TreyMachine

Here's my take: the team is decently well-constructed. Paolo and Franz just do not bring the energy to make the guys around them believe they can be better. That was lost with Mo and with Suggs, and these two injuries have been the primary catalyst for our free-fall. Paolo and Franz are both great, but neither of them inspire greatness in the other players, and neither does Mo. We have lost our on-court vocal leaders in Suggs and Mo and that has made all the difference in the world during this free-fall, not the roster construction, but the personalities that mesh together to create a cohesive unit.

Real Question: if we don't turn things around and keep losing at this clip, I feel like Mose has lost the locker room. We clearly were great just a month ago and this has been a really rough patch. If we don't turn things around before the end of the season... Is it justified for us to fire Mose? Or is he too integral for the culture or our young team for the Magic brass to make such a change? I can't imagine us doing so but if we go like 5-20 the rest of the way, I don't see how we don't fire him or someone's head rolls.

I'd like to point out one month ago the sentiments of this board were the above statement. We had one bad month. Let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater that we didn't get something completed at the trade deadline and recently bias calls for the head of both Mose and Parker. Let's see how this month goes. If we end this badly, we certainly will be having a small reset this off season.

Chiming in - I think we like cohesion. We care about the fact that the locker room is tight and we've clearly shown we had a deep team that can win while Paolo / Franz were out. "Let's not blow it up yet" is the feeling I would guess that they had.

Mose deserves COTY and Parker/Weltman deserve executives of the year. No one is doing more with less proven players. We're still 4th in the East without our two best players. With that being said, it probably goes to Kenny Atkinson. People had real questions about the Cavs and their future and those are really quiet as they sit 29-4 with a new head coach. Really unfortunate as I think Mose is doing an unbelievable job this season.

I don't mind the idea but I just don't think he's a chemistry fit. We play young, fun, and hungry, and he more (from my understanding) is a no-nonsense dude with a small sense of humor. I also don't think they trade Jimmy within the division. Plus he's getting paid $50M per year so one of Franz/Suggs is leaving in that deal and it's therefore a no from me for that reason.

I’m so happy we’re playing this good with Paolo out. It gives everyone else a boost of confidence before he comes back.

Not to be a Debbie-Downer, but we were 24th last year in 3P% and 15th in FG%. I think we'll make SOME improvement there, but I don't see up jumping to a top 10 true shooting team. If we can jump from 24th to like just league average (15th!), I think that's a win. Let's temper expectations on "good shooting team" here. We'll make good decisions and will make smart passes, leading to good looks that we can hopefully hit. Excited for the season to start already!!

Franz and Moe playing some great basketball against the NBA's best. We really have a special duo in them.

Full game highlight can be found here:

Pat is the biggest reason why Orlando has a major sports team. His zeal to bring a team here willed it into existence, not to mention his unmatched lottery luck brought us from nonexistence to relevance and the NBA Finals each decade for the first two decades. He was a good man and no one has anything but positive things to say about him which is all you have to know. RIP Pat Williams.

Looks like the team is becoming complacent. Would just for once like to win a Summer League Championship, even if I know it's completely meaningless.

I think Markelle is a great player and a good person. He makes the players around him better and will thrive somewhere else. My hope is that he gets a payday or a chance to shine as a potential starter - neither of which we could give here. My gut tells me he goes and joins a big-market contender (like LA or Philly) and gets notable minutes on a bunch of nationally televised games to get a payday next year. I at least hope that for him. Good kid and too talented to not do something for at least some more time in the NBA.

I still will never understand the infatuation with RJ Hampton. I get that he was long and athletic, but he was (and continued to be) and VERY bad decision maker and we traded for him, which means we were VERY high on him compared to where he was drafted. Maybe our thought was that if he was able to understand the game, he had a higher ceiling than anyone else there (common WeltHam move), but I just never saw it.

You know what’s crazier than us trading for Markelle Fultz for what everyone considered to be relatively cheap? The pick we traded away - a late playoff pick at the time from OKC (21) - became Tyrese Maxey. Just found that out. Ugh. Lol