2024-2025 Regular Season Game 42: Orlando Magic (23-18) at Milwaukee Bucks (21-17) 8:00PM

[CarraT]

League average is 36% from 3. We are shooting BELOW 31%. Dead last. By a HUGE margin dead last! This is pathetic. We need to adress this issue finally after years and years of having same problems.

The last time a team was shooting this bad, was 2012-13, TWELVE YEARS ago, Minnesota Timberwolves. After that, no team came even close to our disastrous 3P%.

[ogmagicfan]

[list=][/list]

Offense is better when Franz plays / when Banchero is out. Last year and all the data proved team played better without Banchero.

Franz moves the ball and isn't ball stopper. Banchero slows down already anemic & slow offense and turns alraedy limited role players into even more limited role players, often just passing ball in last seconds where they have to hoist up impossible shot due shot clock going down.

Fact that nba champion, MVP and finals MVP is willing to grind screens for Aj Green in same game where Paolo just yells to get a ball and play endless isolation on Lopez is telling how much he has to mature to turn this team into contender and himself into ultra elite player.

Once again, in just 26 min of action, Paolo milked 32 possessions / 44% usage rate. That approach will never be winning basketball long term.

We can b*** and moan about role players, with Moe down, there isn't single offensive role player left, but our offensive rating for a season is around 108,5. In last 3 games, apon Banchero's return, it's 103 and our assist ratio is 3rd lowest in nba.

Banchero is player with elite potential, but he has to defer to team more and be ingaged in off ball action more OR become Jokić/Lebron passer. Second won't happen because he ain't that creative.

Paolo is getting his groove back after being out for 34 games with a roster where we have 8-9 players available while on a mins restriction. If he picks back up to how he was playing before the injury he'll be fine. He can be a bit more decisive passing wise but the roster we have currently is the worst we've had this season.

Atleast Franz had Suggs & Moe during his run without Paolo. We dont have any of the 3 with Paolo currently, along with Goga.

Tag that along with a harder schedule than that stretch, and we have overblown reactions after 3 games.

[SOUL]

wendell's highest shooting % in the last 4 games is 30%... as a center..

[Optimus_Steel]

Lost every quarter and got dominated even with Mil 21 turnovers. They shot 60% the entire night. It was an inexcusable performance.

[Skybox]

Paolo is an amazing player with unlimited upside…but, when he’s playing, everyone else -even Franz, to a degree, are just moons in his orbit. When Franz plays without Paolo, it’s a much more attractive offense…Paolo is the best player on the team, but he’s got to become a little more Jokic and a little less Carmelo if we’re going to get anywhere…this may be more on the coaches. I hope it’s not the only way he can play…the criticisms of his personal efficiency, imo, are dwarfed by the need to integrate others…

on the other hand, maybe this just reminds me of people criticizing All-Star Vuc for playing 2 man game “only” with Evan…I always felt that they were the only 2 that could make a shot, as in “who else would you want me to pass it to?”

Paolo is a dominant offensive player, but we’re an awful offensive team…I thinks that’s system (as well as glaring, absurd, obvious, ridiculous lack of a playmaking guard to give at least a little bit of variety)

[SOUL]

Paolo is a dominant offensive player, but we’re an awful offensive team…I thinks that’s system (as well as glaring, absurd, obvious, ridiculous lack of a playmaking guard to give at least a little bit of variety)

that guard obviously helps, but i personally think it's the 60-70 points missing every game that makes people write paragraphs about things that are simply identified as "not enough talent available" but what do i know ...

i know people are always going to reference last year but it was one of the youngest teams in the league with our best offensive players still improving/playing through struggles, as they will be over the next 3 or so years before their primes...

paolo was subpar today, especially with turnovers, but there's only so much you can do when people aren't making shots and the personnel available isn't guaranteed to net you easy baskets. both prior games he easily could've had 10+ assists if people made shots. i also don't think one can just be jokic or else everyone would do it lol.

[Skybox]

Paolo is a dominant offensive player, but we’re an awful offensive team…I thinks that’s system (as well as glaring, absurd, obvious, ridiculous lack of a playmaking guard to give at least a little bit of variety)

that guard obviously helps, but i personally think it's the 60-70 points missing every game that makes people write paragraphs about things that are simply identified as "not enough talent available" but what do i know ...

i know people are always going to reference last year but it was one of the youngest teams in the league with our best offensive players still improving/playing through struggles, as they will be over the next 3 or so years before their primes...

paolo was subpar today, especially with turnovers, but there's only so much you can do when people aren't making shots and the personnel available isn't guaranteed to net you easy baskets. both prior games he easily could've had 10+ assists if people made shots. i also don't think one can just be jokic or else everyone would do it lol.

That’s not what I said, there’s plenty of things Paolo does that Jokic can’t…he needs to be more aware of his teammates. Drive and dish on every possession Isn’t a system, imo. Every miss counting as a “lost assist” is giving a bit too much credit…It’s not like DEN shoots 80%. We need to move the ball…we might even do it less when healthy. Paolo & Franz crashing into the paint 75% of the time, with an occasional Suggs “me too” is just another flavor of the same thing

[SOUL]

[
That’s not what I said, there’s plenty of things Paolo does that Jokic can’t…he needs to be more aware of his teammates. Drive and dish on every possession Isn’t a system, imo. Every miss counting as a “lost assist” is giving a bit too much credit…It’s not like DEN shoots 80%. We need to move the ball…we might even do it less when healthy. Paolo & Franz crashing into the paint 75% of the time, with an occasional Suggs “me too” is just another flavor of the same thing

i'm not giving too much credit lol there was one game where he had 6 potential assists in like the first 4 minutes and he had 1.. just getting some of those where he ends with the game with 7-8 assists, you can clearly see there just isn't great shot making healthy and available. again, 4-5 people are playing DAILY that were not playing on this team when healthy...

they are always going to play an iso heavy brand of offense because it's what they excel at. franz and paolo are walking mismatches who enjoy getting to their spots (franz driving inside, paolo mid-range). that's what you're signing up for with them as our 1/2. the rest will have to feed off their gravity and make shots.

the creative flowy GSW stuff people want only works if the personnel around them are constantly moving, which again, takes a whole lot of energy that saps our defense and a very specific sort of guard that just isn't on the team right now. we ain't having that.

teams are basically running variations of the same thing anyway. there's certain things we don't do since we have different guard talent and better forward talent, but no team is just completely going off the script. a lot of it is just simply shotmaking and scoring ability.

they're still coming into their own as elite scorers, so once you get that SGA/Tatum/Giannis/Jokic level of efficiency you hope one or both of them can get to, at least in more games than not.. that's when our team is going to be in contention. until then.. we have to find/keep the right pieces around them.

[Skybox]

since we have different guard talent

charitable choice of words

[yoyojw17]

[
That’s not what I said, there’s plenty of things Paolo does that Jokic can’t…he needs to be more aware of his teammates. Drive and dish on every possession Isn’t a system, imo. Every miss counting as a “lost assist” is giving a bit too much credit…It’s not like DEN shoots 80%. We need to move the ball…we might even do it less when healthy. Paolo & Franz crashing into the paint 75% of the time, with an occasional Suggs “me too” is just another flavor of the same thing

i'm not giving too much credit lol there was one game where he had 6 potential assists in like the first 4 minutes and he had 1.. just getting some of those where he ends with the game with 7-8 assists, you can clearly see there just isn't great shot making healthy and available. again, 4-5 people are playing DAILY that were not playing on this team when healthy...

they are always going to play an iso heavy brand of offense because it's what they excel at. franz and paolo are walking mismatches who enjoy getting to their spots (franz driving inside, paolo mid-range). that's what you're signing up for with them as our 1/2. the rest will have to feed off their gravity and make shots.

the creative flowy GSW stuff people want only works if the personnel around them are constantly moving, which again, takes a whole lot of energy that saps our defense and a very specific sort of guard that just isn't on the team right now. we ain't having that.

teams are basically running variations of the same thing anyway. there's certain things we don't do since we have different guard talent and better forward talent, but no team is just completely going off the script. a lot of it is just simply shotmaking and scoring ability.

they're still coming into their own as elite scorers, so once you get that SGA/Tatum/Giannis/Jokic level of efficiency you hope one or both of them can get to, at least in more games than not.. that's when our team is going to be in contention. until then.. we have to find/keep the right pieces around them.

Yup... can't expect to squeeze water out of a stone every night. lol. We are playing against a team that one the championship a few years ago. They are mainly intact from back then... swapping out a few players. Even dame and giannis didn't look as great in year one.... and even at points during the beginning of this year as well. and things are starting to click. But for the most part there are years of growth and familiarity amongst most of the core and the new players are fitting themselves into something that is already established.

and yup... agreed.... no matter how amazing franz and paolo are... they are still 23 and 22, respectively and have a lot of growing still. Not sure what has happened to the shooting this year... after adding help and supposedly growing in the shooting department... but if they start falling... we would be a dangerous team as everything else is still there.

and yup.... WE ARE HEAVILY INJURED. Happy Paolo is back .... but with our depth... i never envisioned Caleb Houstan getting much playing time.... but he's played around 26 minutes on average in the last 3 games. hahah. Franz, Suggs, Goga... (starters).... Moe Wagner (career year out for the season)...Harris and Howard (players that should have played ahead of CoJo and Houstan).

Based on that alone... we should be impressed when they win... and not surprised when they couldn't bring it and pull out a win. the thing about it now... which to me is a great thing... the reason we get angry now is because we can see why or how we can easily be better and win. And as long as we are inching towards higher levels of consistency the better we will be in the future as the team identity continues to solidify.

[basketballRob]

Milwaukee is healthy and has played dozens of games together to build cohesion. We need everyone to play the last 30-40 games healthy. I doubt the front office makes an all in trade this season.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

[Bergmaniac]

It's just getting absurd at this point, almost shooter that comes here starts shooting worse and it's not because they are not getting good looks. KCP shot 38.5% or better in the last 5 seasons shooter from 3 is shooting 36% on wide open 3s and 32% overall. Caleb Houstan is supposed to be a 3 point specialist but he is shooting 32% from 3. Da Silva is supposed to be a good shooter and his stroke looks very good but he is more likely to shoot 0/5 than a good percentage from 3. Jett is supposed to be a great shooter from 3 but he is shooting 30.7% this year. Black's shooting has regressed from last season. Cole is shooting 30%. You just can't have a good offense in the modern NBA with such poor shooting. We have only 3 guards with decent percentage from 3 and they are Queen who hasn't played much and doesn't shoot many (and even his percentage would be right at league average if not for the two lucky backboard bounces in the Celtics game), Joseph, the end of the bench PG who doesn't play much or shoot many, and Harris, another low volume shooter who is injured most of the time. And even Harris and Joseph are only at 35% when the league average is 36%.

None of our top 8 players in 3 point attempts this season has shot the 3 better than 32.1%. This is just horrendously bad. It's frankly a miracle we are over .500 at this point given this.

[eyriq]

.674 vs .411 eFG%

.347 vs .158 FT/FGA

They were more aggressive, particularly in attacking the paint. Out scored us 54-32 in the paint and 25-15 at the line. -32 in those two areas alone. We were +15 from three.

Not really our style of basketball at all.

[MartinsIzAfraud]

Not understanding the Mose hate. If anything dudes had us punching above our weight class for 2 years. Thats the frustrating part though, we’ve got the HC, 2studs, a great 3/4th option. Just got get a bench maestro who can score and alleviate the bench minute lapses that we have.

[eyriq]

In the Jazz game we were -16 in the paint, -8 at the line.

This effort reminds me of that game. Power Centers bother us?

[RichCollab]

Last night was terrible.

It’s going to take time for Paolo to regain form. Handle is not very good at the moment.

Ball movement was pretty bad. Given we are still missing a lot of players I’m not going to panic.

I’m starting to wonder if we need a shift in play styles or a way to shift gears.

100% effort all the time and fighting for everything doesn’t seem sustainable from a health perspective and I believe it takes out legs out impacting shooting.

If we have a night where we lack effort, we just look bad.

[Rainwater]

Paolo is a dominant offensive player, but we’re an awful offensive team…I thinks that’s system (as well as glaring, absurd, obvious, ridiculous lack of a playmaking guard to give at least a little bit of variety)

that guard obviously helps, but i personally think it's the 60-70 points missing every game that makes people write paragraphs about things that are simply identified as "not enough talent available" but what do i know ...

i know people are always going to reference last year but it was one of the youngest teams in the league with our best offensive players still improving/playing through struggles, as they will be over the next 3 or so years before their primes...

paolo was subpar today, especially with turnovers, but there's only so much you can do when people aren't making shots and the personnel available isn't guaranteed to net you easy baskets. both prior games he easily could've had 10+ assists if people made shots. i also don't think one can just be jokic or else everyone would do it lol.

Yeah, I don’t know how people are gauging much from these games.

[JoshuaPotter]

This was a bad bad bad loss. Also just 1 game.

I really can't be upset. With how many Magical games we have had with what has to be an physically exhausted roster and what looks like a minute restricted Paolo still.

Yes, forgettable but on to the next game.

[VFX]

Paolo is a dominant offensive player, but we’re an awful offensive team…I thinks that’s system (as well as glaring, absurd, obvious, ridiculous lack of a playmaking guard to give at least a little bit of variety)

that guard obviously helps, but i personally think it's the 60-70 points missing every game that makes people write paragraphs about things that are simply identified as "not enough talent available" but what do i know ...

i know people are always going to reference last year but it was one of the youngest teams in the league with our best offensive players still improving/playing through struggles, as they will be over the next 3 or so years before their primes...

paolo was subpar today, especially with turnovers, but there's only so much you can do when people aren't making shots and the personnel available isn't guaranteed to net you easy baskets. both prior games he easily could've had 10+ assists if people made shots. i also don't think one can just be jokic or else everyone would do it lol.

Yeah, I don’t know how people are gauging much from these games.

Conclusions really shouldn’t be drawn here aside from the bench unit looking… like a bench unit.

[Bergmaniac]

In the Jazz game we were -16 in the paint, -8 at the line.

This effort reminds me of that game. Power Centers bother us?

When your outside shooting is as bad as the ours usually is, a good rim protector makes a huge difference.