GAME THREAD: ORLANDO MAGIC @ CHARLOTTE HORNETS

[magicjed23 12]

If hitting open shots was all our big nen needed to do you could say that about Rudez, but right now our front court is fine. Rudez is a place holder and injury protection. He could also be used in a trade. But he is not getting time here barring injury or trade.

 

Mario on the other hand plays a position that we are weak at and offers much more. But when he is given game time he gets a decent rhythm. I actually see much more effort from Mario defending when he gets his few minutes. Every player in this league gets beat by quicker guards, so it's how he recovers that matters. I always see him in position to recover or force a tough shot. Mario needs to limit the times he is forced to recover, but unless he plays I don't see how he will learn. You can only go through it so much before you have to figure it out during games. I actually thought Mario was getting in a rhythm before he was benched. Sadly I don't think Vogel will play him until we are over .500 and playing well every night or we fall too far to catch up.

 

Mario just needs to take the summer to work on his game and maybe he gets a chance next season , because barring injury I don't see him playing. But, he must be ready because if he gets meaningful minutes he has to shine on both ends to get meaningful minutes regularly.

 

You can't judge Rudez and Mario on the same things. They both did good things however.

 

 

Ranting below:

 

As much as the D-league does nothing to help his game skills, if you send Mario for 5 games and tell him that if he can play lockdown defense that he will get his minutes back it could spark something. Give him incentive to learn to love defense and hold him to a standard after showing him he can do it and you might do something. Would be great to see what he looks like in practice. It has to mean something that we haven't sent him down yet. Is Vogel holding him to an unfair standard that he is not holding the vets to? I don't really like the idea of him going to the D-league, but I hate him not playing even more. This is why we badly need a much closer affiliate so players can practice with the Magic team and play with the d-league team. We need the attitude from him that we were told he had.

 

If we have a hot shooting night we need to let Mario get some of that.

 

Just give the man a chance. I'm afraid Rob made a mistake signing Green if we want to develop Mario. Rob might try to trade Green just to try and force Vogel to use Mario. Rob has got to know deep down that he is running out of time. We either need to turn this season around in short order or make a trade we can get excited about that lets us make a serious run that convinces Ibaka to say. It's safe to say that if Ibaka bolts, Henny will be out. He struck out 2 summers in a row. There won't be a 3rd. Biyombo at his best was not the splash Rob wanted no matter the spin they put on it. We needed a scorer.

 

The impatience of our ownership has cost us promising players who were already twice as good and productive as the young guys we kept. This needs to work now because of Ibaka. If that doesn't look likely we need to restock with assets before it's too late. Henny might make a desperation move that could cripple us if it doesn't work. We are just good enough that we won't get good picks. It really looks like we should have stayed the course and possibly drafted another PG just incase Payton doesn't turn out. After missing Porzingis, Rob has lost his damn mind it seems. He needs to make a brilliant trade or he is going down with the team if they don't right the ship. He might have to do something crazy if it nets a star. McCollum is the only player that we have a remote shot at. I do think if we can steal Gallinari, that it might not be popular at first, but it would pay off.

[Mauro Pedrosa 1,032]

So... how did Hezonja look?

[Captain 24]

So... how did Hezonja look?

I thought he didn't look bad. He also looked more engaged which was a good sign

[Magicman28 295]

So... how did Hezonja look?

 

 

Offensively looked solid. Defensively got lost on a screen and a few times his man went past him. One in particular where he resorted to Channing Frye's method of defending by fouling the player from scoring from behind but he also had moments when he showed sound defensive abilities. Had one play where he came out hard after a screen and stopped the pick and roll from being a success. Got aggressively low in his defensive stance with arms out which is fundamentally how you should always defend but most don't anymore.

 

Effort is there just a few minor hiccups. I just don't think he's use to such details defensively. Euro ball you know?

 

Agree he was engaged and offensively he was composed making systematic plays.

[JJZFL 619]

We were actually in this game and playing defense very well until fairly late in the second quarter. At that point, Vogel took out the second big man, for the first time in the game, and left Vuch as the only big. I think the lineup was Vuch, Gordon, Green, Fornier, and either Payton or Augustin. Our defense then collapsed, they went on a run, we got down by 10, and even though we cut it to 6, we were never back in the game. Shows why we must have another defensive force out there if we play Vuch (brought back memories from last year).

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

So... how did Hezonja look?

 

He made one spectacular pass and hit a three. He screwed up on defense once definitely. Maybe twice but it looked like it could have been wilcox switching when he wasn't supposed to.

 

Ultimately it's nothing. But it's a freaking tragedy he can't get it together. His passing is exactly what we need.

[Magicman28 295]

He made one spectacular pass and hit a three. He screwed up on defense once definitely. Maybe twice but it looked like it could have been wilcox switching when he wasn't supposed to.

 

Ultimately it's nothing. But it's a freaking tragedy he can't get it together. His passing is exactly what we need.

 

 

I know it's so frustrating because he does a lot of things offensively that we need. Excellent vision and passing and creates offense for himself. Defensively he doesn't have the same IQ.

[Mauro Pedrosa 1,032]

Thanks for the info. I had a game this morning so only watched our game until Charlotte ran away with it.

 

Slight improvement for Mario. I ll take it

[Soul Bro 1,419]

Meeks looked like trash last night. Obviously, he's been given the green light to shoot but my goodness. Also Fournier was atrocious defensively. He's awful against physicality and length. Then we have Payton's shooting. I hate that our guards looked so bad but hopefully it will open up an opportunity for Mario.

[Soul Bro 1,419]

I actually thought Mario finally looked decent, especially offensively. Sound passing and good shots. What's strange, though, is his lateral movement on defense looks slow. Anyone else notice that?

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

I actually thought Mario finally looked decent, especially offensively. Sound passing and good shots. What's strange, though, is his lateral movement on defense looks slow. Anyone else notice that?

 

I don't know. Nobody really drove on him to get a good idea.

 

Also i was watching on my phone which is normally ok but i always think rudez is hezonja.

[Mauro Pedrosa 1,032]

Meeks looked like trash last night. Obviously, he's been given the green light to shoot but my goodness. Also Fournier was atrocious defensively. He's awful against physicality and length. Then we have Payton's shooting. I hate that our guards looked so bad but hopefully it will open up an opportunity for Mario.

Our guards are very one dimensional. Pretty sad