Was doing a tour of Santiago Bernabeu (Real Madrid’s stadium) yesterday and encountered two really random familiar names.

What if Shaq, TMac, or Dwight stayed? What if Penny or Grant Hill never got hurt? What if Doc Rivers allowed significant others on the plane? What if Nick Anderson never choked?

…Jr!?

Insert the Saving Private Ryan aging gif

I was flipping through Pat Williams’ Making Magic, the book he published around the time the franchise launched, and came across these early Orlando Magic logo concepts.

Some of these are definitely more ’80s than others lol.

I think they made the right choice. The original Magic logo still looks great today. Another little detail I noticed: a lot of these early concepts actually say “The Orlando Magic.” The “The” was eventually dropped from the final branding.

Very interesting book, by the way.

Just sharing this in case you missed it. Stan the Man has handles.

Hedo Turkoglu Jersey Collection

Man, this feels like one of those moments that basketball fans live for. Dwight Howard got inducted into the Hall of Fame and he used his speech to pay tribute to Stan Van Gundy. He said there would be no Dwight Howard without Stan Van Gundy and that Van Gundy taught him what it means to stay ready.

Think back to those bad headlines, Howard allegedly asking management to fire SVG, awkward press conferences, public tension. It was messy. But hearing Dwight reflecting back and admitting Van Gundy pushed him, called him out, shaped him mentally as well as physically, it felt like healing.

This kind of maturity makes me appreciate the sport more. Old wounds can really fade away when there’s respect.

What do you all think changed most for Dwight under SVG’s coaching, was it his mindset, his consistency, or something deeper off the court?

Source: https://sportsorca.com/nba/dwight-howard-stan-van-gundy-full-circle-forgiveness/

I randomly put this game on League Pass recently and couldn't pull myself away from it. (I'm putting a YT link here since you need to be logged into your account to watch it on League Pass.)

Jordan takes 49 shots (!!), Scott Skiles is fantastic, Jeff Turner gives Orlando some really good minutes off the bench, and rookie Shaq absolutely destroys Bill Cartwright inside. Cartwright also misses a big free throw late in the fourth, and when Will Perdue comes in for him he almost looks like Wilt Chamberlain by comparison.

And somehow that's only part of it.

The game is in Chicago and goes to overtime. With less than three seconds left in regulation, Nick Anderson hits a three from about a meter behind the line to tie it and send the game to OT.

You even get a couple of minutes of Steve Kerr in a Magic uniform playing against his future team. On the Bulls side, besides MJ being absolutely magical and knocking down fadeaways one after another, Horace Grant is really good too.

Just a ridiculously entertaining game from start to finish. If you've got 90 minutes to kill, this one is absolutely worth it.

Rules are self explanatory. I’ll go first…

I am doing this for every team.

Picking players based on how good they are and how they would fit on the team.

Surprisingly Solid team, all things considered.
Penny, one of my favourite players OAT.

Am I wrong? I listened midway through the Orlando Magic song, I see that the instrumental’s based on the start of Gloria Estafan’s “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You”. I’m not too sure but it highly is similar.

Like many of you, the end of the season was tough to swallow.

Being up 3-1 and not being able to close it out was beyond frustrating. Talking with friends afterward, I found myself saying, "I can't believe I've been doing this for 30 years."

What if Shaq never left Orlando? What if Penny never got hurt.

I've spent an embarrassing amount of time wondering how different NBA history might look if that team had stayed together.

So instead of wondering about it, I made a fake movie trailer about it: https://youtu.be/WLp8358yY1M

It's completely ridiculous and was a blast to make.

We would be in the exact same situation as TMac’s team in 03, up 3-1 against the Pistons. Then he said the infamous “It feels good to get in the second round,” followed by losing 3 straight and getting bounced in round 1.

So win tonight, put your head down and get to work.

Tracy McGrady went 20-for-37 from the field, and tacked on 10 rebounds and 5 assists.

Box score: https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200403100ORL.html

He is also 1 of 11 players in our database to have 60+ points, 10+ rebounds, and 5+ assists in a game. (Source)

Here is the leaderboard for most points by a Magic player in a single game:

Just after the guy torched us in a seven game series. Almost forgot he used to be our first or second option almost 11 years ago.

Edit: holy hell, the concept of FTP dates back to the Rams Superbowl win, they made fuck them picks t shirts for fucks sake

Given Bane has confirmed to the world he's aware of FTP and appreciates us for it, I did some digging, because I was there for it.

The very first mention I'm aware of for "Fuck them/those picks" is during the win over Detroit on Nov 28th, 2025. An epic game, Bane absolutely dominated with his drives to the paint, surprising many by doing his wild scoop layups going both right and left.

Kudos to u/radardog2:

Fuck those picks, Bane is awesome

https://www.reddit.com/r/OrlandoMagic/comments/1p984ou/comment/nrb9jia/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Subsequently, the post game thread had several further references. We're gaining steam now.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OrlandoMagic/comments/1p9e2qr/post_game_thread_nba_the_magic_defeat_the_pistons/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Someone really caught hold of it that evening, and made an NSFW-spoiler Post titled, simply "Bane":

Fuck them picks

https://www.reddit.com/r/OrlandoMagic/comments/1pbxhz0/bane/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

And finally, the first ever FTP reference:

#FTP

https://www.reddit.com/r/OrlandoMagic/comments/1pbxhz0/comment/nrtsuqp/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

GET FUCKIN HYPED!!

Anytime I’m feeling down I just turn on this video. Instant tears of happiness form.

“And tonight I’m gonna stand and cheer with you!!” So glad I got to see him on his final run. Really miss his voice, he was my childhood going to magic games. Hope he’s watching tonight!