2016-2017 Season Discussion Thread

[TrueBlueDrew 75]

the problem with knight is he's not really a point guard. he's like an offensive keyon dooling. He's got a problem running offense. He'd be great off ball spot up shooter and occasional isolation guy but he's really bad at running a pick and roll.

 

He'd be great playing with a wing who can do those things. Like LeBron or Harden or Evan Turner.

 

to put it in perspective, 30 players ran more than 400 pick and rolls last year. Knight ranked 26th in points per possession.

 

Do you think we need to move on from Payton to take positive steps as a team? Or is it too early to tell...4 games in is nothing, but still. Do we surround Payton with offense and just let him focus on being the distributor and defense?

[Odin 137]

Do you think we need to move on from Payton to take positive steps as a team? Or is it too early to tell...4 games in is nothing, but still. Do we surround Payton with offense and just let him focus on being the distributor and defense?

 

I don't think you can let Payton be the focal point of the team. I am not quite understanding your phrasing here though, because based purely on the first 4 games, he has been the most consistent/ best player in almost all of them, which usually isn't a sign that you need to move away from a guy.

 

Really, it is too soon to say anything really about the place of any of our players. The team on a whole has been pretty bad, which seems to suggest that we should not be tied down to any of them, but making decisions either way about any players right now would be short-sighted, in my opinion. Some of the players that look really good so far are going to start coming down, other players who have been struggling will start to play better.

[TheNameIsOrlando 310]

He's a high energy guy who was good enough to stir up an argument of which point guard is better. In cases like that you bet on the 23 year old. He's basically going to be teague.

 

Teague really? Maybe I haven't paid close enough attention. Teague always seemed far supperior when they played on the same team. Granted Teague is a Vet.

 

Schroeder always looked like a very active solid defender who thinks he's a better shooter than he is. He seemed to lack playmaking ability. Now that he is running the show i'll have to watch more closely. Never saw him at a higher level than maybe a Devin Harris or Mo Williams as far as PG rankings.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

Do you think we need to move on from Payton to take positive steps as a team? Or is it too early to tell...4 games in is nothing, but still. Do we surround Payton with offense and just let him focus on being the distributor and defense?

 

ok so this is a complicated question.

 

Right now we have 4 games of a 22 year old point guard and he's averaging 14.8 and 6.5 with a PER of 16.4 and defense that floats around average with sporadic peaks into really good. He's played Goran Dragic, ish smith, Kyrie, and Sergio Rodriguez. He's put up four unspectacular games but all four have been solid at worst. He's looked like an aggressive if not pesky point guard who is playing without fear. He's on pace to shoot badly from three but make something around 40 threes. That puts him in the Jarrett Jack/Derrick Rose range. Bad but not devastating to an offense. He's not afraid to shoot them either. That's a big deal.

 

 

If this is more or less what we see from Payton for the rest of this year we're fine if we want to continue building around him. If he continues this and someone like George Hill wants to come here as a free agent I think we've seen enough to be fine staying with a 23 year old instead of bringing in a good but 31 year old point guard to lead the team.

 

The team will continue to look better as they play together. Payton will find more opportunities to drive instead of abandoning it after the first quarter like we've seen in game 1 and 2.

 

That being said, we can go back to what was said in his rookie year. He's never going to be a top 5 probably not top 10 point guard. So if one of those guys came available it'd be fine to grab the upgrade. We might look at the roster and say "we need to choose between Payton and Gordon for lineup balance and we're going to choose Gordon". However, we don't need to actively shop for whatever starting point guard we can find.

 

This all is based on the status quo continuing for the most part with slightly improving fg% which tends to happen when you look at early season numbers vs season as a whole.

 

If I had to give Payton a 4 game progress report I'd grade him at B+

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

for comparison last year after 4 games payton was averaging

 

9.3 ppg 6.5 apg on 36/27/100 shooting (he took and made 2 freethrows)

[Magicman28 295]

Be nice if John Wall wanted out.

[The Neighborhood Bully 266]

Orlando's spacing is as bad as advertised. Where in the hell is Evan Fournier supposed to go on this pick-and-roll, with defenders sagging off Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon, and Elfrid Payton?

Gordon looks nothing like Paul George, as the Magic promised he might; he's 0-of-6 out of the pick-and-roll across four games, per Synergy. The offense has cratered with Bismack Biyombo on the floor; the Biyombo-Vucevic double-center look has predictably been a disaster, and the vaunted Biyombo-Ibaka combo hasn't worked -- yet.

 

Neither of those two can post up, so teams are fine switching smaller guys onto them if it neuters a Magic pick-and-roll. They aren't natural playmakers on the move. By the time they spot a crease for a pass or drive, it's already closed.

 

It's early, and the Magic have faced solid defensive teams. They will figure some things out. But all the worries about their lack of shooting have manifested. When you're playing C.J. Watson in crunch time to generate some spacing, and going offense-defense with Gordon, you've got issues.

http://www.espn.com/...-10-things-like

[Ibn Battuta 127]

Can anyone tell me what the hoopla is about Schroeder? I know zero about his stats but from watching him I dont see anything more than average level PG at best.

 

Confused as to why they chose him over Teague.

 

He's fast. has a quick first step and can beat his man on the dribble consistently. He needs to improve his shooting and finishing at the basket. Late in the game he blew by Russell but missed badly on the layup.

[Franchero MVP 391]

If we fire Henny should we give Vogel a GM-Coach position? Might be better to get the type of guys he wants for his team

[Jay Magic 1,251]

Be nice if John Wall wanted out.

 

Beast

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

Jamal murray is now 0-13 to start his career

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

Minnesota fans are already turning on thibs. Lol