2023-2024 Regular Season Game 8: Atlanta Hawks (4-3) vs. Orlando Magic (4-3) in Mexico City - 9:30pm

[ChosenSavior]

Not to dunk on Fultz, but he needed to plant his ass at the 3 point line during that last play. He just randomly moves to the elbow and sits there and gives Wagner zero room to go anywhere. Paolo's shot was open but got tipped so was less open than I thought.

I also think Fultz botched the help on the Murray game winning 3PT given the score.

Trae drove right past Paolo on the switch. Isaac rotated over perfectly, but Fultz IMO crashed down way too hard on Capela leaving Murray wide open in the corner.

If Fultz doesn't crash down, maybe Young dumps it off to Capela for a short shot, but that would have just tied the game.

I know guys are taught to crash down, but the score should have impacted the rotation IMO.

100% botched it. Like you said, Isaac rotated on time and defended the pass as good as you can there. Fultz being the weak side defender has to trust Isaac has Trae locked up there and not allow him to have a passing lane to the corner to a capable shooter.

[ogmagicfan]

Paolo needs to go back to the basket a lot more. He's pretty good at it. These face up drives are 50/50. He either gets a layup or turns it over.

Definitely liked him in the non fultz games as the primary creator. AB did nothing that a PG would normally do. Paolo did everything, and he looked good doing it. I don't think that would be good every game, in fact it will cost us games. But I think its best in the end. This offense by committee just seems disorganized. No one knows whats going on half the time.

That said we still scored 119 lol. That was plenty of points to win. The defense just wasn't there even though Suggs was his normal self. Giving 120 to Denver makes sense, but not Atlanta.

It's hard at the end of games with Fultz zigzagging on the baseline, the paint is badly packed.

There definitely needs to be a pecking order established

[ORLMagicGirl15]

just wondering if Jett is going to get anything but garbage time minutes for this team. We're not the GSW. We're not good enough to bury lotto picks this badly.

This is what i'm saying.....i asked that same question a while ago and got pushback....are we too good to play our lotto picks? someone replied to me, yes....are we?

We can’t shoot 3s, he is known to be a good 3 point shooter. Not sure what the problem is playing him. He can’t play defense? Cool, he and Cole can’t be that far apart in that department.

[Optimus_Steel]

Not to dunk on Fultz, but he needed to plant his ass at the 3 point line during that last play. He just randomly moves to the elbow and sits there and gives Wagner zero room to go anywhere. Paolo's shot was open but got tipped so was less open than I thought.

I also think Fultz botched the help on the Murray game winning 3PT given the score.

Trae drove right past Paolo on the switch. Isaac rotated over perfectly, but Fultz IMO crashed down way too hard on Capela leaving Murray wide open in the corner.

If Fultz doesn't crash down, maybe Young dumps it off to Capela for a short shot, but that would have just tied the game.

I know guys are taught to crash down, but the score should have impacted the rotation IMO.

100% botched it. Like you said, Isaac rotated on time and defended the pass as good as you can there. Fultz being the weak side defender has to trust Isaac has Trae locked up there and not allow him to have a passing lane to the corner to a capable shooter.

It's been plainly obvious on his play this year that Fultz awareness is severely lacking.

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[VFX]

Maybe some of these posters are right. We just need to out-talent everyone to win. Who cares if it makes sense on the floor or not.

The problem is that it seems we have no consistently reliable offensive player so far this season. Most teams can just put it in their star's hands and let him make a shot or create for others, i.e. Doncic or even Brunson or something, which is what we're trying to do with Paolo. That dependable guy for us was Franz last year and he's on a milk carton so far this year.

Suggs was great, but the fact that a guy who is shooting 36% this year and under 40% for his career should be the go-to scorer down the stretch of this game is an actual issue. The other team is also very aware of him shooting well this game. We can put it in Suggs hands and give him carte blanche but I think just scheming an open three for him is way harder than people assume.

Yeah that’s kinda what I’m hinting at. I know people are going to defend Mosely here because the players have to show up. The problem is that when you don’t have that “go-to” guy on the floor you have to draw stuff up sometimes. You have to have rehearsed plays that are good looks in these close out situations. The last 4 possessions were anything but that. It is just blatantly obvious they are just reacting on offense. Yeah, they need to hit open shots, but that can’t be Orlando’s best look.

The personnel on the floor is the other issue. Guys are just standing around and mucking up floor space because they have no business doing anything else without the ball.

[Knightro]

Rushing the ball up the court and giving it to Paolo doing a freight train impression isn’t necessarily “running a play”.

It's not necessarily a play in the respect that all five guys aren't moving and cutting, but it's still a pretty common two-man action around the league.

The Magic are 6th in the NBA in handoffs per game too, so it's something they run a reasonable amount.

[Audi]

Can’t wait to see who the next whipping boy becomes once Fultz is gone.

[thelead]

You know what... Fultz would do wonders for the Bulls. No BS. That is exactly the team we should be talking to about Fultz. Reunite him with a pick and pop big and with primetime scorers around him. I really only like Caruso from the bulls but he'd just clog more up. Still, I'd think about a deal centered around those two if possible.

[VFX]

I’ll add a disclaimer: I like what Mosely has done from a defense and culture perspective. He’s gotten guys to buy in and care. That’s definitely important.

However, at some level you have to look at losses like this one and see that either the FO isn’t doing their job with the roster or that Mosely isn’t capable of drawing up offense. It’s one of the two.

[Bensational]

Can’t wait to see who the next whipping boy becomes once Fultz is gone.

It’ll be Suggs. It’s already started.

But TBF, even I can see that where Fultz was a stabiliser to close games last year, now he seems to be holding back Paolo and Franz from learning lessons they will eventually need to learn.

[Knightro]

Yeah that’s kinda what I’m hinting at. I know people are going to defend Mosely here because the players have to show up. The problem is that when you don’t have that “go-to” guy on the floor you have to draw stuff up sometimes. You have to have rehearsed plays that are good looks in these close out situations. The last 4 possessions were anything but that. It is just blatantly obvious they are just reacting on offense. Yeah, they need to hit open shots, but that can’t be Orlando’s best look.

The personnel on the floor is the other issue. Guys are just standing around and mucking up floor space because they have no business doing anything else without the ball.

I mean it was clear as day what they were after since they went to it on 3 of the final 4 possessions.

They were hunting Capela on the switch. They felt it was an advantageous matchup to get Paolo and Franz in that isolation and went to it repeatedly.

Paolo got that switch and kicked it to Isaac instead of Suggs, but both guys were wide open. Paolo unfortunately just picked the lesser of the two shooters and JI bricked.

Franz got that switch next time down and he drove and scored.

Franz got that switch again on the last possession and he drove, drew help and kicked it out to another wide open guy and Paolo just bricked.

They got exactly what they were looking for multiple times down the stretch. The action worked. They just missed wide open shots.

If they call a timeout and get Isaac and Fultz off the floor for better offensive players, the Hawks will just take Capela off the floor and there's no more Franz/Paolo mismatch switch there.

[VFX]

Can’t wait to see who the next whipping boy becomes once Fultz is gone.

You know it’s Suggs.

He can have 7 steals and go 4/5 from 3 and in two games people will make threads talking about why he isn’t a shooting guard that shoots.

[Bensational]

Goga was +7 and Ingles was +27 even though neither had a stat line that was very good. But I think that’s because they compliment guys well.

But Goga couldn’t be in the game to close because he doesn’t stretch the floor, so we went with Isaac (who played great and deserved to be out there).

Ingles and Goga probably should’ve closed this game with Paolo, Franz and Suggs. IMO.

[Knightro]

I’ll add a disclaimer: I like what Mosely has done from a defense and culture perspective. He’s gotten guys to buy in and care. That’s definitely important.

However, at some level you have to look at losses like this one and see that either the FO isn’t doing their job with the roster or that Mosely isn’t capable of drawing up offense. It’s one of the two.

It's this a lot more than it is the action they're running down the stretch.

The Magic have like three good shooters on the entire roster. One of them is out injured and two of them are young kids from Michigan who are both absolutely buried on the bench.

[thelead]

Can’t wait to see who the next whipping boy becomes once Fultz is gone.

It’ll be Suggs. It’s already started.

But TBF, even I can see that where Fultz was a stabiliser to close games last year, now he seems to be holding back Paolo and Franz from learning lessons they will eventually need to learn.

100% Suggs if he's starting but shooting under 33% from deep... but if I'm being honest, I'll take him shooting 43/33/75 without question. With his defense, there is no way that he would be a net negative with those shooting splits.

[Optimus_Steel]

We are not going to become 3pt masters this year but dammit we need to curb down the careless turnovers and missed free throws. It's hard enough to overcome the 3pt deficiency, then adding high turnovers and missed free throws are recipes for losses as they compound in late game situations.

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[KillMonger]

Someone have some quick thoughts on fultz overall?.....i'm feeling kinda strange about him and i need to hear another point of view

[Optimus_Steel]

I’ll add a disclaimer: I like what Mosely has done from a defense and culture perspective. He’s gotten guys to buy in and care. That’s definitely important.

However, at some level you have to look at losses like this one and see that either the FO isn’t doing their job with the roster or that Mosely isn’t capable of drawing up offense. It’s one of the two.

It's this a lot more than it is the action they're running down the stretch.

The Magic have like three good shooters on the entire roster. One of them is out injured and two of them are young kids from Michigan who are both absolutely buried on the bench.

That's my point, we have no shooting, multiple Hawks players were sagging off their assignments ready to converge on whoever attempts to make a play. We are giving Paolo and Franz no room to maneuver. This is a front office situation that they have not rectified, yet...

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[Nyce_1]

just wondering if Jett is going to get anything but garbage time minutes for this team. We're not the GSW. We're not good enough to bury lotto picks this badly.

Can't play 2 rookies and still play to win and develop other young players. The rooks will make mistakes. I think the plan is to develop 1 at a time. Once AB is set in his role, they'll get Jett on the floor.

[VFX]

Someone have some quick thoughts on fultz overall?.....i'm feeling kinda strange about him and i need to hear another point of view

He made some good plays inside for us tonight. I loved seeing him get a +1 and get to the line for once.

The pairing with Paolo/Franz is just so bad. I’ve been crying about it for a while now. I don’t think he works well with them and the more I watch with multi guard lineups including him the more I dislike the fit in total.