2025 Off-Season Thread

[Jay Magic]

15 minutes ago, Luke_FfS said:

LOL

I've heard that one million times, but they're playing game 6 of the Finals, they're a great group with their own style and a great coach, while our guys are watching them on TV since end of April. We're not better than anyone until we show that on playoffs, not on a forum.

A million times is exaggerating slightly I'm sure but yeah....

No problem. I'll time is coming. 

They are a good team yeah.... But...

We are just a absolute nightmare match up for them ...  and that's a fact.

 

[JJZFL]

13 hours ago, CTMagicUK said:

This is such a dumb argument. Dude comes into the league and gets labeled a "SG" and we all have to pretend he can't handle the ball and make plays for others because of some archaic archetypes? Do we think the 5 assists a game he averaged last year just fell into his lap? Ja Morant did all the ball handling and then at the last minute he passed to Bane who then passed it to someone else for the assist?

Literally go to YouTube and type "Desmond Bane triple double" and you can watch full game highlights where he brings the ball up the court, creates off the dribble, makes plays for others etc. 

It's hard for me to believe someone can watch Desmond Bane play basketball and say with a straight face "well that's all well and good but who's going to pass him the ball?" 

Thank you for that helpful characterization.  If you’ve watched the Magic these past few years, you’ve seen pretty bad offense.  You’ve seen guys with better numbers elsewhere get plugged in and become worse.  The question is if Bane is the guy who can change that around, and if he’ll be given the opportunity to do so.  Our offense is pretty set in its ways.  I guess we’ll find out next season.  
 

Sorry you don’t like this discussion (what else are you supposed to do on a forum?).  Should we just all cheer the move 100% even if some of us have doubts?

[MagicMan1979]

9 hours ago, fan for too long 2 said:

And your blind loyalty and belief is per usual. 
 

Some have said on here that Franz is a star.  And that his shooting will come around. This is not correct at all. His shooting has steadily declined the last 3 years. He has not figured it out.  Will he? Who knows. Your blind faith in that happening is foolish to say the least.  “Stars” do not shoot 30% or worse from 3. Unless he bulks up and becomes Giannis lol, he will not be a star, just a good solid player. Stop looking at the Magic players with rose colored glasses. 
 

we have one star on this team and that is Paolo. Who after the season two years ago expressed his desire to get a playmaker, ie point guard. To take the pressure off him.has this happened yet? Heck no. I and Paolo are still waiting. 

Really? because last year when Paolo was injured and struggling the first month back you screamed “we only have one star and his name is Franz Wagner.” lol  Is Paolo no longer lazy as you have claimed?

Did management do a good job on this trade or are they still idiots in your eyes? You’ve wanted a shooter for so long. They got one of the best in the entire league now. 

[Luke_FfS]

54 minutes ago, Jay Magic said:

A million times is exaggerating slightly I'm sure but yeah....

No problem. I'll time is coming. 

They are a good team yeah.... But...

We are just a absolute nightmare match up for them ...  and that's a fact.

 

Sure, it was exaggerating on purpose, as it is exaggerating saying we've been better in the last couple season, or that we're a nightmare for them...

If you say that we'll better than them in the future, I can agree with that even if it's not a given. But saying that about the last couple years, closing the eyes in front of the playoff results, is a distorsion of the reality.

[OnlyFranz]

10 hours ago, Jay Magic said:

Not seen you write something that long in a while hahaha

I'm loyal to the end. Loyalty has nothing to do with this...

Maybe my belief in us beihg better than we was maybe... 

But now I'm 1000000% CERTAIN WE ARE CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDERS 

Sorry to be a Debbie downer to your premature championship parade but you don’t win championships or even become a contender over night. Let’s actually win a playoff series first before we start having championship aspirations. 
 

I’m certainly happy Weltman finally made a move to address our shooting concerns but I’m in the camp that still believes we need a good point guard to really unlock this offense. I get that Paolo and Franz CAN initiate the offense for stretches of the game but SHOULD they do it is a completely different question, hear me out. 
 

Taking the ball out of our stars hands isn’t necessarily a bad thing when you have 2 guys at the wings who are great at cutting and excellent at finishing at the rim. We hardly take advantage of this aspect of their games because our offense relies on too much iso ball instead of having more off ball movement and getting other players involved in the offense.
 

Paolo himself even stated last offseason he wanted us to bring in a pg so he wouldn’t have as much ball handling responsibility having to initiate the offense. This would allow him to focus more on his play down low, which would result in easier baskets and theoretically more chances to get to the free throw line. Same could be applied to Franz with the way he finishes around the rim. He would get so many more easy chances around the rim by simply cutting to the basket and having a player that can actually get him the ball.
 

So while I’m ecstatic about the Bane trade I, honestly don’t think he’s the missing piece and that we’re still a year or two away from actually competing for a championship. Either way this should be an exiting season and hopefully one without so many injuries. Can’t wait to watch the team grow, Go Magic! 

[Jay Magic]

39 minutes ago, OnlyFranz said:

Sorry to be a Debbie downer to your premature championship parade but you don’t win championships or even become a contender over night. Let’s actually win a playoff series first before we start having championship aspirations. 
 

I’m certainly happy Weltman finally made a move to address our shooting concerns but I’m in the camp that still believes we need a good point guard to really unlock this offense. I get that Paolo and Franz CAN initiate the offense for stretches of the game but SHOULD they do it is a completely different question, hear me out. 
 

Taking the ball out of our stars hands isn’t necessarily a bad thing when you have 2 guys at the wings who are great at cutting and excellent at finishing at the rim. We hardly take advantage of this aspect of their games because our offense relies on too much iso ball instead of having more off ball movement and getting other players involved in the offense.
 

Paolo himself even stated last offseason he wanted us to bring in a pg so he wouldn’t have as much ball handling responsibility having to initiate the offense. This would allow him to focus more on his play down low, which would result in easier baskets and theoretically more chances to get to the free throw line. Same could be applied to Franz with the way he finishes around the rim. He would get so many more easy chances around the rim by simply cutting to the basket and having a player that can actually get him the ball.
 

So while I’m ecstatic about the Bane trade I, honestly don’t think he’s the missing piece and that we’re still a year or two away from actually competing for a championship. Either way this should be an exiting season and hopefully one without so many injuries. Can’t wait to watch the team grow, Go Magic! 

All I hear is we need a point guard 

We need a PG...

What would getting a new PG in do for our offense? Please explain??

He'd take the ball out of Paolos hands

Franz hands.. Banes hands .. Suggs Hands? 

[CTMagicUK]

2 hours ago, JJZFL said:

Thank you for that helpful characterization.  If you’ve watched the Magic these past few years, you’ve seen pretty bad offense.  You’ve seen guys with better numbers elsewhere get plugged in and become worse.  The question is if Bane is the guy who can change that around, and if he’ll be given the opportunity to do so.  Our offense is pretty set in its ways.  I guess we’ll find out next season.  
 

Sorry you don’t like this discussion (what else are you supposed to do on a forum?).  Should we just all cheer the move 100% even if some of us have doubts?

My bad, you're right about the way I came across in that last post so apologies for that. 

I think you know I've watched a lot of Magic basketball these past few years. 

I guess from my perspective there's not a lot of talk about why specifically Desmond Bane doesn't address the problems with our offense and more just general talk about him not being a PG which, in my opinion, is a criticism lacking in any actual substance because it's surface deep and focusing only on the label and looking past all the things Bane does incredibly well, of which theres been ample discussion. 

I want to be clear I don't view this move as a fix all for our offense, but I also wouldn't view acquiring Chris Paul or Tyus Jones or even Darius Garland as a fix all for our offense. The offense needs more movement of both ball and players, it needs a structure and a flow that can be relied upon to generate open looks. I believe we have the pieces, at least as a starting unit, when healthy to be at least an average offense, which combined with our defense should be enough (and would be the best offense we've had post Dwight). But now it's on Mose to make that work and it's on Weltman and Parker to continue to surround what we do have with extra pieces or even extra coaches that help us on that end. 

[Soul Bro]

A lot of this chatter brings up the coaching competency of Mose. Can this man best utilize this updated roster? Additionally, I still can’t shake all of the times WCJ shot faked himself from the three point line last year only to pass up a wide open shot. We need every player in our rotation to play with clarity and intentionality.

[CTMagicUK]

16 minutes ago, Soul Bro said:

Can this man best utilize this updated roster?

This question is likely worth millions of dollars to both Mose and even possibly Weltman and Parker. If this doesn't work heads will start to roll.

17 minutes ago, Soul Bro said:

Additionally, I still can’t shake all of the times WCJ shot faked himself from the three point line last year only to pass up a wide open shot. We need every player in our rotation to play with clarity and intentionality.

Yea Wendell I think was really in his own head about the 3 pointer not going down last season.

It's frustrating because we've seen him be almost the ideal 5 for us, at his best - which admittedly was 2 seasons ago now really - he was switchable, mobile on the perimeter but stout in the post (there was talk he was one of the best Jokic defenders) and an offense he was hitting 3s, attacking off the dribble, passing out of the short roll and to cutters from the perimeter in the hand off game. I don't know if it's injuries or struggling to find his place in the Paolo centric offense or some combination of the two but it's really disheartening. As early as the summer of 2023 I was of the opinion he was our third best player. Now he's 5th or 6th at absolute best and definitely the one starter where you're looking and thinking "is there an upgrade out there for us?"

That being said, he more than anyone might benefit from a more sharing, movement heavy offense. Let him roll down hill in space and finish at the hoop, easy buckets to get him going, then if he can hit a couple 3s he's able to use that pump fake and attack off the dribble and open up some of the passing we know he has because we've seen it. 

[hootie249]

12 hours ago, Jay Magic said:

Suggs is the same as MCW? Nothing like each other. Jalen can shoot and shoot good and he in a different league defensively 

Yes Suggs already took the leap, it was just two years ago. It's all about health with our guys now. Yes they all had a down year as shooters last year but expect a bounce back this season. As someone in a podcast said yesterday, they have nowhere to go but up after last year!

[OnlyFranz]

2 hours ago, Jay Magic said:

All I hear is we need a point guard 

We need a PG...

What would getting a new PG in do for our offense? Please explain??

He'd take the ball out of Paolos hands

Franz hands.. Banes hands .. Suggs Hands? 

I guess you don’t know what a pg’s role is on a team because we haven’t had a real one in decades. I already outlined in my previous post on how having a pg would open up the offense.

Let’s recap: Having someone who can initiate the offense and get the ball to all those guys you just mentioned above in places where they are comfortable scoring from is the easiest way to fix our offensive lulls during games. We don’t post up Paolo nearly enough because he’s busy trying to set up our offense and Franz doesn’t get easy shots because he’s always trying to create for himself. Imagine how much better he would be offensively and defensively if he didn’t have to exert so much energy trying to play Point forward the whole game, same could be said about Paolo.  
 

That’s just a couple of examples on how having a traditional pg would make sense for this team. If AB can turn in to that then great but I wouldn’t bet my entire season on it. So I believe getting at least a serviceable pg would just be good business practice. We don’t need them to start we just need them to be in the 2nd unit to help Suggs and Bane when one of them goes to the bench or if an injury occurs. Not sure where the harm in that is. 

[hootie249]

Trying to upload a trade idea. Weltman acted so fast he robbed us of a week of fun trade proposals