TreyMachine

Agree with EVERYTHING Payton4TheWin said, but I additionally agree with you here. With Payton on the floor and no respectable jumpshot, we have to find at least one if not too guys who can shoot it from deep. I believe THIS was Henny's plan all along with Channing Frye. Payton and Oladipo breaking down defenses on the drive, Tobias and Fyre hitting the outside shots (Tobias mid-range shots) and Vuc cleaning up everything. In "theory," it works decently well (though has major defensive holes). I actually think Payton and Fournier make A LOT more sense playing together than Payton and Oladipo. Oladipo playing as a 6th man with Payton on the bench and Ridnour or a good-shooting PG also makes more sense. Unless Oladipo develops a pretty stellar 3-pt shot, I don't see this working out. In fact, I say give it a year or two where if this keeps up, one of them (Oladipo my guess) will be traded. I hope it comes together though.

I will admit this is at least encouraging that he isn't losing the locker room and they're taking responsibility for their actions, but I don't think it's just hustle that they're all lacking. A general offensive system that is put in place by JV, and a leadership that asks certain things out of certain players who buy into a certain system. It also makes me happy he's much more passionate behind the scenes than he is on the bench.

I would have suggested Shaq, but my feeling is his ego would be far too big (and presence would be far too big) to be simply kept as an assistant coach.

That's 4 million. Hardly enough to really be able to get anything significant in return. Really, we don't need trades. We need development of the young talent we have. Period.

Because we're a small market, Henny I'm sure keeps things really quiet. He's a chess player and keeps his cards close to him. I mean... how many people in the media knew we were getting Aaron Gordon with the 4th pick? No one in the Orlando media had a clue. We've seen Henny do his due diligence behind the scenes. I trust he's making the phone calls to make this team a better team. Unfortunately, we have young assets, which we won't want to part with, and untradeable veterans (Ben Gordon, Channing Frye, etc.). Truthfully, our team really doesn't have much to work with - and with the team playing poorly, no one is exactly increasing their value.

Let's just hire all the old Magic players to come in and coach: Scott Skiles (head), Darrel Armstrong (guards), Nick Anderson (fowards), Pat Garrity (shooting), and Ronnie Seikaly (bigs). #winners

If they continue to play like they did last night (with energy and intensity), I think JV keeps his job. The problem is: I see them regressing again in a game or two and giving a lackluster effort. I'm skeptical until proven wrong.

Another reason I question whether he is our future PF/SF and significantly question if he is worth the high money many people expect him to garner in the offseason.

I mean, I definitely think he's an ISO guy like Carmelo, but I don't think he has nearly the one-track-mind like Ben Gordon has. If this is true though, I wonder if that's why Scott Skiles chose to ride him on the bench - because he wasn't good at making the extra pass and finding the open man? I'm of the belief that I just want guys out there who will make the extra pass and find the open man - guys who don't force shots that just aren't there.

I won't be calling for JV's firing this game. I'm pleased we kept up with a championship contender in Portland. All I can ask for is hustle - which they brought. Give me more of this, and we will both win games and grow as a team. I just hope this is a growth game and a not an anomaly that regresses the following game.

To be fair, I only watched the 2nd half, so my assessment has a bias lean towards the second half, where Oladipo was particularly poor in the 4th quarter. I applaud the energy he brings. I just don't believe he's a finisher. Shot doesn't look natural coming out of his hands, and his decision making is spotty at best. My biggest fear with a core of Payton, Oladipo, and Aaron Gordon is that we won't ever have enough offensive firepower on the floor at once to be a serious contender (even with Vuc and Harris/a scoring SF).

Frye has to get his mojo back. He doesn't come off to me as a guy who isn't trying because he got his last big paycheck. I just don't really know what's wrong with him. Dipo does enjoy playing hero ball. Sometimes he makes his shots, but at some point, he has to realize the greats were the ones who knew when to shoot the ball and when to pass it out to the open man. He still has yet to learn this lesson, and I really don't know what kind of ceiling we expect him to have as a passer, but I'm setting my standards relatively low. I personally believe (and hope) that Payton gains a reliable jumpshot and becomes the guy with the ball in his hands at the end of games, similar to CP3 (who didn't have much of a jumpshot coming out of college either). I'm crossing my fingers on this one, because having a finisher who can pass is one of the greatest assets a team can have.

Oladipo was 6-21. Frye was 1-10. Gordon was 1-7. I'm just saying that no matter how great our effort is, we cannot have games like this, especially ruining nights where Nik has a 15-23 game... Would love to see more Devyn Marble. His offense is polished (which we already knew), but he gives hard effort. I also want to see Ben Gordon traded. The ball movement dies when it touches his hands.

I've watched this 4th quarter. Oladipo has been trying to play the role of hero and is failing. 2 badly missed 3's, a contested long two, an out-of-control lay-up, two costly turnovers when we were close, and lots of questionable shot selection. I'm not saying there isn't blame for Frye (or others). I'm saying that Oladipo has tunnel-vision and is not a good decision maker. He shouldn't be the guy who has the ball in his hands at the end of the game.

Exactly. We would win many more games if we played with this heart every game. I also wouldn't be clamoring for JV's job as much... but this team still doesn't have an identity and the players don't have specific roles they know and can therefore fill. Our offense still needs severe help.

Please give Payton the ball. Oladipo has now had two straight turnovers. Edit: Payton took up the ball this time. Why do we have Payton playing off ball when he's a terrible shooter and our best ball handler and passer???

The biggest difference I see from this night to the past few nights: we're looking to feed Vuc the ball first during all offensive sets. Really, really am liking this trend.

I love the hustle, but these first 3 minutes of the quarter... our offense is literally and exclusively Ben Gordon ISOs.

I'm loving the hustle, especially by Marble. I think they're playing with a disdain for what happened with how they gave up last night. Would love to be on fly on that wall in the locker room for whoever got the team riled up to play this hard this game.

Reposting this from another thread (because the idea should be in this thread rather than the season's thread): I don't want to make this comparison, but remember when everyone was clamoring to have Doc Rivers fired at a 1-19 start because the team was better than he was coaching them? That he had "lost" the players? I don't think this is another case of that (a great coach being unfairly blamed), but I wonder if we truly did and do have too high of expectations for this team after showing promise (like the '01 magic team against Detroit in the playoffs), and if JV is just becoming a scapegoat for our team's natural regression to their "norm." Again, I'm someone who think JV is the inherently problem with our team, but I also thought that Doc at the time was the problem, and that's clearly not the case if you ask anyone today. Just a comparison I thought that would be fair to at least pose.

I don't want to make this comparison, but remember when everyone was clamoring to have Doc Rivers fired at a 1-19 start because the team was better than he was coaching them? That he had "lost" the players? I don't think this is another case of that (a great coach being unfairly blamed), but I wonder if we truly did and do have too high of expectations for this team after showing promise (like the '01 magic team against Detroit in the playoffs).

Here's a question: what do we have to lose by firing him now? The team isn't responding to him and we're getting blown out by the league's worse teams. We literally cannot get any worse. Start from scratch now and see who comes out when new management is put in place. Question: do we even have anyone on staff who could take over? Any intense assistant coaches? Unfortunately, no good coach in his right mind will come work with us mid-season, would they?

I'll take losses when we show effort and grit. I won't take losses when we lay down and show so little effort in the little things.

Getting out rebounded by 20 and 18-4 in the offensive glass is about one thing: positioning (coaching) and effort (players). The players play for the coach, and JV unfortunately has been tuned out by all of them I believe. We literally have NOTHING to lose now but more games as we figure out a new offense with a new coach. I'm not watching any more games until we change coaches. This was suppose to be our season to win... We showed promise in the beginning but players have clearly stopped playing for JV, and he's out of excuses as we're getting blown out by bottom dwellers.

His energy has been sorely lacking. Super excited for this.