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Friday, April 9, 2021 Amway Center - Orlando, FL TV: Bally Sports Florida 23-27, 2nd in Central Division | 17-34, 5th in Southeast Division LET'S GO MAGIC! WE WILL FIGHT!!! - WE WILL WIN!!! "We all just played through it and kept on fighting," James Ennis. - Feb 26, 2020

we win by 40. chuma scores 30 and wcj a 20/20

I think it's going to come down to what Garry Harris we get. He is likely to get minutes starting from tonight, are we going to see the player that's struggled due to injuries or does a change of scenery bring him back to what he was prior. Either way, he's a solid defender, improves us on that end regardless which will make us slightly harder to beat. Plus he takes minutes away from Bacon who has been helping the tank no end.

To give you an idea of the kind of guy Khem Birch is, Josh Robbins did an anonymous survey of Magic players (i.e. nobody would know who said what) and when asked who was the worst dressed in the locker room Birch said himself because he didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings. (This is paraphrased from an article in The Athletic)

It's mad that we didn't have a Fournier or AG Appreciation thread but we got a Khem Birch one lol. Actually kind of sad Khem is leaving. He's the kind of guy I want around our young team. But I guess there weren't many minutes for him once we acquired WCJ and commited to developing young guys. Wish him luck and success in the future except when he's playing the Magic.

Our front office live off their reputation of finding Giannis and their 2010 executive award for their one year wonder season. Take that away and what did their tenure in Milwaukee have to show? 240-318 regular season win loss record. A few play off appearances and never won a series. They even drafted Thon Maker tenth overall! I suppose we wanted a veteran front office after we had a young up and comer in Henny running the show, but personally I’m not sure how much faith I do have in our front office rebuilding, but a change doesn’t appear to be coming.

Based off their listed heights, which we should alway take with a pinch of salt, there is 2 inches in it. Wagner might be taller, but he’s not a better shooter and he’s not a standout athlete. Kispert should transition well into a Joe Harris like role. That’s ideal for this team at the 2/3 spot, lights out shooter with a good IQ for team defence. Length and age can be important, but we need contributors. We need to use that second pick smartly and identify someone that can come in and make a difference. For me, I’d rather draft the elite shooter and capable defensive talent than another project. 3 years down the line we’ll be wanting to be a play off team again and a talent like Kispert (a Harris/Bogdanovic like player) can be an ideal starter IF we have stars in other positions. Anyway, it’s good for us to have debate and options available for both our picks.

Bamba was the 4th big man chosen in that draft, at number 6. That... well that says it all. And two of those big men were chosen instead of the most exciting college player that year and the guy who was actually the best player in that draft. Add in Jaren Jackson Jr, to this equation and you will see the guys in charge are infatuated with outdated thinking. People, always remember this. Even if a person is in charge and payed well, it doesn't mean they know what that the hell they are doing. Some industries are full of people who are relics of the past or hired from nepotism. Sports franchises are well represented in this area. NBA Gm's still like size over anything else. Even in a world of 1000's of crazy athletic, supersized big men who probably just want to get paid and never wanted to play basketball. 40 years ago these guys were 1 in a million. Now they are 1 in 100,000 better find guys who love basketball.

https://www.orlandopinstripedpost.com/2021/4/6/22369372/orlando-magic-chuma-okeke-wendell-carter-jr-rj-hampton I think this sums up Bacon's contributions pretty well

True. MCW is a good vet to watch and learn from for the kids, didn’t think about dropping Bacon. Or at the very least benching him