Cavaliers vs Magic Series General Discussion Thread

[Skybox]

... if only some people would´ve known before that we will struggle with offense and shooting in the playoffs with how the roster is built

The hardest thing for us Magic fans to stomach (myself included) is that the goal of the front office this season was NOT to win.

The goals were:
To improve the team's winning percentage (which they did)
To challenge for the play-in/playoffs (which they did)
To figure out who was in their core (which they did)
To identify whether Paolo and/or Franz was good enough to build around (which they did)
To get their two rookies enough experience to identify their development timetables (which they did)
To identify if Mosely was worth extending (which they did)
To see who Jonathan Isaac exactly was IF he rehabilitated from injury (which they did).
To preserve extreme roster flexibility to resign core players and add players (which they did).
...And I'm sure I'm missing a few more.

The cost of gaining so much useful information? They just aren't built to go deep in the playoffs whatsoever. They are literally playing multiple players in the playoffs who won't be with the team after this season concludes. Their young players are running on fumes after playing with several scrubs that won't be on any NBA roster in a few years. The high fives and handshakes have already happened in the front office, and this playoff series is just gravy.

We fans are so win-starved that we get angry that they are getting clowned in a playoff series against a team built from the jump to try to compete for a championship. But that was never the objective.

I encourage everyone to shift their mindsets to enjoy this series for what it is and take any possible wins as a real unexpected joy. I personally have the majority of my anger and rage saved up in case this team fails this offseason. If they are unable to capitalize on all of the great stuff this season has brought, the front office is truly deserving of fan anger.

Really, this playoff is a learning experience for everyone, players, coaches and front office. The strengths and weaknesses are both shown from the game we played and are going to play. I envision a good summer ahead of this season. Lots of let gos and some additions. It is apparent that we are just not good enough to make a run in the playoff. However, this is not over yet and we could still make it a series. But it is going to be very hard if we want anything more than that. See you Thursday!

Hopefully, a learning experience for fans too...who think "all is well", we'll just contend next year after some organic internal development of our offensive skill.

[Bensational]

Hopefully, a learning experience for fans too...who think "all is well", we'll just contend next year after some organic internal development of our offensive skill.

You think we’re contending next year with or without moves? Looks like the learning experience is lost on you.

[eyriq]

Hopefully, a learning experience for fans too...who think "all is well", we'll just contend next year after some organic internal development of our offensive skill.

You think we’re contending next year with or without moves? Looks like the learning experience is lost on you.

Yup, the idea that we are contending any time soon is wild to me.

[MasterGMer]

I think some of you might be right. The most important factor of Magic soon contending has to be on Paolo and Franz development. Paolo shot 7 for 24 the second game with 6 TOs. We can not win a game like that, plain and simple. But they both need help. But again, Paolo and Franz's growth will be the deciding factor how far can we go in the near future

[VFX]

I think some of you might be right. The most important factor of Magic soon contending has to be on Paolo and Franz development. Paolo shot 7 for 24 the second game with 6 TOs. We can not win a game like that, plain and simple. But they both need help. But again, Paolo and Franz's growth will be the deciding factor how far can we go in the near future

It’s two things.

#1 Paolo and Franz growth and development.

#2 Roster construction. The FO, and ultimately Mosely, are asking Paolo/Franz to do things they aren’t good at yet or possibly ever.

#1 happens faster if you address #2. If not, then #1 is a slow painful process. Like watching Paolo turn the ball over 6-8 times in two playoff games.

[MasterGMer]

I think some of you might be right. The most important factor of Magic soon contending has to be on Paolo and Franz development. Paolo shot 7 for 24 the second game with 6 TOs. We can not win a game like that, plain and simple. But they both need help. But again, Paolo and Franz's growth will be the deciding factor how far can we go in the near future

It’s two things.

#1 Paolo and Franz growth and development.

#2 Roster construction. The FO, and ultimately Mosely, are asking Paolo/Franz to do things they aren’t good at yet or possibly ever.

#1 happens faster if you address #2. If not, then #1 is a slow painful process. Like watching Paolo turn the ball over 6-8 times in two playoff games.

Let me ask one last thing: Which of the two factors will ultimately decide this team's ceiling, which is to ultimately winning a championship?

[tooler]

At first I thought shooting luck would eventually even out, and maybe it will when we go back home, but man the team looked so lost in the 1st quarter last night.

[AdamTheGreek]

Can we play a home game first before folks go into a full blown panic?

[thelead]

It’s been fun watching the media saying things like Cole and Fultz are unplayable. Maybe the FO will do something this summer

I do think we’ll play much better at home though.

[eyriq]

Over/under Orlando's 44.9% game 3 win probability?

[Skybox]

Hopefully, a learning experience for fans too...who think "all is well", we'll just contend next year after some organic internal development of our offensive skill.

You think we’re contending next year with or without moves? Looks like the learning experience is lost on you.

Yup, the idea that we are contending any time soon is wild to me.

Did I say that?

Contending's one thing. Improvement is another (that's where I am at)...then, there's a very real chance that this same unit drops in the standings, despite the promise of internal development. Lots of injuries to rivals.

Lack of competent team offense puts a very hard ceiling on this team (as constructed). Good news-that's easier to work on than our well-established team defensive intensity. You just add players that already possess the skills the team presently lacks.

[Skybox]

I think we win one tomorrow night. All season long, there were occasional outbursts of shooting and, oddly, they seemed to be team-wide. We're due!!

(I also think one W is all we get...let's go summer biz - the key to taking the next step.)

[eyriq]

You think we’re contending next year with or without moves? Looks like the learning experience is lost on you.

Yup, the idea that we are contending any time soon is wild to me.

Did I say that?

Contending's one thing. Improvement is another (that's where I am at)...then, there's a very real chance that this same unit drops in the standings, despite the promise of internal development. Lots of injuries to rivals.

Lack of competent team offense puts a very hard ceiling on this team (as constructed). Good news-that's easier to work on than our well-established team defensive intensity. You just add players that already possess the skills the team presently lacks.

Then who are you arguing with? Under no scenario will we contend next season, whether organic or inorganic

[Skybox]

Yup, the idea that we are contending any time soon is wild to me.

Did I say that?

Contending's one thing. Improvement is another (that's where I am at)...then, there's a very real chance that this same unit drops in the standings, despite the promise of internal development. Lots of injuries to rivals.

Lack of competent team offense puts a very hard ceiling on this team (as constructed). Good news-that's easier to work on than our well-established team defensive intensity. You just add players that already possess the skills the team presently lacks.

Then who are you arguing with? Under no scenario will we contend next season, whether organic or inorganic

Wow...way to take a bold provocative stance. You guys jumped on my post.

[RookieStar]

Hopefully, a learning experience for fans too...who think "all is well", we'll just contend next year after some organic internal development of our offensive skill.

You think we’re contending next year with or without moves? Looks like the learning experience is lost on you.

Yup, the idea that we are contending any time soon is wild to me.

You both are wrong. We are contending next year because we somehow someway make a trade for Jokic and Ant to complement our young core trio.


Seriously though, its the context. With proper moves, we might be contending for a top 3 seed on the EC lol

[VFX]

I think some of you might be right. The most important factor of Magic soon contending has to be on Paolo and Franz development. Paolo shot 7 for 24 the second game with 6 TOs. We can not win a game like that, plain and simple. But they both need help. But again, Paolo and Franz's growth will be the deciding factor how far can we go in the near future

It’s two things.

#1 Paolo and Franz growth and development.

#2 Roster construction. The FO, and ultimately Mosely, are asking Paolo/Franz to do things they aren’t good at yet or possibly ever.

#1 happens faster if you address #2. If not, then #1 is a slow painful process. Like watching Paolo turn the ball over 6-8 times in two playoff games.

Let me ask one last thing: Which of the two factors will ultimately decide this team's ceiling, which is to ultimately winning a championship?

The most talented teams compete for championships. Paolo and Franz hit their ceilings faster with competent supporting cast that makes their lives easier.

You aren’t a successful team without either. The goal is to build a team.

Luka Doncic hasn’t had a great supporting cast around him as a potential MVP of the league. But he’d be much less successful if he had Markelle Fultz instead of Jalen Brunson or Kyrie Irving for the first 4 years of his career.

[MasterGMer]

It’s two things.

#1 Paolo and Franz growth and development.

#2 Roster construction. The FO, and ultimately Mosely, are asking Paolo/Franz to do things they aren’t good at yet or possibly ever.

#1 happens faster if you address #2. If not, then #1 is a slow painful process. Like watching Paolo turn the ball over 6-8 times in two playoff games.

Let me ask one last thing: Which of the two factors will ultimately decide this team's ceiling, which is to ultimately winning a championship?

The most talented teams compete for championships. Paolo and Franz hit their ceilings faster with competent supporting cast that makes their lives easier.

You aren’t a successful team without either. The goal is to build a team.

Luka Doncic hasn’t had a great supporting cast around him as a potential MVP of the league. But he’d be much less successful if he had Markelle Fultz instead of Jalen Brunson or Kyrie Irving for the first 4 years of his career.

But imo I think no matter what moves you make this offseason, even signing Malik Monk or DAngelo Russell, if Franz and Paolo can not take over the game, the supporting cast won't matter. Don't forget, this is still a super star modeled league. The goal of the rebuild is to get that young super star which then build a team around him to contend. There is a first and there is a most important part. Finding the supporting cast is easy and find that super star or franchise player is extremely hard. Maybe that is why many teams are tanking to get that prize in the draft. Am I right? If Paolo and Franz are our super stars one day...

[VFX]

Let me ask one last thing: Which of the two factors will ultimately decide this team's ceiling, which is to ultimately winning a championship?

The most talented teams compete for championships. Paolo and Franz hit their ceilings faster with competent supporting cast that makes their lives easier.

You aren’t a successful team without either. The goal is to build a team.

Luka Doncic hasn’t had a great supporting cast around him as a potential MVP of the league. But he’d be much less successful if he had Markelle Fultz instead of Jalen Brunson or Kyrie Irving for the first 4 years of his career.

But imo I think no matter what moves you make this offseason, even signing Malik Monk or DAngelo Russell, if Franz and Paolo can not take over the game, the supporting cast won't matter. Don't forget, this is still a super star modeled league. The goal of the rebuild is to get that young super star which then build a team around him to contend. There is a first and there is a most important part. Finding the supporting cast is easy and find that super star or franchise player is extremely hard. Maybe that is why many teams are tanking to get that prize in the draft. Am I right? If Paolo and Franz are our super stars one day...

You are getting too bogged down with superstar names like Lebron, Chris Paul, etc. you always talk about the top 25 players like they are even available. Jokic, Luka, Giannis, etc (the teams that drafted them) aren’t winning anything if their teams don’t continually build around them. Stop being a Twitter casual acting like players don’t develop and the only players worth watching are 10 guys that came out of nowhere.

In reality the FO is tasked with building a roster that plays efficient basketball. They are banking on Franz and Paolo being the cornerstones of this franchise. There is no alternative until they move one of them, which they aren’t.

You say it’s “super easy” to find a supporting cast, yet this FO hasn’t even started doing that yet in Franz’ third season and Paolo’s second. Tanking gets you Wemby or Edwards, etc. but you don’t go anywhere with 1 guy and a team of D level players that don’t compliment their games.

Orlando has their core. We are done tanking. Therefore the next step is acquiring 2 other starters that help them grow while winning games. Not doubling/tripling down on guys that happened to be here beforehand because it’s convenient.

[thelead]

There is no doubt that Paolo and Franz need to develop into legit stars for us to be a contender one day. And one of them needs to become, at the very least, a top 10 NBA talent if not top 5. There is no way around that. I'm terrified that Franz won't have the opportunity to get there due to his national team commitments... but the tools are there.

Paolo talks the talk about being great so we just have to hope he puts in the work to be much more efficient than he has been in his first two years. He went from 52.9 TS% to 54.6. That's not close to good enough. He needs to get to, at least, 57% next year. A lot of that comes down to 3 areas:
1. Finishing bunnies
2. FT shooting
3. 3pt shooting

A small uptick in all 3 would make a big overall difference.

All in all, I'm not worried about them or Suggs.

The FO needs to focus on building the right team around them.

[MasterGMer]

The most talented teams compete for championships. Paolo and Franz hit their ceilings faster with competent supporting cast that makes their lives easier.

You aren’t a successful team without either. The goal is to build a team.

Luka Doncic hasn’t had a great supporting cast around him as a potential MVP of the league. But he’d be much less successful if he had Markelle Fultz instead of Jalen Brunson or Kyrie Irving for the first 4 years of his career.

But imo I think no matter what moves you make this offseason, even signing Malik Monk or DAngelo Russell, if Franz and Paolo can not take over the game, the supporting cast won't matter. Don't forget, this is still a super star modeled league. The goal of the rebuild is to get that young super star which then build a team around him to contend. There is a first and there is a most important part. Finding the supporting cast is easy and find that super star or franchise player is extremely hard. Maybe that is why many teams are tanking to get that prize in the draft. Am I right? If Paolo and Franz are our super stars one day...

You are getting too bogged down with superstar names like Lebron, Chris Paul, etc. you always talk about the top 25 players like they are even available. Jokic, Luka, Giannis, etc (the teams that drafted them) aren’t winning anything if their teams don’t continually build around them. Stop being a Twitter casual acting like players don’t develop and the only players worth watching are 10 guys that came out of nowhere.

In reality the FO is tasked with building a roster that plays efficient basketball. They are banking on Franz and Paolo being the cornerstones of this franchise. There is no alternative until they move one of them, which they aren’t.

You say it’s “super easy” to find a supporting cast, yet this FO hasn’t even started doing that yet in Franz’ third season and Paolo’s second. Tanking gets you Wemby or Edwards, etc. but you don’t go anywhere with 1 guy and a team of D level players that don’t compliment their games.

Orlando has their core. We are done tanking. Therefore the next step is acquiring 2 other starters that help them grow while winning games. Not doubling/tripling down on guys that happened to be here beforehand because it’s convenient.

Do you have a road map how we going to get it done? That is my most concerning question