2021-2022 Regular Season Game 5: Charlotte Hornets (3-1) at Orlando Magic (1-3) - 10/25/21 at 7:00pm ET

[Audi]

It’s not pretty, but it’s also not Vuc/Fournier buddy ball..

[richi_v25]

I know we lost but I'm like my boy Otis "I Like This Team"! Lol. Yes I agree Cole shouldn't be our starting pg but he is the best we have right now so I don't hate him. I can't wait to get Fultz back but I believe even MCW will be an upgrade to run our offense.

MCW is so swole now he can play backup SF or something but I don't think he's a great PG either. He's disruptive on defense though.

But at least MCW probably passes more than Cole

That's what I think MC Swole-o-u can pace the offense better bc he won't be looking for his shot as a first, second or third option like Cole plus he's a very capable defender at 6.6.

[MagicStarwipe]

Definitely not in favour of benching Suggs. For once we have to throw our top pick into the deep end and let him learn to swim.

[RookieStar]

MCW is so swole now he can play backup SF or something but I don't think he's a great PG either. He's disruptive on defense though.

But at least MCW probably passes more than Cole

That's what I think MC Swole-o-u can pace the offense better bc he won't be looking for his shot as a first, second or third option like Cole plus he's a very capable defender at 6.6.

Yup.. it enables Suggs todefend the snaller PG rather than the SGs who are usually bigger. Something you cant do with Cole.

[OrlDave]

Got home and watched the reply. Holy crap how is Gary Harris so bad? Like it feels like he barely knows how to play basketball.

The previous thread I said that our bigs needed to get to combine 20 rebounds and that's exactly what they got tonight. Great game by Mo and WCj. Scoring and rebounding.

Suggs had a bad game, but I'm not too concerned yet. He still a managed to affect the game in a lot of positive ways although he turned the ball over too much.

Cole was solid. He's surprised me this year so far. RJ has as well, but for more negative reasons. I hope RJ gets it together.

Franz, what can I say? When he wasn't scoring efficiently he was deflecting the ball out of guy's hands and making good passes. It's sad that his stats actually don't represent everything he did on the court. Several times he made amazing passes only for the guy to get fouled and him not get an assist.

Overall not a terrible game. We competed from beginning to end but we just couldn't stop a couple of their guys.

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[pepe1991]

I don't care that Suggs can't make any shots but guy played 36 min and looked invisible. Maybe if you give him on ball duties he will be less of no-treat as spot up? I don't know.

Main issue with Mosley rotations is that once bench goes in, there is no center, so opponents just go at rim and even when they miss, Magic can't rebound to save their lifes. Magic 4 bench players combined for 2 rebounds. This could be easly fixed if his first sub is ross, for either Bamba or Wendell, it would allow him to have some sort of paint presence all the time. He did better this game, where , i think, one of them indeed was there most of the time. This thing should be solved once Isaac is back.

Late edit: there is just simply too many guards right now on roster. Once Fultz & MCW come back, it will be even more. I know it's long season but Ross isn't SF either, Harris, RJ Hampton, Cole, Fultz, Suggs.... and even if you play MCW at SF there is still too many guards.

On positive note , Franz looks legit and it's pleasure to watch player who has high BBIQ. But he needs to work on boxing out and rebounding.

Hornets... i wanted to watch Bridges again after Nets game, and he didn't dissapoint. Plumlee & Hayward exploring missmatches in 4th quater, savy vets doing their job. Lemelo had really crappy game tho.

[KillMonger]

tough game but i'm still enjoying watching the games....oddly enough can i say i'm actually enjoying this year more than last? It's like an oddly refreshing feeling even though we're losing..... Suggs needs more time in the oven, the game will slow down for him he'll be just fine....Franz is looking like a different player from preseason, i like what i see this early and he's only going to get better since he still has a lot to work on....As a team i like our energy, what i'm not liking is us continuing to go UNDER screens in today's NBA where EVERYONE is shooting.....Gary Harris, my boy where has your 3pt shot gone? you used to be a near knockdown shooter, my G what happened?.......we let Jaden Mcdaniels hit 4 threes pretty much uncontested....JADEN MCDANIELS....we need to tweak the defense a bit

[Tarheel]

Suggs just needs the game to slow down - he's turning the ball over a lot at the moment because he's not used to the pace and the step up in defensive athleticism compared to college.

The jumper will be fine, his form looks good and his FT% is great.

Defensively he's already NBA level.

I'm not worried about him at all. I expect us to be having a very different conversation about him at the end of the season.

The only thing I would personally change is make him the full time PG and let him ride out the mistakes.

[The Real Dalic]

Not sure why people love to crap on Cole even though he's been one of our best players in the last 3 games. He's also one of the prospects we need to develop but people act like he's a 7 year pro and a finished product.

They also love to crap on Cole while avoiding the dicussion about just how bad RJ and Suggs have been.

I'm not worried about Suggs one bit, but RJ is showing he doesn't belong in this league or rotation at the moment. He's been awful since the Summer League. He needs to turn it around asap. In the running for worst player on the team right now.

The good news is that our starting bigs have looked good for the most part this season and should be much better when one of them goes back to the bench when Okeke and Isaac come back.

Now, the absolute brightest spot on our team and the early season so far has obviously been Franz. This kid is already so good. Smart, always in the right spots, great defender, getting better with his shot, can do a little bit of everything. Huge fan already of him.

[YosemiteSam]

Too many wide open shots given up. Not even on interesting tactics from the opponent. I've not been able to isolate why there always seems to be wide open threes or elbow jumpers or a terrible mismatch in the post. In the old days it was Elfrid and Fournier not stopping the ball at point of attack, but now it just seems like missed assignments. Not sure if it is a coaching/scheme issue or just players with bad awareness and ball watching.

Also, if Harris stays this bad I'm not sure we will be able to trade him. Might have to be a waive/buy out situation. Then he'll go to a contender and re-discover his mojo I'm sure

[Bergmaniac]

5 games in and I've seen enough of Cole and Jalen playing together. Their games do not jive at all.

Yet according to the stats we have played very well with both of them on the court - 113.3 ORTG, 98.3 DRTG, 15.0 Net rating, which is the best on the team among the high minutes duos. Suggs needs to shoot better for sure and cut down on turnovers, but the team still plays way better when he's on the court. Of course a lot of this is due to lineups and the starting frontcourt playing really well, but still I don't think Cole and Jalen playing together has been an issue so far.

The main issue on this team continues to be the bench. The starters have been much more effective than expected. Last night Harris looked like a guy who had no idea how to make a basic pass. Hampton continues to just rush everything. And we just couldn't score with Cole on the bench or defend when Bamba was on the bench.

Anyway, it was a typical NBA game where the young team stayed close but collapsed late due to turnovers and rushing shots. I expect we will see a lot of these, but that's fine. The important thing is Franz has been killing it and our young centres are doing well. Suggs' shot continues to be off and he needs to tighten his handle, but his playmaking has been decent and the defence is already NBA level. He's also gotten to the line a decent amount for a rookie in his first NBA games, when the refs stop allowing him to be hacked on his drives his efficiency will improve further.

[KillMonger]

Watch on YouTube

[YosemiteSam]

5 games in and I've seen enough of Cole and Jalen playing together. Their games do not jive at all.

Anyway, it was a typical NBA game where the young team stayed close but collapsed late due to turnovers and rushing shots. I expect we will see a lot of these, but that's fine.

The thing is Charlotte is also really young - we have 9 players 23 and under and they have 11! Now it may be that the minutes by young players vs. vets is off, but what I saw is their vets like Heyward and Plumlee stepped up especially in the 4th and ours like Harris and Ross were our biggest problems. I think the FO have done a terrible job adding solid vets on this team to stabilize the youth. They all are too volatile (Ross), injured (MCW and Moore), redundant (Lopez)) or straight up suck (Harris)

[yoyojw17]

The team’s current starting lineup, however, has played exceptionally well. In 45 minutes together, the group of Cole Anthony, Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner, Wendell Carter and Mo Bamba has a +22.3 net rating (111.7 offensive rating/89.4 defensive rating). That starting group has been very good even at this early stage of the season.

from A Fanside article before last night's game. That's impressive for early season and a young line up. Just need okeke, Isaac and fultz to return and see how they improve our team... Starting and backup lineups.

[JBSouthpaw]

5 games in and I've seen enough of Cole and Jalen playing together. Their games do not jive at all.

........

Anyway, it was a typical NBA game where the young team stayed close but collapsed late due to turnovers and rushing shots. I expect we will see a lot of these, but that's fine. The important thing is Franz has been killing it abd our young centres are doing well. Suggs' shot continues to be off and he needs to tighten his handle, but his playmaking has been decent and the defence is already NBA level. He's also gotten to the line a decent amount for a rookie in his first NBA games, when the refs stop allowing him to be hacked on his drives his efficiency will improve further.

I'm ok with this right now, more veteran teams will do that.
I just don't want to see those terrible 1st Qs anymore.
After the 1st 2 games, We've played a whole lot more consistent, I've talked myself into the being ok with growing pains.

[PrimeThyme]

Our second unit just needs some sort of stabilizing playmaking guard right now. I personally love the idea of bringing Fultz off the bench to fill that role as a 6th man.

Forcing Ross/RJ/Harris to create as much offense as they are having to do right now is a recipe for disaster. It's no wonder our second unit is getting blown off the floor. RJ is involved in way too much PnR action at the moment. His offense is just not there yet. He needs a clear defined role like he had last year as a cutter to the basket, transition threat, and occasional spot up shooter.

I'm quite encouraged by what I've seen so far, honestly. Bamba is a completely different player this year, both from an effort and positional understanding standpoint. Wagner is as advertised. Suggs is contributing everywhere so far except for the scoring category, which will come in due time. WCJ is playing like an average starting center, which is what I'm wanting from him.

I see no reason why that starting lineup won't see continued success. It's a problem for an opposing offense, especially with a dog like Suggs at the point of attack.

[Blue_and_Whte]

Suggs just needs the game to slow down - he's turning the ball over a lot at the moment because he's not used to the pace and the step up in defensive athleticism compared to college.

The jumper will be fine, his form looks good and his FT% is great.

Defensively he's already NBA level.

I'm not worried about him at all. I expect us to be having a very different conversation about him at the end of the season.

The only thing I would personally change is make him the full time PG and let him ride out the mistakes.

Suggs is pressing every game while taking on a notoriously difficult position to learn at the pro level. I think he needs to slow down personally. When he is taking good shots he's just missing them. He just needs to keep shooting.

In terms of Franz like i said during summer league and preseason he's a system player, and once the season started he'd be fine. He just needs to continue getting himself open, playing good defense, and playing off the other guys.

[Xatticus]

Our second unit just needs some sort of stabilizing playmaking guard right now. I personally love the idea of bringing Fultz off the bench to fill that role as a 6th man.

Forcing Ross/RJ/Harris to create as much offense as they are having to do right now is a recipe for disaster. It's no wonder our second unit is getting blown off the floor. RJ is involved in way too much PnR action at the moment. His offense is just not there yet. He needs a clear defined role like he had last year as a cutter to the basket, transition threat, and occasional spot up shooter.

I'm quite encouraged by what I've seen so far, honestly. Bamba is a completely different player this year, both from an effort and positional understanding standpoint. Wagner is as advertised. Suggs is contributing everywhere so far except for the scoring category, which will come in due time. WCJ is playing like an average starting center, which is what I'm wanting from him.

I see no reason why that starting lineup won't see continued success. It's a problem for an opposing offense, especially with a dog like Suggs at the point of attack.

The only thing I'd add is that I think the bench needs a defensive presence and Ross needs to revert to a catch-and-shoot role until we get things sorted in transition. His shot selection is creating fast-break points for the opposition. We are getting bludgeoned any time he is on the floor.

https://www.nba.com/stats/vs/advanced/#!?TeamID=1610612753&VsPlayerID=203082

https://www.nba.com/stats/vs/#!?TeamID=1610612753&VsPlayerID=203082&Season=2021-22&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&PerMode=Totals

Those are insane numbers so far. That's not to say that it is all on Ross, but we have actually been really good whenever he has been on the bench and we have been horrible when he has been on the floor.

Even Franz Wagner's numbers are terrible when Ross is on the floor with him:

https://www.nba.com/stats/vs/advanced/#!?VsPlayerID=203082&PlayerID=1630532