hootie249

I guess i have to give a shout out to Aaron Gordon for having his best year so far. Super good advanced stats this year and he looks good the couple times i actually watched the Nuggets play. I gave Gordon a ton of crap these last few years. He was the one player i predicted the Magic would draft all those years ago. He seemed up and down the last few years with the Nuggets. I think something just finally clicked for him but the truth is i think he just plays very well with Murray and when MPJ is off the floor. Now how this relates to the Magic, if by the end of the year Fultz or Cole do not seem like the answer, we have to trade for a vet point guard. Nuff said. It's so important to the rest of the team.

Please also remember that in the last 15 years players anywhere from the 3rd to wherever Jokic was picked have been the best player. It's not about the number one as much as they make it out to be. In fact i firmly believe a lot of misinformation is involved and some teams follow rankings too much. Guys like Booker,Mitchell,Halliburton going late lotto. MVP's like Giannis Jokic going outside the lotto. Two easy calls like Tatum and Paolo going 3rd and almost going 3rd. Tons of busts in the first two picks the last 15 years. It shows me 2 things, players going to bad situations and teams reaching on potential instead of just looking at players and seeing if they can play. Now in defense of team gm's it's harder then ever to evaluate players. I wish they could all go to college for a few years before they are drafted.

I don't think the plan is to tank. However not getting vets means the plan is to be firmly in the lotto. The injures are real but they definitely keep players out extra long. In the long run, when this team wins more games in the second half, we can debate what management should be doing. It's all up to health. If we peak after the new year because players finally get to play together, what does management do? If they still have players out every other game, will the fans care?

Ok the real season starts tomorrow. For the Love of god can we stay healthy a month. Also a new article on Bol. https://www.theringer.com/nba/2022/11/29/23482975/bol-bol-orlando-magic Gave you an upvote for Game of Zones.

We got destroyed by a team without Harden,Embiid and Maxey.......at home! Wow, truly this is the low point of the season so far. This is rough for me and i can actually see this team starting to win and playing better after Christmas. I just don't think i will care by then. I'll be looking at https://www.tankathon.com/ by then. I know we will be much better later but this is what you get when you ignore all the problems. Tank level coach, questionable hustle allowed forever, phantom injuries,G league talent. A team missing it's top 2 point guards still has better ball handlers then our team. A team missing it's stars lead by the one player who looking back, probably was the best player we had during our rebuild. Seriously it's a toss up between Vucevic or Tobias. Certainly Tobias has had the more successful career, made more money. Everyone else was a joke. Oladipo always injured,Gordon the posterboy for average starter, Evan benched in Boston and now New York. Actually i take that back, the Draft rights to Domantas Sabonis might be the best player we had but really didn't have. He would have made an awesome Magician too. Puts up empty stats, not a winner. Rant over. Edited, yes we were destined to lose without Suggs,Cole,Fultz. Tired of waiting for them to be healthy. Trade them all away for players that can stay healthy. So coach Mosley came on twitter and says the injuries are unreal. Yeah he is correct but why did he let a team that is super tall take almost forty 3 point shots, when they can't shoot? Injuries aside, when teams take the floor it's still always 5 on 5. Can this coach or any coach teach players to pass the ball and post up? I think i'm pissed at the whole league and not just the Magic. Seriously, professional basketball players cannot get the ball to a plethora of 6 foot 10 players and get a shot off on the block? I could live if they miss 37 shots 7 feet from the basket, at least they tried. Oh wait there goes another missed 3! The people on this sub could throw up forty 3 point shots and miss all day baby! Maybe i would pay to see that!

We got destroyed by a team without Harden,Embiid and Maxey.......at home! Wow, truly this is the low point of the season so far. This is rough for me and i can actually see this team starting to win and playing better after Christmas. I just don't think i will care by then. I'll be looking at https://www.tankathon.com/ by then. I know we will be much better later but this is what you get when you ignore all the problems. Tank level coach, questionable hustle allowed forever, phantom injuries,G league talent. A team missing it's top 2 point guards still has better ball handlers then our team. A team missing it's stars lead by the one player who looking back, probably was the best player we had during our rebuild. Seriously it's a toss up between Vucevic or Tobias. Certainly Tobias has had the more successful career, made more money. Everyone else was a joke. Oladipo always injured,Gordon the posterboy for average starter, Evan benched in Boston and now New York. Actually i take that back, the Draft rights to Domantas Sabonis might be the best player we had but really didn't have. He would have made an awesome Magician too. Puts up empty stats, not a winner. Rant over. Edited, yes we were destined to lose without Suggs,Cole,Fultz. Tired of waiting for them to be healthy. Trade them all away for players that can stay healthy.

I have the game on but barely watching it. Still a fan but wake me up when half the league doesn't play games. Seriously not just this game but take a look at box scores so many good players not playing...uggh.

If it didn't happen this past year it will never happen. More likely we trade picks for a player. My bet is Jaylen Brown is the next disgruntled player to move.

OMG shut up about Sharpe. Go to the rookie thread. Yes he might turn into a star someday. Could not take a chance with someone with so little tape with the number one pick. Wish we had two top picks but we didn't. Paolo was the right pick. I really love Mathurin and think he would be a great fit for our team but i'm not putting in all this effort to showcase him. Big men superstars win championships. MJ and Steph Curry altered that fact a little because they were truly one of a kind players. Paolo is our man.

Some of you guys only pay attention to the Magic. I get that. Lots of other teams are missing players, lots of other teams have strange rest days. I read box scores almost every night and i swear about 1/3rd of the league does not play on a nightly basis. Yes i think we are more snake bitten then the average team. You all just have to chill a bit. I bet one month from now it will be much better, but if it's not then we can ***** all we want.

We have about a month to know where this team is really at. The losing right now feels awful but things could be much different Mid December. In one month some of our missing players should be back. Team should be playing better. Besides that in mid December is when some players become eligible to be traded. This team seems like it could be better later on but still have enough losses to be in the Wembanyama talk. In fact all the Wembanyama fans should be happy about our early struggles. It means we can win more games in the second half but still wind up in the lottery. Per 740 the team we are on pace to win 23 games this year. I do not see this happening, too many good things about this team. If we actually get some healthy players i predict we win at a much higher pace after December. Still mid lotto team, but with more wins in the second half. To me this is the best scenario this year. If we had traded for DJ,Mitchell or hell, even Conley i would have had higher expectations. TL;DR. I think we win a lot more in the second half but still lose enough to be in the lotto, which is fine by me. Next year if we don't hit the miracle back to back number one picks i think it's time to start using picks to get another player. The next big time player i think to be dangled will be Brown. He is eligible to be extended after this season and i have heard rumblings he might tell the Celtics he ain't signing.

The Pelicans have the Lakers pick from the Anthony Davis trade. Edit. To be even more specific i don't think it's possible for the Lakers to make the playoffs this year. It would take a miracle and perfect health from LeBron and Davis. So the Pelicans are going to have a chance at the number one if the lotto balls like them. Double edit. Just for fun i fired up the old tankathon sim lottery and the first run had the Lakers pick being number 1 and going to the Pelicans! LOL https://www.tankathon.com/

Nice win, again couldn't watch because of work. Might watch the replay today.

Game was moved to 5:30 tomorrow. Paolo is out.

Sharpe looks good. Won't get a chance to shine for a few years, but i could be wrong. So many injuries in the NBA these days.