EP. 528 – Perfect Fit W/ HoopIntellect – Orlando Magic Podcast

EP. 528 – Perfect Fit W/ HoopIntellect – Orlando Magic Podcast

this is the Sixth Man Show an Orlando Magic podcast with your hosts Kevin Tucker and Jonathan Osborne covering all things Magic Basketball by fans for fans go Magic what’s going on Orlando Magic fans you guys are back with the six-man show today is June 19th 2025 happy Junth jonathan Osborne here as always joined by my co-host Kevin Tucker kevin it’s now been three and a half days since the Desmond Bane trade how are we feeling still great like really great actually yeah yeah since we last recorded we got a lot of videos and sound bites you know from actual Orlando Magic you know the the training center uh Jeff Welman spoke to the media Desmond Bane showed up at the training center Coach Mosley spoke with the media and all those things and and all of them were just so giddy like like we saw Jeff Welman you you had an alltime tweet Jonathan I got to say on our account you you just took a little 5-second clip of Jeff Welman walking up to the podium walking up to the mics you know clapping his hands rubbing his hands together just looking like a million bucks dude and uh that was great there’s a split second before he walks up to the mic where he kind of like fixes his glasses or like rubs his brow or something like that and you can see him almost crack into a massive grin like an ear to ear just huge smile and then he just try to collects himself and he’s looking around like good good we all we all good here like this man knows the pressure that he was under he knows the smack that fans were talking yours truly includeed included and this dude like bottom of the ninth bases loaded two strikes just knocked it out of the park and walked up with some swagger and confidence that we’ve never quite seen from Jeff Welman and I I’ve got to be honest he wears it well i got to say that’s what I was going to say like we’ve been to media day four years I think in a row now at least three maybe four I don’t remember and so we’re used to that exact same spot that exact same corner of the room Jeff Welman walking in i’ve never ever seen him walk in like that it was very funny and and you know maybe it is a little bit of confidence but I think it is a lot of relief but I think it also is excitement like I think he’s legitimately excited for what they were able to pull off this weekend and what it means for the future so the Jeff Welman stuff um Desmond Bane’s arrival that was a bit of a surprise we weren’t sure when that was going to happen but you know as many Magic fans know if you’ve been hanging out on social media he was already on vacation up in Destin so just made the quick little trip down to Orlando for the little intro and that whole Well they posted a couple video clips but like that that first clip of him walking in and talking about the training center and then what I called the DAP herd round the world where you know he got to meet up with the DAP herd back in Memphis as KD would say yeah that yeah that was that was interesting but yeah that was really cool and him loving the jerseys and just all of it the problem is none of this is helping with like settling my excitement right now and I really needed to come down like 10 notches number one cuz I don’t want to get too too you know put the cart before the horse or anything but also because we still have three months to go till we actually see this team uh but yeah that was really cool um and obviously we can talk maybe a little more about his press conference in a second the only thing I just wanted to add was I I feel a little bit guilty about something i I don’t think Desmond Bane meant these things but I think people in Memphis are taking these some of the comments he said as shots and I feel a little bit guilty because I have no problem with Memphis i have no problem with the Memphis Grizzlies and I don’t I don’t want to start a rift between Orlando Magic and Memphis Grizzly fans and all that kind of stuff or Desmond Bane and the Memphis Grizzly i don’t think he meant anything by those comments of saying you know this ain’t like what we got in Memphis you know as far as the training center or maybe the more offensive one was him holding up the jersey and saying like these are these are the sickest jersey I’ve ever played in or whatever the toughest jerseys I think you said and then you know calling the Memphis like training facility the dungeon and yeah you know things like that well I felt a little bad about that but you know hey whatever it’s it’s all good well I think it’s kind of twofold one whenever a team decides to trade you right you’re like for for picks like Yeah none of these picks that you’re collecting are probably going to you know measure up to what he is as a player um but also like it is I think it’s more excitement for where he is now than dissing kind of where he came from you know but all of that is super exciting and I want to continue the conversation around the excitement but um first of all I just want to shout out you we’ve had over a 100 new subscribers to the to the YouTube channel since our last episode i’m sure we’ve got some new podcast subscriptions as well uh so if this is I guess not your introduction to us but if you’re new to the show first of all welcome uh obviously Jonathan Osborne here and Kevin Tucker sitting to my left your right if you’re watching this on YouTube I believe is the way that it usually goes uh but yeah we’re an Orlando Magic podcast and we keep this going throughout the entire off season all throughout the regular season we have live the postgame live after every single Magic game and our entire mission is really to just raise up this fan base and I think there’s uh some new folks jumping on the Orlando Magic bandwagon as well uh and just want to say thank you to everybody for the love like the Desmond Bane reaction video and podcast are already pretty much like our most downloaded podcast episode of all time the YouTube video is the most viewed podcast episode that we have on YouTube of all time already and it’s been up for two days we’ve been uploading you know videos uh for the most part the last 3 to four years so to have those benchmarks literally within the span of like 72 hours is really really crazy so just wanted to say thank you to everyone for that and uh a quick special shout out and thank you to our patrons because without them everything that we do here literally is not possible so we try to give them special shoutouts whenever we can um and something that we’re going to be doing more moving forward is like Patreon you specific or Patreon exclusive giveaways and Kevin I have the first one right here in my hands m so for our patrons we are going to be giving away this Jonathan Isaac autographed jersey says Judah with the number one inscription on it and this is last year’s classic edition jersey brand new still’s got the Nike tag on it uh so we will be giving this away it’s all also got a James Spence authentication sticker on that as well so if you want to look it up make sure that it’s legit um we are going to be giving that away to anyone already existing in our Patreon at the all-star tier and above uh if you’re already a patre a patron of ours already joined the Patreon allstar tier and above you’re going to get two entries automatically and then any new patrons over the course of the next week you’re also if you join at the Allstar Tier or above you’re also going to get an entry to that as well so if you want to get in on that head over to patreon.com/the6manshow to be able to join and get a chance to win it is literally a beautiful Jonathan Isaac jersey reason I’m giving it away is because I already have one you all can’t really tell but it’s behind me right above my head here uh it’s the 1819 classic edition the blue with the white pinstripes so I’m holding on to that one for myself uh selfishly but we will be giving that one away so if you’re not already a patron head on over patreon.com/the6man show join at the Allstar tier level or above yeah and I’ll also add you mentioned um you know lots of new people joining us which again very glad you’re with us and like Jonathan said we do this literally 12 months out of the year not just during the season not just when you know there’s a big trade happen like we’re here every Monday and Thursday with you know the episodes right here also want to welcome I think we have a lot of I don’t know about a lot but we have several Memphis Grizzlies fans that are tuning in now and I think that’s going back to Desmond Bane a testament to him he made a lot of fans in I believe his five years in Memphis and a lot of people in our comments and on social media saying “Hey going to be following the Magic this season because we love Desmond Bane.” And so if you’re a Grizzlies fan welcome as well uh but yeah Patreon’s a great way to get involved in what we’re doing a great way to get involved in some of these giveaways and uh yeah we also have our next Patreon Zoom call next Thursday night during the second round of the NBA draft on I believe it’s the 20 Yeah the 26th uh at 8:00 p.m and that is for our Hall of Fame and elite tier patrons as well uh and so if you want to get involved in that get on a Zoom call with some fellow Magic Oh by the way Jonathan I haven’t told you this we might have a major shift in the Magic fan base maybe it’s up for discussion okay you know how this term magic maniacs has been kind of swirling around i I’ve been I’ve been propagating it to to be clear we might have to be calling them the magic baniacs going forward i don’t know i’m just maybe depending on the night maybe if he has a good night maybe we’re the magic baniacs i don’t know you can chew on it but anyway if you want to join us for that Zoom call uh yeah that’s our Hall of Fame and elite tier patrons and you can find that at patreon.com/the6man and it is draft season so we’re going to continue the draft conversation with this episode so um someone that has basically become like a draft season regular for here for us here on the show uh Keandre Ashley from Hoop Intellect is going to join us a little bit later in the episode uh to talk more about the draft but we’re going to continue the Desmond Bane conversation and you know all of the excitement that’s been going kevin going back to the Jeff Welman presser the the biggest thing for me was him saying that if we could design a player in the lab like that is a perfect fit for our team it would look like Desmond Bane and that has been echoed i mean we’ve watched all the YouTube videos listened to all the podcasts other than like ESPN stuff and and First Take one of our patrons in our Discord was like “Oh look like ESPN or like First Take like really likes the trade.” And and I said this was Monday and I said “I’m trying to value the opinion today that I valued yesterday.” So if I didn’t care about your opinion yesterday when you weren’t talking about the Magic or you were trashing the Magic or whatever I don’t particularly value your opinion now that you like what we’ve done unless you’re Gilbert Arenas because he’s crapping all over the trade and if Gilbert doesn’t like it it tells me that it was the right move because he’s a [ __ ] but like our friends over at Numbers on the Board Pick Aside Zack Low the the Bill Simmons podcast um you know all NBA like any video that you watch everybody is saying the exact same thing about this move that it is the perfect fit for the Magic and is it technically an overpay yes but when a guy’s not available and you’re trying to get off of other guys that may not have a ton of value sometimes you do have to overpay but if an overpay results in this team taking the step to the Eastern Conference Finals or the NBA Finals or winning the NBA Finals I don’t think there is an overpay that is too much for that so with that kind of being the goal and you know a real potential possibility for this team I don’t think that you can really put or assess a value to that especially for a team that has never won one right i think again part of it’s it’s my it’s my personality as an Orlando Magic fan to have low expectations and so that’s why part of this is just rattling my brain because like you said everywhere we’ve turned I of of the people whose opinions I value I have not heard anyone poop on this trade for the Magic anyone right and that’s the part that’s just crazy you just mentioned like some of the some of the smarter basketball heads in the national NBA landscape and everyone is saying it’s a great deal and everyone is saying it puts the Magic in a great position uh and and again not just for this season but for future seasons right i think that’s the other thing that a lot of people really latch on to this isn’t like a one-year rental and it’s like oh just because Jason Tatum’s injured the Magic are going to try and win a championship next year it’s like no they’re trying to win a championship multiple championships over the next half decade and so um yeah I think that’s that’s just still like hurting my brain to hear so many people talk positively about the Orlando Magic cuz I’m just not used to it it just doesn’t happen um but then yeah going back to like the press conferences and stuff uh it was interesting to hear Jeff Welman he was asked a lot of things obviously uh he was asked about the cost right you know what what it cost to get uh Desmond Bane and I love you know his response and and uh he basically like you said when when he talked about Desmond Bane he said he fits all the checks all the boxes but I I also love the fact that what he talked about at the exit interviews where he said “We’re probably going to have to sacrifice defense for offense.” And then he somehow someway finds a way to get offense without really sacrificing defense right is Desmond Bane maybe a slightly I don’t want to say worse defender but is maybe KCP slightly better maybe i don’t know i I thought there were stretchs of this season where I didn’t think KB played to his full defensive potential but Desmond Bane is a very good defender and so I think that’s also part of where Jeff Swagger is cuz I I think part of it part of it is he he can’t believe that it happened i really I really think that’s part of it he can’t believe that that they acquired Desmond Bane that it only cost him what it cost him um and so yeah I thought that was pretty fun to watch Jeff Waltman kind of you know have a little bit of swagger in his step on Monday and then Desmond was actually kind of asked about the cost as well and you know I think the question was like you know you were traded you know essentially for four first round picks like you know what does that say to you and he just bluntly said it’s time to win like that that’s really the only real answer you know for him right like it I’m assuming it’s not too much pressure but I would guess that there’s a little bit of pressure with a team like so obviously and and part of it is like it’s a vote of confidence but it’s a massive investment that this move like really needs to to work out because if this move doesn’t work out eventually what is pro you know most probable to happen would be like people losing their jobs right and players being you know traded so there’s a little bit of pressure there but hearing him say that like it is time to win like that it just got me so fired up and when when you and I were kind of not raw reactions cuz it was hours after the fact but that night you know the last episode talking about like this is something that should vault us into contention in the Eastern Conference and everyone kind of has the East for going into next season some type of order of the Knicks the Pacers the Cavs the Magic like in that top four some people think you know the Pacers are the best team in the East now given the Cleveland’s playoff failures some people still think it’s Cleveland they just kind of need to figure some things out along the way but the fact that the Magic are like legitimately if you have one or two teams ahead of us in your mind I understand it i personally think that we’re should be kind of like the second best team in the East probably behind the Cleveland Cavaliers given the regular season that they’ve had but I like you know our lineup and our depth more than more than the Knicks they’re also going through a coaching change you never really know what to expect in that regard and then when we look at the Indiana Pacers just like if you look at the way the Magic have played the Pacers the last two seasons we just happen to match up really well with the Pacers um but to hear Desmond Bane you know talking about how he and his agent at the beginning of the off season were speaking in hypotheticals but hey like if you ever were to be traded and I think they understood that there was a possibility that it could happen given the way that Memphis’s last couple of seasons have ended but if there ever was a possibility that you could be traded what would some of your preferred destinations be and for him to like kind of raise his hand to God you know like during the presser and be like I I swear I told him that Orlando would be towards the top of the list maybe not the top of the list and that’s fine but towards the top of the list is massive that hey we may not becoming like a sexy free agency destination per se but the fact that players around the league and this is what we’ve been talking about as recently as like the plans to build the Advent Health Training Center like play players and and teams around the league are recognizing what the Magic are building kind of what they’re investing into the organization and what they’re building in terms of culture and the product on the floor especially so to hear him say that was especially exciting i I think another thing I I guess I I just laid a lot of praise on some of the national folks that have praised this trade there was one thing that bothered me though a couple of the analysts used the phrase this puts to me this puts Orlando in the in the top four in the East and my push back to that was when healthy this team was already a top four team in the East correct like and I don’t even just mean that hypothetically i mean if you think back to two seasons ago when this team was healthy they were the four seed you think back to last year when this team was healthy they were a top not even fully healthy somewhat healthy through November they were a top three top four seed and so I think it might be slightly disrespectful to say “Yeah I think this this puts them in the top four.” I think it certainly like solidifies top four and puts you in this discussion for three or two i I I think like you again you could argue about the Knicks you could argue about the Pacers the Cavs who knows all those things but I think saying “Oh yeah it probably puts them in the top four is a little disrespectful to me maybe.” Um cuz it does it does totally change the dynamic dynamic offensively all this with a big asterisk Jonathan because there are still moves that have to be made like th this this offseason is not done we touched on it a little bit on the last episode this off season is not done for the Orlando Magic what does that look like we don’t know actually since we’ve recorded though the Magic did announce that they were declining the team options of Gary Harris and Cory Joseph so that is partially the moves that we’re talking about there are still other deals that have to be figured out as far as uh the team options caleb Houston Mo Vagner i believe off the top of my head the deadline for that is June 29th and so sometime in the next 10 days we’ll get the news about that and the other reminder is just because a team option is declined doesn’t mean the team that the player is not coming back to the team okay we’ve seen that before uh with different guys where the option is declined and they restructure the deal in a different way to be able to afford the player to come back so just as it stands though they’re a top four team in the East to me um yeah I I kind of want to go back one more time just to the press conference quickly piggyback off of you know the the team options being declined so my understanding is that they had to do that now or at least they had to do it before July 1st right um because July 1st hits then like the next like financial year starts for the league and I guess the Desmond Bane trade would not have been possible right after that so with this trade happening during the finals which is rare um a lot of that seems to have dealt with the fact that for for financial purposes it had to be done now so that’s why all the team options are June 29th before July 1st that’s that’s that’s why it’s there so yeah we’ll have some answers with that but um so yeah so we’re still waiting to see if some of those guys come back i think there’s a a decent chance that Cory Joseph might be back i would be shocked if Gary Harris is back um and then there’s still team options I believe on Caleb Houston and and Mo Vager which there’s been reports you know I I don’t know how credible they are that the Magic are expected to decline the team option for Mo Vagner we’ll wait to see that and just while we’re on the topic of the salary cap I know there’s been a lot of talk about you know Fron 25% of the cap or like 30% of the cap coming off of like the designated rookie max extension stuff so I actually learned something this week that for there’s a caveat in the designated rookie like max extension that if the player makes an AllNBA team their percentage of the cap goes from 25 to 30 which obviously is a lot more money but they have to make AllNBA before the start of their fifth year so the fact that Fron Vagner has not made all NBA he is for sure locked in at 25% and now Paulo essentially is going to have like the next two seasons this year this coming year and the following year to make all NBA and if he does then his share of the cap will go up to 30% we’re expecting that i would be absolutely shocked if Paulo does not make an allNBA team if healthy this year this coming year or the following year so just a couple of little notes there and salary cap is tricky stuff man we try to do our best to lay a lot of that stuff out but uh always learning always trying to be better on that end yeah we’re we’re not no mathematicians over here no math wizards that’s for sure definitely not yeah um but yeah other other things from the press conferences i mean Jamal Mosley had his own little presser there which was cool and it was definitely cool to get to hear him talk about what he thought Desmond Desmond Bane could could bring to the team on again on both ends uh I think that’s again super important and um yeah did you take anything away from things you heard from Mosley or from Desmond Bane himself or anything else from those press conferences um I’m trying to think um no not particularly i just I love Desmond Bane already uh hearing him talk about you know wanting to fly out to Seattle to hang out with Paulo and not necessarily to even train or like to hoop together but just to kind of hang out and and get to know the person and talking about you know getting the entire team together at some point you know during this off season to get to know everyone like it just from the the character to the player it it doesn’t seem like this could have been any better of a of a fit you know and one one other thing I wanted to mention is because there’s kind of been this like retroconning done of like the Contavius Cwell Pope signing from a year ago at first again everybody loved the move for the Magic it didn’t end up working out this time around even more so like there were maybe some mixed reactions to the Contavius Cowwell Pope signing last year like there was a lot of confusion at first and then oh actually this kind of does make sense for the Magic there’s none of that with this Desmond Bane deal now if it doesn’t work out heads are going to roll regardless that’s just the way that these things play out however can’t turn around you know knock on wood god forbid this move doesn’t go the way that we all think it can i don’t want people going back like man that was such a dumb deal i can’t believe we did that at the time right every single smart person that talks about basketball on the internet thinks this is a fantastic move for the Magic and just another thing about Desmond Bane I loved hearing him talk about Coach Mosley saying you know he’s always admired him and being on opposite sidelines is one thing but having him in your corner is another thing talked about him being a players coach and another bit of information a little bit of news that has dropped since you and I have even been talking right now jonathan Desmond Bane is going to be on today’s as you’re listening to this Thursday’s episode of The Young Man in the Three they got Desmond Bane on the show now they haven’t announc They haven’t mentioned whether it was recorded before or after the trade but they posted a picture of him in the Magic jersey and I’m guessing they might have grabbed him this week and so that’s going to be mustsee TV or must listen to content yeah Desmond Bane on today’s episode of The Young Man and the Three we’ll have to check that out it’s nice to have clout like that you know i mean Desmond if if you’re listening if you’re looking for you know some Orlando Magic Media and you’re I don’t know you got some downtime you’re looking on YouTube you came across you know us love to have you on the show at any time uh you know thanks to some of our followers on Twitter who have been tagging him telling him come on the show all that kind of stuff open invitation so anytime we would uh we would love to have Desmond on the show and just uh you know just introduce him to to Magic fans and and help fans get to know him a little bit better and just hearing you know some of his you know backstory you know growing up you know I think he said he was raised by his great-grandparents and um he actually thought of wearing number nine cuz I think that was like the day that or the day of the month that his grandmother passed or or something like that just everything that we’ve heard you know from Daniel Greer you know who covers the Grizzlies who we talked to you know on the last episode to um you know I even talked to some team employees that said uh what would that have been was that Tuesday desmond got there at like 7 o’clock in the morning to the facility was shaking you know every employees hand very generous with his time you know talking to everybody just could not be a nicer guy and I’ve heard that from multiple sources so um you just love to hear that about a guy so big Desmond Bane fans over here absolutely this episode of the Sixman Show is brought to you by Jam Hot Chicken jam Hot Chicken is proudly serving the city beautiful and bringing jams culture and hot chicken to the heart of Winter Park they’re a Nashville and LA inspired hot chicken shack locally owned and operated there in Winter Park at 400 West New England Avenue Sweet 13 in Hannibal Square we’re big fans of Jam Hot Chicken because they are big fans of the Orlando Magic fan community oh and not to mention we’re also big fans of them because the food is really freaking good so if you haven’t been go check them out but maybe you want to check them out online first before you go that’s totally understandable we all do it you can find them on social media jamhotchick or visit their website jamhotchickenfl.com where you can see the menu and uh all things jam hot don’t forget they’re now available on Uber Eats they’re in the Winter Park area so if you want Jam Hot Chicken but don’t want to leave the comfort of home you can find them on Uber Eats as well again shout out to Jam Hot Chicken for sponsoring the show and shout out to Jam Hot Chicken for being just freaking awesome so if you go visit them let them know the sixman show sent you this episode is also brought to you by Pierre A Magicwire Braval Michael Salapong and Jonathan Fischer these are f five of our Hall of Fame and elite tier patrons they went to patreon.com/the6man show where for as little as $2 a month you can help support the show and help us do everything that we’re doing and right now we are running a special giveaway to give away this Jonathan Isaac autographed classic edition jersey from last season we’re giving that away to uh one lucky member of our Hall of Fame elite or allstar tier uh so if you want to join in on that if you’re an existing patron you’re already going to get two entries into that and new patrons at those levels will get one entry as well and uh yeah maybe we’ll uh announce that live on our draft reaction show next week Kev so again you want to help support the show head on over to patreon.com/the6man show and now let’s get back to the episode all right without further ado let’s go ahead and get into our conversation with our friend Keandre Ashley from Hoop and Elect and now Magic fans we are joined by a very special guest a regular this time of year especially around the draft our friend Keandre Ashley from the Hoop Intellect YouTube channel kandre over 55,000 subs on YouTube now millions of views on YouTube always appreciate your insight and your expertise especially when it comes to the draft here uh but how are you doing has this been like a a crazier draft season for you than normal just kind of all the prospects at the top um how is this time of year for you yeah man i’m I’m doing good um I like this time of year it’s definitely super busy i’m working non-stop but um you know that’s part of it that’s the fun part um but yeah I mean in terms of just the class as a whole I think you know this has been a fun one to cover especially in contrast to last year just with some of the bigger names at the top and yeah I think just just in general I’m enjoying it before we get into the deep dive of basketball because we’re going to pick your brain on everything we’re going to talk about Desmond Bane we’re going to talk about the draft all those things but before we get into that we we know you appreciate the art of basketball too and and look good play good i don’t know if you’ve had a chance to see the new look for the Orlando Magic the new jerseys the new logo all the things that came out a couple weeks ago what do you think about the new look for the Orlando Magic i like it i like it a lot i think it was uh time to sort of update some things um in terms of the branding I feel like there there’s a few teams around the league that just have so much potential the Magic I would have said are are one of those they’ve kind of been you know dabbling in it with some of the the city jerseys and and those types of things over the years but um I I really like the rebrand i like the logo specifically um both of them actually the the primary and the alternate um I was excited when I got to put it on um you know one of the the draft videos um just because it looks so much better uh in my opinion but yeah you know I like it a lot i think that there’s um a lot of potential and especially with them making the Bane trade and them kind of heading into what could be like the start of a new true era um I thought it was it was it was great well that’s a perfect segue new look for the organization new look for the team ob obviously talking about Desmond Bane uh what was your initial reaction to the trade and and kind of where are you now in terms of what the Magic gave up and and the fit for the Magic yeah initially I loved it just because he’s the perfect guy and you wouldn’t have thought that he would have necessarily been available right you throw a lot of other names out there uh Anthony Simons was a very popular one over the last couple years but uh Bane and his track record the physicality that he brings to the table along with obviously he’s been a knockdown shooter since college um he’s been somebody who has grown a ton as a secondary playmaker somebody who can um set up offense and run the offense for long periods of time and I think he’s exactly what uh guys like Paulo and Fran need and obviously there’s a little bit more uh tinkering to still do with the roster I think um but he’s the guy that you would ideally want to put next to them so I think you know just his ability to play on and off the ball is going to be great and then just in terms of the like the reaction to the the picks and everything and and what they gave up I thought it was you know initially you think it’s a pretty steep price but once you look into the pro the protections hopefully this team if it reaches its potential those picks aren’t going to be at least the ones that the Magic own aren’t going to be super valuable you also get off of KCP’s contract in the in the process which you probably would have had to give up a first based off of how he played last year so putting all that stuff together I don’t think that it’s uh crazy what they gave up and I think it it it makes a lot of sense um especially because not only are you getting him you’re hopefully getting are able to unlock more out of Paulo and Fron in the process so I like it yeah obviously we’re recording this you know mid June so there’s a lot of offseason to happen who knows what’s going to happen with all the different moves that that need to be happen not just for the Magic but you know across the Eastern Conference but where does this Bane trade put the magic for you in the landscape of the East you know the phrase that keeps going around is the East is wide open and it feels that way because you know the Pacers have made the finals this year the Celtics are injured next year plus who knows what they’re going to do where does this trade uh move the magic for you in terms of the landscape of the East yeah I think that they’re uh pretty much a lock uh in the top four um health willing even you know there’s natural things that happen throughout a year i think you know you kind of expect that but um as long as the core of the team is available and ready to go down the stretch um I just find it hard to believe that they’re not going to be in that conversation with Indiana with uh the New York Knicks um with maybe Philly if they’re able to um recover some things this year i Cleveland should hopefully you know get back into that conversation too um but I I think that they’re they’re naturally going to be up there um you know again like you kind of alluded to there are a few other things that you’d want to see just to you know see how they would stack up with uh some other teams um but I just find it hard to believe that a team with Paulo Fron um and Desmond Bane as their core three and you also have Jaylen Suggs who’s the terrific as well isn’t going to be um in that conversation talking a little bit more about the the draft coming up and you know less than a week as we’re or I guess a week from now as we’re recording this the Magic giving up you know the first round pick of this year which we know is the 16th pick what is your evaluation of how valuable that pick is and who are maybe some of the prospects that you expect to go in that range like is this a massive first round pick that the Magic gave up or is it something that you know Jeff Welman and company aren’t really going to lose sleep over yeah I think that you know it’s a it’s a pretty good pick you know it’s it’s fairly valuable i don’t think that it’s something like you lose sleep over you know having somebody that ends up in that spot or you know who Memphis drafts or who might go in that general range i think it’s fine i think somebody’s going to get a contributor there’s going to be a few contributors there but um it’s not something that you’re like “Oh man you know you wish you wish you had that.” So um and I think that’s going to be the case for a lot of those other picks in that in that group too especially if they end up in the you know 24 25 you know even further on range yeah exactly so in this deal like we mentioned we ship off number 16 but number 25 is still around and so that’s where the Magic as of right now at least are going to be picking uh at next Wednesday’s draft and so uh it shifts a little bit of the focus for us Magic fans we were looking at two picks now we’re down to one and it’s a later first round pick but I mean obviously as we know some of these things actually hit i mean Desmond Bane was a late first round pick i think he was 30 right i’m pretty sure that year and so who knows what’s available at 25 but as you look through um this draft you touched on it a little bit before we talk about specific players at 25 what’s your evaluation of the depth of this draft obviously everyone talks about Cooper Flag at the top Ace Bailey those kinds of guys but as as far as the draft as a whole maybe specifically the first round the top 30 picks is it a strong draft a deep draft or how would you evaluate it compared to past seasons yeah so it’s kind of weird getting into this NIL era or at least as it’s presently constructed to value or evaluate their whole class um with some of the classes of of old right um we had a lot of guys go back to school because of that NIL money and they’re going to be able to you know develop over there for another year or maybe you know two in some cases um so it’s it’s a little bit difficult to to gauge from that perspective i do think at least in the first round there is still a healthy amount of players that um have the potential to contribute especially around pick 25 as we get going further into the second round that’s when I think it starts to um there starts to be a huge drop off in a lot of ways in a way that like some of the years prior you might still have a somebody like an Aaron Wiggins or um somebody in that those 40s to 50s who you feel decent about at least just given a two-way or um having in your your your program but it starts to get a little bit weird there and especially with the Magic having those second round picks i’m I’d be interested to see what they end up doing in that respect but class as a whole I like it um I think there’s a a good amount of contributors and I feel at least in comparison to last year definitely better about it just overall from top to bottom this time a week ago heading into the draft and heading into the off season there’s a obviously a strong understanding that the Magic needed to add shooting they needed to add playmaking as well they’ve addressed a lot of that with the addition of Desmond Bane but in your estimation the Magic approaching this draft what should they be looking to add to this team at this point yeah I think you know there’s a lot of directions that you could go in um I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit just with the Magic um in general shooting would be at a premium still i think that’s one of the the biggest areas that they can address now it may not have to come from the draft or whoever they pick i think you can still find that in other places and be fine and still develop somebody um you know along the way but I think you know there could be quite a bit of value in the backup point guard position i think that that would be towards the top of my list um somebody like Walter Clayton Jr would be one of the targets I think um in that spot i also would say second to that uh somebody in the front court backup big somebody who can come in and and do uh a number of things um there’s there could be quite a few options there too obviously the Magic have some decisions to make with Mo Vagner and Goa and what you’re going to do with Wendell um in the future but I think that there could be some value there to at least get a guy that you can um depend on and and bring something else to the table so those would be my my my first two um first two areas that I would look to address yeah I think one of the key aspects of the draft these days is because of how the finances are structured in the league right now these cheaper contracts especially in the back end of the first round are super can be super valuable um and so there’s always two paths right there’s a you know pick your best player available you can roll the dice on somebody that you you think has a lot of upside or you can pick for fit and one of the things you mentioned backup kind of point guard role i know a lot of uh Magic fans out there are also Florida Gator fans and so hearing Walter Clayton Jr.’s name be mentioned there I know some of them are excited about that i’m also interested in like you mentioned a potentially backup or more likely third string big body that the Magic could maybe draft uh at this spot are there some specific names that you might look at there in that 25 range that the Magic might be targeting for that role yeah so I think there’s two specifically that I I are at the top of my list the first would be Maxim Reo out of Stanford um what he brings to the table as a seven-footer who can space the floor you know also put it on the floor drive a close out score on the interior he was lights out in the ACC this season took some big strides um on both ends of the floor but seriously on the offensive end i think that element and just being able to again address the shooting but also have somebody in the front court who can um be reliable and just be involved in actions in a lot of ways even if it is for just short stints of time I think could be really beneficial now his stock has started to you know rise a little bit more i think he would have been uh locked to be available at that point if we talked several weeks ago um so we’ll see what happens in that aspect but if he’s there he would be uh towards the top of my list and then another guy would be uh Kraton’s Ryan Cockbrrener another sevenfooter that’s a little bit different but what he brings to the table in terms of rim protection and being able to to finish plays and attract gravity as a roller um is something that the Magic haven’t fully had you know with the the current construction of this team and I think um putting that in this group could be you know again really beneficial in in a different way but um yeah he would he would definitely be towards the top of the list as well just Kandre like purely to like your you know evaluation process at that point in the draft are you more a fan of teams kind of taking a swing or more so addressing need you know in the later part of the first and once you get into the second round what What’s your opinion on that yeah I think a lot of times because it’s usually teams that um that are contenders um you know I guess you could you could say that you could go either way usually I would say just get some getting somebody who can contribute or you see a path to contributing in this situation would be ideal especially like you mentioned in this era where you know teams are kind of crunched on you know salary and and payroll uh because that that cheap contract is so valuable right now especially if you do hit um so that would be my my initial target i think in certain situations you could say you know depending on who is there getting a guy who has a lot of upside or you know might have tools but may may take a year or two could could still be the way to go but for a team like the Magic I would I would look to um especially because they have they’ve kept guys like Anthony Black and Jed Howard and Tristan Dilva um I would look to go for somebody that you think can can help this team in the short term in the past what’s it been 72 hours basically since this Desmond Bane trade one of the things that maybe it’s gone under the radar a little bit is the Magic have completely depleted their guard depth right you know included in the deal was KCP and Cole Anthony that’s two guards and then to make the deal happen again under the radar they declined the team options of Gary Harris and Cory Joseph two guys who likely weren’t going to come back next season anyway but regardless they formally made the moves and so four guards boom gone like that obviously you add Desmond Bane You mentioned Walter Clayton Jr at 25 are there any other guards whether they’re more of the playmaker type or the shooter type any other guards that interest you at all at 25 if the Magic go that way yeah one I think I was really interested in at 16 I’m not 100% sure he could be there at 25 but he might is Jace Richardson um you know out of Michigan State had a great freshman year really caught on late um and I think that his his ability to shoot the three make plays in a variety of ways connect the dots uh also compete defensively he is small so that’s why his his range is is kind of fluctuated but I think that he could fit in pretty perfectly and seamlessly here um as you know and and work next to an Anthony Black because of what he can do defensively or Jaylen Suggs and just kind of mix in there with with those guys i think he would be uh definitely somebody that that would be they would be interested in if he was available at 25 even if he like started to slip to like 22 or something you give up a a second round asset to move up i think he’d be um in that discussion and then another one I would say um sort of guard sort of wing would be Ne Clifford out of Colorado State um he’s somebody who may or may not be there as well but um I like what he brings to the table you know he shoots it uh he plays extremely hard he averaged almost 10 rebounds a game um he can defend i think again he’s he fits the mold of somebody that you want on all teams but what the Magic do I think that he he’s definitely somebody that would they would be interested in um even though he is a bit of an older prospect bringing this back to like the Central Florida connection you know with Walter Clayton Jr I can’t tell you how many thousands of tweets that we’ve received or comments on videos that the Magic should draft Walter Clayton Jr you know etc given how you have you know Jay’s you know evaluation just slightly higher what do you think are are the differences or or maybe some of like the the downside that you see with Walter Clayton Jr potentially yeah so I think the thing with with Clayton um you know he’s not the biggest guard also I obviously you know Jay is is even smaller but he’s not the biggest guard and then in today’s NBA that obviously comes with his own set of challenges um he’s not the most adept playmaker and decision maker right he’s gotten a lot better at that over the years and I know Florida fans will attest to that um just one year to the next and it was obviously a big part of them winning the national championship but um because he he might be more oriented to being a shot creator first and um some of the decisions can you know go ary at times those would be the things that I think are the biggest drawbacks just you know the questions on defense at his size and then um how much value he can actually give you in terms of of of decision-m and passing but I mean what he does as a as a shot maker and uh pull-up shooter is obvious is hard to argue against and that’s why he’s continued to be in that you know 25 top 20 type of range uh for me and you know some even in higher than him higher on him than that uh because of that ability so um those would be some of the downsides but I think you know what you’re getting especially in reference to the rest of this class there’s nobody quite like him in terms of just just pure shotmaking the Magic also have two second round picks 46 and 57 and two things number one Jeff Waltman has a longstanding tradition of throwing those away you know trading those off for money or whatever so I I would be shocked if the Magic used both i’d be surprised if they if they use one now I’m not going to say you’re going to ask you who you’re targeting at number 46 but do you have any second round sleepers like just in general are there any guys that you know look like they’re going to slip to the second round that you think could be worth taking a risk on in the second round for the Magic or for any team really yeah so I think you know I I was thinking about this Magic specific around 46 um I would say but I do think this this still applies seion James from Duke um I like what he brings to the table just as a as a defensive guard who is super physical somebody who connects the dots in all ways he’s a good cutter he can shoot it he defends um he’s not necessarily great at at all of those things like or elite at all those things should I say um otherwise he would be you know a first round pick but you know I think you look at the role that he played on their uh final four run and and see that he could be good value somewhere in the second round uh especially for a team like this Magic one um I would also throw uh you know uh Kobe Brea in that conversation too uh as just a knockdown shooter on the wings that’s mostly what he does and that’s mostly his appeal he’s he’s he had one of the best careers shooting the ball that I’ve I’ve really ever seen in college basketball shot over 40% the last several years starting at Dayton moving up to Kentucky this year so he he’d be in that conversation as well so um there’s a lot of guys I think that have a decently wide range in that um second round that could be available in a lot of different spots but like I mentioned before you know it starts to get tricky at that around that time like in the 40s um the value starts to to drop off so yeah well Keandre we always appreciate the expertise and the education here as we don’t watch so much college basketball throughout the year but especially important for us to get up on this stuff leading up to the draft before we let you go can you just let our listeners know where they can find your work yeah so you can find my stuff um at Hoop Inlect on YouTube Twitter Instagram got a lot of a lot more stuff coming on the way in this next week or so uh before the draft um and yeah yeah that’s that’s pretty much where you can where you can get it out always appreciate the time Kandre thanks so much yeah for sure shout out to our guy Keandre Ashley again from Hubin Elect if you’re not already subscribed if you don’t follow him on Twitter and you’re on YouTube and you know pouring over those videos this time of year I promise you you are missing out in my opinion there’s nobody better in the space um especially like he’s watching these dudes for years before they get to this point so he’s not just watching one college season and evaluating these guys a lot of the European guys he’s watching like film that you can’t even find he’s going back and watching high school film of these guys multiple years multiple years of college depending on how long they’ve been there um dude just kills it and we appreciate him taking the time every year this is like this is his Super Bowl like this whole week here so for him to take time out of his schedule to join us and talk a little bit um very much appreciated and always super educational i always learn you know and hear names that maybe I wasn’t thinking of you know going into this process so really appreciate Keandre yeah he’s he’s one of the best out there and uh yeah most I think people that are diehard NBA fans aren’t also die I mean true dieh hard like maniacs like wackos when it comes to college or any other kind of amateur basketball whether it’s European or other well I guess European isn’t amateur it’s professional over there but so to have a guy like who just ingests all of it and then shares all of his feedback and knowledge and you know of all these different prospects I think is always super valuable so yeah definitely go check him out um maybe go investigate some of those second rounders he got my interest there you know some guys I hadn’t heard of and of course I’ll spend a lot of time watching that footage and then Jeff will just trade them away but we’ll see uh yeah no I it’ll be interesting i part of me thinks they might use one of these second rounders Jonathan like use it and and bring him in like it could happen um especially when we talk about filling out the roster one of the things we we mentioned with Kandre was we traded away four guards or traded away slash you know uh declined options for four guards this week and so guards got to come in somehow uh and yeah it’ll be interesting to see if it’s 25 or elsewhere but yeah always good to have Keandre on i was going through Keandre’s YouTube channel you know just kind of as like a a recap before we jumped on here and funny enough two of his most two of the 10 most viewed videos on his YouTube channel are Jonathan Isaac 2019 2020 season highlights and Markeel Folult’s 2019 2020 season highlights two of his top 10 videos are Magic related so if that doesn’t say enough about this guy then I mean I I don’t really know what will and yeah I think it’s going to be really interesting this draft right like there’s still a week from between now and then i wouldn’t be shocked at this point if we also trade 25 or you know hey the Devos family spending a lot of money maybe they want some cash considerations back for those you know two second round picks and I really out of the four guys that are you know have been waved or rumored to be waved I really wouldn’t be surprised if like Corey Joseph Mo Vagner and Caleb Houston are all back on this roster we know how much this organization and front office values continuity a lot of shakeup here with the move for Desmond Bane but I I just wouldn’t be shocked if they bring those guys back one Cory Joseph proved to have a lot of value this year caleb Houston i you know what you’re getting with Caleb you’re you know there not a lot of question marks there believe it’s $2 million this year probably get it for you know pretty close to that number if he is declined and then you know Mo Vagner is just legitimately really good i know he’s coming off the ACL um but he doesn’t really have a game that’s you know built on like athleticism and lateral quickness and explosiveness it’s just you know kind of you know he’s a cunning crafty kind of guy so I wouldn’t be surprised to bring all three of those go guys back if I had to go in order of likeliness it would be Mo Vagger by far and away and then Cory Joseph and then probably Caleb Houston and and I’ll be shocked if Gary Harris is back if if they decide I was say my order’s different than you like for me Mo for sure i think Caleb is next in line just because Really yeah just because of the the money and if anything I feel like they don’t decline the option because of how cheap it is you know I don’t know if you decline him can he be had for cheaper maybe I don’t know but the way he I’m thinking maybe like they decline it and extend it for like the same rate like if he gets like a sixyear or six year good grief threeear $6 million like kind of you know resign that’s kind of where I’m thinking I see I got you I just think the way he ended the year I mean it wasn’t great but statistically speaking speaking you can’t argue with 40% from three right um and so you know and plus like you said I think culture is everything with with Cory i don’t I don’t know i mean obviously a good locker room guy I feel like a guy that wants to be here um but do the Magic have bigger plans for the lead guard position you know while Cory Joseph ended up being serviceable as a third string point guard there are better third string point guards out there in the league and so it it that remains to be seen but yeah I feel like I’d put Caleb a little bit over C but it’s pretty close yeah I’m I’m really not mad at that whatsoever uh but it’ll be interesting to see if like like the teams that you know are good and are able to sustain success like they hit on draft picks later in the draft you know so um like I mean OKC didn’t draft Alex Caruso but Alex Caruso is a good example of that like I believe a guy that went undrafted and just kind of you know carved his way and you know they’ve got other guys that they found in the you know mid to late first round that you know and the the Pacers as well you know so they’re two really good examples of team in the finals of like hey when you’re a good team like you have to be able to find value and contributor like later in the draft if you’re a good team you’re not going to be towards the top of the lottery the top of the first round but the teams that stay successful for a long time are teams that find like value guys around the league and value guys in the draft and getting close to the you know first and second apron here it’s going to be imperative for this team to hit on you know at least one of these picks every so often because guys are going to continue to get paid and you know you’re going to lose guys to free agency and and and just kind of casualties of the salary cap so it’ll be interesting to see how all of that goes but yeah we got one more episode coming up and then uh we’ll be right into the draft and we’re going to keep this thing going right into free agency so really looking forward to that kevin really quickly um game what do we have game five is coming up game six uh is coming up Thursday night what What do we What do we think happens there if Hallebertton was playing 100% I’d pick the Pacers but he’s not so that’s going to be very tough for Indiana to pull that out i really hope they do i’d love to see it go seven and obviously I’m rooting for the Pacers but um not saying it’s impossible you know I think this team is capable of making some noise they’ve got other good guards obviously but it they’re going to have to get their absolute best games from a lot of guys um to make that happen and so uh I I think just I’m going to go with my heart and pick the Pacers just because I really want to see a game seven in the finals again but uh yeah we’ll see what happens respectfully I think it’s over it It feels very over feels very over i just wanted to add before we close you and I haven’t talked about this in a while but I’m just putting us on the spot we still doing the live show Wednesday as soon as the 25th pick is done do the 25th pick yep we’ll let it breathe a little bit just to make sure they’re not trading that but yeah i mean maybe like after the first round ends like around that time like maybe a little bit before we’re going to do a live show we’re going to do a live show next Wednesday night that’s what I’m getting at the time to be determined exactly but you’ll know whether the Magic keep the pick or not we’ll see but yeah we’re going to do next week’s show like our draft our first round reaction show will be live on YouTube and so uh as you’re watching that uh and the magic do or do not pick at 25 if you want to come get our raw reaction you can head over here to YouTube and uh yeah check that out live on Wednesday night it should be fun it’s going to be great let’s go ahead and wrap this one up again a big thank you to our friend Keandre Ashley from Hubinch go follow him go subscribe all that kind of stuff and hey if you’re here on our YouTube channel and you’re not subscribed go ahead and subscribe uh but yeah that’s going to do it for this one for Kevin Tucker there’s been Jonathan Osborne you all have been listening to the Six Man Show and we will catch you guys next time see you thanks for listening to The Sixth Man Show be sure to subscribe on iTunes and Spotify to get new episodes downloaded directly to your phone if you enjoy the show please take a minute to give us a five-star rating and a review it helps out the show a lot follow us on Twitter Instagram and Facebook @ sixmanshow we’ll catch you guys next time go Magic let’s go Magic let’s go Magic

The universal consensus is that the Desmond Bane fit could not be more perfect for the Orlando Magic! We react to the press conferences and Keandre Ashley from Hoop Intellect drops by the show to preview the draft and what the Magic may do with pick 25 next Wednesday. PLUS we’re giving away a Jonathan Isaac autographed jersey!

Check out Keandre’s amazing draft coverage on his channel at @HoopIntellect

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