2023-2024 Regular Season Game 45: Orlando Magic (23-21) at Memphis Grizzlies (17-27) - 8pm

[KillMonger]

I think the offense was supposed to be different in the beginning of the year.... I might wrong but I remember the ball being in kelles hands a lot more and he was setting the table........Then he got injured and then Dell followed and we had to pivot to another style of play with paolo and Franz as the main initiators..... Then we started winning with this style and I guess mose couldn't go back to how we were supposed to play before....

Now that kelle and Dell are back, THEY have to adjust to the new style of play.....dell is starting to get some rhythm back.... Kell on the other hand seems completely non effective in this style.....barely any impact when he's on the floor however that's just what my eyes are telling me the stats might paint a different portrait....

Sent from the phone in my hands

[Bensational]

To be fair, Paolo isn’t an active off-ball option yet, he’s always on standby on the perimeter, so the only looks they can get for him are open 3’s. If he gets in the paint, it’s to post up and not slip through on a cut.

That’s not to excuse the rest of the team for being subpar support, like Fultz camping in the paint or Black only being good for the extra pass. But Paolo still has a lot of his own growing to do which will make his and everyone else’s games easier.

There’s just no movement in the offense. Franz used to get a ton of easy looks on cuts but he rarely does it anymore. The offense is just hot potato around the 3pt line until someone decides to drive with ~8-10 in the shot clock. It’s disgusting.

A lot of it is probably reluctance to crowd the paint for Paolo if they expect him to drive. But yeah, Franz has noticeably stopped flashing through lanes. Suggs seems to have picked up a bit more. Still, none of them seem to be able to routinely feed off set ups from Paolo just yet.

Paolo has 2 pretty unstoppable moves in his middy and his FT draw rate, but neither of those moves does anything to create space and opportunities for other guys, so when he goes for those moves the only outcome is he makes or misses. His middy is usually single covered too.

I’d like to see him find that move that guarantees a double team which he can punish. Haven’t spotted what he’s doing on the regular which might become that.

Off-ball, I think he just needs to accept some plays he’s going to have to help set other guys up and set himself up better. Will take time though.

[Bensational]

I think the offense was supposed to be different in the beginning of the year.... I might wrong but I remember the ball being in kelles hands a lot more and he was setting the table........Then he got injured and then Dell followed and we had to pivot to another style of play with paolo and Franz as the main initiators..... Then we started winning with this style and I guess mose couldn't go back to how we were supposed to play before....

Yep. I remember the first few games Paolo was slow to get going because he wasn’t in control of the offense as much and wasn’t getting the looks he likes.

I think Franz, Harris and Wendell knew how to feed of Fultz and whatever Mosley had spent training camp prepping for, but that was the “by committee” approach and then Paolo showed he’s the chairman of that committee.

Right now, I don’t think Paolo has learned how to reliably set anyone up as a PG, and I think Mosley threw every lineup out there that he could to see what would help. Unfortunately I don’t think we can fast forward through this learning curve.

[Bergmaniac]

I think the offense was supposed to be different in the beginning of the year.... I might wrong but I remember the ball being in kelles hands a lot more and he was setting the table........Then he got injured and then Dell followed and we had to pivot to another style of play with paolo and Franz as the main initiators..... Then we started winning with this style and I guess mose couldn't go back to how we were supposed to play before....

Now that kelle and Dell are back, THEY have to adjust to the new style of play.....dell is starting to get some rhythm back.... Kell on the other hand seems completely non effective in this style.....barely any impact when he's on the floor however that's just what my eyes are telling me the stats might paint a different portrait....

It's virtually impossible to be a good perimeter creator when you are not a threat to score from outside the paint at all and the other team knows it.

Not that the offense looked all that good early in the season either, but at least you can put some of it to early season rust.

[VFX]

I think the offense was supposed to be different in the beginning of the year.... I might wrong but I remember the ball being in kelles hands a lot more and he was setting the table........Then he got injured and then Dell followed and we had to pivot to another style of play with paolo and Franz as the main initiators..... Then we started winning with this style and I guess mose couldn't go back to how we were supposed to play before....

Now that kelle and Dell are back, THEY have to adjust to the new style of play.....dell is starting to get some rhythm back.... Kell on the other hand seems completely non effective in this style.....barely any impact when he's on the floor however that's just what my eyes are telling me the stats might paint a different portrait....

Sent from the phone in my hands

This is kind of the problem with the Front Office in a nutshell.

Fultz should never have been tasked with "setting the table" and running the majority of offense for this team. Ever. Even less so after drafting Franz and Paolo. It's not a coincidence that Orlando started winning more games immediately when he was out for an extended amount of time. Same thing with Wendell Carter. They do NOT fit in a structured system with Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner as your 1a and 1b guys. Mosely was outcoached with lesser talent mostly due to the fact that he has limited options to work with and Paolo is tasked with doing more than he needs because there is nothing drawn up and nobody to run anything.

I wanted to believe WCJr was a guy that would thrive next to Paolo, but it just hasn't happened. They are duplicative and Carter isn't good enough defensively as a rim protector to offset a lower usage guy like Goga that can focus on defense instead of taking possessions from guys that actually do things on offense. I like Carters trade value more than I do his fit on the roster.

Markelle should have been moved by the deadline last season. I said it last year, this offseason, and now. It hasnt changed and he is now a lesser valued asset because they waited forever to draw this conclusion. Orlando will be lucky now to move him for anything without attaching a draft pick for a salary dump/match. Very cool.

There really isn't an "adjustment" to be made here. It's the meshing of skillsets and how the rest of the roster compliments the highest usage guys that happen to be the biggest investments. Mosely's offense looks bad because there are no alternatives and Black is simply not ready yet to shoulder an offense. Weltman needs to make a trade or two so they don't waste these development years with Paolo, Franz, and Suggs. Will he do it ? Probably not. They are experts at wasting time.