Preseason Game 2: Orlando Magic (1-0) at Detroit Pistons (0-0)

[Xatticus]

I hope the Detroit announcer got a reality check after this game. He was talking like they had just acquired Isaiah Thomas and Joe Dumars before the game hahaha.

George Blaha has been a staple and massive Pistons homer since the early 80's and he looked old back then as well. He gushes over all the Pistons players and is in all team photos since the early days. Probably the biggest team homer in the NBA.

Tommy heinsohn begs to differ.

[NBlue]

So JI had a relatively quiet nite and put up a 16-7-5 line with 2 steals and a block AND had several other defensive possessions where he forced terrible shots. Dude is a serious, serious weapon. I'm so excited to watch him and AG this year.

[Xatticus]

My takes on the game...

Gordon looks amazing.

Isaac looks much improved as well. He has so much more confidence at the offensive end. I don't care what he weighs, he is obviously stronger.

Bamba looks better as well. He is still struggling defensively, but he was so bad last year that this is progress. He still needs to move his feet more and reach less, but he should be able to continue his development without killing us.

Vucevic struggled, but I'm making nothing of it. Drummond pushes him all over the floor every time they match up. Drummond is just too physical for him.

Fultz struggled, but the flashes are there. He rewards his cutters. It's going to take him some time to build a pick-and-roll rapport with Vucevic and Bamba. He looks a lot like Payton right now, but the upside is higher. Fultz doesn't really understand the offense yet. He will look so much better when he understands where his teammates are going to be.

The game plan was interesting. It seemed as though Clifford was intent on exploiting size mismatches in the post. We will see if that carries over into the regular season, but the results were pretty good in this game.

[Kabookalu]

Raptors fan here, you and Philly are the two teams I'm most intrigued about going into the season because I have this dark desire to see teams go big again and punish all the franchises that went small as a result of the Warriors. I've been expecting Gordon to break out into an all star for the past couple of years, sort of gave up on that idea permanently last season, but performances like that pulls me back in. The smoothness of his shot and its trajectory always reminds me of Kawhi, they always look like they're going in. Would love to see him put it all together.

I'm pulling for Bamba to fulfill his potential. In college he showed flashes of being able to switch onto smaller guards and keep up with them. Based on comments I'm seeing here it's looking rough, but if he starts scratching his ceiling that's a scary ass frontline to deal with. 6'9 Gordon, 6'11 Isaac, and 7'1 Bamba, all extremely mobile big guys that can all switch and hedge.

[NothingButMagic]

Fultz does not want to shoot... not a good sign.

He's shot plenty and made some. He doesn't need to be a knock down shooter.

He needs to shoot 35% from 3, minimum, otherwise he will get the Rondo treatment on defense in big games and will be unplayable in the playoffs. Thats the reality. Hes got 6 months to try get there.

Rondo won a title.

[tiderulz]

Raptors fan here, you and Philly are the two teams I'm most intrigued about going into the season because I have this dark desire to see teams go big again and punish all the franchises that went small as a result of the Warriors. I've been expecting Gordon to break out into an all star for the past couple of years, sort of gave up on that idea permanently last season, but performances like that pulls me back in. The smoothness of his shot and its trajectory always reminds me of Kawhi, they always look like they're going in. Would love to see him put it all together.

I'm pulling for Bamba to fulfill his potential. In college he showed flashes of being able to switch onto smaller guards and keep up with them. Based on comments I'm seeing here it's looking rough, but if he starts scratching his ceiling that's a scary ass frontline to deal with. 6'9 Gordon, 6'11 Isaac, and 7'1 Bamba, all extremely mobile big guys that can all switch and hedge.

thanks for the good thoughts. People forget how young and raw Gordon was coming into the league and having like 6 coaches his first 5 years, none really, really known for player development didnt help him either. he may just be the outlying late bloomer.

[UCFJayBird]

I didn't get to watch the game against the Spurs, but I made it back from a vacation last night just in time to catch this one. Based on what I saw, it's hard not to get excited about this season.

-Gordon looked great outside a few turnovers when he got a little caried away dribbling (showed a lot of frustration with himself for it). He looks like he might take that step we've been waiting for. However a season or two ago he came out red hot from 3-point land and then cooled off after a month so we need to wait and see if he can be more consistent.

-Isaac looks like a beast when he wants to. My question is if he's going to defer to his teammates too much.

-Fultz looks really good. A bit rusty sure, but you can already see his ability to impact a game by getting into the lane and finding his teammates. His shot looked steady last night, though I don't recall seeing any free throws to really gauge it well. The 3 he took wasn't very good but it was just one. He makes things REALLY exciting if he's already healthy and ready to contribute.

-Bamba looked good on offense, though he was jacking more threes than I would prefer, lol. But he was grabbing boards. His defense is still shaky and I wish he would RUN up the floor more often than that slow jog he takes. Sometimes I felt like I saw him realize h was doing it and I think he's trying to play with more hustle but that's a tough habit to break.

Rest of the team looked good. Didn't see much out of Fournier and Vooch but we know what we're getting with them. Ross looks like he will keep up that human torch ability.

[EAS Law]

The thing that hit me was that I was so much focused on Gordon Bamba Fultz Isaac improvements , I forgot that we had also Evan and Vucevic . No joke.

It will be nice (and refreshing) to not have to rely on those two every night for offense.

Vuc for sure, but I would like to be able to rely on Fournier period... he's playing as spotty as he did last year offensively, but hopefully in the regular season he'll have some more balanced scoring quarters.

I’d like to see Fournier play how we’ve seen him play in the past. If we could rely on him to be that guy, we’d really have a chance to do something this season. The patience is paying off it would seem. We have at least a respectable team.

[Furinkazan]

Markelle so open and so affraid to shoot 3s :/and no wonder as he bricks worse than I do but at least he is alive and hopefully will continiue to develop that new shot.
I agree He looks like Payton atm.

[drsd]

Bringins up same roster and having success thing ( continuity) is kind a vague area of nba and egg and chicken question.

Respectfully, my point is that given continuity of the Magic roster we should expect the Magic to play well in the pre-season.

AND: this has NOTHING to do with the regular season. The two blow out wins need to be taken with a truck-load of salt. That was I (badly) was trying to convey.


..

[pepe1991]

Bringins up same roster and having success thing ( continuity) is kind a vague area of nba and egg and chicken question.

Respectfully, my point is that given continuity of the Magic roster we should expect the Magic to play well in the pre-season.

AND: this has NOTHING to do with the regular season. The two blow out wins need to be taken with a truck-load of salt. That was I (badly) was trying to convey.


..

Fair !

[Last Guardian]

This Christian wood guy looks tall and athletic as hell

I don't know why people are shocked by his performance. The guy is really active and his per 36 stats are really good. He had a strong finish last season for New Orleans and he doesn't foul much. If he ever gets some consistent burn, he will post good counting stats.

How is he not already a rotation player somewhere?

[PrimeThyme]

Markelle so open and so affraid to shoot 3s :/and no wonder as he bricks worse than I do but at least he is alive and hopefully will continiue to develop that new shot.
I agree He looks like Payton atm.

Payton's biggest problem on this team was consistency. I mean it didn't help that he wasn't a good shooter either but I really don't think that was his number one downfall here. There would be nights when he was attacking the basket, playmaking, and giving maximum effort on defense where he was the best player on the floor. He just couldn't consistently give us those types of performances. That's what led a lot of posters here to question his motor and killer mentality that the majority of great scorers in this league have.

So I really don't think its an insult to say Fultz looks like Payton atm. I think Fultz has the ability to consistently give us those kinds of performances, and I think his finishing around the rim and his midrange game should be better right off the bat.

I'm convinced he can still be a huge piece for this team even without an above-average 3pt shot.

[Hoopslife]

I feel like Fultz is much better at staying in the paint and drawing defenders with his threat to score than Payton was. If Payton was in the paint it was a line drive to score a layup or to pass it to a three point shooter. Fultz kind of just hangs out in the paint and either shoots a turn around J or draws two defenders and hits the open man.

[Magic_Johnny12]

Do you think Russell and Fultz could coexist next to each other?

Also who would you rather have next to Fultz, Russell or Beal?

[Xatticus]

This Christian wood guy looks tall and athletic as hell

I don't know why people are shocked by his performance. The guy is really active and his per 36 stats are really good. He had a strong finish last season for New Orleans and he doesn't foul much. If he ever gets some consistent burn, he will post good counting stats.

How is he not already a rotation player somewhere?

I don't know. I haven't watched him much, but he put up an impressive stat line in eight games with New Orleans last year. His path towards playing time was always going to take some time given that he went undrafted.

It might just be that he isn't very good. Just because someone fills up a box score doesn't mean that they are actually good. I wouldn't necessarily say that his limited opportunities are an indictment of his ability though. Playing time in the NBA really isn't a meritocracy, even though that is a basic assumption that many people make.

Wood has averaged 19.2 points per 36 minutes and 10.7 rebounds per 36 minutes thus far in his career. He averaged 25.7 points and 12.0 rebounds per 36 minutes in those 8 games with New Orleans last year.

For some context (per 36 career stat lines):
Nikola Vucevic - 18.8 points and 12.2 rebounds
Marreese Speights - 18.9 points and 9.7 rebounds
Thomas Bryant - 17.9 points and 10.8 rebounds

It's not actually that difficult to find players that put up comparable stat lines per 36 minutes. The vast majority of centers would average roughly 10 rebounds per game if they were given the minutes to do so, but many of them have foul rates that preclude large roles. Christian Wood doesn't have that problem. He isn't going to take minutes away from Drummond, so he will have to compete with Maker for a reserve role. If he somehow found himself playing 30 minutes a night, I think he would make his fantasy owners very happy.

[BadMofoPimp]

I don't know why people are shocked by his performance. The guy is really active and his per 36 stats are really good. He had a strong finish last season for New Orleans and he doesn't foul much. If he ever gets some consistent burn, he will post good counting stats.

How is he not already a rotation player somewhere?

I don't know. I haven't watched him much, but he put up an impressive stat line in eight games with New Orleans last year. His path towards playing time was always going to take some time given that he went undrafted.

It might just be that he isn't very good. Just because someone fills up a box score doesn't mean that they are actually good. I wouldn't necessarily say that his limited opportunities are an indictment of his ability though. Playing time in the NBA really isn't a meritocracy, even though that is a basic assumption that many people make.

Wood has averaged 19.2 points per game and 10.7 rebounds per game per 36 minutes thus far in his career. He averaged 25.7 points and 12.0 rebounds per 36 minutes in those 8 games with New Orleans last year.

For some context (per 36 career stat lines):
Nikola Vucevic - 18.8 points and 12.2 rebounds
Marreese Speights - 18.9 points and 9.7 rebounds
Thomas Bryant - 17.9 points and 10.8 rebounds

It's not actually that difficult to find players that put up comparable stat lines per 36 minutes. The vast majority of centers would average roughly 10 rebounds per game if they were given the minutes to do so, but many of them have foul rates that preclude large roles. Christian Wood doesn't have that problem. He isn't going to take minutes away from Drummond, so he will have to compete with Maker for a reserve role. If he somehow found himself playing 30 minutes a night, I think he would make his fantasy owners very happy.

Some players put up good stats playing against other teams scrubs 10mpg. Does that mean that they would do the same against legit starters all while helping their team win given more minutes? All this even though I like Woods as a player to go against other teams scrubs.

[Nyce_1]

isaac's defense got me believing in god

Hahaha