Magic(2-5) @ Pistons(1-8)

[SmiteaDwight]

Man every game that goes by, i love vucevic more and more. He might not be the best defensive center or anything, but the guy is going to be one of the best centers in the league one day, and might even be the best player we got back in that trade

What part of his game do you feel will be elite some day?

I see a slightly above average backup with good/but not great rebounding, good/but not great passing, and good/but not great scoring. He is below average at defense and is a 7 footer that likes to play outside of the paint. I think he is a peg or 2 below Gortat.

Yeah he's got alot of work to do before he becomes as good as Gortat. I'm not saying he can't do it, but he needs to get much stronger and refine his post game.

a 7 footer with touch should not be shooting below 50%

[magicman123]

sounds like you want a defensive anchor at the center position, how many are in the league? he has the lateral quickness to play defense, he has the size, he needs to get physically and mentally stronger, hes not a high flyer that will block many shots, he needs to work on standing his ground and playing tougher, he will never carry a team defensively, but team defense is very important nowadays and playing his role will help, Vuc will always be limited because hes not an amazing athlete, if he works hard he can hold his own

[thelead]

sounds like you want a defensive anchor at the center position, how many are in the league? he has the lateral quickness to play defense, he has the size, he needs to get physically and mentally stronger, hes not a high flyer that will block many shots, he needs to work on standing his ground and playing tougher, he will never carry a team defensively, but team defense is very important nowadays and playing his role well will help, Vuc will always be limited because hes not an amazing athlete, if he works hard he can hold his own

I can agree with all of that. But if we're going to agree that he won't be a defensive anchor we're going to need a defensive anchor at the pf position OR we are going to need a team built with elite scorers that will outscore teams. I think it would be easier to find a defensive center then to find two or three elite scorers.

[SmiteaDwight]

sounds like you want a defensive anchor at the center position, how many are in the league? he has the lateral quickness to play defense, he has the size, he needs to get physically and mentally stronger, hes not a high flyer that will block many shots, he needs to work on standing his ground and playing tougher, he will never carry a team defensively, but team defense is very important nowadays and playing his role well will help, Vuc will always be limited because hes not an amazing athlete, if he works hard he can hold his own

I can agree with all of that. But if we're going to agree that he won't be a defensive anchor we're going to need a defensive anchor at the pf position OR we are going to need a team built with elite scorers that will outscore teams. I think it would be easier to find a defensive center then to find two or three elite scorers.

Yeah I think we were just spoiled by 8 years of awesome with Dwight

[KillMonger]

The way i see it everything that people say that Vucevic needs are things that he can work on.

He's getting bodied in the post? He can get in the weight room and get stronger
He's not athletic? He's young Athleticism can be improved
Not a shotblocker? Ok i'll concede this but with his 7"4 wingspan he can at least get 1 a game in starters minutes

Not saying he's the second coming but it's hard for me personally to not see Vuc's potential. He has a great base set of skills offensively that he can refine and improve. Defensively he has the size and the wingspan to hold his own all he has to do is get in that weight room and get stronger which can be done. With certain players there are circumstances where it's "either you have it or you don't" in other words it's the things you can't teach with Vuc the things he "doesn't have" is the physicality but it's certainly not something he can't never achieve

[thelead]

sounds like you want a defensive anchor at the center position, how many are in the league? he has the lateral quickness to play defense, he has the size, he needs to get physically and mentally stronger, hes not a high flyer that will block many shots, he needs to work on standing his ground and playing tougher, he will never carry a team defensively, but team defense is very important nowadays and playing his role well will help, Vuc will always be limited because hes not an amazing athlete, if he works hard he can hold his own

I can agree with all of that. But if we're going to agree that he won't be a defensive anchor we're going to need a defensive anchor at the pf position OR we are going to need a team built with elite scorers that will outscore teams. I think it would be easier to find a defensive center then to find two or three elite scorers.

Yeah I think we were just spoiled by 8 years of awesome with Dwight

I'm still pissed we couldn't put one great scorer around that defensive monster.

[magicman123]

sounds like you want a defensive anchor at the center position, how many are in the league? he has the lateral quickness to play defense, he has the size, he needs to get physically and mentally stronger, hes not a high flyer that will block many shots, he needs to work on standing his ground and playing tougher, he will never carry a team defensively, but team defense is very important nowadays and playing his role well will help, Vuc will always be limited because hes not an amazing athlete, if he works hard he can hold his own

I can agree with all of that. But if we're going to agree that he won't be a defensive anchor we're going to need a defensive anchor at the pf position OR we are going to need a team built with elite scorers that will outscore teams. I think it would be easier to find a defensive center then to find two or three elite scorers.

we definitely need to protect the paint, starters or bench players..our rotation is Vucevic/Davis/Ayon/Nicholson, and not one of those players are known for defense, actually pretty bad

[KillMonger]

Woah just took a peek at Nicholson's per36 numbers it's kinda...well....18.7 points/7.3 Rebounds/1.4 Blocks off 53.6% shooting although he's basically fouling out of every game at 6.4 Personal fouls lol

[Malik Starks]

We needed Meer's penetration and passing tonight. If we can stay Healthy we'll be better than people expected.

If the so called experts were objective they would already see this team is pretty good. We've played a pretty brutal schedule, look at our losses:

Two losses to a very good Brooklyn team, One loss to an undefeated Knicks team (including wins over Miami, and San Antonio), one loss to a Memphis team that is looking like the best team in Western Conference. The only loss you can point to has been Minnesota, and they aren't half bad either.

And we were missing our starting point guard in all of them.

[OrlandO]

Vucevic is progressing nicely... he's only 22 and it's his second year in the league (1st as a starter). He's already averaging more rebounds than brook lopez and he's getting paid pennies in comparison. His scoring is in double figures as well. He's actually averaging 12 points, 11.6 rebounds in the last three games. I liked that he grabbed double the rebounds as Monroe in 9 less minutes tonight! Could be more efficient, but he's young and inexperienced, so I expect that to go up to at least 50% by next year. Defense obviously needs work, but I've seen flashes of him going after rebounds with authority.

[thelead]

We needed Meer's penetration and passing tonight. If we can stay Healthy we'll be better than people expected.

If the so called experts were objective they would already see this team is pretty good. We've played a pretty brutal schedule, look at our losses:

Two losses to a very good Brooklyn team, One loss to an undefeated Knicks team (including wins over Miami, and San Antonio), one loss to a Memphis team that is looking like the best team in Western Conference. The only loss you can point to has been Minnesota, and they aren't half bad either.

And our 3 wins come against the 4-5 Nuggets, 4-5 Suns, and 1-9 Pistons. What's your point?

[J the Drafter]

I'm still pissed we couldn't put one great scorer around that defensive monster.

Who'd you have in mind? Wade? Kobe? (I suppose we could have gotten Ellis or the like if we'd still had Gortat to trade, I'll grant you that.) We had multiple 20+ per game scorers around Howard, even if Lewis largely spotted up. It's not Jameer's fault he got injured in 2009, and Carter was very effective for most of his stay here, even if he wasn't driving for layups all game.

[Malik Starks]

We needed Meer's penetration and passing tonight. If we can stay Healthy we'll be better than people expected.

If the so called experts were objective they would already see this team is pretty good. We've played a pretty brutal schedule, look at our losses:

Two losses to a very good Brooklyn team, One loss to an undefeated Knicks team (including wins over Miami, and San Antonio), one loss to a Memphis team that is looking like the best team in Western Conference. The only loss you can point to has been Minnesota, and they aren't half bad either.

And our 3 wins come against the 4-5 Nuggets, 4-5 Suns, and 1-9 Pistons. What's your point?

True enough, but we were missing our starting PG in all the losses. I've always believed this is a good team when healthy, not world beaters but pretty good. My point is the losses have come against some of the best teams in the NBA right now.

[OrlandO]

Jameer in two games - 8.5 assists, 1.5 turnovers. His assists were up last season when Dwight left, too.

[thelead]

I'm still pissed we couldn't put one great scorer around that defensive monster.

Who'd you have in mind? Wade? Kobe? (I suppose we could have gotten Ellis or the like if we'd still had Gortat to trade, I'll grant you that.) We had multiple 20+ per game scorers around Howard, even if Lewis largely spotted up. It's not Jameer's fault he got injured in 2009, and Carter was very effective for most of his stay here, even if he wasn't driving for layups all game.

I said "great" not "good" (ie Lewis and Carter do not fall into the great scorer category). We had one under contract the year we drafted Dwight... just sayin'.

[thelead]

Jameer in two games - 8.5 assists, 1.5 turnovers. His assists were up last season when Dwight left, too.

Trying to feed Dwight in the post is a turnover nightmare that even LA is experiencing. The turnovers were not his fault it was the system's. Let's see if he can keep up the 8.5 assists though since it has only been 2 games. I don't think he can maintain that number with this roster (although I may be wrong due to the fluidity of the offense). The question that remains to be answered is how our offense will fair against great defenses.

[KillMonger]

I know it's early but take it with a grain of salt. What Vuc is doing isn't too bad


now considering Marc is playing 6 more minutes the numbers are somewhat similar. Got to appreciate that at the very least Vuc is contributing. Has a long way to go to be any REAL comparison to Marc Gasol but through 8 or so games he's been comparable

[OrlandO]

Jameer in two games - 8.5 assists, 1.5 turnovers. His assists were up last season when Dwight left, too.

Trying to feed Dwight in the post is a turnover nightmare that even LA is experiencing. The turnovers were not his fault it was the system's. Let's see if he can keep up the 8.5 assists though since it has only been 2 games. I don't think he can maintain that number with this roster (although I may be wrong due to the fluidity of the offense). The question that remains to be answered is how our offense will fair against great defenses.

I will be thrilled if he can average 7 assists with slightly less than 2 turns a game. It looks like we face losing teams next week, but the week after that we play boston, san antonio and brooklyn. Could experience the best and worst weeks of the season in just two weeks. I just hope we remain competitive against the better teams. It's one thing to lose during a rebuild, it's another to get completely blown off the floor and embarrassed.

[OrlandO]

I know it's early but take it with a grain of salt. What Vuc is doing isn't too bad


now considering Marc is playing 6 more minutes the numbers are somewhat similar. Got to appreciate that at the very least Vuc is contributing. Has a long way to go to be any REAL comparison to Marc Gasol but through 8 or so games he's been comparable

Nice side-by-side. If you take away the two games where Niko played less than 18 minutes each, then his pts and rebounds go up even more. Let's just say he's had a double double in 5 of the 6 games where he's played more than 18 minutes.

[OrlandO]

Tonight was a good win. The pistons are not that good, but they're also not as bad as their record indicates. They blew out the sixers in the previous game... OKC had to outscore them 30-17 in the 4th to win by two the game before that... and they also have a couple one-possession losses against losing teams. They gave us a pretty good fight tonight as well and I don't consider us the worst team in the league. I also think that entire organization gets off on playing competitively against us due to all the times they ruined our dreams in the playoffs.