What a run!

[Skybox]

We have been a very unconventional team in the regular season.

And-1

Look: Zag when others zig. THis is not brain science. Orlando is winning because teams don't know how to defend Orlando over the 48 minutes.

Honestly, when we do the unconventional thing it's historically the times we've been most successful.

It may also be that we're blessed with two unconventional 6'10 wings...as always, I'm not saying Jokic...but, there's the unconventional scheme of running the offense through those guys-who are both exceptional passers as well as scorers. It's a lot of fun when it's working and tough to defend-like a QB like Vick who can pass for 300 yds and run for 100, depending on what you give him. Minimizes the need for a traditional PG, but is best utilized with shooters in the backcourt. That's our problem...Harris is high percentage, but highly selective. Suggs is getting there, not afraid to shoot and his defense is so strong that it's worth it....we need a more aggressive 3pt shooter like Simons, Herro, etc...who will hunt shots, fully understanding his importance is to get up shots and spread the floor to compound the Paolo effect inside.

Black is good, Fultz is good, Cole is good, Harris is good, but we have a very specific "type" that we're missing. In hindsight, Cason Wallace (given his ballhandling, defense, and 3pt shooting) was there for the taking.

Unconventional is fun...also need a frontcourt rim-protector and PnR finisher to balance the forward duo. Goga is good, Isaac could be good if only..., maybe WCJ can come back and adapt his game to the style of play that worked so well in his absence...this is a big question mark, IMO.

[Skybox]

It might have been, right up until your comment.

I guarantee that on this board the vast majority would rather watch an ultra young aggressive team win 30 than buddy ball win 50.

Buddy ball was a loser come playoff time and as boring as the hot place.

Buddy ball? What did I miss?

Buddy ball was the 2 man game employed by the Magic prior to the recent dismantling. It normally consisted of a 2 man game between Vic and EF and was great for their stats padding but it excluded (mostly) the contribution of all other players.

It was good enough to win about 38 to 39 games but not good enough to do anything in the playoffs nor did it help in any of the development of players outside of the buddies.

Most of the other players stood around and watched the buddies play. People tried to call it spacing, but without cutting, spacing is just watching. Most boring basketball ever invented.

Buddy Ball (I didn't love it, but...) was a veteran Coach brought in to win games with a terribly built roster. Clifford pulled every ounce of production out of Vuc, utilized him to his fullest, made him an unlikely all-star by utilizing him in the two man game with the only effective backcourt scoring threat on the team (Evan). Both players benefitted statistically by actually doing what was asked of them - and well. Calling them selfish is ridiculous-there was noone else on the team who could finish a play from outside to the same degree. Cliff had them play to the percentages and get a crappy team a sniff of the playoffs for the aging owner and sleepy new arena. Any other strategy might have helped develop young players at the expense of winning...but Clifford, at that point in his career, would never be brought in for that...so fans complain about Buddy Ball when it was clearly the best possible use of the limited talent Cliff was given. Clearly, the mandate for Mose is different and allows him to experiment and learn with a much deeper but still somewhat offensively limited team. Cliff wins as many games as he can but absolutely had a treadmill level team to work with and he's probably a treadmill-level coach. He got ORL to the playoffs and turned Vuc into an All-Star...Fournier's (and, to a lesser degree, Vuc's) dismal performance since leaving ORL is further proof that Cliff got the most out of the combo. Not sure why people are so quick to disparage something that worked, given the goals and the tools at hand...Adding young rockstars like Fultz and Bamba might've added another element to the duo if they delivered anything.

Clifford is what he is. Solid, no-mistakes, fundamental basketball best performed by veterans. Limited for sure.

[AaronB]

Buddy ball? What did I miss?

Buddy ball was the 2 man game employed by the Magic prior to the recent dismantling. It normally consisted of a 2 man game between Vic and EF and was great for their stats padding but it excluded (mostly) the contribution of all other players.

It was good enough to win about 38 to 39 games but not good enough to do anything in the playoffs nor did it help in any of the development of players outside of the buddies.

Most of the other players stood around and watched the buddies play. People tried to call it spacing, but without cutting, spacing is just watching. Most boring basketball ever invented.

Buddy Ball (I didn't love it, but...) was a veteran Coach brought in to win games with a terribly built roster. Clifford pulled every ounce of production out of Vuc, utilized him to his fullest, made him an unlikely all-star by utilizing him in the two man game with the only effective backcourt scoring threat on the team (Evan). Both players benefitted statistically by actually doing what was asked of them - and well. Calling them selfish is ridiculous-there was noone else on the team who could finish a play from outside to the same degree. Cliff had them play to the percentages and get a crappy team a sniff of the playoffs for the aging owner and sleepy new arena. Any other strategy might have helped develop young players at the expense of winning...but Clifford, at that point in his career, would never be brought in for that...so fans complain about Buddy Ball when it was clearly the best possible use of the limited talent Cliff was given. Clearly, the mandate for Mose is different and allows him to experiment and learn with a much deeper but still somewhat offensively limited team. Cliff wins as many games as he can but absolutely had a treadmill level team to work with and he's probably a treadmill-level coach. He got ORL to the playoffs and turned Vuc into an All-Star...Fournier's (and, to a lesser degree, Vuc's) dismal performance since leaving ORL is further proof that Cliff got the most out of the combo. Not sure why people are so quick to disparage something that worked, given the goals and the tools at hand...Adding young rockstars like Fultz and Bamba might've added another element to the duo if they delivered anything.

Clifford is what he is. Solid, no-mistakes, fundamental basketball best performed by veterans. Limited for sure.

Everything you said could be 100% right. It also might be 100% wrong. It could also be something in the middle.

In the end it is a strawman argument because the issue was never if Cliff or the team was optimizing resources. The issue is would you rather watch the pinnacle of the Buddy Ball basketball which made the playoffs or last year’s 30+ win non-playoff team?

If you say the buddy ball team, then it will confirm a suspicion that I have had for a long time, namely that you are insane.

[basketballRob]

And-1

Look: Zag when others zig. THis is not brain science. Orlando is winning because teams don't know how to defend Orlando over the 48 minutes.

Honestly, when we do the unconventional thing it's historically the times we've been most successful.

It may also be that we're blessed with two unconventional 6'10 wings...as always, I'm not saying Jokic...but, there's the unconventional scheme of running the offense through those guys-who are both exceptional passers as well as scorers. It's a lot of fun when it's working and tough to defend-like a QB like Vick who can pass for 300 yds and run for 100, depending on what you give him. Minimizes the need for a traditional PG, but is best utilized with shooters in the backcourt. That's our problem...Harris is high percentage, but highly selective. Suggs is getting there, not afraid to shoot and his defense is so strong that it's worth it....we need a more aggressive 3pt shooter like Simons, Herro, etc...who will hunt shots, fully understanding his importance is to get up shots and spread the floor to compound the Paolo effect inside.

Black is good, Fultz is good, Cole is good, Harris is good, but we have a very specific "type" that we're missing. In hindsight, Cason Wallace (given his ballhandling, defense, and 3pt shooting) was there for the taking.

Unconventional is fun...also need a frontcourt rim-protector and PnR finisher to balance the forward duo. Goga is good, Isaac could be good if only..., maybe WCJ can come back and adapt his game to the style of play that worked so well in his absence...this is a big question mark, IMO.

We don't even know how good Wallace is going to be because OKC hasn't faced any adversity in their schedule. They've only played 2 b2b against Detroit and Portland. Once they start playing 1 b2b every week, then we'll see the shooting percentages start to plummet.

I predict both Wallace and Chet will be sub 35% shooters from 3 this season.




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[tooler]

What's impressive is how good this core group is with tens of millions of dollars of players injured on the bench or providing absolutely nothing, or star players in the middle of weird slumps.

It's nice that we don't need to hope and pray that the players grow or change in some dramatic way. We just need everyone to get on the court with a little focus and consistency.