2024/25 NBA Regular Season Thread

[Jamesdin]

56 minutes ago, MagicFanDan said:

Damn, I love this team. Franz, AB and Goga played great tonight. 
 

Franz is absolutely deserving of Easter player of the week and month if he keeps this up. 
 

Great win on the road tonight. 6th straight game keeping opponents under 100 points wow. 

#1 defense in the land currently. keep it up!

[orlandoholic]

That Suggs-AB-KCP-Isaac—Franz lineup is something else on defense. If this lineup brings the energy, it’s tough for opponents to score on! 

 

[orlandoholic]

It’s seems really tough to find minutes with Cole, Jett. I actually don’t see why they aren’t getting minutes. Especially Jett has been doing as told imo. 

That said, a Simons to Orlando deal needs to happen at the deadline. Simons is taking minutes from Portlands super young core and they aren’t winning now anyway. 

I’ve been doing a deep dive into the draft already and trying to narrow down possible Magic targets. Last year, i’m not mad at my McCain or TDS targets. 

This year, it seems that every player i’ve had my eye on for the Magic is out of reach. Demin and Tre Johnson seem way out of reach. 

So i’d be really aggressive with my picks and try to add that PG to this group. Simons only has 2 years on his deal, now is probably the last time for Portland they can get good value back. 

Im offering Cole, Gary (maybe add Jett if it was an intend) and i offer Denver Pick and Top 15 protected Orlando pick (decreases to Top 10 protected next year) for Simons.

 

Simons is one of the few players i’d consider a perfect pick for this team. He’ll learn how to play the right way in Orlando with this team chemistry and also coach Mosley. 

[CTMagicUK]

Magic fans can push for Simons all they want but nothing this front office has ever done would suggest they'd give up assets for such a negative defensive player. 

[orlandoholic]

1 hour ago, CTMagicUK said:

Magic fans can push for Simons all they want but nothing this front office has ever done would suggest they'd give up assets for such a negative defensive player. 

Can be true. But i don’t know if its true. We added Ingles. He’s was on bad legs and truly terrible on defense. I don’t think Simons is that much of a liability on defense. It may be a culture thing over there in Portland. They are not known to value defense that much. They always like offense first. That’s how they built teams. 

Simons would absolutely buy into our environment imo. And it’s not like we haven’t dealt with that type of players before. Cole is a prime example. Drafted by us and was definitely not known to care about defense. He’s physically limited on defense but you can’t deny his willingness to defend. Same goes for Banchero. I mean, his defense was seen as a major liability at the draft. That was the only thing that have scared me into drafting J. Smith. And thank this Front Office that they didn’t value defense and 3 point shooting over a true Go To player. 

 

So i’m trying to say that i believe this Front Office might be willing to do such a move, especially with that package. It’s a win now and tomorrow move as we aren’t giving up core defensive pieces and we’d value a proven offensive PG over two rookies, who might have trouble cracking the rotation. 

Also keep in mind, that this trade would happen at the deadline. We’d have a much more clear vision of who is realistic to draft and who is definitely out of reach..Because like i said, i love this draft class, but at this pace we have 2 picks in the 20s and those players aren’t cracking our rotation. 

[CTMagicUK]

I don't really buy into the idea that bad defenders will become good ones if they come here. If anything the fact that we have so many good defenders will make the bad ones more obvious targets to attack. 

If you have Anthony Black, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs and Jonathan Isaac (4 of the 5 best defensive players on this team for my money) on the court with Anfernee Simons, the opposition are just going to attack Simons over and over. 

[orlandoholic]

1 hour ago, CTMagicUK said:

I don't really buy into the idea that bad defenders will become good ones if they come here. If anything the fact that we have so many good defenders will make the bad ones more obvious targets to attack. 

If you have Anthony Black, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs and Jonathan Isaac (4 of the 5 best defensive players on this team for my money) on the court with Anfernee Simons, the opposition are just going to attack Simons over and over. 

That’s not the point. The point is that this Front office is willing to step away from their defensive player minded approach for the right player.

- Cole was an example. We needed a PG and they drafted a player that was known to be a terrible defender

- They signed Ingles, knowing he is a terrible defender on bad legs because they loved his veteran leadership for this team

- They drafted Paolo and surprised everybody because they felt like they needed a Go-To Guy. They didn’t draft the safe 3 and D prospect that also seemed like a great fit. 

 

So my point is that there are only just a few players that fit what we possibly need and also our timeline and salary cap. The team belongs to Franz and Paolo, we are not adding another Alpha player, who is going to demand max money as well. 

Simons is a great addition to our starting lineup. Only few players are. he happens to be able to play PG and he can also play off the ball. He is also capable of being a Go To guy. He is exactly what we need. Our missing piece, especially when i’m thinking playoffs. 
 

 

[fan for too long 2]

It has been no coincidence that Franz’s game looks incredibly improved since Paolo went down. These two are great on their own, but their games do not complement each other. 
 

I can’t think of a team lead by two alpha forwards, that resulted in a championship. 
 

Don’t flame me, just an observation. 

[Jay Magic]

38 minutes ago, fan for too long 2 said:

It has been no coincidence that Franz’s game looks incredibly improved since Paolo went down. These two are great on their own, but their games do not complement each other. 
 

I can’t think of a team lead by two alpha forwards, that resulted in a championship. 
 

Don’t flame me, just an observation. 

Boston last year..

[CTMagicUK]

2 minutes ago, Jay Magic said:

Boston last year..

And if you expand "forwards" to "wings" then the Heatles and the Jordan Bulls.

Also, very few teams win championships generally that the idea that only specific built teams can do so is kind of weird since the game changes so quickly. The only seeming constant in winning a championship is having a top 8ish player in the NBA paired with at least 1 other top 15ish player. Paolo and Franz could be that. 

[jmmagicfan]

55 minutes ago, fan for too long 2 said:

It has been no coincidence that Franz’s game looks incredibly improved since Paolo went down. These two are great on their own, but their games do not complement each other. 
 

I can’t think of a team lead by two alpha forwards, that resulted in a championship. 
 

Don’t flame me, just an observation. 

I would also add the Bird-McHale Celtics in the 80’s, and the Antetekunpo-Middleton Bucks a few years back.

[CTMagicUK]

2 hours ago, orlandoholic said:

That’s not the point. The point is that this Front office is willing to step away from their defensive player minded approach for the right player.

- Cole was an example. We needed a PG and they drafted a player that was known to be a terrible defender

- They signed Ingles, knowing he is a terrible defender on bad legs because they loved his veteran leadership for this team

- They drafted Paolo and surprised everybody because they felt like they needed a Go-To Guy. They didn’t draft the safe 3 and D prospect that also seemed like a great fit. 

 

So my point is that there are only just a few players that fit what we possibly need and also our timeline and salary cap. The team belongs to Franz and Paolo, we are not adding another Alpha player, who is going to demand max money as well. 

Simons is a great addition to our starting lineup. Only few players are. he happens to be able to play PG and he can also play off the ball. He is also capable of being a Go To guy. He is exactly what we need. Our missing piece, especially when i’m thinking playoffs. 
 

 

I believe they thought Cole had defensive potential. His rebounding numbers suggested a guard that played bigger than he is (FVV like). After Coles rookie year, in the pre-season, Mose talked about him trying to be an impactful defensive player. I believe the expectations were Cole would be able to play defense. There's a reason he's not in the rotation now.

Joe Ingles was a veteran bench pick up that cost the team no assets and was the 9th man on a very young team. And they chose not to bring him back when they had a team option.

Paolo Banchero is 6'10, 250 and while he wasn't a good defensive player at Duke I think there was reason to believe with improved conditioning he'd be a better team defender. And generally he's been fine on defense for someone with such offensive load. The most important thing about Paolo on defense is he's so big, strong and mobile you don't have to hide him on defense even if he's not making a huge impact.