2023-2024 Regular Season Game 2: Orlando Magic (1-0) at Portland Trail Blazers (0-1) - 10pm

[eyriq]

Paolo has been good on defense. Lots of deflections. Paolo is locked in being the best teammate. No concerns with Paolo.

This is my take as well. I do want to see him getting more fga, but otherwise it's all good.

[IllMagic04]

Gotta give Portland props. They were very good in this game and kept coming. We won this game with defense. We locked them up in the 4th quarter and we needed to cause our offense was cold. Its a good sign that we had a gassed Cole play the entire 4th quarter and the defense didn't suffer one bit. It was a ugly win for sure but its a win.

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[Ralof]

A player who does not want to be here,does not put that kind of effort.
plan and simple.

that said,anyone talks about Banchero like a finish product since day one,in terms of what "type" of player he will be,but we still do not know a lot of things,as it is normal for a guy beginning his second year in nba.

Giannis when he started his rise was seen as point giannis,zion recently was talked about being point center,D12 itself in first years was playing with Battie,we still do not know almost anything about Wembayama and probably for a pair of years that will continue,list could going on.

I mean,we are just start to figure what wagner and suggs role could be,and they have a total year plus than banchero in this league.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

A player who does not want to be here,does not put that kind of effort.
plan and simple.

that said,anyone talks about Banchero like a finish product since day one,in terms of what "type" of player he will be,but we still do not know a lot of things,as it is normal for a guy beginning his second year in nba.

Giannis when he started his rise was seen as point giannis,zion recently was talked about being point center,D12 itself in first years was playing with Battie,we still do not know almost anything about Wembayama and probably for a pair of years that will continue,list could going on.

I mean,we are just start to figure what wagner and suggs role could be,and they have a total year plus than banchero in this league.

I agree that we don’t know Paolo’s full game but a scorer has been an integral part of his game. I can’t seem him moving from that to become more of a playmaker. It is his scoring and aggressiveness that opens up for the other players.

[Audi]

I think what we are seeing in Paolo (aside from maybe being a little dinged up) is him fully integrating into team basketball and recognizing that Franz is the other 1a/1b option. You can tell he's looking for him on the floor. IMO, more of the Paolo/Franz two man game is exactly what we want to see.

I do want him to be a little more aggressive on 3s and jumpers though, but it's only been 2 games.

[jezzerinho]

A player who does not want to be here,does not put that kind of effort.
plan and simple.

that said,anyone talks about Banchero like a finish product since day one,in terms of what "type" of player he will be,but we still do not know a lot of things,as it is normal for a guy beginning his second year in nba.

Giannis when he started his rise was seen as point giannis,zion recently was talked about being point center,D12 itself in first years was playing with Battie,we still do not know almost anything about Wembayama and probably for a pair of years that will continue,list could going on.

I mean,we are just start to figure what wagner and suggs role could be,and they have a total year plus than banchero in this league.

I agree that we don’t know Paolo’s full game but a scorer has been an integral part of his game. I can’t seem him moving from that to become more of a playmaker. It is his scoring and aggressiveness that opens up for the other players.

Hes coming off a FIBA tourney where he was playing center and asked to be more of a defensive force. He's also clearly working on his distribution and seeing the floor.

He knows what he can do offensively but hes probably just not giving it as much focus in training and these early games as the other stuff.

Itll come.

[basketballRob]

I saw Paolo pass up a couple of 3-pointers and drive and kick out to Franz for a 3.

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[ORLMagicGirl15]

I think what we are seeing in Paolo (aside from maybe being a little dinged up) is him fully integrating into team basketball and recognizing that Franz is the other 1a/1b option. You can tell he's looking for him on the floor. IMO, more of the Paolo/Franz two man game is exactly what we want to see.

I do want him to be a little more aggressive on 3s and jumpers though, but it's only been 2 games.

Right but it gives me shades of Vuc and Fournier. I don’t want them to start playing buddy ball and freeze everyone else out. Although, I will say it is more satisfying watching them play that way because they have great bbiq compared to Vuc and Evan.

[ogmagicfan]

It's clear Paolo has improved as a passer & defender. He used to have a play or 2 where he miscommunicated with the rest of the team on switches and team defense where now we havent seen any of that.

However, our team is already not that much "offensively inclined" to begin with. There really isn't a reason why Paolo isn't shooting 17+ shots most nights

Him being aggressive, with his high FT rate, forces teams into foul trouble quickly. This allows us to get into the bonus quickly and allow Paolo & other players to get FTs from team fouls

It's on the coaches, to have our offense ran more deliberately. It's been kinda free for all, although it looks more fluid than last year because of increased chemistry, there's no reason why Paolo isn't getting the ball on post ups or we arent running more set plays to confuse the defense. Also our starters have the 3rd slowest pace in the NBA so that doesn't help

[ogmagicfan]

Also, has Wendell always struggled as much as he has recently when catching the ball under the rim?

It feels like every time he's deep in the paint and gets the ball, he seems so unsure of himself and ability to convert from there. Weird considering he's 6'10 with a 7'5 wingspan.

Leaning out might help him with his explosiveness which he should do

[fendilim]

Well, let’s face it, this year, we dont run plays intentionally for Paolo to get 20ppg anymore.

We let the game come naturally already.

Last year, we’d run a lot of plays for him to score. Sometimes even make sure he gets 20points deliberately.

[VFX]

The bottom line is that Paolo needs to start knocking down shots on the arch so Orlando can open up the floor and he can create more space for his A+ downhill game. If he can do that, then he’s got an elite bag.

I see him passing up a lot of shots or rushing his offense when he doesn’t have a better look. Defenses just play him close up and prevent him from attacking the basket.

[Residual-Heat]

I think what we are seeing in Paolo (aside from maybe being a little dinged up) is him fully integrating into team basketball and recognizing that Franz is the other 1a/1b option. You can tell he's looking for him on the floor. IMO, more of the Paolo/Franz two man game is exactly what we want to see.

I do want him to be a little more aggressive on 3s and jumpers though, but it's only been 2 games.

I think he's helping Franz recognize that he is the other 1a/1b option.

[tooler]

The coaching staff might be playing the long game to encourage more passing and teamwork. If he learns to shoot it will seem more fluid, but that doesn’t happen overnight. Maybe next season.

In the meantime he’ll have to figure it out.

[G-Heel]

I think what we are seeing in Paolo (aside from maybe being a little dinged up) is him fully integrating into team basketball and recognizing that Franz is the other 1a/1b option. You can tell he's looking for him on the floor. IMO, more of the Paolo/Franz two man game is exactly what we want to see.

I do want him to be a little more aggressive on 3s and jumpers though, but it's only been 2 games.

Right but it gives me shades of Vuc and Fournier. I don’t want them to start playing buddy ball and freeze everyone else out. Although, I will say it is more satisfying watching them play that way because they have great bbiq compared to Vuc and Evan.

Doesn't give me that vibe at all. Paolo and Franz are much better at getting other involved.

[bigdogdylan5]

I think we all have to wrap our heads around that defense will be the focus this year. It might be frustrating as hell if we’re holding teams to 85-95 points and still losing…. But at some point the offense has to get better too. Paolo needs to get better there too. I understand if Paolo has been given a directive to playmake and up the defensive intensity but if that is messing with his head that is a huge problem. We don’t have the offensive personnel to give him space and make it easier on him. I can see it we lose 85-90 and Mosley goes up there to podium and says we didn’t make enough shots… **** I wonder why? We put so much focus on defense and lose our “offensive coordinator” right before season starts. You have two knock down shooters who can’t get off the deep bench because of defense. I can promise this will be the most annoying thing this year.

[T-Cat]

Anyone thinking of putting Jonathan Isaac in the starting lineup in favor of WCJ?

We could really use Wendell's scoring of the bench to go along with Cole Anthony in the second unit!

[G-Heel]

Anyone thinking of putting Jonathan Isaac in the starting lineup in favor of WCJ?

We could really use Wendell's scoring of the bench to go along with Cole Anthony in the second unit!

JI can't handle 30 minutes a game right now to be starting. WCJ is struggling but he's still our best option at the moment.

[thelead]

I hate Paolo initiating offense at the top of the 3 point line. We had stretches of the same last year and it was equally ineffective. He needs to be on the block about 15-20 feet out and initiate from the elbow. He also needs to play stronger when he does get touches. He goes up looking for contact and if he doesn’t get the call he throws trash up at the basket with no chance of it going in. Also, he had Scoot sealed in the paint multiple times and his teammates just looked him off. That shouldn’t happen.

[Rainwater]

I don't know how after a rookie of the year season people are already judging a 20 year after one bad game. Give him time. Sheeh.