OnlyFranz

He confirmed it on that podcast with KCP about a week ago.

Yup I’m not a fan of SGA getting to the line at will when most of the time he’s using that off arm to push off the defender and create separation. It should be called an offensive foul every time. He was 8-27 shooting in that game and yet still ends up with 29 points. The refs bailed him out one too many times and it honestly takes the fun out of basketball when the officiating is so one sided. Indiana was on their way to a title before Hali got injured.

I agree. He made sense for us last year and even more so now that CoJo has been waived. Let’s see what Weltman ends up doing.

Yeah it goes hand in hand gotta have the personnel to be able to execute the offensive plays and a coach willing to call them.

We don’t need a Penny or Magic just a serviceable pg who you can throw into the starting lineup when needed. How do the Pacers have 3 pg’s that can all run that offense and we struggle to find one? San Antonio is about to have the same problem if they draft Dylan Harper with Fox and Castle already there. Those are the types of teams we need to try and trade with.

I guess you don’t know what a pg’s role is on a team because we haven’t had a real one in decades. I already outlined in my previous post on how having a pg would open up the offense. Let’s recap: Having someone who can initiate the offense and get the ball to all those guys you just mentioned above in places where they are comfortable scoring from is the easiest way to fix our offensive lulls during games. We don’t post up Paolo nearly enough because he’s busy trying to set up our offense and Franz doesn’t get easy shots because he’s always trying to create for himself. Imagine how much better he would be offensively and defensively if he didn’t have to exert so much energy trying to play Point forward the whole game, same could be said about Paolo. That’s just a couple of examples on how having a traditional pg would make sense for this team. If AB can turn in to that then great but I wouldn’t bet my entire season on it. So I believe getting at least a serviceable pg would just be good business practice. We don’t need them to start we just need them to be in the 2nd unit to help Suggs and Bane when one of them goes to the bench or if an injury occurs. Not sure where the harm in that is.

Sorry to be a Debbie downer to your premature championship parade but you don’t win championships or even become a contender over night. Let’s actually win a playoff series first before we start having championship aspirations. I’m certainly happy Weltman finally made a move to address our shooting concerns but I’m in the camp that still believes we need a good point guard to really unlock this offense. I get that Paolo and Franz CAN initiate the offense for stretches of the game but SHOULD they do it is a completely different question, hear me out. Taking the ball out of our stars hands isn’t necessarily a bad thing when you have 2 guys at the wings who are great at cutting and excellent at finishing at the rim. We hardly take advantage of this aspect of their games because our offense relies on too much iso ball instead of having more off ball movement and getting other players involved in the offense. Paolo himself even stated last offseason he wanted us to bring in a pg so he wouldn’t have as much ball handling responsibility having to initiate the offense. This would allow him to focus more on his play down low, which would result in easier baskets and theoretically more chances to get to the free throw line. Same could be applied to Franz with the way he finishes around the rim. He would get so many more easy chances around the rim by simply cutting to the basket and having a player that can actually get him the ball. So while I’m ecstatic about the Bane trade I, honestly don’t think he’s the missing piece and that we’re still a year or two away from actually competing for a championship. Either way this should be an exiting season and hopefully one without so many injuries. Can’t wait to watch the team grow, Go Magic!

This is exactly how I feel. It was probably an overpay but teams know we’re desperate for shooting so they will try to milk everything they can get from us in any trade. We definitely couldn’t run the same team back and I’m glad we got a legitimate 3 point scorer and defender with plenty of grit to his game as well.

As long as you don’t like KAT you’re good in my book lol. I love Halliburton’s game tbh he reminds me of Steve Nash the way he pushes the pace and hands out those assists. Sure the shot is ugly but he gets buckets. I don’t think either of these East teams will be able to keep up with the foul hunting SGA and the Thunder but that’s a discussion for another day.

Brunson whines more than the whole Pacers team combined and KAT is just as goofy he’s always flexing on someone. I hope the Pacers win to send that team and fan base home crying.

This may be a hot take but if Franz doesn’t fix his outside shot or develop a dependable mid range game like Derozan he’d be the player I’d trade away not Suggs. This is a guard dominant league and you just don’t give up on a guy like Suggs this early in his career. Nonetheless should be a fun summer of speculation.

I wouldn’t because Suggs has that IT factor on the defensive end and his offense is finally starting to come around. Sure he’s had some injury problems but so did Steph when he first entered the league and GS didn’t give up on him. I think Suggs is realizing how important he is to our team when he’s available and hopefully he won’t be so reckless out on the court this year. If we can somehow pair Garland and Suggs in the backcourt that’s gonna be scary…

I’m strapped in and ready as well. It’s time to finally put this Magic team back on the map and competing for a championship!

But if we’re healthy we can beat anyone! Doesn’t matter if we can’t put the ball in the basket we have length and a close knit group of players. The sky’s the limit!!!!

While I completely agree that’s nearly not enough to get Johnson, if there’s a remote chance we can get him without giving up too much more I’d be all for it. Then we get another Pg via free agency or trade and we will be quite dangerous next year.

Hard pass. I’m over signing guys who can never stay healthy and he’s on the wrong side of 30.

I love me some Vassel too but I’d prefer a PG added to our roster if that’s the only move Weltman’s making. Ideally though we at least need to bring in a PG and another SG.

I know but so was Luka and yet here we are. If SA believes Fox is their answer at PG and their FO decides they want to start competing for a championship starting next season it could happen but you’re right not holding my breath. Maybe we get lucky and Luka asks to be traded to Orlando!

A player I’d love to target before he breaks out would be Stephon Castle. He has great size for the guard position, finishes well around the basket, can create his own shot, is no slouch on defense, and his 3 ball looks decent with plenty of room for improvement. Maybe SA trades him to acquire more established players if they have a win now mandate but definitely a player I’d be watching if I were the Magic FO.

I’d add WCJ regressed pretty badly as well and Franz 3 point shot is looking worse every year. He had nothing wrong with it coming out of college and now it’s broken.

I hear you man and I agree Weltman has been trash and should have been fired a couple of years ago. If he doesn’t make any moves this offseason to address our pg/shooting issues he needs to get fired simple as that or it just further proves these owners aren’t serious about winning.

If there were ever a night for KCP to catch fire from 3 and silence the haters it would be tonight. However I’m not hopeful we’ll get it done on the road in a hostile environment against the defending champs. Whatever happens I’m proud of Paolo and Franz for proving they can be a legitimate and dangerous 1-2 scoring punch in this league. Now let’s use the offseason to address the flaws the rest of our roster has and finally bring a championship home to this well deserving fan base and city of Orlando!

Yup and I’d like to see Suggs slide back to his natural position at the 2. Sure it’s nice that he’s learning the 1 but it’s not a natural fit and he’s better suited playing the 2. Give me a solid starting pg and it will unlock the true potential of this team. Slide KCP down to the 2nd unit or cut our losses and trade him. Bottom line our stars clearly need help and I hope Weltman finally gets off his ass and does something about it.

+1

Wish there was a competent starting point guard somewhere in the league that would come play for us. It’s literally the missing piece we need.