On this edition of Orlando Magic Pod Squad, we catch up with Magic big man Wendell Carter Junior, who is nearing a return. Will cover all that with Wendell on the latest installment, and of course Pod Squad brought you by the Florida Department of Transportation. Remind you that fans don't let fans drive drunk. If you've been drinking, don't get behind the wheel. Instead behind a sober driver or catch a ride service. Remember, drive sober or get pulled over.
Have a great night in drive safe. Wat's to cover with Wendell Carter Junior on the latest installment of Magic Pod Squad, including the latest on his recovery, how close is he to a possible return, About how well his Magic team is playing right now at the time of this recording second best record in the Eastern Conference, and how proud he is of his backup big Thogavitase playing terrific basketball, and what we can expect maybe from this
Orlando Magic team for the rest of the season. Lots of exciting things to cover with Wendell Carter Junior on the latest installment of Magic Pod Squad.
Comes your way next, does his fawns long enough to Orlando Magic. This is Cole Anthony, This is Jennings Suggs.
This is Paulo Ban Carroll the Orlando Magic and you're listening to the Pod Squad.
And welcome Ember one to the latest installment of Orlando Magic Pod Squad. Dante Marcatelli, George Galante, Jake Chapman. It is our pleasure to welcome in Orlando Magic big man Wendell Carter Junior kind enough to join us, and hopefully we're seeing a lot more Wendell here in the coming days or weeks. We'll we'll certainly wait to see how that unfolds. But either way, it's great to talk to you.
Wendell.
How the heck are you holding up here.
The last couple of weeks? Oh?
Man, I'm doing all the Oh you know, he's watched the Find the Sidelines. You know, it's it's a beautiful dynasty. Now that we've we started to turn the corner. As though most people were inside of our circle on inside of the Mets facility, inside of the organization, because I always saw it.
I'm just glad it's finally unfolded. Uh.
But yeah, I'm just trying to give my my my hand back to give it. I get back out there and join those guys.
Yeah.
Well, well we'll get into all that here in a moment. But we're less than two weeks away from Christmas.
You're big.
Everybody's a big Christmas guy. Right, You've done all your shopping, You've done all your uh and it is and you know, you grew up in Atlanta, so it's not that different. But Christmas in Florida is a little different than than the rest of the country.
Absolutely, I think I think even uh, I think every time I was home for Christmas wh I lived in Atlanta, I think it's snow.
So no, wait, no, it's not gonna We're not gonna get any.
Of that year, right, right, that's true for that. But uh, yeah, I've done most of the shopping. Yeah, I got most of it out of the way, kind of early, like kind of in November. I got a lot of it out of the way. There's the saving tip.
Wow, it sounds like you, George, you get all done in November.
I still I ordered something five minutes before we started this podcast. If you want to be honest here, I want to know. I want to know when Whendell are you done with the team. I know there's a team Secret Santa uh deal going on. Did you get your gift for that?
Oh?
Yeah, absolutely, that will be that kind of easy. Once I saw it was, yeah, I know exactly what you want.
All right, Well, we won't we won't spoil the surprise. And I also won't tell everybody what the what the spending line it was, because I wanted to get in on the on the Secret Sana team and then I heard what the spending line was. I told you, I told you, and sucks. I said, that's probably gonna be more than I spent on my whole family. He goes, yeah, I'm not really liking this limit.
Well when till you you kind of alluded to it a little bit. But how how are you feeling? Are you getting Obviously we're getting closer day by day, but uh, just kind of let us know how the hand is doing and uh, and how the rehab is gone.
It's going good so far. Uh.
These are one of those injuries that trying to just have to give it time to heal all, you know.
In the meantime, we know, I'm just building up to share the confidence of.
Just being out there and not being afraid I'll be getting hit again or things like that. Those are the biggest, the biggest stans to my return, and like I said before, just just giving it a little bit more top.
You know, we're we're playing so well.
I mean, I even if we were, like if we were or we're not winning, I kind of see it as a longevity thing. I don't want to go out there and hurt myself again, as though I was winning the risks, as I was talking to the doctors things like that. But you know we're doing so well. It's like, why risking now? Where you know I could be out one hundred percent and not have no worries at all.
You know, is it different Windo? Then last year? Sorry George?
Is it The team was eight and seventeen with Dacca last year, and so I would think sitting sitting on the sideline watching your team struggle, it's like, get me out there.
I know it can help, right thirteen and.
Five with Dodga. This year, you're watching, you're watching the team thrive a little bit. I'm sure you know you can still help, But is it does it suck a little less? He's seeing the team before well, while you're sitting on the sideline and recovering.
Oh.
Absolutely, absolutely. You know, I'm one of those guys who understand that winning is the main goal, no matter how it's done. So with me in the line up, out of the lineup, covering whatever the chase may be, and they're a little bit, you know, a little bit deeper dive into it, I'll really have it for just Goga.
You know, Go Go is a guy like when he got here, you know, one of the hardest workers on the team, and now that he's having the opportunity just to show how good of a player he is, let alone a person, I've just decided for him just personally, but as a team man.
I'm I'm just happy to be a part of be honest. I did.
I did tell Wendell. I think it was in the middle of the winning streak. I mean, so this is a couple of weeks ago. I think I think we winning the game. I smacked him on the chest and I said, just just wait till you come back. Until you come back, this thing's really gonna gonna take off.
Go back to Go Go though, for a second, one, ol, did you are you talking to him a lot on the sidelines even even still now with things that maybe you see during the game that maybe he may not or what kind of advice are you still giving to Wendell and Mobogner for that matter, from your perspective over there on the sidelines.
Oh, you know, I kind of keep it brief.
Because you already know guys, you know, they got the coaches in their years, they got where other teammates and that's out there with them telling them what they need to do or what they're seeing. So I keep it breathing. But for the most part, you know, uh, go for go go. I'll kind of just keep it, keep it short with him, just so I'll just continue to be you, you know, whatever the case might be, like whether office or defense, will just continue to be you and being
able to challenge your emotions. These are a guy who puts a lot of emotion and because he cares, and that's something that I can really appreciate, being a big man who has to do a lot of the small things I might not show up in the statue. I just kind of just continue to push him into it's just being health, you know, Yeah, that's really about it for him. And then but but like I was saying, I'm trying to have to say too much, you know what I'm saying, because I mean, he's doing a hell of a job.
So he's not assarily to say so him.
He's taking it to run with it. You know, it's interesting both of you guys have thrived here coming to Orlando. You played well in Chicago, but you get a bigger role here in Orlando, and it's kind of similar to him. He for whatever reason, it didn't work out in Indiana. But why the success do you think for go is he?
Are?
They? Are we asking different things of him, more scooted, more suited to his skill set? Why is he thriving right now as opposed to what happened in Indiana?
Honestly, you know, when I when I look at it, looking at my own situation and looking at his situation, I think timing is is a really big thing.
No, we're both fairly young players. Yeah, I'm not mistaken.
He's twenty four also, so it's definitely a timing thing in my opinion, and a freedom.
You know, one thing about Coach Mosley, I'll give him a lot of credit.
When I first got to all them up, he was he let us play as long as we played defense laws, we did it the right way.
He just let us play.
And in that in those situations, I feel like he was taking lets with Noso, what works, what doesn't work, what we need to get better at, what we need to you know, kind of eliminate from the offense or defense event. And now we got a really good recipe of really good menu of what it takes really win games. So I definitely give a lot of credit to coach Mosey. Honestly, the whole Massic organization given me and Goga that opportunity just to come down.
That's great.
Well know, you mentioned at the beginning that you saw this unfolded, that that you sort of had a sense that this was gonna be different than than the last two years and basically your time here in Orlando. Just as far as the win loss and the results, there was there a point last season where you said, Okay,
we're onto something here. I mean it was twenty nine to twenty eight over the last fifty seven games, and obviously you just barely missed the postseason, but you had a sense last year that there was something special ruin.
Oh absolutely absolutely, Oh, I mean my say it was just the injuries. You know, we we had Me Martill this lineup, so it was kind of tough for us. But when we were out there all together and we were just hoping we had our chemistry going, I honestly felt like we could play with any team in the league, you know. And uh, you know, going into this year, everyone who was healthy at the beginning of the year
at far three guys are down right now. But going into the year, I had the most the most confident I've ever been going into an NBA season, you know, just knowing what we did the year before, after that five to twenty start, I mean, I saw the sky's the limit for us?
What's the limit for us?
So oh yeah, that's I think it's just all kind of outfolding.
Now, when do you hear from I mean, I'm assuming you have plenty of friends on other teams around the league. Do you hear from other guys on other teams about how the magic of playing right now and what and what we're doing from from from friends on other teams?
Oh?
Absolutely absolutely. I'm not gonna say their names. Well, I'm known to hurt hurt people tell me, uh, you know, they were they wouldn't mind playing for the Magic. Like you're like, man, y'all, y'all got a really good squad going, and I wouldn't mind being a part of that, you know, jokingly of courts, but right, right, No, I mean, I mean we're we're starting to get that respect that that comes with being a really good team in the league.
You look at the boss Stons, you look at the Milwaukes, look at till Ley's, the well, any of the top teams. You know, they you go into those gyms or they coming to your jail. You know, we know it's gonna be a good game, you know what I'm saying. So I think we're starting to kind of turn that corner to being one of those teams in the league that when we pull up to your city, that's gonna be a dog fight.
So we a doll fight.
No matter who's out there one through fifteen, all of us are gonna go out there and hoop and do the right thing for our teammates.
So I think that's the biggest thing.
Like there's no egos on this team, so there's no no one's like, oh I got to get this shout, Oh I got to make these had this many points for me to have a good game. So if we win, everyone's happy, everyone walks away. There's no hitting agendas, and that's very rare.
It seems. It seems very rare. Right, people say that the chemistry that this group has, it seems to be genuine, and from what everybody says, former players, current players, that that is not always the case on all these NBA rosters.
Absolutely not. I mean, just look at from the outside, look at it.
I think we reaching all the tents or a couple within and it's just happened across the league.
That sure, we can.
Tell that it's a hinted agenda and whatever the case, every situation may have been.
So this is very rare to find.
Absolutely, WELLDLL, let me ask you this because we got it. It's interesting. I know, we said it this morning. Jake and I do a radio show, and you finished twenty nine and twenty eight last year, which which Jake just said, when you started five twenty there were some fans, not all fans, but some fans get obsessed with the rebuild. Right, So let's just let's just tank, Let's just throw away the last fifty games and let's get a high draft pick.
You guys didn't do that. You got healthy, you had one of the best records in the Eastern Conference down the stretch. How much does that help you to play meaningful games there the last couple of weeks of last season, as opposed to going the other way where you're you're not necessarily trying to win.
I mean, I mean if provers in to put it, you know what I'm saying. We went out there, we play, we continue to grow together, to learn each other's gang, continue to make every game award basically right, just going out of and fight for one another. And as you're all over to this year, now we know what it takes to win. We know we know what to expect. And now the next step for us, and I think we've been doing a really good job of that, is
just handling that success. Right, we're number two in the East. Now guys are looking at us like, oh, yeah, we've got to knock them out. We got we got to put some down a couple of spots off anytide. People talk to the oh we're going to other people's cities. You know that their biggest thing is, Okay, we need to take care of all that dub matic because they're
not out one of the best teams league. So that's something that you know, that's the next step that I think we've already taken, but you know, it's getting better at that. I think it's going to be really really big for especially down a stress when going into the playoffs.
Things like that. We all have about it.
But how do you do that though, Like is it something that you guys talk openly, talk about, like get together and just say listen, like there's no like, for example, you take the Detroit game the other night, do you look at each other and go like, listen, like we got to take care of these guys and take care of them now and then go out and do it.
Is there something that gets said between you guys? Oh?
Absolutely, You know, we look at every game as an opportunity to get better to begin with, and we understand, like like you said, looking at that team like Detroit, like those those games are usually the most dangerous.
Games, right, I agree.
Try to think some well, younger teams, I would say, well, they oh they look at their record, they're not that good. But at the end of the day, Troy is a great team. You know what I'm saying they got great players on that team. So you know, I only take one night for you know, someone to go up for a couple of guys that can go off, and now you you lose a game. You know what I'm saying, Just learning to play he dang with respect no matter
who it is. I think it's also going to be really big for us too as we uh continue to become one of the best teams in the league.
Yeah, because we were terrified at that one.
That one that was where I thought.
I was like, man, I hope you know, I really wanted to break to win.
Going into our.
Game, I'm like, let me let them bring that, lose them. And they came in and they still had the losing streak going. I looked at Dante and I said, this one scares the be Jesus at it. But out of that one, you gotta get rid of this one.
Hey, did you see it?
Did you see the comments from Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce? Did you did that make it to your phone?
Oh? Yeah, what do you make of that? Right? How great is that?
Something that's a that's a major respect right there?
What did you make of that? Absolutely? I mean he's right.
I mean right, like if I'm if I'm looking at myself and looking at maybe we was just when I was in Chicago personally or early on my first couple of months of playing with the Magic and we were, you know, just trying to get better, right as a thing. So you're going into these cities, You're going there to Philly, going there to Boston. Yeah, you better get you a good, nice sleep. I'm going to Denver like it it's gotalme the next day. Like you don't want to be embarrassed,
like you want to. I want it to be a good game, a close game at least down the stretch. Like you're just trying to find ways to give yourself an upper edge or make sure you your body felling good.
Whatever. Now that's the thing, Like, that's definitely a thing.
So now Orlando, like I was saying with Number two in the East, like guys are really trying to knock us off the spot. So uh yeah, they coming in and they going to sleep early, the kidding good night's sleep because you might get blown up.
That's awesome.
What about the role the fans in the in the atmosphere of the arena has played in that wind though. I mean, I know you've been sitting sitting and watching and experiencing it, and I'm sure you're just pitching to get out there and fully experience it. But it's been pretty fun so far this year, isn't it.
Absolutely No, That's one thing I would definitely say from when I first got here that the fans are unbelievable.
You know, with us.
Winning, losing, winning by a lot, losing by a lot, whatever the case may have been. Since I've been here, you know, the fans have been ride with us ever since. So you have your fans who like.
Man, he should have played better, or they lost this game because of this player.
But for the for the grand scheme of things, for the for the bigger picture, I think I think Ortlanto asked some of the best fans in the league.
And I'm not just saying that because I played for Orlando, because I played in Chicago.
I played, Uh I've seen you know, my teammates playing a different city. I mean, some of my friends playing different cities and things like that. So I hear the kind of things that they say, and I honest you can say that the Ortlanto Magic fans are definitely one of the best fan bases in the league.
That's great, well, we would agree. We've seen it here. We know how alive this city gets when these teams are good and you're seeing it, fans are staying in the last four or five minutes of games. I mean, it's really it's really exciting. I know that's no one has more wins at home than you, guys, right, Milwaukee also has eleven, but no one has more, and so it's amazing. But we're not counting Mexico City. They did
us wrong. They're counting that as a home game. But in our building and our building, we're eleven and one. I want a couple of teammates that we want to highlight here in particular, But I a guy that's new to you is Joe Ingles. Give us your person right, give us your perspective on Joe Ingles. He seems like the perfect guy for this team and the perfect guy for.
A locker room.
Absolutely. I mean, there's nothing about Joe that you don't like. You know, he's one of those guys. He the probably the most professional guy I've ever been around in terms of always on time, always doing the you know, the little things things like that extremely funny guy you know he asked everyone laughing, and he just understands the game
at a level that a lot of people don't. He's not the fastest, he doesn't jump the highest, but he finds a ways to manipulate the game that you know, uh see, I want to learn from uh So that's I feel like he is implementing him into our team. No such a your team coming into this year. We're still trying to figure it out though. At the beginning of the year, we're trying to figure out how we're gonna do how we're gonna do it.
I think he kind of is like the glue gophlip this team. Mm hmm yep. Joe's God.
I'm actually surprised Joe is not taking full credit for the for the magic Obrid. I would think Joe would be the type of guy that turns around and goes, well, shoot, I wasn't here the last couple of.
Years, man problem in earlier could have turned this thing around. Quicker y'all asked him, Ya asked him. I'm sure he will tell you that he is the.
No doubt, there's no doubt. How about how about Paolo Ben Caro Wendell, the steps that he's continuing to take. Uh, I mean, you really saw it the other night where you know, we needed a couple of buckets down the stretch against Cleveland and he got to his spot almost at will. But what about the steps that Paolo has been taking.
Paulo is going to be all the same.
I mean, he understands the game so well at such a young age that people all realize, like they're seeing this now, but this is a second year player who is still trying to figure out the game at a at a deeper level. And I mean it's just phenomenal to watch, especially now that I'm on the sideline and not like out there, like actually like just watching how he sees it, what he sees during the games and when it comes to timeout, what he's saying, what he like.
The dude is really special.
And I'm just decided to be a part of a team that has such a special, special guy on their team who also doesn't have an ego. You know, you you may look, may look across the league and it's a lot of the young stars that are coming up and they have this ego to him where you know, it's either their way or the highway. But for him, I feel like what makes him even more special said he just wants to wear and he does whatever he
has to do the epics chain wear. So yeah, all those is going to be very special.
All right, go awy, Anthony. I want to ask you about Cole. You've been teammates here Cole for a majority of his career. How have you seen him grow on the floor? And then how happy were you for him at the beginning of the season when he got that extension.
Oh, you know, call was one of those guys. Uh, he you know, he embraced his role coming off the bitch and he does it at a really high clip.
You know.
I definitely see him being a nomineque for six Man of the Year for sure. And I mean he just he's just a ball. He's one of those guys you can just put them out there with any other four guys that he's gonna do.
He has to do it a win beat up.
And it's not the extension, you know, that's always as I went through it before, I'm kind of the release functioned though. I got to this guy to do dad makes money or get paid right in the case might be no, if he's fresher. So in my opinion, I'm saying cold play without without any pressure, and that's when most people are at their best when they're not they don't have any pressure behind when they're doing something. So I'm definitely happy for him, and he's also want to back the flu guys.
Sure well.
And another guy to window who I don't know that you played a game with him before this year. He had a handful of games last year. But Jonathan Isaac, you know, we saw a little sample last year in his games, but before he had to close it out and then you guys rolling together a few games this year, but you think about when you come back and now he's out there, maybe some games he'll close with you. But what what what have you seen the difference maker that Jonathan Isaac can bring to this team?
See, Jonathan is a guy I keep saying, glue guy. Just stop saying.
You know it's good, Listen, it's good.
We have a roster blue guy.
Yes, yes, gotta have absolutely.
He's just he does everything he needed to wearing you, rebound the defender and crashing the old boys, saying good screens, knocking down open shots, guarding the best player, like he just there's nothing that he can't do.
He understands like some games he may need to do one thing.
The other game he may need to do another thing to help us get their ass to get away. But Dodd is a special what healthy Oh my god, it's just the player of the year. He's start even close.
That's awesome, you know, I think I think Wendell's feeling this way, guys, because like this goes back to everybody understanding their role, right, Wendell, Right, And then that's what leads to team success. I mean, you're saying you're hitting it just by saying glue guys. But the reason they're glue guys is because they're doing what they're supposed to do in order to make us win.
And that's it.
Absolutely absolutely, Wendell, tell me about the three ball you shot more last year at a higher clip. We saw in the preseason before you got hurt. He looked like you were knocking down those corner threes, maybe taking a few more of those from that area of the floor when you got Franz and Paulo next year, or Mark Hell for instance, and they do all their damage in close or a lot of it. It can be a big boost to have your big man able to space the floor.
Is it something you've been working on?
Oh?
Absolutely, you know that's that's one of the things you know, Coach going into this year wanted us to be really good at is on leading the league O one of the top teams that points in a pink. So that's an emphasis to us so going into each game. So I think it's definitely important to have guys who are able to be able to knock down catching shoot threes, you know, with guys like Frost, Paulo and Markel Okay, crate for ourselves and get into the paint to draw
on the defense. So now there's definitely some not I'll focus on going into this this last off season. So I definitely want to continue to showcase static, continue to do that to help this champion.
Sure, all right, Wendell, Well we'll end with this. Uh, you know, you're eventually you're going to be back right. We don't know when, and eventually Markel is going to be back right. So you guys are close. This is a very very difficult stretch of games that you have coming up. I think eleven of your next twelve only one of them is under five hundred. Right, So you've had you've had a difficult schedule and it only gets tougher. See I don't know how that works, but it only
gets tougher. So what what's important here for the next couple of weeks, as you guys work your way back in and as you play these difficult teams, and where do you see this team being at the end of the season.
I think I think going into this stretch of games, I think what would be the most important thing is to uh, continue to be us. Continue to keep the main thing, the main thing, which is win it. You know, I don't want which I don't think will happen, but not looking at games like, oh I gotta have a big game this game.
Well I got a big game in that game.
But just continue to do what we've been doing in terms of just to fit out a really high clip, you know, getting to the paint and will they're knocking
that open off he set threes. I think that's what's going to give us that edge, you know, going into these games, and then just late game decisions, you know, because a lot of these games will be close, you know, going to get some other great teams, So just just having poise and patients down the stretch and being able to make certain plays to kill us that edge at the end of the game is going to be imporort.
So I think it'll be a really good test for us how we handle late game situations with crowded, super loud to barely hear each other. But you've got to get a bucket or you gotta get a stop to get a big reef. So I think that'd be important for us.
And at the end of the year, you think this team can obviously playoffs? Was the goal right now?
Now? Is that right?
What is the what is still? What does the goal continue to be as you close out for Rendaid?
Yes, right, yeah, I mean, I mean we try not to we try we try to be optimistic and try to be very straightforward, not try to have imaginary no gold or whatever. But it's great for sure, I mean, and then we fall short, that's cool, but we got at least start to believe in ourselves that we can we can be there at some point, So that's definitely that's definite to go for sure.
All right, awesome, And Anthony Black hasn't given you any grief, right with Arkansas duke. That whole deal is that over.
He's not good a little bit, but well here yeah, just a little bit.
Yeah, you a few extra bags to carry part of his rookie duties. All Wendell, I appreciate it, man, this is great. God speed, get back out there. We can't wait to have you back, and good luck.
The rest of the way. Amazingly well appreciate so all right, thanks so much.
That's Wendell Carter Junior on the latest installment of Magic Plod Squad. We'll see you next time.