Pod casting live from the ninety six at Jay Studios.
It's time to show as a song. Here's your host, Brandon Kravits. Yeah yeah, Welcome to the show.
We are live on ninety six nine the game streaming everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. You are in the Zone, the show of the Orlando Sports Fan. Your hosts Brandon Kravitz here, joined by my co host and producer He is Sweet Tea Tyler Karen. Tons of fun in store today and I want you to be part of it. Hit us up on the mills Are text line. That's five zero eight five seven. Also on the iHeartRadio Talkback. Just tap that microphone icon and fire away. Draft grades
coming your way very soon. Spoiler alert, The Mavericks got an a great job with the Cooper flag pick way to not overthink it. Nico also gave away three four packs of Disney on Ice tickets on our Zone Heads Facebook group page just this morning. Another four pack will be dished out today during our listener question segment that is at four twenty five today. If you want to start getting your questions in for that, you can do so at any point starting now until then, and you will be eligible.
For that four pack.
All you have to do is ask us a question anything it is that you want to get us going on, and we'll save all of those for the middle of the four o'clock hour fun day out at the Advent Health Training Center saw the introduction of two rookies for the Orlando Magic, Jase Richardson and Noah Penda. And we will key you in on that momentarily. But first and foremost what happened after is the perhaps the most important thing, because.
I got lunch.
Okay, so a roll through Zaxby's, which was these are my old stomping grounds. Is Zaxby's right by my old house that I no longer live in, but is on the way back from the training facility. I pass it to get to the studio. So I roll in the drive through, and I don't want to overeat before I do the show. I try and eat a light lunch show that I have peak energy for all of you
for three hours. And if I overeat, like you can very easily do when you roll through a drive through, if you're getting food out of your window, chances are you've got the capability to overeat some very greasy food that could bog you down. We don't want low energy levels. So I told the person in the intercom, could I just get chicken tenders and French fries?
That's all I want?
Tyler, you would have thought that I was explaining how to perform brain surgery. The people that work at fast food restaurants are so locked in on the menu, the numbers, and what comes with all of the meals, and so I said, can I just get Can I just get chicken fingers and French fries? He goes, yeah, we have an option for that. It's called the chicken tender plate. I said, I know, but I don't want the bread or the coal slaw. Don't need a drink. And he
was like, so, so you want it grilled. Then I'm like, this is exactly how the conversation went. I said, no, if I could just get the chicken tenders and the fries, he goes, oh, like you want me to double up the fries and take the coal slaw out. At this point, now we've gone back and forth three times via the intercom, and I said, you know what, I'll just take it
the way it comes. And I said, I just paid for the stuff that I wasn't going to eat because I couldn't continue to go back and forth with this guy I was. I was still very chummy with him. He seemed like a nice guy. We were just we were not on the same wavelength. And I usually don't modify. Usually if I roll through, even if I don't want something, I just order it the way it comes and I'll
deal with it. I just I knew that if they gave me the delicious bread and that coal slaw and a drink, I was gonna eat all of it.
So what do you think happened? They gave me all of it, and I hate the whole damn thing. I know myself.
This is why I don't want it in my presence, because then I'm gonna consume it.
Yeah, I mean we are two of the same.
You cannot put food in front of either of us and we just say, yeah, I know, We'll pass.
No, no, no.
There was the other slap in the face to you on this was when you got in studio. There was pizza in our breakroom. That was the worst part. That was the worst part is then I didn't even need to get the.
Zaxby's was delicious, But I regret it because there was very good looking pizza.
That was a that looked like a rock solid pizza.
And by the time I saw it, had I eaten that slice, that would have really tipped me over to where this would have been a really sluggish three hours.
So I skipped it. Not me, I went I wasn't even hungry, you know.
And I figured, at some point throughout the show, Okay, I'm gonna want a little slice of pizza, so pro move. I go into the breakroom about fifteen minutes ago. Let me just see what's in the box. Let me just see what we're working with, and there was one half of a slice of a pizza pizza left, and I went, yep, all right, the duty calls. I can't I can't just save this for two hours. This has to go down now. So had that had a little half of a canoli and what a rain.
Or roll man, You're living the life. This is nothing against you, Zax, because you made some great chicken. The chicken tenders were really good. So we had a texture yesterday asking for aggressiveness from the Orlando Magic. Well, my friend, you got it, and it came in the form of the second round pick known as no Appenda. The Magic traded from their war chest of second round picks to move up from forty six to thirty two, and I absolutely love this. I am so used to seeing this
team completely punt on the second round. I feel like, not only is this the time to trade up given where this team is in their trajectory, but also this is the draft to do it. This is the draft where you have first round talent that was slipping to the second round. This is a deep NBA draft and you should be over the moon with the aggressiveness that this team showed to move up, get a guy that they likely had a first round great on and make sure that he's part of the roster. No Apenda six
seven two forty two, twenty years old. Played thirty games last season for Les mont Sarth in the Elite France League, averaging ten and a half points, five point three rebounds, two point eight assists, and nearly two steals per game. This is a defensive force. He ranked fourth during the regular season in steals, thirteenth in rebounding, and was named an All Star and participated in the league's Young Player All Star Game, where he was named the MVP of
that game. As I mentioned, he's twenty years old, but the fact that he is already a pro means that he can probably step in and help this team right now if they need him to. To me, this is what about the luxury tax. This is why I think the second round going forward is going to be even more valuable for all teams than it has been in the past because of how punitive that second apron is. You need cheap talent on your roster, and there's nothing cheaper than getting guys in the second round.
So I adore this move. This was not a guy that I was overly.
Familiar with other than having heard his name prior to the draft, but just based on everything that I saw, getting a chance to meet with him today and seeing the aggressiveness.
To me, that's the biggest thing is.
A team will tell you how much they like a guy by how aggressive they are and going to get him. A couple of teams did that throughout the draft, and the Magic did it with Penda.
Yeah, going back to those picks, because I'm totally with you, I think that this was a deep draft and there are going to be second round gems that we'll discuss throughout the show. That are going to be able to make an impact down the line for NBA franchises, and I think even some that will make an impact for some shorter depth teams in the NBA next season that you get out of.
This second round. That's why I like the move. I like the aggressiveness.
I would have loved if it landed with Rashier Fleming, who was taken with the first selection in the second round. The Magic had the second pick of the second round. If I'm not mistaken, though, was it four second round picks that the Magic gave up in order to get this thirty second pick that essentially, you know, you look at it the right way, you squint your eyes, and it's a first round pick at thirty two, four second rounders if I'm not mistaken too this year, and then two.
Down the line, that's correct.
The Magic aren't going to need all those second round selections, and it's a way that you can justify the move. It's like the first round picks and all the picks that went into getting Desmond Baane and the loading off of Kntavis Cattable Pope in that contract. Even if the Magic may be overpaid with the picks in some fans' eyes, they could afford to do it because they put themselves in a good position with draft capital that they were able to do so. The same can be said for
second round picks. The Magic can't make all those second nd on selections that they gave up in order to get Penda. But the flip side of that is, Okay, you're trading potentially those future assets, which at the end of the day we're talking about second round picks are most likely not going to hit down the line, but you're build that you're putting all of those assets into, saying, Okay, this is the second rounder that we want right here, right now. This is the guy that we are going
to buy into. Forget about the other seconds that we could get this year or down the line. We believe in this guy to the point that we're willing to give up four potential players in order to get him.
I don't think you can overpay in the second round. You can overpay in the first round because first round picks are they can be used as gold.
In the NBA I view.
Second round picks, even though they are growing in value because we're seeing more international players come over the drafts, you're seeing players stick around in college, so you're getting more seasoned players that are coming into the league, more proven talent. I think you're seeing there's a reason why part of the reason they split this thing into two nights is that you have more valuable players that are
being drafted in the NBA Draft. I think at some point they're probably even going to expand the draft from two to three rounds because there's so much talent that is coming into this league. So I do think they're getting more valuable. But I would compare, if I'm comparing first round picks to gold second round picks are like tickets at daven Busters or at the end of your day at Dave and Busters.
You go to that toy store.
And it's like this hammer costs fifty thousand tickets. Okay, that's what it costs. That's what I'll pay for it. That's the thing that you really want. You just it's like it doesn't even matter. It's like it's not even real money. So, because like you said, second round picks have value, but you can't use all of them because then you you just end up with a surplus of players.
And it's why, what to my very quick count of the thirty picks in the second round, I think twenty one of them were involved in deals last night that the teams who owned the picks originally did not make the selections.
That's why they get traded like candy around the league.
We'll hear from Noa Penda in just a moment as well as Jamal Moseley and his thoughts on what he can bring to the team.
But what we know about this guy. You mentioned the stats.
He's been a professional overseas going back to the twenty twenty season, where he would have been about sixteen years old.
He's a twitchy defender. He can guard both of the forward spots.
He's really versatile offensively on finding open space on the ball. Off of the ball, He's going to be able to bring some valuable things for the Magic. You hope the shot mechanics and the shot success can come along. He hasn't been a great shooter so far through his young European career, but that's something that you can change. The Magic have the ability to mold this player into exactly what they want him to be and what they want
him to provide. So all in all, this guy was projected in the first round in a decent amount of drafts top thirty five on a lot of big boards, so you can't consider this a move that is a bad one for the Magic.
Well head to the audio that we picked up today.
We were out there at the press conference for Jace Richardson and Noah Penda and Philip Rossman. Reich asked, how do these two fit the Magic DNA.
Think it's just me and just coming in and working as hard as you can. I think me and Know when we came in, we worked out together, so we really came in worked as hard as we possibly could. And I think that's one thing they really liked about us, is that we're going to powerful effort out there.
We also taking care of each other. I felt like the organization was really big on family, having all of their players connected to each other, So I think it's a big part of the JENNA.
There's definitely a type that the Magic have.
They want good people that fit the DNA, and it looks like they got a pair of them now. They were asked, how does it feel to be added to a team that's in win now mode, which is a different territory for this Magic team.
This is how they responded, I think it shows that people in the organization not trusting us to be ready for day one, and at the same time they all away to make mistake and develop ourselves as the player we both are. So again, he's just good to have that confidence around you.
Almost definitely, I think just having a group of guys that are really confident in how their team already is and you know, joining that and just trying to learn from guys like that, So stepping up with guys and just learning from them.
If you can't tell the difference, the French one is no appenda, the other one is Jace Richardson. Jamal Mosley was asked about no appenda and the defense and the identity that he brings with him.
You know, just watching him and seeing how he plays this physical stature, the IQ, the ability to guard multiple positions. I think just sitting in that realm for us right now, switch the switch ability, I think that's you know, sits a lot on the forefront for us.
I think Jamal Mosley was very excited to add a couple of shooters in the off season, has been banging Jace Richardson, but also it all starts on defense with Mosley and to add to that anchor, I think was a positive for Moseley and for the group. Now I got a chance to wrap up the press conference asking a question to Jace Richardson about what it is he picked up from the college basketball coaching legend known as Tom Izzo.
I think one of the biggest things was film. He loves film. He watches it right after we win, right after we lose. Any single time we're on the bus, he's got the game popped up. He's watching the clip ten times on one play. So I think I just became a lot better film watcher with him. We broke down a lot of film together. Days where I wouldn't have class, I will go go into his office and we just watch film together for like two hours.
Well you couldn't see in that clip is Jamal Moseley's eyes lighting up when he heard that Jace Richardson was a film junkie at such a young age. That right there is our experience at the Magic press conference today. Up next, Nick Whalen from rodewire dot Com details the ever changing landscape of the n b A zero C system