EP. 582 – Tony Orlando – Orlando Magic Podcast
Anthony Black legacy game against the Denver Nuggets. Jonathan & Kevin breakdown the last week of games and discuss Paolo Banchero’s struggles.
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8 Comments
Ab for president
HOW DO YOU DO
Orlando Magic media is so scared to even ask why Tyus Jones is playing so many minutes and playing so bad because they are scared that they will not get the opportunity to ask any more questions or either be fired because they work for the Orlando Magic organization clearly what kind of questions do they ask stupid ones
Tyus Jones is this year‘s KCP for the Orlando Magic ,
If u watch yesterday’s game closely u will find out that WCJ handles the ball outside which resembles a lot to the system of 2014-15 Hawks. Actually Prunty has been working with Buden for years from spurs to hawks to bucks. I think Joe is the true HC of Magic now and he is building a system where every one has the right to handle balls instead of letting Paolo and Franz do everything. WCJ-Al P5-Milsap Des-Kover Suggs-Teague Silver-Carol comparison is fire.
Sorry JO and Kev for the long post but I have a take on the Paolo thing and I have no where else to get this out but here. I personally think it could be a few reasons or a combination of these things
To me the main reason 5 has been ineffective is it's obvious this "playing fast" scheme doesn't fit him. That was obvious from the first week of the season when we went 1-4. I remeber the conversations of him being the odd man out of the offense but everyone just assumed that he would integrate well. This philosphy was clearly built with Franz in mind and it fits him like a glove because he is best when all he has to do is get down hill. This offense is built for athletes (fast explosive and bouncy players) and I wouldn't even say he is a top 7 athlete (again meaning fast explosive and bouncy) on our team. This would be like if Denver decided that they were just going to run and gun and play above the rim the entire game and then told Joker to just figure it out. That would be insane. The reason this works for Boog is because he doesn't worry about passing or who is in front of him, all he knows is he has to get to the rim and he is athletic enough to do it. And the other player on our roster that fits that description is of course AB and it makes sense that he has been killing it lately because he slid into that role. By switching to this philosphy the staff effectively decentralized Paolo from the offense. Why you would do this to someone that averaged 26 last season, I have no idea but I think that's an odd decision. But that would still be fine too because Franz is more than capable of leading an offense. But the issue comes in where it seems there has been no attempt on the part of Mose to find something in the offense that actually fits what Paolo does best. He isn’t cutting to get down hill to catch the ball for easy layups instead of having to take double teams all the time and they have effectively elimanated his Mid-Range shot from his diet, and they are clearly telling him to pass whenever he is getting shown a double. The mid range shot being taken out of his shot selection is a terrible decision in my opinion because that is a huge chunk of his game. Last season he was in top 15 in the leauge of shots taken 8-16 feet from the basket and top 10 in shots taken 16-24 ft. He is 27th in 8-16 and 79th this year in 16-24ft. This is how he gets a rhythm. Right now he is shooting a career low in Field Goal Attempts and Pts. I am pretty sure that he isn't the one that decided to stop this. This is how he played his whole life and they have taken that away. That would be like telling Lamar Jackson to stop scrambling. Maybe had Paolo not gotten injured he would have integrated by now but him missing completely threw him out of the loop and he's been trying to play catch up ever since. You can see it even when he has the ball. The last couple weeks every time he plays you can basically see him thinking about everything he want's to do instead of reading what he needs and flowing naturally. Even in the Denver game, he wasn't playing free it still looked hesitant. And it's weird because after the Denver and Utah games where he looked like he was getting back, he had a bad night in GS and the staff went away from him again and he went back to being ultra passive. The best way to compare it is he's playing like AB did last season in every game he wasn't aggressive where it was clear he was thinking and questioning everything he was going to do if that makes sense. The narrative of him just needing to "fit in" and that he is a "ball stopper" (which every superstar player is if you look back in NBA history, yes even Joker) has either gotten to him or Mose and if it did it's about to completely kill his season because this is what that looks like. Why would someone 6'10 250lb who averaged 26 the season before need to just fit in instead of the team fit around him? And now when teams defend us, they know all they have to do is show the double and he's going to pass. They don't even have to commit because he has been conditioned to be passive because of this offense.
The offense as a whole is the poster for what Kobe called "Accidental Basketball." Please go check out that clip if you haven't seen it. This point kind of ties into the last one of him being the odd man out but there is no real structure to the offense. I love Mose, I genuinely do, but he is doing like most coaches this year and doing the "play fast" Pacers thing and to me all that is is an excuse to not actually orchestrate an organized offense. If they aren't running they don't know what to do. I am so tired of seeing a P&R to a shown double, then a dribble out, kick to the wing, dribble drive kick to a bad shot or a P&R drive to the rim on a double and just praying the ball goes in. Ironically the only guy that isn't taking layups on 2-3 defenders is Paolo. There are times when the ball hops around but those are sparatic and we are middle of the pack in assist per game so its not all bad but it's not good either. Bear with me with this but this offense is really simple to understand which means teams that play us know what to do. The Roll man on our screens (whether it's 5, Dell, Goga, JI, Des or whoever) typically set lazy/ soft screens and they cut in a way that the defender is able to defend both guys. But part of the reason for that is the roll man, open or not, typically doesn't get the ball. If Desmond or AB are driving, the roll man is out of the play unless they are crashing the glass. There are no easy shots created in the offense that aren't in transition. We barley run any floppy for Desmond or any other shooters, the off ball movement is horrid and poorly timed, and there isn't any structure to anything. This is all Mose fault. Because of this, we are an easy team to walk down because the best way to stop Orlando from scoring is to score because our half-court is horrid.
All of that come to my other point of Mose not even making an attempt at this time to structure some type of an offense to even get him in rhythm. Paolo NEEDS to take the mantle and be more aggressive and that has to come from within. But Mose NEEDS to set him up for success. Get him some off ball screens on a cut to a basket to get him open. Get him on the block with Des being the guy on the wing so his guy can't leave to double, or clear that side of the floor completely. Essentially force him to take atleast 5 shots in a quarter. Injured or not they aren't doing anything that sets him up for success. Right now when Paolo sets his screens (which typically are lazy if I'm being honest) he cuts to a spot where he has space but he never gets the ball. So as the season has gone on, you see his effort after his screens dwindle. You can even see him tentatively asking for the ball just for the ball handler to take a doubled or contested layup. And since he doesn't get the ball as the roll man and when he is the ball handler he passes or picks the ball up as soon as he is shown the double, he isn't getting shots up which keeps him out of rhythm. My fear is his confidnce will start to take a hit because all of those things are keeping him out of sorts.
I am not trying to excuse Paolo but I am saying from my perspective, this is a big part of the reason. I'm not ruling out that he may be playing hurt and if he's doing that with an attempt to get to 65 games that sucks but I think they could do a much better job of helping him play better. I am not a coach. All I have are HS coaches in my family but I like the Xs and Os in the game. But I'm also open to being wrong and acknowldging that there are things going on that I just don't see. There could even be truth to the tension between Mose and 5 and I hope not but looking at the early games press conferences I think Paolo doesn't like the offense. I'm frustrated because we need him to be better. I'm frustrated because I wish Mose would be better with organinzing an offense. And I'm upset for him because the way the season is going he isn't going to get an All Star selection and he def wouldn't be All NBA. And I'm so tired of everyone who couldn't wait for something like this to pour hate on him.
More than anything, I am tired of these fake fans trying to push Paolo out of Orlando. I wish they would leave our fan base. All they do is complain. And they are so stupid they don't realize that by being that way, we will never get pieces to come to the team because best believe players take the fan base into account. Paolo is our guy and we have to support him. If you aren't willing to do that, become a heat fan.
Sorry again JO and Kev for the long post but I'm really passionate about basketball, X and Os and my Orlando Magic and how they've been playing offensively and how they've integrated Paolo has been really frustrating to watch and I needed to express this so someone would hear it. And I know I'm just a guy that watches them play but I really wish they would make some changes but to me this clearly isn't working.
Thank you Jonathan for pointing out the comparison narrative 💯👏 it’s a shame when these “new” or “fake” modern day fans always want to make these pointless of “which star is better” comparisons and Jonathan put the nails on their guts, agreed 100% I can care less of which player is better with or without injuries I just want to see this team win 💯💙💫
When it comes to Paolo’s explosiveness. He genuinely looks 280+ out there. When you look at pics of last season and now, he looks way different. Maybe they asked him to bulk up like JI. This is what I really think is what’s going on along with a some sort of lingering lower body issue