So the magic just came off what

Honestly was a pretty important stretch of things as far as proving a lot about them. They had a very easy stretch of the schedule that in theory was going to give them an opportunity to get their feet under them. This season that stretch came at a time where it actually got them back to 500, and that is a pretty big deal. Now the Bucks, Lakers, and Rockets are up ahead of them to deal with and honestly as a fan I think it’s a crucial time of the year to make a decision is this the team we think we can win with (and I mean it all) or is it still the same team who couldn’t really compete coming out of the gate. I’ve been thinking a lot about this to be totally completely honest with you, I think my decision is that the magic in this stretch of games had some games where they were lights out from the three point line, something they have proved time and time again they can’t sustain. Then also they are still turning the ball over pretty heavily. Whether you believe these things come down from the coach, or whether you believe it’s just in some players nature to take these hard shots that miss or get passed out of into turnovers, I believe that a couple things do need to change. I am 100% sure Clifford isn’t the guy to lead these men into a war and take home the victory, but I also don’t believe he has his troops 100% behind him. Both of these things are huge problems that bandaids only make worse because at some point they fall off. This magic team could use some real work. Winning a title doesn’t come from mediocrity, it comes from being a team like this bucks team who has mentally dominated a lot of different teams that they have played this year. Comes from having a guy or two who is just in absolute dire need of a defenses attention so a guy like Danny Green can go ahead and pick off 8 threes on a given night and just make that floor feel like it’s 80 feet wide. To be honest the magic just hold inconsistency and they hold it incredibly well, that just makes for the occasional Tuesday night thriller and if I’m being honest as a fan I need July to be exciting for me.

Honestly after what I was witnessed from the magic last night I had to make sure I got a full nights sleep and woke up the next morning purely based off the fact the I had died and went to heaven. Last night was an absolute blessing to my eyes, and honestly although I still have the belief this will never be the team, it did make me do a lot of thinking about whether or not their ability to compete truly is going to be there. All night last night the tough shots were falling, the offense was clicking and dare I even say consistent? AG obviously isn’t going to come out every night and miss only a handful of shots, but that’s not the point. He was on a whole new level of attack, and when things didn’t seem like a necessarily clean path, they were actually consistently hitting the next pass and working to break down the defensive pressure from seeing the inside of the paint instead of just settling for some bs most of the time. Now I mean I think it’s important to also mention that last night was one of those nights that when BS did get thrown up, it was going in. A lot of Fournier stepbacks with pressure there, and AG had some turnarounds and tough shots go in, but I do realize a lot of the times that yes in some capacity those are practiced, but also so is screen and roll work and free throws, and both of those for the most part could probably still be polished. There are certain guys I understand missing from the line, but a guy who loves his jump shot I will just not be able to understand. Overall, yes I’ve been the big leader of dump the team and let’s find guys who can just be consistent, and to be honest I am still completely in the boat. After last night though I do admit for stretches of the game last night while I was on my coach alone I was really hoping in and jumping bandwagons. Yes I understand guys can change and things can happen, but I also know how difficult it can be to find your footing in this league especially the deeper a season goes, and I just really hope the magic don’t have fools good just tricking everyone.

I could write the same blog I have been writing for after the last 4 games about how the magic play and underwhelming opponent, struggle, and the internet falls harder in love. But honestly like I’m bored with the team, I’m bored with those blogs so I want to talk about the Jokic problem. Well mainly speculate.

This man though, for whatever reason just decides he has no reason to be around when there is any sort of decent competition going on for his Nuggets team. Tonight was an example like no other to be honest as well, as this guy was turning the ball over more than anyone on his team first and foremost as well as just

Getting his ass blown by on defense anytime the ball was being caught with room to work towards the basket going downhill. This man has been spoken about by some as a very crucial, mvp type piece and this season has been the ultimate stinker. Now am I one of those people who believes that because he got fat this is where it’s probably come? Possibly, I think there is no room for success connected to a fatty. To be honest, he hasn’t looked the worst all year physically, but the way he started out the year has left an absolute horrible taste in my mouth and I hold onto those tastes mainly because I have no mints. The one thing that’s been interesting is seeing how hard it is for a guard who wants to score a lot to stay engaged to keep working over and over again with a big who’s shooting absolutely horrible and when the ball gets in his hands the offense almost seems like it takes steps back. The Nuggets were a team I really liked coming into the season, and believed they could really get somewhere as they get older, especially with the possibility of what they had on the table if they did want to exchange assets. The Nuggets are still 13-5 but the schedule has been iffy so far, the only issue is when things get tough, Jokic gets going.

At this point in my magic fan life, I think I am slowly getting an understanding of where the mediocrity and all the bull shit comes from with the front office. Before I wasn’t as invested in the Twitter universe as I had been before, after I really dive deep and see how magic fans talk and think for the most part they are one tracked morons. They have no feel for what’s going on around the league and have no understanding that every team isn’t built equal and some games hold a lot more weight than others. Perfect example comes last night when they play a team giving Ky Bowman and Omari Spellman huge minutes. Most magic fans probably have no idea where they even come from to be honest, but god damn if the magic beat them by barley holding on to the lead late and really just get lucky from the poor execution, then the Magic season is saved. Don’t let me forget that the magic also through on a W that comes from the Cavs who have won 5 games, 1 more than the warriors. Suddenly we don’t hate Fournier the inconsistent scoring who’s defensive abilities list stops after the ‘:’. Suddenly people are all in to ride the train for all 82 that consistently keeps letting rocks affect how the wheels turn, and for the most part gets put on the track that leads right to the cliff. Life is not sweet in Orlando, the offense is absolutely atrocious. Guys are hardly ever in positions that would set them up for success, and all these players who were taking “offensive leaps” over the summer didn’t also give us the information that they couldn’t land on their feet. At this point if I’m going to be the only realistic person who realizes that this isn’t the team, I’ll hold that torch. I’ll hold it high because right now it’s exactly what this team needs if it wants to look even anywhere remotely deep into the playoffs anytime soon.

The magic utilized one of the absolutely most thrilling way to piss away a game. They sure let the raptors have a lot of fun with the turnovers and the collapsing on every drive so the ball could be kicked out to an open shooter who the contest was obviously going to be late to. At this points I’m not even embarrassed about the point a minute for the whole third quarter, or I’m not embarrassed about our ability to not guard a guard what so ever. Because these problems have been working themselves up and up as the season as went on. There is no continuity hardly at all between players when they are just hooping running motion, but even more than that, they don’t have a set they are even hardly comfy enough with to make it completely successful throughout a game. What I am most goddamn upset with at this point is that much like the thanksgiving leftovers I eat each year until they are gone to make my mother happy, we are just doing the same god damn thing every time we show up somewhere. And for the most part no one who roots for this team wants to be the guy who stays consistent and actually is pissed off with the product we are given. Beating Cleveland just had people taking the Magic right off their hooks, and as soon as the raptors get done with us people hop right back over the fence that maybe there actually is a problem. At this point consistency maybe only be coming from one source when it comes to the Orlando Magic, and it’s me.

If you follow even a couple Orlando Magic fans on Twitter they would have you convinced the Cavs were a team that was going to thrashing the league all year, and the magic defeated the giant tonight. But truth be told, the magic have FINALLY actually carried out taking care of someone they should beat, and they did it solely off the back of the young Cavs giving their guys keys and allowing them to grow in the game tonight. The magic still took an unruly amount of threes and shot 36%. Although clock management for the most part seemed under control, defensively the magic gave up a lot of easy looks that were missed. They over played the passing lanes so hard all night and they really showed an ability to not be present on the boards on either end of the floor for stretches at a time.

At this point if you’re one of the dense ones who just threw all your concerns out the window then you need to fill up your bathtub with ice, and dunk your head so deep in and that your shoulders get treatment and wake the hell up. This team has a coaching problem still, along with a continuity problem and the pieces on the Magic right now isn’t going to be something that pans out to be the killer team anyone wants. The time is now to start shaping the future not sitting around hoping the rain in the summer grows everyone’s abilities.

I’m not even about to sit here and softly highlight the small little positives the magic may or may not have had. I’m just going to get straight to the business. The magic need Clifford gone immediately, last night was their first run that had them holding the advantage in two games, they go into slumps in the middle of every quarter and this guy has absolutely nothing to get them in a groove out of it. When every player comes out negatively on the +/- your issues cut deep especially when you have guys that are being heralded on defense. After Clifford gets fired, then the team absolutely needs to be shaken up very deeply. Get Gordon, and Fournier gone. Gordan can go be Tobias Harris somewhere and soak up their cap, we don’t need to run his wheels off here. Fournier will never be worth 55 cents on the dollar, but at this point, when you can’t ever guard anyone AND you suck ass at creating hardly anything for yourself let alone your team, you’re a cancer for the team and at this point November is about over so that campaign is done. At this point it’s just a constant lack of anyone around the organization who knows how to be successful. We have the softest most slowest front office that has ever existed, and Jimmys nephew is still gonna get hired when he turns 18 in March because that’s the Magic way.

So first game without a lot of salary cap representing us on the floor and I am say that at times, the flow of the offense seemed incredibly strong. Now obviously the pendulum swings both ways but Khem Birch does an absolute fantastic job of making way in the lane. The space he creates for himself frees up for so many back door cuts and rim runs off him that I really love to see. Having Inwundu in there last night was a huge positive, especially for such a young guy it speaks volumes that when he needs to pick up and go he’s always more than ready to go. The man had the highest +/- by far and it’s absolutely amazing to me this mans minutes aren’t already being drummed and being dished out to him on a silver platter. The thing that hurts about the game last night, the Magic were all over the place and especially the ball on defense. JI came away with 4 swipes himself. Usually the type of defense the magic played last night allows you to just cruise to victory with no real issues as long as you have any consistency in the way you score the basketball, and for the foreseeable future it seems as if this is just going to be something that the magic are gutted with.

The Orlando Magic making absolutely no moves on a roster that is so guard dominated at this point in the season is embarrassing. Mediocracy is something that has been in the Magic’s back pocket now for such an incredibly long time. It honestly makes sense at this point though for a couple of reasons. Today, me writing this blog honestly probably means I’m putting in more work in down time then any magic execs have all week, Monday to Friday. Another great thing this organization does that only sets them back at their own hand is it seems as if the damn owners are just hiring their god damn family. Watching the fucking Ohio and Baylor game and I’ll be damned if the magic don’t have a scout there which is great, who is the scout though? A fucking owners grandson?!? So instead of competency, knowledge, and maybe a refined background who the magic pick from?? Who the hell is sitting at the table on thanksgiving. Who has the best chances? Not someone who’s going to walk into the doors of Amway and kill an interview, but someone who is more going to be there when grandpa just needs a limb to come down. This no brains organization is in some dire need of changes, and sadly maybe at this point only 2% need to happen on the floor. At this point I honestly just imagine a Dunder Mifflin full of way less funny and charismatic people who have cut off the internet so they can create themselves an echo chamber that allows them to feel safe in what they are doing.

So I can honestly say that what happened last night is the actual exact opposite of anything the magic ever needed. Not saying guys cannot get injured in this league as it is going to be something that naturally happens as time goes, but I think this tiny domino might start a chain of events that could really hurt the magic season in the long run. Of course we only know Vucci is hurt, but with the way he was able to come in and do nothing, I’d assume we have a hurt Bamba in some sense of the word. This is where things get difficult because really almost any avenue you take, you’re going to be looking at a small lineup. Which is hard to say with the guys we usually have at the three and the four, but at this point, the only option off the bench is Khem Birch who is a great piece to have, but he has had very very limited time to work this year, and the thrusting in sure will be an adjustment. Either way. That still might cover 25 minutes, maybe? Having all the guards is fun and flashy and brings a lot of different possibilities, but times like these add up a lot. Our inside presence has already really been shaky at times in the season, and I am scared at how much more one sided this offense truly is about to become.