It Doesn't Get Any Bigger Than This... | Media Day Recap

It doesn't get any bigger than this. With training camp starting tomorrow, the Magic stepped in front of the mics for media day. But what did we really learn? Besides Sean Sweeney addressing his first media day as head coach, what was said by the front office, coaching staff, and players that will give us some insight on this upcoming season? Let's break it all down here on Magic Digest. What's good with it? It's your big gong Eric, back again with Magic Digest. I hope you guys are doing good. Come on in. Let's go ahead and lock it down, man. Let's jump it up. Basketball is here. It is about to start and you're going to want to get involved. So make sure you hit subscribe and like, share, and all of that so you can be in the home of the best place for sports analysis, news, and coverage of the Orlando Magic. That's right here on Magic Digest. Before we go any further, I do want to give a shout out to today's sponsor, Calshi. 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If you're interested in trading out Calshi, use the link in the description and pin comment and code DigestNBA to get $55 added to your account instantly when you trade your first 25. That's right. Big thanks to the over at Calshi. Now let's get into this media day, man. We had everybody in the building. It was the first time that we got everybody back together and ability to answer some questions, but I got a, I got a rant. I got a big old rant. I got to get out before we go any further. What was going on with the Magic's media coverage of, or their showcasing of this media day? Other teams media days had them streamed where you could watch the interviews when they stepped up to the podium and addressed the media. If the Magic had that going on somewhere where you could stream it and watch it, I apologize. I did not see it. The only thing that I saw on the Magic's official channel was where they have Kendra, the sideline reporter off to the side, interviewing guys after they come and do their big interview, which is cool. Cause I like to see their interaction. And that was good. You get the guys, you know, kind of laid back, you know, a little more chill situation when they're speaking to her versus when they're up at the podium. But also I wanted to see the natural reaction of them answering certain questions, being, you know, questioned in how they responded about certain things going into the season. Again, if that's out there and you know, you let me know down in the comments, where's that? And I will go consume it all. That stream that they had was trash buggy. Every time somebody started to talk, it was glitching. I'm watching it from different devices, making sure it wasn't mine. Overall, it was just a terrible experience. I need the Magic to step that up. They got to do better for real. But what was actually said today? Well, one of the things that I was looking for was how would Jeff Weltman address the summer? You know, how would he address the concerns that people have had about this front office? Not doing enough, you know, would he double down or would he, you know, acknowledge what people are saying? And honestly, he did exactly what I thought he was going to do. He doubled, tripled down. If we take a look at what Jeff Weltman said today at media day last year, they picked us to win the East. Honestly, I much prefer this summer. I much prefer the focus, the attention, the notoriety being drawn to other teams. We just going about our work quietly. We've done a lot of good work here. I think a lot of important work, really much of nothing. This is pretty much what I thought he would say. They didn't go out and do anything big. They don't, they didn't have a very big, shiny acquisition that they can dangle in front of us and say, hey, this is what the front office is doing. In fact, them bringing back Vooch almost signals to me, it's like they didn't do anything really. And a lot of people feel like they just didn't do anything. They've got the new coach. They brought him in and they say, hey, look, that's our move. And we've talked about this plenty of times here on this podcast. That is exactly what it looks like. Their thought process was, we believe in this team. We think that with internal growth, them getting a little bit older with bringing in a new coach with just these guys desire to, you know, turn the page on last season and go with the new coach that that would be all the needed. We will have to let the year play out to see there's a lot of doubts and promise you, we're going to talk about it here on the magic digest. Now, big shout out to Jason Beatty. He is the beat writer for the Orlando signal. And usually one of the people that I trust, cause I know he's just going in there and getting the straight facts. When it comes to situations like this, he put up his article. That's where I got that. Jeff Weltman quote. I also found this article over a sports illustrated sports illustrated that showcased the three things that we learned coming out of this magic media day. Let's just go ahead and run through them real quick. First and foremost, roles. The magic met shortly before media day to establish what everybody's role would be going into the season. This is very different from previous years, but there can also be some flexibility in how the team manages itself. Orlando has a vision and a plan, but that can change as the season moves forward. Especially if injuries become part of the equation, Orlando is coming into the season, relatively healthy. Now, honestly, as far as health goes from what I gathered at the end of the day, that rookie Isaiah Nelson and Jonathan Isaac will be the only two that won't be ready as of day one, by day one, it seems like they'll J I is still recovering. And the rookie who suffered his injury during a summer league is still recovering. We'll, when we get some updates, we'll definitely let you guys know. Maybe I'll do a short or something like that. But what this tells me is that the team is really depending on the growth of these guys together. It looks like they kind of saw what everybody's role has been, especially under the previous regime. And it looks like Sean Sweeney wants to come in and establish new rules and a new way that everybody views themselves. So that'd be interesting to watch, like who is given the reins, who is given a short leash, you know, maybe somebody that we've seen in the past have the ability to make multiple mistakes. Might that be real did who knows we'll have to wait and see how it goes. But that was the first thing that we gleaned from this media day, as we continue to go on, this is something that I noticed just in seeing footage, Paolo's body and you know, not to be like, yo, we checking his body out. But as you want to see how these guys come into camp. And this is this is what I got from Jeremy Brendam. He said all eyes on Apollo bank Carol this season, as he looks to take the magic and extra step forward. When he sat down with for his interview with the media, he looks slimmer and stronger. It's clear that he's been putting in work throughout the offseason to improve his game and his overall makeup. And that could play a large role in how far Orlando goes this season. I think it's going to play a massive role in how far Orlando goes this season, because we have established Paolo is our one day. He is our guy and he has been given that lifestyle, let's say that that that diet up until now, how is he going to change the way he consumes it? That's what I'm very interested in. I don't think the whole plan will be to give Paolo less touches. It's just going to be are we giving Paolo better touches and situations that can utilize his extreme gifts? You know, one thing that I don't want to see is as while he can play make and make the proper decisions. I would like to see him work on speeding it up just a little bit, not playing out of control, not playing out of time, but actually making quicker decisions, not having to process a million things when you put into a situation where you're just going to your move. Bing, bang, boom. That actually makes you react more naturally and your body is doing more work instead of you being bogged down. It's like your CPU don't got enough memory. You know, your computer is just overworked. Now it's taking longer to complete tasks instead of you just having a short route to get what you need done. It makes it much easier. It makes the game flow better for you and your teammates. And I think that's one thing that Paolo can improve on, especially with him coming in slimmer, seeming to be in better shape. I'm definitely excited about that. What do you guys think? And we're going to go ahead and end this off with the thing that I've been saying would be one of the most important situations with having a new coach. And that is new energy. There's a new feeling in the building and it's not just on having a new coach, but that does bring it in. It does say, Hey, we got a new voice in here. We got some, a whole new vibe going on. So this was also taken from that article. The magic have a lot of the same crew from last season, but there is a feeling of a new chapter. Part of that has to do with the fact that Sweeney is in the building instead of mostly, but it's more than just that. The magic have been consistently in the facility for several weeks and there's a redefined focus on how they are attacking each and every game. It's clear that the team has undergone a lot of change and the games during the season should hopefully reflect that. It, I can't say it any better. It's been great to see the magic have spent way more time together as a team working out this off season than I have seen in previous years, especially with this young core. We've seen them at runs, you know, we've seen them at each other's events during the off season, supporting each other when they can. And also it looks like they've been on Orlando at the facility, putting in work, doing the necessary grind work to get better. And that is what you want to see coming into immediate day. Basketball training camp starts tomorrow. Probably by the time you're listening to this, what are you excited? What do you hope the magic can achieve at training camp? Who do you want to see step up and really take the next leap? You guys let me know down below in the comments. I'm gonna get up out of here. We'll definitely be back tomorrow with more of magic, the new season. I'm excited. Let's get into it. It's your big Eric with magic digest.