It's becoming IMPOSSIBLE to ignore...

It's becoming impossible to ignore what's happening with the Orlando Magic. Franz is playing at an all-star level, Bane is catching fire, and suddenly this team has won three straight. But with subs back and Palos' return on the horizon, some big questions are starting to emerge about how this offense will work. So are the Magic finally turning the corner, or are we getting ahead of ourselves? We're going to break all this down in more on today's episode of Magic Digest. Just what's good when it can't focus your big uncle Eric back in the. building. The Magic are 2-0 in NBA Cup play with their first home win of the season this far into the season. That's crazy to think about it. The Magic are finally there 5-7, limping back towards 50-50 ball. But, you know. You do what you gotta do. You win the games that you gotta win. We're gonna get into all that and more. First, I wanna let you know that today's episode is brought to you by our good friends over at Cowsheet. On Cowsheet, you're trading directly against other users, not the house like traditional sports books. You buy our yes or no contracts on the outcome of events across sports, politics, or even. Uh, whether if you're interested in trying out cow sheet, use the link in the description and pin comment and code digest NBA to get $55 added to your account instantly. When you trade your first 25, big thanks to our good friends over at cow sheet. And we just go and get into it, man. Franz leads the magic past the Milwaukee bucks in a one Oh seven 99 game. And it was... Let's just say it was much closer than it had any real reason to be. I mean, again, the Milwaukee Bucks, our NBA team, are full of professionals. And you have guys there like Tyler Hero, Kyle Kuzma, Miles Turner started the game off, you know, knocking down a bunch of three-pointers. Tyler had a few moments where he got cooking. Kuzma had a few moments where he started to put things together, but they just couldn't get anything really going. I mean, Hawkins Jr., he looked good, had some hit some big threes, but overall not enough to really, you know, do anything against your boy Franz, who was just on another level. Now, Franz comes out in. Puts on a pretty much dominant game all around. He had 35 points, 9 rebounds, and 12 assists. At some point, they did have him at a triple-double, but they pulled away one of the rebounds. So, you know, he almost had his first NBA triple-double. I'm sure he will achieve that this season if he continues to play the way he's playing. With a plus 34, and again, he was hitting some big shots. He looked a little bit more confident on the three, like less of the hitch and more of just a smooth stroke, and he hit all of his three-pointers. Again, I love the fact that he's not only getting 12 assists, but starting to limit the turnovers. You know, 12 assists, three turnovers. That is looking good, keeping the ball moving. Now, He actually explained after the game how he's been feeling. He said this, I work hard. I think I got better at a couple of things and the way we are playing fits my skill set. And I think there are a lot of gaps and a little more space for me to attack and try to make plays. And if you look at his on and off numbers, you can definitely tell this Magic team is highly dependent on Franz right now. The existence of their offense on the floor, they have a plus 3.9 rating off negative 16.1. That's a 20 point net rating where, you know, as soon as he leaves. They're not getting much. They're not getting enough from this bench just yet. So it just shows right now how important Franz has been to this team. When we look at where he is getting, you know, his points again, it has been attacking in the paint at the rim and then at above the break three. That is where he is getting his, that's his bread and butter, you know, the up top three. He definitely looks more comfortable there and then he is finding ways to get to the rim and be craftier and more shifty than I've seen him in previous years. It's really the footwork is getting better and it's getting better from even the beginning of the season. So definitely want to continue to see this type of climb with Franz. Also man Dennis Scott, 3D, was in the building. He was a part of the broadcast that I was watching. And they kept making a point that he is close to chasing Dennis Scott to passing him on the field goals list for the Orlando Magic. Dennis Scott is 10th, Francis is 11th, and slightly behind is Paolo. At 12, so very interesting to see that going. Now, there was a comment that was left earlier a few like last week is earlier into the season. And again, shout out to you guys in the comments. You guys always show me some love. And this was at travels with Lewis YT. And he had this to say about the play at that time. The main issue is when Franz keeps trying to dribble into the middle of the floor and it usually leads to nothing to the point where the shot clock is usually towards the end and then we have to jack up a bad shot. How much is that part of the system and how much is that basketball IQ? And I wanted to basically address that, how I feel about it. My perspective of it, when I look at the game plan, when I look at how this team has been approaching from the beginning, even game one, when they were out there pretty healthy with a healthy Paolo, healthy Franz and no sucks. I don't believe he played in the first game. I don't remember at this moment, but the key issue was to get the ball into Franz's hand. It looked like Like the offense was being purposefully run through fronds. What happens is when you have a guy like Franz who is still not the greatest floor spacer so guys can sag off of him and the magic as a team was shooting more three pointers, but they weren't falling. That means he's getting into the paint. Defenses are able to, you know, keep him dribbling, and then he's passing out the guys who are missing shots. Desmond Bain hadn't yet rounded in the shape as he's starting to round in, and we'll talk about him shortly. Anthony Black was out. I'm sorry, Jalen Suggs was in, but Anthony Black was out. Oh, Tristan Da Silva at the beginning true. of the season, he was getting them up, but he wasn't hitting them with the rate that we wanted to see those first couple of games. So it looked like this offense just did not have the right. energy. But Franz, the way he has been playing lately, he's making better decisions. You know, even the game where he only had one assist, he was making the decision, I'm going to get into the lane and score. I'm not going to be throwing out, passing, you know, turning the ball over. I'm going to go in with the intention to score. He comes out a game last night. It's 12 assists. He's making the smart play, getting into the lane, hitting guys who are flashing open, and running the pick and roll, just really making smarter plays. And you can just see the progression, not only We'll As the season has gone, but even this over the last five games, you can see his progression. And again, we do have to take into account be the actual teams that they were playing. right Yes, they played the Jazz. They played Sacramento and they played Milwaukee. So we're not going to act like they were out there, you know, dominating the best teams. back. But these are the type of games where your team can use to round in the shape. Speaking of, let's talk about Desmond Bain. Finding his rhythm, especially when playing with Franz. Last night, he was, I want to say, the third Magic player. To hit six threes in two consecutive games, he would have been the first player if he could have hit seven. If he could have hit seven, he would have been the first guy to hit seven threes in two consecutive games. But 21 points, five rebounds, three assists. You can just see his confidence. Just kicking in, you know, it's very similar to how it was last season where it took him a little bit to round into shape. But once he got on point, there was no stopping him. If we look at his numbers with and without Franz. His usage rate goes up much higher when Franz is off the court, of course, because he is that much better. But he actually scores better with Franz on the court because Franz is getting the ball to him. When Franz is creating, a lot of times it's ending up with a baned open shot. And. These last few games, the connection has been on point. We asked Desmond Bain about his role after the game. I think I'm starting to get to settle into a rhythm. I got an understanding of what my role was expected of me, and I'm going to continue to deliver. He had this to say about Franz. He is the man. He does it on both ends of the floor and came up with that still against Kuzma late. Yeah, Franz was actually playing some defense too. Also, Sean Sweeney, after the game, said, I thought we had a lot of contributions from a number of guys. And if you look at the formula, their offensive formula now is Franz attacks the paint and forces the defense to respond. That means Bain is getting easier and cleaner catch-and-shoot opportunities, and Orlando must avoid settling for the three. Sometimes they do get a little three happy. I know the ball is moving and the shot may be open, but sometimes it may not be the best shot. Now, there was a comment left early a long time ago. This was, I want to say preseason. And someone had to say, this is going to be an interesting year. Sweeney, Paolo, and Franz have to figure out who's going to lead the charge this year for sure. Franz could definitely have a breakout year if Paolo takes the sacrifice to test the waters. But I don't know if it'll happen. Paolo is still him, though, regardless. We had already talked. Also, big shout out to you at 333 underscore Louis 9. Again, big shout out to you guys if you come through and leave a comment. But we're going to see who is. Going to how this office is going to look when Paolo returns is going to be very interesting. I want to give a quick shout out to Jalen Suggs. He did return last night. Glad to see him back out there again. He didn't have the greatest game. He came off the bench in limited minutes. Offense was just not there. But for me, I'm not looking for a lot of offense from Jalen Suggs. I want to see two things. I want to see him continue to be a defensive presence, bring that energy, and then I want to see him keep the connectivity on the offense. I want to see him keeping the ball moving. You know, making smarter decisions. Also, Anthony Black struggled a bit last night, especially on the offense. Five points, two rebounds. He did have five assists, but also five turnovers. He's got to be better. He's got to make smarter decisions. And again, be an offensive force. But again, one thing I did like he did, keep his defense on point, coming up with key plays. But he's just got to be better on offense. Um, what does this have, what does this mean with the magic improving to two and O in the NBA cup? Again, I don't know how much they, you put into it, but if it keeps makes the guys play harder. And we get some wins. I'm here for it. Hehehehe I'm here for it, man. We're going to get into a bunch of them more. We got the Boston Celtics coming up, man. We're going to break them down on another video. But I'm going to get up out of here. I just want to ask you guys real quick. What would prove the magic of turning the corner? Is it this A, this Franz and Bane chemistry holds? B, would it be this defense actually travels against Boston? Or will it be when Paolo returns and the offense stays on point? You guys let me know down below in the comments. It's your big uncle Eric. I'm going to get out of here. Until next time, it's Magic Digest.