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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

Shout out to Andy Larsson of the Salt Lake Tribune and Kevin Pelton ESPN's resident stat guy who stopped Paolo being unanimous Rookie of the Year by voting Walker Kessler. Some takes are wrong immediately, some take a few years before it becomes apparent they were wrong. And then there are takes that were both wrong at the time and continue to look increasingly more wrong the more that time goes on.

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.

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.

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

Not a single all defensive team selection for the team with the 2nd ranked NBA defense. And honestly, it's hard to look at it and say "x should have made it". Suggs and Franz didn't play enough games and then everyone else didn't have a big enough role or impact probably, except KCP but the narrative around him wasn't very strong given his weak offensive performance and big FA signing and he doesn't have ridiculous flashy defensive stats. But anyway that's a credit to Mosely's coaching to have the leagues 2nd best defense without a single all defensive team player.

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. ;)

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

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.

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.

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.

What a letdown. So we're banking on health, growth, and cohesion? I'm not surprised but am very disappointed.

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

The point guard, or lack thereof, problem that some of us argued vociferously to fix over the summer now becomes more evident. We were told in response that “positionless “ basketball was the new norm and point guards were outdated. Apparently not. Aggravating that problem is this idea that our two stars should take 80% of the shots when the starting five is on the floor. Even if we had a good PG, we’d still be in trouble if we continue down that path. Like I said before, Goga only got 1 shot in 18 minutes last night. What happened to our pick and roll? Last year, even with Joe Ingles as slow and predictable as he was, we still managed to utilize the pick and role a heck of a lot better than we are doing now with better personnel. What gives??

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.

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.

Our guy Janis Timma passed away. RIP

Win or lose, just so proud of this team. We got a real squad. Honestly a loss would feel ok, these guys have earned a break to get healthy!

Amazing how much fun we are to watch when everyone gets to touch the ball on offense. Really seems to energize our players.

That was one of the worst games of basketball I've ever seen. We were terrible on offense and Charlotte were somehow worse. A win is a win though. Tough night for Tristan. They dared him to beat them and when he missed a few in a row he got hesitant and then they could sag all the way off him. Similar thing happened with Black. And they were selective with it too, they ran KCP and Jett off the line all night. It bit them a little bit because Jonathan Isaac just kept shooting them and eventually got a couple to go. Smart defense from the Hornets though really, they seem well coached on that end, if they weren't so incredibly loose with the ball they'd have likely won that game but they had like 500 turnovers. Against these not great teams our defense is often enough but still you'd like to not be totally inept on offense.

The only thing I agree with you is that we have two great young stars. But that doesn't imply that we won't make any transfers to improve the team, just for fear of messing with the dynamics. No team in our situation thinks like that. If there are players that don't fit the long-term project, or if there are players you think you can trade for others who are better, you do it. It's a long-term construction. Because no, we are not a contending team this year. We have one of the strongest young core in the league, we have a lot of potential, but if you look at 2 minutes of what usually happens in history, you will see that there are no teams that come out champions with their stars at 22 and 23 years old. It ALWAYS takes longer. Don't get me wrong, I'm very excited about this team and I think that in many ways this year means a big step forward for the team. But to say that makes us a contender is simply a lie or a very silly analysis. I also don't understand the WCJ extension, it wasn't necessary and now we can't transfer him, when we probably would want to. What I see from Cole Anthony makes me think that a transfer would be better not only for the team, but also for him. Gary Harris should be out before the market closes, I've seen enough and would rather see his minutes get TDS, Jett or any player who can shoot and make threes. That being said, there probably won't be any trades in the end, at least not major ones this season, because that's not the FO's style.

What an unbelievable God damn win. Franz Wagner is a god damn super star. League better look out because we've got two of em.

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.

Stopped watching at the half. Being down your best player and 2 of your 4 bigs against a big physical team like Cleveland was always going to be an incredibly tall order. Like I say I only watched the first half but here are the thoughts I did have: How is Ty Jerome allowed to assault our players for the basketball multiple times but Jalen Suggs brushes Donovan Mitchell and it's a foul? Would like to see some more aggressive attacking from Anthony Black, his handle has improved and he had that 1 iso on I think Lavert where he got to the hoop and scored. More of that. TDS is definitely ready to play offense in the league right now. Jumper is fast and clean, makes smart cuts, passes out of the short roll. On defense though I saw him get bodied by Jerome, a PG, which is probably why Mose doesn't trust him yet. Really haven't seen anything from Jett yet. Cole has somehow regressed. He was always frustrating but he usually was good for a couple of buckets. Now he's doing very little right and seems to be losing the trust of the coaches. Franz was disappointing. Next season he'll be making max money. If you're getting paid the big money the standard is different. Jalen can be frustrating but I'd take frustrating and aggressive over passive and sharing the ball when we don't have Paolo to shoulder the scoring.

Tristan needs to be in the rotation now properly!!

Exactly. I understand the fair expectation for Franz having a better 3p%, but it's utopic to believe that everyone will have better % in the same season. A couple examples, Suggs had a great 40%, will maintain it? KCP had great % in teams that were contender with MVP caliber players with him. Will be the same with us and our usual spacing issues? Finally, old grandpa Ingles had the best 3p% in the team and is gone. Some will improve, others will regress, that's normal in an NBA season, but until now we're far away from being a top shooting team.

I'm really excited to see guys like AB, Jett, and TDS fight for playing time. Even if only one breaks out, that's a huge win.

because Franz had a terrible shooting season. I don’t think he’ll repeat that. We traded a terrible shooter in Fultz with a great shooter KCP And it’s safe to assume that AB and Suggs are improved shooters. Paolo has improved and had a whole summer of working on his shot! I’ll bet everything he’s a good shooter! So yeah, i expect us to be a good shooting team

Seen the nickname: "Da Silva Surfer" kicking about and i like it lol

Yep and Paolo is gonna be way better than Tatum and Brown.. Franz maybe too.. We are about to embark on the greatest magic team ever and win at least 1 championship