The Official Paolo Banchero Thread: 2022-2023 NBA Rookie of the Year

[ORLMagicGirl15]

NBA feature of Paolo’s first game.

https://www.nba.com/watch/video/all-access-paolos-debut?plsrc=nba&collection=all-access

[akhan786]

Proof that my old man Lebron comparison for Paolo was perfect lol

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=eagkTwHaFvMPMHy51K86tw

[tooler]

Hilarious, definitely stealing this for the GB.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Here is Paolo’s second entry of his rookie diary.
https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-basketball-paolo-banchero-90c1b16d36763a64c653bc834110bb17

A good glimpse into how he’s feeling.

[Knightro]

Read on Twitter

[eyriq]

Here is Paolo’s second entry of his rookie diary.
https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-basketball-paolo-banchero-90c1b16d36763a64c653bc834110bb17

A good glimpse into how he’s feeling.

I love Paulo. Great to see he realizes building a winner is a process. Interesting that he is less explosive post injury, makes sense.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Here is Paolo’s second entry of his rookie diary.
https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-basketball-paolo-banchero-90c1b16d36763a64c653bc834110bb17

A good glimpse into how he’s feeling.

I love Paulo. Great to see he realizes building a winner is a process. Interesting that he is less explosive post injury, makes sense.

Hopefully it comes back. He doesn’t seem like a very explosive guy anyways, but you can tell he hasn’t been as aggressive as he was during his first 10 games.

[tooler]

You don’t need your highest paid players to be bigs to play winning basketball in 2022.

Taking this from the poll thread.

I've seen this mentioned a few times -- it's rare but it's there.

Do you see Paolo as a "big" in the modern NBA? Is it because he has 6'10" listed next to his name instead of 6'9"? To me he moves and plays like a wing. His shooting sucks right now but it's started that way for a lot of wings.

[VFX]

You don’t need your highest paid players to be bigs to play winning basketball in 2022.

Taking this from the poll thread.

I've seen this mentioned a few times -- it's rare but it's there.

Do you see Paolo as a "big" in the modern NBA? Is it because he has 6'10" listed next to his name instead of 6'9"? To me he moves and plays like a wing. His shooting sucks right now but it's started that way for a lot of wings.

Don’t get me wrong. I think Paolo makes Orlando formidable moving forward. The Franz/Paolo combo is a great start.

That being said, Paolo is really only a great scorer and a good passer. He needs to work on his defense and rebounding to become a more complete player.

It’s not really about height. I don’t believe he is good enough defensively to guard smaller players. He’s not a very versatile defender. To me he’s solidly a PF.

If I’m building the perfect team, a PF is the second to last position I’m choosing with Center being the last. Especially if I’m hypothetically choosing between a versatile F and a PF with limited versatility.

[fendilim]

You don’t need your highest paid players to be bigs to play winning basketball in 2022.

Taking this from the poll thread.

I've seen this mentioned a few times -- it's rare but it's there.

Do you see Paolo as a "big" in the modern NBA? Is it because he has 6'10" listed next to his name instead of 6'9"? To me he moves and plays like a wing. His shooting sucks right now but it's started that way for a lot of wings.

Don’t get me wrong. I think Paolo makes Orlando formidable moving forward. The Franz/Paolo combo is a great start.

That being said, Paolo is really only a great scorer and a good passer. He needs to work on his defense and rebounding to become a more complete player.

It’s not really about height. I don’t believe he is good enough defensively to guard smaller players. He’s not a very versatile defender. To me he’s solidly a PF.

If I’m building the perfect team, a PF is the second to last position I’m choosing with Center being the last. Especially if I’m hypothetically choosing between a versatile F and a PF with limited versatility.

True.

Paolo is quite bulky to play the wing tbh.

I wouldnt be surprised if he tried to slim down like Okeke.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

ESPN article on Banchero. No paywall. It’s a pretty interesting read.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/35260391/how-seattle-prepared-no-1-pick-paolo-banchero-nba-success

For Banchero, he says the Magic have given him something that wasn't going to come as a teenager playing over the summer with NBA veterans: freedom.

"Just being able to play however I want to play, play all over the floor," Banchero said. "Just the trust that my coaches and teammates put in me. I mean high school and college, I think I was always asked to play a certain position. Here, they just tell me, 'Yo, explore your game.'"

During media day, Cole was taking about his opinions of Banchero and one thing that stood out to me was the advice that Paolo should be more physical and “hit” somebody. Apparently, he was being timid. But if you guys remember his first bucket in the NBA going against the Pistons, he bumped into Sadiq Bey and made his first bucket. Since then I realized that he has been a lot more physical than he was in college. He really do take these advice to heart.

Hope you guys are okay with me bumping this thread. Don’t see the point of making new posts if we have a mega one for him.

[basketballRob]

ESPN article on Banchero. No paywall. It’s a pretty interesting read.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/35260391/how-seattle-prepared-no-1-pick-paolo-banchero-nba-success

For Banchero, he says the Magic have given him something that wasn't going to come as a teenager playing over the summer with NBA veterans: freedom.

"Just being able to play however I want to play, play all over the floor," Banchero said. "Just the trust that my coaches and teammates put in me. I mean high school and college, I think I was always asked to play a certain position. Here, they just tell me, 'Yo, explore your game.'"

During media day, Cole was taking about his opinions of Banchero and one thing that stood out to me was the advice that Paolo should be more physical and “hit” somebody. Apparently, he was being timid. But if you guys remember his first bucket in the NBA going against the Pistons, he bumped into Sadiq Bey and made his first bucket. Since then I realized that he has been a lot more physical than he was in college. He really do take these advice to heart.

Hope you guys are okay with me bumping this thread. Donny see the point of making new posts if we have a mega one for him.

He also dunked and flexed on the vet Joseph. Usually, rookies don't come in and do that to 11-year vets.

Watch on YouTube

[JoshuaPotter]

Small comment. Paolo is doing in year 1 what I hoped Aaron Gordon would turn into year 2/3. Amazing.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

ESPN article on Banchero. No paywall. It’s a pretty interesting read.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/35260391/how-seattle-prepared-no-1-pick-paolo-banchero-nba-success

For Banchero, he says the Magic have given him something that wasn't going to come as a teenager playing over the summer with NBA veterans: freedom.

"Just being able to play however I want to play, play all over the floor," Banchero said. "Just the trust that my coaches and teammates put in me. I mean high school and college, I think I was always asked to play a certain position. Here, they just tell me, 'Yo, explore your game.'"

During media day, Cole was taking about his opinions of Banchero and one thing that stood out to me was the advice that Paolo should be more physical and “hit” somebody. Apparently, he was being timid. But if you guys remember his first bucket in the NBA going against the Pistons, he bumped into Sadiq Bey and made his first bucket. Since then I realized that he has been a lot more physical than he was in college. He really do take these advice to heart.

Hope you guys are okay with me bumping this thread. Donny see the point of making new posts if we have a mega one for him.

He also dunked and flexed on the vet Joseph. Usually, rookies don't come in and do that to 11-year vets.

Watch on YouTube

I wonder if Joseph anticipated a layup from Banchero. Why in the world would you try and take that charge?

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Small comment. Paolo is doing in year 1 what I hoped Aaron Gordon would turn into year 2/3. Amazing.

I will say this about AG, he has a super high BBIQ. I really liked listening to his analysis after the game because you can tell that he just got it, but his skills weren’t exactly where it needed to be for him to progress with us. Wish him all the best, except against us.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Congratulations Paolo for winning Rookie of the Month for December.

https://www.nba.com/news/kia-rookies-of-the-month-dec-2022-23

Here is a video of Paolo talking to the media. The last question is about him being nominated as ROTM and his feelings on it.

https://www.nba.com/magic/videos/paolo-banchero-orlando-magic-practice-interview-20230103

[JoshuaPotter]

Small comment. Paolo is doing in year 1 what I hoped Aaron Gordon would turn into year 2/3. Amazing.

I will say this about AG, he has a super high BBIQ. I really liked listening to his analysis after the game because you can tell that he just got it, but his skills weren’t exactly where it needed to be for him to progress with us. Wish him all the best, except against us.

I agree, I was hoping to see the same leap from him as we saw from Franz now or from Paolo out the gate. He isn't a bad player by any means, I just felt our rebuild lived and died by him.

[penny_nz]

Just saw Paolo currently 8th in the eastern front court all star fan votes, great to see him getting noticed!

[tooler]

Just saw Paolo currently 8th in the eastern front court all star fan votes, great to see him getting noticed!

Just behind Kyle Kuzma. Surely we can organize a campaign to correct that.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Here is a yahoo article about Paolo’s lofty goals. It’s a good and fast read. https://sports.yahoo.com/paolo-bancheros-goals-are-lofty-even-for-a-no-1-pick-but-hes-backing-them-up-so-far-015458076.html