PG:This Magic Moment

[Wingy]

I think a team of 13 Alex Caruso's could easily make it to the finals and no one will convince me otherwise.

I don’t think you can be a card carrying Bulls fan, and not love Caruso, but the guy isn’t particularly adept at putting the ball in the basket. Outside of that Houston 4th quarter, I basically expect a miss every time he puts up a three.

[Wingy]

Best part of Coby's performance for me today was defense. A sentence I did not expect to be typing in 2021. He stayed attach to his man the entire game and only committed 1 foul.

Surprised it wasn’t mentioned until page 3 with the microscope on Coby’s every fart as of late.

That’s the best overall game I’ve seen him play because he was solid on defense. As I hoped, I think the rest of the team is rubbing off on him. As Stacey said...you don’t want to be that one guy.

[bad knees]

Yeah we sold low on WCJ

We did not! Sorry I have irrational WCJ hate but no we did not. Paid too much for Vuc yeah we did but that facilitated other good moves. WCJ was going to be nothing in Chicago. He might be great in a non winning team but he was never leading the bulls to the promised land and he was never attracting other players. Lol I hope the best for him but I was never a WCJ fan.

I was a WCJ fan from the beginning. Believed in the 3 point shot. Believed he could guard the perimeter. Believed he could defend the rim. Still remember Doris Burke singing his praises in the Summer League.

But I came to realize last year that the guy is just mentally soft. He was given every opportunity at the beginning of last year to show that he could play. Show that he could shoot the 3. Show that he could he defend. And he just went out there and shat the bed. Again and again. Until it was clear that he had lost all confidence. The tremendous pressure of playing on a team that had hopes of making the play-in was just too much for him.

So of course he is playing better in Orlando. It’s the lowest pressure situation in the league. And they will win 20 games this year. Pfffft. I bet WCJ is never a starter on a winning team. He certainly could not play on this year’s Bulls team. Forget about it. He’d be a basket case. So I have no seller’s remorse whatsoever when it comes to WCJ.

[BullChit]

Yeah we sold low on WCJ

We did not! Sorry I have irrational WCJ hate but no we did not. Paid too much for Vuc yeah we did but that facilitated other good moves. WCJ was going to be nothing in Chicago. He might be great in a non winning team but he was never leading the bulls to the promised land and he was never attracting other players. Lol I hope the best for him but I was never a WCJ fan.

I was a WCJ fan from the beginning. Believed in the 3 point shot. Believed he could guard the perimeter. Believed he could defend the rim. Still remember Doris Burke singing his praises in the Summer League.

But I came to realize last year that the guy is just mentally soft. He was given every opportunity at the beginning of last year to show that he could play. Show that he could shoot the 3. Show that he could he defend. And he just went out there and shat the bed. Again and again. Until it was clear that he had lost all confidence. The tremendous pressure of playing on a team that had hopes of making the play-in was just too much for him.

So of course he is playing better in Orlando. It’s the lowest pressure situation in the league. And they will win 20 games this year. Pfffft. I bet WCJ is never a starter on a winning team. He certainly could not play on this year’s Bulls team. Forget about it. He’d be a basket case. So I have no seller’s remorse whatsoever when it comes to WCJ.

Imagine the pressure on WCJ to play the role Vuc plays on offence. Yeesh.. This board would be nuclear against him.

[BullChit]

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[Senor Chang]

Wendell and "the 8th pick" seemed to vastly outplay Vuc. And the Bulls won by 35 in Orlando. Crazy how that worked out, but hey I'll take having the vastly better team over the paper stats and "potential" hopes and dreams.

Vuc's 2nd game back from Covid. He really doesn't look the same.

It's not really an apples to apples comparison. WCJ wouldn't put up the same numbers on a team with Zach and DD. And part of the problem with WCJ is that he's injury prone- unfortunately, we'll likely see that side of him again. And lastly, just by having Vuc here, we became a more attractive destination.

Regardless, I'm happy to see Wendell having success!

Yea I don't think DDR signs with us without Vuc already being here.

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[bueller]

Our top 9 all excelled in their team roles vs. the Magic:

1-2: Lavine and DeRozan as Offensive #1.
3-4: Caruso and Lonzo as Defensive #1.
5-6: Vucevic and Coby as Offensive #2.
7-9: Then Javonte, DJJ, and Ayo as defensive/athletic/agressive role players to round out the top 9 in the rotation now that we're healthy (except for PAW.)

With Tony Bradley, Troy Brown Jr., and Alize Johnson back to spot minutes at 10-12.

[Grodoboldo]

The praising of WCJ and Orlando's young players sounds like Bulls fans in years past when it came to our former young players. The outcome was/is being a bad team with false hope.

Wagner and WCJ isn't making this team better because the Bulls don't have the off season they did if the Vuc trade didn't happen. Idgaf about Carter, he was not doing what he is doing now in Chicago, though It helps when he has no pressure on him. The trade for Orlando was about long term clearly, the trade for Chicago was for both the short and long term. Help win now and change the culture, which hopefully attracts future stars(Hi Jokic).

I know we're not supposed to do QFT posts, but this would be a post I would use it on.

Anyway, I guess I'm a Vuc stan now? (ironic after being a WCJ "stan"). Because I don't get the hate that he gets in some of the games. I mean, it's obvious (even to him) that he hasn't played up to his standards this season, but I think he's gotten better as the time passed by.

Now, I do agree that his defense hasn't been the same these last two games, but let's give him more time after getting back.

Also, good Coby game! I was so happy when we drafted him, got kinda deflated towards him as the last seasons passed, but I'm super happy when we get to see games like today, when I'm remembered of what made me love him as a prospect that draft.

[rtblues]

Chiming in on the WC Bulls blah-blah-blah:
WC has improved.
WC showed none of this on CHI.
WC was bad on CHI.
Now he's improved.
End of story.

[PrimzyBulls81]

Happy for the win, much needed.. nice blowout of average Magic team.

WCJ certainly looks like different person/player.. I think he lost ALL his confidence here with Bulls and injuries got to him as well.
He looked like Horace Grant a bit too me tonight... Maybe he can make steps forward a be a starter on some better team in future, but he will need to get mentaly stronger for that.

[FriedRise]

Caruso +38 scoring only 4 points is the most Alex Caruso line ever. The ultimate glue guy that makes his team better and elite at playing his role.

[chitowndish]

I felt like that was one of the better half court offensive games we played I liked that we were going inside to Vuc and letting him force a double team and pass out and hit guys on the perimeter, we’ve had games where we got Vuc going but it was typically off of catch and shoot or pick and roll where this was more letting him put pressure in the post and use his vision and passing which more fully uses his skills and adds a different dimension to our offense and as pointed out either by Stacy or Goff/Gill it allows him to operate in a different part of the court from everyone else which provides better spacing. That is one thing I see with our half court offense too is guys standing in the spot Lavine or DDR are trying to drive through and our offensive players almost becoming defenders because our scorers have to avoid them and the defender they bring because of too little space to operate.

That was exactly what we need to see out of Coby I loved how he was fighting on D and he wasn’t thinking too much on offense he was just attacking and if he can do those two things he has a great role on this team and they need someone that can score like that. I wasn’t even really expecting the D part but one cool thing about this team is how much Ball and Caruso get guys like Vuc and DeRozan playing active D so if Coby starts learning how to defend and putting in good effort there he’s perfect fit for this team. What he brought to the offense was great too because he can push the tempo, drain jumpers, attack the basket well and has an effective midrange game so he puts a lot of pressure on defenses and can fit well with other scorers but he also had some really nice passes so while he struggled as a full time PG it may have helped him out. I’m going to try not to get too excited because Coby can be streaky but I really liked the defensive energy if he can bring that and not over think the offense and be aggressive things will really work out well for him and it was a really encouraging game.

Everyone else looked good I was glad to see Caruso back, glad to see our energy back. Ball I still feel is trying to expand his offense mid season which is impressive and I’ve liked what I’ve seen with his aggressiveness. Overall I think one of our biggest problems in half court offense is over passing and basically giving up open layups sometimes so I think this is something Ball is doing much better of a job at is taking the shot when it’s open we need some of our other guys to start doing that. I like how when DeRozan wasn’t feeling it he didn’t push too much and didn’t give up. Glad we were able to get some rest for guys and didn’t have to push too hard at the end and I have been really impressed with how our small ball lineups continue to look. Excited to see the next game it’s going to be tough but should be a good test.

[Wingy]

Didn’t like how Billy continued to stick to tiny ball against a big team. I usually like when a coach tries to dictate the matchups, but it just didn’t work in our favor too often. Not going to get up in arms that we didn’t win by 50, but it would’ve been a concern in a tighter game against a better opponent. Free Tony Bradley in the 2nd unit!

Maybe I just happened to notice him exactly because of tiny ball, but Javonte looked poor to me last night. Didn’t seem to be moving his feet as well as usual, getting blown by, or overplaying. Maybe it’s reading into it too much, but I didn’t sense the usual urgency in his play. Perhaps starting to feel a little too comfortable with an established role? Hopefully he’s back to “Demolition Man” tonight.

Also, am I crazy, or did Demar’s catch and shoot 3 look better last night than usual? Not just cause it went in. His form seemed tighter for some reason. He usually looks like he has some body part flailing too much, but looked more “normal” and symmetrical. I hope it was real, as an improvement there from him would be massive.

[Michael Jackson]

just seems to play smart. better than some people thought after his summer league play.

Yeah it was such a talented draft and he and well Barnes were kinda overlooked. He isn’t a 1a but who is at that position really? Suggs looked like a 1a in college and you got him too. Hell my hated WCJ and or Bamba plus Isaac makes that a team to grow if they don’t blow it all up. Orlando has always known how to get the beat out of big men that’s for sure.

not sold on Isaac. and Bamba putting up empty stats. he is still boneheaded and continues to make bad decisions to go along with questionable motor. i mean, look how fast they extended WCJ (rightfully or wrongfully) and Bamba still waiting

you guys got a good squad going right now. be interesting to see the noise you can make

Clearly they are not sold on Bamba. I really like Isaac but I can get the frustration there. Just saying there are some pieces to start the core rolling.

[BullChit]

Didn’t like how Billy continued to stick to tiny ball against a big team. I usually like when a coach tries to dictate the matchups, but it just didn’t work in our favor too often. Not going to get up in arms that we didn’t win by 50, but it would’ve been a concern in a tighter game against a better opponent. Free Tony Bradley in the 2nd unit!

Maybe I just happened to notice him exactly because of tiny ball, but Javonte looked poor to me last night. Didn’t seem to be moving his feet as well as usual, getting blown by, or overplaying. Maybe it’s reading into it too much, but I didn’t sense the usual urgency in his play. Perhaps starting to feel a little too comfortable with an established role? Hopefully he’s back to “Demolition Man” tonight.

Also, am I crazy, or did Demar’s catch and shoot 3 look better last night than usual? Not just cause it went in. His form seemed tighter for some reason. He usually looks like he has some body part flailing too much, but looked more “normal” and symmetrical. I hope it was real, as an improvement there from him would be massive.

I love the way DeMar steps into his catch and shoot threes, is like the opposite of a step back

[coldfish]

Demar seems to have figured out how to hit 3's by jumping forward. When he takes a mid range, he goes straight up but that doesn't work for him from 3.

[Wingy]

I love the way DeMar steps into his catch and shoot threes, is like the opposite of a step back

Agree that’s a good thing. Not going to go into film study, but anecdotally feel like outside of that, his three just looks weird. Like he’s struggling to get it to the basket because he doesn’t have enough strength to get it there (but, that’s very obviously untrue). Not sure why it looks like such a struggle. Seems like a totally different shot than his smooth mid-range.

[Wingy]

Demar seems to have figured out how to hit 3's by jumping forward. When he takes a mid range, he goes straight up but that doesn't work for him from 3.

Yeah, I think that’s what I described as “flailing.” Seeing a leg(s) often flying forward. Maybe it was a few beers, but that shot looked closer to his mid-range vs Orlando.

[Michael Jackson]

Vuc's 2nd game back from Covid. He really doesn't look the same.

It's not really an apples to apples comparison. WCJ wouldn't put up the same numbers on a team with Zach and DD. And part of the problem with WCJ is that he's injury prone- unfortunately, we'll likely see that side of him again. And lastly, just by having Vuc here, we became a more attractive destination.

Regardless, I'm happy to see Wendell having success!

Yea I don't think DDR signs with us without Vuc already being here.

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It was an optics thing too. Just overall league respect. Vuc was respected by the league WCJ wasn’t. KD never would refer to WCJ as an elite scorer but he did with Vuc. Does it mean Vuc is good… not really but the perception is there for sure and this team needed to get some respect. Also when they traded for him, he is what was available at the deadline and they were trying to make a push for the playoffs. Was it a perfect move? Off course not but it was still smart. Got the ball rolling to the team we have today instead of being where the Magic are currently at.

[dougthonus]

Best part of Coby's performance for me today was defense. A sentence I did not expect to be typing in 2021. He stayed attach to his man the entire game and only committed 1 foul.

Surprised it wasn’t mentioned until page 3 with the microscope on Coby’s every fart as of late.

That’s the best overall game I’ve seen him play because he was solid on defense. As I hoped, I think the rest of the team is rubbing off on him. As Stacey said...you don’t want to be that one guy.

Was a great game by Coby, competition was low, but it was a great game by Coby on both ends. Hot shooting night, some of the better defense we've seen from him. Great game all around, hopefully it's a stepping stone.