orlandoholic 190 Report post Posted November 5, 2024 Im kinda distressed by the postgame sounds. Somehow we feel comfy to get blown out these games. Suggs even said it was an „amazing“ game. Say what?! In reality, we got blown out after the first quarter and OKC went to cruise control. That’s the reality of it. They did not play hard. And also i don’t feel like we created great looks. We went 1-17 at some point and yeah, we did have some open looks. But the majority of those shots weren’t really created in a good manner, weren’t wide open shots as we usually have due to Paolos dominance. We are not breaking defenses down and the playmaking is god awful. I guess i’m just a realist and i don’t like the sugar coating Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MagicMan1979 146 Report post Posted November 5, 2024 3 hours ago, orlandoholic said: Im kinda distressed by the postgame sounds. Somehow we feel comfy to get blown out these games. Suggs even said it was an „amazing“ game. Say what?! In reality, we got blown out after the first quarter and OKC went to cruise control. That’s the reality of it. They did not play hard. And also i don’t feel like we created great looks. We went 1-17 at some point and yeah, we did have some open looks. But the majority of those shots weren’t really created in a good manner, weren’t wide open shots as we usually have due to Paolos dominance. We are not breaking defenses down and the playmaking is god awful. I guess i’m just a realist and i don’t like the sugar coating This has been a very difficult watch so far. Maybe this will have us think about our roster construction more at least. Where is our scoring supposed to come from? I’m really worried Franz isn’t a real number two scorer. I’d feel a little better about losing if he was averaging 20-25 points a game and taking a step forward. He looks passive and doesn’t have that chip on his shoulder that he once did. That max contract is officially scaring me if he has plateaued. This has been a really tough road trip. There is still time but the losses can’t pile up too much. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
orlandoholic 190 Report post Posted November 5, 2024 1 hour ago, MagicMan1979 said: This has been a very difficult watch so far. Maybe this will have us think about our roster construction more at least. Where is our scoring supposed to come from? I’m really worried Franz isn’t a real number two scorer. I’d feel a little better about losing if he was averaging 20-25 points a game and taking a step forward. He looks passive and doesn’t have that chip on his shoulder that he once did. That max contract is officially scaring me if he has plateaued. This has been a really tough road trip. There is still time but the losses can’t pile up too much. I don’t think Franz plateaued at all. But at the same time i know how his offseasons have been. Not personally, but what you can get when he is in germany the majority of the past offseason. He spent most time working out with team germany and it’s been all about team ball. He wasn’t even the Go To scorer on the national team. So i’ve been pretty vocal about this. In the future it will come down to on what he focuses on in the offseason. Team Germany won’t let him go on their own. It’s up to him to decline the next national team invites. But unfortunately, that is not his mentality. In the offseason, i said it was a blessing that Paolo barely missed out on team USA. With his work ethic, i was so sure that he will only make that next step. It kinda showed in a small sample size. I wish Franz would spend a summer with Paolo and use his resources, as he has no connection to these US player development resources. Most european players spend their offseason in their home country which is understandable, but if you don’t naturally have it all like Doncic or Jovic, you have to add to your arsenal in the US imo. Antetekounpo didn’t develop like that in Greece, he did it in the US. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Phil4Real 73 Report post Posted November 5, 2024 I just finished watching last night's game and.... it's worrying. Still, I'm trying to think that it's the second game in consecutive nights and OKC is in a good place right now. The defense at times was quite good and Tristan gives me very good feelings (he has already completely surpassed anything Jett Howard has shown in over a year in the NBA). Now the bad stuff. I think almost all of our players are at a very low level. Offensively, no one is hitting their shots and there is very little ball movement and body movement. A lot of ISO for players who are not good at ISO. I think leaving playmaking in the hands of Jalen Suggs is a mistake. He makes bad decisions, takes too many risks and loses control. He tends to remind me of a Westbrook style of speed and gambles that causes turnovers or forced shots and then quick transitions by the rival team. Today on the stat sheet it looks like he had a decent game, but the truth is that half of his points came in the fourth quarter, when the game was already lost. Franz is also forcing a lot and I don't see him with confidence in almost any of his shots (although today he played better than in the previous games). KCP just can't put anything in and it's starting to really bother me. The worst part is that I don't think there is any reason to think that the offense is going to improve. This was the way Mosley played for the last 3 years and only Paolo was able to dismil it and raise our level in that area of the game. It seems to me that the only thing left is to focus very hard on defense, try to slow down on offense (because fast transition and turnovers are killing us) and hopefully win some games and wait for Paolo to come back. Maybe by then it will be too late and the season will be lost... I hope not Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Phil4Real 73 Report post Posted November 5, 2024 The center situation is completely painful and I also believe the FO is absolutely responsible for committing 120/140M on Isaac and WCJ, who simply can't stay on court and for making dubious roster construction decisions. I don't even feel like talking about the Jay Huff thing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Phil4Real 73 Report post Posted November 5, 2024 1 hour ago, orlandoholic said: I don’t think Franz plateaued at all. But at the same time i know how his offseasons have been. Not personally, but what you can get when he is in germany the majority of the past offseason. He spent most time working out with team germany and it’s been all about team ball. He wasn’t even the Go To scorer on the national team. So i’ve been pretty vocal about this. In the future it will come down to on what he focuses on in the offseason. Team Germany won’t let him go on their own. It’s up to him to decline the next national team invites. But unfortunately, that is not his mentality. In the offseason, i said it was a blessing that Paolo barely missed out on team USA. With his work ethic, i was so sure that he will only make that next step. It kinda showed in a small sample size. I wish Franz would spend a summer with Paolo and use his resources, as he has no connection to these US player development resources. Most european players spend their offseason in their home country which is understandable, but if you don’t naturally have it all like Doncic or Jovic, you have to add to your arsenal in the US imo. Antetekounpo didn’t develop like that in Greece, he did it in the US. I see no relation between playing for your national team and losing focus on your individual development. Franz was never a Go-to profile on any team he played for and probably never will be. But that has nothing to do with the German national team, or spending time away from the USA. There are even many examples of players who come back much improved after competing internationally. Almost all of the MVP candidates in recent years are foreigners and have participated every year or almost every year in international tournaments. Shay, Luka, Jokic, Giannis. I don't know how you can realize so clearly who has the natural talent to be Go-To and who can develop it and where geographically speaking. In my opinion it's just a matter of the type of player you are and the type of on-field personality you have. That can change a little bit, but it has nothing to do with what zip code you're in, but a lot of other things that probably no one can list that easily. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mauro Pedrosa 1,049 Report post Posted November 5, 2024 Is Gradey Dick about to be another what if? I understand that most players can put up stats on a bad team, but the kid might be legit Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OnlyFranz 320 Report post Posted November 5, 2024 15 minutes ago, Mauro Pedrosa said: Is Gradey Dick about to be another what if? I understand that most players can put up stats on a bad team, but the kid might be legit Say it louder so our whole team can hear it lol. Only Paolo has proven to consistently put up stats and he clearly needs help. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JJZFL 685 Report post Posted November 5, 2024 16 minutes ago, OnlyFranz said: Say it louder so our whole team can hear it lol. Only Paolo has proven to consistently put up stats and he clearly needs help. I really believe we’d see better stats from our other players if they were more involved in our offense by design. Take KCP, for example. Did he suddenly forget how to shoot after 13 years? Much more likely is that he was getting fed for good, fairly open, shots with his feet already set. Here, many of the shot opportunities aren’t optimal, so his numbers have gone down substantially. We need to put our supporting players in a position to be successful. I’ve said it before, a real point guard could help us with this. As it is, our current best players (with Paulo out) need to be looking to make their teammates on the floor with them better as their first priority, rather than seeing how many points they can score individually. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Phil4Real 73 Report post Posted November 5, 2024 6 minutes ago, JJZFL said: I really believe we’d see better stats from our other players if they were more involved in our offense by design. Take KCP, for example. Did he suddenly forget how to shoot after 13 years? Much more likely is that he was getting fed for good, fairly open, shots with his feet already set. Here, many of the shot opportunities aren’t optimal, so his numbers have gone down substantially. We need to put our supporting players in a position to be successful. I’ve said it before, a real point guard could help us with this. As it is, our current best players (with Paulo out) need to be looking to make their teammates on the floor with them better as their first priority, rather than seeing how many points they can score individually. I agree that some of the poor offensive performance can be explained by the Magic's system. But the KCP example at the moment seems like the wrong one to me, he's had a lot of free shots over the last eight games and has simply missed shots he used to make in Denver and Lakers. I don't see a lot of excuses for him and I hope that changes because if not i want a refund xD Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MagicMan1979 146 Report post Posted November 5, 2024 1 hour ago, Phil4Real said: I agree that some of the poor offensive performance can be explained by the Magic's system. But the KCP example at the moment seems like the wrong one to me, he's had a lot of free shots over the last eight games and has simply missed shots he used to make in Denver and Lakers. I don't see a lot of excuses for him and I hope that changes because if not i want a refund xD I agree with your take on KCP. Dude is missing wide open shots. No excuses for that as he is barely guarded. On a random positive note. Bill Simmons on his pod cast said he thinks Suggs is the best defensive guard in the league and would take him 3rd in a redraft. Raptors Fans might shoot him for Suggs over Barnes lol Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MagicMan1979 146 Report post Posted November 5, 2024 4 hours ago, Phil4Real said: I see no relation between playing for your national team and losing focus on your individual development. Franz was never a Go-to profile on any team he played for and probably never will be. But that has nothing to do with the German national team, or spending time away from the USA. There are even many examples of players who come back much improved after competing internationally. Almost all of the MVP candidates in recent years are foreigners and have participated every year or almost every year in international tournaments. Shay, Luka, Jokic, Giannis. I don't know how you can realize so clearly who has the natural talent to be Go-To and who can develop it and where geographically speaking. In my opinion it's just a matter of the type of player you are and the type of on-field personality you have. That can change a little bit, but it has nothing to do with what zip code you're in, but a lot of other things that probably no one can list that easily. I agree with you on International Play. A lot of guys have their best season after playing. Paolo was an All Star just last year after learning on Team USA. I have been a huge Franz fan but once you sign a max. You’re expected to play like an All Star. Can we get 22 pts 5 Rebs and 5 assists? Hopefully he comes around. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites