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

[basketballRob]

Scoot is the same age as Anthony Black, but I feel like Black plays way more mature and in control.

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[eyriq]

Scoot is the same age as Anthony Black, but I feel like Black plays way more mature and in control.

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Black is realistically the best PG in this draft. He needs playing time to get the recognition he deserves, it would be great to have him in the rising stars game with Paolo.

[JojoSlimbiid]

Scott is a much better player than Black. Stop the nonsense. He ran into a buzzsaw early on in his career and his coach sucks. Scoot will be fine.

Also the Paolo concern feels like trolling. Its 2 games in relax.

[Darth Magic]

Fans already making excuses for Paolo's play. Our rookie of the year and supposed all-star this year has yet to score 20 pts in 3 pre-season games and 2 regular season games and they are still talking crazy. No, It has nothing to do with how he's being defended, or the fact that he's being integrated into the team and becoming a team player, or that he's focusing more on defense and passing. All of this is pure fan nonsense. That second half was quite frankly atrocious.

His shot is off, his free throw shooting is off, his passing is off, and he's not being particularly aggressive. My take is that he is still injured and his thumb is bothering him. I'm not sure what that means for the rest of the season and how long it will take for his thumb to get right but he has been passive all preseason and now two games into the regular season his passivity has not changed. Hopefully, he gets right and quick because a Paolo who is not scoring over 20 pts per game does little to help the Magic. We are not blessed with many scorers and he's our best volume scorer so he better get right and quick or we're all in for a very long season.

[Darth Magic]

We can get Paolo in some good actions but tbh his offense has looked mediocre ever since preseason. Not sure if it's the thumb but he's far from this "put him on the block, automatic bucket", his jumper has looked meh and he won't attempt any threes. Luckily he's adjusting okay as a passer but it's a bit worrying if he's getting a mental block with his shot. Passed up a few open threes too.

His offense is fine when he plays like 6'10 -250 pounds person and attacks rim.
His offense always looked bad when he pretended to be Carmelo Anthony.

Over time you want him to be better spot up shooter etc, but imo, he would still be best used as screener who recives ball and makes right plays off catch.
Him being on ball for exstended period of time always looks like it just helps defense . At least to me.

I agree. And every time they try to have him create beyond the 3 point line something bad happens more often than not. I honestly don't know why we keep doing it. It's so frustrating to watch and amies no sense. Paolo is a PF, use him like a PF.

[KillMonger]

Fans already making excuses for Paolo's play. Our rookie of the year and supposed all-star this year has yet to score 20 pts in 3 pre-season games and 2 regular season games and they are still talking crazy. No, It has nothing to do with how he's being defended, or the fact that he's being integrated into the team and becoming a team player, or that he's focusing more on defense and passing. All of this is pure fan nonsense. That second half was quite frankly atrocious.

His shot is off, his free throw shooting is off, his passing is off, and he's not being particularly aggressive. My take is that he is still injured and his thumb is bothering him. I'm not sure what that means for the rest of the season and how long it will take for his thumb to get right but he has been passive all preseason and now two games into the regular season his passivity has not changed. Hopefully, he gets right and quick because a Paolo who is not scoring over 20 pts per game does little to help the Magic. We are not blessed with many scorers and he's our best volume scorer so he better get right and quick or we're all in for a very long season.

His passing is not off and he's showing damn good effort defensively.... Something is off however but I'm not sure what it is... Mose did say that the defense will look ahead of the offense for a reason, I wonder if we weren't able to get everything in we wanted to offensively in training camp since we were so focused on defense that we're just focusing on ball movement.

I mean think about it the only time paolo got a set play was the one pull up midrange coming off a screen in the rockets game..... Literally everything else had either been in transition or off a broken play where he has to make something out of nothing.....

Not to make too many excuses he still has to hit the shots and free throws but some of this is coaching imo.... You got to be able to manufacture situations where paolo can get a few easy ones per game.... Like I watched some of the pelicans game and they ran a few plays with screens where they are able to get zion in spots where he can convert high percentage..... We're winning so far but vs better teams? We got to figure this out

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[pepe1991]

5 games, 2 nba games, 3 preseason games

16-42 FG (38% FG)
0-5 for 3 (0%)
17-28 FTA (60% )
9,4 ppg
3,6 APG
4,2 RPG
0,4 BPG
1,4 SPG
1,6 FPG
1,6 TO (PG)


Sample size is very thin, it includes preseason games that are usless.

[Darth Magic]

5 games, 2 nba games, 3 preseason games

16-42 FG (38% FG)
0-5 for 3 (0%)
17-28 FTA (60% )
9,4 ppg
3,6 APG
4,2 RPG
0,4 BPG
1,4 SPG
1,6 FPG
1,6 TO (PG)


Sample size is very thin, it includes preseason games that are usless.

It's not really about the significance of the games or even his stats, even though just looking at those stats from your superstar is enough to send you to the ICU, but it's more about how he is playing. I'm just tired of the cope I'm hearing from Magic fans regarding his play. Clearly something is wrong and his play is not sustainable if we intend to make noise in the east this year. It's also frustrating how he's being used offensively. He should be getting a steady diet of touches on the block or at the elbow. I'm not understanding why we are not seeing that.

[Catledge]

It's easy to smoke the Paolo copeium when we're winning, especially on the west coast. We basically always lose games we should win on those west coast trips. I'm just glad this wasn't one of them.

In any event, I tend to agree with pepe's point about catching off of screens and in the post. My sense is that basically everybody except Paolo has been told to aggressively shoot the open 3, but we haven't really been making them outside of Franz, so defenses have just stayed packed in the paint through these first two games.

[basketballRob]

Other than shooting the open threes , I liked the way Paolo played. He's played a winning brand of ball. Winning ball and big individual stats aren't the same thing. It usually takes players until late in their career before they start sacrificing stats.

I thought the biggest impact he could have this season was bringing his assist average up around 5, and he's at 4.5.

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[Def Swami]

The only thing that has frustrated me with Banchero through 2 games is the free throw shooting. It was a slight issue last season and continues to be one this season. I think the rest of his floor game has been solid. But, I do wonder how much confidence in his shooting has to do with lower scoring performances through 2 games.

The other thing is the general overall floor spacing. Houston laid back far off our shooters though most of that game. If Banchero is a better player closer to the basket, but he's surrounded by Fultz, Suggs, and Carter, then naturally it is going to make his life harder as a scorer and playmaker. The team is shooting 29% from 3. We're still a bad shooting team. And one of our 2 best players is playing up hill against his skill set nightly.

Fultz and Suggs are great. I love watching them play. We're going to get an 82 game sample size on whether they fit around our 2 best players. I don't anticipate any mid-season trades. The front office is going to give them an opportunity to prove they can. But, I also won't be surprised if one or neither are our starting guard in the '24-'25 season. This team needs better spacing and scoring efficiency. That's also on Banchero to convert at the free throw line and improve his overall shooting to take more than 0 3's a night.

Despite all that, Banchero is still getting to the free throw line. If he and the team are going to survive on offense, we have to convert those attempts into points.

[neuraldarwinism]

good in season road win, nothing is automatic in today's nba especially for a young team on the road.

splitting the road trip 2-2 would be massive. overall pleased with the ball movement, defense, and paolo's maturity. how many young players have we seen not willing to make this type of unselfish adjustment until they have matured in their mid to late 20s?

[JF5]

I love how Paolo is playing as well. To me it's clear that he's hurt so I'm going to crap on him. On top of that hes looking to improve other aspects of his game which is more important long term. Him having to score 20+ against lesser competition does not help him. I'm assuming you'll see him be more aggressive against the Lakers.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

I love how Paolo is playing as well. To me it's clear that he's hurt so I'm going to crap on him. On top of that hes looking to improve other aspects of his game which is more important long term. Him having to score 20+ against lesser competition does not help him. I'm assuming you'll see him be more aggressive against the Lakers.

Against his idol Lebron? Probably won’t happen. But I do hope whatever is ailing him, heal up soon. I do like his game.

[pepe1991]

I love how Paolo is playing as well. To me it's clear that he's hurt so I'm going to crap on him. On top of that hes looking to improve other aspects of his game which is more important long term. Him having to score 20+ against lesser competition does not help him. I'm assuming you'll see him be more aggressive against the Lakers.

Hurt?

[Knightro]

I love how Paolo is playing as well. To me it's clear that he's hurt so I'm going to crap on him. On top of that hes looking to improve other aspects of his game which is more important long term. Him having to score 20+ against lesser competition does not help him. I'm assuming you'll see him be more aggressive against the Lakers.

Hurt?

Banchero suffered a thumb injury in the FIBA World Cup and allegedly it's still bothering him.

[RookieStar]

I love how Paolo is playing as well. To me it's clear that he's hurt so I'm going to crap on him. On top of that hes looking to improve other aspects of his game which is more important long term. Him having to score 20+ against lesser competition does not help him. I'm assuming you'll see him be more aggressive against the Lakers.

Hurt?

Banchero suffered a thumb injury in the FIBA World Cup and allegedly it's still bothering him.

Shouldnt we... i dunno... sit him out to.make sure he heals properly? I mean he didnt elect to get surgery after all...

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Hurt?

Banchero suffered a thumb injury in the FIBA World Cup and allegedly it's still bothering him.

Shouldnt we... i dunno... sit him out to.make sure he heals properly? I mean he didnt elect to get surgery after all...

He said during the World Cup that they believe his thumb isn’t going to get worst so he will play through it. During training camp he said it is still bothering him but he’s fine.

[RookieStar]

Banchero suffered a thumb injury in the FIBA World Cup and allegedly it's still bothering him.

Shouldnt we... i dunno... sit him out to.make sure he heals properly? I mean he didnt elect to get surgery after all...

He said during the World Cup that they believe his thumb isn’t going to get worst so he will play through it. During training camp he said it is still bothering him but he’s fine.

Not gonna get worse? So itl heal in time despite the abuse?

[BadMofoPimp]

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.

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