What's wrong with the team?

[Bensational]

Granted, there's crossover on most of these, but what is the biggest factor holding this team back?

Would changing just one of these elements make a significant difference and get us into the playoffs?

Make a selection and add your justification.



- Do we lack proper talent that's good enough to carry a team to the playoffs (either individually or as a team)?

- Are our players too young to know what it takes to win on a nightly basis?

- Are our players underdeveloped to be able to help enough?

- Do the players not fit well together?

- Is the system not suitable for the players we've got?

- Is the coach not right for the players we've got?

- Are we just looking at placeholders of what the final team will look like?

- Is it something else?

[ralphie9898]

It is a combination of a lot of things. Youth. Lack of interior defense. Inconsistent perimeter D. Lack of range among our key players on offense which hurts offense as things get tighter and it makes it easier for defenses to defend us. Our best scorer is our center and he is dependent on us getting him the ball. Vuc hasn't taken that big step forward. Gordon is playing better but still hasn't taken that leap yet. Payton is making some strides but still not enough. Same can be said for the whole team. We are doing better but as I have been saying you can't expect instant change into a playoff contender unless you add significant in free agency/trades or someone developing into an all-star.

[Xatticus]

I chose development. I'm not that concerned with the team's record this year, as I'm not one of those that anticipated a playoff run going into the season. I simply wanted to see significant signs of development. I can enjoy following the team even when they are piling up losses, just as long as there is some reason for optimism. I'm far less optimistic about the futures of some of our players than I was one year ago.

[the_hobo]

Development because we need/needed 0 minutes from ilyasova, Frye, Watson, and Jason. We need Mario, Gordon, Nicholson, and hell we even need some Dedmon development.

[tiderulz]

i chose 2, development and unfinished roster

[EAS Law]

I don't think that you could watch a string of Magic games and come to the conclusion that we don't have talent. I believe that what makes a team perform really well is basketball-IQ and just learning the game of each other.

The Spurs, Warriors, Lakers, and Heat teams that won it all passed the ball very well, always made the smart play, and knew where each player was going to be on the court.

The Cavs, for example have this problem. They achieve their success through sheer talent and ability. What they lack is what undoes them, and that's team cohesiveness and IQ.

I think that's our issue as well. We don't know what goes on in Skiles' practices, and I see a lot of the same gripes about him that I used to see about SVG, and some of JV in there regarding rotations and whatnot. I don't believe it's all about Skiles, although, I'd like to see him a bit less willing to cast blame on guys publicly. Right or wrong, players don't respond well to that.

Anyway, I, for one, am looking forward to this Summer's FA period and Draft to see what ends up happening with us. I know that we're all antsy to get back into the playoffs and contend, but we're probably closer than we know.

[Max Power]

To me it's a combination of several things. Skiles hasn't figured out a bread and butter for this squad, that's on him, their only ID is they're young.

As for the roster, I think it's maxed out its potential. I keep Vuc, Gordon and Oladipo, I start from scratch behind them. First orders of business, a pg and pf who can shoot.


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[ezzzp]

Youth and inexperience.

The Magic have a winning record at home (17-16). Young teams have a lot of trouble winning on the road.

The Magic have lost 17 games by 2 points or less; nearly half of its losses. Young teams have a lot of trouble winning close games.

[Hilltop]

Youth/Inexperience, Development, and Fit

[MagicStarwipe]

It's all of that. But for me, Scott Skiles by a nose. He's not currently a good coach (if he ever was one). He's a stubborn, biased jerk and he is handling these players terribly in my opinion.

[drsd]

The Magic is not a team. There is a lack of cohesion that is a result of "Youth and Inexperience", which was my vote.

[Furinkazan]

umm why only one option id pck up at least 3

[Jiwol]

Unfinished roster. This team has plenty of flaws but I'm sure it will look totally different next season. Too many pieces simply don't fit. PG who can't shoot, soft C, SG with low IQ, SF is too weak physically, inexperienced PF. You can cover one or two players' weaknesses by playing right personel. For us it's not possible at the moment.

[zelenooq]

orlando needs right development and this coach doesn't fit to it
so that's why i vote for coach issue
with right coach you will have right development, right of/def system

[orlando1214]

Obviously all those options above are problems the Magic have but I ended up picking coaching. This is a team of young and inexperienced players that have no clue how to win. They've developed some terrible habits over the past few years and are in desperate need of development. So what does the front office do? They bring in probably the worst possible coaches to fix those issues and to develop these players correctly.

I mean just look at the team, can you honestly say there is a single player on the team outside of Aaron who has made any type of real growth this year? Sure part of that is on the players, but clearly Skiles is not developing and teaching these players like he should. In fact, I would argue that almost every player is worse at this point in the season then they were at the end of last year because not only has Skiles not developed then, a lot of the players have taken a step back whether it be from lack of confidence due to Skiles bullish coaching style, or they have not responded to Skiles' system like we had hoped, Elfrid being the worst case of this.

Again, it would be wrong to put all the blame on Skiles, but I think this team would have been better off with just about anybody else as head coach. Hell, I'd take another year of Borrego over Skiles right now. This team needs a coach who can be patient, can build these guys up, can help them correct their mistakes, and can be someone that this team enjoys playing for. A coach like Skiles that yells and screams, yanks young players for one mistake, and constantly throws his team under the bus and never takes any blame is not what this team needs right now.

[cedric76]

The fan base

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[MagicFan101]

The fan base

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That is clearly the problem with this (or all really) forum, but I doubt the team cares much.

Fans love to blame coaches and refs for problems because these have the potential for short term fixes and most fans are impatient.

The problem for today is a combination of youth, inexperience, development and an unfinished roster. The problem for tomorrow is the lack of a true super star talent.

[Bensational]

I agree that there are multiple problems with the team, but if I could only choose one to change, it would be development.

- Lack of legit talent? I think that comes down to development, and knowing what our players are truly capable of at an early age.

- Youth? You can't really change that, it all comes at a natural time when someone finally grasps something. And they can't become more experienced at something without getting the chance to experience it in the first place (making a playoff run and making the playoffs, for example). I think that can be skirted with good coaching, and a well balanced team, though.

- Player fit? This would be the 2nd thing to change, for me. Until then, though, I think you can test different angles on player fit whilst developing players.

- System? This and development kind of go hand in hand, in my world. You need a system designed to develop players, whilst helping them win.

- Coach? Skiles is a good enough coach to improve us. Is he the right coach to make us winners and to get the most out of our players? That I'm not so confident in.

- Unfinished team? I don't think you can answer this until you've done your due diligence on development.


So, I see development as our most pressing area to improve.

I'd like to see:

- Elf encouraged to be more of a scorer.

- AG to have plays drawn up for him, both in the post and from the perimeter.

- Hezonja to have plays drawn up for him. Have him running off screens frantically the way JJ does.



Improving the scoring presence from these guys relieves Vuc of a lot of that workload, so he can conserve it for defense. With Vuc's passing, it should actually make the job easier of getting these guys more, and better looks.

[Optimus_Steel]

Too much youth, inexperience, combined with frankly not good enough talent. We lack great talent. We have decent talent and the lack of experience causes them to fall apart mentally because they dont have the natural talent to overcome adversity. Btw when I mean talent I am including intellectual basketball insticts, our players dont have those very important intangibles.

[Blue_and_Whte]

Same team as last year, slightly better talent wise. We just had unrealistic expectations