RealGM

vs



Time: 4:00pm
Place: Orlando
TV: Root+, NBAtv

GLB of the game Katrina Law

CJ's RETURN!!! This should be interesting to see. Very curious if Nance and/or Powell will be back. Also, I can feel a possible 30/15 night coming for Nurkic; The BEAST is slowly returning to form.

It'll be fascinating to see how CJ fits with Simons. One would think if Simons continues to play his game and
not defer to CJ, he'd fit well for he's a much better player than McLemore, who could get minutes as a shooter
coming off the bench.

If Nance/Powell are close to coming back, the team would be as complete as its going to be without Dame and
we'll finally see how the pieces will fit.

MAC has been money this year... Combined with Powell, ANT and CJ... it gives you a squad of deadeye shooters that any other team would love to have IMO. With DSJ also showing to be that reliable PURE Veteran PG off the bench that you can play if need be, I think the 1 & 2 are still deep even without Dame.

It's why I don't think a "Blowup", or "TANK" is at all necessary, or smart, and definitely not fun to watch. I'd rather win now, and if we could just have the guts to move on... ROCO / Little is really really good at SF, same for Simmons / Nance at PF and equally Nurkic / Drummond at the C.

DSJ / cj / Brown Jr. / Wafford

This Squad would have playoff success THIS YEAR, and we would also likely get a couple additional FRPs going into the summer. Just a much better (though much harder) option IMO, vs trusting the inexperienced FO to make multiple complicated trades. One simple trade of Dame / Zeller for Simmons / Drummond is a hard pivot for a fair chance to win NOW, with tons of additional flexibility going into this summer. Simple, Smart and will benefit ALL parties involved including Dame. Take the next several weeks to spin the PR (for both sides) into a feel good / saving face story, which shouldn't be too difficult. Find the courage and "Just Do It" Swoooosh!

Norm2953 wrote:It'll be fascinating to see how CJ fits with Simons.

Before CJ's lung issue, Chauncy used to run him with the second unit (Simons/CJ/Little/Snell/Nance), and that worked really well.
Though it's a small sample size (71 minutes over 10 games), and against the other team's second unit, that lineup has a +8.7 net rating.

OTOH, the projected starting lineup above (Simons/CJ/Powell/Roco/Nurk) has a -22 net rating (again, even tinier sample size - 35 minutes)

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced/?Season=2021-22&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&TeamID=1610612757&sort=MIN&dir=1

1st quarter GLB pic

I had a hunch, and I was right: Look at CJ... he looks like he's in ultimate physical condition. Love the starting lineup, and surprised by it.

2nd quarter GLB pic

Man I dont miss watching CJ.

Dang... Simons and MAC are broke tonight. All good shots though.

3rd quarter GLB pic

What’s not to love about little? Dude breathes energy

GEE wrote:Dang... Simons and MAC are broke tonight. All good shots though.

Still not great games by either but nurk and cov are having phenomenal games. I know it’s just orlando and this team is probably gonna give up a gazillion points the next game but this defense looks stellar

Man the Magic must be really extra bad. Looking at the box score and this should be a game the Blazers are down to 20+, not up by 20+

Magic board has been talking of Orlando offering the Max to Simons this off season which
surprises me with Suggs on the roster. They do need a big for Rolo and Bamba are getting
eaten alive by Nurk while Isaac is always injured.

4th quarter GLB pic

Victory GLB pic

I am now leaning towards trading both Dame and CJ before or at the deadline. I'm convinced DSJ/McLemore are just fine as our backup PG/SG for a couple years, especially if we can retain them at their current cost. CJ got up 2 more shots than Ant in less minutes.

Good win, which we wouldn't have gotten a month ago. Nurk is looking like a beast again. Nas is becoming more and more fearless.
But still, we're not going to win a good team while shooting 41% and 20% from 3. Too many turnovers too.