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Hopefully this new veteran leadership guides us to a second straight victory.

We need a resergence tonight.

Starting 5 remains:

Payton
Fournier
Green
Ibaka
Vucevic

I'm getting tired of AG being benched by coaches due to the 'win-now' mandate.

thelead wrote:I'm getting tired of AG being benched by coaches due to the 'win-now' mandate.

Especially when it does nothing to help us win.

Def Swami wrote:

thelead wrote:I'm getting tired of AG being benched by coaches due to the 'win-now' mandate.

Especially when it does nothing to help us win.

That's the infuriating part of it.

The OKC Thunder IR:
- Cameron Payne (foot) is out indefinitely

The Orlando Magic IR:
- Jodie Meeks (foot) is out indefinitely

Mario dnp

Def Swami wrote:

thelead wrote:I'm getting tired of AG being benched by coaches due to the 'win-now' mandate.

Especially when it does nothing to help us win.

Nothing at all. He's our best defender. Really surprised to see him still benched. Smh

thelead wrote:

Def Swami wrote:

thelead wrote:I'm getting tired of AG being benched by coaches due to the 'win-now' mandate.

Especially when it does nothing to help us win.

That's the infuriating part of it.

I actually don't mind it. As long as AG gets minutes, it doesn't matter to me if he starts or not because Vogel is giving him the right opportunities. The 2nd unit it actually better for him because he becomes more of a focus, and DJ and Biyombo work better with him. He doesn't have to share the ball with Ibaka/Vuc/Fournier, he gets proper screens and picks set for him, Rudez doesn't crowd the paint so he gets more freedom to work on his drives, and DJ seems very supportive of him. It's actually probably the best situation for him right now.

The starting unit will continue to be a problem as long as Vogel refuses to do anything about the Ibaka/Vuc spacing situation. For all the talk of those guys being 'spacers', they're ruining the space for everyone else on the court right now. It can be fixed, but it will require Ibaka to give up on 'trying to be the man'.

It's up to Gordon to get his usage rate up into the mid 20s and the 2nd unit is where that's going to happen. You're not going to be a star unless you take shots. He's got to do it, rip that bandaid off. Coaching staff need to dedicate themselves to getting him shots.

Ibaka will earn some patience from magic fans if he shows up against his former team with 14+ rebounds and 3+ blocks. He'll have to not crap the bed on offense, too.

Personally, I think we need to reverse the roles that Vuc and Ibaka play on offense. At the moment, we have been putting Ibaka down low and Vucevic at the high post, with the hope that Vuc can utilise his passing game and also hit the jumper from the elbow if he wants to. The issue I have with that is it clogs the lane too much. People are willing to give Vucevic that midrange jumpshot because hes only hitting it at about 43%, which isn't efficient at all. My preference is that we reverse it, with Vucevic down low where he can score closer to the basket with his finesse (his best skillset), and then use Ibaka as a stretch 4 in the corner (the Rashard Lewis role). That will create better spacing, and mean we have more room for guards to create. Vuc can come up high, set a pick, and then the guard have a clear lane to get into off the dribble or hit Ibaka in the corner/Vuc on the roll or pop.

Sofar this season, Ibaka has not hit or even taken a single corner three which is ridiculous.

Thoughts?

the Westbrook/Adams PnR is going to kill us tonight. I've got a feeling Ibaka takes Adams and Vuc takes Sabonis to try and minimise the damage.

Oladipo will likely beat up Fournier, too.

Def Swami wrote:

thelead wrote:I'm getting tired of AG being benched by coaches due to the 'win-now' mandate.

Especially when it does nothing to help us win.

How dare you guys? Did you already forget all those playoff runs we've had over the last few years cause of our vets?

We're doing great this season as well. We can't risk anything cause if we play our lottery picks and actually give them freedom things might go really bad. If we do that there's a slight chance we win 28 games instead of 30 this season. Definitely not worth the risk. This season is huge for us.

Jeff Green is the answer to our prayers, trust me. We're going for that chip baby!!!!!

shadrock wrote:Personally, I think we need to reverse the roles that Vuc and Ibaka play on offense. At the moment, we have been putting Ibaka down low and Vucevic at the high post, with the hope that Vuc can utilise his passing game and also hit the jumper from the elbow if he wants to. The issue I have with that is it clogs the lane too much. People are willing to give Vucevic that midrange jumpshot because hes only hitting it at about 43%, which isn't efficient at all. My preference is that we reverse it, with Vucevic down low where he can score closer to the basket with his finesse (his best skillset), and then use Ibaka as a stretch 4 in the corner (the Rashard Lewis role). That will create better spacing, and mean we have more room for guards to create. Vuc can come up high, set a pick, and then the guard have a clear lane to get into off the dribble or hit Ibaka in the corner/Vuc on the roll or pop.

Sofar this season, Ibaka has not hit or even taken a single corner three which is ridiculous.

Thoughts?

This is what I've been wanting since the first couple of games into the season. But the coaches seem to believe that Ibaka has another gear he can get to as a scorer/post scorer, so they're giving him that chance right now.

Ibaka is shooting the 3 ball well, so he should continue with that. I'd like to see him taking 4-5 3's a game.

Vuc in the paint puts him in a higher % position, plus he's much MUCH better at passing out of the post and creating opportunities that way.

Ibaka vs Dipo. Who will get the better?

Let's Go Magic!

Lets go magic! Tough match up but need this win to rebuild some confidence

Could any 2 teams be mirrors of each other?

2 PG's who you don't want shooting
SG Battle: Driver vs. Shooter
Inconsistent Offensive SFs.
PF Showdown: Aging vet vs. Learning Rookie
Defensive C and Post-up C(with the starting roles reversed on both sides)

I'm waiting for the play when Serge switches on to Vic, lets him blow by for an uncontested layup in which Dipo misses. I'll be the single most defining play of the trade.