2022-2023 Regular Season Game 76: Orlando Magic (32-43) at Memphis Grizzlies (47-27) - 8pm

[drsd]

One interesting stat is that with this game, the Magic again covered their spread. I believe the team is 43-32-1 in vegas. Perhaps that means that this team is a lot better than casual fans think it is.

[Bergmaniac]

Goodness, Cole and Suggs single handedly tanked our offense tonight.

They had plenty of help at this, Gary Harris was 1 of 5, Houstan was 0 of 3, Franz was 5 of 16 and had only been to the line 1 time before he hit two threes late with the game virtually out of reach. Moe was absolutely atrocious, 3 turnovers in 5 minutes.

Suggs was defnitely the worst though of the ones who got extended playing time, most of his shots missed by a mile and wre rushed. Plus he had 3 turnovers and only 1 assist, definitely a game to forget for him.

It's frankly a miracle the game got close, since our offense was a mess almost all night. Jaren Jackson and the Grizzlies' strategy of packing the paint forced us to take way more outside shots than we like to and when we can't get to the rim, our offense is usually terrible. It only worked when Goga turned into a dominant centre all of a sudden and got us back into the game almost single handedly. Good fighting spirit from the team once again, nice to see. But the loss is also nice for the tank. Wizards winning somehow is also nice. Next game against them will be crucial, time to rest some starters.

[eyriq]

Goodness, Cole and Suggs single handedly tanked our offense tonight.

They had plenty of help at this, Gary Harris was 1 of 5, Houstan was 0 of 3, Franz was 5 of 16 and had only been to the line 1 time before he hit two shots late with the game virtually out of reach. Moe was absolutely atrocious, 3 turnovers in 5 minutes.

Suggs was defnitely the worst though of the ones who got extended playing time, most of his shots missed by a mile and wre rushed. Plus he had 3 turnovers and only 1 assist, definitely a game to forget for him.

It's frankly a miracle the game got close, since our offense was a mess almost all night. Jaren Jackson and the Grizzlies' strategy of packing the paint forced us to take way more outside shots than we like to and when we can't get to the rim, our offense is usually terrible. It only worked when Goga turned into a dominant centre all of a sudden and got us back into the game almost single handedly. Good fighting spirit from the team once again, nice to see. But the loss is also nice for the tank. Wizards winning somehow is also nice. Next game against them will be crucial, time to rest some starters.

Yeah, good points. Goga was a revelation! Haha

[basketballRob]

It was a fun loss.

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[Optimus_Steel]

Goga is way more effective than Bamba was and could be more than Mo Swag. Good on WeHam for snapping him up.

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[drsd]

Goga is way more effective than Bamba was and could be more than Mo Swag. Good on WeHam for snapping him up.

And-1


COmpare Goga Bitadze vs. Mo Bamba: link


What is almost comedic is that Bamba's length was supposed to make him an elite rebounder and elite shot blocker. Well: Bitadze has identical per 36 minutes numbers in both categories!

The only things Bamba is better at is 3-point shooting and FT percentages.

Does Orlando really need a 3rd string Center that jacks up threes? And, whereas yes his FT% numbers suck, Bitadze is in company with half of the back-up Centers in the league in being awful from the charity stripe.

..

[pepe1991]

Goga is way more effective than Bamba was and could be more than Mo Swag. Good on WeHam for snapping him up.

And-1


COmpare Goga Bitadze vs. Mo Bamba: link


What is almost comedic is that Bamba's length was supposed to make him an elite rebounder and elite shot blocker. Well: Bitadze has identical per 36 minutes numbers in both categories!

The only things Bamba is better at is 3-point shooting and FT percentages.

Does Orlando really need a 3rd string Center that jacks up threes? And, whereas yes his FT% numbers suck, Bitadze is in company with half of the back-up Centers in the league in being awful from the charity stripe.

..

to piggy bank on it, imo for backup C it's perfect to have stiff wood type of guy. There is apsolute no need for your backup C to be "streach 5" because if you play 12-15 min, half of those min are on defense, so his "streaching" will never be that important nor noticable.

So having some Goga- Gafford type C is, imo, more valuable than Bamba. Make 2 hard fouls, get rebound, set screen, don't dominate ball ,that's good enough.


Bamba is so damn expensive for how little he does and how much of a niche and narrow and situational his role is.
"Center who shoots 3s and blocks shots" and than he plays 12 min, has like 3 looks for 3, makes 0,4 a game and blocks 1 shots and commits 3 fouls in other 4 situations where positioning better would prevent player from scoring but in that case he would not log block.

Everybody here knows my feelings about Bamba, but to me Bamba is everything wrong with modern scouting. He was drafted based on measurments and "skills" he showed by being only 7 footer in 80% of games he played, and on most nights he was guarded, at college level, by fatty 6'8 guys . Same happends almost every year when it comes to college bigs. Those guys face no competition and dominate hoops because they tower over players.

History of poor scouting repeated itself this year where i was strongly against Jabari Smith because i always felt that he gets all the benefits of a doubt. He played with best college shot blocker since AD ( and before that you probably need to go deep in centers golden era to find another guy) but nop, Jabari was "elite defender" for having 1 job in his life- directing attacker toward Kessler. In same time Kessler was brutally penalized for being "old fashioned " center despite fact that still works great in every basketball league.
On offense it was very similar, he was soo damn overhyped based on his ability to hit shots over smaller defenders . And ofc he goes in nba, players cover ground faster, players are taller, players prevent him from lunching shots, and he has zero ballhandling skills to relocate from point A to point B to get shots up.
I'm watching him last night and he looks identical to Dorrian FInney Smith and Royce O'neal and that's your potential 1st overall pick. He will probably get much better but his ceiling is Jeremy Grant and that's very generos, he is so far away from that player today.

[Nyce_1]

The Magic right now don’t really have a capable backup forward.

Bol stinks
Admiral is bottom of the roster filler
Houstan is barely out of his teens and while intriguing, is not good yet (and is also more of a 2/3 wing)
Isaac can’t stay healthy
Okeke can’t stay healthy and also stinks.

There’s plenty of opportunity for a 25 MPG backup 3/4 type.

Definitely an area to target in the draft.

[basketballRob]

We should target Naz Reid. I can’t imagine the Twolves paying 3 centers. He's close to equal to Wendell in stats.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/naz-reid-last-23-games

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