2024-2025 Regular Season Game 55: Atlanta Hawks (25-28) at Orlando Magic (26-28) - 7pm

[thelead]

I’m disgusted by this franchise right now. The defensive effort is shockingly bad right now. The offensive system has us running one of the NBA’s worst offenses during Mosley’s tenure. And the FO would rather talk family than actively build a winner.

Get well soon Suggs and Mo.

[JojoSlimbiid]

The 2023 draft is a disaster in retrospect. Two lotto picks and neither are a consistent contributor both are close to bad than anything else.

[Skybox]

90 minutes between KCP, Cole, AB, Harris...19 total points

2 for 7 3pts...not enough attempts...not even half enough attempts, let alone made shots

I'm not going to do this every game, but it's the same every game

[VFX]

What this team needs is both personnel changes but also structural changes within offense, including changes of play style of both Franz and Banchero.

Paolo right now has more iso per game than Durant, Kyrie, Lebron, Embiid and Dončić, Franz has more than Trae Young, AD; Donovan MItchell etc.

We are going nowhere playing 2006 offense, especially with iso mid range pull ups.

This is what it boils down to.

And people are pissed NOT because they didn’t make a move “just to make one”. They are pissed because they haven’t made active decisions in 4 seasons.

This league moves fast. It doesn’t move at Weltman speed. People will quickly move on from claiming Orlando is “a great spot with up and coming future stars” if they see us losing a bunch of games to bad teams while running a 2000 era offense.

The problem isn’t that Paolo and Franz take the majority of shots. It’s that both of them being iso players limits the effectiveness of everyone else within a system. It’s the opposite of the Nuggets where some random scrub can check into a game and immediately impact winning on some level.

They basically need a system overhaul. They need to burn down the rest of the roster, sans the big 3 , and start implementing structural changes.

I get what you’re saying, but I would be weary to cite Denver as an example of some sort of amazing system to try and emulate.

They have one of the greatest players in the history of basketball who processes the game like a super computer controlling every possession offensively.

Jokic is the system. But he’s also a 1 of 1.

True.

Orlando is currently built more in the ilk of Boston right now.

The problem? Paolo and Franz aren’t looking to shoot first and drive later. They are the opposite of those guys in terms of tendencies. Their shots have to be more efficient and not fadeaway jumpers or contested looks at the rim. Orlando isn’t winning a shooting contest with Trae Young resting on bad defense.

Yes I think Suggs helps that a lot as a catch and shoot guy that keeps defenses on their toes. Orlando needs 1 more guy at guard next to him that can stretch the floor and make reads for those two.

I’m not sure if White, Sexton, or Simons are the key to the beginnings of the overhaul. It’s a trial by fire situation that Weltman is afraid to test.

Suggs
Franz
Paolo
Da Silva
Goga
Wagner

Those are the guys I’m not moving unless there is some kind of deal they must be included in. The FO has to come to terms with the fact that they haven’t added anyone on their own to complement their draft acquisitions.

Acquiring KCP tells me they have no idea what they are doing tbh. It signals to me they fundamentally don’t understand what was actually lacking in the starting lineup. Which is exactly why Weltman doesn’t make moves. It shows his hand that he’s in over his head.

[eyriq]

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[Skybox]

I’m not sure if White, Sexton, or Simons are the key to the beginnings of the overhaul. .

That's the beauty of it...none would have to be qualified as an "overhaul"...drop right into a gaping hole, tremendous talent and reliability upgrade over Cole (at the very least). See where it goes from there.

Not an overhaul...a re-balance/correction to a flawed roster

[MartinsIzAfraud]

I’m not sure if White, Sexton, or Simons are the key to the beginnings of the overhaul. .

That's the beauty of it...none would have to be qualified as an "overhaul"...drop right into a gaping hole, tremendous talent and reliability upgrade over Cole (at the very least). See where it goes from there.

Not an overhaul...a re-balance/correction to a flawed roster

but but but why give up anything when you can hold all your cards tight and wait for the 1 moment... that might not ever come or you might get outbid on or your star player gets tired of waiting?

[SOUL]

There is just a very low margin of error against the Hawks. On B-R our defensive rating is 107.7, against the Hawks it was 114.3. This was a defensive loss. Can't afford these when our offense is so inept.

Offense wasn’t a problem in this game. Offense is the problem in most games.

The defense was really bad and they turned the ball over an incredible amount of times in the first three quarters.

Exactly.

It's also funny how people were always making fun of "by committee" offense and saying Franz/Paolo should always have it/be our first options, well, this is exactly what happened

[VFX]

There is just a very low margin of error against the Hawks. On B-R our defensive rating is 107.7, against the Hawks it was 114.3. This was a defensive loss. Can't afford these when our offense is so inept.

Offense wasn’t a problem in this game. Offense is the problem in most games.

The defense was really bad and they turned the ball over an incredible amount of times in the first three quarters.

Exactly.

It's also funny how people were always making fun of "by committee" offense and saying Franz/Paolo should always have it/be our first options, well, this is exactly what happened

Top 5 defensive team played bad defense.

2nd worst shooting team got into a shooting contest with…checks notes.. a top 10 offense.

What could go wrong?

[SOUL]

Top 5 defensive team played bad defense.

2nd worst shooting team got into a shooting contest with…checks notes.. a top 10 offense.

What could go wrong?

That is true.

But it does go to show that even though we wrecked Trae's game, it was at the cost of other people being open and the him making the extra pass when it mattered most. Instinctive point guard play that resulted in scrambling our defense.

Although even that was iffy at times because we would have Trae locked up and someone would come and double for no reason. Just silly stuff.

[YosemiteSam]

I had great seats for the game - the Hawks wanted it more - just straight up played harder - they did to us what we were doing to other teams earlier in the year. Which is inexplicable to me - how can the team not be motivated at home against a team it is fighting for playoff positioning who just traded half its roster and plays two guys I never heard of (Gueye and Krejci) big minutes and knowing how many games they have lost since the turn of the year? WTF?

[msmoore66]

He shot the ball really well in the third quarter.

But he’s genuinely very bad on the glass and defensively and it’s very noticeable at this point.

This is injury related surely, defensive effort (and rebounding) require you to be fully comfortable in your body. Easy to hoist even when not 100%.

Let's be patient rather than direct our anger that way, there are many more facets of this ball club that need addressing.

Or screw it, lets package him with a couple of firsts for Tristian Thompson.

I don’t think so though.

The injury thing can explain away some of the offensive struggles I’d say, but Paolo’s always been a pretty indifferent rebounder and defender.

It’s just magnified more recently because the offense (not tonight so much) has been quite bad as well for the last few weeks.

Yeah I think this is fair, It is magnified more, I'm not saying he is great at either, but pre injury it was stomachable, because we were winning (and my memory of those 5 game was that he was doing better in these areas than prior seasons)

I guess what I am saying is that, with no injury recovery etc in the picture, there would be no magnification of his defense and rebounding and we would be focusing on other issues in the team.

Don't get me wrong, I want him to give more in those areas too.

[msmoore66]

He shot the ball really well in the third quarter.

But he’s genuinely very bad on the glass and defensively and it’s very noticeable at this point.

This is injury related surely, defensive effort (and rebounding) require you to be fully comfortable in your body. Easy to hoist even when not 100%.

Let's be patient rather than direct our anger that way, there are many more facets of this ball club that need addressing.

Or screw it, lets package him with a couple of firsts for Tristian Thompson.

This post is worse than KCP.

Intriguing. You don't like that I suggest we direct our anger at all the other issues in our team vs Paolo's rebounding and defense? Or that I forgot green font on the last sentence?

[DiplomaticMagic]

Absolutely ridiculous that this season turned into this. When the season started, I thought we were as good if not better than Knicks, Sixers (i know they fell off) and Bucks. But now we arent close to those teams and more into the Heat, Pacers, Hawks bracket.

The Hawks team were **** sellers at deadline and they punked us on our homecourt. Embarrassing. I was hoping the Spurs victory was a turn around the corner, turns out it was just a fluke victory!!

Weltman has failed this team, this season is a lost cause. I seriously cannot believe this.

[jayu70]

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[SOUL]

Absolutely ridiculous that this season turned into this. When the season started, I thought we were as good if not better than Knicks, Sixers (i know they fell off) and Bucks. But now we arent close to those teams and more into the Heat, Pacers, Hawks bracket.

The Hawks team were **** sellers at deadline and they punked us on our homecourt. Embarrassing. I was hoping the Spurs victory was a turn around the corner, turns out it was just a fluke victory!!

Weltman has failed this team, this season is a lost cause. I seriously cannot believe this.

To be fair, you named two teams that we are close to or better than (Sixers) and Bucks have 28 wins to our 26. Knicks were a pipe dream, imo, they have like five all-star level starters and way more health.

Doesn't mean this season hasn't been disappointing, but the real disappointing part has been the last month or so. Before that, we were competing with these teams or even better with all of our injuries.

[DiplomaticMagic]

Absolutely ridiculous that this season turned into this. When the season started, I thought we were as good if not better than Knicks, Sixers (i know they fell off) and Bucks. But now we arent close to those teams and more into the Heat, Pacers, Hawks bracket.

The Hawks team were **** sellers at deadline and they punked us on our homecourt. Embarrassing. I was hoping the Spurs victory was a turn around the corner, turns out it was just a fluke victory!!

Weltman has failed this team, this season is a lost cause. I seriously cannot believe this.

To be fair, you named two teams that we are close to or better than (Sixers) and Bucks have 28 wins to our 26. Knicks were a pipe dream, imo, they have like five all-star level starters and way more health.

Doesn't mean this season hasn't been disappointing, but the real disappointing part has been the last month or so. Before that, we were competing with these teams or even better with all of our injuries.

I forgot to mention Cavs!! We were in same bracket as them before the season and look how they ascended.