2023-2024 Regular Season Game 8: Atlanta Hawks (4-3) vs. Orlando Magic (4-3) in Mexico City - 9:30pm

[Skybox]

Can’t wait to see who the next whipping boy becomes once Fultz is gone.

Whoever the worst, least equipped for their role, overpaid, ridiculously emotionally defended guy is…that’s who

[Skybox]

Just throwing this out there since I'm a big fan of AB: he shot 1-2 from deep tonight in his 17 minutes. That will bring his 3pt % DOWN for the season

AB > Fultz, Cole

AB isn’t my ideal Fultz replacement, but he’s here and he’s very promising…the fit questions are nearly the same but far less due to what else AB may bring (I’m just considering him not a 3pt threat despite the first few games). The idea that lottery picks in a loaded draft are unplayable is absurd…they’ll make mistakes but better they do it now than next year.

I really like Suggs and that’s likely my hesitation because he’s also not a great pairing with Black. Jett might be but it’s more likely someone not on our roster. Suggs & Cole off the bench make a lot of sense and pair nicely. That duo will win games for us but probably aren’t the long-term starting solution. A trade is the obvious move. The need for shooting threats is not debatable. Shooting is not everything, but lack of shooters in the mix is fatal to the other players…tired of watching us play offense with one hand behind our back

I’m so sick of hearing about Fultz being our best chance to win…finally seeing the resolve fading as reality among the apologists sets in but it’s still maddening. Win what? People stating with certainty that the GOAL is the playoffs. Says who? The goal should be to figure out who’s in for the long haul to contending even if it means losing a few more games this year…and, by the way, I’m not sure we would lose more, now or later. We should have a legit shot at .500 and/or playoffs if we make the obvious adjustments. Give it up…it’s become a ridiculously obvious conclusion. Maybe maybe we can get something of value from a team with shooting who lacks a floor general- I doubt it. More likely, when some team hits a wall and quietly declares a sell off, they’d value his expiring salary. That’s also our best chance to use our upcoming cap space in a productive way…rather than expect to entice a FA.

One more time I ask…what other team comes with a serious bid to get Fultz the FA? Would we even be thinking about Fultz with our cap space if he was on another team? Stop the fantasy…that’s not who he is

[BlueBalls]

The beauty of this thing is the Magic are in a position where they could make a consolidation trade that gets them a higher end starter/rotation player *and* get Black and Jett more minutes at the same time.

Of course I don’t anticipate them doing anything until at least December or January, if not closer to the trade deadline.

FO isn’t going to do anything creative like that. The time for it was the offseason. Now we have this jumbled mess of a roster that’ll lose 40+ games. A shrewd move or two before this season would have made this team a legitimate playoff contender - maybe even for 3/4 seed. What we have now is a peanut butter and potato sandwich on unleavened bread.

[pepe1991]

Black doesn't play PG for us now. I think it's important to point out, but in same time, why i need to point out ? If you watch games, you will see that Black isn't playmaking. He plays SF.

[The-Stallion70]

Everyone besides Paolo and Franz are on the table now.

[BlueBalls]

Everyone besides Paolo and Franz are on the table now.

I want no part of trading Suggs. The lotto picks that became Black & Howard probably should have been dealt - at least one of them - but the players those picks became are not going to be dealt anytime soon.

[Skybox]

Black doesn't play PG for us now. I think it's important to point out, but in same time, why i need to point out ? If you watch games, you will see that Black isn't playmaking. He plays SF.

Do you think, in today’s NBA, that Black, Franz, and Paolo could share the “formerly known as PG” role, in a more progressive offense?

* I’m presuming reasonable maturing from Black as a ball handler getting comfortable vs NBA defenders

[SloNick Russia]

What is the last team to make playoffs with a rookey PG starting?
I like the idea of Paolo and Franz handling the ball, but in Atlanta game they literally made 3-4 passes to another team, so it will take some work.

[The-Stallion70]

Everyone besides Paolo and Franz are on the table now.

I want no part of trading Suggs. The lotto picks that became Black & Howard probably should have been dealt - at least one of them - but the players those picks became are not going to be dealt anytime soon.

Suggs is very inconsistent and a poor decision maker which is not good for a player the size of a point guard.

He shot it well last night but even so that still brought his true shooting percentage to 51.8% on the year which is well below the league average of 57%.

[Skybox]

What is the last team to make playoffs with a rookey PG starting?

Really…is that the most important priority?

Why drag our mediocre lineup over the line to take a beating from BOS and not learn who we are going to be next? Making changes either
(1) makes us a little worse and just miss the playoffs but clearer about what we need
Or
(2) makes us a lot better and on our way in a sustainable direction

I hope we make the playoffs, but I dont care about some hollow victory that doesn’t move us closer to being serious threats

[VFX]

Everyone besides Paolo and Franz are on the table now.

I want no part of trading Suggs. The lotto picks that became Black & Howard probably should have been dealt - at least one of them - but the players those picks became are not going to be dealt anytime soon.

Suggs is very inconsistent and a poor decision maker which is not good for a player the size of a point guard.

He shot it well last night but even so that still brought his true shooting percentage to 51.8% on the year which is well below the league average of 57%.

No

[OhioRock3]

Holy crap, Ingles was +27 last night

[The-Stallion70]

No

I just stated facts man lol

You can't really argue with that

[Bergmaniac]

We can talk about coaching all day, and Mosley certainly has his flaws, but the bottom line is it's just hard to win in today's NBA when you can't make 3s and the other teams know it. So far Suggs has the best percentage from 3 among our starters and he's at 33.3%, which is below league average and he's not spacing the floor either since defenders mostly dare him to shoot. We are scraping by offensively mostly thanks to offensive rebounding which is probably not sustainable long term. Of course, Franz and Ingles will probably start shooting better at some point and Gary Harris coming back should help, but even so, we will be a subpar shooting team.

The game is another proof that Paolo and Fultz don't mesh well. Of course Paolo missing several easy layups and making some boneheaded turnovers is on him, but it's just harder for him to get in rhythm when he's not getting the ball in his best spots consistently and Fultz is messing up the spacing.

Also, Cole and Fultz just shouldn't ever play together, it never works, both are useless offball and defensively they aren't good enough to make up for this.

Another poor game by Franz, he looks tired.

Ingles again shot poorly, but his playmaking was great and he had by far the best plus/minus. We need him to handle the ball more with the bench unit.

Cole was poor. Isaac was fantastic on D and got to the line quite a bit, but I really hope his shooting improves when he gets more games under his belt, 18% from 3 is rough.

[pepe1991]

Black doesn't play PG for us now. I think it's important to point out, but in same time, why i need to point out ? If you watch games, you will see that Black isn't playmaking. He plays SF.

Do you think, in today’s NBA, that Black, Franz, and Paolo could share the “formerly known as PG” role, in a more progressive offense?

* I’m presuming reasonable maturing from Black as a ball handler getting comfortable vs NBA defenders

Well i hope Banchero and Franz improve as shooters, Franz should be at least average shooter ( he already is).


Lakers won championship in 2020 on very suspect spacing ( Lebron- Davis- McGee/Howard ). But their level of talent was so superior to competition to a point i guess it didn't really matter?


I think you can get away in regular season with just about everything. Ultra small, ultra tall , 5 out lineups etc, but playoffs force you to be more formulatic as transition points are limited and teams defend 3 point line better.
I want Magic to make playoffs to see them play under different circumstances, it would be good learning experience for not just players and coach but for fans as well.

[basketballRob]

Read on Twitter

And posters here are still saying he can't guard PGs or even guards in general.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

[basketballRob]

Black doesn't play PG for us now. I think it's important to point out, but in same time, why i need to point out ? If you watch games, you will see that Black isn't playmaking. He plays SF.

He isn't asked to run the offense. He guards mostly guards, but he's strong enough to hold his own against SFs. He's definitely a guard.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

[Skybox]

Black doesn't play PG for us now. I think it's important to point out, but in same time, why i need to point out ? If you watch games, you will see that Black isn't playmaking. He plays SF.

Do you think, in today’s NBA, that Black, Franz, and Paolo could share the “formerly known as PG” role, in a more progressive offense?

* I’m presuming reasonable maturing from Black as a ball handler getting comfortable vs NBA defenders

Well i hope Banchero and Franz improve as shooters, Franz should be at least average shooter ( he already is).


Lakers won championship in 2020 on very suspect spacing ( Lebron- Davis- McGee/Howard ). But their level of talent was so superior to competition to a point i guess it didn't really matter?


I think you can get away in regular season with just about everything. Ultra small, ultra tall , 5 out lineups etc, but playoffs force you to be more formulatic as transition points are limited and teams defend 3 point line better.
I want Magic to make playoffs to see them play under different circumstances, it would be good learning experience for not just players and coach but for fans as well.

But, presuming decent shooters at other positions...how do you feel about possibly eliminating the customary "Pure PG" role as far as ball handlers? I think the best team in the league already has - and, yes, I know they have a generational passer at C. You mentioned that Black has been at SF...can a talented, versatile team get along without a true PG driving the ship.

Let's say we get OG Anunoby or some other sweet shooting, good defending guy at SG (just an example-could be a better shooting hypothetical Suggs or Simons or a Jett we haven't seen yet-that can hold his own defensively and move the ball)...could the bulk of the traditional PG responsibilities be managed by Franz, Black, and Paolo?

IMO, that could be a revolutionary look-or a fail. I think TOR was playing with it under Nurse...but our long wings might be better equipped to pull it off than they were.

[RichCollab]

Just throwing this out there since I'm a big fan of AB: he shot 1-2 from deep tonight in his 17 minutes. That will bring his 3pt % DOWN for the season

AB > Fultz, Cole

AB isn’t my ideal Fultz replacement, but he’s here and he’s very promising…the fit questions are nearly the same but far less due to what else AB may bring (I’m just considering him not a 3pt threat despite the first few games). The idea that lottery picks in a loaded draft are unplayable is absurd…they’ll make mistakes but better they do it now than next year.

I really like Suggs and that’s likely my hesitation because he’s also not a great pairing with Black. Jett might be but it’s more likely someone not on our roster. Suggs & Cole off the bench make a lot of sense and pair nicely. That duo will win games for us but probably aren’t the long-term starting solution. A trade is the obvious move. The need for shooting threats is not debatable. Shooting is not everything, but lack of shooters in the mix is fatal to the other players…tired of watching us play offense with one hand behind our back

I’m so sick of hearing about Fultz being our best chance to win…finally seeing the resolve fading as reality among the apologists sets in but it’s still maddening. Win what? People stating with certainty that the GOAL is the playoffs. Says who? The goal should be to figure out who’s in for the long haul to contending even if it means losing a few more games this year…and, by the way, I’m not sure we would lose more, now or later. We should have a legit shot at .500 and/or playoffs if we make the obvious adjustments. Give it up…it’s become a ridiculously obvious conclusion. Maybe maybe we can get something of value from a team with shooting who lacks a floor general- I doubt it. More likely, when some team hits a wall and quietly declares a sell off, they’d value his expiring salary. That’s also our best chance to use our upcoming cap space in a productive way…rather than expect to entice a FA.

One more time I ask…what other team comes with a serious bid to get Fultz the FA? Would we even be thinking about Fultz with our cap space if he was on another team? Stop the fantasy…that’s not who he is

The biggest mind f for me is we need spacing. Paolo is getting swarmed. Black doesn’t fix that. Black is going to be good to great but let’s be honest spacing isn’t going to improve.

[pepe1991]

Black doesn't play PG for us now. I think it's important to point out, but in same time, why i need to point out ? If you watch games, you will see that Black isn't playmaking. He plays SF.

He isn't asked to run the offense. He guards mostly guards, but he's strong enough to hold his own against SFs. He's definitely a guard.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

Guarding somebody doesn't make you that position. Due endless switching every single player gaurds every single position at least once. That doesn't make some Capela Point Guard just because he guards Fultz for 2 possessions.

Cole ended up on Okongwu twice last night. That means Cole is our center!

You aren't point guard if your whole role is to stand in corner. Matter of fact, Mortiz Wagner had more touches than Black.

He isn't asked to run the offense.

You know that's like. Point guard's. Job?