2022-2023 Regular Season Game 35: Los Angeles Lakers (13-20) at Orlando Magic (13-21) - 7pm

[tooler]

One flaw I’ve noticed with our team that also impacts those numbers is a tendency to over-pass and avoid taking open threes. I’m sure Mosely like most coaches is preaching selflessness and team ball, but players can overdo it at times, passing up open shots for a theoretical better play (that sometimes isn’t there).

I remember Mosley specifically calling this out and saying he wanted the players to take the shot when they're open. Maybe it was a particular player, I don't recall exactly.

You can tell that Paolo has the freedom to pound the ball. I really need him to be more decisive when it comes to moving the ball, because he holds and dribble it for too long. He has gotten better during the winning streak, so hopefully as he get acclimated to Wendell and Gary again, he’ll be a lot better.

I remember Paolo specifically mentioning this as something he's working on as well during his rookie season. Just from the eye test, it never looks to me like Franz and Paolo pound the ball because they're selfish jerks. They're just being asked to make something out of nothing and have to think about it for a bit.

Anyway, none of this is news to anyone within the team. I'm more concerned about the rotations and the lack of available defenders right now.

[GameOver25]

Re-watching this game. Paolo has a lot of issues that are masked by his ability to draw fouls. Some of them are workable but some of them I think will exist as long as he in the league. The honeymoon period will last awhile since he is the number one pick but there are some warts that kind of got exposed here.

What are you seeing?

He is a ball stopper full stop. Less in a Bron sense and more in a Melo type sense where there is a lot of catching the ball in the triple threat and jabbing and pivoting time off the clock while no one moves. I personally hate that style of play as someone that had to watch a lot of Knick basketball when Melo was there.

Defensively man...I think its going to take a lot of development just to end up below average as a defender. He is kind of backbreaking in terms of team defense. Him and Bol on re-watch of games stick out as glaringly bad from a team defense perspective. One on one he doesn't look terribly bad on most nights but man.

Rebounding. I don't get it. This is something we all probably see and I have nothing really to add to it.

I don't think this is fair, not yet at least. He's a rookie, given full reign to operate, so still learning. I've seen him make enough passes/assists to teammates to let me know he looks for them. He's still figuring this thing out.

[Knightro]

I don't think this is fair, not yet at least. He's a rookie, given full reign to operate, so still learning. I've seen him make enough passes/assists to teammates to let me know he looks for them. He's still figuring this thing out.

I do think there's a distinct difference between ball hogging and ball stopping.

You can be a good passer and still be a ball stopper.

[MagicStarwipe]

Most go to scorers are "ball stoppers" to varying degrees. I really don't care.