EP. 538 – Luke Who’s Back – Orlando Magic Podcast

EP. 538 – Luke Who’s Back – 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 July 24th, 2025. Jonathan Osborne here as always joined by my co-host Kevin Tucker. Kevin Tucker, I don’t know why I just said Osborne like that, but what’s going on? Well, I think I know it’s because you know the Osborne name is heavy on your heart this week cuz your long lost relative Azie. Uh, just kidding. Different spelling, right? He He only does different spelling. Yes. Although I’ve been asked my entire life if I was related to Aussie Osborne, and I am not. Yeah. But yeah, RIP. not not related, but still obviously uh well-known figure. Um, but speaking of well-known figures, we have one joining the show later. Uh, Mr. Luke Sylvia, long time member on Luke Sylvia. People will be sad to disappointed to hear that, but his shirt, I believe, will be on. Maybe it won’t be. He could always throw us a curveball, but yeah, I would assume, you know, the Magic are are not in the midst of a fivegame win streak. Quite the opposite, actually. lost the last five games. So maybe he’s wearing two shirts today in protest. Could be. We’ll have to find out. It’ll be it’ll be a fun surprise. But yeah, look forward to checking in with old Luke. Yeah, always good to hang out with him and still a dear friend to both of us. We still text frequently, but uh yeah, it’ll be fun to have him on the show about one year after uh he departed as well, which is kind of cool. But yeah, that’ll be fun. Has he not been on since then? We didn’t have him. He has twice. He filled in for you a couple times. Yeah, I was going to say, but not with the three of us. The three of us have not been on together, so that’ll be fun. Nice old-fashioned six-man show three-way. So, all right, let’s get into some magic news. All right. Uh well, this isn’t happening just yet, but it’s exciting because Tristan Dilva has it’s been announced that Tristan Dilva is officially part of team Germany coming up for their FIA Euro basket run here that’s getting it ready to kick off in a couple weeks. For me, it just never made sense that he wouldn’t be on the team, but we never really got an indication that he would be. In fact, like quite the opposite. didn’t seem like he was going to be and now that he is just really excited for that. I think it’s a a great opportunity for him and uh yeah, I think it’s it’s great for the the team. Like I especially with Mo Vagner being out, I think Germany needs some more talent on that roster. So he’ll join NBA players like France Vagner, Dennis Schroeder. Um, I think Tristan Dilva is the only other um only other NBA player on that team, right? No Hartinstein, no Clea, no Mo Vagner obviously, but we have, if you’ve been following the German national team for the last several off seasons like Andreas Oak, Johannes Teeman, Johannes Bitman, Mao Low, um, still a really, really talented squad. Like if you’ve never watched Team Germany, really in my opinion like one of the more fun international teams to watch in these competitions. Um so yeah, I am fired up. Do we know if Daniel Ty was about to say he is on the roster? He’s just not on an NBA roster anymore, so he doesn’t count towards the uh NBA numbers, but it is a name obviously a lot of NBA fans will recognize. But yeah, that’ll be fun. Uh something new for Tristan. What’s going to be interesting is, you know, if you’ve been watching or listening to the show for a long time, you know, we’ve talked about the German national team for several summers now. And the common theme is that uh it’s a it’s a very team oriented brand of basketball and a lot of that comes from the fact that these guys a lot of these guys have played together for many many many years, which is the case across a lot of international basketball. Very different than what team USA looks like, but a lot of these national teams have played together for many, many years. So, what’s going to be interesting with Tristan is that’s not exactly the case with him right now. You know, most recently he was considered uh for the Brazilian national team and so obviously he’s grown up with some of these guys, but I don’t know if he really had the chance to play with a lot of them regularly. So, that’ll be interesting to see if that factors into playing time. Um, obviously things are a little bit different there in Germany. Totally brand new coach. I don’t know what that’s going to mean for the system and all that kind of stuff, but a lot of question marks with Tristan and this this roster, but we get those answered pretty quickly. I think we said August 10th, it looks like, is their first game of the summer. So, you know, just over a couple weeks away. Uh, so that’ll be fun to see. But yeah, congrats to Tristan and uh excited to see him uh with team Germany this summer, which um Tristan joining the team makes it two sets of brothers on the German national team. Obviously Mo Vagner isn’t going to be playing, but Tristan is joining his brother Oscar Dilva who’s played for uh Germany in the the last few summers. So, um yeah, just really exciting, really fun to watch those guys play. At one point, Kev, are you going to get like your like Deutscheland kit, like your your bronze Vagner German jersey to wear during these? Cuz I’m going to be busting mine out. I might have to get I don’t currently own one, but I’m sure they’re very cheap on, you know, maybe unreputable websites out there that maybe they could be acquired. Um, reputable. I don’t know how legitimate. Yeah, I mean that that’s that’s probably a better way to refer to it, but yeah, I probably do need to do that at some point. get get one of him, maybe one of Tristan, maybe one of Mo, I don’t know. But, uh, yeah, I do I do rock with the German national team for sure. So, definitely looking forward to that. And the Magic made a couple of changes with their two-way spot. So, we were thinking, okay, the Magic have Ethan Thompson on a two-way spot. Uh, are they going to sign someone else? And then they did and then almost immediately waved Ethan Thompson. So, center Orlando Robinson has been signed to a two-way contract to the Magic. And Ethan Thompson was waved. Are you surprised by the waving of Ethan Thompson? I mean, maybe a little bit. You know, he he was brought on. I mean, it it feels like it was probably over halfway through last season, right? He wasn’t part of the later part of the year. Yeah. Yeah. So, to me, that didn’t feel like a super long um opportunity to prove it. Now, obviously, I know he had summer league and maybe wasn’t the best at summer league this year, but I Yeah, it surprised me a little bit. I assumed he was just going to be around this season. Um, the Orlando Robinson thing is interesting. I mean, first off, is he the first Orlando to play for Orlando? That’s is that anything? I don’t know. I I don’t recall another one. And if I was him, I would be petitioning to the league, hey, can you let me put my first name on the back of the jersey while I’m in Orlando, cuz that’d be cool. He’s also, by the way, it was already announced he’s got number seven. So, number seven, which is interesting. A lot of notable Magic players have worn number seven. But yeah, it would be cool to have Yeah. Or Okay, thank you. Yeah, from the last episode. Yeah, very notable. It’d be really cool to have Orlando on the back of his jersey. I think that’d be really cool. But, you know, whatever. Uh, no, I think that’s that. Yeah, the waving was surprising, but I’m I’m excited to see Orlando Robinson. He’s got some NBA experience, and I think he’ll be good uh as a two-way guy. And also good again, who knows what the beginning of the year is going to look like with Mo. We might need all the bodies we can get to help back fill whatever availability he may or may not have. So yeah, I’m on board with the Orlando Robinson move. Yeah, Orlando Robinson so far in three seasons. So he spent some time with the Miami, you know what, unfortunately, um the Sacramento Kings and the Toronto Raptors last year, so for his career, uh averages 4.7 points per game, 3.9 rebounds. But last year in 35 appearances with Toronto, 8.1 points per game, 5.9 rebounds. So, you know, maybe uh finding his way in the league a little bit here. Uh born in 2000, uh played at Fresno State, 7 foot center. So, like you were mentioning, you know, a little bit of backup help should Mo Vagner not be ready to go at the start of the year. And no offense to Orlando Robinson, but we’re hoping that he doesn’t really play. Yep. as we did, you know, last year with Trevon Queen and and and Mac McClung and and so on and so forth. So, um, but yeah, it’s interesting that they decided to wave Ethan Thompson to to make this happen. I do kind of wonder if they have their eyes on someone else. Maybe they try to bring in someone for another two-way, maybe two more two-ways, but last year, you know, they kept that third two-way spot, you know, open for for most of the year. So, um, but yeah, Orlando Robinson in and Ethan Thompson is out. Yep. It’s going to be interesting to see what they do with what’s left, you know. I mean, last year we left that two-way spot open for so long, right? Um, and then Yeah, again, I don’t remember what date we signed Ethan Thompson, but it had to have been the last third, certainly at least the last half of the season. Um, but yeah, I’m curious if they’ll leave that spot open for flexibility again. Um, but yeah, either way it’ll be very very interesting. Yeah. Um, did you get anything from the YouTube comments on our last episode? Like it it it does seem like there’s a contingent of Evan Forier haters out there, unfortunately. Yeah, there are contingent of Evan Forier haters. There are also some Kevin Tucker haters out there now cuz and I knew I was putting my head on the chopping block for I’m not going to repeat it out loud. If you missed it, you can go watch it. I and I said it I prefaced it with it. I knew it was a very very touchy subject and I don’t I didn’t feel good saying it, but I felt like it had to be said and so I said it and I stand by it. But uh yeah, no, that was I did enjoy getting to hear uh people’s different reactions to some of that. And yeah, you’re right. There are there’s pretty good Evan Forier hate out there and um our streak now is at two two consecutive episodes where Jonathan has found a way to mention Evan Forier. It’s always fun to see how long these streaks go. Yeah. And then the other was like the our I guess omission of um Daryl as like you know love average loved and our our lists weren’t meant to be like oh no these are like the definitive ones. It was just like hey these are these are some of the ones that we thought of. But yeah absolutely would be I also wasn’t sure we if we were going to mention Daryl Armstrong cuz he’s kind of in some hot water right now you know legally and stuff like that. But I mean you know is what it is. Yes. Uh, obviously Daryl Armstrong for his Orlando playing days, very beloved. Uh, and yeah, and and a good player. Good player as well. Very much so. You might have missed it, but on our last episode, we also uh announced the fact that Ben Gford um our dear friend who u has been hosting the six fan show for us for the last couple of years, which if you’re not familiar with that, 10 to 12 times a year during the regular season and then for most playoff games, we host what we call the sixth fan show where we give you all the folks that have given us this platform. We kind of try to share the platform with you all so that you can give your takes and let your takes be heard. So Ben has hosted that for us the last couple of seasons. He is now stepping away from that this summer. Uh so we’re looking to bring someone on um to do that. So uh we put out um a link to a Google form underneath the description of our last YouTube video uh and podcast episode. We’ll do the same for this one. And we’ve also posted that across our social media pages. So, if you’re interested at all and you’re local to the Orlando area, uh, go ahead, fill that out. We do have like a little, uh, like we want you to film a like kind of like a video submission, kind of like auditioning for the the part, I guess. Um, so if that interests you at all, you can find that link either on our social media pages or in the YouTube and podcast descriptions here. We’re still looking for somebody. Yeah, absolutely. And I I realized after we talked about it, you know, we we have a lot of people that just listen to the show. And so maybe you don’t follow us on YouTube or subscribe to us on YouTube. You may have never seen the six fan shows. If you’re like, what the heck is that about? It’s only on YouTube. It’s not something we upload, you know, to audio platforms mainly because it would not be necessarily the best audio. Half the fun is watching Magic fans either go crazy or be upset. Uh but yeah, check it out on YouTube. Uh the six fan show. Like you said, we’ve done it for two years now. Looking forward to season three. Uh but yeah, we just need someone to host it. So, we’re definitely open to submissions and uh yeah, follow the link in the description and we’d love to hear from you. Okay, and now the moment that you all have been waiting for. Let’s bring in Luke Sylvia. And now, Orlando Magic fans, we are joined by a very special guest, the prodigal son himself, Luke Sylvia. What is going on, my guy? What’s going on? I we’ll see if I know how to do this. I think I can talk into this microphone. And uh it’s good to be back. I was I was surprised I got an invite back. Um I’m just glad to be here. So uh it’s been Kevin told me it’s been a year. Yep. Yeah. Like do we know how you and I were on a pod together? Yes. Cuz Kevin and I were on a couple times. I think it was two times. Yeah. Was it two? But uh but yeah, I think I looked up your last show last year was July 18th is the date that’s in my head. And that’s why when we looked at the calendar, we’re figuring out, you know, guests for the coming few weeks. I was like, let’s get Luke on as the one year. And so, since it’s been a year, Luke, you know, obviously you and I did a couple shows together, but you’re a guest here, but since it’s been a year now, why don’t you just take everyone through the last, you know, 365 days or so, like each and every day, what you’ve been up to, you know, over the over the course. So, it’s 7:12 in the morning. I’m just kidding. Uh I Yeah. No, it’s it’s Yeah, everything kind of happened at the same time, right? So, I started working in the the new job that I now have been at for over a year, which is crazy. Uh, at my dad’s church. Um, stepped away from the six-man show a couple months after that pretty much. Um, and then since then, man, it’s been uh it’s still been chaotic my life. I thought stepping away from the show would lessen the chaos in my life. And it has for sure, but but not really as much as I thought. Uh, I still I decided, man, I I miss recording twice a week, so instead I’m gonna start editing short form videos wherever I can and I got in with our boys over there at numbers on the board as probably as you know them maybe. Shout out but um they’re under the Enjoy Basketball brand and so I’ve been doing a lot of short form content with them. Um, shout out to Wag Talk which I’ve been doing a lot of and having a lot of fun doing and it gets great reception and so yeah, my nights are still busy. Um, I’m that’s kind of just what I what I do probably every other night is I’m editing those. Uh, and then the other times I’m, you know, after bedtime hanging out with Lauren and all that kind of stuff. So, playing a little rematch. Playing a little rematch on Xbox. So, uh, if you play, drop your name in the comments. I’m always looking for consistent guys. Um, but yeah, man. Life has been good. It was it was what was weird was not having to talk about every Magic game this past season like I did for the whatever it was three four seasons prior. Uh so instead of 82 regular season games I watched like 67. So, still a healthy amount, but I I didn’t I could think and watch as a fan and not so much analytically about what’s happening this lineup. I still on opening night tracked all the rotations like a sicko and who checked in for who when and kind of looked at that throughout the year just cuz you can only turn so much of that part of your brain off. But I mean it was it’s it’s been good, but it it makes these episodes a lot sweeter too of being able to hop on and after whatever it’s been now, probably I don’t even know 6 months, 7 months since I’ve was on here with you guys or at least with Kevin. So obviously the team dynamic has changed a lot and although you know listeners might not might know this or might not, we still text every single day whether it be the three of us or in the chat that we have with kind of the rest of the the team. team and and now we have like a lot of kind of like former employees in that chat. We’ve just kind of, you know, kept it going as as people have uh moved on to to bigger and better things. But um so we know how you feel about a lot of this stuff, but um I know a lot of listeners are are looking forward to hearing your thoughts on I mean, have you been on since before the deadline? I was on before the deadline, but not after. So yeah, let’s get let’s get deadline thoughts. Let’s get some playoff opinion. Let’s get some offseason opinion like how have you been feeling the last, you know, five, six months as a as a Magic fan. Deadline. So, I approached Deadline saying to myself, if Welman and Anthony Parker do not make a move, then I’ll be all right with it. But I think I really shouldn’t have been. Like, in retrospect, I shouldn’t have been. And I know I shouldn’t have been by how panicked I was that we wouldn’t make a move this off season. Like those are just backtoback windows of being able to make moves. And I was so panicked. Season ends, you get gentleman swept or not even gentleman swept. You get Yeah, gentleman swept it. It was It was game five. It was five games um by the Celtics. And all things considered, I mean that series went how we thought. But the minute that game five is over, I’m thinking I’m so terrified of what this office front office won’t do. It wasn’t so much of what they will do cuz pretty much in my obviously this is hyperbole, but like there was nothing as long as they made a move that was somewhat significant, they wouldn’t hear much out of me cuz I was like I I just need them to do something. And so, yeah, I I think I should have been more panicked at deadline when they didn’t do anything just because it’s like, okay, no, actually, we’re close to the next window where you will be panicking if they don’t do something. And so, yeah, cuz it was at the time I was like, no, I trust them. And then you get to summer and it’s like, oh, maybe maybe I don’t. I just need them to prove it. And so thankfully, right, they pretty much kick off the weird off season that it’s been for the whole NBA with this Desmond Bane trade, which was insane as you guys like as everybody has come to the conclusion like who cares about the picks? The Magic don’t care about those picks and uh like why would we? and uh and I’m going to let the front office crunch numbers and worry about numbers and I’m just going to enjoy that we’ve got Desmond Bane. You go into free agency, you get Tyus Jones. There are pieces now added to this roster that will change the future of the Atlanta Magic and that’s super exciting to me. Another thing that happened this summer, definitely curious to get your take on this. I don’t know if you heard, but before the Desmond Bane trade, the Orlando Magic uh got a new look, a new logo, new jerseys, new all kinds of fun stuff. Have you had a chance to take a look at some of that? And uh No, just kidding. I know you have, but uh tell tell the people how you feel about the the new look, bro. Yeah, I must have missed it. Um but the logo on your hat looks really good. Uh yeah. So I Yeah. So, I I loved it from the jump and and really I was I was more think not more thinking but like I quickly shifted to thinking about the jerseys because when you when you re when we rebrand when we rebranded they were released the graphic which is an incredible graphic by the way of the three jerseys like kind of waving right and that’s automatically what everybody’s eyes are on not just Orlando Magic world but everywhere in the basketball world was looking at the Magic. Do we like the rebrand? Do we hate it? And so I think the logo almost was almost an afterthought for me. Like I was just so honed in on those jerseys cuz they were getting shoved down our throats. And then once I got a chance, calm down. And then I got a chance to look like when you really start to look at the logo, it’s incredible. And it doesn’t take that long to look at that logo and get to that conclusion. So I I love the rebrand entirely. I think the uh nod to the retro warm-ups that jersey is incredible. I will say it will be even more incredible. As our good friend Tony Hin has said, give it a chance. See it in person, up close in person on the court in real time, and you’ll come around on it. So, I’m really pumped about those. Obviously, the other two jerseys are just just nobody can argue those are incredible. So, it feels good. It feels good to have a competent roster. It feels good to have an awesome brand now and one that we can all be proud of. And I think that’s something you guys have echoed a lot on on the show. But I mean now I really before I felt like we were a little bit of a laughing stock because of or a lot of it in the last decade and it was like we couldn’t even be like man we have an awesome logo cuz we’d be lying to ourselves. Now we have an awesome logo. So if things go downhill at least we’ve got that. All right, Jonathan, I got a riddle for you. You ready? Yeah. Why did the chicken cross New England Avenue in Winter Park? I have no idea. To get to 400 West New England Avenue, Sweet 13 in Hannibal Square, and jump into the fryers at Jam Hot Chicken. Of course, Jam Hot Chicken. They’re proudly bringing Jam’s Culture and Hot Chicken to the heart of Winter Park. They’re Nashville and LA inspired hot chicken shack, locally owned and operated by some diehard Orlando Magic fans. We love Jamh Hot Chicken, not just because the food is amazing, but again, because they’re diehard Magic fans who love this community. You can follow them on social media, jamhotchick, or visit their website, jamhotchickenickfl.com, where you can access the menu, online ordering, and all things JamHot. Again, JamHot is the best and they’re diehard Orlando Magic fans. So, you should go show them some support. And when you do, just let them know that the Sixman Show sent you. This episode is also brought to you by Fritz Abantopolis, Magic Player History, Richard Tuttle, and Nick from the Cloud. These are some of our Hall of Fame and elite tier patrons. 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So, if you join today, we’re going to give you a special shout out on our next episode. So, again, thank you to all of our patrons. We appreciate the support. And now, let’s get back to the episode. Um, what are you changing your son’s name to now that his namesake has uh signed with the Bucks? I’ve already signed the papers. His name’s Desmond. Ah, Desmond Sylvia. Yes. For those for those that don’t know, Luke’s a big Cole Anthony fan. He named his son after Cole. I’m just kidding. The biggest Mhm. I’m just kidding. His son is named Cole, by the way, but not related to that. I do miss the bit. The bit will be missed on this. Uh, at least by me where I get to say going where I get to say Cole, you know, I’m, you know, either not Cole Anthony or Cole, not my son. Uh, really, really fun. So, yeah. Cole Anthony, that was weird. I texted you guys when he when the video comes out from the Bucks and I believe you talked about this last episode. Yeah. But Kevin completely heartless. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Kevin was like, “Man, I don’t care. Goodbye.” Which I get. I I share the same sentiment. I share the same sentiment. All of us do. All of us were of the thought of like Cole has kind of run his course. It’s way too hot and cold. Uh, great guy, great person, but it’s just time for a change of scenery. I think it’ll be awesome for him. The Bucks genuinely need him. So, I I’m happy to see what he does. Uh, I if he tortures us and we win, I won’t care. I’ll be happy for him and for the Magic as long as they don’t win. But, it was weird in that video him in those colors. Just odd like you see a guy that you that your team drafted after that many years. It’s hard for it not to feel a little bit odd unless you’re Kevin who had no problem with it. But um it’s fine. But yeah, no, it was just something. It was just weird. And I think your comparison that you quoted, I believe somebody Jonathan about about Cole Anthony and how it’s kind of like seeing the girl that you broke up with with another guy and you’re like, “Oh, that’s still weird.” And I absolutely Yeah, that’s definitely No, you’re supposed to be miserable and lonely for the rest of your life. Oh my gosh. That’s exactly right. I only get to be happy. Yeah. Um, but Luke, before we talk a little bit more like future vision, like what can this team look like? What can this team do? I want to go back to last season one more time because last off season, right before the season started, Mhm. Uh, you provided Jonathan and I with some like little overunder stuff that we can throw into that episode and, you know, go back and forth and kind of make our predictions and that kind of stuff. you, as we asked you to come on to this episode, said you would bring those back. I genuinely have no idea how we did. I don’t remember my answers. You sent us the list of the the overunder stuff, but I don’t remember what I chose and what Jonathan chose, but I I assume you have done the research to go back and find out what our record is and all that kind of stuff. So, I would love Luke for the next few minutes for us to go through these stats and see number one how Jonathan and I both did, but also see how it kind of played out over the course of the Magic season. Yes. So, the we’ll start at the top, right? And and I’ll I’ll tell you guys at the end. You guys will be able to guess at that point, but at the end I’ll tell you guys what the final score was for this. Okay. So, uh I actually went back and looked at these at the All-Star break. So, uh, after I go through all these, I can, if we want to, you know, tell you kind of what changed after the All-Star break, cuz there was some significant stuff that happened, uh, on these stats. So, the first thing I gave you guys was Paulo points per game in the 24-25 season. I set the overunder at 25 and a half points per game. Jonathan and Kevin, both of you said that he would go under. He finished the season, as we all know, at 25.9 points per game. Here’s what is notable. At the All-Star break, Paulo Beno, obviously, he had been he not played that much, but at the All-Star break, he was averaging 22.5 points per game. And um then he goes on to finish the season 25.9, so three points higher. Um, as we know, he had multiple 40-point games at the end of the season and that affected another category too that we had. So, you guys both got that one incorrect. Fron Vagner was the next one. Points, rebounds, and assists. The total I set the number at 30 and a half. Jonathan and Kevin both said over. Fron finishes the season at 34.6 P, meaning they both got it correct. So the the next one, Jaylen Suggs stocks. So that is steals and blocks. This one is my favorite because of how it ended up. So you guys were going through this cuz I listened back to this episode at the All-Star break to remember what you guys said. Jaylen Suggs 2.4 is where I said it. Jonathan said under. And I believe Kev, you started out saying under and then you said I remember this now. And then you said, “Well, I guess there’s a universe.” And you were just being very tongue and cheek. You’re like, “There’s a chance that he gets exactly 2.4 stocks.” And you said, “I’m going to just say it’ll be a push, right?” So Jaylen Suggs didn’t play that many games this year. However, he finished the season with 2.4 stocks. Let’s freaking go. No way. That’s wild. So So Kev was right. Respect. Respect. Kev was right. Kevin, I didn’t guess. I knew I knew Kevin and the the casino of Luke Sylvia, the book of Luke Sylvia were on, you know, were in agreeance. Let’s go. This one’s depressing. Jonathan Isaac minutes per game. I set it at 20 and a half. My thinking was if he’s not on a restriction anymore, he’ll play over 20 and a half. Why wouldn’t he? to which both of you uh said over. And as we know, Jonathan Isaac, 15.4 minutes per game. Both of you guys were wrong. I said over. Wow. Yes, you both said over. Uh people can fact check me on that, but I’m pretty sure Kevin said over. Jonathan said over. And the crazy part is that at All-Star break, he was at 16.6 minutes per game, and he finishes the year a minute lower. Wow. Obviously, Paulo comes back and has some obviously uh say on that. So, um yeah, that was fun. Both of you guys wrong there. And then the next one, how many teams will finish ahead of the Magic and defensive rating? I set the over under. It was a hard one. I wanted you guys to commit. I said one and a half teams would finish ahead of the Magic and defensive rating. Kev said over one and a half teams would finish over the Magic. And Jonathan said under one and a half. So Jonathan there betting the Magic would be the best defensive team in the league. And as we know to this point, um, the Magic finished, which didn’t sound I mean I it made sense, but it didn’t sound right to me at first. So if this is somehow wrong, let me know. Uh, Magic finished 14th and defensive rating. Does that sound right? That doesn’t sound right to me, right? Second, I believe. Yeah, I think. So yeah, that’s what I was like I I think I guess what I what I was doing. I was looking at the offensive rating for both. So, um, yes, I’m I’m knocking off the rust for uh for for myself here. Um, yeah. So, second. Second. So, I put it at one and a half. Jonathan said under saying the Magic would be the best. The Magics finished second in defensive rating, meaning both are wrong. One under. No, that means that’s right cuz one and a half teams finished better. That means he said under. So, one team did finish better. Under. You are right. So, Jonathan, so put it put it on the board for Jonathan. Love that. And uh and Kev was incorrect. So, we’re tied now basically cuz we got the same except for I got stocks and you’ve got the defensive rating. So, that’s what it looks like at least in my brain if I’m keeping score. Yes, which I do sometimes. Yeah, sometimes. I think we’re locked in the rest of the way so far. All right, let’s see. The same. All right, then the next one. And how many teams will finish ahead of the Magic in offensive rating? I said 17 and a half. We were probably a little too optimistic here. Kev and Jonathan both said over 17 and a half teams would finish uh ahead of the Magic in offensive rating. Yep. So the Magic finished 14th is 27th. Dude, what was I looking at? You you you’ve been out of the game a little bit, my friend. I was filtering offensive and defensive rating. Uh summer league stats maybe. Is that what that is? You might have been looking at playoff teams. Oh, you’re right. Yeah, we’re 14th out of 16. Sounds about right. Yep. Yeah. Just kidding. So, what was the official number? 20ome. 27. 27. Yeah. So, we were seventh. Uh both of you correct? Yep. Wow. By a landslide. Yeah. Not close. That’s tough. Uh, we do know ball. Yeah, it’s funny because as I was looking at that, I was like, there’s no way that I don’t remember that. Well, and there’s no way, especially with us being last in the league. The 14th and offensive rated they would have finished the second seed in the East. Yeah, exactly. Uh, so the next one is fun. It’s a points uh points in uh how many points in a game? So, Magic players to score 40 plus points in a game. I set the overunder at five and a half. Um, Jonathan optimistically said over. Kevin said under. And here’s the fun part. There was only one time that a Magic player scored 40 plus in a game at the All-Star break and that was Paulo with 50 obviously against Indiana early in the season, Paulo ends up scoring 40 plus four times. So had him and Fron not missed you know 60 plus games it’s safe to assume that over that definitely hits that would have correct does not care yeah the casino does not care yeah that’s right so uh yeah so on that one Jonathan wrong Kevin is correct but yeah Paulo almost hits the over by himself in playing that many games which is uh a boost of confidence to me as a match that is crazy yeah this Um, these next two are painfully sad, by the way, Luke. Yeah, they really are. Uh, the next one is they’re right there with the Jonathan Isaac minutes played 28 and a half. Um, the next one is Fron Vagner’s three-point percentage. I really thought that I was being fair 33 and 12%. I had some hope and u Jonathan said over and Kevin said under. and Fron finishes at 29.5%. Jonathan’s wrong, Kevin’s right. Um, yeah, just really rough all around. And you would be thinking maybe he did better in the playoffs. It was 18% in the playoffs, so it it uh it didn’t get any better. We are hoping that in Deutsland he he can improve and find his three-point shot again. But the good news is Luke going into this next one, he was the only Magic player that didn’t shoot well from three, right, this past season. Is that right? Yeah. So the next one, this is the last one. Magic players to shoot at least 37% from three with 100 threes minimum attempted um total. I said it at seven and a half players. Now sometimes the book is wrong. Sometimes the book is so so wrong. This was because the year prior, I believe it was eight or nine Magic players shot that percentage or better on 100 plus threes. 37% or better. And both of you guys on this one for this past season said under of which you both were. It was the one you guys didn’t have to sweat. Yeah. So, only one player shot at least 37% from three and that was Caleb Houston. Caleb with 160 attempts now. So, both of you guys were correct in this. What is interesting is at the All-Star break when I checked this um is that the best percentage was there was zero at the All-Star break that hit this percentage. Tristan D Silva was the best with 33.2%. That were even tracking to meet the criteria. So, Caleb Houston, you know, was the only one showing out for that. And uh yeah, so for those keeping track at home, Kevin, maybe you’ve been keeping track along the way as well. Kevin did win. There was nine of these props. I believe Kevin had six out of nine and Jonathan had four out of nine. So there you have it. Uh other than offensive defensive writing, that was a lot of fun. I I was thinking like, did Gary Harris even meet the 103 attempt criteria? He took 101 threes. Yikes. He made what? 20 36. Yeah. Whatever. Same thing. And what what was it? Six of those on opening night. Mhm. Yeah, dude. One six of his threes was made the first game of the season and I think he had like three or four the last game of the season. Crazy, man. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Um well, we’ll have to revisit that. We’ll have to hopefully we have a healthier year that can give us, you know, truer results, you know, out of out of some of that stuff. But um always fun doing stuff like that. Luke, so where are we now in terms of like your expectations for the Magic heading into this next season? Have you gone like completely delusional? Are you trying to hold on to your sense of reality? Like where are you? I I try to be somewhat realistic and sometimes I’m so realistic that I’m pessimistic. I I’m not saying that I think we’re gonna make the finals because listen, the Indiana Pacers do it. Um, playing incredible basketball, catching a lot of breaks. I just am not optimistic that we’re going to get two back-to-back teams in the finals that it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense how they were better than XYZ team. But what the Magic have going for them is that, you know, Tatum’s out, Hallebertton’s out. Um, and I I mean, you’ve only got a couple teams to worry about. I just I know that having additions to a team can make a team confident. I’m still scared of the New York Knicks. I’m scared of them in a playoff series really because I’m worried about home court. I don’t know how that gets like can that I know that teams have done like you know cutting off people that don’t live in a certain area but like the the issue with New York is that they just are all New York Knicks fans in Orlando. Yep. Like you can’t tell them that they can’t be there because they do live in whatever proximity circle you’re going to put whatever radius. Chances are they still meet the criteria and they can still take over the arena. So, if that even looks like it could come to fruition this year, which I’m hoping that we’re both good enough that we just won’t run into each other in the at least in the first second round, I don’t want to see them because of solely because of that. And they’re a great team, but I don’t want to see them until the ECF. Um, but what what’s your eh? I wouldn’t say I wouldn’t say great. They’re good. They’re very good. They’re not great. They’re not great. They’re not great. Okay. I mean, they could they couldn’t beat that Pacers team that that we Does anybody here believe that Pacers team was a great team? Well, no. It’s just things align and they they were great. I mean, they they played good ball. I think they were great. I think they just they caught fire and they were very they were built for that. They were an incredibly put together team for Yeah, they they they got hot. They absolutely half of the season had a had a great end to the year. Had a great run. But like does anybody think if you know Celtics are completely healthy in that series that they make it that the Knicks make it through that like you know then the Pacers play them? I don’t think so. I don’t know. I I think the Knicks got better. That’s the other part of this. The Knicks got better this summer. I think as well. Yeah. But here’s the thing, too, is like Indiana is such an anomaly that I would I’m just concerned about the team that’s got knocked out in the first round two years in a row. Can we all of a sudden make the NBA finals and be the anomaly just like the Pacers? I don’t know. There’s a lot of context needed there. Well, I definitely think it’s it’s it’s still a long shot that we make a run like that. But like I I do think if the Magic, you know, can rattle off like 50 wins, something like that, I think that there can be enough energy around the city to where like people aren’t selling their playoff tickets to, you know, the secondary market to try to make money if it’s the Celtics or if it’s the Knicks or or whatever. Like, you’re always going to have a little bit of that. But if the Magic are a 50 plus win team, I I don’t think that’s as big of a factor as what we’ve experienced in our adult lives. Yeah, it it definitely could be, but we’ll see how the season goes cuz obviously expectations can definitely shift. There’s a world where the Magic are a top two seed in the East. And in that world, I would say, okay, you better make at least the ECF. as it stands right now. I just have to see it. People say it and I don’t think it’s similar really at all, but people are make the joke of like, well, we thought KCP was going to be great and we but he had to shoot the basketball and put it in the hoop, which is true with Desmond Bane and Tus Jones, but I just have more confidence in that. And maybe that’s delusional because I had confidence in KCP2, but I mean, we we’ll see what happens with that. But the one thing I will say, I have very dear friends of mine who are New York Knicks fans and I was kind of vicariously living through them in this playoff run. And I’ll admit there were points where I was a little kind of pulling for the Knicks in certain series and and situations. I think it’s a likable team. Um, and so anyway, I say all that to say I’m find myself kind of a little bit of a fan of them in the playoffs and they beat Boston and I’m like, there’s still two more rounds of this if you want to win the finals. Yeah. It had already felt like they had just been through a war and it was like this isn’t even close to over. Yeah. And then even when you would steal a game or go up 10 or whatever, it’s like, man, that really doesn’t matter if you collapse, like it’s it’s it’s not it’s it’s simple, but you don’t understand that feeling until you’re in that and you’re like, man, that’s this doesn’t mean anything. Or, man, that is a long way to go. And so I just know that like what that felt like as it being a war with if it’s the magic, dude, I’m going to be like, “Cool. I’m glad we won round two, but if we want to win a finals, we got to do this.” Literally, we’re only halfway there. Yeah. And chances are you play one game in the first round. And that felt like a war. Yeah. It literally literally But it’s like you chances are round two is going to be a good team. Like that you can’t It is hard to win a game in the NBA. hit it so hard to win a series. And so I just I I’m I’m maybe being just protective of my heart when I say I don’t know that I believe this team will make the finals this year. And that’s fine, too. I think people have to understand that, too. It doesn’t like Yes, it matters, but it does not matter. Like, as long as we can get past the first round um and play our butts off in the regular season, what else are you going to ask? This is a this is a young young team still. Yeah. And that’s we kind of talked a little bit about that, but I’m I’m in a similar boat. I think I think part of it is well, first off, yeah, the playoffs are a freaking marathon, man. Like it’s just brutal. Like even we joked about like the team is if and when the day happens when the Magic go on a deep playoff run this year, next year, whenever, like the team’s going to be going through it, like us as Magic fans, like you know, you know, you run a marathon, you know, you kind of work your way up to, you know, being able to run a marathon. Like if that happens this summer, like if or this, you know, postseason, if the Magic go straight on to like the Eastern Conference Finals or the finals, like us Magic fans are going to be out of breath cuz we have not trained for this. You know, we haven’t done this in a long time and so that’s going to be interesting. But uh extra month of basketball. Yeah. And intense basketball, too. And even let’s say you go to the ECF, there’s going to be Magic fans that if the Magic, let’s say we’re the three seed or the four seed and we’re playing a team that’s better and they’ve got home court, uh let’s say we steal game one, there will be Magic fans talking absolutely nonsense and insane and saying so such crazy things because you won game one of the Eastern Conference Finals, but you still have so far to go and it could end up meaning nothing. I mean, as the as Magic fans, we know what it’s like to win game one and it means nothing. And in the grand scheme of grand scheme of things, you still got beat, you know, 4-1 and it didn’t matter. So, yeah, man. And every win just feels so hard in the playoffs that like it’s hard not to feel that way when you when you’re making progress. You’re winning game one of the Eastern Conference Finals, but anything can happen and it’s a long way to go and you really have to pay like you said, you have to pace yourself. Yeah, I do think, you know, we have like reason to be optimistic one because like sure the KCP thing like, you know, didn’t really work out, but nobody thought he was anywhere close to like a top 30 player, you know, in the NBA. I think ESPN had him in like the 70, you know, somewhere rankings last year and they’re like 100, which take those with a grain of salt, but like Desmond Bane, had he been playing in the East by now at some point is most likely an all-star. You know, the first, you know, five, six years of his career, however long it’s been. So, if the Desmond Bane thing doesn’t work out, we can just kind of chalk it up to we’re we must be cursed if that’s the way that all this plays out. And then just as any team would, you have to have like a relatively good level of health, which the Magic did not have last year. Like Fron and Paulo went into that series without their, you know, third and fourth best players in and Jaylen Suggs and Mo Vagner, who now will would most likely be the Magic’s fourth and fifth best players on this roster with the addition of Desmond Bane. Mhm. So all of a sudden if it goes from bronze and Paulo and then your, you know, third best player in that series is what maybe Wendell Carter Jr. and now your third best player is Desmond Bane and then oh right behind him is Jaylen Suggs and and Mo Vagner. Like it’s just we’re talking about a team that is so much more talented and and so much more capable. And so if the Magic are going to make a run like it’s going to be because the Bane thing worked out. Oh, and Jaylen Suggs is healthy and Mo Vagner came back and was able to regain form at at some point during the season. So, I just like I don’t see like yes, I totally understand the the concern with like, you know, Knicks fans coming into Kia Center, but just like on paper looking at these teams, like I think we I really think we match up with just about anybody, especially in the Eastern Conference. And I just like don’t want to go in and be like, “Oh, I’m afraid to play this team.” Like I bring it like bring it on. I’m I’m totally fine with all of it. I’m I cannot wait. I I welcome it. If if that’s if that’s how it it goes down, that’s how it goes down. I’m I’m fine. I’m ready. Yeah. I’m glad I just have to sit there and cheer. Uh cuz I I don’t th those Yeah. I don’t know, man. Some of some of those teams come playoff time, I will be scared no matter what. And um you know, well, I mean, that series could legitimately be a friendship ender for you and and some of your your homies. So, I would have to I I would have to yeah block their numbers cuz I can’t leave the chat. It’s only three of us. So, I don’t get that option to leave it. Um, but I will probably be hoping that I that I did have that option next year if it comes around. Just have to mute notifications for a while. That’s been that’s happened a long time ago. Yeah. Um, yeah. I’m just scared. We’ve already talked about this, Jonathan. I’m just terrified of what of what the next year and four years is going to look like cuz now the expectations are so high, you know, within the organization or break time, baby. Yeah. Outside the organization across the national landscape, you know, it’s it is make or break. It’s put up or shut up. And again, like you said, it doesn’t have to be this year, but they do need to make a showing this year. Not saying they need to win at all this year, but like we’ve talked about it that like you have to get out of the first round, right? Are you in the same boat? like at this point you have to get out of the first round or right if you don’t get out of the first round there’s changes that are made and I don’t know if that’s front office but I I definitely think it’s coaching um you you don’t get out of the first round Mosley’s definitely gone. Um, unless there’s some weird injury stuff, then maybe he gets a pass. But yeah, no, you have to. And and that’s the thing, too, is that yeah, you’re you’re not you’re no longer the sweet innocent team anymore. Like the Oh, have you seen the Magic? Like they’re whatever. Like they’re way out performing expectation. You’ve got expectation now. What is it the win total for the Magic already that’s come out? What was it like 52? 51 and a half depending on I think. Yeah. So, this is the year where you’re no longer going to get praised just for winning a a game or in a regular season, right? Like, you’re not going to get praised because you go into Madison Square Garden or Krypto and beat Luca and LeBron. like you’re not going to really get praised for that unless you blow them out because it’s kind of like yeah, you’re you’re supposed to be able to have a fighter chance and there is going to be a shift and I’m interested to see what when it happens because Oklahoma City, they were once the young team that didn’t have much expectation and then all of a sudden they come on the radar and then they win the NBA finals and everyone and it happens so fast. they win the finals and everybody’s like, “Yeah, well, you should have.” It’s going to be the case for if the Magic make it out of the first round this year. We’re going to be celebrating and maybe emotional, definitely emotional about winning the first round this upcoming season. And other opposing teams fans are going to be like, “It I mean, why are you celebrating? You guys should have done that. It wasn’t an upset. You at least had a fighter chance. You were expected to do something in this series. At least take it seven and you won. Congratulations.” And I really think that’s going to be the vibe if you win second round. I don’t think that there’s going to be a lot of people that like, whoa, the magic. I think that like the reaction tolerance is going to continue to get higher and climb and uh you’re we’re just going to have to stay in our own lane. Get tunnel vision. Focus only on the magic. Don’t worry about what everybody else is saying as fans. And don’t and ignore all the crap about you’re supposed to do this, you’re supposed to do that. Enjoy the wins. enjoy the playoffs, round wins, hopefully multiple, and uh go from there. I just don’t think you start seeing praise until you do something in the ECF at this point because the roster is that good. You should be doing stuff. Yeah. I think where we all need to get and I’m I’m definitely guilty of this myself of like you know we always talk about you know national media doesn’t talk about us blah blah blah and then you know when they do if it’s not exactly what we think they should say we still get you know we still feel kind of like a certain type of way we need to get to the point where we all cover you know we cover this team we all know this team we’re the only like the only opinions that we should really care about you know the the people that are watching every single game and are really invested into this team because I tweeted this a couple of weeks ago because of the down year that we had with injuries. We didn’t get that arc of like, oh look at this young fun team and then all of a sudden like gradually starting to be hated. We went from like, oh, look at this young fun team. Oh, look, the Magic are third seed in the East. All the injuries hit. Basically, everybody forgets about us and now we come back and now it’s like people are, you know, crapping on Palo Bank and, you know, we have multiple fan bases that now have, you know, quote unquote rivalries, you know, with our fan base, whether it be on social media or elsewhere. And then yeah, when you win a title, I’m seeing at least I don’t know about you guys in your timelines, but I’m seeing like Thunder fans constantly trying to like revalidate the fact that they just won a title and like arguing like why are you argu arguing like Jaylen Williams and Palero? You just won a title. I can promise you if and when the Magic win a title, I’m not going to be spending my summer arguing about whether or not Braun Vagner is better than Scotty Barnes. It’s just not going to happen. I’m going to be celebrating my title and nobody is going to be able to say a thing to me and nobody’s going to be able to take that away from us. So that’s the mindset that Magic fans have to have. Like internally we can set what the standard looks like for success for this team. Like if we don’t win a first round playoff series, heads are going to absolutely roll. And if we sweep whoever in the first round and we want to be excited about that, guess what? We’ve been through hell since Dwight left. And we have every right to celebrate that regardless of who it is. You win your first playoff series in 13 14 years. I don’t care if it’s the freaking Ridgewood Rams where I went to high school. Like I’m going to celebrate that playoff series. So I think that’s kind of where we all need to get to and myself included is just like turn off the noise. Like Jamal Mosley talks about pressure being a privilege and that’s where I am now. And that’s why I don’t really care who we play. like I’m going to, you know, hope that the best is going to happen and if my little, you know, blue and white heart gets crushed, then so be it. But like I’m all in on this ride because we’ve been waiting for a team like this and now we have it. We didn’t know if and when we would see another one like it. So I I’m all in. Like give me anybody. I don’t care. Luke, before we let you go, you know, as we’ve talked about, we’re turning this new corner into this new era. I mean, we’ve been in the era, but you know, with the new look and the Desmond Bane, you know, all this stuff, it feels like, like we said, this is the make orb break era. Do you have any words, any parting words for Magic fans out there as we go into this new era? You know, we’re a couple months away from the season starting. Any words, words of advice, words of encouragement, words of warning for fellow Magic fans out there? It’s a long season. There’s going to be times when you think that this was the best summer the magic have ever had because we are blowing dudes out. Whoa. We are. If you didn’t if you didn’t stop the sentence right there, it I promise you it would have been fine. Yeah. Well, sometimes blowing dudes out like that would have been just fine. You did not have to step, you know, stop in the middle of that sentence. I just Sometimes you have to keep blowing teams out. How about that? I was I was committed to the bit. All right. And and that’s so yes, there will be nights, man, where the Magic you’re gonna win games. You’re gonna win games and it’s going to be convincing and it’s going to be incredible and you’re going to be through the moon about what this team is doing. And oh my goodness, Welman, you’re ready to king him and Jamal Mosley. And then there will be stretches where you lose four in a row maybe and then you’re going to want a knee-jerk reaction and you’re going to say, “The season’s over. I hate my life. I cannot believe that I thought this team was going to be good.” All I am saying is that as best as you can, keep a level head. Let’s get to the end of the season or to where the playoff picture is shaping up and then let’s draw our conclusions about what this season is because there’s a long 82 games and then we have to recondition ourselves for the NBA playoffs. Like we’ve already said, it’s a long, long time. There’s a lot of teams you got to face. There’s a lot of games you have to play. They’re not all going to be pretty. But when you get to the playoffs, if the Magic win, I’m not even going to I’m not even going to harp on how we won, what we did. A win is a win in the playoffs. Keep it going. And uh and I think that it’ll be a fun fun ride. So I uh I’m hopeful. I am cautiously optimistic. I’m really just worried about health. I think you stay healthy. There is no reason you can’t be a top three team in the East. And that might even not be good enough for what I really want to say. You the Orlando Magic could be the number one team in the East. They could. There’s a world where it happens. There’s a world where we we’ve experienced bad injury luck. We’ve experienced great injury luck. I think back to the uh season Steve Clifford is is there where we make it and we’re the seven seed, right? virtually the same roster as the year prior, but you were healthy and that was the difference. So, we’ve experienced both ends of the spectrum with with injuries. Um, and I as long as you stay healthy, there is not a reason you cannot be the number one team in the East cuz other teams are going to struggle with health. They already are with guys like Tyrese out, Jason Tatum out. So, yeah, it’ll be a fun season. I’m excited. Opening night is going to be incredible. And I thanks to Kevin’s love for it, I now have a love for schedule release. Schedule. Let’s go. Schedule release. Three weeks times. Three weeks. Okay. Yeah. I was about to say we should be roughly 3 to four weeks away. So that’ll be a blast to um to do that to go through that. I think last year when you guys did it, you guys had like the Excel spreadsheet that you guys were using, I think maybe to track and I was like, “Hey, I need you guys to slide that to me so that I can also go through this.” And I will likely do the same thing again this year. But, um, it’s just a fun a fun time, especially with a team as good as they are, and we get to really get nerdy and crunch back to backs and three and four nights and rest advantage and all of that fun stuff. And what scheduled losses or even schedule wins that the Magic will have this upcoming season. I think there’s going to be a lot of wins. I don’t know what I’m going to guess, predict for our win loss, hitting that win total. If I was going to say over or under, I have no idea yet, but we’ll see after the schedule comes out where I’m at after I process through all that. So, it’ll be it’ll be a fun one and I’m excited for this upcoming season. Well, in the words of the great Shane Falco, pain heals, chicks dig scars, glory lasts forever. Our friend, our brother Luke Sylvia, appreciate you stopping by. Um, always good to see you, man. Thanks for taking the time hanging out with us here. Yeah, thanks. But folks, that is going to do it for this one for Luke Sylvia, for Kevin Tucker. This has been Jonathan Osborne. You all have been listening to the Sixman 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.

Longtime co-host of The Sixth Man Show, Luke Sylvia, drops by to catch up with the boys and all things Magic basketball.

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