It's Already Started....

It's already started, as the FIBA World Cup reactions and overreactions are flooding the algorithms. Goga Batasde had a performance that has many pushing for him to have a bigger role. Is it officially go time for Goga, or was it an outlier and he's got to go? We'll break this down and take a closer look at Desmond Bayne on this edition of Magic Digest. What's good with it, it's your Ken Fo, Big Uncle Eric. Welcome back into the scene. I hope that wherever you are, you are cooler than the other side of the pillow, man. We are going to get it in and, you know, struggling to find things to do for us basketball sickos in this time of the off season, you know, we're picking up, you know, stimulus from everywhere. But for me, I'm excited because my Florida State Seminoles are back in action. And speaking of the action, this video is brought to you by the good folks over at Cal Sheath. On Cal Sheath, you're trading directly against other users, not the house like traditional sports books. You're buying yes or no contracts on the outcome of events across sports, politics, or even the weather. And like I said, man, those Florida State Seminoles are back in the mix. And I know, I know, FSU fans, I know it's been tough these last few seasons, but I got it on, you know, some good insight for some really knowledgeable FSU fans that, you know, we can make a few surprises this year, you know, with the line hovering around six games, I decided to take the more that's right, seven plus wins floor for the Florida State Seminoles this year. Go ahead and lock it in. And if you want to lock it in, use the link in the description on Cal Sheath and the pinned comment, it'll be down there with the code DigestNBA to get $25 added to your account instantly. That's if you're interested in checking out Cal Sheath. Now when we get into this off season, we see that the FIBA World Cup qualifiers are currently going on and there's a lot of trying to parse out how the NBA players are participating in this action, how they're looking. You know, you had guys like VJ Edgecoe for Barbados, you know, going out there, put it on the show. I mean, different guys are doing different things. You know, this is the time when Dennis Schroeder turns into international Michael Jordan. I mean, it happens every year. Now for the Magic, like I said, we spoke before about how Tristan Da Silva is getting some run this year and I'll say this, his early game so far has been underwhelming. I hope that for, you know, the Magic and for himself, that he can find a little bit better footing and really go out there and put on a show. Also, we're getting some performances from Golga, man, that Georgia team is a strong team that, you know, performed well in Eurobasket last year and last year he showed some extra game that he's breaking out again this year in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers. This article that I saw from Philip Rossman Wright over at Orlando Magic Daily had this to say. It was only a year ago at Eurobasket that Batasde teased an improved outside jumper, making 8 of 22 from deep in Georgia's surprising quarterfinal run at Eurobasket. It had everyone excited for a change with Batasde and that he could add a new dimension to his game. Now he goes on to say that he had 23 points and eight rebounds in Friday's 101-74 win over Montenegro. And I was watching the highlights of that game and I was very surprised, not so much of him taking the three because he has, but it was the fluidity and the comfortability that he used to step into it. Just a straight on pull-up shot from three. He was getting rebounds, he was doing all the things that you come to expect from him playing with the Magic, but it was the additional office of impact that really had me and, you know, like, wow. And then I started seeing these think pieces about it. Should he be the number two backup center or will that be Vucevic who was brought in for his offensive ability? Now if we look at Goga and what he did in 2026, I mean, well, what he did last season, we see that in the 64 games played that averaged about five points, five rebounds, and, you know, a little bit under a block, just a hair off of a block. And he just couldn't get any real traction last year under coach Jamal Mosley. And that's plainly because Goga would have really strong moments. He even had some spot starter minutes when guys were hurt, but it was the small mistakes that he would do that he would just, you know, the fouls and the, you know, the turnovers was like, ah, these are why you cannot be consistent because he, at points, he looks like a quality, you know, second string to starting big, not a star, not an all-star of any more, but, you know, a starting big for some teams. And then at other points, he looks like, yo, a DNP coach decision. But if we look at, you know, his comparison to Nikola Vujovic and what they'll be bringing for each other, I go back to that article and by Philip Rossman, right. And he said, for a team searching for some offensive spark, the inability to rely on Batazdeh for more than scraps around the basket became an issue. It is why Nikola Vujovic is favored to take the backup center role. Orlando needs a shooting and spacing. Vujovic is far more valuable than a minimum contract. And if we look at the comparison between the two, of course, on the offensive end, it's just Vujovic, that's been his role at his height. He was a, one of the best offensive centers in the league, even in a much more reduced role and playing minutes, he still has that ability to hit that open shot, to spread the floor and to really be a pain on the offensive end. As far as Guga, if he could involve some of this international ball, you know, where he's hitting the shot and looking comfortable, then that just to me would solidify his time with him being younger, more active and much more of a defensive presence. If he could provide that, that would solidify his space. And, you know, now you're really treating Vujovic as a minimum for spot minutes. But, you know, that's just my opinion on that. We'll see how it transfers into the new season. You guys let me know what you think. Now, before we get out of here, I want to bring up this conversation that we had about Desmond Bain a few days ago, where I was talking about, you know, where does he rank in the league's top shooting guards? Depending on who you look, which entity or outlet provides, he's going to be placed different places. I was listening to a podcast where I mentioned where they had him kind of in that fourth or fifth range, depending on how you look. And I was like, that makes sense. I mean, I think for certain there are three guys that are at the top of the list and your order should be the same as mine, but you can mix and match if you want. I'm going to say number one, Anthony Edwards, number two, Donovan Mitchell, number three, Devin Booker. You can kind of swap Booker and Mitchell around if you want to. But I'm just saying for me, I would go in that order. And I saw an article by Hoops Hype where they were kind of showing the same thing, even though it kind of surprised me some of the rest of the names on the list. So, again, they had Anthony Edwards, Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker as their top three. Then it gets interesting. At number four, you had Amin Thompson. And I like Amin Thompson. I like both of the Thompson twins. I think for me, I would look at him more as a small forward wing and not a shooting guard. But because of that Houston team, you know, with them playing him next to Kevin Durant, Jabari and Sangoon, he kind of falls into that shooting guard position, especially because, you know, he doesn't have the handle to be a lead guard. But I don't know. That's kind of a stretch right there. At number five, they have Austin Reeves. And I think it's just mainly because of opportunity, because in Los Angeles, he is the clear cut number two. You know, in Desmond Bayne, if the Magic are really rolling is a third or fourth option. Then you got like Steph Castle, who, again, I think is more of a point guard, but he just, you know, got played out of that because of his turnover. So he's more in that shooting guard position. So I don't I don't I don't have a problem there. But then we're talking about Conker Newpool, Vijay Edgecombe, Derek White, Tyler Hero, all before Desmond Bayne at number 11. Now, I'm not I'm not seeing it. And when we look at Desmond Bayne's stats for last year, like what more do you want from a guy that came in and played 82 games, averaged 20 points, four rebounds, four assists. And he he flirted at times with that 50, 40, 90 season where like, oh, he's shooting at 48.4 field from the field goal percent, just under 40 at 39.1 at three point percentage and over 90 percent from the free throw line. Like these are quality numbers. These are, you know, in the past, it would he'd be better than some of the, you know, shooting guards that we have on much higher levels. But when we look at his impact, there's just not too many people in the league, especially at shooting guard, that have the same type of impact that Devin Booker has. This is from Brian Kaminsky over at Sports Illustrated. The combination of Baynes two way impact being elite offensively and merely not negative defensively places him in truly rare company. Most players who bring offensive star impact hurt their team on the defensive end, while Bayne does not. Him simply bringing neutral defensive impact puts him head and shoulders above the offensive only options at his position, who can light it up on offense, but can't always stay on the floor defensively come playoff time. And that doesn't even give Bayne justice for his neck for making 50 50 plays that helped the team win. And that's again, if you look at some of those guys who are looked at as being top shooting guards, we're talking about a Donovan Mitchell. We're talking about Austin Reeves. We even talking about a Devin Booker. You can hunt those guys. You can go out and hunt those guys because they are true sieves offensive. They are true cones on the defensive end. As much as they're going to give you there, yeah, they're going to give you the buckets, but on the other end, they're going to give them up as well, especially like somebody like Austin Reeves. Yeah, he's going to go out there and do work, but I'm putting I am putting him in action every play. And we've seen that time and time again with Desmond Bayne. You can't do that. Yes, I would love for him to increase his defensive efficiency to the point that it helps the magic get back into that top 10 defensive rating because just offensive wise with the players on this team, I don't see them being a top offense, but if they can get back to a top rated defensive presence, then they have a much better chance of climbing up the standards in the Eastern Conference and going further in the playoffs. But I would love to know what you guys think. I'm going to get up out of here, man. Until the next time, it's your big uncle Eric for Magic Digest.