2023-2024 Regular Season Game 58: Orlando Magic (32-25) at Atlanta Hawks (24-32) - 7pm

[Knightro]

No one would care at all about Franz's lack of midrange if he simply drew more fouls.

For a guy who drives to the rim as often as he does (62% of his attempts come from inside 10 feet), his FT rate is very low at just 27%.

Paolo only takes 46% of his shots from inside 10 feet, but his FT rate is 40%.

[T-Cat]

Franz issue is he became a two level scorer when he was 2.5 or 3 levels.... For whatever reason he completely discarded the midrange out of his game except for floaters.... He's either driving or shooting a 3 but for him to take a step forward he has to shoot those middys like he did in his second year.... They're locking up the paint, dejounte Murray just killed us in that 3rd with just middys for the most part

Sent from my [Hands] using RealGM mobile app

Franz does look terrific against sub par teams but against physical teams like Boston, he's a ninja because he disappears!

Fans and media are quick to call him a star!

Don't forget Coach Mosley calling him a mix between Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant!

[KillMonger]

Franz issue is he became a two level scorer when he was 2.5 or 3 levels.... For whatever reason he completely discarded the midrange out of his game except for floaters.... He's either driving or shooting a 3 but for him to take a step forward he has to shoot those middys like he did in his second year.... They're locking up the paint, dejounte Murray just killed us in that 3rd with just middys for the most part

Sent from my [Hands] using RealGM mobile app

I agree actually, he needs a bit of wiggle in his game.

He seems so mechanical at times. Like he's a beast when he gets rolling and then other times he sort of has that Ryan Anderson style of game which is.. fine but not elite.

Agreed, like I remember that little dirk fade he would do which he was hitting and hard to block.... This year he hasn't done that once, maybe he wanted to be more efficient but you need a bit more in your bag... He has it, he just doesn't go there anymore which is a shame

Sent from my [Hands] using RealGM mobile app

[ChosenSavior]

https://twitter.com/JJudahIsaac/likes

Look at the most recent like!! Hoping it's not bad

[ORLMagicGirl15]

By the way, I know that Paolo benefits playing with Franz but Franz benefits as well. They both need each other.

[SOUL]

No one would care at all about Franz's lack of midrange if he simply drew more fouls.

For a guy who drives to the rim as often as he does (62% of his attempts come from inside 10 feet), his FT rate is very low at just 27%.

Paolo only takes 46% of his shots from inside 10 feet, but his FT rate is 40%.

True, but also I think developing a counter to a strength is what the best players in the league do.

He's been so elite at the euro finish that if defenders gear up towards that, having a middy pull up in the bag makes him more dangerous.

There's often times where he kinda stops in the paint and tries to twirl around the defender and it gets blocked.

[ChosenSavior]

Coach said JI is okay...

[ORLMagicGirl15]

No one would care at all about Franz's lack of midrange if he simply drew more fouls.

For a guy who drives to the rim as often as he does (62% of his attempts come from inside 10 feet), his FT rate is very low at just 27%.

Paolo only takes 46% of his shots from inside 10 feet, but his FT rate is 40%.

They just don't call the fouls for Franz. He does get mauled when he goes in the paint.

[ogmagicfan]

Franz can’t be a number one.

Which is fine cause we have Paolo.

I just feel like Franz is just not the creator nor the passer that Paolo is.

He's improved since he's joined the league, but Paolo's starting point and growth in that area has been alot greater than Franz

I never bought into the thought that Franz is a point forward. He can develop into one but he isn't there.

[3ddman23]

What ever u lost the game. Your done with the hawks for the season. Now come home and take care if business. Enough said.

[eyriq]

The fact that they picked Jett 11th over all possible players available at that point in the draft implies he holds a high value to them.

That isn't the point I'm making. The other players on the board are irrelevant.

The point is Jett went 11th because the Magic were picking 11th and liked him. Not because he was worth the 11th overall pick.

Had the Magic been picking 18th instead of 11th, Jett would have gone 18th.

Oh, I got your point while putting my kid to bed. You are saying Jett's actual value is much worse than 11. I don't disagree with you there, he looked like a terrible prospect to me and was mostly mocked outside the lottery.

That said, my point is that the same talent evaluators took Jett 11th and Houstan 32nd, so they think one is a lotto talent and the other is a fringe NBA player. So holding talent evaluation constant which you can do cuz it's the same talent evaluators it makes more sense to prefer Jett to Houstan. And considering they selected Jett 11th it implies they expect Jett to have lottery talent upside, upside that includes All Star outcomes.

[Knightro]

I actually think Franz has a bit of the same problem Markelle has (when he’s healthy) in the respect that they both drive to the basket a lot, but when they do drive, they’re primarily looking to actually put the ball in the basket. They’re not looking to get contact and draw a foul.

There are numerous possessions every single game where Paolo drives and knows 1-2 dribbles into it that he very likely isn’t going to make the shot, but he doesn’t care because he knows the defender isn’t in a position to do anything but foul him. A little yelling, a little embellishment of the contact and you go to the line for two.

Franz doesn’t really do that. He and Markelle will both twist their bodies and do crazy long strides or goofy foot jumps or aggressive Eurosteps to actually avoid contact and give themselves the best possible chance of actually making whatever shot they put up.

If he was better and more willing flopper, his FT rate would probably spike given how often he goes to the rim.

[RookieStar]

https://twitter.com/JJudahIsaac/likes

Look at the most recent like!! Hoping it's not bad

Not all of us have twitter. Lol whqts it say?

[SOUL]

Franz embellishes contact more when he's trying to get the ball or fighting through a screen, not as much driving for some reason

[ChosenSavior]

https://twitter.com/JJudahIsaac/likes

Look at the most recent like!! Hoping it's not bad

Not all of us have twitter. Lol whqts it say?

He liked a tweet that a Twitter user had him tagged in to like it if he's gonna be okay.

[ogmagicfan]

I actually think Franz has a bit of the same problem Markelle has (when he’s healthy) in the respect that they both drive to the basket a lot, but when they do drive, they’re primarily looking to actually put the ball in the basket. They’re not looking to get contact and draw a foul.

There are numerous possessions every single game where Paolo drives and knows 1-2 dribbles into it that he very likely isn’t going to make the shot, but he doesn’t care because he knows the defender isn’t in a position to do anything but foul him. A little yelling, a little embellishment of the contact and you go to the line for two.

Franz doesn’t really do that. He and Markelle will both twist their bodies and do crazy long strides or goofy foot jumps or aggressive Eurosteps to actually avoid contact and give themselves the best possible chance of actually making whatever shot they put up.

If he was better and more willing flopper, his FT rate would probably spike given how often he goes to the rim.

I hope for Franz as he adds weight he invites contact more. He has an athletic lean build. Maybe another 5-10 lbs would have him feeling more confident in absorbing that kinda constant contact without fearing injury

Paolo certainly has the kinda build to invite that contact confidently

[Skybox]

I’d like to never see another WCJ pump-fake when he’s wide open on the perimeter.

[Knightro]

That said, my point is that the same talent evaluators took Jett 11th and Houstan 32nd, so they think one is a lotto talent and the other is a fringe NBA player. So holding talent evaluation constant which you can do cuz it's the same talent evaluators it makes more sense to prefer Jett to Houstan. And considering they selected Jett 11th it implies they expect Jett to have lottery talent upside, upside that includes All Star outcomes.

This is not necessarily true though man.

Just because they picked Caleb at 32 doesn’t mean he wasn’t on their board much higher than 32 and they just had the good fortune (in their mind) that other teams didn’t evaluate him as highly as they did.

Just because they picked Jett at 11 means they had a high lottery grade on him necessarily either. It’s possible they only had high grades on like 7 or 8 guys and all of them were off the board and they simply had to pick someone.

It just so happens 11 and 32 were where they were drafting those two years.

If they had been drafting 18th and 25th, doesn’t it stand to reason they pick Jett at 18 if he’s there and Caleb at 32 if he’s there? Then all of a sudden they don’t see one guy as a lotto pick and one guy as a 2nd rounder, ya know?

[eyriq]

I see these posts a lot but a lot of it is team's game plan to take things away that work rather than us willingly going away from something that is working. If we're able to identify it from the couch, coaches who get paid to do this for a living can tell their team to adjust. There's only so many counters we have with our current offensive talent.

Yet we let Suggs rot on the bench while Dejounte scored 14 points right after Mose pulls him with 5:48 to go in 3rd. Dejounte played the entire quarter. He scored 2 point on Suggs in 6:12 in the 3rd. And proceeded to score 14 in the remaining 5:48. Suggs had tallied a whopping 18 minutes up to that point.

Mose did not adjust there. It's okay to call it out. It's not news to anyone that Suggs is our best perimeter defender.

Suggs played 28 minutes tonight. He plays 26.7 MPG on the season.

I'm not sure what the reason is exactly, whether it's the organization trying their best to save his body from all the little knocks and dings he picks up every night, or if it's how much energy he expends defensively every night - but it's beyond clear at this point that the Magic do not see Suggs as a heavy minute player at this time.

He has only played over 32 minutes five times the entire season. That's just the way it is with him.

Suggs lack of PT is a mystery to me. He does foul a lot and is injury prone so maybe they are just being cautious with him?

[eyriq]

That said, my point is that the same talent evaluators took Jett 11th and Houstan 32nd, so they think one is a lotto talent and the other is a fringe NBA player. So holding talent evaluation constant which you can do cuz it's the same talent evaluators it makes more sense to prefer Jett to Houstan. And considering they selected Jett 11th it implies they expect Jett to have lottery talent upside, upside that includes All Star outcomes.

This is not necessarily true though man.

Just because they picked Caleb at 32 doesn’t mean he wasn’t on their board much higher than 32 and they just had the good fortune (in their mind) that other teams didn’t evaluate him as highly as they did.

Just because they picked Jett at 11 means they had a high lottery grade on him necessarily either. It’s possible they only had high grades on like 7 or 8 guys and all of them were off the board and they simply had to pick someone.

It just so happens 11 and 32 were where they were drafting those two years.

If they had been drafting 18th and 25th, doesn’t it stand to reason they pick Jett at 18 if he’s there and Caleb at 32 if he’s there? Then all of a sudden they don’t see one guy as a lotto pick and one guy as a 2nd rounder, ya know?

That's a lot of counterfactual leaps you need to make in order to bridge the difference between Jett and Houstan. Not worth the squeeze. Just use Occam's Razor and accept that Jett has more upside and more value than Houstan to the Orlando Magic organization.