2024-2025 Regular Season Game 43: Orlando Magic (23-19) at Boston Celtics (28-12) 7:00PM

[eyriq]

Poor Paolo, comes back from injury and the team proceeds have some of their most demoralizing arse whippings of the year.

I mean, how could someone not see it coming? Franz had a healthy team minus Paolo. Paolo is playing on a minutes restriction and with the c-team.

Agreed, this is all expected.

[SOUL]

It's an indictment against Mose if he doesn't have a shooting coach. If he does, that guys needs to be held accountable. I have had issues with our offense and still think that Mose needs to hire a lead assistant coach that modernizes our offense BUT our players are missing WIDE OPEN THREES. Those should be muscle memory makes.

Sets and concepts are similar for every team in the league, personnel dictates how often things are being ran. We've had so many nice plays for open shots just be airballs. I'm sure these guys shoot lights out in practice too.

Right now probably NOTHING they've practiced all off-season and training camp with healthy bodies can be ran with any regularity. Everybody's role is 100% different this entire season. It's why most teams struggle with injuries and why it was a big deal we still won with so many people out, but for some reason, people are acting like our normal team has Franz, Moe, Suggs, Goga, etc out lol.

[RichCollab]

We are down 6 players. 3 starters who are a foundation to our defense.

Paolo is a grown man. I think he can handle this situation.

[SOUL]

Our team works well as a whole when it's healthy, and even when a few big pieces are gone if we can shift guys into quasi-similar roles, but once enough pieces crumble, thrusting certain guys into spotlight roles makes them look bad... as it does for most teams.

Unfortunately, the guys we could rely on for consistency (Suggs POA defense, Goga paint defense/rebounding, Moe 10+ points, Franz two-way play) are out and you have a bunch of guys that either do really well or decide to fart all game and the games showcase that.

[richi_v25]

I only saw some parts of the game bc i took my family out to eat but who deserves the Dunce Cap more KCP or JI? Paolo's eye was all messed up after that slap poke and should have been a flagrant, hope he's aight.

[rcklsscognition]

These are NBA players they should be able to shoot regardless of sets. They’re wide open. It’s similar to me going to the park and playing with random people I can hit 40-50% from 3 without plays or knowing my teammates

[thelead]

It's an indictment against Mose if he doesn't have a shooting coach. If he does, that guys needs to be held accountable. I have had issues with our offense and still think that Mose needs to hire a lead assistant coach that modernizes our offense BUT our players are missing WIDE OPEN THREES. Those should be muscle memory makes.

Sets and concepts are similar for every team in the league, personnel dictates how often things are being ran. We've had so many nice plays for open shots just be airballs. I'm sure these guys shoot lights out in practice too.

Right now probably NOTHING they've practiced all off-season and training camp with healthy bodies can be ran with any regularity. Everybody's role is 100% different this entire season. It's why most teams struggle with injuries and why it was a big deal we still won with so many people out, but for some reason, people are acting like our normal team has Franz, Moe, Suggs, Goga, etc out lol.

I agree with the first part you said. While it didn't sound like I was happy with Mose's offense, I should have said that I have seen great improvement in the looks we are getting. Bringing on a offensive genius like Memphis did with Tuomas Iisalo would hardly hurt though, I promise.

On the second part, why would who one practices with affect how you shoot WIDE OPEN shots? I get not knowing sets, not knowing where players are going to be, their tendencies, ect but getting a pass in the corner and bricking 3 after 3 should have nothing to do with who you practice with.

[eyriq]

I only saw some parts of the game bc i took my family out to eat but who deserves the Dunce Cap more KCP or JI? Paolo's eye was all messed up after that slap poke and should have been a flagrant, hope he's aight.

Without looking at the box score I feel like TDS gets the dunce cap.

[SOUL]

I agree with the first part you said. While it didn't sound like I was happy with Mose's offense, I should have said that I have seen great improvement in the looks we are getting. Bringing on a offensive genius like Memphis did with Tuomas Iisalo would hardly hurt though, I promise.

On the second part, why would who one practices with affect how you shoot WIDE OPEN shots? I get not knowing sets, not knowing where players are going to be, their tendencies, ect but getting a pass in the corner and bricking 3 after 3 should have nothing to do with who you practice with.

I certainly wouldn't scoff at any notable asst coaches coming in for sure.

I also agree when it comes to OPEN shots - I think the onus is just on guys making open shots. I think it's as simple as that. Doesn't matter how good or sloppy the play is getting to the open shot, we still brick them all the same. We consistently watch teams make contested, tough shots on us all the time on good defense lol

[thelead]

meanwhile, I'm watching Jaylen Wells (a second round pick from this last draft) drain back to back 3's for Memphis. What is going on in Orlando???

[Redwood]

You can't allow young players to develop bad habits, it can not only ruin their game it can also ruin their confidence. Looking at the numbers how many of these young guys can possibly have any confidence shooting from outside? I'll keep saying it until I'm run off this forum, we're making a mistake allowing our team to play this way. I agree it's not all on Mose, but in the end I'm sure he has final say over lineups and who sits or plays. You can't just sit back and watch a team shoot this way and continue to allow 30+ 3pt attempts per game.

There are no teams shooting less than 30 attempts a game this year. Your gripe is with the NBA.

Right, it's an awful trend that former coaches and players have noticed and commented on (and many sports journalists as well).

But none of those people control what OUR players do on the court. Our coaching staff does.

In fact, what you say reminds me of something I was thinking about recently. I genuinely wonder if our coaching staff is continuing to allow this for no other reason than they don't want to look like they aren't up to speed with the current trend in the league. Because I can't, from any conceivable angle, figure out why we continue to play a brand of basketball that doesn't fit this roster. I couldn't care less what other teams are doing, let them shoot 500 three's a game for all I care. WE are not built for this, that's all I care about.

[KillMonger]

Having leaguepass just is like a hot poker in an open wound.... I'm watching other teams hit their wide open 3s as they should and I'm like..... What is wrong with us? It's really comical man, other teams may not be able to hit all their contested or semi contested shots.... But their wide open ones? Quite a bit of the time they're knocking them down.... Its a miracle if we hit one these days.....

I mean bottom line it's shooting, the game we shot the best which was that raptors game was probably the most control we were ever in a game.... Wire to wire.... No reason to be concerned....we have great defense but it just makes it so we got to grind for everything.... It wears on you

Sent from my [Hands] using RealGM mobile app

[ogmagicfan]

Did he have an answer, or just “we just gotta keep taking shots when we get good looks and eventually they’ll go in”?

He said it’s something they are going to have to look at and make sure the guys are taking the right shots. Also they know the are going to be seeing more zone defense

Not good, I'm sure our lack of shooting is well known in the locker rooms, but once it becomes publicized now the baton has been handed to the front office. You're it Weltman, and it's about time lazy bum.

I feel fairly confident if we had an actual media apparatus in Orlando that was writing articles and putting pressure on the FO, we would have already made more serious moves for shooting. FVV would have most likely been signed when he was a FA.

It does kinda suck for the FO, that the amount of guards who can shoot and spread the floor the past 2 years market wise hasnt really been there, especially in FA but also in trades. But I'm so tired of seeing us miss open 3's and deal with injuries. Something gotta change

[RichCollab]

We are losing because of health and not shooting. Health has degraded our defense.

[SOUL]

In fact, what you say reminds me of something I was thinking about recently. I genuinely wonder if our coaching staff is continuing to allow this for no other reason than they don't want to look like they aren't up to speed with the current trend in the league. Because I can't, from any conceivable angle, figure out why we continue to play a brand of basketball that doesn't fit this roster. I couldn't care less what other teams are doing, let them shoot 500 three's a game for all I care. WE are not built for this, that's all I care about.

I could almost agree with what you're saying if it was rooted in any sort of context of WHO we have available most nights, and you never bring up the front office if that's where your gripes are.

The team has lost WCJ (for periods of time), Franz (20 games), Paolo (most of the year), Suggs (off and on all year), Goga (recently), Moe Wagner (for season).

Two of those guys play inside/mid-range A LOT (Franz/Paolo), Suggs does a mix of both, Goga is a play-finisher, Moe punishes people in the paint.

The team you're looking at now has TDS, Houstan, Queen, Cory Jo, Cole, KCP, Wendell, Isaac as major minutes guys that are ALL perimeter oriented over paint oriented, and that's how they've been most of their career. It's just their makeup.

Goga was a perimeter big in Indiana that became a paint beast for us, because they realized he's a big, powerful guy with a decent enough touch down there. They didn't decide to see that work and not do it for anybody else on the team, it's just literally the personnel available are not guys who are some 80's mid-range wizards or bigs you can get easy paint baskets with. No coach in the NBA is whipping up 3rd stringers to play 90s offensive basketball because the shooting is bad.

If you start having Suggs, Paolo, Franz and Goga healthy again, and they're dancing around the perimeter and not punishing bad defenders, sure, I get it, but we literally haven't seen that team all year basically. And every healthy game (small sample size), they scored over 109-110 points a game, which people would die for right now even though it's nothing crazy.

[thelead]

You can't allow young players to develop bad habits, it can not only ruin their game it can also ruin their confidence. Looking at the numbers how many of these young guys can possibly have any confidence shooting from outside? I'll keep saying it until I'm run off this forum, we're making a mistake allowing our team to play this way. I agree it's not all on Mose, but in the end I'm sure he has final say over lineups and who sits or plays. You can't just sit back and watch a team shoot this way and continue to allow 30+ 3pt attempts per game.

There are no teams shooting less than 30 attempts a game this year. Your gripe is with the NBA.

Right, it's an awful trend that former coaches and players have noticed and commented on (and many sports journalists as well).

But none of those people control what OUR players do on the court. Our coaching staff does.

In fact, what you say reminds me of something I was thinking about recently. I genuinely wonder if our coaching staff is continuing to allow this for no other reason than they don't want to look like they aren't up to speed with the current trend in the league. Because I can't, from any conceivable angle, figure out why we continue to play a brand of basketball that doesn't fit this roster. I couldn't care less what other teams are doing, let them shoot 500 three's a game for all I care. WE are not built for this, that's all I care about.

Here's the problem with what you want... other teams will shoot and make 3's while we shoot and (hopefully) make 2's... the math isn't going to be in your favor when most teams (20 teams) are shooting 35% or better from deep. We're also a middle of the pack FT shooting team so we can't even make up some of the difference there if we attempt to score more in the paint and draw fouls.

There just isn't a world where we can be a low volume, dead-last in percentage, 3 point shooting team that can contend. And yes, I know we're not contenders yet but it's mostly because we can't shoot. The defense is where it needs to be when healthy. The shooting is not.

[SOUL]

Also, a big complaint last year was that Paolo/Franz had way too low volume of threes (less than Tatum combined) - and that's where the NBA is heading.

It's one thing to want Franz/Paolo to be Giannis level inside scorers and spam that inside while playing elite defense as a team, but then to expect a bunch of 3rd stringers and perimeter players to also do that because our shooting is bad probably results in 70 point games.

[3ddman23]

Something has to give with this shooting. It's just unexplainable at this point how professional athletes at the highest level can't hit open shoots that I see guys at my open church runs on Sundays nail with ease. A case study has to be done. Seriously lol

[Blue_and_Whte]

15% from 3

The board: “This is fine…”

[thelead]

League average 3 point attempts is at 37.6 per game. We shoot 5.5% worse than the 15th best/worst 3point shooting team (the mean is very close to the average when it comes to percentage). So on the same attempts, we're at a 6.2 point disadvantage against average shooting teams even if everything else is played even (37.6 x 0.055 x 3). Hopefully my math checks out there

Against a team like Cleveland, when we look at their attempts and percentages, we're at an ~11 point disadvantage just on 3's if we both take 41 3's in the game.

I hate that this game has turned into a 5th grade math exercise.