2024-2025 Regular Season Game 60: Cleveland Cavaliers (47-10) at Orlando Magic (29-30) - 7:30pm

[eyriq]

The eye test confirmed that Paolo was giving 100% on defense as well. He was locked in and giving great effort. The Cavs just made threes at an abnormal rate.

[RichCollab]

Friendship is dead!

[basketballRob]

Read on Twitter

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For those of you that have NBA rewind; it is 7:37 left in the 3rd. His knee hyper-extension is exactly how I tore my ACL. It looks like nothing in the game. His reaction was exactly mine. Not that painful, per se, and able to walk immediately. But: let's just say my Olympic career is over, with dreams of NBA stardom in tatters.

This could be bad. Torn ACL bad.
But if if not "that" bad, Anthony is not playing again anytime soon. I'd be shocked if even he is "ok" that he would play in the month of March.

Time to unleash Joseph!

Isaac hyperextended his, and as soon as he came back tore his acl. Paige Bueckers did the same thing.

With this front office, I'll be surprised if he isn't out the rest of the season.


Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM Forums mobile app

[pepe1991]

The eye test confirmed that Paolo was giving 100% on defense as well. He was locked in and giving great effort. The Cavs just made threes at an abnormal rate.

the eye test

Spoiler:

[eyriq]

The eye test confirmed that Paolo was giving 100% on defense as well. He was locked in and giving great effort. The Cavs just made threes at an abnormal rate.

the eye test

Spoiler:

He was blocking shots, getting steals, moving his feet in a defensive stance, and hustling. He wasn’t the problem

[Fortune Teller]

Boxscore thoughts:

Obviously the Magic lost the FG% battle. But it's actually quite interesting to note that the Cavs made 14 more threes than the Magic.
As 14X3=42, those extra threes is literally the difference to the 40-point loss.

Other boxscore interests.
1) 14 Magicians played and ALL had a negative plus/minus scoring lines.
2) Garry "Zombie" Harris had another zero-pointer running up some impressive anomalies
. a) an "impressive" run of 7-zeros over the last 10 games.
. b) in 30 games played, he's scored zero 14 times.
. c) in game-1 he had 18 points, in the subsequent 29 games he is averaging 2.7ppg (with only one other double digit game).
. c-2: here's the individual scoring lines sorted low to high: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 11 18.

And Jeff brought this guy back intentionally. Again, we were free of this garbage and Jeff threw more money at him to run it back.

[drsd]

The eye test confirmed that Paolo was giving 100% on defense as well. He was locked in and giving great effort. The Cavs just made threes at an abnormal rate.

the eye test

Spoiler:

He was blocking shots, getting steals, moving his feet in a defensive stance, and hustling. He wasn’t the problem

The stats back up that Banchero had a positive effect on defense overall.

[Bergmaniac]

The eye test confirmed that Paolo was giving 100% on defense as well. He was locked in and giving great effort. The Cavs just made threes at an abnormal rate.

Yeah, if Cavs had shot 3s at their normal rate, we would have only lost by 22, which is basically a win. Great job by our guys, they just got unlucky.

Seriously - this was quite awful. The offense is painul to watch, it's Paolo and Franz taking turns going ISOs and shooting tough shots if the defense is any good. You are never going to beat a good team in a series playing this way no matter how good you are defensively. Our shooters have completely lost their confidence, if we shoot poorly against the Dubs on Thursday it will be third straight month we've shot below 30% from 3 this year. KCP is so reluctant to shoot 3s he is playing like it is 1992 on offense, passing on 3s to take long 2s and that's a rare case where this is actually rational since he is shooting 30.6% from and 51.6% on long 2s. But that's obviously detrimental to our spacing. Harris has completely forgotten how to score, Wendell just can't hit a 3 to save his life, Franz and Paolo have been below 30% lately, Isaac is never guarded on the perimeter yet he is shooting below 30%...it's depressing. Cole was the only one shooting well on decent volume lately and he got injured. Black's percentage lately has been good, but he is still quite reluctant to take them and he had a nightmare yesterday. Jett is supposed to be a shooting specialist but he keeps bricking 3s. It's depressing that the Cavs have several bench players who'd be by far the best shooters on our team.

[pepe1991]

The eye test confirmed that Paolo was giving 100% on defense as well. He was locked in and giving great effort. The Cavs just made threes at an abnormal rate.

the eye test

Spoiler:

He was blocking shots, getting steals, moving his feet in a defensive stance, and hustling. He wasn’t the problem

Spent majority of time on Mobley & Wade and Hunter.

Mobley 6-9 FG
Hunter 5-8 FG
Wade 2-3

we should nickname him Bill to honor legacy of Russell given how elite that defense was.
And his transition defense, my grandmother walks faster back.

[Bergmaniac]

If that's Paolo giving 100% effort on defence, we are really screwed if we give him the max. In the first five minutes of the game alone there were multiple possessions where he slowly jogged back in transition as if he is 40.

[Optimus_Steel]

Damn streamable can't use youtube clips.

Watch on YouTube

go on 0:44 sequence and watch until 1:08
Banchero's man moved to 3 point line, center walked pass him, he didn't even notice any of it, just continued to ball watch player who attacks rim ( zero desire to help, just watching).
Very next play, he stands near Hunter, zero box out, as soon as shot is up he goes to padd some easy rebound, but ball bounced right at Hunter, since Paolo didn't give a f*** about anything but rebound in that play, Hunter is now wide open on 3 point line

4:43
Goes under screen vs Mitchell for no good reason other than being lazy

second half
5:18
Franz gets beaten by dribble penetration, on side of Banchero, he still doesn't give a damn and never provides any help ( or contests shot at rim)

7:20
switches on Merrill. Gives him open corner 3

7:42, on Wade, gives wade rather open 3 point shot

7:53
starts transition with solid 10 feet ahead of Mobley, walks back, Mobley surpasses him- Mobley starts running straight at rim, dunks on poor Isaac giving him facial. Where is Paolo? Well... he jogged behind him.


LIke, even in game where his offense is "okey" he is still by far worst defender on the floor. His body language is pathetic. Only times he even looks like he wants to play is when he gets iso on offensive side.
Three times in 9 min of footage ( that doesn't even include all possessions ) he didn't bother to return on defense on four times.

I'm sorry but this isn't winning basketball nor he plays like winning player.
You can't give me "injury " excuse for this, he did all this last year. This year around there simply isn't prime Isaac, Suggs, Ingles- Mo bench to bail out bad games and cover for his a** on defense.


Instead of holding him accountable for this garbage, we chase tail in endless talks about Tristan, Carter, KCP; Black. Those guys are limited role players, but non of them throws off game as much as Banchero does with crappy defense and high usage, poor efficiency offense. Like , bro is walking two-way-negative player who gets 30% usage and plays below Carmelo Anthony' type defense. You aren't winning jack ****t with PF who is neither defending rim, boxing out, switching on smaller players nor is even bothered to run transition on defense.

This is your best post ever! Paolo has turned into a prima donna. I got backlash for stating how soft Paolo plays and even though he is only 22 and still young, he is losing me. My patient is running thin with his pouting and immaturity and refusal to rebound.

He is 250 lbs but drives to the hole like he is 180 and never jumps with power off of two feet. Always with one with no power like a guard. Frustrating.

This will be a defining decision for Weltman.
If he has balls he will trade Banchero. If not we will be propably stucked in mediocrity with overpayed, overhyped boy who has mentality closer to Bamba than Lebron or even Carmelo.

Bad take. Why would he need to trade Paolo? We should be adding to the team not looking to trade our top players.

[zaymon]

If that's Paolo giving 100% effort on defence, we are really screwed if we give him the max. In the first five minutes of the game alone there were multiple possessions where he slowly jogged back in transition as if he is 40.

I think we are screwed if we resign him. We know Franz can be high usage player or part of something bigger, he won world cup gold medal. I cant think of any reason why feed Paolo the ball. He doesnt seem like charismatic leader. He will be hard to fit as more off ball player with his awareness and overall defense. Decision time for Weltman. I am quite positive about job he did so far, but if we dont trade Paolo i think he should be changed. Sadly he has fondness for low confidence players.

[yoyojw17]

One of the commentators discussed one of Donovan Mitchell's changes from last season was realizing that he didn't have to do it all and put ting more trust in his teammates. I immediately thought of our current structure and how... Paolo and Franz will push on the offensive end and everyone just seems to clear the way to see what they do. Not sure if they expect to get the ball when open or having placed themselves in a better position ... And I wonder if they are just reacting to actually getting the ball ..... "Oh snap.... It touched my hands ... I gotta shoot it" lol

[89Magicfan]

Look here’s the question, do we all agree that Weltman and Co have not put into 100% into this? Day in and day out? I don’t. Not even 50%. Every trade deadline, nothing. Every off season, the bare minimum. It starts at the top.

Paolo never has been a defensive minded player. We have seen him put in the effort on that end in the past but the effort is mostly down across the board.

We can sit here and say they should carry us defensively and offensively and every way but fact is why do that when you have management who doesn’t even maximize and utilize the time given to them to improve the roster?

[JoshuaPotter]

We lost to the best team in the East and possibly the league right now. While adding to our season injury count. Frankly, this is expected even if it disappointing.

I feel like AB missed another opportunity to do damage on both ends of the floor but I didn't get to listen into the whole game. Just looking at his stat line it reminds me of Paolo in his rookie year where anytime he went up against anyone good he would have a less then stellar game.

Beyond AB / Suggs / and if someone could send KCP a picture of himself 2 years ago our guard rotation just has zero offense. Even with injured Cole. Hope he gets better soon, because I don't think AB is consistent enough to find 14ppg in his absence yet.

[eyriq]

Look here’s the question, do we all agree that Weltman and Co have not put into 100% into this? Day in and day out? I don’t. Not even 50%. Every trade deadline, nothing. Every off season, the bare minimum. It starts at the top.

Paolo never has been a defensive minded player. We have seen him put in the effort on that end in the past but the effort is mostly down across the board.

We can sit here and say they should carry us defensively and offensively and every way but fact is why do that when you have management who doesn’t even maximize and utilize the time given to them to improve the roster?

I'm fine with the team building so far. The cap sheet is flexible and we aren't locked into a terrible core. The future is still bright. They can re-tool the bench and 4th/5th starters without any problems

[89Magicfan]

Look here’s the question, do we all agree that Weltman and Co have not put into 100% into this? Day in and day out? I don’t. Not even 50%. Every trade deadline, nothing. Every off season, the bare minimum. It starts at the top.

Paolo never has been a defensive minded player. We have seen him put in the effort on that end in the past but the effort is mostly down across the board.

We can sit here and say they should carry us defensively and offensively and every way but fact is why do that when you have management who doesn’t even maximize and utilize the time given to them to improve the roster?

I'm fine with the team building so far. The cap sheet is flexible and we aren't locked into a terrible core. The future is still bright. They can re-tool the bench and 4th/5th starters without any problems

The future will always be in the future with Weltman. Last two seasons he should be making the necessary moves to make/keep the team competitive. He has not. He has failed.

[thelead]

Look here’s the question, do we all agree that Weltman and Co have not put into 100% into this? Day in and day out? I don’t. Not even 50%. Every trade deadline, nothing. Every off season, the bare minimum. It starts at the top.

Paolo never has been a defensive minded player. We have seen him put in the effort on that end in the past but the effort is mostly down across the board.

We can sit here and say they should carry us defensively and offensively and every way but fact is why do that when you have management who doesn’t even maximize and utilize the time given to them to improve the roster?

I'm fine with the team building so far. The cap sheet is flexible and we aren't locked into a terrible core. The future is still bright. They can re-tool the bench and 4th/5th starters without any problems

But do you trust Walkman to build a top 10 offense knowing his track record? I absolutely do not.

[eyriq]

Look here’s the question, do we all agree that Weltman and Co have not put into 100% into this? Day in and day out? I don’t. Not even 50%. Every trade deadline, nothing. Every off season, the bare minimum. It starts at the top.

Paolo never has been a defensive minded player. We have seen him put in the effort on that end in the past but the effort is mostly down across the board.

We can sit here and say they should carry us defensively and offensively and every way but fact is why do that when you have management who doesn’t even maximize and utilize the time given to them to improve the roster?

I'm fine with the team building so far. The cap sheet is flexible and we aren't locked into a terrible core. The future is still bright. They can re-tool the bench and 4th/5th starters without any problems

The future will always be in the future with Weltman. Last two seasons he should be making the necessary moves to make/keep the team competitive. He has not. He has failed.

I stand by player development as the growth engine for a young team. That's the right approach. He protected Franz, Suggs, and Paolo from blockers and allowed them to develop as offensive and defensive leaders. He's opted for continuity and low usage/high character veterans to support the cores development.

Injuries set the team back, not mismanagement.

[eyriq]

Look here’s the question, do we all agree that Weltman and Co have not put into 100% into this? Day in and day out? I don’t. Not even 50%. Every trade deadline, nothing. Every off season, the bare minimum. It starts at the top.

Paolo never has been a defensive minded player. We have seen him put in the effort on that end in the past but the effort is mostly down across the board.

We can sit here and say they should carry us defensively and offensively and every way but fact is why do that when you have management who doesn’t even maximize and utilize the time given to them to improve the roster?

I'm fine with the team building so far. The cap sheet is flexible and we aren't locked into a terrible core. The future is still bright. They can re-tool the bench and 4th/5th starters without any problems

But do you trust Walkman to build a top 10 offense knowing his track record? I absolutely do not.

Paolo and Franz in their prime should be good enough to lead a top ten offense, yes.