2024-2025 Regular Season Game 28: New York Knicks (15-10) at Orlando Magic (17-10) - 6:00 pm

[Husky1]

Is WCJ even bench player anymore ? He got killed by Precious and Hart tonight

[KillMonger]

SGA is a top 5 player. That's why they are considered contenders. He's an in-his-prime MVP candidate.

Yes, i noticed him. Yet, with him, 2 seasons ago they were as bad as Orlando.
My question to do-nothing-and-wait people is - how long should we wait?
We have the assets to improve the team this season. We looked like a legitimate 50 wins team before the injuiries and those are not a season ending injuries. It's reasonable to expect Orlando in the playoffs again and then you can not just give up and claim the team is not ready.
I hope Paolo comes back soon and has a great end of the season, so the board start feeling pressure to upgrade the roaster. If Corey Joseph is playing someone is not doing their job.

This team is young and still building. Teams aren’t winning titles when their best players are 22 and under.

We should still be moving forward though, getting out of the first round should be the goal THIS year..... However in my opinion the roster as is? Not going to do it... So either we make smaller move to help out the offense or we punt the season stand pat and hope that the others do something different than what they're doing now(which they won't) I guess time will tell

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[Rainwater]

I just hope people remember how good this team was prior to the Paolo injury and while Franz carried the load. Yes, they have their issues; mainly 3 point shooting and 6th man/3rd option. However, they were sitting 3rd in the conference. This team is good, don’t let these losses trick you into thinking otherwise. Injuries are the biggest issue right now.

[Blue_and_Whte]

The good news are the games DaSilva and Mo had… the bad news is that DaSilva and Mo were our go to guys….WCJ had 2 points…. TWO points…

[RichCollab]

I just hope people remember how good this team was prior to the Paolo injury and while Franz carried the load. Yes, they have their issues; mainly 3 point shooting and 6th man/3rd option. However, they were sitting 3rd in the conference. This team is good, don’t let these losses trick you into thinking otherwise. Injuries are the biggest issue right now.

Suggs is fine as a 3rd option. Yes he needs to be more consistent on the offensive end but he is the 3rd option you speak of.

[pepe1991]

You can play hard and maybe beat some low level teams without your two best players, but against upper echelon teams, if it's not some back to back type of game, or complete outline, you have no business winning.
So this loss means little.


We also have to be objective and say that we played 12 out of 14 games from November 7th to December 4th against sub .500 wins teams, and only two upper teams were: Lakers and Clippers, neither of them will probably make playoffs this year.

Lot of talk about roster makeup, we knew we have no play maker since summer. Nothing changed, our PG body count is still zero.
Suggs vs Bucks took 26 shots for 1 assist. That's not play maker, he is too wild, too out of control to run offense, and when Banchero & Franz plays he falls in line into 3rd option. Difference from last year is that his 3 point shooting is way closer to what he displayed being as shooter than last year. Probably bit worst than his career averages will be ( i assume some average 34% -ish shooter ).

Black is always hot topic about his "play maker" but let's be real, you can call him whatever he is, he still is challenged offensive player. He is on ongoing 9 games streak without 3 point shot made, it's fine, problem? Well, he only tried 9 shots in that period from 3 point range. Just like Suggs, his shooting is way closer to expectations this year, than last year.


Who's shooting is way below expectations ? KCP. How many times KCp scored in double figures this year? Five.
Three out of 5 vs Nets. Once vs Pacers, once vs Bulls. Against better teams he is complete and utter waste. Might as well call him Gary Harris senior. We have two sets of brothers i guess. Wagner bros and Harris anemic twins.


And yea... we kind a know why Bulls got rid of Carter so early. Feels like he is always in circle of getting hurt, catching shape just to get hurt again and return in even worst shape. And that cycle never stops. Playing him at 4 isn't helpful, he is too heavy to guard perimeter. His outside shooting is laughable this year (17%). And yet, he is going nowhere until as early as 2028.


You can argue Weltman's biggest strength is his biggest problem. Way too much faith in this team. We resigned on long contracts pretty much everybody. What it looks great with Goga, doesn't look so great with Carter, Cole etc. There is too much emotions involved in roster decisions.

[OrlandoDream]

When washed corey joseph gives you the needed spark off the bench, you know you have a problem. I love Suggs but for the love of god HE IS NOT A PG. Without Paolo/Franz drawing attention, this suggs/kcp backcourt is not gonna work. Even long term we need a NBA level starting PG. Also, Cole, WCJr, Jett, and even AB need to be packaged with pick for better players. Paolo desevers better.

[Rainwater]

I just hope people remember how good this team was prior to the Paolo injury and while Franz carried the load. Yes, they have their issues; mainly 3 point shooting and 6th man/3rd option. However, they were sitting 3rd in the conference. This team is good, don’t let these losses trick you into thinking otherwise. Injuries are the biggest issue right now.

Suggs is fine as a 3rd option. Yes he needs to be more consistent on the offensive end but he is the 3rd option you speak of.

Suggs is best used when he is being set up. He shouldn't be the guy creating for the Magic offense, he way too inconsistent for that.

[drsd]

91 points, with 52 coming from Moe and TDS is not a good day at the office offensively

Orlando needs scoring from somewhere. I am impressed that two dudes most non-Magic fans have never heard of scored over 50% of the teams points. If Suggs had gone only 7-19 (37%) instead of the 21%er he put up, Orlando wins this game.

Our starting lineup 0 free throws. NY starting lineup with 26.

It isn't that there weren't fouls. Yes the Magic starers had 16 fouls, but the NYKs starters had 11.

[drsd]

Suggs is not the problem

KCP, Black, Jett and Cole are. They just havent been good and not done the things the team drafted/signed them for.

One by one:

Caldwell-Pope: he has been a major disappointment offensively. His per is sub-10.

Black: he is exactly were he should be. Decent backup PG that is improving.

Howard: he should not be on the Magic roster and is not obviously an NBA caliber of player. He is being forced to play becasue of injuries, but all that shows is that Orlando should not have signed Joseph, and should have signed a 3rd string SF instead.

Anthony: wow has he sucked. Back on point though. The moment the Magic drafted Black, the team should have traded Anthony. It is mismanagement he is still on the roster.

In conclusion: the Magic NEED another SF. (Or at least Harris to get healthy fast).

[drsd]

The real elephant in the room is injuries

100% !!!!

I think the Magic did pretty well in this game. I am not Debbi-downer in this one.

Suggs is gonna keep jacking up sub 40% games until Banchero gets healthy. And to see what da Silva and M-Wager gave, it was fun even if the result sucks.

Zen about this one! The better team won.

[drsd]

Box-score thoughts.

Orlando lost the FG% battle and lost the game.

But this is not "why" the Magic lost. FGM differential is the only narrative here. Nothing else to look at.

[I Rasharted]

You can argue Weltman's biggest strength is his biggest problem. Way too much faith in this team. We resigned on long contracts pretty much everybody. What it looks great with Goga, doesn't look so great with Carter, Cole etc. There is too much emotions involved in roster decisions.

[Skybox]

Jalen was 4 for 19 and AB was 1 for 7. I honestly do not care if we have Franz and Paolo or not. We not gonna win if our guards put up the performance like this. Again, it is our shooting and again it is our offense. What shall we do? That is probably why Cory Joseph got in

Suggs should NOT be taking 19 shots. That’s the problem.

Literally nobody else on this roster is capable of creating offense if their last name isn’t Banchero or Wagner.

Everyone else is expendable for that reason apart from maybe Goga.

Expendable? I thought Moe got us 32 points tonight

What’s Moe’s last name?

[eyriq]

My question to do-nothing-and-wait people is - how long should we wait?

Until the 2026 off-season. Roll with continuity this season and next and then re-tool.

[magik9113]

I am proudly in the do-nothing-and-wait boat but obviously am open to getting rid of Cole, Gary, and Jett... and even WCJ if we get a solid big in return

[ucfmay2000]

I just hope people remember how good this team was prior to the Paolo injury and while Franz carried the load. Yes, they have their issues; mainly 3 point shooting and 6th man/3rd option. However, they were sitting 3rd in the conference. This team is good, don’t let these losses trick you into thinking otherwise. Injuries are the biggest issue right now.

Suggs is fine as a 3rd option. Yes he needs to be more consistent on the offensive end but he is the 3rd option you speak of.

Suggs is not 3rd option. He is just simply a D guy. That is about it.

[ucfmay2000]

When washed corey joseph gives you the needed spark off the bench, you know you have a problem. I love Suggs but for the love of god HE IS NOT A PG. Without Paolo/Franz drawing attention, this suggs/kcp backcourt is not gonna work. Even long term we need a NBA level starting PG. Also, Cole, WCJr, Jett, and even AB need to be packaged with pick for better players. Paolo desevers better.

100% agree

[basketballRob]

All of our players look better playing off players who draw double teams. Paolo and Franz can both draw double teams.

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[Bergmaniac]

There is just very little creation ability on this roster when Paolo and Franz are out and when Suggs has a bad night against a non-terrible team this is what is likely to happen. And it just doesn't feel sustainable to rely on a player like Suggs who gives 110% on every defensive possession to be the main offensive engine too and create everything in the starting lineup, especially considering he has never been given such offensive responsibility before in his NBA career. Yes, he can get hot sometimes, but he is not a playmaker and he has never really been a first option or scored reliably on self-created shots. But sadly we really don't have any other decent options with the injury situation and Cole forgetting to play basketball.

Our starters shot 0 FTs in this game, which is obviously pretty embarassing. And it didn't even feel like the refs screwed us over, sure there were some borderline calls but they went both ways. It's frankly amazing the game was ever close and that was mostly thanks to the defence, Mo and Da Silva. Our non-German players scored a total of 17 baskets and 2 FTs.