Official Speculation Thread 2016 Volume VII - Defense Wins Championships

[VFX]

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So out of all the years in tanking, ownership decides to go "win now" this season when 4/5 top picks will be all star caliber pg?

If we were ever going to 'tank' this would definitely be the year... Fultz, Smith, Ball, and Fox should be our targets. We will be out of the running for these guards drafting 11-14 and missing/losing in the first round of the playoffs.

If Frank legitimately believes PG is the position we need to upgrade first, we need to draft and retain them. Nobody is going to give up a great point guard without expecting a ridiculous return.

[rcklsscognition]

I thought it was interesting Vogel said, in response to a question on how to improve the perimeter defense,

"you gotta have guys that can do it...and uh, um, the guys you have, you gotta make sure you're giving maximum effort."

Also, we're now 4 games over our expected win total, meaning we've lucked our way into 4 extra wins, and should, by all measures should be 11-24. If we started just sucking a little more, we'd find ourselves comfortably in the 4-8 range for odds. That's perfect territory for the stealth jump to #1 this team needs. Then on the other hand we're just so close to the playoffs.

[basketballRob]

Read on Twitter

So out of all the years in tanking, ownership decides to go "win now" this season when 4/5 top picks will be all star caliber pg?

If we were ever going to 'tank' this would definitely be the year... Fultz, Smith, Ball, and Fox should be our targets. We will be out of the running for these guards drafting 11-14 and missing/losing in the first round of the playoffs.

If Frank legitimately believes PG is the position we need to upgrade first, we need to draft and retain them. Nobody is going to give up a great point guard without expecting a ridiculous return.

That's out of context. Vogel was saying the PG needs to stop the dribble penetration, that's all.

[pepe1991]

I thought it was interesting Vogel said, in response to a question on how to improve the perimeter defense,

"you gotta have guys that can do it...and uh, um, the guys you have, you gotta make sure you're giving maximum effort."

Also, we're now 4 games over our expected win total, meaning we've lucked our way into 4 extra wins, and should, by all measures should be 11-24. If we started just sucking a little more, we'd find ourselves comfortably in the 4-8 range for odds. That's perfect territory for the stealth jump to #1 this team needs. Then on the other hand we're just so close to the playoffs.

your picture hahaha, croatian coach at least plays him 20 min .

[RickB-Orlando]

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So out of all the years in tanking, ownership decides to go "win now" this season when 4/5 top picks will be all star caliber pg?

So frank isnt sold elfrid either ?!?!

This is all Skiles' fault.

[Ducklett]

Time to tank.

[drpepper10]

did Evan Fournier did the same thing to us last year at this time with his injure ?

[axl_c_cool]

Read on Twitter

So out of all the years in tanking, ownership decides to go "win now" this season when 4/5 top picks will be all star caliber pg?

If we were ever going to 'tank' this would definitely be the year... Fultz, Smith, Ball, and Fox should be our targets. We will be out of the running for these guards drafting 11-14 and missing/losing in the first round of the playoffs.

If Frank legitimately believes PG is the position we need to upgrade first, we need to draft and retain them. Nobody is going to give up a great point guard without expecting a ridiculous return.

That's out of context. Vogel was saying the PG needs to stop the dribble penetration, that's all.

So this is part of a quote, the question was in reference to defence?

[drpepper10]

i think i know why we keep him on the bench so long bescuse on the 15 of this mount we can trade him away for good at sf spot

[drpepper10]

Evan Fournier is show his teamets no support at all on our beach the rest of the team is showing there support evan look like he is moping on our bench

[basketballRob]

If we were ever going to 'tank' this would definitely be the year... Fultz, Smith, Ball, and Fox should be our targets. We will be out of the running for these guards drafting 11-14 and missing/losing in the first round of the playoffs.

If Frank legitimately believes PG is the position we need to upgrade first, we need to draft and retain them. Nobody is going to give up a great point guard without expecting a ridiculous return.

That's out of context. Vogel was saying the PG needs to stop the dribble penetration, that's all.

So this is part of a quote, the question was in reference to defence?

Yes it was in the post game interview at Indiana. Vogel wasn't blaming our big guys for the poor defense he said, the PG's were getting beat and our bigs had to continually help. So we had to be better at the head of the snake.

It's at the end of the video.

Watch on YouTube

[rcklsscognition]

Winnable January games upcoming:

Hawks @ Magic
Magic @ Lakers
Magic @ Blazers
Magic @ Nuggets
Magic @ Pelicans
Bulls @ Magic

That'd put us at 22-28 heading into February. 9 of 14 on the road remaining in the month, including a 6 game west-coast swing starting after the Rockets game. We ended 2015 after our disastrous January at 21-25 and closed the season with 35 wins. Seems similar to this season. Team going to have to make a desperation move.

[Blue_and_Whte]

Evan Fournier is show his teamets no support at all on our beach the rest of the team is showing there support evan look like he is moping on our bench

This is a complete lie. He was standing and cheering on his teammates a number of times last night alone. Stop making **** up just because you hate Fournier.

[drpepper10]

do you think evan should start or meeks keep the starting spot when evan come back from injure?

[Mc-o]

do you think evan should start or meeks keep the starting spot when evan come back from injure?

I u can't seriously think we are better with Meeks starting lol

[OrlandoDream]

do you think evan should start or meeks keep the starting spot when evan come back from injure?

I never thought I say this, but God I miss Fournier and cant wait until he is back in the SL. I wont ever complain about his defence after what Meeks/DJ backcourt provides.

With that said, we are 3-2 w/o Evan and it would be dumb to say in the long-run we are better with Meeks at the 2. However, Meeks did show us some things that we lacked with Evan. Evan needs to learn how to be a better player off-ball and not need the ball in his hands all the time. He needs to embrace the Klay role and just move through screens, get open, and move the ball. Meeks has done that very well but he is just an awful defender.

Bring back Evan, start EP and Vuc again. Those 5 are clearly our best lineup. Hope they play better then they did in the beginning of the season bc these slow starts with Biz/DJ starting are killing our momentum. Im tired of our guys playing from behind. So start our best players, get a good lead, and hope Jeff Green doesnt f'it all up.

[yoyojw17]

do you think evan should start or meeks keep the starting spot when evan come back from injure?

I never thought I say this, but God I miss Fournier and cant wait until he is back in the SL. I wont ever complain about his defence after what Meeks/DJ backcourt provides.

With that said, we are 3-2 w/o Evan and it would be dumb to say in the long-run we are better with Meeks at the 2. However, Meeks did show us some things that we lacked with Evan. Evan needs to learn how to be a better player off-ball and not need the ball in his hands all the time. He needs to embrace the Klay role and just move through screens, get open, and move the ball. Meeks has done that very well but he is just an awful defender.

Bring back Evan, start EP and Vuc again. Those 5 are clearly our best lineup. Hope they play better then they did in the beginning of the season bc these slow starts with Biz/DJ starting are killing our momentum. Im tired of our guys playing from behind. So start our best players, get a good lead, and hope Jeff Green doesnt f'it all up.

Funny thing is that .....YUP.... that has been our best lineup by far!!! Really did make me wonder if there are more reasons for such a change than we might think. lol.... i'm still sticking to the.... Putting us at a disadvantage so we can get a better pick idea.

[OrlandO]

Winnable January games upcoming:

Hawks @ Magic
Magic @ Lakers
Magic @ Blazers
Magic @ Nuggets
Magic @ Pelicans
Bulls @ Magic

That'd put us at 22-28 heading into February. 9 of 14 on the road remaining in the month, including a 6 game west-coast swing starting after the Rockets game. We ended 2015 after our disastrous January at 21-25 and closed the season with 35 wins. Seems similar to this season. Team going to have to make a desperation move.

Clipps (if they're still w/o CP3), Wolves and Bucks games are up for grabs as well imo. Of course, we're not going to win every winnable game... but I'm hoping we can sneak in one or two unexpected wins during the month (vs Rocks, Celts, Raps, Jazz, Warriors).

Anyway, I still think there's a decent chance the team will start clicking and finish the second half of the season somewhat strong. If Vogel could do it with a Paul George-less Pacers team then why not this team? I mean, we started as a team that couldn't score or defend, then turned into a team that could defend but not score, and now we're a team that can score 100+ almost every night but not stop anybody. What will we be a month from now? We're already winning road games like a decent team, so maybe we'll start winning some home games soon? We added Ibaka, biyombo, vogel this summer... unlike last season, team defense has to get better by the end of the season, right??? I don't know... just can't see this team playing out the season exactly the same as last season.

[OrlandO]

do you think evan should start or meeks keep the starting spot when evan come back from injure?

I never thought I say this, but God I miss Fournier and cant wait until he is back in the SL. I wont ever complain about his defence after what Meeks/DJ backcourt provides.

With that said, we are 3-2 w/o Evan and it would be dumb to say in the long-run we are better with Meeks at the 2. However, Meeks did show us some things that we lacked with Evan. Evan needs to learn how to be a better player off-ball and not need the ball in his hands all the time. He needs to embrace the Klay role and just move through screens, get open, and move the ball. Meeks has done that very well but he is just an awful defender.

Bring back Evan, start EP and Vuc again. Those 5 are clearly our best lineup. Hope they play better then they did in the beginning of the season bc these slow starts with Biz/DJ starting are killing our momentum. Im tired of our guys playing from behind. So start our best players, get a good lead, and hope Jeff Green doesnt f'it all up.

Agree with giving the earlier SL a shot again. DJ isn't doing enough offensively and Biz isn't doing enough defensively to justify the lineup change at this point. If Vogel is having to rely on Elf/Vuc so often then he should just start them. Unless you're stacked with stars and talent, you start your best guys and play them the most minutes. Stagger subs if you want to mix things up throughout the game.

[OrlandoDream]

do you think evan should start or meeks keep the starting spot when evan come back from injure?

I never thought I say this, but God I miss Fournier and cant wait until he is back in the SL. I wont ever complain about his defence after what Meeks/DJ backcourt provides.

With that said, we are 3-2 w/o Evan and it would be dumb to say in the long-run we are better with Meeks at the 2. However, Meeks did show us some things that we lacked with Evan. Evan needs to learn how to be a better player off-ball and not need the ball in his hands all the time. He needs to embrace the Klay role and just move through screens, get open, and move the ball. Meeks has done that very well but he is just an awful defender.

Bring back Evan, start EP and Vuc again. Those 5 are clearly our best lineup. Hope they play better then they did in the beginning of the season bc these slow starts with Biz/DJ starting are killing our momentum. Im tired of our guys playing from behind. So start our best players, get a good lead, and hope Jeff Green doesnt f'it all up.

Agree with giving the earlier SL a shot again. DJ isn't doing enough offensively and Biz isn't doing enough defensively to justify the lineup change at this point. If Vogel is having to rely on Elf/Vuc so often then he should just start them. Unless you're stacked with stars and talent, you start your best guys and play them the most minutes. Stagger subs if you want to mix things up throughout the game.

We have a 7 game west coast trip coming up later this month. I think that stretch will decide the future of a couple of players here. We had a surprisingly successful(4-1) one back in December and will look to replicate. Our defence was astounding in that stretch and Im sure Vogel will look for the same thing.

If after that trip, we are in the playoff picture/close to, then I think we stay put for the rest of the year. If not and we are a couple of games behind the 8th, Im prepared for a desperation move. I have a feeling we are going to cash in on Bledsoe. Elfrid Payton needs to play these next couple of games like his career in Orlando is on the line. He needs to have the most consistent effort month of his time here to get his starting spot back and keep this core together. If not, we will have to evaluate trade option at the PG.

Get ready.