Jalen Suggs. New Elephant in a room.

[eyriq]

Look at Houston's offense. We can do that.

[JoshuaPotter]

"Team looks worse offensively without best offensive player who also happens to be a debatably top 15 overall player in the league" is not really a great talking point.

Very very true.

Neither is "guys who are suited to be #3/#4 options are struggled to scale up"

That is kinda my beef. I see "peak Suggs" as possibly able to handle no 2 for short stints. Therefore, there is no "elephant" in the room. That is Suggs current ceiling. I do not know yet if he is no3 on a championship team. He might be no4. But lets not use me saying that as opposition to the Suggs expose we have currently at no2.

You would think (current win streak be darned) that our season is imploding and we have Philys current record when in reality 3 of our loses have come from what we can now say is "championship contenders". A conversation that minus Paolo we have no business being in.

What's sad, is I dont even consider this a hot take.

[VFX]

I get the point of the thread. I debated whether it was even worth contributing.

As others have said…

Shifting priorities after Paolo went down has taken Suggs out of his usual role from last season. He thrived in a role for 60 games last season primarily as a defender that was a third option shooting outlet. He was paired with Gary for the last 20 + playoffs. Regardless, the offense didn’t look great.

Then the offseason came and they doubled down on upgrading Gary Harris to KCP to play next to Suggs. Well, that takes a season of great progress and pushes it to the side again. Suggs is not a point guard, and he doesn’t necessarily fill in for one either, aside from the fact that he guards most opposing team’s best perimeter scorer.

Not sure why the front office was SO opposed to merely acquiring a point guard and letting Suggs do exactly what he did well last season in his role. Poorly ranked offense looked bad last season. It still looks inefficient with, and obviously worse, without Paolo this season.

Suggs has been tasked with mitigating their failure to solve roster issues, now without Paolo, at the expense of what he does well. So yeah, he’s been more inefficient stepping into a different role while still attempting to maintain his level of play defensively.

If anything, KCP is the guy that has been massively exposed here since Paolo went down. At no point has he stepped up and proven he’s capable of being THAT guy media and fans were fawning over as a great acquisition this offseason for Orlando. His scoring production has dropped to the lowest levels since… get this… his rookie season in 2013-14. So glad we paid him. Bravo.

You're also coming from a place of belief that the offense with Paolo healthy, Franz locked into a No. 2 role, Suggs locked into a No. 3 role and Black showing real development offensively still won't be a good offense.

All we can keep saying to each other in these disputes is “we will see”.

Do I personally think an entire system predicated on two scorers in isolation, surrounded by below average to average shot creators, is a great scheme for an offense? The answer is no. Paolo is not Tatum nor LeBron. Three entirely different styles of play.

Paolo and Franz can grow into more efficient scorers under the assumption they markedly jump as shooters. Then, maybe. That’s still coming in with the expectation that they transform their game due in part to the limitations set upon them from the FO. Same thing with Black. It’s a jenga tower of “yeah if they develop into this”, rather than providing necessary skill sets during their development.

So “we will see” is what you have right now as defense carries this team to wins for the last season plus.

[Knightro]

All we can keep saying to each other in these disputes is “we will see”.

Do I personally think an entire system predicated on two scorers in isolation, surrounded by below average to average shot creators, is a great scheme for an offense? The answer is no. Paolo is not Tatum nor LeBron. Three entirely different styles of play.

Paolo and Franz can grow into more efficient scorers under the assumption they markedly jump as shooters. Then, maybe. That’s still coming in with the expectation that they transform their game due in part to the limitations set upon them from the FO. Same thing with Black. It’s a jenga tower of “yeah if they develop into this”, rather than providing necessary skill sets during their development.

So “we will see” is what you have right now as defense carries this team to wins for the last season plus.

Franz is shooting 36% from 3PT on 6 attempts a night. That's more than good enough given how good he is from everywhere else on the floor.

And those two guys improving as 3PT shooters is not the *only* path towards the Magic making significant improvements offensively, although it's certainly a big one.

Another path towards very tangible improvement would be Paolo and Franz both decreasing their turnover rates, which we were seeing out of Paolo before he went down and we're currently seeing from Franz as the lead dog.

Another path towards tangible improvement would be overall shot selection. It's was a small sample size of just 5 games, but Paolo in particular was taking way more valuable/easier to make shots (easier more shots at rim, more valuable 3PTers) than he did the previous two years.

[MasterGMer]

I get the point of the thread. I debated whether it was even worth contributing.

As others have said…

Shifting priorities after Paolo went down has taken Suggs out of his usual role from last season. He thrived in a role for 60 games last season primarily as a defender that was a third option shooting outlet. He was paired with Gary for the last 20 + playoffs. Regardless, the offense didn’t look great.

Then the offseason came and they doubled down on upgrading Gary Harris to KCP to play next to Suggs. Well, that takes a season of great progress and pushes it to the side again. Suggs is not a point guard, and he doesn’t necessarily fill in for one either, aside from the fact that he guards most opposing team’s best perimeter scorer.

Not sure why the front office was SO opposed to merely acquiring a point guard and letting Suggs do exactly what he did well last season in his role. Poorly ranked offense looked bad last season. It still looks inefficient with, and obviously worse, without Paolo this season.

Suggs has been tasked with mitigating their failure to solve roster issues, now without Paolo, at the expense of what he does well. So yeah, he’s been more inefficient stepping into a different role while still attempting to maintain his level of play defensively.

If anything, KCP is the guy that has been massively exposed here since Paolo went down. At no point has he stepped up and proven he’s capable of being THAT guy media and fans were fawning over as a great acquisition this offseason for Orlando. His scoring production has dropped to the lowest levels since… get this… his rookie season in 2013-14. So glad we paid him. Bravo.

You're also coming from a place of belief that the offense with Paolo healthy, Franz locked into a No. 2 role, Suggs locked into a No. 3 role and Black showing real development offensively still won't be a good offense.

All we can keep saying to each other in these disputes is “we will see”.

Do I personally think an entire system predicated on two scorers in isolation, surrounded by below average to average shot creators, is a great scheme for an offense? The answer is no. Paolo is not Tatum nor LeBron. Three entirely different styles of play.

Paolo and Franz can grow into more efficient scorers under the assumption they markedly jump as shooters. Then, maybe. That’s still coming in with the expectation that they transform their game due in part to the limitations set upon them from the FO. Same thing with Black. It’s a jenga tower of “yeah if they develop into this”, rather than providing necessary skill sets during their development.

So “we will see” is what you have right now as defense carries this team to wins for the last season plus.

Yes, Suggs has struggled. Yes, his role was not to be the NO.2 scorer on the team, his role is to defend and make open 3s while playing the PG position.

The whole argument is not how we pivot to a Championship caliber team, but to see the growth and ownership of Suggs' own games after Paolo went down.

Like I said again, in the context of Paolo's injury, Franz elevated his game and on his way to his first All Star game. AB improved and more assertive in what he didn't do last season. When he scored 20 last game, I was super happy and excited.

Not only that, Goga stepped up and JI has turned to a defensive machine.

I know Suggs' role on this team is not trying to score a bunch of points or create a bunch of isolation scoring opportunities. But he HAS TO step up his game. Why? Because of the same reason, Paolo went down.

Yes, there are paths ways for the Magic team to be better than last year and our goal is still in tact. We will see. We will see how Suggs improve and take some roles he didn't do or usually do. Why? It is about his own growth and development to a better player. In this aspect, he didn't do it.

I am ready to say there is New Elephant in the room, but definitely Suggs needs to be better

[JoshuaPotter]

You're also coming from a place of belief that the offense with Paolo healthy, Franz locked into a No. 2 role, Suggs locked into a No. 3 role and Black showing real development offensively still won't be a good offense.

All we can keep saying to each other in these disputes is “we will see”.

Do I personally think an entire system predicated on two scorers in isolation, surrounded by below average to average shot creators, is a great scheme for an offense? The answer is no. Paolo is not Tatum nor LeBron. Three entirely different styles of play.

Paolo and Franz can grow into more efficient scorers under the assumption they markedly jump as shooters. Then, maybe. That’s still coming in with the expectation that they transform their game due in part to the limitations set upon them from the FO. Same thing with Black. It’s a jenga tower of “yeah if they develop into this”, rather than providing necessary skill sets during their development.

So “we will see” is what you have right now as defense carries this team to wins for the last season plus.

Yes, Suggs has struggled. Yes, his role was not to be the NO.2 scorer on the team, his role is to defend and make open 3s while playing the PG position.

The whole argument is not how we pivot to a Championship caliber team, but to see the growth and ownership of Suggs' own games after Paolo went down.

Like I said again, in the context of Paolo's injury, Franz elevated his game and on his way to his first All Star game. AB improved and more assertive in what he didn't do last season. When he scored 20 last game, I was super happy and excited.

Not only that, Goga stepped up and JI has turned to a defensive machine.

I know Suggs' role on this team is not trying to score a bunch of points or create a bunch of isolation scoring opportunities. But he HAS TO step up his game. Why? Because of the same reason, Paolo went down.

Yes, there are paths ways for the Magic team to be better than last year and our goal is still in tact. We will see. We will see how Suggs improve and take some roles he didn't do or usually do. Why? It is about his own growth and development to a better player. In this aspect, he didn't do it.

I am ready to say there is New Elephant in the room, but definitely Suggs needs to be better

I just am not seeing Suggs as a no2 options legitimately even when others go down to injury. Hopefully he has a bounce back game or 2 on the road trip so this thread quiets down. But I really dont see much of an "elephant in the room" as many say. His shooting percentages were 100% the result P + F + anything that resembles an NBA point guard should make for a .500 team.

[ogmagicfan]

I feel like this is as good of a time as ever for this to be bumped up

We need Suggs to put pressure on the rim with both Paolo & Franz out, not just 28 ft 3 pointers

[SloNick Russia]

This is not a team, its an elephant zoo

Sent from my SM-G9750 using RealGM mobile app

[drsd]

This is not a team, its an elephant zoo

Try blocking this shot !?!?!?!?

[Residual-Heat]

Are people starting to see the all-star potential Suggs has? Im starting to see a few people in the media mentioning it (Kenny Smith on TNT and I think it was Jeff Teague on his podcast are some of them). I have always said he will be a late bloomer, but has star potential. Give him a couple of years to put it all together.

The only thing Im worried about right now is Suggs trying to do too much with Franz and Paolo out and getting himself injured.