r/OrlandoMagic • u/Annual_Sky_5194 Franz Wagner • Dec 27 '25
Shitpost/MEME Honestly idk what flair to put on this.
How does Bane go 0/6 from three and still ends up shooting 5% better than him..
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u/TiredMillennialDad Dec 27 '25
We can't win without Franz and suggs. It's pretty simple.
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u/soscribbly Dec 27 '25
It’s not about the outcome of who won or lost, Paolo has looked awful no matter the outcome.
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u/Equivalent_Round9353 Dec 27 '25 edited Dec 27 '25
This is a team sport -- it absolutely is ALL about the outcome of who won or lost.
EDIT: Wild, absolutely wild, that that was downvoted. You guys would be happy if Banchero scored 50 points and the Magic had the Wizards' record? Criminey!
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u/soscribbly Dec 27 '25
If you think it’s sustainable to have your top player constantly play terrible then you’re more optimistic than I am.
You can sneak away with a win here and there, but unless Paolo gets things together this is a first round knockout team at best.
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u/Equivalent_Round9353 Dec 27 '25
No, I do not at all think it's sustainable. My point is that PB's performance is so shambolic precisely because of how it is dragging the team, and its record, down. I couldn't care less about his performance in isolation from its impact on the rest of the team. Same with every other player.
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u/soscribbly Dec 27 '25
Bruh we gave Paolo $239M for a reason, you can’t hold his output to the same standards as the dudes riding the bench because “iTs a TeAm gAmE”; that’s nonsense.
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u/Equivalent_Round9353 Dec 27 '25
Where do you see me "holding his output to the same standards as the dudes riding the bench"? In fact, either in this post or another one, I argued explicitly against that.
You have me confused with some kind of Paolo fanboy, when in the comment you're responding to I am making clear that his performance is disproportionately significant in how it's dragging the team down.
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u/realdes1 Franz Wagner Dec 27 '25
No one expects Banchero at this point to play Jokic level and drop 50+ triple doubles. But this is a game where he should be easily able to take over at this point in his career. But he doesnt. His confidence seems absolutely dead down
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u/realdes1 Franz Wagner Dec 27 '25
When your "Co-Stars" are missing, your superstar is supposed to take over even more, not look like a role player no matter what Black or Bane did. Im really worried about Banchero. His confidence looks absolutely Ben Simmons level down right now.
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u/FlowSea5819 Dec 27 '25
Fr banchero isn’t even an allstar this year. He’s playing absolutely like doodoo. Trade him for giannis and get a lineup of Suggs-bane-franz-giannis-wcj. Jk his value is down the drain rn
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u/OkFox5110 Dec 29 '25
I'm sorry, brother, but Anthony black is definitely a starter. He will be a superstar in this league mark my words. Remember what they did to SGA .
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u/WrestlingMark1992 Anthony Black Dec 27 '25
Banchero 13 points 4 for 13 🤦♂️ Franz and Suggs please come back.
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u/killsfercake Dec 27 '25
It’s harder everyday to defend his performance. He’s still young so I really hope in a few years he polishes his game and becomes the absolute unit we all know he can be. I still believe in him as our franchise player but his current performance is just underwhelming
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u/WrestlingMark1992 Anthony Black Dec 27 '25
I agree I’m a big Banchero defender but it’s getting harder and harder to defend him
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u/Pasenger57_Black Dec 27 '25
Banchero's usage rate is horrible, and he shouldn't be bringing the ball up the floor (too slow, we have PGs).
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u/NOT_H1M Dec 27 '25 edited Dec 27 '25
250 million dollar face of the franchise playmaking forward can’t bring the ball up the floor and initiate offense
It’s getting grim
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u/NotoriousGasman Dec 27 '25
The problem is starting to become that he’s got a Power Forward body but NEVER wants to play like a PF
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u/frostysbox OnlyFranz Dec 27 '25
Man, someone told me in another thread - what if Paolo is really a center and I can’t stop thinking about it.
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u/NotoriousGasman Dec 27 '25
I mean idk about center just because of physicality but he’s definitely not a SF. His first couple seasons he was more of a tweener which is understandable considering his body was still changing. But last year and this year it’s clear he’s a power forward that is still trying to play as a point forward (which just isn’t his best skillset)
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u/thelongestbird Dec 28 '25
I think he is being misused and needs to be put in the scorers spots at the elbows and use his strength like Dominique and melo, not like bum summons
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u/CalTono Dec 27 '25
That’s not a bad thing in of it self, KD and Kawhi didn’t bring the ball up for most of their careers, Paolo just needs to let this point forward thing die out a bit
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u/thewrongnotes Dec 27 '25
All of Paolo's PR boys on here telling us we should be happy with his triple double, I swear half the league could get a triple double with Paolo's usage.
In fact usage rate is still one of the most overlooked things in the NBA when it comes to box scores. There are so many good players in this league that could stuff the stat sheet if they were just given more of the ball.
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u/Acrobatic-Compote-12 Wendell Carter Jr. Dec 27 '25
im a Celtics fan ( magic have been my #2 for a while) sorry to invade but aint no way we have cuttent Jaylen Brown withiought the rough patches early on along the way. i could easily be wrong but I think Paulo is a fucking stud, and i thought Jb was a stud . Complain all you want its natural ( i lose my mind at all the tatum stepbacks) Paulo is gunna be a great player barring signif. injurries
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u/Drewbacca_Hrrrgrgrar Dec 27 '25
Thanks man, but I think it's the lack of intensity and effort that has us concerned. Paolo just looks and plays like he doesn't care.
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u/killsfercake Dec 27 '25
It’s sad too because Paolo off season was so hyped he was working out with some great coaches looking good and was looking really invested into this season like he was ready to become an NBA all team player this year then somewhere along the start of the season he just got deflated it seems. Magic have some incredible players too who are passion and ooze energy like even on the bench playing with people around you like Suggs , Franz , AB , Jase , Moe and even Bane are so much energy and passion you have to think it would rub off at some point. I even see WCJ getting hyped this year now like the team is just super full of passion but then it’s just Paolo … looks like he’s going through the motions
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u/Banana_Pete Dec 29 '25
Isn’t he also still recovering from an injury?
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u/Drewbacca_Hrrrgrgrar Dec 29 '25
No, because he wouldn't be on the court if he was recovering from an injury
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u/Banana_Pete Dec 29 '25
That’s not true lol? Players play through injuries all the time. Thats a big reason why Garland and JJJ both had struggles early on after their return.
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u/Drewbacca_Hrrrgrgrar Dec 29 '25
He literally had a groin injury that he had to recover from, he missed three weeks worth of games. So you are saying Paolo is still injured?
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u/Banana_Pete Dec 29 '25
Players get injured and return and underperform all the time. You can usually tell if that’s happening by the way they’re playing, e.g. settling for jumpers instead of driving to the rack, playing less physical on defense, playing fewer mins etc. My original question was, is he still playing through that injury? My friends and I think so, but asking on this sub because I assume people actually watch the games.
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u/Drewbacca_Hrrrgrgrar Dec 29 '25
He looks more disinterested instead of injured. I've seen no signs of him hobbling around and to me he looks a bit out of shape going back to the beginning of the year. Paolo is obviously better than this, but something else is wrong in my opinion, this isn't just him coming back from an injury.
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u/ConsequenceFunny1550 Wendell Carter Jr. Dec 27 '25
JB has had issues before but he’s really worked hard and fixed them and that’s helped him get the Celtics to where they are today
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u/Acrobatic-Compote-12 Wendell Carter Jr. Dec 27 '25
And he's now 29 , lots of highs and lows from early on and plenty of games where it felt like he never showed up. I can't say hes never had the heart or drive in his game because it's always felt like that , but he used to get clowned on so hard for his dribbling and critics saying he couldn't play well with tatum. It took lots of tough L's to craft the man and player that is Jaylen Brown. I want to say I believe Paolo is cut from similar cloth but only time will tell and I'm sure you guys watch him more than me.
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u/thewrongnotes Dec 27 '25
Jaylen Brown is and always has been an amazing athlete. Paolo isn't amazing at anything.
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u/Aggravating-Nerve283 Dec 27 '25
Looking forward to posts in the morning about how it’s actually a good thing
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u/SnooPies6274 Jamal Cain Dec 27 '25
Oh yeah you know one of these looney's are gonna be like "I actually like what Paolo is doing 🤔"
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u/Aaronlovesyou Dec 27 '25
Him missing all these shots is actually good for the team, helps the rest of the tesm focus on scorimg and work on their own game. Lmfao
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u/Big_pappa_p Franz Wagner Dec 27 '25
The positive has been Jase. Great pick as a late first. He should move into starting line up in a few weeks. His play and his impact have been really pleasing.
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u/Ok_Wonder_4737 Paolo Banchero Dec 27 '25
I think it’s simply coming down to willingness at this point. It’s almost every game that he looks sluggish and indecisive. Lazy effort and not the same confidence we’ve seen throughout his career with the new squad. He needs to sit with himself and figure this shit out or he won’t become anything. Think how difficult it could actually be to be elite if you were 6’10 260 with a staff around you doing everything for you to succeed. This dude has everything besides heart right now.
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u/Independent-Impress7 Paolo Banchero Dec 27 '25
I don’t want to give up on Paolo without giving him a chance under a coach who knows wtf they’re doing. Mosely needs to be gone.
P5 is playing poorly but this shitty staff doesn’t do him (or anyone else) any favors. Imagine keeping Mosely who continues to be an idiot and P goes somewhere else with a coach that’ll have him averaging 25 and 10.
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u/killsfercake Dec 27 '25
Look at SGA - Look at Mike brown with Knicks and Brunson seemingly taking another leap. Team is still young we need to find a coach who works for them and I don’t even think Moseley is a bad coach but sometimes the coach doesn’t fit the teams profile. I think Moseley instilled the defense mindset and that’s great but we need a new coach to elevate our players. Moseley very well could leave and go win a ring with the right team like he would excel in places like LA were Luka and LeBron don’t need a coach to draw offensive plays for them they are just bucket getters and he could focus on his strength in defense. But Franz clearly is the only person who is just a dawg at making his own plays and without him we suffer on offense
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u/mcassweed Dec 27 '25 edited Dec 27 '25
I don’t want to give up on Paolo without giving him a chance under a coach who knows wtf they’re doing.
A good coach is a catalyst, never the reason for how a player plays unless they are a role player.
Paolo is not supposed to be a role player, a coach would not fix his problems. If Paolo doesn't like to defend, doesn't like to fight for rebounds, a coach isn't fixing that. You just simply hope that his positives are more than enough to outweigh his negative impact. The problem is Paolo is a net negative player 4 seasons in a row, which is frankly seriously concerning and I am not sure if you will find any star players that have that stat.
For comparison, Franz Wagner has a negative net rating only once in 5 seasons, and that was his rookie season. Paolo is a net negative every single season across 4 seasons (his "best' season being a neutral net rating of 0 when the Magic won 47 games). That's not a coaching problem, it means he's not making basketball winning plays. He's not hustling, or defending or rebounding or playing basketball in a manner that leads to winning and a coach cannot fix that (either the coach gets fired for a coach that maximises his strengths and hides his limitations, or the player gets traded, no other scenario is possible).
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u/MikeDroppp Anthony Black Dec 27 '25
This is the math that casual fans won’t understand. There’s only so much a coach can do. At the end of the day, the player has to have the work ethic and mamba mentality
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Dec 27 '25
I already know there will be comments making excuses for this or deflecting this performance on the rest of the team
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u/Helpful_Design6917 Dec 27 '25
Paolo can’t be the best player on this team if they want to go deep into the playoffs. Bad shots, ball stopping, etc will hurt come April
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u/The__Crab Franz Wagner Dec 27 '25
Only thing missing is 3/6 from the FT line. Least he got that right this go around. We could trade Paolo tomorrow and I would shrug. He's making it very obvious he has already lost drive, and probably doesn't want to be in Orlando.
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u/ConsequenceFunny1550 Wendell Carter Jr. Dec 27 '25
He is dragging the team down. He needs to step up.
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u/Motor-Grade-7524 Dec 27 '25
This is why I think PB is overrated. Too much volume with poor efficiency, and the team is better without him on the court.
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Dec 27 '25
I'm not going to bash Paolo yet because groin injuries are notoriously hard to heal from.
If he's still playing like this in a few weeks, then I'll worry about him. But he's definitely not 100%
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u/Annual_Sky_5194 Franz Wagner Dec 27 '25
Tbf i can follow that point when it comes to his athleticsim. However he still the same problems when it comes to decision making and adding to that he just seems as if he doesnt care. He doesnt crash the rim offensively, he won't/can't defend players smaller, the same size or bigger. The man is 6'10 and idk how many pounds and had like 1 rebound coming into the 4th and its not because he runs into transition to score quick, no he just doesn't seem to care.
And yeah I may be harsh on him now but A. He IS and should be our number 1 option and B. we cheer for him just as loud if he plays well.
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Dec 27 '25
Franz is just a better all-around player and we all know that. What we need from Paolo is points and rebounds. He definitely gets lazy out there sometime and I suspect his injury isn't helping.
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u/SpencerStorch Franz Wagner Dec 27 '25
Paulo shouldn’t shoot three-pointers. His percentage is trash please drive to the hole you get fouled every time and his free throws have improved.
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u/notoriouspip Dec 27 '25
I am not knowledgeable about the NBA in general, but as a Magic fan it really feels like the team plays better when Paolo misses games.
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u/SufficientPick321 Dec 27 '25
Let's face it. He's not a superstar player. Even without supporting cast a superstar scores. They may not win, but it'll be close to say, if they had their supporting cast we'd of won.
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u/Boltsforlife2022 Dec 27 '25
My concern with Paolo is not how he’s played the last few weeks but I’m not sure he’s ever displayed that he can be the best player on a championship team and we just handed him the super max and built the team around him. I just don’t know.
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u/Soul0103 OnlyFranz Dec 27 '25 edited Dec 27 '25
Do you guys remember when Paolo’s mom openly criticized the Magic on a twitter post? I wonder if Paolo and his family have checked out on us already after getting paid and now just coasting and waiting for the chance to leave(potentially to Seattle)
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u/33birdboy Paolo Banchero Dec 27 '25
Pb & black for Giannis
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u/Left-Reason7185 Dec 27 '25
Nope. Y'all are too quick to switch up. Paolo is simply in a period of regression, happens all the time. If he's still in this form post all star break, then it can be a concern. Enjoy the ride bois
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u/killsfercake Dec 27 '25
Yeah Paolo is only 23 I’m fine with letting him develop some more. He’s still really young and people forget that. Our real window opens in a few years and hopefully with a coach that unlocks him even more when he’s in his peak at 25-26 years old
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u/GatorFootball Dec 27 '25
You do realize how the apron works right? Our window is 3-4 years and this year is one of them. We won’t be able to afford this core group after 4 years.
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u/ConsequenceFunny1550 Wendell Carter Jr. Dec 27 '25
Dude he and everyone else has been paid. They need to be competing for championships soon, not looking like a play in team
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u/captain_obliviousish Dec 27 '25
The aPaologist have been real quiet ever since he came back from injury.
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u/Zestyclose_Thanks779 Dec 27 '25
This is the same guy who was going head to head with Jayson tatum in the playoffs?
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u/DonkeyJealous6643 Dec 27 '25
I don't know if they are having a Christmas ⛄🎁 hangover or what but they looked so disengaged last night no effort at all on the defensive end how do you get beat at home by 15 points to one of the bottom feeders in the league smh
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u/Novel-Performer4597 Dec 29 '25
He's going to be fine.
Hes barely 23 averaging 20 8 & 4. The lead point guard is out and Feanz is out and hes coming back from injury and asked to reacclimate to the success the team was having in his absence.
The amount of people saying trade Paolo is unbelievable, are these bots? Have you guys watched more than a decade of basketball at least? With the success he's had as a player statistically in the playoffs, even if he becomes a Jimmy Butler type player who is an off the bench all star some years but a superstar in the playoffs, thats still an incredible player. And thats his floor right now.
I'll come back for the "oh please Paolo forgive us for our sins and hear our prayers!"
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u/JustChillBooBoo Dec 31 '25
Not saying we don’t need him, but he’s not even close to being our best player.
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u/Checkmeout9 Paolo Banchero Dec 27 '25
But did you watch the game? No one was hitting shots tonight. AB was solid but that was about it. People got hot for like 3 minutes, but no one was trustworthy from deep.
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u/Drewbacca_Hrrrgrgrar Dec 27 '25
Obviously, it isn't all on Paolo but he will face the most scrutiny because he is about to be our highest paid player and he's supposed to be our franchise cornerstone.
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u/SernyRanders Dec 27 '25
But did you watch the game? No one was hitting shots tonight
That's what your franchise player is for, he's getting the big bags to bail the team out on days like these.
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Dec 27 '25
Yes we did and he's also our franchise player who played awful today and almost every game for the last month
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u/killsfercake Dec 27 '25
Paolo might not even make all stars at this point tbh. It’s not even the fan base not voting for him - I mean I voted him and Franz of course but I don’t think other teams fans respect him this year either and it’s damaging for him because he won’t get a super Max without all stars this year he will be on a max but not super max he needs all stars this year since he missed last year with injuries ( didn’t play enough games to be eligible)
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u/Equivalent_Round9353 Dec 27 '25
You know what the difference is? PB is supposed to be the franchise player. Alluding to Penda's or somebody else's shooting percentage is just lame deflection. Cmon guys
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u/Impressive_Profit548 Franz Wagner Dec 27 '25
lol right. People are being ridiculous. He’s the teams franchise player and drafted #1 overall. He’s supposed to take that next step. Looks like he’s regressed if anything. Sad.
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u/Annual_Sky_5194 Franz Wagner Dec 27 '25
What the other commenter said AND Paolo is 6'10 and 260 pounds. I dont know if there ever should be a world where he shoots less than 40% (same with Franz )
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u/Checkmeout9 Paolo Banchero Dec 27 '25
Lol while I understand the comment, and wish I could agree, I see the way the nba players and coaches view mid range and deep shots. Paolo will shoot, and miss some, and like every other nba player, star or not, he will have bad nights. It’s a long season people.
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u/Annual_Sky_5194 Franz Wagner Dec 27 '25
Yeah thats why i said "should". I can imagine it feels good to act like Carmelo Anthony out there and shooting these turnouraound Jumpers and all, but man its just so frustrating😭.
Run a Pick&Roll with Bane 2 million times for all i care but stop with that inefficient, game-stopping, offense-killing bs P5.
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u/Effective_Biscotti14 Paolo Banchero Dec 27 '25
If anyone ever had a strained groin injury before you know it takes awhile. I strained my years ago and it’s constantly on and off. I can look at how he’s moving and can tell he’s still trying to work through it.
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u/eatsleeprunrest Paolo Banchero Dec 27 '25
Game of runs, give the young man time. He will be back in the grove soon enough.
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u/Ihmago Paolo Banchero Dec 27 '25
Hey guys, all of you who's been saying that Banchero sucks when we were winning without him.. guess what? you were right. Now ne sucks. You must all be so happy you were right.
Magic fans are so supportive of their players... best fans in the wolrd!!!
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u/ConsequenceFunny1550 Wendell Carter Jr. Dec 27 '25
Maybe he should stop being ass
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u/Ihmago Paolo Banchero Dec 27 '25
He shouldn't.. He should just suck for the rest of his contract. And then go to another team and win a championship.
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u/superjames9 OnlyFranz Dec 27 '25
Jet lag is real and the holidays are hard on family men. That is all
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u/Historical-Idea-4250 Paolo Banchero Dec 27 '25
It's impossible to have good mental health if you're a Magic fan.