TreyMachine

Just a notice: Jimmy Butler seems to be a complainer and rather arrogant. He'll get money somewhere because he's very talented, but I wouldn't want him on my team.

Dedmon jumps onto the floor for a loose ball! Man doesn't have many natural basketball skills, but you cannot teach the man's athleticism, length, and hustle. He WANTS it. I wonder if in two years through his blue-collar work with a shooting coach if he can create some semblance of an offense game and bulk up a bit. I'm loving watching this team and thinking about next season.

Frye gets put in and immediately posts up for 2 against Taj Gibson and makes a jump-hook, followed by making a block on Aaron Brooks on the other end through help defense. WHAT IS THIS BLACK MAGIC THAT JAMES BORREGO IS USING?!?!

And this is where we show our youth: multiple dumb fouls out of frustration at the end of the quarter with the other team in the bonus :svgsad:

I think it depends case-to-case, as some people (Shaq, D12, Ben Wallace, Rajon Rondo) will never improve. However, with Gordon, this is clearly not the case. The question is: will Elfrid Payton be the anomaly of improvement or more Rajon Rondo? Also - our defense is SUFFOCATINGLY GOOD right now. This line-up: Payton, Oladipo, Gordon, Nicholson, and Vuc has the Bulls in stitches. Take Nicholson out of this lineup and replace him with a high draft pick (though he's GREAT because he is a PF with an outside shot), and you have a playoff roster with top 10 D next year IMO (though I might be homering a bit).

Halftime Assessment: Bulls are shooting crazy in terms of 3PT%. Law of averages says it won't be the same next half.

That was a thing of beauty! I'm glad that the Magic seem to be matching the Bulls point-for-point. I watch this team and I think next year IS the year we WILL make the playoffs. Payton, Oladipo, Vuc, and even Gordon are playing wonderfully. Frye isn't playing, which I'm sure makes Tobias unhappy and Orlando less appealing I'm sure. I think we all are assuming he's gone next year, which is unfortunate... but Gordon... Gordon has jumped from a 42% FT shooter in college to a 75% FT shooter in his last few games... It gives me hope too that his jumpshot will also grow significantly and he can be the SF of the future for us...

Every time someone brings up trading one of our top players for a draft prospect, I will make this reference. Thank you, Jesus.

I guess this is true. I keep thinking we've won more games under him than we have. Truthfully, it's that the team looks better together and games are closer than they ever were when JV was a coach. But we're still getting beat substantially by the best teams and aren't finishing like we should often. If anything, I believe that the players really do enjoy working for him and he really loves them (as seen by the tech he does last night for getting a little too fired up on the sideline). Would they keep Borrego on the sideline? Can they with a new coach coming in? I'm seeing him as gone either HC or gone.

Calls were indeed shaky on both sides. The fact is that Wisconsin simply outplayed and out-hustled Kentucky for most of the game and down the stretch. My only sadness is that I won't get to see an Okafor/Towns head-to-head match-up now. Having not watched much college basketball this season, I believe I still pick Okafor over Towns if we have a choice. Towns is a brute with a soft touch, but doesn't have an overly quick first step. Okafor is more athletic and made smarter plays consistently (and seems to be more of a natural leader). Excited to see the prospects coming out for the Draft this year.

The thing I like about these games is that Borrego seems to be doing everything we've wanted to a coach to do with the Magic all year. We're competing every day. His rotations have been playing to our strengths (sitting Frye - more Dedmon/A. Gordon). With what he's done, I'm reluctant to not give him a full year at the helm and a summer to work on a system. It seems from interviews the players really do like Borrego and believe in him. Unless we get someone else who has far more leadership/experience, I'm almost believing we keep him around this summer.

I never realized how many good PG there are in the NBA. Payton will crack the top 10 one day I believe, but he's currently the 27th ranked PG in the NBA: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12563832/nba-espn-nba-forecast-ranks-nba-starting-point-guards-no-1-chris-paul-no-30-dante-exum

Had no idea David Robinson would be considered to have lived in Florida. With this as the case, it's hard to argue against a David Robinson / Amare Stoudemire / Vince Carter / Tracey McGrady / X line-up... however, I guess you could also argue we'd be awful because of our lack of defense to any degree outside of Robinson.

Reading on Draft Express (so obviously taking this with a grain of salt) that his forte is scoring ability and his weeknesses are defense, effort at times, and playing within a team system rather than an iso or pick-and-roll game. He's European and Versatile, but he just doesn't come off to me as a guy that Henny wants in this culture.

It's a win-lose situation for me. Magic win a game, and we have a lower chance at a top 3 pick but morale is high. Magic lose, and morale is low but we have a better chance at a top pick. Free Agency, as stated by many, will be our test, though I'm not sure this is the year you want to get big into spending since it's also the year where the cap rises and EVERY team can spend. (correct me if I'm wrong). Borrego has shown me that he can coach, but is he THE coach to take us to the next level? This has yet to be seen and I believe will be our most important move this offseason.

It amazes me as well how ignorant most other commentators are of the Orlando Magic. You figured they are payed full-time to be NBA Broadcasters, yet they act like they only ever read the headlines of Sportscenter before jumping into a game. Even back in the days of '07-'11, announcers weren't really unaware of other players being at all good on our team outside of D12 because the media never covered us. Jameer Nelson, Hedo Turkeglu, Rashard Lewis, and Courtney Lee were scrubs. "If you get good players around Howard, they could win championships." Then they tried to put "stars" around him, and it didn't work at all. The point: a player's worth is much more than his media coverage and base PPG.

I'm watching Draymond Green for the first time this evening and HOLY COW - he is what we need next to Vooch. I don't know if he's worth a "max" contract, but he's definitely the perfect defensive / shooting compliment to Vucci-mane.

Celtics Forum Talk: Everyone says they deserved to lose but Evan Turner saved their sorry a**es. I, like others, am fine that we lost, as it's a win/win situation. I would like to see a few more qualities wins before the season ends though.

I think that one was pretty apparent, even before this game. :tongue:

I saw the same thing. 17 was tied for a franchise record. This doesn't normally happy. You take away 8 of those, and that's 24 points, we're in the ball game, and guys don't give up so quickly. On to the next one!

I see a lot of Thibs vs. D'Antoni. But really - Thibs vs. who? JB I've liked, but we still have now lost 5 of 7. I think perhaps you give him time to put in a full playbook, and maybe he could do something... but really - who else do we have on our short list if Thibs comes knocking on our door?

Oh - that is beautiful. Is he a restricted FA after 2015-2016 or unrestricted?

Was fun to be there. The Magic crowd did show up tonight and outshined the multitudes of green in the crowd. Big plays by Moe and Vic down the stretch. AG had great defense but needs to 100% work on his offense, as he badly missed two wide open 3 pointers (including an air ball). I have a fear how much Dedmon will draw in terms of $$ this season. He's got upside of offense, and at the very least is a defensive anchor who works his butt off. He's EXACTLY what we need next to Vuc (and I bet he can put on some weight and get some form of low post game) with Vuc occupying high-post. A starting line-up of Vuc-Dedmon-Harris-Oladipo-Harris is big and good on both sides of the ball. .500 ball is very doable the rest of the way to build confidence going into next season.

I feel as though Aaron Gordon would have been somewhere in this top 10 rookies if he hadn't gotten injured. We're now monitoring minutes and just letting him learn the game without asking too much of him IMO. From his work ethic and bball IQ, I really do believe that he has a full-on breakout season next year, especially if Tobias Harris is gone.

My friend went to a Lakers game against Atlanta at the beginning of this season (when Atlanta was playing astoundingly well), and he said that the entire upper deck and a large portion of the lower deck was Lakers fans (and the Lakers won). I feel like it's more disheartening for a team that is playing well to not have home-court advantage, vs. ours which has not lived up to expectations on our season. We will always struggle with New York, Chicago, LA, Boston, and Heat fans in our seats. Just the way it is.