Emergency Game Thread MAGIC VS CHEF CURRY AND THE WARRIORS 02/25/16

[SaberT]

Well I heard the Atlanta announcers saying Oladipo is our best defensive player out of the two. Point is I don't think it matters what announcers think. Its not "Strange" that Oladipos guy put up 51 points because he was guarding Steph freaking Curry. It doesn't matter who you put on him, the guy needs no room to shoot, he's super accurate and he can pull up from 30 feet. I thought victor was doing a good job on him until the 3rd quarter. Payton is not a better defender than Victor and neither is Fournier. To me its AG and Dipo in some order. If the announcers were surprised that Vic was guarding Curry its because they don't know anything about the team.

I agree, they know nothing of the Magic. I just found it amusing how uninformed they are.

Not to me. Oladipo is actually a good defender, not viewed as one. Payton gets burned by every PG in the league it doesn't matter who it is.

You are being very arbitrary in this. I get that Skiles praised Oladipo for his skills and criticised Payton so I get that you feel you need to tow the party line but it really is getting tired. As you well know, Skiles forced the team to go over the screen for most of the season, when Payton goes over, he trails his man, same thing happens when Oladipo has to go over the screen (like yesterday against Curry where he usually ran behind him). In that situation, a big man or a teammate should close down the shooter until Payton/Oladipo can recover. Good example was yesterday when Curry hit that shot over Vucevic's arm. Oladipo was stuck in a screen and Vucevic was contesting, but Curry hit an impossible shot (not for him).

What I am saying, you put Oladipo alone on a player who can use screens with no help from teammates, he'll get burned every play as well. No one can stay ahead of a skilled PG using a tight screen.

[Blue_and_Whte]

the reason I laugh is not because people want to see him but because people acting like he isn't playing a lot . He gets solid minutes and will continue to for the rest of his career . he is a 20 year old getting 30 minutes a game in only his second year , that's really good . But to act like Skiles is an idiot because he isn't playing him 36 minutes a game is being petty and just comes off as trying to find a reason to be mad at Skiles .

Aaron is averaging 22 mpg. This is courtesy of Skiles saying "He's not ready" for 30 games. Once he put him into the starting lineup, all at once he became "good" and can play 30 minutes.

Before January, Skiles played Gordon for 17.8 minutes per game. Some people did not forget that like you have forgotten.

I...There is so much that has already been said about this that has obviously flying over peoples heads. There is just such a lack of an ability to think bigger picture.

It has nothing to do with "oh look AG is suddenly good herp derp" There are many variables to consider when a brand new coach is trying to integrate players he's never coached before(Sans Harris) into his system. He had Frye, AN, and AG to evaluate and each guy has received minutes and I think YOUR forgetting that. AN was getting minutes, Frye was getting minutes, and now AG is getting minutes. Its a process that Magic fans are too impatient to go through. You cant make a line up change and judge it based on one game unless its really bad outcome imo. You honestly think Skiles and his team of professional NBA coaches didn't know what they had in AG

[Blue_and_Whte]

Well I heard the Atlanta announcers saying Oladipo is our best defensive player out of the two. Point is I don't think it matters what announcers think. Its not "Strange" that Oladipos guy put up 51 points because he was guarding Steph freaking Curry. It doesn't matter who you put on him, the guy needs no room to shoot, he's super accurate and he can pull up from 30 feet. I thought victor was doing a good job on him until the 3rd quarter. Payton is not a better defender than Victor and neither is Fournier. To me its AG and Dipo in some order. If the announcers were surprised that Vic was guarding Curry its because they don't know anything about the team.

I agree, they know nothing of the Magic. I just found it amusing how uninformed they are.

Not to me. Oladipo is actually a good defender, not viewed as one. Payton gets burned by every PG in the league it doesn't matter who it is.

You are being very arbitrary in this. I get that Skiles praised Oladipo for his skills and criticised Payton so I get that you feel you need to tow the party line but it really is getting tired. As you well know, Skiles forced the team to go over the screen for most of the season, when Payton goes over, he trails his man, same thing happens when Oladipo has to go over the screen (like yesterday against Curry where he usually ran behind him). In that situation, a big man or a teammate should close down the shooter until Payton/Oladipo can recover. Good example was yesterday when Curry hit that shot over Vucevic's arm. Oladipo was stuck in a screen and Vucevic was contesting, but Curry hit an impossible shot (not for him).

What I am saying, you put Oladipo alone on a player who can use screens with no help from teammates, he'll get burned every play as well. No one can stay ahead of a skilled PG using a tight screen.

I don't need to tow the party line, that's a FACT. You're forgetting that he also has to play free safety of sorts and stunt drivers which is why he sometimes is caught out of position but generally his ability to recover makes it work. While your thoughts on screens is accurate, what I'm referencing is Payton getting blown by by PGs and letting them get into the lane.

Its much less about ability though and more to do with energy. Victor plays with constant energy while Payton thinks he can just flip it on. That's

[Mc-o]

the reason I laugh is not because people want to see him but because people acting like he isn't playing a lot . He gets solid minutes and will continue to for the rest of his career . he is a 20 year old getting 30 minutes a game in only his second year , that's really good . But to act like Skiles is an idiot because he isn't playing him 36 minutes a game is being petty and just comes off as trying to find a reason to be mad at Skiles .

Aaron is averaging 22 mpg. This is courtesy of Skiles saying "He's not ready" for 30 games. Once he put him into the starting lineup, all at once he became "good" and can play 30 minutes.

Before January, Skiles played Gordon for 17.8 minutes per game. Some people did not forget that like you have forgotten.

So because of Scott not playing him enough earlier in the season I'm supposed to stay upset no matter how many minutes he gets ? And at the time maybe Skiles felt like he was not 100% ready considering he had missed most of pre season and also we were playing pretty good before January . Not saying Skiles decision was rt or wrong but do not act like he is just some idiot doing things for no reason . And I'm referring to 30 minutes a game recently! You guys can choose to find reasons to be upset but that's on you I just actually keep a realistic perspective , not many 20 years starting in the NBA !

[SOUL]

A lot of people need to learn what defense is exactly. There are warranted criticisms when Payton goes under on somebody who is a good shooter or gets blown by because of bad positioning, but his defense has been up and down as much as anybody besides Gordon and Oladipo so he's not alone there.

The problem is people here also will call bad defense even if they are screened, if they funnel a player into another player either for a trap or a better contest, or doubling aggressively off of a bad shooter that makes a long two. For some reason people think sticking really close to every player despite them being able to drive past you or not is good defense and that's not true.

[Mc-o]

A lot of people need to learn what defense is exactly. There are warranted criticisms when Payton goes under on somebody who is a good shooter or gets blown by because of bad positioning, but his defense has been up and down as much as anybody besides Gordon and Oladipo so he's not alone there.

The problem is people here also will call bad defense even if they are screened, if they funnel a player into another player either for a trap or a better contest, or doubling aggressively off of a bad shooter that makes a long two. For some reason people think sticking really close to every player despite them being able to drive past you or not is good defense and that's not true.

I agree Defense is really hard ! Lol glad all I have to do is watch lol that's why sometimes us fan think it's as easy as giving a player more minutes but there is sooooo much more to the game than the majority of us can even fathom !

[OrlandO]

AG IS OUR BEST EVERYTHING DEFENDER , dudes a beast !

How can you have this opinion and then turnaround and laugh at people for wanting to see him play just as much as guys like dipo and fournier in some games (especially when he is playing well)?

the reason I laugh is not because people want to see him but because people acting like he isn't playing a lot . He gets solid minutes and will continue to for the rest of his career . he is a 20 year old getting 30 minutes a game in only his second year , that's really good . But to act like Skiles is an idiot because he isn't playing him 36 minutes a game is being petty and just comes off as trying to find a reason to be mad at Skiles .

Who cares how old he is and how much he'll play in the future. If he's our best defender right now, an argument can and should be made that he should be out there more. That's not acting like he's not getting minutes... that's just wanting to maximize the use of one of our best players.

[Mc-o]

How can you have this opinion and then turnaround and laugh at people for wanting to see him play just as much as guys like dipo and fournier in some games (especially when he is playing well)?

the reason I laugh is not because people want to see him but because people acting like he isn't playing a lot . He gets solid minutes and will continue to for the rest of his career . he is a 20 year old getting 30 minutes a game in only his second year , that's really good . But to act like Skiles is an idiot because he isn't playing him 36 minutes a game is being petty and just comes off as trying to find a reason to be mad at Skiles .

Who cares how old he is and how much he'll play in the future. If he's our best defender right now, an argument can and should be made that he should be out there more. That's not acting like he's not getting minutes... that's just wanting to maximize the use of one of our best players.

I respect your point ! His minutes have been increasing all year , so he is trending upwards in minutes so it's not like he isn't getting minutes !

[KillMonger]

i would also like to see AG and for the matter Hezonja involved more, it's not really about the minutes moreso the usage. If these guys are the future then we need to start handing the keys to the Ferrari to these guys. I'm absolutely tired of seeing AG constricted to just being a garbage man and Hezonja out there standing around waiting for kickouts or if the play breaks down. It's hard to believe that the way we play now is all we can create for them, it's exacerbated even more when you got guys like Fournier and to a slightly lesser extent Oladipo missing guys WIDE OPEN to opt for more difficult shots for themselves.

[OrlandO]

the reason I laugh is not because people want to see him but because people acting like he isn't playing a lot . He gets solid minutes and will continue to for the rest of his career . he is a 20 year old getting 30 minutes a game in only his second year , that's really good . But to act like Skiles is an idiot because he isn't playing him 36 minutes a game is being petty and just comes off as trying to find a reason to be mad at Skiles .

Who cares how old he is and how much he'll play in the future. If he's our best defender right now, an argument can and should be made that he should be out there more. That's not acting like he's not getting minutes... that's just wanting to maximize the use of one of our best players.

I respect your point ! His minutes have been increasing all year , so he is trending upwards in minutes so it's not like he isn't getting minutes !

Problem is nobody is acting like he isn't getting any minutes.

[Dennis Reynolds]

i would also like to see AG and for the matter Hezonja involved more, it's not really about the minutes moreso the usage. If these guys are the future then we need to start handing the keys to the Ferrari to these guys. I'm absolutely tired of seeing AG constricted to just being a garbage man and Hezonja out there standing around waiting for kickouts or if the play breaks down. It's hard to believe that the way we play now is all we can create for them, it's exacerbated even more when you got guys like Fournier and to a slightly lesser extent Oladipo missing guys WIDE OPEN to opt for more difficult shots for themselves.

Totally agree. I don't get it either. It isn't like what we are doing is working. We need to get everybody involved,not just AG and Mario because playing hero ball or 2 man game with everybody standing around isn't going to cut it. Those useless long 2s should be turned into 3s which are more efficient and will create better spacing. How hard it is to grasp that?

[Tayswagzzz]

It's strange that the guys Oladipo did not guard scored few points, and the guy Oladipo did defend scored 51. It's not like Klay or Draymond are some scrubs. I know it's Curry, and he is usually unguardable but still. I don't see how you can use this last game to make a dig at Payton and compliment Oladipo.

GSW commentators were saying that Oladipo is not as good defender as Payton, and were surprised Oladipo was on Curry when the game started. Commentators are not known as the most informed people but I found it amusing (consensus here is Oladipo is much better defensively than Payton).

General consensus is if you can't shoot you are naturally viewed as a good defender. That's where Payton gets the benefit of the doubt.

Not to me. Oladipo is actually a good defender, not viewed as one. Payton gets burned by every PG in the league it doesn't matter who it is.

Yeah I agree with you.

[ranlamjon]

Entertaining thread..............

Love the props re: the Chef......