let down that his dunks kind of didn’t hit very hard yeah I can I can admit that but I think overall I liked seeing the dunks I wish there was some bigger names but you ain’t gonna get bigger names if it’s not if if if if if you

Don’t have at least a Baseline and I thought this was like it didn’t get worse than last year’s um I don’t know I just think I have a little maybe some different expectations because like I just realize like most all stars from the time I’ve been watching all star have sucked

Outside of a couple outlier years like we’ve been talking about this Dunk Contest being amazing for so long and it’s all like in pretending like it’s only been bad for like the last decade well it’s been bad for decades upon decades and then we’ve have a couple

Outli years yeah and that’s the same with the NBA game too with the with this All-Star game it’s been horrible for 30 years and it’s been good a couple of outlier years like we had the Chic rip the you know the Kobe year when he passed away and everyone tried hard that

Year the the Chicago year the Vince Carter Dunk Contest Zack LaVine Dunk Contest like I just think we as fans and as media like we put it up on this pedestal that it’s really never actually been in outside of a couple outlier years am I wrong here Alex yeah well and

You’re right the Chicago year and the Kobe year were the same year too so I mean that’s even yeah I think um it’s interesting because the players don’t care so if you’re a fan you’re like okay well why should we care uh that’s what it comes down to and we spend so much

Time talking about Allstar births and snubs and all this and then like the game itself is just such a let down so I think it could be something really cool like I was absolutely could be better I was at that All-Star Game in Chicago and I think there were a number of factors

That led to it being arguably the best All-Star game ever not only the Kobe factor that and they honored him you had Pal Gasol you know speak to everyone and and it was that was something that was significant but also you had uh it was the first year they did like the the

Elim ending and the quarters and everything like that and I think the I don’t necessarily think that is something that I would bring back but the one thing that I thought really stood out to me being there live was they had like the recipients of each charity sitting Courtside like in

Sections and so you KN like whenever a stop would happen or a quarter Was Won or a big shot happened you had like kids from the boys and girls club going nuts and the players were going over like interacting with them between uh breaks and timeouts and dabing them up and you

Know some of the kids were like crying and stuff like it was you could tell the guys were like okay I need to go Inn for these guys right now and they saw the direct person that was benefiting from their effort you know sitting Courtside and I thought that was something that

Was really cool and then sure enough end of the game you had like it felt like a playoff game at times uh when guys were matching up and the defense was really intense and um and then again you got the fans that you know the boys and

Girls club I forget the other Charities that were there but they were like going nuts and players went and celebrated with them afterwards and stuff and like that was really cool so I don’t know what they can do to bring that back I I didn’t go go to this year’s allstar game

So I don’t know if they had the the charity component and had the guys sitting Courtside like if they brought the recipients of the uh you know donations and had them kind of rooting the teams on because I think that definitely had an impact uh obviously uh in recent years like covid impacted

Things so uh I don’t know if I think that would be something I would try to bring back like Let The Players see who they’re playing for and have them cheer them on because it’s hard to be like yeah I’m only going to shoot left-handed and not really try and not play hard

When like the kids right that could be benefiting from your effort so I don’t know I think that was when they did that was cool that year um you’re right about the dunk contest too it’s always when it’s a Hu a really awesome contest it is more of an outlier

There have been quite a few that were you know not great I think with this one Jaylen Brown really struggled and I give him a ton of credit because we have not seen you know Allstar level players competing in the dunk contest so he I I

Get why he wanted to do it and you know the judges are just the biggest failure of the judges the wor part it’s not participants like okay you’re right they they they pushed they had an agenda to to push Jaylen Brown through to the final round which I can as much as it

Sucks as a viewer I can understand why they did it you just wish it was a little bit more competitive and not so biased as that’s what they were doing right yeah but but like the judges are just kind of they’re inconsistent they’re they’re they’re not good and

They just get these old grumpy dudes like get these I’m sorry and I and Alex you write for the for the old for the for the yni get most of them out of the judging these 19 20-year-old kids don’t know who Oscar Roberts is and they probably don’t give a like just to

Be honest like he doesn’t matter get him out get half these guys out get the glove out like let’s get some fresh faces up there some guys that have like relatively been in the league that are like currently there and maybe mix in an older guy or two it doesn’t have to be

Like all young versus all old it could be a blend but let’s get some fresh faces up there um you know let’s simplify the judging a little bit like you know it’s it’s very um you know I don’t want it to be simplified as like hey you just get a

Number one through 10 and you can like do that because like we’ve kind of done that in the past but like it just seems like you know like there was the you shouldn’t be knocking them for missing it on their first try but then they do it anyways like some of that stuff

Should just be kind of flushed out a little bit um but ultimately I thought you know was the dunk contest perfect no but I thought it was fun allstar game though man I feel like you’re right like there can be a lot of things done differently I have some thoughts like

One is simply like go ask Giannis LeBron Dame Harden like go ask all these guys that are in the dunk or that are in the All-Star game every year and say hey the product isn’t good how can we make it better right like it’s it’s no one’s

Enjoying it at this current point in time like some things have changed to allow it like we’ve we’ve uh I don’t think defense has ever really been played all that consistently again outside of a couple years but like the game has shifted it’s it’s now people

Just want to launch threes from all over the place so people are just kind of like stepping in half court and letting it Fly and that’s where we see less of the off the backport dunks and the AL oops and things like that we just we don’t get that same connectivity because

They just they just step across half court and then then shoot a three um you know I I think there’s just simply like okay players how do we make this better that still maybe isn’t a fullon basketball game but like it puts a better product on the floor um I also

Think you could shorten the game a little bit too do we really need to be playing full quarters no probably not we could probably get away with like 10minute quarters just shorten it up a little bit um I think having a shorter product would would make would make um

You know probably put a little bit more emphasis on the players and then I also just think we as fans just need to accept that that is is a different product and it’s not going to be this highly competitive game it’s never going to be that way so like I

Think there’s just a couple of things and we have to like kind of treat it that way and then also the third is we got to fix the broadcasting like that was my next point they sucked the the whole weekend they were awful like how do you have that awesome moment with

Steph and Sabrina and then you have I think it was like Chuck and someone else going back and forth Kenny Smith and kenith Miller to his to Reggie’s credit he was mocking Kenny and was basically saying like he was standing up for Sabrina and then he was like what you

Want to play with dolls too so he was trying to get Kenny but when you clip it it came off pretty poorly for both of them pretty bad yeah and then you know the announcing in the the All-Star game was like pretty bad too like celebrate these players talk about their their

Awards their accomplishments their teams don’t just you know like we don’t need to talk about what’s actually on the court let’s talk about the players on the court you know and and not on the city and making jokes like it’s not a time for jokes let’s let’s be

Serious here that was my next point I think if anything the main things need to come out this weekend if you’re the NBA league office and you’re kind of talking about okay how can you improve the product I agree I mean I agree with you everything you said about you know

The actual Allstar competition but I think I if I’m Adam Silver I’m not only upset you saw him after they he was not pleased with that allstar game um but if I’m Adam Silver I’m like I don’t want you know millions of fans turning on our product whether it’s Saturday night or

Sunday night and just getting bombarded with so much negativity I cannot tell you how last time I turned on like an NFL broadcast and you had current or broadcasters former players that were just like actively on the product and being super negative when you watch the NFL product they’re

Celebrating today’s players they seem excited about the game they’re passionate about it flag footb footall oh yeah I’m not even talking I’m not even talking about like Pro Bowl I’m talking about just like any broadcast like you put on NFL broadcast and they’re sharing analytics and they’re

They’re teaching you about the exes nose and the strategy and the decision- making and celebrating today’s players and here’s what makes Patrick mahom so great and d and sometimes they maybe even go overboard with some of the you know praise for current players like I know some people like Tony Romo and

Chris Collinsworth they’ve gotten criticized for being like overly uh high on like Patrick Mahomes and some players but I much prefer that to just tearing down players and negativity and uh just talking about things that aren’t even related to to basketball uh I don’t know and I I think like Kenny Smith on

Saturday night had a really really rough night you mentioned the Sabrina step moment there were some other ones too where it just felt like he even said I you know I didn’t know tyres salber could shoot this well and Reggie Miller’s like do you guys not watch the

Games like what are you watching um how are you preparing for this Allstar Weekend right and so and I think that’s a big problem when you watch you know Inside the NBA or uh even like current broadcast like it never is talk about the actual game it ends up being you

Know narrative driven stuff or random stuff and I don’t know it’s just I think if you’re the NBA you want people tuning in to become big NBA fans and learn about the game and the players on the court and um you know these are current players that could be sharing stories

From their own career or analyzing the game really well or things like that instead we’re seeing them uh be really critical and and some of that I knew sha even mentioned like some of that is pettiness and jealousy over like the big contracts that guys are getting today or

Frustration with how today’s game is uh in terms of how it’s played and and things like that but I don’t know I I think again this should be like a weekend celebrating the best players and and stuff like that and it seems like there’s a ton of negativity so the

Broadcast definitely I think hurt things um and not even just yesterday but I’m talking like Saturday too um was not great so yeah I don’t know I think the broadcast is the is the biggest failure of of the weekend even bigger than the game in my opinion that and it was the

Same thing last year last year Draymond Green was literally like just making fun of the dunkers during the dunk contest and talking about how their scrubs and stuff like how is that helping the NBA product if you’re if you’re like in the league office watching that I’d be like

What are you doing you trying to people turn TV off like what what’s going on here I don’t know right it’s it’s really and and fortunately like the NBA you know it’s TNT that’s broadcasting the the the the the weekend so like they only have so much control over what what

Can be done you know to an extent too so it’s just like yeah but it’s like fix fix the broadcast you know that that will help when players know they’re not getting it on the whole time like that that’ll make them want to play a a

Little bit harder um or at least maybe be a little less scared to try to be a little bit more aggressive and and stuff just like it’s not fun I will say I do think I do think the players deserves criticism for the effort on Sunday I

Know there was a report today from Sam Amic of the athletic basically came out and said players want to get paid and then they’ll try and it’s like you know you’re every single player in that game is getting a ton of money not only are

Your is your NBA contract to you have a ton of endorsements a lot of these guys have Clauses in their contract where if they if they earn an All-Star selection then they get a huge bonus and stuff so it’s like I I I think that is crazy if

You’re like we’re not going to play harder until you pay us like that’s that’s BS and so that bothered me and then the players I mean they could try a little bit harder again no one’s expecting you to you know defend like it’s game seven of the NBA Finals but

Give a little bit of effort and try I also think you know it sucks that we don’t see more star players compete in the D contest again I give Jaylen Brown credit um after seeing how people have reacted to Jaylen Brown I can’t imagine other stars are going to want to step up

And and do the same thing I actually talked to um an NBA star two three years ago and I asked him you know why do we think why do you think more Allstars don’t compete and he was like it’s a lose lose situation for us like if we if

We win the contest against Fringe NBA players and now g-league players like it’s it’s we did what we were supposed to do it’s expected if we lose then we’re getting clowned we’re getting made fun of and it doesn’t it doesn’t help us at all so they basically it’s a lose

Lose and and the guy’s solution was you need to get a field where it’s you know three to four All-Star level players and then it’s a little bit different like if you look back when Dr Jacob he did you know in the ABA contest in 76 all those guys were multi-time Allstars George

Gerin arst Gilmore uh there was a number of guys you know it it and when Michael Jordan competed it was against Dominique Wilkins and you know notable players like um it’s different if it was like hey Michael go compete against you know like minor league level players or

Fringe NBA guys like I I could see LeBron being like no I don’t want to go dunk against whoever like a guy that’s not going to be in the NBA um so I don’t know I think they they didn’t find a way to incentivize players to compete and

Get multiple Allstars now you would think this year with Jaylen Brown signing on maybe some other Allstars be like okay there’s already one the first one’s going to be the hardest one to get so you would think maybe some other guys would be like oh they got an Allstar

Maybe I’ll do it too but I don’t know I I think uh if you want bigger names it’s GNA be tough I know they’ve talked about like a big prize and stuff like that I don’t know part of me just it bothers me that so much of it’s like money driven

It seems like unless the money is there they’re not going to compete and that’s tough I think like it doesn’t even necess have to be Allstars like it could just be like let’s just get some good to do this notable players someone that like a name people actually recognize

The name not um whatever his name toen is you know to point Z line and Aaron Gordon weren’t Allstars but they were notable players that were like who they were right yeah yeah you knew who they were you know Aaron Gordon was pretty young but like Oh Aaron

Gordon you probably know he’s the guy on the magic uniform that plays every single game and does insane dunks inside the games right like when when you turn on that game like you see his highlights regularly even though we would get destroyed um you know when he was on our

Teams like you know same with Zach LaVine like he like they they were at least relatively known players right you know they they were young at the time I was looking at you know some old videos it’s like man Aaron Gordon like he barely learned how to shave at that

Point in time you know it was pretty fun but you know Allstar Weekend is it is what it is it’s going to be like this probably for a long time um and I I think it’s I think it’s I think it’s kind of fine like I think you made a good point tooo

Like adjust your expectations that’s really what it comes down to adjust your expectations if you’re not expecting it to be the best DK contest ever or guys competing like crazy and you’re just like oh it’s a fun game where you know maybe we see Damien L shoot from half

Court and we see you know it’ss in the dunks like dude we saw a dude jump over Shaq and he cleared him and he wasn’t bending his head you know like he literally cleared the top of Shaq’s head and dunk the ball and that was gnarly like like let’s just

Celebrate this stuff you know okay some of Jaylen Brown’s dunks weren’t the craziest but he also did some cool things too you know it’s like I don’t know I think there’s part of part isation we need to have yeah part of it social media too so you go online you’re

Like wow everyone’s hating this and you see like you know back in the 90s or early 2000s even you know if you were like oh this dun contest wasn’t great you don’t immediately get bombarded with thousands of people talking about how it’s the worst one ever and it’s garbage

So like there’s kind of like a mob mentality aspect of it too where it’s like man this was awful everyone hates it like I I think the now just everyone has a platform to speak out about how annoyed they were by certain things or yeah things like that so that’s probably

Part of it too it seems like it’s the worst ever because of that because yeah it always will seem like it’s the worst ever when it’s really it’s I mean it’s not great I’m not saying it is but it’s it’s not not I mean it it’s if we could

Just like it’s like walking into a theme park you know you’re GNA waiting along lines and you you but but you know when you get on the ride it could be fun but also if you hold the line to the ride then you’re just gonna you know like you can make a theme

Park day really fun if or you can make it really bad it could be the same day no matter what it’s just your mindset going into I don’t know I it’s got issues it can be improved it should be improved but also like it’s kind of it’s

Always been shitty I don’t know that’s kind of like where I’m leaving it at right now but and at least it’s not the NFL where you have you know every single player opting out of the All-Star Game or Pro Bowl where you’re down to Tyler hunt making the Pro Bowl because no

Other quarterbacks want to do it so he can’t even start his own team but he’s in the Pro Bowl like I give guys credit at least they’re at least showing up and you know LeBron’s done it 20 straight years like it could be worse it’s just I

I get fans wanting to improve it too totally yeah and it should they should want to improve it you know Adam Silver should be disappointed on how this weekend went you know um now on to something fun and positive the magic are crushing it like they’re 30 and 25 um

They are hold on let me just go to the standing page I actually did Place sitting in eighth place I want to like grab the tears but they they have the easiest remaining schedule they have some really cool things like within the schedule coming up that’s going to be

Fun um but hold on before I just continue to ramble I just want to take a moment to like actually get my together as I go into the standings of the Orlando Magic in the NBA um um listeners just just give me your patience my computer is being wonky for

A second um I know they’re in eighth place people and I know there’s some people ahead of them I just want to figure out who I can read them off to you right now if you want read them off to me please Miami’s in seven Indiana’s

In six Philly’s in fifth New York’s in fourth Milwaukee third Cleveland second Boston first and the bubble teams right after them uh they’re four games ahead of the Ninth Place team but Chicago and Atlanta are 910 and this is where I and thank you for reading that because that

Allowed me to pull up what I was trying to do and also just find some numbers that were going behind all that the magic are actually tied with Miami Heat at 30 30 and 25 for the seventh and eth they’re a game behind Indiana Pacers

That are 31 and 25 the fifth seed of the 76ers who do not have Joel embi for the foreseeable future only have 32 and 30 uh 22 wins and then the new New York Knicks who the magic just beat before allar 33 and 22 sitting at fourth seed

So I just wanted to like I wanted to bring up like that specific page I was looking for um so that we could see like how tight this race really is right now and how the next 27 games are so important for the Orlando Magic and how

They finish this season when you look at this team where they’re at today and the remaining 27 games what’s the first thing that comes into your head on what has to happen I think I think you have to win the winnable games I mean you talked about it earlier they have the

Easiest schedule not in the East but in the NBA for in terms of remaining schedule uh their their remaining teams that they’re facing have a combined winning percentage of uh 43.5% um I have a stat here 16 of their 27 remaining games are against the 12

Teams with a losing record no other team has more than 13 games against the bottom 12 and they’re 16 and five against those teams this season so I mean they’ve they’ve done a good job of beating the winable team you know winning the winable game so far but I

Think you just have to be happy that you know you have this very easy schedule the rest of the way and take advantage of that you know you you just mentioned the the standings are pretty tight together so if they can go on a run and finish season strong you’re talking

About this team potentially climbing up the standings up to you know six five like they could they could really get up there so I I think that’s the key um so many of the team I mean this team is so good defensively and their effort and their length and size it gives people

Issues you know there’s other teams hate playing against the magic the offense has been the biggest issue um I saw a great stat in uh nba.com Power Rankings the magic ranked bottom 10 offensively and this would be the 12th straight season that they’d be bottom 10 offensively it’s just been year after

Year this team has struggled yeah and and uh it’s it’s been brutal and like we all we all know the the team has struggled to shoot threes and they don’t even take a lot of Threes compared to other teams but they also here’s another great stat

They have they rank number one in the NBA in free throw rate so they’re getting to the line often they’re 27th in free throw percentage so that again you look at just you’re you’re drawing the contact and getting the freebies and then you’re just not taking advantage

From the line at all and so that’s that’s frustrating and again part of that’s being a young Team part of that’s roster construction they don’t have a lot of Shooters uh and I think we all we look at you know head to the off season

And I know a lot of fans of the trade deadline too were wanting you know Shooters and guys that can help from that in that regard tyus Jones name was thrown out there and people were excited about that possibility that has to be the focus this offseason we trying to

Improve the team you know improve the shooting improve the spacing and then uh Without Really sacrificing the defense too much uh so yeah that’s that’s the hard part and and what we have right now is the fourth best defense in the league and that’s been their calling card on

How they’ve been winning um you know 30 games so far and have improved as a team and and they’re healthy and they have key players like Jonathan Isaac playing like a much sign much bigger and more significant role which is really helpful for them too right now like have you

Seen the closing lineups where it’s like Jaylen Suggs fron Paulo Jonathan Isaac and Wendell Carter like they just get huge and then I think what’s been really cool is like we’re seeing coach make decisions they’re not always the right decisions but he is is trying to go a

Little bit more within flow and play Within certain matchups where it’s like cool wend Carter you haven’t been as effective as as as you normally are we’re gonna bring in googa to close this game out tonight you know and Goa hadn’t played you know for for a long time you

Know the other night he closed with Cole Anthony on the floor I don’t know if that was the right decision or not but he’s trying different things to make certain situations happen which is really nice to see his flexibility there and you just hope it starts to pay off

In the long run I think there’s a few things that we can do to secure like I mean I expect this team to make the playoffs but like to to secure maybe avoiding the play and is like one we got to protective protect home we have an

Eight game home stand during this road trip or during the next 27 games um and granted it’s not against like the easiest teams in the world but there’s a couple easy teams in there you got the Raptors the Hornets the Pelicans tough team the Kings tough team The Warriors

The Clippers are tough teams but then you have the Grizzlies and the Blazers so you have some easy teams mix in with some tough teams you got to do really well during that home stand if you can that’s eight games in a row where the magic just get to chill and and be

Comfortable in their house and then you have um another really cool thing about the remaining 27 games is you don’t have any significantly long road trips there’s no road trip there’s like I think two or three road trips that are three games long and nothing is longer

Than that which is really really cool um so you just gotta you got to take care of that and you got to show up to every single game and you got to let your defense be what’s leading the leading this change if if they get too trigger happy offensively they’re they’re

They’re I mean you got to make shots obviously but you can’t go into a game thinking you’re G to beat the teams in front of you with offense and not defense in my opinion that’s kind of like where I think we get where where the team gets messed up every now and

Then is they just get they lose their defense they focus too much on offense and then they just kind of crap themselves yeah I agree with that I I think uh I agree with you on on coach Mosley and his willingness to stick with the hot hands and kind of uh sometimes

It even carries over to the next game like we’ve seen him stick with a group that played well and start the next game together because it was working really well I think that I like that um there have definitely been times throughout the season where they’ve had just ton of

Injuries and you know I can’t really fault them for those stretches when you know they’re they’re super limited um so now the fact that they’re healthy I think there’s a lot of exciting things you can take away from this season too like jayen sugs entering this season he

Was kind of on the bubble where fans were like I’m not sure if this guy’s going to really pan out is he part of the future core is he not and he’s been awesome you know I think he’s like the heart and soul of that defense he’s shooting almost 39% from three-point

Range like his he’s like five or six% uh volume too five or six attempts volume attempts yeah he’s it’s awesome to see what he’s become Jonathan Isaac looks like obviously the minutes aren’t there because he they’re being very cautious with him understandably uh but when he’s

Out there he’s making a huge impact and he’s one of those guys like there’s obviously we talk a lot about defensive versatility and stuff but I’m not sure there’s anyone that can literally guard one through five the way he can and and affect guys so much so he’s been

Fantastic not shooting the ball well but defensively it’s been there um there’s a lot of positive takeaway and then obviously like what we’ve seen from you know Pao and fron and just the step they forward they’ve taken obviously but I’m curious what do you think is going on

With Cole Anthony and Marquel Foltz too like I was looking at his stats you know he went from being a guy that was attempting like one and a half threes per game to now he’s barely shooting again he’s shooting 14% from three on the season and then it’s not even just

Impacting his three-point shots he’s shooting 56% from the free throw line which is crazy like there were times in Orlando he was shooting 89% from the free throw line he just is really struggling I don’t know I mean obviously he’s been injured and has uh been in out

Of the line up and things like that but is that a confidence issue confidence issue like what do you think is going on with Marquel and and then Cole who’s been struggling quite a bit oh yeah good questions man um I I think with marel I

Think it’s a couple of things right um I’m going to just first state off I I like marel folz as a player I like him as a person um he seems like a great teammate I don’t really have many negatives to say about him you know off

The court I think on the court you know he’s got that nerve injury that is never going to go away that is something he has to manage and I think we’re just seeing it being a factor in in his body right now um um you know I also think he

Had the KN the KN tendonitis that kept him out for I forget however many games it was 20 something games um and and you know I’m not a shot like I’m not a basketball coach and I don’t understand the human body all that well but I’m pretty darn sure that if you’re not

Feeling good in your lower body it’s probably going to affect your upper body on how you shoot the ball as well so if he’s not feeling great down in his knees and he’s not feeling great in his shoulder it’s probably going to mess you up mentally too and so when you put the

Physical with the mental it’s just allows you not to be your best product on the floor um and and I don’t I don’t care what anyone thinks if you’re not feeling good physically it messes with you mentally right and so um you know it it is mental with him to an extent

Because I think it is also physical with him to an extent um and and then you know I think there’s just his role has changed right the ball even when he’s on the court the ball is not being run through him all the time it is part of

The time but it’s also being run a lot through Paulo and a lot through fron and then you’re also seeing coach willingly like hey man you kind of don’t got it right now so we’re gonna play someone else instead and we’re not going to close with you and I think all of that

Is just a lot um you know particularly when you’re dealing with with also like trying to get your body right and stuff like that and he doesn’t have a contract coming up after this he’s not extended right now so I think there’s just I think there a lot of things right yeah

And I think that’s okay um I I mean I want him to play better absolutely but I think like I think kind of seeing the writing on the wall where he’s it’s probably time to move on from him after this season is at least as a starter is

Is is there and I think that’s okay uh you know thank you for your service really appreciate you I hope you do really well and find another team that can fit you a little bit better that can deal with your um you know your shooting struggles um but that’s kind of what I

Think is going on with him um Cole Anthony man I I think there’s I think there’s a couple of things one is he did have that thigh injury that I think was bothering him a lot more than we realized and wasn’t being talked about nearly enough from the front off or from

The you know from the coaching staff I think it I think it really was bothering him a lot longer than we realized because there was times like he’d play eight minutes you know play one game not another like he was kind of in and out because of this injury and then you know

He started playing through it I think like I think he’s just been playing through it um and then I also just think you know what if you look at the last four years of basketball with Cole Anthony he’s had really hot moments that he’s played really well he’s had really

Down moments and I think we’re also just kind of seeing H maybe this is just who you are you’re just kind of a a hot and cold player and you can go on really long stretches of being on a heater and then you can go on really long stretches

Unfortunately of where you’re not being very effective but I also think Cole was really effective at his best when Joe Engles was next to him healthy being that secondary ball handler and then you know when he came like I think when you have both of them not healthy and not

Playing great right away it just kind of like took that second unit a little bit of time to start figuring their out and we saw the last couple of games Mo Vagner started playing better Cole Anthony started playing better even Joe Eng Les started playing better those

Last you know two or three games four games and I’m just hoping that this week of time that they have off will allow them all to kind of get right physically come back do a good practice day get their back together and come back and get these next 27 games back to

Being one of the better second units in the in the league instead of one of the worst second units in the league that’s kind of like my observation what what are kind of seen you know yeah that makes a lot of sense you know I think uh

I agree that folz this is probably his last season in Orlando and it sucks because there have been times when he’s played really well but if you just look roster yeah and like from a from a roster construction standpoint you can’t have that many guys on the court that

You know struggle with their shot and and he has been a good facilitator and and you know set up other guys at times but I think you need someone that can you know be like a 40 plus percent a three-point shooter out there um just so

That you know when guys like fron and pow have the ball in their hands you know you have a guy that can play off ball and catch and shoot and things like that I think that would be huge for them and then the fact that n he struggling

From three and not shooting the ball from three but the fact that now it’s impacting his free throw percentage and stuff too that’s significant it seems like maybe he you know he’s also taking very few free throws per game compared to where he’s been in the past so that

Makes me think that he’s trying to avoid contact because he doesn’t want to shoot free throws because he knows he’s struggling so there’s definitely issues there um with Cole I agree with you I think Cole and and and uh Joe Eng Les I think uh obviously on the court they’ve

Made an impact at times but I think also behind the scenes they’re like really good leaders huge Vibe guys like they’re the guys that are uh friends with everyone and cracking jokes and like I think they are important in the locker room uh they’ve they’ve kind of become

The veteran leaders of this team and uh keep everyone’s energy kind of up too so I think their impact does go beyond the court um and you’re right this might be who Cole Anthony is you know he might be like that microwave scorer that kind of

Comes in and gets hot at times and other times he’ll have a shooting slump and and you just hope that you know hopefully come playoff time he is the hot version of Cole Anthony and uh that’s how but um you know where he can get he’s

Good looking dude we can say that too yeah yeah exactly um so yeah I mean this team has tons of potential and I think when you look at the Young core you have quite a few pieces you’re like okay this is a franchise Cornerstone for us and someone to build around going forward

Like I think obviously you have the big two with poo and fron I think Suggs has someone has become someone that you’re going to build around going forward and he’s part of your team uh I think Jonathan Isaac the hope is that eventually he can get back to a point

Where he’s playing 30 minutes a game but you know we’ll see if his body will allow that or if there’s I think right now there’s being cautious with him which I understand um and then I think really they want to go into the playoffs and see how this team fares in the

Playoff series and they can learn a lot from that not only do you get the guys playoff experience and confidence and all that from being on that stage I think they can see what happens in a playoff series and and figure out okay here’s where we need to go you know we

Need to work on this we need to improve the roster in this way I think how they perform in the playoffs is going to be pretty telling and I think even Jeff welman said after the break like our goal this season is to make the playoffs and get our guys to

Playoff experience we’re not going to go mortgage our future you know for this season like the goal is to to take it one step at a time and then once they make the playoffs and kind of see how they do in playoff series go from there make some moves it’s off season they’re

They’re positioned really well going forward just with the young core they have you know the cap flexibility they have draft picks they have like it’s it’s a really good spot to be if you’re a magic fan yeah no it it’s it’s they didn’t do anything that’s going to to to

Mortgage them long term they still have a ton of flexibility this offseason which is great and we are going to learn a ton like I’m I’m glad they didn’t trade Wendell because they need to figure out how he’s going to play in the playoffs and the playoffs are a

Different beast and I don’t think magic fans really understand that and that’s why it’s like it’s really important to see how guys perform in those environments yeah now as we wrap up this show I do want to like just look at the playoff picture for a second right um

And like let’s just let’s just do some fun right let’s be realistic stick I don’t expect the magic to go from eighth to fourth seed I just don’t I don’t see us getting a home court advantage but there is a world where you know the Miami Heat are kind of teetering back

And forth uh the Pacers are a good team um Philly who knows what’s up with them with embiid being out but it’s a tight race I could see the magic jumping up to six or fifth potentially if things go really well for them what’s like your

Ideal matchup for the magic for this for a first round potential upset I’m thinking the Bucks I kind of like how the magic have matched up versus the Bucks they’re a team that you know will be in a better position in a in a few more weeks as they get more familiar and

Vibing with with coach Doc and and all that stuff but ultimately I still find that team has having some holes on their roster and I feel like we’ve just matched up well with the bucks um overall so if if the Bucks stay in the third seed and the magic can hold down

Down the seventh seed that is a a a first round matchup that I actually think Could Happen um I am like I’m more scared of Cleveland than I am of Milwaukee because Cleveland has just spanked the Magic’s ass every single time they’ve played him this year it’s

Like not even been close almost any game um so that’s kind of why I lean a little bit more Milwaukee than I do there I do think if New York could get into the third spot and were that it’s again the 37 match New York versus the magic

That’s been a good matchup for us too and with Randle being out granted he’ll be back I think sooner than later but I do think that is just another matchup that the magic have done well in in the past so yeah I just had total brain F I

Was thinking the five4 match up instead of the 56 match up which was horrible but yeah so looking at now that you know my brain’s back working I think Milwaukee has to be the one you’re right Cleveland even though they they maybe like casual fans would look at Cleveland

Think okay they’re probably the team to play because you look at Milwaukee and like on paper you see Giannis and Dame this team just does not look good right now and I from the moment they hired Doc Rivers I did not understand that like I I don’t know what they were thinking

This this is a guy that has struggled come playoff time and I don’t know I think I get wanting to move on from Adrien Griffin especially if Giannis or other people behind the scenes were pushing for that I don’t think do RS was the answer I would have waited till the

End of the season when there’s more coaches that you could go you know go through a whole actual coaching process in the offseason where you can interview a bunch of people and you know find the best candidate to just be like Doc Rivers is available right now we’re

Gonna go bring in Doc and give him this multi-year deal I just don’t have that much faith in Doc as a coach um especially like in today’s NBA you know there may have been a time back in the day when doc was better I don’t think

He’s the answer and that team just does not look right right now so yeah I think I would probably say Milwaukee’s my pick too I mean and even if he is the answer next season it he hasn’t had a any time to put in a training camp and and build

The offense and defense yeah it’s so it’s it’s just like there’s too much influx in the middle and that’s okay I think because I would love for the magic to take advantage of that yeah yeah yeah that’s probably the one that stands out to me um because that I think that could

Be an upset I think that’s how the magic get into the second round so see yeah I think that’s fair yep yep well Alex I appreciate you turning on we definitely have a fun 27 games remaining starting on the 22nd on Thursday when the magic comes back and they play I believe they

Start their game they start on a three- game Road Trip Cleveland Detroit Atlanta before they get back home on the 27th verse the Brooklyn Nets who just fired jacqu Von um so I’m really looking forward to seeing how these last 27 games play out maybe the magic can get

You know 45 46 wins 47 wins somewhere around there that would be an amazing jump from how they ended last season and uh you know we’re gonna we’re probably unless something wild happens we’re going to see this magic team in the playoffs and that’s going to be awesome

Regardless if it’s a sweep or we sweep them I’m going to love every minute of it um Alex thank you so much for coming on the show talking some Magic basketball with me please let all the listeners know where they can find you and your latest work yeah follow me on

Twitter at Alex Kennedy NBA you can watch my show running up the score there you can see all my articles uh whether it’s for ESPN or Legends magazine I tweet them all out there so yeah follow me on Twitter X whatever Alex Kennedy NBA and Magic fans thanks for tuning in

This is another episode of the closeup part of the Orlando Magic HQ Network and we’ll see you next week peace

In the newest episode of The Close Up Podcast, we’re delighted to welcome Alex Kennedy, a prominent voice in sports journalism from ESPN and Basketball News. Together, they delve into an array of captivating subjects, from the emotional retirement of Shaq’s jersey to the electrifying NBA All-Star weekend.

Additionally, they provide insightful analysis of the Orlando Magic’s upcoming schedule as they navigate toward the playoffs. This is a conversation you can’t afford to overlook. Don’t forget to check out the exhilarating new Orlando Magic HQ Subscription program on Instagram.

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