2022-2023 Preseason Game 5: Cleveland Cavaliers (1-2) at Orlando Magic (3-1) - 7pm

[JBSouthpaw]

I'm sorta surprised more hasn't been discussed about them starting Franz at SG, & PG.

He was pretty effective at both, in the short spurts that they tried this in!

Going to be a fun season!

Whenever it comes up, people lose their minds here...I don't know if it's just "The G Word" (Guard?), but I have no doubt Franz is our best offensive initiator and is able to defend guards as well. When he steps away from that role (second half of last season), we suck. Certainly a GOOD PG could change that, but all we saw was a lot of Cole and a bit of Suggs and neither was even close to Franz' decision making. If Fultz can get on the court again, we'll certainly give that a long look...but Franz at Guard is absolutely workable, IMO. We've been watching it.

One of the reasons is that Mosley didnt execute it right imo. I think you need very strong perimeter defender to lock opponents best driver, otherwise its hard for bigger guys to position themselves fast enough under the rim. It should be Suggs or Gary Harris starting. You also need enough firepower on offense. When you play Suggs, you cant go with Bamba.
It could also be to quick for Banchero to carry so much offensive burden. We are propably 1-2 years away from doing it efficiently, but we can try this year whatsoever.

Suggs has not shown lock down defense IMO. Better than Cole, yes. But not lock down.

[zaymon]

Whenever it comes up, people lose their minds here...I don't know if it's just "The G Word" (Guard?), but I have no doubt Franz is our best offensive initiator and is able to defend guards as well. When he steps away from that role (second half of last season), we suck. Certainly a GOOD PG could change that, but all we saw was a lot of Cole and a bit of Suggs and neither was even close to Franz' decision making. If Fultz can get on the court again, we'll certainly give that a long look...but Franz at Guard is absolutely workable, IMO. We've been watching it.

One of the reasons is that Mosley didnt execute it right imo. I think you need very strong perimeter defender to lock opponents best driver, otherwise its hard for bigger guys to position themselves fast enough under the rim. It should be Suggs or Gary Harris starting. You also need enough firepower on offense. When you play Suggs, you cant go with Bamba.
It could also be to quick for Banchero to carry so much offensive burden. We are propably 1-2 years away from doing it efficiently, but we can try this year whatsoever.

Suggs has not shown lock down defense IMO. Better than Cole, yes. But not lock down.

I think Suggs was close to lockdown last year. Little bit better with stronger players and little bit worse with faster players. Another advantage Suggs has is his strong frame, he is good on switches and good protecting the paint for a guard.
This year he was worse on defense but lets be real nobody locks Morant.

[pepe1991]

One of the reasons is that Mosley didnt execute it right imo. I think you need very strong perimeter defender to lock opponents best driver, otherwise its hard for bigger guys to position themselves fast enough under the rim. It should be Suggs or Gary Harris starting. You also need enough firepower on offense. When you play Suggs, you cant go with Bamba.
It could also be to quick for Banchero to carry so much offensive burden. We are propably 1-2 years away from doing it efficiently, but we can try this year whatsoever.

Suggs has not shown lock down defense IMO. Better than Cole, yes. But not lock down.

I think Suggs was close to lockdown last year. Little bit better with stronger players and little bit worse with faster players. Another advantage Suggs has is his strong frame, he is good on switches and good protecting the paint for a guard.
This year he was worse on defense but lets be real nobody locks Morant.

No such thing as "lockdown" guard defender in nba. You can't lock down star players because game is officiated in fashion where you would be ejected by HT if you play stiffer defense and you can't really play any other defense but to switch defense ,so every star is just one sceren away from , for him, favorable matchup.

Case and point , look at Curry vs Smart. On paper best defender vs best offensive player. IN reality, Curry averaged 31 ppg on 49% for 3 and Smart hardly ever had ability to even guard him.

Suggs was plus defender, but only played 48 games. Magic i think had 16-32 record in that period. 10 out of 32 losses were by margin over 20 points. 22 with margin over 10 poitns.
So... it's bit a moot point. There wasn't enough of competitive games (or playoff games ) to have deeper understanding about specific player's offense or defense . Just eye test and random data on 20-62 roster for whatever is worth.

[Skybox]

Any reasonable person can see that Suggs is an A-level defender, regardless of the title "lockdown",
"elite", whatever...he's already got that in his bag and will likely get better with NBA experience and wisdom (dirty tricks). The Morants and Currys of the world will have their way with anyone.

If he could just add reliable shooting from one or two spots (like PJ Tucker, say), he could be a very solid rotational player if the Guard next to him is a multi-level scorer. Frontcourt looks good and getting better.

[JBSouthpaw]

Any reasonable person can see that Suggs is an A-level defender, regardless of the title "lockdown",
"elite", whatever...he's already got that in his bag and will likely get better with NBA experience and wisdom (dirty tricks). The Morants and Currys of the world will have their way with anyone.

If he could just add reliable shooting from one or two spots (like PJ Tucker, say), he could be a very solid rotational player if the Guard next to him is a multi-level scorer. Frontcourt looks good and getting better.

He was above average last year, but I can't say A level.

And let's not gloss over Suggs worst contribution, turnovers. We know how last year went.
This pre-season was more of the same. He played 38 Min. total, had 10 turnovers.

Cole's biggest problem, he doesn't fight through screens hard enough, and teams get mismatches all day.

I'll take (right now) what Cole gives vs. Suggs. You can help on defense, and the person still has to make a shot vs. playing 4 on 5 on offense, making it harder for all.