All Eyes On Me

So is Mitchell. Got that Indiana flu I guess

Nah, he’s not playing because either he or our training staff have said he physically can’t go. Nothing more to read into than that. There’s rules against saying a player is hurt when he’s not, and even misreporting an injury. We’ll see if he’s back on Saturday I guess.

I think this is grasping for straws to make an excuse. Remember Fultz was also out the last game before the deadline for injury management. If it were maintenance and saving him for other games, Cleveland is the only team in the next 8 we’re playing that has a winning record, why would we sit him against them? Also, why sit him immediately after over a week off? It doesn't make sense

I’m just reporting what the injury report says haha.. it is fishy tho. We’ll see how much k-tape he’s got on that shoulder whenever he’s allowed to suit up again

Markelle is listed as out for tomorrow night due to “left knee injury maintenance”

The all star break needs to hurry up and end so we can start talking about games again and stop rehashing the same conversations about the deadline. Big one in Cleveland tomorrow night. This season so far we’ve been strangely really bad coming off extended rest. Curious to see how we look. After tomorrow, we get 7 straight and 11 of our next 13 against teams below .500 and an 8 game home stand starts on March 17th.

Seeds 3-9 in the East are all up for grabs in seeding. Knicks and Sixers are hurt, Bucks are a chemistry mess, Pacers, Magic, Heat, Hawks all are inconsistent but could get hot. Having the easiest schedule of the group is a huge advantage.

Jett going back to the G League

I’m sure it’s being leaked by his camp for more cash, but I do respect the 2 reporters I’ve seen leak it. Shams and Marc Spears

Saw more insiders linking us to interest in Klay Thompson this off-season

Thread to discuss All-Star weekend and our main man Paolo Banchero giving us our first all-star appearance in years! A full weekend for the Magic man. Paolo’s schedule Friday Night at 9 PM EST Rising Stars Game Saturday Night at 8 PM EST Kia Skills Challenge as part of All-Star Saturday night Sunday at 8 PM EST 73rd NBA All-Star Game

Supposedly he built the offense around Ben Simmons this off-season and pissed off Mikal lol.. Ben Simmons is the worst

I’m torn on Trae. I hate how he plays with the foul-baiting and flopping. But I also remember hes already been the best player on a team that made the conference finals, and he’s never had a supporting cast like he’d have here. I don’t see how we get him from a division rival without giving up at least Suggs though.

Paolo is leading the East in assists at halftime for what it’s worth. I’m all for him using this as a shmoozing and recruiting trip to show other stars how much fun it is to play with him.

The all star game is silly. It’s pretty much geared for whichever perimeter player wants to be the most selfish. And Steph got all hand/wrist on that block haha

https://x.com/stuffsburner/status/1758922196972372209?s=46&t=O_48d3F9zIM7WbaIMp7sdQ “I’m going to Orlando regardless, I’m going to Disney regardless” it’s probably grasping at nothing, but it’s slow around here lol

Trae Young was asked where he’d be if he wasn’t at all-star weekend and he said he’d be in Orlando.

Yeah, at least they’re consistent. They also had us at 37.5 wins on the O/U preseason. We just need to go 8-19 the rest of the way to hit that.

Skills challenge was just as bad unfortunately.. haha. He looked nervous tonight. Let’s see if Mac McClung does anything fun for us

Honestly, I don’t love the free agent class this year. Maybe Monk, maybe Jrue if he opts out. Or maybe we swing a trade for a disgruntled star on an underachieving team. It should be a fun off-season… should be… lol

Agreed. This summer is our last chance for a while to take advantage of our cap space and potentially add a third star. Franz will be due for a max soon and Paolo close after that.

I think we could go 2 directions, either vet PG that can shoot and can play off-ball, or embrace “positionless” basketball and bring in another Wing that can shoot. Top of my wishlist in FA if we don’t trade is Malik Monk. Starting 5 of Suggs/Monk/Franz/Paolo/WCJ. Our primary distributors being Franz and Paolo.

Let me be clear on my stance on Markelle. If he’s willing to stay around for a long term like $8-10 mill a year contract playing backup PG, I’m all for it. We can tailor our bench unit to surround him with shooters when he’s on the floor. The issue I have is with him being the long term plan at starting point guard. His play style just doesn’t bring out the best in our superstars. Franz and Paolo are already both excellent distributors for their age and both are most effective as being ball dominant. We need someone playing with them that is more off-ball than your traditional PGs and is a threat to hit some spot up 3s. Kelle is only giving us 15-18 minutes a game anyway, not finishing games in the 2nd half and not playing in back to backs, I think he’d even be more comfortable in a backup role.

Nah, Paolo is already distributing the ball better than Melo ever did. Melo averaged 2.7 assists a game for his career, his career high in a season was 4.2 assists per game. Paolo is averaging 5.3 assists per game this season as a 21 year old. We surround him with better shooting that number could get up over 6 pretty easily.

Just wanted to make sure. The sentence about someone trying to explain it and “good luck” came across as confusing. I think it really comes down to sample size more than anything else. He’s on the court a whole lot more than he’s off it, so numbers can get skewed. Also, JI’s net positive is absurd.