CTMagicUK

Maybe. But he'd have to leave Wood open under the rim. If he comes over we could very easily give up a dunk there, it's a tough read only muddied by the fact that both Franz and Bamba help off their men but don't really manage a contest. It's not a great possession all the way around really, Cole gets beat far too easily, we get several guys helping and none of them contest. Watching it back at least Wendell has a man to guard, from the looks of it all Bamba has to do is stick his arm out and he's made a game saving block, he gets there and then kind of stops? Just a bit of a weird one, that's why I'd rather have had Franz guard the ball though even if he gets caught on the screen he can use his length to affect the shot, Cole kind of just gave up.

This is a weird loss. I dunno I feel like we're better than the Rockets and we can play a lot better than we did last night. Loved the 4th quarter execution after that time out with about 3 mins to go. Cole was cooking, Franz made some great decisions. Good stuff. Don't think I'd have gone with Cole on Gordon those last couple of possessions. Gordon is bigger and stronger and just bullied his way to the rim. Think I'd have gone with Franz, I know he's a rookie but his length could have helped. WCJ is great. His defense is awesome. If this is how he's going to play defense from now on he should no question be the starting 5 long term. Has a huge impact on the offensive glass too. Wish we'd let him try his luck posting smaller guys more often. Eric Gordon had a season high, a 2 way guy hit like 3 huge shots in the 4th and we lost. On to the next one.

I had the Magic +2.5, Cole greater than 20.5 points and Franz greater than 1.5 3s. Nice consolation prize for us not getting the win.

However bad this season gets for us it surely won't get as bad as losing by 70+ points to the Memphis Grizzlies.

I certainly wouldn't trade WCJ and Franz for Vuc. And I love(d) Vuc.

Thanks! I always feel like I need to get my thoughts out after I've watched the game (usually the morning or day after its been played) so I just throw them up for myself really so that I'm not thinking about it all day. Glad people seem to like the posts.

Loved this game. AG did a lot of talking when he dunked over Chuma but he left with the L which was sweet. Cole is so good man. He misses a lot of layups looking for contact (which as he's more established he might get some whistles for) but his jumper is nice, he rebounds like crazy and his poise in the pick and roll has been great lately. Those back to back buckets he hit in the bottom of the 4th were huge. I don't really have any worries about him being injured and then going straight to 36+ minutes. Cole is the type of guy who's always going to play as hard as he can and want to play as much as possible so makes sense to me to hold him out until he can do that. WCJ played excellent defense. He might not be a star or even a starter on a great team but he can stay as long as he wants for me. Every game more and more Franz makes me believe he might be the one. The stuff he does and can do is just so unbelievable for a 6'10 dude. An off the dribble 3 to take the lead in the 4th by a rookie 6'10 guy? No problem. (Also I love that hes taking that shot, he missed one like that badly in a crucial moment in the NCAA tournament and that could have easily gotten to him). We've got some experience watching young 6'8+ guys develop the past 8 years or so and I think it's fair to say Franz is flashing more as a rookie on offense than any of AG, JI or Chuma. Speaking of Chuma he keeps flashing good stuff, that spin and dunk off the loose ball was a really smart play. He hasn't been as good this season as last yet but Im still holding out hope he'll get there.

I don't see us bringing in a 2 way PG. Cole will be back soon, Fultz is practicing, we're getting reps for Franz and RJ running the point and we don't care how many games we win this year. It's pretty obvious we want at least 1 more high draft pick to this core and when everyone gets healthy we might string some wins together so I think we're ok with losing right now.

Here's a nice article about our front court guys: https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-orlando-magic-are-finding-their-front-court-of-the-future?s=09

I literally never think like this. But the Magic being the most injury prone team ever has forced me to think like this. We can't draft Chet Holmgren. No man that looks like that and also plays for the Magic will ever go a full season without getting hurt.

Franz Wagner is awesome. Like potential a star awesome. Probably the best game I've seen Bamba play this season. Made a lot of big defensive plays. Wish he played with that kind of intensity every possession because his length is very impactful but he still has possessions where he has his hands down and let's shots go uncontested or where he just stands and watches someone get the offensive rebound. Wasn't a good offensive game from WCJ but he played great defense on Embiid. One of the better Suggs games this season in my opinion and so of course he then breaks his thumb. I guess it's Wagner playing point forward season! At least that'll be fun. Harris had some nice moments too. Hopefully he keeps that up and we can get something for him at the deadline. So hard to win games with so few healthy guards.

WCJ gets his glasses smacked off his face, gets no call on what could have been a flagrant and then ejected for being furious at one of the worst calls of the night (of which there were several bad ones). RJ is terrible defensively. Gets lost so often. Still struggling to understand how we have 4 injured guards on the roster at once. Was Moore injured when we signed him? The FT shooting was awful. Like watching those old AG/EP magic teams. Maybe Bamba has a bigger impact on defense than I thought because we were way worse in the paint than usual. Has Okeke changed his shooting motion? Looks like he's using the left hand less and so far the results aren't good.

I feel like I'm perpetually down on Bamba but I agree. There's literally no point in being a 7 footer who can shoot if you can be guarded by a wing with no problem. WCJ doesn't have some impressive post game but if you switch a small guy onto him he's going to try and seal him deep or crash hard to the offensive glass.

I'm a fan of him posting guys up. He's so strong he can make that work. He should lean into that more until he improves as a ball handler. Id love to see us run some action to get him deep post positions.

Yea no I don't agree with this. Suggs is going to be a good player. He's just going to be more of a SG/CG. And he wasn't a bad pick by any stretch. I certainly wouldn't trade him for Davion Mitchell.