2023-2024 Regular Season Game 54: Oklahoma City Thunder (36-17) at Orlando Magic (29-24) - 7:30pm

[OnlyFranz22]

Wendell had the cheapest 20 point game of all time & no clue what Fultz was doing. Gary Harris don’t even get me started.

Probably why they weren’t moved. Fan base holds more value than the rest of the league making the decisions.

[ChosenSavior]

Just gotta tip the cap. Very good team we played tonight. Gotta dig deep and bounce back tomorrow.

Ingles and Fultz (tired of talking about him) are getting to near unplayable levels. Tired of Cole being inconsistent and Gary Harris offers nothing.

I still have Fultz far away down the list of worst players on the night. I think he defended better than anyone for us on the perimeter. A couple of possessions where he was the piece to score from the developing action, he actually did albeit one was with a dime down low. He just takes some flak because his fit with the team is just obviously not there and it's not his fault. He's still a starting level PG in defense, passing, and solid at attacking.

With him not looking to shoot at all, don't like his fit in the starting lineup. I actually would like him at backup PG over Cole if AB wasn't on this roster. Frustrating enigma on this team.

[MasterGMer]

We have major flaws from the way we playing, which is 3 pt shooting and shot making. We are bottom in 3pt attempt and 3pt %. That is just unacceptable. How we are going to compete in the playoffs and how are we going to upgrade the team?

[Knightro]

Speaking for myself, I don't mind the L. OKC is a great young team. At the opening tip, SVG hyped the game as "the two best young teams in the NBA". That felt awesome. OKC is better...I think 100 out of 100 knowledgeable fans would agree. But the quality of the loss was awful.

but to continue to lose the same way, for the same obvious glaring reasons is maddening. Sorry I put my pom poms away. Better hope Paolo doesn't get tired of carrying this load and getting banged around every night. He's not blind and you'd have to be to not mad dog Weltman on your way to the cold tub...never mind, Weltman's in the Caribbean after a busy week.

I feel the same.

The reality of the situation is that the Magic played a better basketball team who also played close to their A game.

The Magic certainly didn't play their best, but some credit has to go to OKC defensively too. They had 17 stocks, ya know?

[eyriq]

Retirement ceremony by booting up!

[SOUL]

I mean, we are probably a first round exit regardless of our moves this year so I'm not immediately concerned about not getting guys, but it's also hard to be convinced they will make moves as well.

The Knicks fans have been pretty critical of their FO the last few years and then suddenly they can do no wrong. Hopefully we start to gear up towards that as soon as next year.

[dsg2021]

OKC came in to prove a point. SGA/JWill know the duo or Franz/Paolo….. They made a statement.

They are for real this year and the Magic are not in that conversation yet.

Yep, Mikal outplayed both Paolo and Franz in his BRK-ORL games, and now JWill showing he's a better 2nd star forward than Franz, when he's not even the real 2nd star in the team (it's gonna be Holmgren from 2-way impact).

[Knightro]

How we are going to compete in the playoffs and how are we going to upgrade the team?

They're not. If they are able to get out of the play in, they will be beat in 4 or 5 games in the first round.

But upgrading the team should actually be pretty easy if Weltman is willing to actually get aggressive. The Magic are going to have a ton of cap space and have plenty of tradable assets.

[basketballRob]

This refusal to give the opponent credit when the Magic lose that some of y'all often do is quite perplexing.

We can still point out the weak links on our team.

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I think you are wrong personally. No one has said OKC is a bad team. They have a true 3 headed giant. They are a powerhouse. It's not that they beat us, it's that they used the same recipe every playoff team has against us.

What people often just keep talking about is our terrible shooting. And we get one game on TV and half the time they are talking about us being exploited from our terrible shooting.

We had multiple expiring/picks going into free agency , everyone on the board pleaded for management to make a move and bring in some shooters. What did we do as the worst shooting team in the NBA? Stand still.

I honestly think the venting and critisism is well deserved (from the fans and the media) this front office should absolutely be on the hot seat.

We are going to likely get absolutely blown out in the playoffs and that isn't good enough and wont keep your stars around.

This is the exactly what's going to happen time and time again, teams will zone us, take away our driving lanes and watch us brick it.

We are the opposite of the team Van Gundy brought to the finals. We wont be as good as our record in the playoffs.

We have a PG that can't shoot outside of 3' and a center that averages 0.4 bpg.

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[ORLMagicGirl15]

I wish Paolo was vocal enough to say that we need shooters on this team. Maybe Weltman would listen and actually go and find shooters.

[dsg2021]

Just gotta tip the cap. Very good team we played tonight. Gotta dig deep and bounce back tomorrow.

Ingles and Fultz (tired of talking about him) are getting to near unplayable levels. Tired of Cole being inconsistent and Gary Harris offers nothing.

I still have Fultz far away down the list of worst players on the night. I think he defended better than anyone for us on the perimeter. A couple of possessions where he was the piece to score from the developing action, he actually did albeit one was with a dime down low. He just takes some flak because his fit with the team is just obviously not there and it's not his fault. He's still a starting level PG in defense, passing, and solid at attacking.

With him not looking to shoot at all, don't like his fit in the starting lineup. I actually would like him at backup PG over Cole if AB wasn't on this roster. Frustrating enigma on this team.

I had the same exact thought. I would have started AB this game, and had Fultz play the backup minutes or even a touch more minutes than AB. I would've thrown Cole in for 9 minutes as a backup SG just to check if he was going to continue being a bad player as lately.

[MasterGMer]

How we are going to compete in the playoffs and how are we going to upgrade the team?

They're not. If they are able to get out of the play in, they will be beat in 4 or 5 games in the first round.

But upgrading the team should actually be pretty easy if Weltman is willing to actually get aggressive. The Magic are going to have a ton of cap space and have plenty of tradable assets.

But we are definitely not getting a super star. Someone recently flamed me for this

The problem is really not we are able to or not. But if there is an opportunity, like someone asks out.

Plus we have a first round pick in the 20th range.

[KillMonger]

man, i don't think it's ever been clearer that Fultz is on his way out.....

[Rainwater]

Hope people understand this team is still quite young

[OrlChamps2030]

I feel for Paolo. This FO has not made it easy for him.. heavy load to carry for a second year player

[VFX]

Wendell had the cheapest 20 point game of all time & no clue what Fultz was doing. Gary Harris don’t even get me started.

Probably why they weren’t moved. Fan base holds more value than the rest of the league making the decisions.

This fan base wants everyone to be friends and hold hands skipping as they get blown out at home off two days rest on national TV.

But yeah, we are the ones blowing everything out of proportion when we have the most conservative risk averse Front Office in the league.

I’m kinda done even caring at this point. Yeah the Thunder are good. They are who the Magic should have been if their Front Office didn’t spend the first 4 seasons evaluating a **** team, screwing up draft picks, and hoarding assets until they weren’t worth anything. There, I gave the Thunder credit…

Xatticus made a smart decision.

[eyriq]

I just can't believe how bad we play off of 2+ days off, and how bad the JI minutes and bench minutes were overall. Franz also with a stinker, 15 pts on 16 FGA.

Paolo with a double double on assists is dope.

We weren't prepared.

[Rainwater]

man, i don't think it's ever been clearer that Fultz is on his way out.....

I wish he was traded but I pretty they will lose him for nothing.

[thelead]

The magic has run out with Ingles and Cole is in his head. If those two are playing major minute for us next year, the FO isn't serious about winning. Same goes for Gary Harris.

[dsg2021]

I wish Paolo was vocal enough to say that we need shooters on this team. Maybe Weltman would listen and actually go and find shooters.

We're giving him a negative experience at times this year, for sure. The super early fuel if he requests a trade in some seasons ahead. He's still so young and his rookie contract still early/midway though. We don't HAVE to fit the roster and lock all the cap space around him quite yet.