Zach Lowe on the Magic's Defense: "They're mean!"

[ORLMagicGirl15]

I don't think we have ever had a reputation as a bruiser in the NBA. I am enjoying it.

We did during the Dwight era.

Ummm what? Rashard and Hedo if I remember just funneled everything to Dwight.

The only defensive bruising reputation that I remember was our C spot ( Dwight/ Gortat/ Battie ) and Pietrus.

Sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you asked if we were known to have reputation of a bruiser. I was just thinking of Dwight and His defense. But as a team as a whole, maybe not.

[Bensational]

Magic are the new Pistons and bad boys of defense. That’s championship culture.

[BadMofoPimp]

Defense wins ships.

[MasterGMer]

Three-four games ago, Black had a quote that was something like, "We want teams to remember they played us".

He also talked about wanting teams to break. The mentality is strong.

Yup. I want our defense to have the mentality that we ware going to harass the opponent. (Well, that is easier said than done )

But we have a tough stretch coming up in December. And hopefully we get Paolo back some time. But this stretch is going to not only test our defense, but how good are we.

Yes, we are a good team. But how how good? We will see after December

[jezzerinho]

Defense wins ships.

Yes, but loose lips sink them.

[GelbeWand09]

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[Last Guardian]

I don't think we have ever had a reputation as a bruiser in the NBA. I am enjoying it.

We did during the Dwight era.

Dwight was the only good defender. Lee and Rashard and Pietrus were decent, but nothing special.

Now we have 3 elite guys in Suggs, KCP and JI.

And some very good in Goga, Black, Wendell and Franz

This team today is just stacked defensively

[JoshuaPotter]

I don't think we have ever had a reputation as a bruiser in the NBA. I am enjoying it.

We did during the Dwight era.

Dwight was the only good defender. Lee and Rashard and Pietrus were decent, but nothing special.

Now we have 3 elite guys in Suggs, KCP and JI.

And some very good in Goga, Black, Wendell and Franz

This team today is just stacked defensively

We are dangerously close to a cloned Pistons team from the 00s. Either way....

Length, Bruisers, and a commitment to defense traveling has been out mantra.

[cedric76]

I don't think we have ever had a reputation as a bruiser in the NBA. I am enjoying it.

We did during the Dwight era.

Dwight was the only good defender. Lee and Rashard and Pietrus were decent, but nothing special.

Now we have 3 elite guys in Suggs, KCP and JI.

And some very good in Goga, Black, Wendell and Franz

This team today is just stacked defensively

Air France was decent??? Oh dear

[Optimus_Steel]

We did during the Dwight era.

Dwight was the only good defender. Lee and Rashard and Pietrus were decent, but nothing special.

Now we have 3 elite guys in Suggs, KCP and JI.

And some very good in Goga, Black, Wendell and Franz

This team today is just stacked defensively

Air France was decent??? Oh dear

The Magic were the best defensive team in 2009 so it wasn't just Dwight. Pietrus was a really good defender, so was Lee. Lewis was good. Gortat was as well.

[JoshuaPotter]

We did during the Dwight era.

Dwight was the only good defender. Lee and Rashard and Pietrus were decent, but nothing special.

Now we have 3 elite guys in Suggs, KCP and JI.

And some very good in Goga, Black, Wendell and Franz

This team today is just stacked defensively

Air France was decent??? Oh dear

Next to Dwight I would argue every defensive player on the time was "decent". He literally made everyone on the team defensively better.

Different era though. I do wonder if Dwights post up game would dominant in this NBA. He would have needed to actually make free throws I am guessing.

[thelead]

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“We need to get rid of JI”

[VFX]

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“We need to get rid of JI”

I'd be happier if he was capable of playing more than 17 mpg.

[Skybox]

If anybody hears of a Zach Lowe podcast sighting - please share...I thought he was the best out there - although I didn't think he was as good on TV. He just seemed goofy when he didn't have so much time to fill in around his zingers with his usually excellent analysis. I guess I'm also partial because he respected ORL...the other one I listen to most is Windhorst and he's an arrogant gasbag with no regard or knowledge of ORL (he was forced to address them due to the recent success and he commented primarily on their excellent rim protectors - which is true, but certainly not as prolific as the POA defenders)...he's saved weekly by his excellent guests who put up with his rude interruptions and talk-overs. All of the guests are solid - McMahon, Marks, Bontemps, Pelton...

but I miss Zach

[eyriq]

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“We need to get rid of JI”

I wouldn't say it's a priority but given his injury history, inability to scale up, overlap with core players (Franz and Paolo), and the team's glut of defensive impact players I think he's a sell high candidate.

We need to optimize around Paolo, Franz, and Suggs, not Vooch, Gordon, and Fournier.

[RookieStar]

We did during the Dwight era.

Dwight was the only good defender. Lee and Rashard and Pietrus were decent, but nothing special.

Now we have 3 elite guys in Suggs, KCP and JI.

And some very good in Goga, Black, Wendell and Franz

This team today is just stacked defensively

Air France was decent??? Oh dear

Well.... he was being called our " kobe stopper" if I remember correctly. lol

I mean... Air France was famous for 3 things in his tenure with us...

1.) Defensive stopper
2.) Chucking 3s
3.) Stepping out of bounds

[Skybox]

We did during the Dwight era.

Dwight was the only good defender. Lee and Rashard and Pietrus were decent, but nothing special.

Now we have 3 elite guys in Suggs, KCP and JI.

And some very good in Goga, Black, Wendell and Franz

This team today is just stacked defensively

We are dangerously close to a cloned Pistons team from the 00s. Either way....

Length, Bruisers, and a commitment to defense traveling has been out mantra.

An Isaiah Thomas clone wouldn't hurt...I guess they didn't have anything like our frontcourt (offensively) but a HOF backcourt instead. I do see the "identity" comparison with the Bad Boys...defense really is a team identity.

[Skybox]

BTW, ESPN re-upping Stephen A. Smith for like $120m the guy is a f#$*ing tool with no regard for research or accuracy. He just shouts down those that question him.

Zach gets let go...whatever. Screw ESPN...glad I was around when they were groundbreaking.