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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.

I like to get my groin pulled on my birthday, but this is ridiculous! Tip your waitresses, i'll see myself out.

If picking Jett Howard was our worst mistake in the last 5 years we're doing pretty good.

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.

I don’t think the league is ready for when we have Suggs, Bane and Big Moe all on the court at the same time lol

I might get eye rolls for this, but watching TJ McConnell impact the finals has me thinking we should address our PG issue by bringing back *drum roll…. Markelle Fultz on the minimum. He was mentored by TJ. We could play him in a lineup where we don’t need him to be a threat to shoot; and he could be in a 10-12 mpg bench role with almost no pressure. If he’s struggling, we pull him. Just thinking of cheap alternatives. It’d be fun to bring him back in a better position to succeed

I'm sure the Magic would love to add a Penny Hardaway or a Magic Johnson but that player is not out there.

No, they're only the reigning champions when healthy, they're not that great. There's a huge difference between always complaining and providing a different point of view from the "if we were healthy we would DESTROY them", or "if we had a good shooting game we would be 2-1". Like we're the only team having injuries, problems or bad shooting nights... seems like the others are always 100%, and we're always unlucky. I told you various time that I respect your faith in the team and the way you're a great fan, but you should avoid those "Give it a rest" and judging other fans just because they're pointing out real issues, or a different point of view. ;)

Believe it or not It tells me everything I need to know about you actually. I don’t even need to meet you in person. Also crazy thought but a fan can be critical of the team and still be a fan. Just because some of us aren’t satisfied with mediocrity doesn’t mean we aren’t allowed to voice our frustration. So you’re absolutely wrong when you say I’ll be critical of this team when we win but I digress.

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.

We don’t need to tank anymore. We already have two all stars to build around that we got from tanking. We just need good role players that can shoot and another guard that can play make. We can do that through trades. We also have two draft picks this summer. It should be obvious if we were healthy we would have a higher seeding. No more loser mentality.

I’m really struggling with this Paul Porter stuff. The lack of respect this ownership shows is so off putting, and it’s just tone deaf. The man has been with the team its entire existence. 36 years! And he’s not worthy of a farewell tour season? Ugh. I hate the DeVos’ and Alex Martins and I truly hope they sell the team.

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

When AB hits the open jumpers his value and fit on this team as an off ball guard is so clear. He's shooting 42% from 3 in his last 10 (not including Cavs game) too. Lots of big contributions from the non Paolo/Franz guys in this. Big win.

Been posting for years while i drink. While i do feel ashamed a bit, 2012 to 2022 taught me not to accept the state of the team, just because of fandom. While constant negativity can be a real downer on a message board, we have to rally the fanbase to not accept mediocrity. I like the minds on this board, some have left that had more basketball knowledge then Weltman will ever have. We are sort of trained, made to believe that people in charge are competent. Has there ever been a time in history when it's more obvious that this is simply not true? I, we, this forum, fans of the Magic have been wondering when we are going to get a decent point guard for almost 15 years. That's a long time. We deserve better. Just to give you context i am a life long Dolphins fan and Chris Grier continues to make the same mistakes he makes every year. The owner is more about loyalty then winning. No, fandom isn't the end all be all but i would like a Dolphin or Magic title in my lifetime. I'm old.

AB really isn’t doing much on the offensive end tonight. He dribbles the ball slowly up the court, hangs around for a few seconds, then just dumps it off. He is just not the kind of quick guard who darts in and out of the opponent defense that we need.

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!

These games are like watching the movie Groundhog Day. The same thing keeps happening over and over again. A disastrous 3rd quarter, which spills over into much of the 4th quarter, And then we finally decide to play with a sense of urgency and desire. Unfortunately, by then it's usually too little too late.

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.

This won’t be popular to post, but I’m worried about Paulo’s lack of efficiency and development this year. Yes, he was hurt, but he’s really not playing winning basketball right now.

Figured we could use a thread for all the trade deadline happenings. I know a lot of that conversation is happening in the Regular Season and Game Threads but doesn't hurt to have a specific place to discuss it. With it being upon us and deals potentially flying thick and fast it might be easier to navigate a 10 page thread than an 80 page thread if someone wants to catch up with what they've missed. Just FYI the Trade Deadline closes on Thursday Feb. 6 at 3pm Eastern time.

First in the conference, and still trying to improve...

Where is TMF at? Lol. The thing is, at this point who would be willing to take him?

I’ll tell you one thing, the board is a hell of a lot more active when we suck lol

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"

Jalen and Cole back, Goga out for at least one more. First time Jalen, Franz and P have played together since October 30… I could cry! Let’s go!

Welcome to the dark side lol.

I know my response to your post is a week late. I don't claim to be a photoshop wizard, but I thought I would take a whack at it--play around. I know that some of the Magic players' pictures I used in this graphics were probably off the injured list by the time I completed this. Also, when I was doing the game thread starters, I posted a lot of pictures. Since toward the end of last season I have been getting messages that I have used all of the attachment space I am allowed. So, the graphic I designed might be deleted. Source: Designed by TMF Source: Original Movie

Counterpoint, it wouldn’t be very Weltman like to make any sort of trade at all.

Controversial comment above. I will say this, though: our three-point shooting has been poor all year without regard to injuries. In 2025, I don’t see any team going deep into the playoffs if they are last in the league in three-point shooting.

Cole should let the game come to him and not force anything like he is doing

This was absolutely pathetic tonight. I have never seen a more pathetic shooting team in all of my years watching basketball. And it's been that way for years now. Also, not having a legit point guard to run the offense is a major problem. That too has been an issue for quite some time. All this defense being a top priority is fine and all. But if you don't have any kind of offense guess what? You ain't going nowhere. We are so easy to beat right now. All opposing teams have to do is just pack the paint and let us shoot 3's all night long. Then when we shoot 18 percent we hang our heads and stop playing defense. It seemed like they mailed it in tonight. I sure hope to see a better effort versus Boston on Friday night. As for what I think we will do at the trade deadline? Nothing of course. They'll say something like "once we get our injured players back, we'll be fine".

Exactly. Trajan Langdon fixed the Pistons shooting problem as soon as he took over, and for cheap, too. This dude been here since 2017 and we been the worst shooting team since then. Pathetic. Langdon provided Cade Cunningham with the spacing he needed to take his game to the next level and they been one of the hottest teams in the league. Paolo was averaging damn near 30 ppg with the worst spacing in the league. He has to work for every shot, and it's been like that since he's been here. The man damn near begged for a table setter all off-season, only for Weltman to force Suggs to play out of position.

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.

That’s way too much. Kills our backcourt depth. I don’t know if there’s a player in the league id be willing to give up TDS, AB and 3 firsts for

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.

I upvoted you true. I agree, he has always been me first on the court. He has talent, no doubt and his camaraderie with his teammates is commendable. But his play on the court is very uneven, and usually notably selfish.

Merry xmas

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.

This didn’t age well.

I very much dislike the personality of pretty much this entire Knicks team. Bunch of guys that need their asses kicked. I look forward to playing them when we’re healthy