2024-2025 Regular Season Game 76: Los Angeles Clippers (42-32) at Orlando Magic (36-39) - 7pm

[JoshuaPotter]

Again... they're 15-20 in the 35 games Paolo and Franz have played together.

So, let’s trade both of them because they are clearly the problem. Let’s not watch the game and look at the box score and see if other players decided to show up in those games.

I'm genuinely sick of this sort of nonsense.

This season is going poorly. People are allowed to be frustrated. People are allowed to be critical, especially of the best players on the roster.

This whole "WELL MAYBE THEY SHOULD JUST TRADE THIS YOUNG PLAYER IF YOU ARE THAT UNHAPPY WITH THEM" stuff (and that's a paraphrased quote, not a direct quote obviously) is really unhelpful to the overall discussion.

I don't get it. We are agreeing. What made you come around?

Also, honest question. This roster is poorly constructed we both should agree. Or is it well constructed and we should fire Mose?

To me, Mose was next on the block if everything panned out. However, it is not panning out, and how we assign tiers to the why we aren't panning out describes to me why or why not Mose should be part of the future discussion.

My current personal opinion. Neither Paolo or Franz are shooting the 3-ball well enough overall for the volume they shoot to win the game last night, or possibly any game at all. Would a good coach fix this? The answer determines what we feel.

I am not certain. I just have been enjoying your posts more lately and wondering what happened. WAITAMINUTE. It's your kid. You see it now!

[eyriq]

The excuse making for what, to date, has been a spectacular failure of a season relative to expectations coming in is absolutely off the charts.

Don’t think of it as excuse making. Think of it as root cause analysis. What’s the root cause of this season’s regression?

[VFX]

It's just pure insanity how this roster was constructed. Fact that we start Corey Joseph and hope for playoffs just goes to show you how bad it is.

Like, we are only team on East that actually tries to win for play in, yet only time i'm confident they will win is when they face Kings, Wizards and Hornets.

Reading how injuries are to blame, to me, are mindless. Even if we are healthy, and are winning 47 games, we would still be 5th seed and second round exit team, assuming we can pass first round.

Main issue is roster construction. No PG on a roster from day one until finish.

You are cooking here.

Starting Corey Joseph and then having Paolo/Franz bring the ball up the court every possession is just poor coaching/construction.

Weltman should be fired just on principle of re-signing Isaac. Last season was a charade and he looks like he’s done. Guy has played 169/492 of his games in the last 6 seasons. Nothing he does on the court is noticeable anymore for stretches of 5-6 minutes at a time.

Re-signing Gary Harris? Stupid.
Played in 42 games here. Least amount of minutes since being traded here. He’s obviously phoning it in at this point.

Signing KCP ? Stupid.
As mentioned a million times here. Money was for a point guard. Guy averages 8ppg playing 30mpg. A better defender played his exact position last season. No upside. Acquiring him is a contention move to a team that isn’t contending and doesn't have a starting point guard.

Wendell Carter is a backup. Don’t really care what arguments people want to make otherwise. Not big enough to guard true Centers and not skilled enough to mitigate his shortcomings at the rim. Disappears for stretches at a time. Always gets injured for about 20-25 games a season. Was a good trade asset and now isn’t really.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Again... they're 15-20 in the 35 games Paolo and Franz have played together.

So, let’s trade both of them because they are clearly the problem. Let’s not watch the game and look at the box score and see if other players decided to show up in those games.

I'm genuinely sick of this sort of nonsense.

This season is going poorly. People are allowed to be frustrated. People are allowed to be critical, especially of the best players on the roster.

This whole "WELL MAYBE THEY SHOULD JUST TRADE THIS YOUNG PLAYER IF YOU ARE THAT UNHAPPY WITH THEM" stuff (and that's a paraphrased quote, not a direct quote obviously) is really unhelpful to the overall discussion.

I’m sorry we are upsetting you. I hope you have a good day today.

[Fortune Teller]

It's just pure insanity how this roster was constructed. Fact that we start Corey Joseph and hope for playoffs just goes to show you how bad it is.

Like, we are only team on East that actually tries to win for play in, yet only time i'm confident they will win is when they face Kings, Wizards and Hornets.

Reading how injuries are to blame, to me, are mindless. Even if we are healthy, and are winning 47 games, we would still be 5th seed and second round exit team, assuming we can pass first round.

Main issue is roster construction. No PG on a roster from day one until finish.

You are cooking here.

Starting Corey Joseph and then having Paolo/Franz bring the ball up the court every possession is just poor coaching/construction.

Weltman should be fired just on principle of re-signing Isaac. Last season was a charade and he looks like he’s done. Guy has played 169/492 of his games in the last 6 seasons. Nothing he does on the court is noticeable anymore for stretches of 5-6 minutes at a time.

Re-signing Gary Harris? Stupid.
Played in 42 games here. Least amount of minutes since being traded here. He’s obviously phoning it in at this point.

Signing KCP ? Stupid.
As mentioned a million times here. Money was for a point guard. Guy averages 8ppg playing 30mpg. A better defender played his exact position last season. No upside. Acquiring him is a contention move to a team that isn’t contending.

Wendell Carter is a backup. Don’t really care what arguments people want to make otherwise. Not big enough to guard true Centers and not skilled enough to mitigate his shortcomings at the rim. Disappears for stretches at a time. Always gets injured for about 20-25 games a season. Was a good trade asset and now isn’t really.

And-1 to all of this. There is no excuse for not having a starting-caliber PG on this roster and being historically bad from three when Jeff was top 3 in the league in cap space last summer and has had multiple -- multiple -- lottery picks since he arrived 8 years ago.

What is so frustrating is everyone has known what was needed the past 2 years and Jeff didn't even try to address it.

[drsd]

What about the WCJ extension then? Your giving Weltman too much credit. He has **** destroyed this roster and its forseeable future with mind boggling dumb extensions and draft picks.

Season Salary Cap Increase in cap
2034-2035 $364,650,000 1.1
2033-2034 $331,500,000 1.099998673
2032-2033 $301,364,000 1.100001095
2031-2032 $273,967,000 1.099999598
2030-2031 $249,061,000 1.100000442
2029-2030 $226,419,000 1.100002429
2028-2029 $205,835,000 1.099998397
2027-2028 $187,123,000 1.099998824
2026-2027 $170,112,000 1.10000194
2025-2026 $154,647,000 1.100001423
2024-2025 $140,588,000


Carter's salary
year salary increase in salary
2028-2029 20,998,320 1.074074074
2027-2028 19,550,160 1.08
2026-2027 18,102,000 1.668387097
2025-2026 10,850,000 0.907949791
2024-2025 11,950,000


Two points here.
1) 10% increases compounded annually mean that there is going to be a CRAZY increase in the salary cap. Its effect start being felt "FOR REAL" around 2028/29

2) Carter's salary goes DOWN next year by ~9%, goes up a huge 67%, then goes up less than the cap goes up, percentage wise.

Summed up: Carter's contract only hurts the Magic for one year: 2026/27. That year will be brutal capwise, as that's the year Banchero gets his coin.

The Magic literaly has a one-year bad bubble becasue of Carter. And then, he becomes a super-cheap starting C in the NBA. Average NBA salaries will be about 15M in 2027/28. Two-way players will soon be guaranteed 1M a year. Max guys will be making 100M a year around 2031.

Crazy money is coming.

But: 2026/27 does suck for capalogy in Magic-land.

[drsd]

And-1 to all of this. There is no excuse for not having a starting-caliber PG on this roster and being historically bad from three when Jeff was top 3 in the league in cap space last summer and has had multiple -- multiple -- lottery picks since he arrived 8 years ago.

What is so frustrating is everyone has known what was needed the past 2 years and Jeff didn't even try to address it.

I was gonna and-1 this then I did the stats. The top-30 PGs by PER are by definition "starting-caliber PG".
Mr #30 is, drum roll, Cole Anthony.

That makes me sad.

In conclusion: there are about 10 great PGs in the league. 10 PGs that are "starting quality". An a BUNCH of backups playing starting PG.

Being an NBA PG is really, really hard.
Example: Malcolm Brogdon and Tyus Jones are by metric "starting-caliber PGs". Sad.

Orlando really just needs to offer Utah three FRPs and Caldwell-Pope for Collin Sexton. It's not an overpay. PGs are not easy to find.
(( by PER, on a HORRIBLE team, Sexton is 21st in the NBA ))


p.s I did AND-1 you. Nice thought lines!

[drsd]

The injury argument is pretty absurd to me. Almost every team gets plenty of injuries during the regular season these days and has to deal with it.

ANd-1

Orlando is playing with its two starters at 100% against an opponent that is far more injured currently.

The Magic let Ivica Zubac rebound like he was a Rodman-Wilt hybrid cyborg. Jesús Cristo did Orlando fudge this "win" up.

For me this is my most disappointed I have been all season; I hope it shows. YUCK

[drsd]

Starting Corey Joseph and then having Paolo/Franz bring the ball up the court every possession is just poor coaching/construction.

Post of the day.


In conclusion:
Jesús Cristo: Mi*rda.

My German is better. Here:
Sch*iß auf diese Sch*iße

[eyriq]

+12, +13, -9

Why did we improve two straight seasons and decline this season?

If your answer is anything other than “injuries” I need you to walk me through how you got there.

[Knightro]

The excuse making for what, to date, has been a spectacular failure of a season relative to expectations coming in is absolutely off the charts.

Don’t think of it as excuse making. Think of it as root cause analysis. What’s the root cause of this season’s regression?

Several things.

1. The team expected a combination of Suggs/Black/Cole/Franz/Paolo to be able to assume the playmaking duties they lost when Fultz and Ingles departed in free agency. This is ultimately why they chose to double down on 3&D by retaining Harris and signing KCP rather than pursuing a point guard with their cap space. To date, none of the five players listed above have been able to replicate those playmaking responsibilities effectively and the offense has not progressed forward in the way the front office expected it to. In fact, it's regressed somewhat significantly.

2. Isaac gained a bunch of weight in an extremely misguided effort to play more center and has regressed significantly year-over-year. His defense is still very good, but last year he was statistically the most impactful defender in the entire NBA. And his offense absolutely cratered.

3. KCP simply has not shot the basketball nearly as well as they expected him to shoot it. KCP over the last 5 years combined (which includes playing WITHOUT Jokic and WITHOUT LeBron, so you can't chalk it all up to those MVP caliber players spoonfeeding him open shots) has shot 40.3% from 3PT. He's at 33% this year. If he was shooting 40.3% this year, he'd have 125 3PT makes instead of 102. Those 23 extra three point makes would equal 69 more points for the Magic. 69 more points for the Magic would 0.9 more points per game, which would raise the Magic two spots on the PPG and ORTG lists just on that alone.

4. Paolo and Franz have simply not progressed enough as 3PT shooters. The two guys on the team with over 30 USG% shooting 29% and 31% from 3PT just isn't going to work.

5. Mosley has not been able to get the players to play with the same consistent energy and effort he did last season. Of all the things, you can chalk at least some of this one up to Suggs' injury, but if the energy and effort level is impacted that severely by missing one player then the system is probably too flimsy overall. And Mosley very obviously has zero juice from an X's and O's perspective, especially on the offensive end. So it's not like there's tactical acumen that can overcome a lack of effort and hustle.

Yes, injuries are a factor, but to suggest they are the primary factor is disingenuous. Even fully healthy (which isn't realistic) the Magic would still have a lot of the same problems from my list 1 thru 4.

[pepe1991]

I think we are a slightly above .500 team right now and the proof is in the pudding.
Mosley‘s got the team back to playing hard and playing pretty well. My expectations are that we will compete with good teams and put ourselves in a position to win.

Playing pretty well is a pretty big overstatement, there is an improvement compared to the form of the first 2 months of the year, but that wasnt that hard. I am too lazy to dig it, but your prediction at the start of the season was something like 50+ wins and home court.... the team will probably fail to reach 40 wins - so how about admitting that the wheels have fallen off and this is a disappointing season?

I probably did predict 50+ wins. I saw a reasonable range of between 42 and 56 wins and chose to error on the side of optimism. I didn’t anticipate Paolo and Franz missing significant time.

winning range between 42 and 56 games is going from 51% win rate to 68% win rate.

In other words, your "prediction" is saying that team will be somewhere in between Atlanta Hawks ( playin team) and 3rd best record in basketball, just a little behind Cavs and OKC.

As Knightro and others repeated 500 times, we played worst after Banchero and Franz returned and played together.
Injuries of Mortiz and Suggs happened before trade deadline, yet once again, course of action for Weltman was- do nothing.

All the time we hear how structure of contracts is made to trade them easly. Yet, Orlando Magic didn't make a single trade in 4 years.

Needless to say, in "race" for playin, we are only team that actually actively prioritizes winning.
Hawks gave up Hunter who averaged 19 ppg, for no other reason but to give rookie more PT.
Bulls traded out biggest stars.
Heat traded best player, lost 10 in a row at one point.

And that's a "race". Unlike Magic, other teams figured there isn't much reason to fight to make playoffs. For start, you lose opportunity to have your ping pong balls in draft, and no matter are you 7th or 8th, you will play vs teams you have no objective chance at winning series.
To prove you that they don't priorizie winning- all 3 teams in their starting 5 have at least 1 rookie.

[Ducklett]

The injury argument is pretty absurd to me. Almost every team gets plenty of injuries during the regular season these days and has to deal with it.

ANd-1

Orlando is playing with its two starters at 100% against an opponent that is far more injured currently.

The Magic let Ivica Zubac rebound like he was a Rodman-Wilt hybrid cyborg. Jesús Cristo did Orlando fudge this "win" up.

For me this is my most disappointed I have been all season; I hope it shows. YUCK

Every time the talking heads show win shares lost by injury by team, the Magic have been top 3 all year and that top 3 is in a tier of their own (Mavs, Magic, Pels).

Magic have to play who we have and Mo and Suggs aren't walking though that door to save us this season. These guys are paid to figure it out. If we flounder, we flounder. That is what these guys can do as constructed and in the summer we better see a drastic overhaul. To that vein, we can't do anything to change what we have, so the constant whining disguised as "critical analysis" these GTs have evolved in to can rub people like Magicgirl the wrong way and I can understand that. We all know that we need a more balanced roster. We know Jett sucks. We know the flaws our players have. We have seen most of them for 3 years. Nothing like game thread 78 and we are talking about how AB is 19 y/o and inconsistent or how WCJ's attitude can effect his play, just like we did in game thread 5. Never about what is happening in this specific game. Just generalizations without context to push this week's "fire Weltman" thread to the top. I bet 100% of people on here would fire both Weltman and Martin's if we had a poll. Why do we need 40 posts a day reaffirming this globally accepted truth?

Sorry I am venting but holy moly this is getting wild.

Also we'll said pepe. I agree about 90%.

[Skybox]

And-1 to all of this. There is no excuse for not having a starting-caliber PG on this roster and being historically bad from three when Jeff was top 3 in the league in cap space last summer and has had multiple -- multiple -- lottery picks since he arrived 8 years ago.

What is so frustrating is everyone has known what was needed the past 2 years and Jeff didn't even try to address it.

I was gonna and-1 this then I did the stats. The top-30 PGs by PER are by definition "starting-caliber PG".
Mr #30 is, drum roll, Cole Anthony.

That makes me sad.

In conclusion: there are about 10 great PGs in the league. 10 PGs that are "starting quality". An a BUNCH of backups playing starting PG.

Being an NBA PG is really, really hard.
Example: Malcolm Brogdon and Tyus Jones are by metric "starting-caliber PGs". Sad.

Orlando really just needs to offer Utah three FRPs and Caldwell-Pope for Collin Sexton. It's not an overpay. PGs are not easy to find.
(( by PER, on a HORRIBLE team, Sexton is 21st in the NBA ))


p.s I did AND-1 you. Nice thought lines!

Make it 3 frps, KCP and Jett for Sexton and Walker Kessler...what a summer that would be?

Then sprinkle a dash of Jingles and a pinch of shooting. Maybe take AJ Griffin off of the scrap heap for a glorious renenwal. Ship out WCJ or Isaac for a more reliable contributor like Portis or some shooting depth...

[Ducklett]

And-1 to all of this. There is no excuse for not having a starting-caliber PG on this roster and being historically bad from three when Jeff was top 3 in the league in cap space last summer and has had multiple -- multiple -- lottery picks since he arrived 8 years ago.

What is so frustrating is everyone has known what was needed the past 2 years and Jeff didn't even try to address it.

I was gonna and-1 this then I did the stats. The top-30 PGs by PER are by definition "starting-caliber PG".
Mr #30 is, drum roll, Cole Anthony.

That makes me sad.

In conclusion: there are about 10 great PGs in the league. 10 PGs that are "starting quality". An a BUNCH of backups playing starting PG.

Being an NBA PG is really, really hard.
Example: Malcolm Brogdon and Tyus Jones are by metric "starting-caliber PGs". Sad.

Orlando really just needs to offer Utah three FRPs and Caldwell-Pope for Collin Sexton. It's not an overpay. PGs are not easy to find.
(( by PER, on a HORRIBLE team, Sexton is 21st in the NBA ))


p.s I did AND-1 you. Nice thought lines!

Make it 3 frps, KCP and Jett for Sexton and Walker Kessler...what a summer that would be?

Then sprinkle a dash of Jingles and a pinch of shooting. Maybe take AJ Griffin off of the scrap heap for a glorious renenwal. Ship out WCJ or Isaac for a more reliable contributor like Portis or some shooting depth...

It wouldn't take 2 months of watching Sexton and Kessler on a non-tanking team for this board to say the trade was awful, everyone knew it was bad before it happened, etc just like KCP's signing this summer. Even if they were fine at the end of the year after acclimating to a new team. Everything has to be now now now and never later around these parts. Lets be honest.

[Skybox]

I was gonna and-1 this then I did the stats. The top-30 PGs by PER are by definition "starting-caliber PG".
Mr #30 is, drum roll, Cole Anthony.

That makes me sad.

In conclusion: there are about 10 great PGs in the league. 10 PGs that are "starting quality". An a BUNCH of backups playing starting PG.

Being an NBA PG is really, really hard.
Example: Malcolm Brogdon and Tyus Jones are by metric "starting-caliber PGs". Sad.

Orlando really just needs to offer Utah three FRPs and Caldwell-Pope for Collin Sexton. It's not an overpay. PGs are not easy to find.
(( by PER, on a HORRIBLE team, Sexton is 21st in the NBA ))


p.s I did AND-1 you. Nice thought lines!

Make it 3 frps, KCP and Jett for Sexton and Walker Kessler...what a summer that would be?

Then sprinkle a dash of Jingles and a pinch of shooting. Maybe take AJ Griffin off of the scrap heap for a glorious renenwal. Ship out WCJ or Isaac for a more reliable contributor like Portis or some shooting depth...

It wouldn't take 2 months of watching Sexton and Kessler on a non-tanking team for this board to say the trade was awful, everyone knew it was bad before it happened, etc just like KCP's signing this summer. Even if they were fine at the end of the year after acclimating to a new team. Everything has to be now now now and never later around these parts. Lets be honest.

Picking up a couple of proven young guys at dire positions of need doesn’t seem that crazy to me…your patience is impressive - especially after an utterly wasted season waiting for players to magically transform into things they’re not.

Sexton & Kessler are young, reasonably priced role players with very specific talents that our roster is devoid of…elite rim protection, elite reboundind, particularly on offense, great handles with an excellent combo of scoring & playmaking, very reliable 3pt shooting from backcourt to open things up…they’re just role players…which is all we can expect to get and, fortunately, all we really should need to round out our core. We gave the bags to Suggs, Franz & Paolo…that’s the core and it’s a good one - now we “only” have to play Moneyball and find the missing skills more so than expect to find more complete 2-way stars.

[ogmagicfan]

Make it 3 frps, KCP and Jett for Sexton and Walker Kessler...what a summer that would be?

Then sprinkle a dash of Jingles and a pinch of shooting. Maybe take AJ Griffin off of the scrap heap for a glorious renenwal. Ship out WCJ or Isaac for a more reliable contributor like Portis or some shooting depth...

It wouldn't take 2 months of watching Sexton and Kessler on a non-tanking team for this board to say the trade was awful, everyone knew it was bad before it happened, etc just like KCP's signing this summer. Even if they were fine at the end of the year after acclimating to a new team. Everything has to be now now now and never later around these parts. Lets be honest.

Picking up a couple of proven young guys at dire positions of need doesn’t seem that crazy to me…your patience is impressive - especially after an utterly wasted season waiting for players to magically transform into things they’re not.

Sexton & Kessler are young, reasonably priced role players with very specific talents that our roster is devoid of…elite rim protection, elite reboundind, particularly on offense, great handles with an excellent combo of scoring & playmaking, very reliable 3pt shooting from backcourt to open things up…they’re just role players…which is all we can expect to get and, fortunately, all we really should need to round out our core. We gave the bags to Suggs, Franz & Paolo…that’s the core and it’s a good one - now we “only” have to play Moneyball and find the missing skills more so than expect to find more complete 2-way stars.

If they were that impactful, the Jazz wouldnt have 19 wins

and I know theyre're tanking and all, but if I'm moving out 3 1sts & 2 starters I'm expecting a star, not 2 role players. Both are expirings next year too so you'll have to dole out alot of money to keep both, because you can bet when negotiating their agents will say you sent out 3 1sts and 2 starters so their value is high

This is the kinda move that can lock the Magic into mediocrity for the rest of the Paolo & Franz tenure if it doesnt work out, which considering Sexton isnt a PG and Kessler cant spread the floor, trends as the more likely scenario

[VFX]

I was gonna and-1 this then I did the stats. The top-30 PGs by PER are by definition "starting-caliber PG".
Mr #30 is, drum roll, Cole Anthony.

That makes me sad.

In conclusion: there are about 10 great PGs in the league. 10 PGs that are "starting quality". An a BUNCH of backups playing starting PG.

Being an NBA PG is really, really hard.
Example: Malcolm Brogdon and Tyus Jones are by metric "starting-caliber PGs". Sad.

Orlando really just needs to offer Utah three FRPs and Caldwell-Pope for Collin Sexton. It's not an overpay. PGs are not easy to find.
(( by PER, on a HORRIBLE team, Sexton is 21st in the NBA ))


p.s I did AND-1 you. Nice thought lines!

Make it 3 frps, KCP and Jett for Sexton and Walker Kessler...what a summer that would be?

Then sprinkle a dash of Jingles and a pinch of shooting. Maybe take AJ Griffin off of the scrap heap for a glorious renenwal. Ship out WCJ or Isaac for a more reliable contributor like Portis or some shooting depth...

It wouldn't take 2 months of watching Sexton and Kessler on a non-tanking team for this board to say the trade was awful, everyone knew it was bad before it happened, etc just like KCP's signing this summer. Even if they were fine at the end of the year after acclimating to a new team. Everything has to be now now now and never later around these parts. Lets be honest.

Thats funny.

Yeah, if people can look at the glaringly obvious missing skillsets in the starting lineup for the last 3-5 seasons they might have the takeaway that point guard and a defensive minded Center were at the top of the list. Why would a trade actually addressing the obvious be deemed "awful" even after the fact? It would mean they at least attempted to mitigate those concerns.

Just a disingenuous argument. Nobody with a shred of common sense thought KCP was an ideal fit. That would mean believing without a shadow of a doubt that Suggs was in fact a starting level point guard to a team with a reserve (CoJo) and whatever Cole is deemed. People were just happy to clap like seals because the FO actually made a choice and pulled the trigger on something outside of draft picks. It was just the wrong decision.

And no, giving KCP a bag to do worse at his job than Suggs did with last years data AT THE EXPENSE OF PAYING A POINT GUARD outweighs whatever his "acclimation to a new team" numbers happen to be.

Never later? How much later? Spurs landed Fox in year 1.5 of having Wembanyama to pair with him for the forseeable future. Should Orlando wait 4-5 years before they start making forward thinking roster decisions outside of the draft?

[eyriq]

Several things.

1. The team expected a combination of Suggs/Black/Cole/Franz/Paolo to be able to assume the playmaking duties they lost when Fultz and Ingles departed in free agency. This is ultimately why they chose to double down on 3&D by retaining Harris and signing KCP rather than pursuing a point guard with their cap space. To date, none of the five players listed above have been able to replicate those playmaking responsibilities effectively and the offense has not progressed forward in the way the front office expected it to. In fact, it's regressed somewhat significantly.

2. Isaac gained a bunch of weight in an extremely misguided effort to play more center and has regressed significantly year-over-year. His defense is still very good, but last year he was statistically the most impactful defender in the entire NBA. And his offense absolutely cratered.

3. KCP simply has not shot the basketball nearly as well as they expected him to shoot it. KCP over the last 5 years combined (which includes playing WITHOUT Jokic and WITHOUT LeBron, so you can't chalk it all up to those MVP caliber players spoonfeeding him open shots) has shot 40.3% from 3PT. He's at 33% this year. If he was shooting 40.3% this year, he'd have 125 3PT makes instead of 102. Those 23 extra three point makes would equal 69 more points for the Magic. 69 more points for the Magic would 0.9 more points per game, which would raise the Magic two spots on the PPG and ORTG lists just on that alone.

4. Paolo and Franz have simply not progressed enough as 3PT shooters. The two guys on the team with over 30 USG% shooting 29% and 31% from 3PT just isn't going to work.

5. Mosley has not been able to get the players to play with the same consistent energy and effort he did last season. Of all the things, you can chalk at least some of this one up to Suggs' injury, but if the energy and effort level is impacted that severely by missing one player then the system is probably too flimsy overall. And Mosley very obviously has zero juice from an X's and O's perspective, especially on the offensive end. So it's not like there's tactical acumen that can overcome a lack of effort and hustle.

Yes, injuries are a factor, but to suggest they are the primary factor is disingenuous. Even fully healthy (which isn't realistic) the Magic would still have a lot of the same problems from my list 1 thru 4.

1. Fultz (12th in minutes, 6th in assists, and 9th in turnovers) and Ingles (8th in minutes, 5th in assists, and 7th in turnovers) were not high impact players nor primary playmakers for this offense. Our team's turnover% actually has improved over last season, from #25 to #19. Playmaking is not the main issue with our offensive decline nor is losing Fultz and Ingles a legit cause of our overall decline.

2. JI was 11th in minutes and 8th in win shares last season, this season he is 9th in minutes and 6th in win shares. JI's performance is not a root cause of our decline.

3. KCP is #1 in minutes. We are overexposed to KCP... because of injuries. He's still an upgrade at a starting guard spot over Harris and AB from last season.

4. Paolo and Franz are both much better this season vs last season. Franz '24 PER was 17.6, this season it is 20.0. Paolo '24 PER was 17.1, this season it is 20.1. Problem is they were both seriously injured and missed a lot of time.

5. This is BS. Our defense is actually better this season than last season. We are -4.6 points better defensively than the league average this season compared to -4.0 last season.

Injuries are the story here, brother. Its as clear as day. Your analysis will result in throwing the baby out with the bath water.

[drsd]

Make it 3 frps, KCP and Jett for Sexton and Walker Kessler...what a summer that would be?

Then sprinkle a dash of Jingles and a pinch of shooting. Maybe take AJ Griffin off of the scrap heap for a glorious renenwal. Ship out WCJ or Isaac for a more reliable contributor like Portis or some shooting depth...

It wouldn't take 2 months of watching Sexton and Kessler on a non-tanking team for this board to say the trade was awful, everyone knew it was bad before it happened, etc just like KCP's signing this summer. Even if they were fine at the end of the year after acclimating to a new team. Everything has to be now now now and never later around these parts. Lets be honest.

Even if you are right, the price is Caldwell-Pope and four players that will probably be marginal in the league. Come on dude: don't overvalue low FRPs and really don't overvalue Howard, a guy that won't be in the NBA in a couple years.

From an asset management perspective, the proposed trade improves the Magic.