2021-2022 Regular Season Game 81: Orlando Magic (21-59) at Charlotte Hornets (40-39) - 4/7/22 at 7pm ET

[Magic_Kingdom]

What’s respectable though? If he can just shoot like RJ it would be an incredible leap in efficiency… and he would still be WAY below league average. It just feels like we drafted Marcus Smart. Useful? Yes. Worth a top 5 pick in his draft? Doesn’t look like it.

Got to let time do it's thing and we'll find out....personally i don't find anything wrong if suggs is on a Jrue Holiday/Mike Conley projection that's the level i think he can get to and that's me being conservative...he could be better than that projection or worse but even with what we've seen i'm still satisfied because my expectations weren't delusional....for me all i needed to see was flashes in the first year and i've seen them so for me personally i'm good to go and ready to see year 2

For me, it's more about decent strings of games (4-5 games of good to great perfomances) not just flashes. That did not happen.

It happened for Franz.
It happened for Barnes.
It happened for Mobley.
It happened for Green.
It happened for Giddey.
It happened for Kuminga.
It even happened for Davion.

Every top 9 pick had a string of at least 4-5 very good consecutive games except Suggs.

We can all hope that he turns it around but it's not looking good. There is no sugar coating that he is one of the worst shooting rookies ever. Luckily for him, and us, his defense is ELITE; otherwise I would be ready to pull the plug by January of next year if he doesn't turn the shooting around. But even with his defense, he can't be Jrue or Conley without an incredible amount of improvement on offense.

Rookie Suggs: 36/21/77 46% TS%
Rookie Conley: 43/33/73 50% TS%
Rookie Jrue: 44/39/76 53% TS%

He's not even in the ballpark with those two when they were rookies. Again, I'm hopeful but I'm not going to let my heart tell me what my eyes see.

Good post. I think because fans like Suggs personally and want him to succeed, they have dramatically revised expectations and lowered the bar. We were talking Rookie of the Year after Suggs fell to us in the draft. He won't even make the all-rookie second team. He was "that player" we've been waiting for. Now we're satisfied with just "flashes" of ability. If it weren't for Franz, Weltman and Hammond would be getting blasted for taking the wrong guy *again* in the 2021 draft. If you polled all 30 GM's right now, I don't think a single one would take Suggs as high as #5 in a re-draft. This draft was loaded. If you pulled Marcus Smart at #5 in this draft, you missed.

[pepe1991]

I had this strange dream that I was at a Magic game in the future. Pepe was the head coach. Franz and Moe left the team because Germany had declared war on Mars and they needed all their sons to fight off the Martians. Suggs didn't get a second NBA contract. The only player still on the team was Bamba and he was both starting center and the current WWE US Champion. His finisher was the "Power Bamba".

Yall think this is possible?

[VFX]

Got to let time do it's thing and we'll find out....personally i don't find anything wrong if suggs is on a Jrue Holiday/Mike Conley projection that's the level i think he can get to and that's me being conservative...he could be better than that projection or worse but even with what we've seen i'm still satisfied because my expectations weren't delusional....for me all i needed to see was flashes in the first year and i've seen them so for me personally i'm good to go and ready to see year 2

For me, it's more about decent strings of games (4-5 games of good to great perfomances) not just flashes. That did not happen.

It happened for Franz.
It happened for Barnes.
It happened for Mobley.
It happened for Green.
It happened for Giddey.
It happened for Kuminga.
It even happened for Davion.

Every top 9 pick had a string of at least 4-5 very good consecutive games except Suggs.

We can all hope that he turns it around but it's not looking good. There is no sugar coating that he is one of the worst shooting rookies ever. Luckily for him, and us, his defense is ELITE; otherwise I would be ready to pull the plug by January of next year if he doesn't turn the shooting around. But even with his defense, he can't be Jrue or Conley without an incredible amount of improvement on offense.

Rookie Suggs: 36/21/77 46% TS%
Rookie Conley: 43/33/73 50% TS%
Rookie Jrue: 44/39/76 53% TS%

He's not even in the ballpark with those two when they were rookies. Again, I'm hopeful but I'm not going to let my heart tell me what my eyes see.

Good post. I think because fans like Suggs personally and want him to succeed, they have dramatically revised expectations and lowered the bar. We were talking Rookie of the Year after Suggs fell to us in the draft. He won't even make the all-rookie second team. He was "that player" we've been waiting for. Now we're satisfied with just "flashes" of ability. If it weren't for Franz, Weltman and Hammond would be getting blasted for taking the wrong guy *again* in the 2021 draft. If you polled all 30 GM's right now, I don't think a single one would take Suggs as high as #5 in a re-draft. This draft was loaded. If you pulled Marcus Smart at #5 in this draft, you missed.

He played 45 games this season inconsistently between two injuries.

Did he meet expectations? Not at all considering peoples expectations were “rookie of the year”.

Michael Carter Williams was also rookie of the year in a fully healthy season with all the minutes in the world.

[Bergmaniac]

Let’s not pretend that you’re okay with tanking for a Marcus Smart level player. We’ll be stuck on this treadmill forever if that is the level of player we’re okay with drafting with top 5 picks. I still hold out hope that this was just an injury riddled season and that, with rest and some good summer focus on shooting, he’ll turn it around. He was better than Smart in college so he has shown to be somewhat efficient. His college splits were very respectable. I’m more than okay with giving him much more time to turn it around because he can be effective in other areas and does play winning basketball but it’s going to be tough to hide him on offense if his shot doesn’t improve considerably.

I don't know about Knightro, but I'd be perfectly happy if Suggs ends up being a Marcus Smart level player. Smart is really good. He is an elite defender who won't hurt his team offensively in most games and become a respectable shooter from 3 in his last few seasons. The Celtics this year are absolutely dominating teams on the defensive end and he's a big reason why. Their starting lineup has a 94 DRTG which is in the current "offense only" NBA is absolutely amazing.

[Optimus_Steel]

These games are full on yawn with this franchise.

[yoyojw17]

Resign Lopez and Schofield now. Lol... #fightnight

[Skybox]

Resign Lopez and Schofield now. Lol... #fightnight

I've got NO problem with keeping RoLo around just for these occasions...unless we pulled something with MEM that included Adams.

[thelead]

Resign Lopez and Schofield now. Lol... #fightnight

I've got NO problem with keeping RoLo around just for these occasions...unless we pulled something with MEM that included Adams.

RoLo is worth keeping just for the vet leadership. Seems like a great dude that wants to live next to the theme parks.

[richi_v25]

Resign Lopez and Schofield now. Lol... #fightnight

I've got NO problem with keeping RoLo around just for these occasions...unless we pulled something with MEM that included Adams.

RoLo is worth keeping just for the vet leadership. Seems like a great dude that wants to live next to the theme parks.

Rolo has been low key one of my favorite players this year, he's not fast but his hook shots are almost automatic. He just seems like a happy and fun guy always messing with the mascots so I'm down with signing him for another year.

[RookieStar]

I've got NO problem with keeping RoLo around just for these occasions...unless we pulled something with MEM that included Adams.

RoLo is worth keeping just for the vet leadership. Seems like a great dude that wants to live next to the theme parks.

Rolo has been low key one of my favorite players this year, he's not fast but his hook shots are almost automatic. He just seems like a happy and fun guy always messing with the mascots so I'm down with signing him for another year.

Yeah.... BUT RoLo and MoW together on the court... just say to other teams we won't challenge your or grab the defensive rebound when you try to score.

[cedric76]

RoLo is worth keeping just for the vet leadership. Seems like a great dude that wants to live next to the theme parks.

Rolo has been low key one of my favorite players this year, he's not fast but his hook shots are almost automatic. He just seems like a happy and fun guy always messing with the mascots so I'm down with signing him for another year.

Yeah.... BUT RoLo and MoW together on the court... just say to other teams we won't challenge your or grab the defensive rebound when you try to score.

They r not meant to play together, rolo is here for vet leadership and push our bigs during practice

[RookieStar]

Rolo has been low key one of my favorite players this year, he's not fast but his hook shots are almost automatic. He just seems like a happy and fun guy always messing with the mascots so I'm down with signing him for another year.

Yeah.... BUT RoLo and MoW together on the court... just say to other teams we won't challenge your or grab the defensive rebound when you try to score.

They r not meant to play together, rolo is here for vet leadership and push our bigs during practice

OH.. they are def not meant to play together.

HOWEVER, as we saw when the inevitable WCJ,Mo,JI injury occurs, who do we throw out there? If we are talking about next season when I think majority of us don't expect Bamba to be with us anymore, then... we really depend on big bodies to throw out there.

DISCLAIMER : I love RoLo as a teammate. He is the kind of guy every team should have. A goofy but respected and hulking body to make sure no one punks your team.

[richi_v25]

Yeah.... BUT RoLo and MoW together on the court... just say to other teams we won't challenge your or grab the defensive rebound when you try to score.

They r not meant to play together, rolo is here for vet leadership and push our bigs during practice

OH.. they are def not meant to play together.

HOWEVER, as we saw when the inevitable WCJ,Mo,JI injury occurs, who do we throw out there? If we are talking about next season when I think majority of us don't expect Bamba to be with us anymore, then... we really depend on big bodies to throw out there.

DISCLAIMER : I love RoLo as a teammate. He is the kind of guy every team should have. A goofy but respected and hulking body to make sure no one punks your team.

Believe me I'd rather have the Joker or Embiid as our 3rd center but since that's not happening I'm ok with Rolo. But you're right we definitely need to find a center this off-season if Bamba leaves. Say he stays we still need a Birch type center if we're gonna try to win, but if it's another "development" season Rolo it is.

[RookieStar]

They r not meant to play together, rolo is here for vet leadership and push our bigs during practice

OH.. they are def not meant to play together.

HOWEVER, as we saw when the inevitable WCJ,Mo,JI injury occurs, who do we throw out there? If we are talking about next season when I think majority of us don't expect Bamba to be with us anymore, then... we really depend on big bodies to throw out there.

DISCLAIMER : I love RoLo as a teammate. He is the kind of guy every team should have. A goofy but respected and hulking body to make sure no one punks your team.

Believe me I'd rather have the Joker or Embiid as our 3rd center but since that's not happening I'm ok with Rolo. But you're right we definitely need to find a center this off-season if Bamba leaves. Say he stays we still need a Birch type center if we're gonna try to win, but if it's another "development" season Rolo it is.

Why not bring in a young hungry 7footer that at least can move around and block shots? We have M.Williams, Kessler and etc that are in the draft that is perfect for that role.

If not, there are a lot of 7ft 9-12th spots in other teams that are just wasting away.Why not offer them? RoLo is fine for a vet leadership role/bench goon. MoW is fine as a 3rd PF that can get hot and score you points. But they should probably play only when there is no one else.

But for a 2nd aka backup C role, I prefer that spot goes to someone else.