Gamethread: Magic @ Thunder 02/26

[PennytoShaq]

The entire team blew and some fanboys are just blasting single players. This place is hilarious.

Fanboys of what? Players earning their money? Doing what they’re paid to do?

Thats inexcusable from a so called lock down defender who happens to be our highest paid player. People should be more upset about that than they are. He brings nothing to the table and all people talk about is trading away our best players. This place is ass backwards.


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We don't have a best player. We have a bunch of role players, some of which are tradable and have value. I am assume you are talking about that one, since you pretty much talk about him every single post. It's an unhealthy obsession at this point. Praise Vuc, bash Biz. Over and over, every day.

So yes, people want to trade a guy who has value in the hopes of rebuilding a team that is currently quite awful. Your hero is viewed by most around the league to be an elite bench player, yet some still think we can build around him as a starter after years of losing. That is flawed logic.

[Orl_Magic]

"Aaron Gordon (7-of-20, 1-of-7 3 PT FG) has now gone 11 games in a row without shooting at least 50 percent from the field. He hasn’t shot at least 50 percent in a game since January 6th against Cleveland. Since January 1st, Gordon is shooting a miserable 92-of-255 (.361) from the field, including 22-of-91 (.242) on threes."

From OPP

Magic players trying to be top guys in nutshell

Thanks for posting. I knew he fell off but didn't feel like digging through all the stats.

[PennytoShaq]

I don't see anything wrong with AG struggling to be a top guy when we are wanting to lose like this. This is the first year he has the skillset to really even attempt it anyway. He had almost no offense prior to this season besides putbacks and alleys. It will take him a little time to get consistent with his scoring, but he is still projecting to be a guy who can give us 20 PPG if we get the right guys around him. He needs this season to really learn where his spots are on the floor and what to do in every situation so he is just reacting and not thinking.

By right guys, I mean a playmaker like Doncic or MPj or maybe Young. Someone who pulls defenses over because they are a go to scoring threat every night. You put AG with someone like that and I think he will just get better.

I think he has just hit a wall. This is the most games he has played in a season. He is finally starting nightly at his true position. The Magic could have done this years ago but there was a push to make the playoffs and player development was uneven.

If the Magic want to turn this around, they keep AG here, start Isaac and start whatever rookie they draft. Have those 3 guys out there playing together and getting serious minutes. That's the only way it works. You have to give them all a lot of minutes and let them go through the slumps that AG is going through now.

With Isaac and AG, the Magic will need to embrace positionless basketball. The 4 wings/1 PG thing I was talking about this summer. Just tell JI to guard one guy and AG to stick the other, and then switch hard. If they do not draft a stud PG or acquire one, then use DJ/Mack a little and embrace 5 wing lineups as well- give the ball to AG to initiate offense on fast breaks. Or use Doncic at the point in spurts and let AG guard the team's PG.

In other words, the Magic need to be creative with the talent they have instead of trying to assign positions to each player. JI will probably put another 5-10 pounds on. The guy is 7 feet tall and can run the floor like a wing. We have to be creative with a talent like that, or else what is the point of having him.

[BadMofoPimp]

I don't think AG fell off. He is coming back from injury to the worst team in the NBA as the main scoring option that opponents can key on. I don't expect him to be efficient in this situation. Nobody could realistically. I bet even Westbrook and Curry to be poor shooters on this team!

[MagicStarwipe]

Mario is so out of here. Definitely gearing up to add him to the room of faces. Probably AG too. Vogel is the greatest accidental tanker in sports history.

[Xatticus]

I don't think AG fell off. He is coming back from injury to the worst team in the NBA as the main scoring option that opponents can key on. I don't expect him to be efficient in this situation. Nobody could realistically. I bet even Westbrook and Curry to be poor shooters on this team!

Curry is the best shooter the NBA has ever seen. He'd be fine anywhere. Poor shooting is a prominent feature of Westbrook's game. He shouldn't have been anywhere near the top of your list for the point you were trying to make.

[thelead]

Mario is so out of here. Definitely gearing up to add him to the room of faces. Probably AG too. Vogel is the greatest accidental tanker in sports history.

Yeah... Vogel was on the radio yesterday and pretty much said that Mario needs to learn how to adjust to play off the bench because that will be his role... but he made it sound like Mario has no shot of ever being a starter here.