2021-2022 Regular Season Game 24: Orlando Magic (5-18) at Houston Rockets (5-16) - 12/3/21 - 8pm ET

[Howard Mass]

I've heard of their troubles.

Apparently they have a lot of NHL streaming rights but The RSN model needs to go down as if there was a streaming option, sports fans like us would have more TV service options.

The question is how much local streaming would cost per month? I've heard a range of $20-$30.

I heard $30-$37 a month which is absolutely outrageous to watch local games, it will not work ever. There are too many entertainment options available to justify paying that much and the leagues are going to blackball Sinclair because they see where this is going, the MLB commissioner and Adam Silver pretty much said this. The Sinclair execs are either delusional, or trying to siphon cash to their pockets when they intentionally go bankrupt, or both.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using RealGM mobile app

Yeah, that's not going to work for the masses. Anything north of $10 a month is not going to work. If they don't think they have enough customers to make $10 a month worth it for them, they have a bigger problem on their hands.

Totally agree.

Hopefully, something works out but the current RSN model needs to come down.

[Ducklett]

I think Pepe is right. Cole is the worst player, historically and statistically, to ever put on a Magic jersey. In fact, he is so bad he makes Evan Fournier look like an all star, and we all know he was formerly our worst player ever. I also agree with Pepe that Cole is singlehandedly going to move the team out of Orlando, send Stuff to Mars, and he is an Irelia main.

[pepe1991]

Reason why Cole is our top option is tied with fact we are 5th worst offense ( actually just 0,1 ponit better than second worst offense) and why we sit on 5-19 record, witch probably would have been 3-22 if we somehow didn't suprise Nuggets & Jazz.

Except that your offense with Cole on the floor is actually a tiny smidge above average. Why would you use the terrible ORTG with him off the court to insinuate that your offense is bad because he's a top option? You're also 5-13 when Cole actually plays, not 5-19, and the team is 20.5 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court. This just seems like a completely biased interpretation to arrive at a certain pre-given conclusion.

Team plays better with Cole because team is designed in that fashion. Orlando Magic has no bench.
For start, Orlando is only nba team without backup PG. Orlando Magic bench is by far and i mean BY FAAAAAAAAAAR worst bench in nba. Their point differential is -6,8. Second worst team point differential is almost 50% better (-3,8) and 10th worst offence is couple of light years ahead of Orlando.
It's not that hard for PG to look good on basketball team if there is nobody ( and virtually and literally nobody) who is even remotley capable of handling ball through half court, let alone set anything close to proper offensive set.
Orlando, once it starts to put bench players puts nba nobodies like: Mychal Mulder, Mortiz Wagner, RJ Hampton, Chuma Okeke. And no, those not are new generation Pokemons, those are allegedly, nba players.
Add to this two dead people we keep playing. Former nba players known as Gary Harris and former nba player Terrence Ross.

So even in first outlook it's not hard to figure Orlando on paper has only 3 PGs. One is Cole, other is Suggs but he is rookie , they refuse to bench him to balance roster and hurt his ego. Suggs can't handle the ball nor set offense and his shooting has been comical, and ofc now he is hurt. And Fultz, who played 1 serious season in his life, and who has been hurt for ages.

So ... Magic backup PG is... RJ Hampton. That boy has no basketball skills. His net rating last year was epic -14,6. This year, it's even lower. -16.2 . How terrible he is as playmaker? Well, in pick and roll ,he shoots 35% FG ( 39% eFG) , has sky high-27% chance for turnover ( basically every third attemp at being playmaker ends up in TO) and 16th percentile. So... that boy is in pro basketball league trying to learn how to be basketball player. Good redundancy.


And now people are blowing Cole out of proportions because " he makes team better, did you see points differential, oh my lord he is elite". No s***t. Playing Cole turns to be more productive than playing G league bodies and Dante Exum's twin brother who looks good when on youtube hype video dribbles between chairs? Shocker.

HOWEVER if you finally start focusing on Cole, as individual nba player, not COLE ANTHONY vs rest of ORlando Magic Expendable squads you will figure Cole isn't as good as people now hype him to be.
For start his overall team defense is just poor. He does not have lenght nor awarness to defend well.
Second, he is much more of a shooter than playmaker. His playmaking is rather average one, especially in 4th quaters he only looks for his shots. 6 assists, much like it was case with some of most notorious ballhogs in nba past ( Iverson, Francis, Marbury, Ellise...) comes from fact his usage rate is sky high . In past i already posted that Cole Anthony has ball more and spends more time with ball than basically every other nba player not named Trae Young, Luka Doncic , Chris Paul and Ja Morant.
Matter of fact ORlando Magic is so-Cole Anthony-centric that his usage + balltouches + time with ball is only comparable to 3 nba superstars: Trae Young, Luka Dončić and James Harden.


So let's sum this up. He is in charge of nba team that has no alternative for him, he shoots at league's average ( tranding down efficiency), his usage rate is among nba mega-superstars -MVP candidates and runs 5th worst offense in nba.

We all understand he is young and he can improve. But he hasn't show at any stage of his career ( year and half in nba, college) that he has advanced PG skills. He is shoot first, shoot second gunner . And yes, in this moment his efficiency is holding fine, but also Magic play for nothing and casually let DJ Augustin & Eric Gordon gun them down so we are not good team to measure how good or bad somebody is.

Real question is : once Magic finally draft or trade for some actual start, or Suggs emerges as good pG, will Cole be willing to share spotlight? We already see with Wendell Carter and him how dinamic goes. Wendell starts hot through game Cole on regular bases "forgets" him. How bad this is: Wendell averages 10 FGA a game... 6,2 in first halfs... 3,8 in second halfs. In mean time Cole averages 4,5 FGA in 4th quaters, nobody else averages more than 3. He views himself as star. He carries himself as "go- to guy " and to be fair, right now he is. He is guy on 5-19 team. But again, how willing he will be to take basckseat ? And how effective he will be in lesser role? Will he fill that role in fashion Van VLeet can .... or it will be D'angelo Russell situation where he is ok first option on random 35 wins - regular team and basically very bad in any other situation where he team isn't running everything through him?
His shot selection suggests he will be like D'angelo so i'm leaning toward that conclusion as well.


As far as me being "hater of young players". Sorry for not drooling in past over elite megastars such are Chuma Okeke, Elfrid Payton, Mo Bamba and AG . I was sooo wrong about those allstars. Oh...or megastars ouside Orlando such are Coby White, Cam Reddish, Thon Maker and one and only Jarret Culver... I know i know, i'll take my L on Trae

[paperboymafia]

Where the hell is the popcorn smiley when you need it?