Official Spec Thread: Heart and Hustle Magic 2.0

[RookieStar]

I mean who cares what it looks like? It depends on what our goals as an organization are. Is it to get better or to win championships.

One leads to the other. A bad team goes through mediocrity to get good. There is no precedent for a bad team being a championship contender the following season.

Orlando's upside goal next year is to win from 35-45 games. That is the absolute ceiling if every single perfect thing exactly aligns.


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I agree. I think we will do our best to win as many games as possible next season while slowly developing whoever we draft this upcoming draft. If that means play-in or outright PO spot where we get demolished against the heavyweights then so be it.

[jonbob17]

We are winning at a 56% rate over the last 9 games.

That's a cherry-picked stat.

Here's a better one. Orlando has won 100% of its last game.

....

Here's another one in the negative: Orlando has only won 33% of its last three games.

My point: you clipped off a 4-game losing streak that immediately preceded these 9 games. Over the 13, Orlando was 38.4%.

But in that 38.4% number, as a more suitable stat that proves your point: if Orlando wins at a 38% rate to close out the season, the Magic probably does catch Houston to finish as the 28th worst team.

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9 games is more than 10% of the season and yes i cherry picked them to get the point across. Those 5 wins cost us our lead.

And if we win 38% of the games like you suggest, that equates to 10 games. if we win 10 more games we are getting passed by many in the race to the bottom. Remember the Spurs, Pacers, and Trailblazer have all joined the party.

[drsd]

I am sure we were all ready to discuss the new Magic depth chart. Oh well.

[JBSouthpaw]

I am sure we were all ready to discuss the new Magic depth chart. Oh well.

I feel bad for the person who has to change the injury report, they'll do the most work today!

[drsd]

I feel bad for the person who has to change the injury report, they'll do the most work today!

Actually you raise a point. Lead leading Magic in players games lost to injury now declines each game do to this trade; what was Carter-Williams and Moore is now only Bol. So, on paper, the Magic is healthier.

This will accumulate to 20+ "lost" stat games of games lost to injury.


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[drsd]

[LDNMagic90]

Read on Twitter

Eeesh, I have yet to visit Orlando so I can’t say for myself but to the natives/people who have visited is this true? Through the TV it sounds a bit empty but when we was a contender was the vibe the same?

[basketballRob]

Read on Twitter

Eeesh, I have yet to visit Orlando so I can’t say for myself but to the natives/people who have visited is this true? Through the TV it sounds a bit empty but when we was a contender was the vibe the same?

That's like almost any fan base in the NBA right now. Detroit, New Orleans, and many others don't draw crowds either. They fill up the arena when they put a good product on the floor.

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[thelead]

Orlando is just not a sports town. Many of us have been complaining about the crowds for decades. The old O-rena had its charm and there was a lot of buzz during the Shaq and Penny days but after that, it's been a lot of 'away' games as Lakers, Heat, Knicks, whoever else comes to town. It sucks. The Dwight years were decent but even in those days, there were a lot of 'away' games at home (minus playoff games, those were usually pretty good). There are just so many people here that have migrated from Miami, NYC, Boston, etc and have raised their kids to be fans of their old home-town teams.

[basketballRob]

We have a lot more options to do stuff in Orlando. It's not like OKC when your options are go to the game or go cow tipping.

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[Magic_Kingdom]

You can't expect an enthusiastic fanbase when the team is actively trying to lose. What is there to root for? People aren't buying $200 tickets to cheer on player development.

On top of that, the Magic have sucked for the past decade. There is absolutely no buzz here for this team, nor should there be. The product is trash.

Another factor is the Amway Center itself. The old O-rena used to rock, in part because the teams were good, in part because it felt like a college gym. All the luxury boxes and suites were at the top, so all the real fans were on top of the action. The Amway Center is the opposite and everything is spread out.

And like the Lead said, we're a transplant town, although that's changing some. You used to never meet second or third generation Orlandoans, but that happens now. It's just that with all the growth and tourism it's an ever-changing market.

The biggest factor now is a team that is not trying to win and a decade of perpetual rebuilding.

[DiplomaticMagic]

I replied to the JJ Redick comment on twitter, and agreed with him. I basically said even in the Dwight days, the crowd wasnt good compared to other crowds. And I got a lot of hate from Magic fans by it.

But I hear the other fans, I remember Dwight being in awe by the Raptor fans in the playoffs. He said something along the lines that the Magic fans arent like that.

I remember when Charles Barkley was with TNT during ECFs. And he said something like you cant take advantage of the crowd here, and it isnt as loud as Cavs fans were.

JJ didnt say anything wrong, I hope with players with energy like Suggs and Wagner, we can turn it around. But we need to get a lot better.

Ive been to a over a dozen games in Orlando. But also been to Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls games and the crowd is way more engaged there. The crowd here when we were good wasnt really engaged until 4th qtr. Heck ive been to a few Miami Heat games in Orlando. And the Heat fans are way more engaged in our own building. Its very embarrassing.

I know its rough times now, but feel like its worse than ever. Every home game of ours seems like an away game. Thats been the case for few of the marquee teams but now even Memphis Grizzlies have a majority crowd at our games. And I swear we've had like 10 opposing players have MVP chants this year at Amway.

[tiderulz]

I replied to the JJ Redick comment on twitter, and agreed with him. I basically said even in the Dwight days, the crowd wasnt good compared to other crowds. And I got a lot of hate from Magic fans by it.

But I hear the other fans, I remember Dwight being in awe by the Raptor fans in the playoffs. He said something along the lines that the Magic fans arent like that.

I remember when Charles Barkley was with TNT during ECFs. And he said something like you cant take advantage of the crowd here, and it isnt as loud as Cavs fans were.

JJ didnt say anything wrong, I hope with players with energy like Suggs and Wagner, we can turn it around. But we need to get a lot better.

Ive been to a over a dozen games in Orlando. But also been to Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls games and the crowd is way more engaged there. The crowd here when we were good wasnt really engaged until 4th qtr. Heck ive been to a few Miami Heat games in Orlando. And the Heat fans are way more engaged in our own building. Its very embarrassing.

I know its rough times now, but feel like its worse than ever. Every home game of ours seems like an away game. Thats been the case for few of the marquee teams but now even Memphis Grizzlies have a majority crowd at our games. And I swear we've had like 10 opposing players have MVP chants this year at Amway.

i think a major thing is the amount of transplants in Florida. they come with their fandom of whatever team they left. Orlando needs more winning seasons to convert them

[basketballRob]

The Heat have the same problem drawing fans when they're bad. The last few years the highway has been under major construction and that's added to the congestion around the arena. Plus they got a bunch of other construction projects around the Anway including the Magic Entertainment Center. The highway and Entertainment Center being complete should coincide with us getting better. I could see us having a good team and getting the allstar game in a couple of years like Cleveland this season.

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[Xatticus]

I replied to the JJ Redick comment on twitter, and agreed with him. I basically said even in the Dwight days, the crowd wasnt good compared to other crowds. And I got a lot of hate from Magic fans by it.

But I hear the other fans, I remember Dwight being in awe by the Raptor fans in the playoffs. He said something along the lines that the Magic fans arent like that.

I remember when Charles Barkley was with TNT during ECFs. And he said something like you cant take advantage of the crowd here, and it isnt as loud as Cavs fans were.

JJ didnt say anything wrong, I hope with players with energy like Suggs and Wagner, we can turn it around. But we need to get a lot better.

Ive been to a over a dozen games in Orlando. But also been to Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls games and the crowd is way more engaged there. The crowd here when we were good wasnt really engaged until 4th qtr. Heck ive been to a few Miami Heat games in Orlando. And the Heat fans are way more engaged in our own building. Its very embarrassing.

I know its rough times now, but feel like its worse than ever. Every home game of ours seems like an away game. Thats been the case for few of the marquee teams but now even Memphis Grizzlies have a majority crowd at our games. And I swear we've had like 10 opposing players have MVP chants this year at Amway.

i think a major thing is the amount of transplants in Florida. they come with their fandom of whatever team they left. Orlando needs more winning seasons to convert them

The issue is that the fans that provide that sort of atmosphere don't go to the games. They are priced out. The organization isn't trying to make the team accessible to its fan base. They are trying to make money. You can make more money by selling fewer tickets to people that have more money than you can by selling more tickets to people that have less money. This applies to pretty much everything.

[JBSouthpaw]

I'm on board with the line up shake ups for the last 23 games.
Start Suggs, let's see how Cole does in the Ross role..
Start Okeke, he's earned it. In 2022, he's shooting over 38% from 3, leads the team in steals too.

[The Effect]

Orlando is just not a sports town. Many of us have been complaining about the crowds for decades. The old O-rena had its charm and there was a lot of buzz during the Shaq and Penny days but after that, it's been a lot of 'away' games as Lakers, Heat, Knicks, whoever else comes to town. It sucks. The Dwight years were decent but even in those days, there were a lot of 'away' games at home (minus playoff games, those were usually pretty good). There are just so many people here that have migrated from Miami, NYC, Boston, etc and have raised their kids to be fans of their old home-town teams.

We have a lot more options to do stuff in Orlando. It's not like OKC when your options are go to the game or go cow tipping.

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i think a major thing is the amount of transplants in Florida. they come with their fandom of whatever team they left. Orlando needs more winning seasons to convert them

These are all the same things we said here in san diego when it came to the chargers

Hopefully Devos isnt as big a piece of **** as Dean Spanos and moves the team (unless its here to san diego, sorry ) for these same reasons

[The Effect]

I'm on board with the line up shake ups for the last 23 games.
Start Suggs, let's see how Cole does in the Ross role..
Start Okeke, he's earned it. In 2022, he's shooting over 38% from 3, leads the team in steals too.

So what would that lineup look like?
Carter | Okeke | Franz | RJ? | Suggs?

Sorry but that lineup is getting out rebounded ATLEAST 2-1 every night
Unless youre talking about making franz or okeke the 2 which.....yeah i dont know if that works

[zaymon]

I'm on board with the line up shake ups for the last 23 games.
Start Suggs, let's see how Cole does in the Ross role..
Start Okeke, he's earned it. In 2022, he's shooting over 38% from 3, leads the team in steals too.

So what would that lineup look like?
Carter | Okeke | Franz | RJ? | Suggs?

Sorry but that lineup is getting out rebounded ATLEAST 2-1 every night
Unless youre talking about making franz or okeke the 2 which.....yeah i dont know if that works

I think it would work, but we have too many guards to keep our rotations balanced. Okeke showed he can guard McCollums, same with Wagner.

[RookieStar]

I'm on board with the line up shake ups for the last 23 games.
Start Suggs, let's see how Cole does in the Ross role..
Start Okeke, he's earned it. In 2022, he's shooting over 38% from 3, leads the team in steals too.

So what would that lineup look like?
Carter | Okeke | Franz | RJ? | Suggs?

Sorry but that lineup is getting out rebounded ATLEAST 2-1 every night
Unless youre talking about making franz or okeke the 2 which.....yeah i dont know if that works

Normally I would say you are right. HOWEVER, in this new NBA, I wonder how teams like the Bulls, where Vuc is there only big and plays with 2 6'6 wings as the front court do it?

Or when MIA plays with Bam and the next "bigs" are 6'7 PJ and Butler or etc etc.

I think if we put 6'10 Franz and 6'8 Chuma as the frontcourt and make it that we help rebound we can battle the boards