Preseason Observations

[VintageGarrity 13]

Hey everyone,

 

I'm not a heavy poster but have been following this board for a while. I currently live in Miami and went to the Magic's first preseason game at American Airlines Arena last night. Since not many of the games are being broadcasted, I thought I would get a Preseason thread going to discuss observations about how the team is shaping up. Here are some of my thoughts from last night:

 

Tobias Harris should continue to be groomed as our starting SF. Harris shot the ball really well from all over last night. He looked confident and seems like he's really moving into an alpha role on this team.

 

Elfrid Payton's court vision is everything it's cracked up to be. He had two great steals in the first quarter. On the first, he actually ripped the ball away from a player and set up a layup in transition. On the second, he displayed great anticipation intercepting a pass and went coast to coast for the lay-in himself. My main frustration with Payton was that he wasn't very aggressive looking for his own shot. We saw in Summer League that he can be very reluctant to shoot. Although the box score says that he took 8 shots, I don't think that's accurate (maybe he took 6). As I recall, he tried (and missed) only one jumpshot the entire game. Despite not looking to score himself, Payton did attack the rim. While it won't show in the box score, he had two impressive drives where at the last moment he dumped off to a forward (once to Kyle and another time to Dedmon, who got fouled). Bottom-line: he's a pass-first player all the way. Rondo is easily the closest comparison, but I think Payton is going to be better because he seems calmer and gives off a sense of maturity even though he looks (and is) so young.

 

Aaron Gordon is just as raw on offense as everyone expected. He looked good on D, however, showing good patience. At the end of regulation (the game went to OT) he was forced to switch onto Shabazz Napier, which he did without missing a beat. We all know from last year's tournament how crafty Napier can be in late-game situations especially against a less seasoned player. Gordon wisely held back and used his length and athleticism to force Napier into a really bad shot. He also had a nice chase-down block on Dwyane Wade in the early third quarter.

 

Evan Fournier is going to be a nice addition to this team. He can hit threes, get to the line, and looks very good in general.

 

Andrew Nicholson's days are numbered. He still looks out of his depth and he missed a lot of shots. While he did make the basket to send it to overtime, he was wide open on the baseline from about 10 feet. I have really been intrigued by some of the skills he has flashed at times, but if he's going to get away from playing in the post (which he did all night, settling for jumpers) I don't think he really has a role on this team. Once Frye comes back, he's probably not going to crack the rotation at PF except in garbage time.

 

Ben Gordon looked absolutely atrocious out there. I had never seen him play live before and, man, is his jumper ugly. Most of the time the Magic moved the ball really well. The exception was when Gordon took the floor. He took bad shots too early in the shot clock, turned it over egregiously at times, and in general looked like a highly inefficient basketball player. I wish we hadn't signed him.

 

Devyn Marble is my new favorite player. I know it's super early to be getting excited about our late second-rounder, but we've seen with the emergence of Kyle O'Quinn that Rob "Daylight Robbery" Hennigan knows how to sift the dregs of the draft. Marble exclusively took good shots, hitting threes and getting to the line. While it's definitely true that we lack 3-point shooting on this team, Marble is going to contribute in that area substantially.

 

Overall, it seems like we definitely need Frye back sooner rather than later. Spacing wasn't terrible, but driving lanes were scarce. Harkless was able to do work as a slasher at times, but this was a battle of jumpshooters (see Luol Deng) in large part. There was also a notable lack of the pick and roll in this game, which might have to do with the absence of Victor. Supposedly, Fournier and Vuc have shown great chemistry working PNRs in practice, but this wasn't in effect so much last night.

 

Anyway, I hope this is interesting to some of you and I'll be eager to read people's thoughts on the team as the preseason schedule unfolds.

[The Neighborhood Bully 266]

 

Love the post and appreciate the insight, especially since the game was not televised in Orlando.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

I'll add more to this when I can actually watch the game!!!

 

 

1. Payton did take 8 shots. But they were spaced out. According to Twitter he was forced to take a few at the end of the shot clock which doesn't help.

 

2. Looks like harris was hitting everything which is definitely encouraging.

 

3. I definitely think nicholson is the odd man out. I just don't see where the minutes are going to come from

 

4. You probably need to lay off Gordon. Dude went 3/8 in 19 minutes. Not like he was just jacking up shots. He also only had 1 turnover. Maybe you're confusing Ben with Aaron?

[VintageGarrity 13]

I probably am being a little hard on Ben Gordon, but I think he deserves the extra scrutiny given the contract he got and his recent history in the league. My overriding impression was one of a player who wasn't necessarily doing anything unexpected, but who didn't look like a particularly helpful addition. If I have to say something positive about him, I'd say he's very aggressive as a scorer and that he'll probably hit a game winner at some point this season. I'd personally love to see more and more of his time given to Marble as the months go by.

[chosen12 75]

Welcome to the boards! Well done, I enjoyed your post and now I really look forward to the regular season when I can actually see the game!!!!!

[magicblue 315]

It seems to me that Marble brings everything to the table that Ben Gordon does, except he doesn't force shots like Gordon and actually has an upside. If Gordon gets off to a slow start this season I could see him slipping out of the regular rotation pretty quickly. Marble is instant offense and made a couple pretty good defensive plays last night that don't show up in the boxscore.

[chosen12 75]

It seems to me that Marble brings everything to the table that Ben Gordon does, except he doesn't force shots like Gordon and actually has an upside. If Gordon gets off to a slow start this season I could see him slipping out of the regular rotation pretty quickly. Marble is instant offense and made a couple pretty good defensive plays last night that don't show up in the boxscore.

 

 

I can only agree with you about Ben, I really think he is here for matters concerning this season only. I think Hennie was trying to catch lightning in a bottle, but his only benefit will be hitting the cap floor! This is Ben's only contribution!

 

[Stu Bronsilino 313]

 

1. Payton did take 8 shots. But they were spaced out. According to Twitter he was forced to take a few at the end of the shot clock which doesn't help.

 

 

 

yeah this is true. I watched a bootleg stream and even commented something like "alright, elfrid took a 3/4 court hail mary that would have counted if it dropped. that's a welcome change of pace" *glares at jameer*

[A Better DJ & Photographer 461]

For those of you that miss games that aren't televised in Orlando... I watch every game including last night's online. Last night I had a great HD feed that was as clear as cable. I won't post a link (that's how they get shut down) but if you search the internet you can find absolutely everything that is shown on TV including archives. Sometimes I even find and watch movies that haven't even been in the theater yet. The few TV shows I watch I watch without commercials and pause them at will... the best part... it's all free. No cable or satellite bill!

[Secretly Space Jesus 670]

For those of you that miss games that aren't televised in Orlando... I watch every game including last night's online. Last night I had a great HD feed that was as clear as cable. I won't post a link (that's how they get shut down) but if you search the internet you can find absolutely everything that is shown on TV including archives. Sometimes I even find and watch movies that haven't even been in the theater yet. The few TV shows I watch I watch without commercials and pause them at will... the best part... it's all free. No cable or satellite bill!

 

You just admitted to multiple felonies.

[Mauro Pedrosa 1,033]

For those of you that miss games that aren't televised in Orlando... I watch every game including last night's online. Last night I had a great HD feed that was as clear as cable. I won't post a link (that's how they get shut down) but if you search the internet you can find absolutely everything that is shown on TV including archives. Sometimes I even find and watch movies that haven't even been in the theater yet. The few TV shows I watch I watch without commercials and pause them at will... the best part... it's all free. No cable or satellite bill!

Sure you do

[CTMagicUK 1,491]

Not sure where you got the "lack of pick and roll" part from, the Magic ran a lot of high pick and roll.

 

I think Harkless showed some really good flashes of how he's learning to control his game last night. In the first quarter he made a nice drive to the hoop that would most likely have been knocked out of his hands for a turnover last year and in the 2nd half he hit Dedmon (i think) with a bounce pass after attacking a closeout. He seems to have improved his understanding and feel for the game and I still think he can be a starting SF in this league.

 

I also don't really see much wrong with what Ben Gordon did. He wasn't good by any stretch, in fact I noticed he would pick the ball up far too early and stop the offense when running pick and roll, probably because his entire life he's been just jacking shots from there but on another night the defense sag off and he drills a 3 so who knows. I can't imagine we'll have him run much pick and roll anyway, we didn't (as far as I remember) run any off the ball action for him which is more his game.

 

Payton is good.