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No worries, The Magic have brought big joy to this Christmas! https://x.com/nba/status/1871390875173151031?s=46 This team is family! We as fans have to do a better job! I feel like we a Magic family. Ain’t no fanbase went through what we went through. So no point fighting about two ways or whatever. I have great confidence in the front office and also this team. I be posting these fan gm posting just to engage. I know it can be annoying to some. But i can’t help it, i care about this team so much, always wanting to improve. These injuries could go down in history as the best thing that could have happened to us. The other players can’t be passive, ball watching whatever Paolo and Franz does. Anyway, Merry Christmas to the Magic family

Every time Cole starts at PG a kitten dies. Orlando Magic, please take care of the kittens.

We are somehow 17-9... without our star... and now without our second star. Weltman and Co. have won my trust. I think the following moves have been savvy and unexpected: Drafting Paulo Trading Vooch for WCJ and two 1sts... Then using the first of the two picks to grab Franz Drafting AB, who has crazy two-way upside Drafting TDS, who is a a perfect glue fit Grabbing and extending Mo and Goga Drafting and being patient with JI Drafting and being patient with Jalen Signing Mose to be our coach Do I love everything Weltman has done? Of course not. But he and his crew have demonstrated an ability to identify talent, build a winning culture, and be patient in their development plan. I still believe we are a year or two away from really competing, but I remain curious as to how this group will grow as individuals and as a team. Go Magic!

This team is what the Rob Hennigan teams were supposed to be. Shout out to Paolo

I'm no TMF but I couldn't let the season opener not have a game thread.

moe wagner is the type of player i would never want to let go reminds me of how i liked this high energy players like prime bo outlaw, pietrus, gortat or darrell armstrong

I'm by no means Walter Clayton Jrs biggest fan, I like him, i'd be happy with drafting him, but I'm not sold he's some star or anything. That being said, inspired by your comment I went to barttorvik to look for similar statistical profiles to him, and now granted I used arbitrary cut off points.. (if you're interested it was: Games Played ≥ 15; Assist % ≥ 20; Ast/TO Ratio ≥ 1.5; 2P FG % ≥ 0.5; 3P FG % ≥ 0.37; 3PA/100 Poss ≥ 12; Free Throw % ≥ 0.8) ..but the only drafted player that met those thresholds (that, again, I derived from Walter Clayton Jrs profile) was 2012 Damian Lillard. But, there were also a bunch of undrafted, non prospect, scoring PGs guys like Max Abmas in 2021, Steven Ashworth in 2023 etc. If you lower some of the thresholds slightly to account for an element of randomness, and filter only for draft picks (because otherwise you get a long long list of random names and filtering for draft picks is kind of short hand for filtering out guys who played in weird low conferences or never had NBA athleticism to be considered a prospect) you get names like: Coby White Jimmer Fredette Trae Young Klay Thompson Cameron Payne Isaiah Cannan Shelvin Mack Jared Butler (Just FYI I feel like we should asterix Trae Young, and to a certain extent Lillard and Thompson because they all scored on more volume than Clayton did and I think were all more clearly NBA caliber offensive creators hence why all were high draft picks) It's a weird list that I think helps to identify the difficulty in evaluating a guy like Clayton, because there have been a lot of star NCAA guards that weren't great NBA players... But he was also statistically very impressive and he lead a team to a national championship which adds sort of 'intangible' points.

It's hard for me to see posts like this, when you consider that our fascination with tanking led to about 15 years of futility. And now you want to contaminate our current roster, with lots of young players and two young stars, with the idea that winning isn't important and you can just turn it on and off. It's really hard to think of any worse idea than this.

I got to go to last nights game. It was the best performance I’ve seen by a player live. Though Paolo’s 50 point game was close. I knew when Steph hit that half court shot at half time we were in for it. He is definitely my favorite non Magic player of all time.

If this team trades Paolo for Zion we deserve to get clowned as hard as the Mavs.

0-4 vs Portland and Utah this year is impressive in all the bad ways something can be impressive

A perfect and realistic trade deadline would be adding Cam Johnson and Keon Ellis! Super underrated: Rotation: PG: Suggs, AB, Queen SG: KCP, Ellis, SF: F. Wagner, C. Johnson, C. Houstan PF: Banchero, Isaac, TDS C: Bitadze, WCJ Having Suggs, KCP, AB and Ellis causing havoc on defense would be beautiful to watch

Jalen cost us this game with his untimely turnovers and ill advised 3 point shooting in the 4th. We stopped moving the ball and went to iso basketball and jacking up 3 pointers which is always a recipe for disaster.

Just bought four tickets to take the family to the early Sunday home game against the Nets in two weeks (12/29). Wasn’t cheap but we’re all looking forward to it!

Always glad to see the lakers lose.

KCP’s impact on the game today is the difference

Always nice to win the ugly ones, but that was gross! 9-1 stretch without Paolo is incredible and unexpected. We’re 12-7 and 3rd in the East!! We’ve got 7 more games left until that “bye week” where we’re off from Dec 9 - 18. Most of those games are on the road, but there aren’t any world beaters in there, so if we go 4-3 or 5-2 in that stretch, we’re looking at 17-9 or 16-10 through 26 games and maybe getting Paolo back and a nice home stand through the end of the year starting on Dec 19. Sky’s the limit, Go Magic

Magic last 5 opponents: 86 PTS 90 PTS 89 PTS 94 PTS 88 PTS They are absolutely suffocating teams right now

We definitely never saw a KCP lineup last year.

I'm not understanding your comments at all. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a point guard having the ball in their hands as long as they use it to set up the other players on the team with good opportunities. in fact, that's the whole point. It's way better than giving the ball to Paulo at the top of the key and hoping he can go 1v5 or make some shot with a very high degree of difficulty. Let's make life easier for the players we hope will be our stars.

Depressing. L

Making a move for a point guard has been long overdue, so let’s just kick that can down the road till eternity. Stadium is full, we good.

Guess I’m the only one watching. Lol. Anyway just heard that the NBA is now kissing the Sheik’s butt and naming the In season tournament the Emirate Cup. Proving once again that Made in the USA or even owned by an American company means Nothing to these big organizations. Bunch of money whores, that don’t give a dam about anything else.

Don't agree with everything you say, but you are a GREAT fan, Jay.

Right, because the only options at point guard in the entire league are Trae Young and Cory Joseph…. Look, it’s obvious we need a better distributor that can grow with our core and bring out the best in them, I’ve been banging that drum for as long as anyone else on this board, but I’d rather it not be Trae. The foul-baiting stuff is horrible basketball and I’d rather not be in a position where I have to cheer it on.

Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner have scored 20+ points in nine straight games. That's the longest streak by a Magic duo in franchise history

https://twitter.com/cb1115/status/1907195417369948645 Zach Lowe going in on Mosley and the Magic.

Plus minus is a worthless stat. Franz was terrible last night and Paolo was great, anyone that watched the game would agree

I missed the team early this season And when p5 was out were Franz was operating, That was FUN! and we just got broken. been a fan for 30 years now. This is not new, this is what magic basketball is about.

I just thought since it’s so negative and rightfully so I’d post something positive. Paolo’s last ten games: 27.9 PTS 46.2 FG% 35.4% 78.4% FT% 6.5 REB 5 AST I think he is 100% healthy again. Those are similar numbers to his breakout playoffs last year and at the beginning of this year. He is still only 22 years old. I know we aren’t winning but I think Franz and Paolo are pretty low on the list of problems. Make moves in the off-season Weltman! Go Magic!

Wasn't going to post about that game at all because I'm kind of sick of dwelling in the negativity but you know what. ***** Paolo Banchero. Dudes been ass most of the year. Our single best stretch of the season was when he was injured and Franz carried us. Now he's sulking in press conferences and his mum is tweeting about the coaching. Is the coaching great? Right now not particularly. But MFer was happy as hell with the same coaching when he was getting All Star nominations and winning ROTY and we've had one, admittedly cursed, down year and this dude and his family are crying? How's about grow the hell up and take some accountability? Be better on defense. Don't be one of the least efficient scorers in the game. And miss me with literally any excuse you've got for Paolo. Franz Wagner is in the exact same position, with the same work load and he plays better defense and he's more efficient and he impacts the game at a higher level. He even had the same exact injury and he recovered quicker. It's quickly become apparent that all the vibes weren't legit. It's easy to pull for each other when you're out performing expectations and winning but real friends, real good teammates, they pull together when times are hard. This team looks to have given the hell up. This feels closer to the end of something than the start of something. EDIT: probably taking a break from posting now I can't be bothered with talking about this team anymore.

Breaking news. The Bulls have rescinded the Vucevic trade. I'm afraid WCJ and Franz have to get on a plane tonight.

Gary Harris has missed 29 of 54 games. In the 25 games he has played he's scored 0 points 10 times. If he's on the roster next season the only possible explanation is he's Jeff Weltman's illegitimate son.

Coach after the blowout loss tonight and only scoring like 89 points.."Look it's a make or miss league. I'll just have to take a look at the film and see if those wide-open shots were makable shots. But I'm proud of the way our guys hung in there and only lost by 21"

Welcome to the dark side lol.

They've changed Franz injury designation from the injury to "Return to competition reconditioning" so he's probably a week or two away. I am so ready to have Paolo and Franz back man.

It will obviously be great to have him back. I just hope we keep up the team play that we've seen (at times, anyway) while the stars have been out. I don't want to go back to having everyone else either: A. Throw the ball to Paulo and then stand around watching. B. Decide it's their turn to shine, go one vs 2-3 and put up a forced shot. These behaviors were particularly prevalent towards the end of close games. I hope we'll continue to improve our teamwork going forward, even as the stars return.

Yeah, I agree. We can hide behind the injuries, and they suck and they’re playing a role in our floor, but none of the issues that are getting exposed are new issues for us. We’ve been asking for shooting and playmaking help for years and it still hasn’t happened. We have several vets that we continue to double down on that are constant disappointments. If our goal is championship, we need to build the team out better around our big 3. It’s kind of a clunky mess and it speaks volumes to me that our most impactful injury so far when it comes to our play and wins and losses has been Moe Wagner

I'm not going to lie I've seen so little from Jett Howard that if he'd bring back positive value in a trade I'd move him. Like if Jett + the Denver pick gets you a really solid contributor who can shoot I'd do that without a second thought.

Boston had made 10+ 3-pointers in 52 consecutive games, and 126 of its last 128 outings. The Celtics were 8-for-33 tonight against the @OrlandoMagic.

I guess I'm not in the half then because I certainly wouldn't have benched one of the best defensive players in the NBA for Tyus Jones.

Actually we only have that week off if we don't clinch a spot in the Cup's Quarter Finals. And we are in a good position to do it!

That's cool. But your anecdotal story of one person, yourself a non-pro player, isn't going to convince me that a guy who's been in the NBA for 7 seasons and has never been a good defender will suddenly become one. Chauncey Billlups, whatever you think of him as a coach or a man, was a part of some of the best defenses of all time. I find it hard to believe he doesn't expect his players to play good defense.

I don’t exactly know what happened, but I reached out to Dan Savage and he had it fixed. We are back in the game! Let’s go!

I see no relation between playing for your national team and losing focus on your individual development. Franz was never a Go-to profile on any team he played for and probably never will be. But that has nothing to do with the German national team, or spending time away from the USA. There are even many examples of players who come back much improved after competing internationally. Almost all of the MVP candidates in recent years are foreigners and have participated every year or almost every year in international tournaments. Shay, Luka, Jokic, Giannis. I don't know how you can realize so clearly who has the natural talent to be Go-To and who can develop it and where geographically speaking. In my opinion it's just a matter of the type of player you are and the type of on-field personality you have. That can change a little bit, but it has nothing to do with what zip code you're in, but a lot of other things that probably no one can list that easily.

Think the biggest issue in the 2nd unit is we didn’t replace Fultz or Ingles with a playmaker. We had so few playmakers to begin with and we don’t have any creators off the bench. We also still have a bunch of vets who can’t hit wide open shots. I’m trying not to be too reactionary, but we might want to consider an early season trade to keep our heads above water. I also think the team needs to get home before we can judge them too harshly, this has been the road trip from hell. Also, I know it’s frustrating with constantly injured players, I’m guilty of being hard on them as much as anyone, but I’m heartbroken for WCJ. Seeing him in tears on the bench because his body just isn’t cooperating with his mind really reminded me of the human element. It was also really cool to see Suggs comforting him. Even if we’re in a slump and the early season has been rough, I’m glad I root for a team filled with genuinely good dudes.

Ok, I’m going to try to bring in a bit of optimism on the Paolo news and I think I have an idea of when he could be back based off the schedule. First, while I’m sure the injury is painful AF and it’s not ideal, at least it’s not worse, and at least it’s not a lower body injury. It’s also not something that should linger once he gets back, and Paolo does have a career so far where he’s been incredibly durable. I also don’t worry about a slow ramp up, this isn’t Markelle Fultz or JI or Gary or Wendell who are hurt all the time, I’m confident with Paolo’s work ethic and his youth that he’ll be back within the time frame laid out. Looking at the schedule we have a large break between a game on December 8th, which is roughly 5 weeks out, and a game on December 19th. I imagine this is the targeted return date, about 6.5 weeks out from injury diagnosis. If this is the case, Paolo will miss 21 games. Of those 21 games, 8 of them are at home and 7 are against teams that weren’t playoff teams last year. This is a BRUTAL schedule to start the season, and would’ve been with or without Paolo. If we can go something like 9-12 in the games Paolo misses or better and be at 12-14 or so when he’s back, we’ll be ready to make a run to make up some seeding over the last 2/3 of the season. Again, not ideal, but also could have been significantly worse. While P5 is out, I’m excited to see what Alpha Franz looks like, and I’m nervous about Jalen trying to do too much. I’d like to see JI with the starters in Paolo’s place and the bench rotation slide Moe to the 4 with Goga at the 5. Something like Suggs/KCP/Franz/JI/Dell with a bench rotation of AB/Jett-Cole/GH/Moe/Goga. We did a good job building depth and that’s still a solid rotation, especially when positive regression for the shooting comes along for pretty much everyone not named Jalen to start the year. It’ll be an interesting next month or so to see what these kids, and Coach Mose are made of. Go Magic!

Apparently the Magic haven’t embraced it because KCP is a shooting guard (or maybe small forward). Someone has to bring the ball up the court and start the offense for the Magic and by process of elimination, that’s Suggs. So I’m not sure what the guy above is talking about.

Simons still remains my favorite!! https://x.com/thedunkcentral/status/1818648395193487557?s=46 but shoot, if Cade is somehow available, we need to break the bank. I’d trade about all our picks to see Cade, Suggs, Franz, Paolo as our cornerstone

no disrespect, but Markelle before TOS was one of the best prospects the NBA has seen. He had it all. He could do anything. Carrington shows flashes, but is nowhere near Fultz abilities