2024-2025 Regular Season Game 66: Orlando Magic (30-35) at Houston Rockets (39-25) - 8pm

[eyriq]

Atlanta won and Miami lost. The race for the southeast division title is going to be tight.

Not that it really matters at all, but I believe if the Magic win both of the remaining Wizards games and just one of the two remaining Hawks games that they would secure the division and thus the seeding tiebreaker on both the Hawks and the Heat by way of better division record since head-to-head would be tied with both teams.

That's good to know. I expect them to win the division and advance from the play-in, hopefully to face the Celtics.

[basketballRob]

So who do we replace Mosley with? Are there any retreads worth considering? My favorite retreads have been snatched up already (that I can think of anyway). I view guys like Stotts and Mike Brown as great assistants but wouldn’t want them as head coaches. I could see Nurse getting fired but he has lost his luster IMO.

As for PBO options, who knows? Those guys are often in the shadows and outside of the media focus. Morey may also get fired so he may be an option but he also has made some really questionable decisions.

Who's coaching Michigan?

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[ORLMagicGirl15]

For 3 1/2 years he had them playing hard. So, there past 3 months must be studied. What happened in the locker room that got these guys like this?

Does it need to be studied? Sometimes the message just stops being received and that's that.

NBA coaches are pretty fungible. Guys get fired all the time. It's not at all like baseball where a computer could basically manage a game or like football where you need an entire offseason to install a system that basically can't be changed at all until the following offseason.

Hell, this is only Mosley's 4th season with the Magic and 17 teams have made a coaching change since he's been hired.

The organization would not be negatively impacted in the slightest if he left.

There defense has been hanging on, we’re still 3rd in defensive ratings at 109.5, it’s the offense that has been absolutely trash. I really want to know what happened in the locker room, where all of a sudden these guys can’t shoot. They weren’t the greatest last year but they were better than this.

[eyriq]

I don't want to make the 8th slot while being 5 games under 500. The Cavs are going to sweep us anyway.



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It really doesn’t matter which team we play. Our offense will make sure that we don’t get pass the first round. It is the experience for Paolo and Franz that is needed.

They'll experience a sweep that may be in double digits every game.

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I don't think they suffer a double digit sweep. The starting unit they've settled on is actually pretty good, and I think with tight rotations they can survive having such a poor bench.

[Knightro]

Look at the Kings.

Mike Brown leads them to 48 wins and wins coach of the year. Wins 46 the next year.

And then out of nowhere he just lost the team and got fired after starting 13-18 in year 3.

They literally promote from his staff... and are 20-12 since.

Sometimes you just need a different voice.

[basketballRob]

It really doesn’t matter which team we play. Our offense will make sure that we don’t get pass the first round. It is the experience for Paolo and Franz that is needed.

They'll experience a sweep that may be in double digits every game.

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I don't think they suffer a double digit sweep. The starting unit they've settled on is actually pretty good, and I think with tight rotations they can survive having such a poor bench.

The starting lineup is not good either.

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[ORLMagicGirl15]

Look at the Kings.

Mike Brown leads them to 48 wins and wins coach of the year. Wins 46 the next year.

And then out of nowhere he just lost the team and got fired after starting 13-18 in year 3.

They literally promote from his staff... and are 20-12 since.

Sometimes you just need a different voice.

They also made trades.

[ogmagicfan]

honestly, id rather us miss the playoffs than make it

not even for better draft position, its because I think getting swept by the Celtics/Cavs would be even more negative for team morale than not making it

especially by the Cavs, who we were a 1/2 of Game 7 away from beating last season

[Knightro]

There defense has been hanging on, we’re still 3rd in defensive ratings at 109.5, it’s the offense that has been absolutely trash. I really want to know what happened in the locker room, where all of a sudden these guys can’t shoot. They weren’t the greatest last year but they were better than this.

The defense really isn't hanging on though. That season-long number is fueled by the really great start they got off to defensively over the first 30ish games.

Since January 5th, their defense rating is 15th in the league at 113.3.

A coach that preaches defense as hard as Mosley has preached it and who has said repeatedly over the years how defense and effort travel even when shooting and shot making don't always travel, you just can't have a 10 week stretch of being 15th defensively. That won't work. Especially when you can't coach offense (and obviously have a poor roster offensively).

The ONLY hope this organization has to have success is being a consistently elite defense, elite rebounding team that consistently playing with high effort and energy game to game. If they don't have that, they cannot win.

[thelead]

Look at the Kings.

Mike Brown leads them to 48 wins and wins coach of the year. Wins 46 the next year.

And then out of nowhere he just lost the team and got fired after starting 13-18 in year 3.

They literally promote from his staff... and are 20-12 since.

Sometimes you just need a different voice.

They also made trades.

They started hot before the trade with Christie at the helm IIRC.

[basketballRob]

honestly, id rather us miss the playoffs than make it

not even for better draft position, its because I think getting swept by the Celtics/Cavs would be even more negative for team morale than not making it

especially by the Cavs, who we were a 1/2 of Game 7 away from beating last season

The problem is that neither the Bulls or Heat want the 8th slot.

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[OrlandoNed]

honestly, id rather us miss the playoffs than make it

not even for better draft position, its because I think getting swept by the Celtics/Cavs would be even more negative for team morale than not making it

especially by the Cavs, who we were a 1/2 of Game 7 away from beating last season

Funny. That is exactly why I want us to make the playoffs.

Getting a brutal sweep from either the defending champ or the Cavs on national tv will be the perfect punctuation that will either get Weltman off his ass or on his ass after he gets tossed from the building.

[Knightro]

Look at the Kings.

Mike Brown leads them to 48 wins and wins coach of the year. Wins 46 the next year.

And then out of nowhere he just lost the team and got fired after starting 13-18 in year 3.

They literally promote from his staff... and are 20-12 since.

Sometimes you just need a different voice.

They also made trades.

They started winning before they made any trades though. And the trades made them worse, not better.

They fired Brown on December 27, but didn't trade Fox until February 5. They went 12-6 in that stretch. They're only 8-6 since trading Fox.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Look at the Kings.

Mike Brown leads them to 48 wins and wins coach of the year. Wins 46 the next year.

And then out of nowhere he just lost the team and got fired after starting 13-18 in year 3.

They literally promote from his staff... and are 20-12 since.

Sometimes you just need a different voice.

They also made trades.

They started winning before they made any trades though. And the trades made them worse, not better.

They fired Brown on December 27, but didn't trade Fox until February 5. They went 12-6 in that stretch. They're only 8-6 since trading Fox.

Monk and Sabonis got hurt.

[Bensational]

It’s crazy how much Suggs’ injury exposed Jeff Weltman. Suggs was killing himself for this team.

20-15 with Suggs (mostly without Paolo too!)
10-21 without Suggs

Absolutely crazy.

To be honest, the biggest thing being exposed is team defense and that should all start and end with KCP right now. This is our veteran 3&D guy, and there was talk in the offseason that he might make Suggs expendable or that KCP's contract is a measuring stick for what Suggs should've been paid blah blah. But we're seeing that Suggs transcends your standard role players like KCP and Harris. Seriously, I can't highlight enough how bad KCP has been for the team:

Check his ON/OFF numbers. In the second table for Differentials, it shows that every player has a worse drtg (positive number) with KCP on the court. What a waste of money dropping your cap space load on a 3&D guy who has forgotten how to shoot and who seems to make everyone else's defense worse when he's on the court.

[Knightro]

They also made trades.

They started winning before they made any trades though. And the trades made them worse, not better.

They fired Brown on December 27, but didn't trade Fox until February 5. They went 12-6 in that stretch. They're only 8-6 since trading Fox.

Monk and Sabonis got hurt.

The point I'm making is that they fired Mike Brown, who had led them to their two best seasons in nearly 20 years, and IMMEDIATELY started playing better basketball.

Sometimes for coaches, even good coaches, the message just stops getting through.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

They started winning before they made any trades though. And the trades made them worse, not better.

They fired Brown on December 27, but didn't trade Fox until February 5. They went 12-6 in that stretch. They're only 8-6 since trading Fox.

Monk and Sabonis got hurt.

The point I'm making is that they fired Mike Brown, who had led them to their two best seasons in nearly 20 years, and IMMEDIATELY started playing better basketball.

Sometimes for coaches, even good coaches, the message just stops getting through.

I get your point. But just because we get rid of Mosley doesn’t mean this team will get better. We need to trade like 7 of these players because they don’t do anything. Firing Mosley and getting another coach for this team isn’t going to do much when we have so many players that don’t work together.

[ogmagicfan]

honestly, id rather us miss the playoffs than make it

not even for better draft position, its because I think getting swept by the Celtics/Cavs would be even more negative for team morale than not making it

especially by the Cavs, who we were a 1/2 of Game 7 away from beating last season

The problem is that neither the Bulls or Heat want the 8th slot.

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its gonna be hard for either of them to get away with intentionally tanking in the play in games

NBA might take away a pick for doing that

[GameOver25]

You can't get any softer than watching Adams get a double double 11pts/11rebs (8 offensive).

Adams is the farthest thing from soft...even in limited minutes, isn't he pretty exceptional on the offensive glass? for a decade?

What? How'd you interpret me calling Adams soft from that?

[BadMofoPimp]

There defense has been hanging on, we’re still 3rd in defensive ratings at 109.5, it’s the offense that has been absolutely trash. I really want to know what happened in the locker room, where all of a sudden these guys can’t shoot. They weren’t the greatest last year but they were better than this.

The defense really isn't hanging on though. That season-long number is fueled by the really great start they got off to defensively over the first 30ish games.

Since January 5th, their defense rating is 15th in the league at 113.3.

A coach that preaches defense as hard as Mosley has preached it and who has said repeatedly over the years how defense and effort travel even when shooting and shot making don't always travel, you just can't have a 10 week stretch of being 15th defensively. That won't work. Especially when you can't coach offense (and obviously have a poor roster offensively).

The ONLY hope this organization has to have success is being a consistently elite defense, elite rebounding team that consistently playing with high effort and energy game to game. If they don't have that, they cannot win.

True. The defense fell apart after Suggs went out. He set the tone that other players bought into. When Suggs and Franz are healthy, the defense is top 5.