Orlando Magic

[popsiclebrandon]

Yeah that sucks. One of the most destructive families in the country.

[bqknight]

1 minute ago, popsiclebrandon said:

Yeah that sucks. One of the most destructive families in the country.

Disappointing to say the least. Hopefully this part of it holds true: "They will not hold a voting position on the board and will not serve in a daily operational role."

But even so, sounds like they'll have influence. Please don't ruin OCSC. 

[spenser1058]

What’s interesting  is that one of Orlando’s supposed strong points is , as a “new” city, it’s very open to new folks and new ideas.

However, here we are linking  up an existing powerful family for the new folks to come on board. This is something you’d expect from a New Orleans that’s steeped in 300 years of tradition but is odd for the Orlando brand.

Edited July 22, 2021 by spenser1058

[jack]

2 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

What’s interesting  is that one of Orlando’s supposed strong points is , as a “new” city, it’s very open to new folks and new ideas.

However, here we are linking  up an existing powerful family for the new folks to come on board. This is something you’d expect from a New Orleans that’s steeped in 300 years of tradition but is odd for the Orlando brand.

I get your point but it is not that surprising. As open as we are, it is nice to have someone local to point out who the players are. The good, the bad, and the ugly. 

[AmIReal]

On 7/22/2021 at 8:45 AM, popsiclebrandon said:

Yeah that sucks. One of the most destructive families in the country.

The old man (who has been dead for a few years) was certainly terrible. His eldest son Richard, husband to Betsy, also certainly terrible. The current Chairman of the Magic, Dan, seems a little less terrible- or at least he seems much less tied to Republican politics. I see his name pop up as donating fairly equally to Rs and Ds.

Also, they are the number 1 private funding source for homeless issues in the area as well as tons of money to UCF entrepreneurial programs, performing arts and even half a million to the Pulse foundation. 

I wouldn't go to bat for calling them good people, but here in Orlando they have been pretty stand up citizens. Btw, they give a lot more $ to MI causes and politicians https://www.dbdvfoundation.org/news/how-and-why-amways-devos-family-gives-away-billions

[AmIReal]

Love them or hate them, they are affordable(ish).

Or so say the experts. "The cost of being a Florida pro sports fan has increased in the past decade, but attending an Orlando Magic game remains a good deal, says a new study by online gaming site Casino.org."

https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2021/09/08/cost-to-attend-orlando-magic-game-in-person.html

[spenser1058]

Someone asked me just how well the fine lads on the DeVos’ Magic performed last season. The record was 21-51. What more could we ask for!?!

[spenser1058]

This is YOUR Orlando Magic!

”According to stats compiled by the Associated Press, no team in the NBA has a worse combined record over the last 10 seasons than Orlando, which has posted a .369 winning percentage in that span”

Why, who could ask for anything more?

Now, about that great multi-level marketing opportunity…

From The Sentinel 

Edited October 20, 2021 by spenser1058

[AmIReal]

12 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

This is YOUR Orlando Magic!

”According to stats compiled by the Associated Press, no team in the NBA has a worse combined record over the last 10 seasons than Orlando, which has posted a .369 winning percentage in that span”

Why, who could ask for anything more?

Now, about that great multi-level marketing opportunity…

From The Sentinel 

The Magic are indeed bad, have been- off and on- for a decade and will be this year and likely next. But that doesn't really tell the full story. In their short (30 years) life they have been to the finals twice. I can think of at least 6 teams that can't make that claim.  They have been to the playoffs at least half of their years- again, lots of teams can not say that. Lots of really good teams (Warriors, Clippers, Bucks) had really bad decades before they put it together.

The Magic made the mistake of trying to improve with a mediocre core of players that strapped them financially. Last February they finally broke free of that fantasy and began a complete rebuild. Their near term future lies in the oft-injured knee of one player, the lost shot of another, the potential of the new guys and a bunch of filler... I'm hopeful they have a bad enough year to get a top 3 pick. There's always next year...

[spenser1058]

“Brandon Kravitz, host of “In the Zone” on FM 96.9 The Game, was saying Friday that Magic fans are being overly negative after just one game. Actually, Brandon, I don’t think it’s just one game; I think it’s more like 10 years. …” - Mike Bianchi

[spenser1058]

“The Orlando Magic (2-7), who fell 92-79 to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night at Amway Center, have lost 12 of their last 14 games dating to last season.”

Orlando Sentinel

 

[spenser1058]

5-24…

[orange87]

14 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

5-24…

I don't follow the NBA very closely. What's the Magic's problem? Are they not spending enough money on good players or what?

[spenser1058]

Personally, I think it’s karma.

[frescomemo]

The Orlando Magic are currently "tanking", which means that they have purposefully sabotaged their team to lose games, in order to get the best odds at a high lottery pick in the NBA Draft Lottery (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_draft_lottery , for more information). 

A team called the Philadelphia 76ers exploited the pre-2019 draft lottery by purposefully losing games (egregiously so), and ended up landing two 1st overall picks, and two 3rd overall picks. The NBA did not appreciate the way the 76er's (and to an extent, the Cleveland Cavaliers) were getting all these top picks so easily (as at the time, the worst record had a 1 in 4 chance of getting the 1st overall pick, and couldn't drop lower than 4th overall), and decided to revamp the system. Now it is much more "balanced", but it also calls into question the effectiveness of "tanking". One such question of whether or not tanking is an effective method of trying to get success comes into last years draft lottery, where the Orlando Magic were tied with Detroit and Houston for the worst record in the NBA. pre-2017, the Orlando Magic would not have dropped lower than 4th (barring tie-breakers and such), and would have an incredibly high chance of getting the number one pick (which in this draft, was Cade Cunningham, a player deemed to be a franchise changing player). Unfortunately for the Magic, they ended up getting passed by the Toronto Raptors, who had more wins (not by a lot, but they were in a better position as a franchise being 2 years removed from a championship), thus kicking the Magic out of the top 4, and killing any chance at a trade into the top 3 picks.

The good news for the Magic is that despite "dropping" in the draft lottery, they still managed to get two excellent basketball players-- however that doesn't change the fact that half of the roster is injured*, and that they're still missing talent at important positions. They also just hired a Rookie Head Coach, who by all accounts is here to develop players first, and win second (which is why the record is very bad). 

In short, the NBA Draft Lottery changed massively in 2017 (with the death knell to Philadelphia 76ers-style tanking being in 2019), resulting in the Orlando Magic missing out on a possibly franchise altering player.

 

*People like to put out conspiracies whether or not some players are actually still injured, or if the front office is just dragging their feet on updates in order to help the "tank"

[AmIReal]

That is a great bit of detail from @frescomemo- and welcome aboard. If you look at their record for the past decade you may think the Magic have been in the midst of tanking all along. However, they have been doing something much worse which is trying to build a team around average players. Last February they finally embraced the tank- sent out Vuc, Gordon and Fournier and in my opinion, they are now in a much better place for going forward. They have a top 5 "future ranked" team with great assets to develop or trade and at least 4 of them seem to be developing very well. Btw, they also have the most "missed games" due to injury of any team https://www.spotrac.com/nba/injured-reserve/cumulative-team/ and 2 of those players are supposedly the 2 best players on the team. The Magic are 2 years away from being 2 years away, but they are heading in the right direction- regardless of this season's record.

10 hours ago, orange87 said:

Are they not spending enough money on good players or what?

Not this year, but the Magic have never been afraid to spend big on teams. I suspect they will try to build a core out of the drafted players and hope to go big in free agency in 2 years.

In pro sports you only win with stars. In the NBA you only win with at least 2 superstars. There are 3 ways to get them- draft and develop, trade for them or buy them. It remains to be seen if the Magic will be in position to do any of these. 

[AmIReal]

Despite the record the national press thinks the futire looks bright for the Magic. The Ringer says, "Franz Wagner and the Young Magic Are Headed in the Right Direction"... 

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/12/20/22846234/nba-covid-replacements-seven-observations

The Athletic and SI have both called them up and coming and a top 5 team for the future.

We shall see.

[jrs2]

I don't know enough about the NBA to comment other than to say that I've followed teams since MJ started with Da Bulls, so it's been a minute.  

I think most hear know my opinion about the DeVos clan as it pertains to the Magic.

That aside, dissing on Rodman, the Grant Hill fiasco, letting the locker room dictate the firing of VanJeremy and so on and even going back to the era with Lil Penny, all these are examples of poor management decisions.

Being a "team of the future" to me is a BS marketing ploy to keep fans of a crapty franchise interested.   They are selling hope. What's that phrase about putting hope in one hand and sh!t in the other?...

It's sports business marketing... do I blame them for doing it? no.  they have to. otherwise the alternative is to tell fans "hey hey hey! come pay money to watch yet another sh!t show with no end in sight."

I don't buy into the "team of the future" marketing.  That is less believable than a conspiracy theory being put out there that they are tanking on purpose for a high draft pick (which is actually believable and likely true).

The NBA needs its franchises to be relatively successful- because of money, network viewership, ads, marketing, sales, etc.  I wouldn't be surprised if they got with SI and The Athletic to talk the Magic up.

[elefants]

You don't need SI or The Athletic to see that the Magic have an abundance of potential.  Even though they're losing,  the team is highly entertaining and the flashes greatness are apparent.

[AmIReal]

Some Jalen Suggs highlights- from football.

 

[spenser1058]

7-27. What this wonderful “strategy” (which the Sentinel has chronicled as going on now off and on for the better part of a decade) has achieved thus far is dubious. No doubt, if they keep on “tanking” for another decade or so, maybe they’ll hit the big time. After all, a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Perhaps more concerning is that the Magic are now in the bottom 20% in the NBA for attendance. No doubt that’s supremely helpful for Downtown, right?

In the Orlando History thread today, Joy Wallace Dickinson notes that Bob Snow’s Rosie O’Grady’s presaged the resurrection of downtown with what became his Church Street Station entertainment complex (Rosie’s,  btw, came on line a bit less than two years after  he closed on the property).

Meanwhile, the Magic, who have been entrusted with downtown’s next entertainment complex, have twiddled their thumbs for how many years now? Heck, even Buddy concedes we have a problem downtown.

But, hey, we have to give the DeVos  family kudos for their consistency, right? Congratulations!

[spenser1058]

7-28

[elefants]

Franz Wagner Scores Career-High 38 Points

Highest scoring night from a rookie this season!

Edited December 29, 2021 by elefants

[orange87]

11 hours ago, elefants said:

Franz Wagner Scores Career-High 38 Points

Highest scoring night from a rookie this season!

And they STILL lost. 

[elefants]

10 minutes ago, orange87 said:

And they STILL lost. 

Yep, just like Spencer posted.  The injury-depleted Orlando Magic lost to the reigning world champions Milwaukee Bucks.  An absolute shocker.