2023-2024 General Game Thread

[MagicMan1979 105]

9 minutes ago, All Eyes On Me said:

https://x.com/adamkoffler/status/1747823356462649751?s=46&t=O_48d3F9zIM7WbaIMp7sdQ
 

Dejounte certainly sounds like he wouldn’t mind heading this way based off his postgame interview tonight.

It sounded like he was auditioning. He said nice things about Mosley, Paolo, and Franz. 

[ball junkie 277]

13 minutes ago, MagicMan1979 said:

It sounded like he was auditioning. He said nice things about Mosley, Paolo, and Franz. 

I agree …was just listening 

[fan for too long 2 531]

I’m on that Murray train. Come ABOARD!!!

[TreyMachine 398]

If that's not an affirmation 

19 minutes ago, MagicMan1979 said:

It sounded like he was auditioning. He said nice things about Mosley, Paolo, and Franz. 

if that's not an affirmation of our team and someone that likes our culture, I don't know what is. I'm coming around to us trading for Murray, though it sounds like we'd be trading at least 2 1st's for him - at this point though, i'm fine with that.

I also want to understand JI. Why just 10 minutes? What is his limitation? I really need to know as he's so good when he can play. 

[Babir_9 92]

At this stage we have enough young talent. We don’t need all of our picks. Let’s finally get a normal all around guard! My preference is Simmons but Murray would be also amazing on this team. 

[CTMagicUK 1,483]

Can't believe we lost that game. 

The only explanation I have for why Chuma Okeke is in the rotation and Anthony Black is not is trade value. Chuma does some good stuff on defense, so does Anthony Black, Chuma is an inconsistent offensive player so is Anthony Black, the difference is one of them is a 26 year old expiring contract and the other is a teenager we just used a lottery pick on. 

Cole might have had his best defensive game I can remember, and then was bad on offense to make up for it, dunk not withstanding. 

Fultz I just can't. I can't get back on the rollercoaster. For every good thing he does there are possessions or stretches of possessions where he just kills the spacing. He's obviously a talented basketball player, if not for the shoulder issues I feel confident in saying he'd have been an all star. But without anything resembling a jumper he's just so hard to keep on the floor. (Well, for me personally, not for coach who for some reason had him on the floor when we needed a 3 in the dying seconds of the game)

I'm glad Paolo has confidence in the midrange jumper but I wish he'd go to it less. Get to the rim. I understand that's sometimes easier said than done but then he has possessions where he just absolutely bodies Jalen Johnson and gets a layup and I wonder "why doesn't he just do that every time down?".

WCJ was good. Goga was good. And yet I missed Mo Wagner. I get it, you can't run a 3 big rotation and I actually advocated for dropping Mo Wagner instead of trying to run 3 bigs... But sometimes when you just need a bucket there he is rolling to the rim to get 2... And his chemistry with Ingles is light years ahead of Ingles chemistry with basically any other player on the team.

I miss Franz. 

[orlandoholic 134]

I don’t know why we ain’t getting our regular rotation back. I don’t understand the logic behind starting your third string players? 3 players that were considered our third string players are starting on a regular basis and getting big minutes, despite starters being back healthy. 
Suggs and AB had something going on. They were defensively special together! Why break it up? 

Starters should be

AB, Suggs, Houstan, Paolo and WCJ right now.

bench unit

Fultz, Cole, Ingles, Isaac, M. Wagner

Bitadze and them had nice minutes. Ok. But consistency is a big issue. I’m only starting Houstan, cause with that lineup he’d be getting wide open looks and eventually start making them. 

I don’t care about minute restrictions. I see no advantage of playing the starters off the bench. 

 

Another winnable game.. I feel like we have to make our move now! Simons, Murray, Tyus Jones. in that order! Murray seemed to beg the Magic to make their move for him. 

[CTMagicUK 1,483]

15 minutes ago, orlandoholic said:

I don’t know why we ain’t getting our regular rotation back. I don’t understand the logic behind starting your third string players? 3 players that were considered our third string players are starting on a regular basis and getting big minutes, despite starters being back healthy. 
Suggs and AB had something going on. They were defensively special together! Why break it up? 

Starters should be

AB, Suggs, Houstan, Paolo and WCJ right now.

bench unit

Fultz, Cole, Ingles, Isaac, M. Wagner

Bitadze and them had nice minutes. Ok. But consistency is a big issue. I’m only starting Houstan, cause with that lineup he’d be getting wide open looks and eventually start making them. 

I don’t care about minute restrictions. I see no advantage of playing the starters off the bench. 

 

Another winnable game.. I feel like we have to make our move now! Simons, Murray, Tyus Jones. in that order! Murray seemed to beg the Magic to make their move for him. 

I'm with you, the rotation is wonky as hell right now with all the previously injured vets on the bench and Chuma still starting.

Chuma in particular I just don't understand. Fair enough if you want to say he earned minutes in those games we were short handed but I'd argue AB earned minutes first in the win streak and never did anything bad enough to lose those minutes. Trying to boost Chuma's value feels like the only explanation. 

I'm wondering what we'd do if someone offered us like a legit good trade for Goga. A reliable big who plays defense and stuff is really useful with WCJ's consistent injuries but also... We kind of just found him on the scrap heap and we're going to have to pay him in the summer to keep him. 

[OnlyFranz 292]

Murray just makes too much sense not to try and go after him. If the asking price is only 2 firsts and salary to match I’m not sure why he isn’t on the team already. He would be the best pg we’ve had in a while and this team is seriously lacking good guard play outside of Suggs. 

[All Eyes On Me 1,210]

The only rotation stuff that makes sense is if we’re showcasing someone for a trade or we’re trying to keep the core rotation intact because one of the guys coming back from injury is going to be traded. Moe Wagner has been too good this year to be getting DNP-CDs unless there’s something bigger going on.

[TreyMachine 398]

7 minutes ago, All Eyes On Me said:

The only rotation stuff that makes sense is if we’re showcasing someone for a trade or we’re trying to keep the core rotation intact because one of the guys coming back from injury is going to be traded. Moe Wagner has been too good this year to be getting DNP-CDs unless there’s something bigger going on.

i do thnk we're showcasing our players. We want trade value for certain players (Okeke, WCJ, Fultz, Houstan) so we're making sure to play them more. Certain players - i'm imagining JI and Wagner - aren't touchable for different reasons (we're not trading Franz's brother and JI's on-court value is too high compared to his trade value). 

I think we're gearing up for a trade. That's the only reason I can understand for the weird rotations and holding out certain players. 

If Murray wanted to show us his value... a buzzer beater and then praising our team and caoching staff was a great way to do it. 

[TreyMachine 398]

FYI, less than a year ago, it seemed like Murray and Paolo had some serious beef. I'm sure being teammates will squash it, but it is something to note and I question whether it could create locker room division if he were to come here. 

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10062340-dejounte-murray-opens-up-about-paolo-banchero-incident-you-crossed-the-line#:~:text=The situation appeared to begin,forward and chest-bumped him.

If I recall correctly, Pop in San Antonio wanted him gone because he was too "me first" oriented. I don't know if I love the idea of making him a key player and influence in our locker room if that is the case as this team is (in my mind) for Paolo and Franz.