Who's our best player

[basketballRob]

I think it's clear that the day has come where Isaac is now our best player.

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[tiderulz]

I think it's clear that the day has come where Isaac is now our best player.

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it may come some day, it isnt now

[Knightro]

Vucevic is the best overall player right now and it's still not really close.

And this is coming from someone who loves Isaac.

Expectations matter A LOT at this point. Vucevic has the 100M contract and is coming off an all-star appearance, so his expectation level is naturally going to be significantly higher than Isaac's to the fan base.

Case in point - Vucevic in the Magic's last game had 21 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and was +24 in a game Orlando won by 12 and he only got 25% of the Sweater Vest vote.

If Isaac put up those same numbers in a win, this board would be falling over itself pegging him the next NBA superstar.

But expectations matter.

Isaac is 22 years old, not 29 like Vuc.

Isaac also makes like 6M, not almost 30M per year like Vuc.

His expectation level is just much lower than Vucevic's right now, so it takes a lot less for him to exceed it.

[J-Mezzy]

Given our limitations offensively, Vuc is our most important player.

JI's value keeps growing each game though. He might surpass him sometime this season

[zaymon]

Obviously our best player is Vucevic. Isaac propably is our best defender, but i dont see him being more than a role player offensively. Fultz has the highest potential as a two way player but he has the most to prove.

[basketballRob]

Vucevic is the best overall player right now and it's still not really close.

And this is coming from someone who loves Isaac.

Expectations matter A LOT at this point. Vucevic has the 100M contract and is coming off an all-star appearance, so his expectation level is naturally going to be significantly higher than Isaac's to the fan base.

Case in point - Vucevic in the Magic's last game had 21 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and was +24 in a game Orlando won by 12 and he only got 25% of the Sweater Vest vote.

If Isaac put up those same numbers in a win, this board would be falling over itself pegging him the next NBA superstar.

But expectations matter.

Isaac is 22 years old, not 29 like Vuc.

Isaac also makes like 6M, not almost 30M per year like Vuc.

His expectation level is just much lower than Vucevic's right now, so it takes a lot less for him to exceed it.

You're posting raw stats where Vuc gets nearly double the usage that Isaac does on offense, so he should have nearly double the stats. Based on these first 4 games not sure anyone can argue that Isaac hasn't been the best player.

[NBlue]

So this is an interesting discussion. On the defensive end -- there is no question. JI is our vest defender and the best defender the Magic have had since prime D12.

The offensive end is an interesting debate. Through the exceptionally limited sample size of 4 games JI is shooting 42% from 3 with an efg of 60% and a PER of 20.5. Vooch has struggled a bit to start the season so I'll use his higher career averages of 33% from 3, 51% efg and 20.3 PER.

I guess the question is -- do you think what we have seen from JI on the offensive end is essentially what we will see going forward this season. If so, I think its really hard to state that Vooch is clearly the better player. He is not, clearly, on D and JI's offensive stats cannot be ignored so far this year. That said, JI has not had to typically deal with the defense focusing on stopping him whereas Vooch has had to deal with a lot of that -- so that is an additional hurdle that JI will likely need to overcome.

My answer -- I think its close but I voted for JI. I think it would actually hurt our team to lose Vooch more because in Aminu and AG we have players who can emulate at a near close level what JI does but, overall, JI is the best player on our team. I would not have said that last year -- but I think he is now and for the future.

[Knightro]

You're posting raw stats where Vuc gets nearly double the usage that Isaac does on offense, so he should have nearly double the stats. Based on these first 4 games not sure anyone can argue that Isaac hasn't been the best player.

Citing a 4-game sample size as some sort of statement of fact for *anything* (positive or negative) is far more unfair/dangerous argument than me pointing out how and why expectations matter.

My point is that even though it's a *great* stat line, Vucevic putting up 21-13-4-1-1 doesn't even register for most people anymore because that's what they expect him to do based off his contract and last season.

[NBlue]

Case in point - Vucevic in the Magic's last game had 21 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and was +24 in a game Orlando won by 12 and he only got 25% of the Sweater Vest vote.

That was by far Vooch's best game of the year. But you fail to note JI's stats from that same game. JI was actually a +28 (leading the team), shot a higher percentage than Vooch, had 3 blocks and also had 4 assists. Sure, the counting stats will show you that Vooch scored 21 points whereas JI only scored 10 but Vooch also put up 17 shots -- JI got up 6. This is not to say that JI is clearly better than Vooch as a result of that or any other game but I don't think that game (Vooch's best so far and hopeful for many more just like it) speaks clearly to the fact that JI is having a very important impact on the game as well.

[basketballRob]

I think Vuc has taken a step back now that players have been focusing more on him since his allstar appearance.

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[tiderulz]

So this is an interesting discussion. On the defensive end -- there is no question. JI is our vest defender and the best defender the Magic have had since prime D12.

The offensive end is an interesting debate. Through the exceptionally limited sample size of 4 games JI is shooting 42% from 3 with an efg of 60% and a PER of 20.5. Vooch has struggled a bit to start the season so I'll use his higher career averages of 33% from 3, 51% efg and 20.3 PER.

I guess the question is -- do you think what we have seen from JI on the offensive end is essentially what we will see going forward this season. If so, I think its really hard to state that Vooch is clearly the better player. He is not, clearly, on D and JI's offensive stats cannot be ignored so far this year. That said, JI has not had to typically deal with the defense focusing on stopping him whereas Vooch has had to deal with a lot of that -- so that is an additional hurdle that JI will likely need to overcome.

My answer -- I think its close but I voted for JI. I think it would actually hurt our team to lose Vooch more because in Aminu and AG we have players who can emulate at a near close level what JI does but, overall, JI is the best player on our team. I would not have said that last year -- but I think he is now and for the future.

his 3pt % this year benefits from 1 game of 5-7. He went 0-5 in 3 other games. so as you mentioned, very limited sample size.

[GelbeWand09]

JI is my favorite player on the team, since his 1st game, but i go with Vuc. You can make a good case, that JI was our best player so far, but i think his off. efficiency stats gonna go down. I still don't trust his 3Pt shot at all & this is the only shot he gets in our offense on a regular basis. His defense is top 5 in the leaque & his versatility there almost unique, but he still got ways to go on offense.
Vuc is our offense & he is our 2nd or 3rd best defender (at least statistically) & passer.

[tiderulz]

I think Vuc has taken a step back now that players have been focusing more on him since his allstar appearance.

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except Vuc has been the engine on the team for a few years. They didnt just start focusing on him last year, he got the focus previously too.

[NBlue]

JI is my favorite player on the team, since his 1st game, but i go with Vuc. You can make a good case, that JI was our best player so far, but i think his off. efficiency stats gonna go down. I still don't trust his 3Pt shot at all & this is the only shot he gets in our offense on a regular basis. His defense is top 5 in the leaque & his versatility there almost unique, but he still got ways to go on offense.
Vuc is our offense & he is our 2nd or 3rd best defender (at least statistically) & passer.

I think this is a very fair argument to be made for Vooch. I think the one thing that we also need to keep in mind is that Vooch did have an exceptionally good season last year relative to his career. Was that an outlier or merely the combination of a player finding his groove with a good coach that will continue? I dunno. Hopefully, the latter. Likewise, is JI's play early on the offensive end going to continue or is this just a statistical anomaly based on a 4 game sample size -- we shall see.

[drsd]

Vucevic is the best overall player right now and it's still not really close.

And this is coming from someone who loves Isaac.

Isaac's team leading PER looks nice, but I agree Vučević simply does more for Orlando.

I will add a third name: Fournier. He has played to a higher level than last year and is currently one of the better SGs in the Eastern conference.

Once Gordon gets his act together, I will be happy with all five starters.

..

[JF5]

ITs still Vucevic...

[MagicStarwipe]

It's currently Vucevic. That's why our teams ceiling is so low and also why we're hoping someone else can step up hopefully soon. To me Fultz looks like the most special talent currently on the team. We'll see if it all comes together for him.

[PrimeThyme]

We know the answer && with how we've chosen to develop Isaac offensively I'm not sure when/if that will change either. Hard for a player to grow offensively when he gets zero plays run for him and is the 5th option on a middling half-court offense.

[VFX]

Isaac is our best defender and piece moving forward. His value is also way higher than Vucevic. He’s just not reliable offensively.

Vucevic is still our “best” player because this organization refuses to acquire and run a different offense not entirely built around him. Vucevic being Orlando’s best player makes this team’s ceiling extremely low.

So yeah, we can claim Vuc as the “best” player after coming off an allstar year. However, he’d also be mediocre if he went anywhere with a real offense and star players.

[fendilim]

Aaron Gordon, just because some people expected him to have an allstar season.