RealGM

Goga's revenge?

Sent from my SM-G970U using RealGM mobile app

Nembhard likely out.

This game will tell us a lot.

Wow they are getting murdered! Is the Magic defense that good or do the Pacers stink tonight!?

basketballwacko2 wrote:Wow they are getting murdered! Is the Magic defense that good or do the Pacers stink tonight!?

Both

basketballwacko2 wrote:Wow they are getting murdered! Is the Magic defense that good or do the Pacers stink tonight!?

#1 defense in the league

After being off for 4 days this was sad.

Yeah, Indy and Orlando are similar and opposite. Both are fun and young, but get there in different ways. Indy is a top offense and bad defense. Orlando is a top defense and not so good offense. In this case, we saw where that led on this night.

Toppin is the weak link right now

I love his hustle and the highlight dunks, but he disappears on defense, and somehow averages fewer rebounds than Haliburton

He's still only 25, and he's only played 12 games as a Pacer, but he needs to improve if he wants to be part of the team's long term future

Nwora was a bright spot. I can see him earning time at either of the forward spots.

Topofthekey wrote:Toppin is the weak link right now

I love his hustle and the highlight dunks, but he disappears on defense, and somehow averages fewer rebounds than Haliburton

He's still only 25, and he's only played 12 games as a Pacer, but he needs to improve if he wants to be part of the team's long term future

I don't see a place on a good team for a big who is a bad defender/rebounder who isn't a legit #2 or 3 scoring option. He needs to get better and more consistent at something.

Magic fan here. I figured this question could go here rather than a new thread. Goga's a complete stud for us and never seemed to catch on in Indy. What happened there? Did the light come on after the trade or were there just too many bodies in front of him or what? I'm genuinely curious, not trying to start any drama.

Magiclee wrote:Magic fan here. I figured this question could go here rather than a new thread. Goga's a complete stud for us and never seemed to catch on in Indy. What happened there? Did the light come on after the trade or were there just too many bodies in front of him or what? I'm genuinely curious, not trying to start any drama.

He seemed to have to think when passed the ball. Maybe he figured things out or maybe your pace suits him better than ours. We'll see what others think

Magiclee wrote:Magic fan here. I figured this question could go here rather than a new thread. Goga's a complete stud for us and never seemed to catch on in Indy. What happened there? Did the light come on after the trade or were there just too many bodies in front of him or what? I'm genuinely curious, not trying to start any drama.

I was always high on him. I always wished he got more playing time.

Sent from my SM-G970U using RealGM mobile app

Magiclee wrote:Magic fan here. I figured this question could go here rather than a new thread. Goga's a complete stud for us and never seemed to catch on in Indy. What happened there? Did the light come on after the trade or were there just too many bodies in front of him or what? I'm genuinely curious, not trying to start any drama.

He always had trouble thinking on the fly, and he really needed more than 10 minutes total to get really going. He always had talent, but he was slow to process, and mostly was just buried behind Myles and Sabonis. We drafted him when we were planning on playing 2 centers together, and then we flat out refused to ever do so, or adapt to both our centers. He wasn’t Carlisle’s guy, so he was gone. Bjorkgren tried to play him just like Sabonis, and that’s not him. McMillan just didn’t play him. I think it was mostly scouting that loved him and coaches that just didn’t know how to play centers?

Edit: Goga also had terrible timing. It seemed every time he had a chance to grab a bunch of playing time, he’d roll an ankle, or entered Covid protocols, or something that would keep him out for the same week that both Myles and Sabonis were out or something.

Talking about terrible timing, didn't he also run into visa issues which prevented him from joining training camp the first season he was here?

I like Goga a lot, I was a believer right till the end, I thought he could be the best of both worlds between Turner (rim protection, range) and Sabonis (rebounding, post offense)

Just not meant to be

I always thought it had to be an attitude/effort issue. Otherwise the lack of run Goga got over the last two seasons he spent in Indy made no sense. There was a time (when first drafted) the organization was high on his talent. Then he was simply buried behind Smith and Jackson. It’s not like last season either of those two were that great. Even now I’m not sure I see starting level center in either of them. Yet they got run during tank seasons while Goga got virtually nothing. Now he looks like the talent we drafted. I sure hope it was an effort thing. Otherwise, he either qualifies as a bust draft pick or a player whose skill we were too stupid to see and develop.

I appreciate the replies. Sounds like it was a combination of issues, but Scoot McGroot's comment about them wanting him to play like Sabonis sticks out to me. That was kinda what I was thinking it might have been. Goga's a banger. If your coaches were looking for something else from him, I can see why they might have been disappointed. We've just embraced it and not asked him to do anything else.

Magiclee wrote:Goga's a banger. If your coaches were looking for something else from him, I can see why they might have been disappointed.

He has to play a tough, physical game. Otherwise, his teammates would make fun of him and call him Lady Goga.

Tom White wrote:

Magiclee wrote:Goga's a banger. If your coaches were looking for something else from him, I can see why they might have been disappointed.

He has to play a tough, physical game. Otherwise, his teammates would make fun of him and call him Lady Goga.

Poor guy just needed a team to say, "Go be a badass!"