2023-2024 Regular Season Game 4: Orlando Magic (2-1) at Los Angeles Clippers (2-1) - 10:30pm

[BlueBalls]

Fell asleep around halftime.

I’m not as worried about Fultz as I am Paolo, WCJ and our overall perimeter shooting.

It’s as if the FO had no idea this team couldn’t shoot. This is some big surprise. Can’t win in the NBA without guys whocan knock down threes.

Paolo will figure it out, but I’m sick of watching Wendell look useless. He doesn’t even appear to be trying hard.

Maybe we’re finding out why we got him and Cole on these “amazing” deals.

Yeah, Paolo is scaring me. Same with WCJ.
I will say LAC actually played some good defense. But we got looks, someone needs to start hitting.
No FTA for Fultz, Suggs AND Franz...
TOs were horrible, the starters had 13 of the 16.

Ingles signing has looked horrible, put him on the coaching staff if he's a good mentor, hasn't done a thing on the court.
Give his minutes to Jett or Houstan.

I did enjoy the last few minutes of Goga, Houstan, Black, Jett and Okeke.

Ingles has no business getting minutes. Terrible for our “big” offseason FA acquisition.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

I chose to sleep instead of watching this game. I'm glad it's over. On to the next.

[The-Stallion70]

The two teams we beat we young, rebuilding bottom feeders. Now we played two competing teams with stars and we lose.

I can take the Lakers loss since it was only by 3 but I never like getting blown out. I just hope the Magic can make progress this season, hoping for playoffs or more.

[eyriq]

For some reason though, basketball reference simple rating system absolutely loves us and has us as the best team in the East. I'll take it!

Edit: 97.1% probability to make the playoffs, > 80% probability to be a top 3 seed.

LMAO, but I'll take it

[Fortune Teller]

We thought Fultz would shoot more threes and he’s not. We thought he could get to the line more and he’s not. The mental stuff is the hardest to overcome. Fultz is what he is.

[tiderulz]

Fell asleep around halftime.

I’m not as worried about Fultz as I am Paolo, WCJ and our overall perimeter shooting.

It’s as if the FO had no idea this team couldn’t shoot. This is some big surprise. Can’t win in the NBA without guys whocan knock down threes.

Paolo will figure it out, but I’m sick of watching Wendell look useless. He doesn’t even appear to be trying hard.

Maybe we’re finding out why we got him and Cole on these “amazing” deals.

Yeah, Paolo is scaring me. Same with WCJ.
I will say LAC actually played some good defense. But we got looks, someone needs to start hitting.
No FTA for Fultz, Suggs AND Franz...
TOs were horrible, the starters had 13 of the 16.

Ingles signing has looked horrible, put him on the coaching staff if he's a good mentor, hasn't done a thing on the court.
Give his minutes to Jett or Houstan.

I did enjoy the last few minutes of Goga, Houstan, Black, Jett and Okeke.

Ingles has no business getting minutes. Terrible for our “big” offseason FA acquisition.

you arent worried about our starting PG going 0-0 from 3. he provides zero spacing for the rest of the team. he isnt that good at all other aspects of his game to be a zero from 3. And Suggs is still horrible from 3. he cant still use being a 2 sport player as an excuse. he is now on year 4 as strictly a basketball player and that outside shot still sucks

[zaymon]

Yeah, Paolo is scaring me. Same with WCJ.
I will say LAC actually played some good defense. But we got looks, someone needs to start hitting.
No FTA for Fultz, Suggs AND Franz...
TOs were horrible, the starters had 13 of the 16.

Ingles signing has looked horrible, put him on the coaching staff if he's a good mentor, hasn't done a thing on the court.
Give his minutes to Jett or Houstan.

I did enjoy the last few minutes of Goga, Houstan, Black, Jett and Okeke.

Ingles has no business getting minutes. Terrible for our “big” offseason FA acquisition.

you arent worried about our starting PG going 0-0 from 3. he provides zero spacing for the rest of the team. he isnt that good at all other aspects of his game to be a zero from 3. And Suggs is still horrible from 3. he cant still use being a 2 sport player as an excuse. he is now on year 4 as strictly a basketball player and that outside shot still sucks

Ingles didnt forgot how to play. He is smart unselfish veteran. Its the same case as Gary Harris. Both try to play the right way and both get iced by our underperforming playmakers. People choose to believe Harris passes open shots or that Ingles is washed, but the truth is our offense sucks and our best players prefer to drive into a wall or midrange jumper than pass to 40%+ spot up shooters.
Thats why i was so negative after 2 wins.

[JoshuaPotter]

For some reason though, basketball reference simple rating system absolutely loves us and has us as the best team in the East. I'll take it!

Edit: 97.1% probability to make the playoffs, > 80% probability to be a top 3 seed.

LMAO, but I'll take it

Noice! Still in contention baby!

[JBSouthpaw]

Yeah, Paolo is scaring me. Same with WCJ.
I will say LAC actually played some good defense. But we got looks, someone needs to start hitting.
No FTA for Fultz, Suggs AND Franz...
TOs were horrible, the starters had 13 of the 16.

Ingles signing has looked horrible, put him on the coaching staff if he's a good mentor, hasn't done a thing on the court.
Give his minutes to Jett or Houstan.

I did enjoy the last few minutes of Goga, Houstan, Black, Jett and Okeke.

Ingles has no business getting minutes. Terrible for our “big” offseason FA acquisition.

you arent worried about our starting PG going 0-0 from 3. he provides zero spacing for the rest of the team. he isnt that good at all other aspects of his game to be a zero from 3. And Suggs is still horrible from 3. he cant still use being a 2 sport player as an excuse. he is now on year 4 as strictly a basketball player and that outside shot still sucks

Fultz can impact the game other ways, Ingles was brought in to shoot. In the scheme of what worries me, Fultz 3pt shooting is not in the top half.
1. PB efficiency & volume
2. Suggs 3pt shooting on 5 per game
3. WCJ shooting
4. Ingles shooting
5. Fultz shooting 3s

IF 1-4 were better, 5 wouldn't be talked about.

[JoshuaPotter]

That was a hard game to listen to. Not sure what happened. Well sort it out. I'm not being koolaide drinker when I say that either.

Paulo saving grace was that when his jumper wasn't falling he was able to fall back on getting to the line. I still stand by what I said, last time we say him play at this level he was playing injured.

Franz also seemed out of gas, as he was our "mr fourth quarter" last year.

I'm not sure entirely what's going on. The Lakers game I could live with. This must be our version of "running out of gas" as I recall last season had blowouts on back to backs as well.

Getting to hear Blacks foot touched the floor even as a human loss flag. Was nice though. If that's what it takes.......

[JoshuaPotter]

1. PB efficiency & volume
2. Suggs 3pt shooting on 5 per game
3. WCJ shooting
4. Ingles shooting
5. Fultz shooting 3s

IF 1-4 were better, 5 wouldn't be talked about.

I mean if 5 were better. 5 wouldn't be talked about either.

[Bergmaniac]

I knew we'd lose by a lot after we couldn't get any decent lead in the first quarter despite the Clippers giving the worst offensive performance I've seen in an NBA game in years, they couldn't hit anything, looked slow as hell and fumbled the ball a lot on easy dribbles while Kawhi, PG13 and Russ had zero buckets between them. We are terrible on the second night of a back to backs and it was inevitable that the Clippers would start making shots and some points and stop missing easy layups. Our offense remained a mess throughout, no structure, brick after brick from 3 and apparently we can't even make free throws anymore.

Paolo just looks lost on offense, that play at the start of the third quarter where he was one on one against Westbrook on a fast break and missed the layup with the ball barely grazing the rim is downright emparassing for a guy whith his size and skills. And he continues to miss FTs. WCJr seems lost on offense too for some reason. Ingles looks so slow out there and is refusing to shoot for some reason, he make a good pass once in a while, but that's not enough to justify his presence. I thought he would handle the ball more with the bench, he is very good at running the pick and roll, but it's mostly the Cole show out there with Ingles watching. IF that's the case and he is not taking any shots, we might as well play Jett or Black instead of him.

[MartinsIzAfraud]

1. PB efficiency & volume
2. Suggs 3pt shooting on 5 per game
3. WCJ shooting
4. Ingles shooting
5. Fultz shooting 3s

IF 1-4 were better, 5 wouldn't be talked about.

I mean if 5 were better. 5 wouldn't be talked about either.

suggs in 4 games will have shot more 3's than Fultz will all year.... but that's not an issue for some

this was the worst case scenario but is what I expect to see a lot this year. Our margin for error on both sides of the ball is soo slim for us to win a lot of games. Ty Lue is a smart coach and you could tell they were told to pack the paint on drives and force us to make 3's. It also looked like a lot of guys just were not interested in playing and if I was Mose the rook's would've gotten much mroe time. You don't want to give effort fine then come sit by me and we can talk after the game. The issue was that vibe was from 3/5 starters and whatever is left of ingles the corpse.

[eyriq]

I think the team needs to have Black in the starting lineup to boost their confidence. It will create a "we got u, rook" protective vibe that will give them a boost.

[89Magicfan]

I’m sure Fultz will turn it around but it’s time to let that ship sail. There’s just things that are to be evident and that’s we can’t move to the next step with him as our starting PG.

Paolo struggles are up to Coach and Paolo to fix. They need to sit down go over tape, figure out a game plan and get him going. I expected the sophomore wall. It happens but you can’t continue on hoping he just pulls himself through it without a game plan to do so. We have a many development projects but getting Paolo through this is priority 1 right now. Everything else is a distant 2nd.

[VFX]

Ingles has no business getting minutes. Terrible for our “big” offseason FA acquisition.

you arent worried about our starting PG going 0-0 from 3. he provides zero spacing for the rest of the team. he isnt that good at all other aspects of his game to be a zero from 3. And Suggs is still horrible from 3. he cant still use being a 2 sport player as an excuse. he is now on year 4 as strictly a basketball player and that outside shot still sucks

Fultz can impact the game other ways, Ingles was brought in to shoot. In the scheme of what worries me, Fultz 3pt shooting is not in the top half.
1. PB efficiency & volume
2. Suggs 3pt shooting on 5 per game
3. WCJ shooting
4. Ingles shooting
5. Fultz shooting 3s

IF 1-4 were better, 5 wouldn't be talked about.

I think you have it backwards.

PBs efficiency and volume is bad because teams pack the paint on him due to there being no reason not to for lack of shooters. It’s also bad because the starting point guard doesn’t run anything with him in half court sets (pnr, pnp, etc). We have a transition/ iso point guard with a half court heavy offense that wants to beat teams on length matchups.

Suggs needs to keep shooting to alleviate 1/4 of the problem on offense. Yes, he needs to hit them but his volume isn’t the problem. Teams aren’t going to take us seriously if every play we run is Paolo putting up a weak layup or Franz driving into 3-4 bodies in the paint.

Issues 3-4 are again for lack thereof. These guys are not shooting on teams that have a real point guard and other options that are spacing the floor.

We talked about this all off-season. You cannot have 3/5 of the guys in your starting lineup with a lacking shot. You cannot have a point guard that is unable to run schemes with your #1 pick because they DO NOT shoot the basketball outside of a specific range. The other ways Fultz impacts that game are good, but they don’t mesh with the starting lineup and investments this team has made.

[JBSouthpaw]

you arent worried about our starting PG going 0-0 from 3. he provides zero spacing for the rest of the team. he isnt that good at all other aspects of his game to be a zero from 3. And Suggs is still horrible from 3. he cant still use being a 2 sport player as an excuse. he is now on year 4 as strictly a basketball player and that outside shot still sucks

Fultz can impact the game other ways, Ingles was brought in to shoot. In the scheme of what worries me, Fultz 3pt shooting is not in the top half.
1. PB efficiency & volume
2. Suggs 3pt shooting on 5 per game
3. WCJ shooting
4. Ingles shooting
5. Fultz shooting 3s

IF 1-4 were better, 5 wouldn't be talked about.

I think you have it backwards.

PBs efficiency and volume is bad because teams pack the paint on him due to there being no reason not to for lack of shooters. It’s also bad because the starting point guard doesn’t run anything with him in half court sets (pnr, pnp, etc). We have a transition/ iso point guard with a half court heavy offense that wants to beat teams on length matchups.

Suggs needs to keep shooting to alleviate 1/4 of the problem on offense. Yes, he needs to hit them but his volume isn’t the problem. Teams aren’t going to take us seriously if every play we run is Paolo putting up a weak layup or Franz driving into 3-4 bodies in the paint.

Issues 3-4 are again for lack thereof. These guys are not shooting on teams that have a real point guard and other options that are spacing the floor.

We talked about this all off-season. You cannot have 3/5 of the guys in your starting lineup with a lacking shot. You cannot have a point guard that is unable to run schemes with your #1 pick because they DO NOT shoot the basketball outside of a specific range.

No, teams are backing off of PB, he's an iso player, when he isn't hitting any shots defenses just sag so he can't drive.
Everything starts with PB's mid range, whether on P&R or straight ISO.

[VFX]

Fultz can impact the game other ways, Ingles was brought in to shoot. In the scheme of what worries me, Fultz 3pt shooting is not in the top half.
1. PB efficiency & volume
2. Suggs 3pt shooting on 5 per game
3. WCJ shooting
4. Ingles shooting
5. Fultz shooting 3s

IF 1-4 were better, 5 wouldn't be talked about.

I think you have it backwards.

PBs efficiency and volume is bad because teams pack the paint on him due to there being no reason not to for lack of shooters. It’s also bad because the starting point guard doesn’t run anything with him in half court sets (pnr, pnp, etc). We have a transition/ iso point guard with a half court heavy offense that wants to beat teams on length matchups.

Suggs needs to keep shooting to alleviate 1/4 of the problem on offense. Yes, he needs to hit them but his volume isn’t the problem. Teams aren’t going to take us seriously if every play we run is Paolo putting up a weak layup or Franz driving into 3-4 bodies in the paint.

Issues 3-4 are again for lack thereof. These guys are not shooting on teams that have a real point guard and other options that are spacing the floor.

We talked about this all off-season. You cannot have 3/5 of the guys in your starting lineup with a lacking shot. You cannot have a point guard that is unable to run schemes with your #1 pick because they DO NOT shoot the basketball outside of a specific range.

No, teams are backing off of PB, he's an iso player, when he isn't hitting any shots defenses just sag so he can't drive.
Everything starts with PB's mid range, whether on P&R or straight ISO.

And those things can change and need to.

The point is that it can’t right now with the current options available. He can’t iso or run anything differently with the ball in his hands when there is a wall of bodies waiting for him in the paint on every possession for the reasons outlined.

[89Magicfan]

you arent worried about our starting PG going 0-0 from 3. he provides zero spacing for the rest of the team. he isnt that good at all other aspects of his game to be a zero from 3. And Suggs is still horrible from 3. he cant still use being a 2 sport player as an excuse. he is now on year 4 as strictly a basketball player and that outside shot still sucks

Fultz can impact the game other ways, Ingles was brought in to shoot. In the scheme of what worries me, Fultz 3pt shooting is not in the top half.
1. PB efficiency & volume
2. Suggs 3pt shooting on 5 per game
3. WCJ shooting
4. Ingles shooting
5. Fultz shooting 3s

IF 1-4 were better, 5 wouldn't be talked about.

I think you have it backwards.

PBs efficiency and volume is bad because teams pack the paint on him due to there being no reason not to for lack of shooters. It’s also bad because the starting point guard doesn’t run anything with him in half court sets (pnr, pnp, etc). We have a transition/ iso point guard with a half court heavy offense that wants to beat teams on length matchups.

Suggs needs to keep shooting to alleviate 1/4 of the problem on offense. Yes, he needs to hit them but his volume isn’t the problem. Teams aren’t going to take us seriously if every play we run is Paolo putting up a weak layup or Franz driving into 3-4 bodies in the paint.

Issues 3-4 are again for lack thereof. These guys are not shooting on teams that have a real point guard and other options that are spacing the floor.

We talked about this all off-season. You cannot have 3/5 of the guys in your starting lineup with a lacking shot. You cannot have a point guard that is unable to run schemes with your #1 pick because they DO NOT shoot the basketball outside of a specific range. The other ways Fultz impacts that game are good, but they don’t mesh with the starting lineup and investments this team has made.

I don’t even see him making an impact in other ways. Maybe there’s some advanced stat that says otherwise but so far from the eye test, dude looks pedestrian.

[JBSouthpaw]

Paolo Banchero on what his main focus is right now.

“My main focus is trying to make shots. It’s been rough so far, but it’s going to come. I’ve got to trust it.”

Paolo has averaged 12.5 PPG and is shooting 37.8% from the field in the first 4 games of his sophomore campaign.