“Shit or get off the pot year” for Banchero
https://streamable.com/zrgdrz
“He can go become the All NBA player or he can become Julius Randle.”
That’s Sam Vecenie’s take on the Orlando Magic star.
“He has not been good enough or efficient enough for how much usage he takes up.”
Yes but no. He got his rookie extension. He will be on the pot for someone at the very least until the 2030-2031 season. If he flatlines or even regresses I can’t see the Magic trading him just because at that point his contract is an albatross. He’s the magic’s guy, for better or for worse.
It’s a weird comparison also because Randle was an all NBA level guy for like a 4 year stretch too lol.
Yeah, pretty much
What’s the consensus in Orlando about this? Seems like there’s a lot of evidence at this point frankly about the Franz - Paolo fit and its kind of a tired debate
We know they’re good together everyone else doesn’t seem to think so
It’s not that they can’t naturally fit together, it’s that you just can’t win a ring in today’s NBA with two wings who can’t shoot playing together.
And that’s ignoring the total lack of shooting at PG or C too.
The Magic roster is full of talent that should all not be playing together. (Aside from Bane)
I’m not necessarily arguing against that although i have seen some on/off stuff that seems to suggest they’re not exactly getting the most out of each other.
If the org feels strongly they can work, it would have been more encouraging to see them target more complimentary role players. The combo of Franz, Paolo, Suggs, WCJ, & Black is brutal shooting wise.
And also, as far as the grand scheme of things is concerned, they really have not played together a ton. We’ve had issues with injuries to both Paolo and Franz that has definitely hurt some of their chemistry. Mix that with the fact that Mosley is a defensive-minded coach and had zero offensive scheme to work with at all and I guess I can understand some of the sentiment from the general public.
Really excited to see what happens this season especially with our new coaching staff. Hopefully we don’t get hit too badly with the injury bug
I think it makes sense to try again for sure. Does seem to me like Suggs - Franz - Paolo - WCJ is just always going to not have enough spacing regardless of scheme.
I mean, I definitely think we need to make some personnel moves such as adding more three-point shooters and a point guard, but I am curious to see what a new coach and system does for us
Pivotal year for Lamelo Ball as well. New situation, team, culture, going into his 7th year. Either he continues to be the inefficient - low TS%, immature brat that he’s been so far, or he takes a leap. I think whatever Lamelo Ball we see this season is the guy he’s going to be for his career.
This feels like a larp take tbh.
Lamelo last season was very very good and an insane driver of offense. He was massively impactful for Charlotte.
Yes his play style can appear unserious but that doesn’t mean it’s not effective
TS%
2020-21: 53.9%
2021-22: 55.4%
2022-23: 54.1%
2023-24: 56.1%
2024-25: 53.6%
2025-26: 54.6%
PPG
2020-21: 15.7 PPG
2021-22: 20.1 PPG
2022-23: 23.3 PPG
2023-24: 23.9 PPG
2024-25: 25.2 PPG
2025-26: 20.1 PPG
AST
2020-21: 6.1 APG
2021-22: 7.6 APG
2022-23: 8.4 APG
2023-24: 8.0 APG
2024-25: 7.4 APG
2025-26: 7.1 APG
By what metric? I never said he couldn’t be impactful.
“Immature inefficient brat” makes him sound unserious and a non winning player. There’s far more to the game than TS% lol
i’m a giant paolo believer but yeah if this year he doesn’t put together the flashes of brilliance we’ve seen, then there’s gonna be some difficult decisions to be made this summer
the aprons are gonna hit us like a brick after we extend AB
What do you think he needs to do to level up his game? I feel like the most common complaint is that he’s so big but he doesn’t play with enough physicality, but curious what Magic fans think he needs to do to get to the next level.
last year it went pretty under the radar that Paolo shot a career high % of his shots at the rim and a career low % of his shots from midrange/deep. it was the most efficient season of his career and he’s made strides already.
he has to continue to make strides at rim finishing, stay healthy, and become at least league average from deep.
if he can do those three things then he should easily be an all-nba level guy
I believe that, people get reputations that are hard to shake. How’s his defense? He was low key bad in the games vs the hawks last year
Some of that might be true but it’s not wholly true, he was pretty much at the same efficiency he’s been at every season except his rookie year. His 2pt% is the same he even took less of them and his 3pt% is also down and he took less of them. His efg% remains unchanged while scoring less.
Julius Randle is 2x All NBA. Kind of a weird shot from Sam. Banchero being Julius Randle would be a step up for him, not a disappointment.
Magic were hoping for a superstar to build around, Banchero being a Randle type would be a major disappointment
I agree, but I think the point in the original comment still makes sense. I think both your points are true: 1. It would be a dissapointment for the Magic if Paolo never got better than Randle, and 2. Paolo has still never been as good as prime Randle, and there’s some possibility he never will be.
Honestly, at this point, if you asked me if I thought Paolo would ever make 2x All NBA, I would pick no.
Yeah that’s very true
For his draft position, yes.
But based on last year’s play, Banchero is not close to All-NBA and talking like his floor is a guy that made All-NBA twice makes no sense.
Banchero has had better playoff performances in the past year than randle ever did.
Randle is better than him
Yea and they were hoping Banchero would be better than Randle, thus the disappointment
But he’s talking as if he’s as good as Randle right now. Randle has made all nba lol
To Me, both of the above statements are accurate
They got one of the 3 best players in the draft. That’s about all you can hope for with that pick.
If you actually listened to the clip it’s really not disrespectful at all.
I don’t know if Vecenie is an analytics guy or not but the advanced stats have never loved Randle - certainly didn’t have Randle anywhere near all-NBA level player those years.
Randle literally just got salary dumped lol
um no Banchero is a number 1 pick and the hype earlier in his career projected him to be around where Cade is today (top 10 player and a 1st option)
Not a huge fan of Cade, so I failed there, but being a big PG who can distribute is always valuable. He’s also just better at putting the ball in the hoop than I expected
Banchero is still one of the best players in that draft class. I’d personally have him at 2 but I’m sure an argument could be made to take him at 1 still.
What would the argument even be? It certainly wouldn’t be based on statistics or accomplishments.
It would be being the number 1 option on a team instead of the 2nd or 3rd option on a team with the MVP. I’d take him over Chet. I’m not sure I’m taking him over J Dub. But J dub has the benefit of playing with a top tier defense and SGAs gravity. I don’t know if J Dub has the same productivity if he was on the Magic.
Size and athleticism. I’m a Banchero hater, but he has the body and athleticism to be a superstar.
What argument is there over guys like Chet, Williams or Duren?
Look at Duren and Paulo’s playoffs this year. Paolo is the number 1 option of the Magic vs being the 2nd or 3rd on the Thunder. Your numbers are going to look better playing alongside the MVP who draws all the defensive attention.
If your #1 picks outcome was Julius Randle that is a disappointment. The fact he just got essentially salary dumped this offseason tells you how front offices value him.
Randle got his first All-NBA at 26 years old though, Paolo is still only 23
Randle was a terrible #2 pick for the Lakers
It’s not a shot. The reality is Orlando drafted with with higher expectations and need him to reach them
What? Youre trolling
Nets somehow getting shots even when they aren’t the topic at hand.
Randle is a 2x All NBA player and all star.
Randy Marsh’s record is in trouble.
Why doesn’t Franz get the same energy?
#1 pick face of the franchise will naturally have more expectations until Franz clearly surpasses him
Yes, I don’t get it. I love them both. But, Fanz is making the same amount of money and you never hear about it. He gets backup QB treatment by media and fans.
He plays defense
Franz has been better than paolo their entire careers. Only issue is injuries.
Except he hasn’t and Paolo plays better in the playoffs
They’ve played their entire careers together and the pattern is the same every time. When franz is on the magic play great, when paolo is on they stink, and when they’re both on they’re mid. Paolo scores more and has had some impressive playoff games but ultimately franz is the driver of that team. They were up 3-1 on the pistons until franz got hurt and they couldn’t close the door without him. The only reason people say paolo is better is because he was the number 1 overall pick and is ‘supposed’ to be better. But he just isn’t.
The guy is in year 1 of his 5 years max, I don’t think he’s in such a hurry.
Getting paid all-NBA money is way too much to not produce at an all-nba level
not so much his contract as much as the Magic’s clock with the aprons has started bc of Franz’s contract and Anthony Black needing an extension
The rest of the league is not gonna wait for him and the Magic
I mean get gets his money no matter what.
The point is that if he doesn’t take the leap now he probably never will. The list of superstars with paolo’s efficiency stats and impact numbers going into year 5 is essentially non existent
But thats the point. If he cant live up to that contract in Year 1, it will only look like a worse and worse contract every year that he’s signed to it. I feel like it’s extremely uncommon for a player to make a leap in the middle or towards the end of their 5 year max
He can feel that way, but the NBA moves fast
Julius Randle has been an All-NBA player. Twice I believe.
Orlando needs to find a solid lead guard so Banchero doesn’t need the ball in his hands so much!
He’s still a good 2-3 years away from his prime.
He seems to elevate his game in the playoffs though. I’m sure the efficiency stats say otherwise but he was the only one I trusted on that team to make a play when they needed it, and they took the 1-seed to 7 games.
He doesn’t elevate his game in the playoffs. He was incredibly inefficient vs Detroit. I can’t believe people are buying into the “playoff riser” narrative.
If you’re scoring on a lot with low efficiency then it’s just an increase in volume - not really effective
The “efficiency” stats are BS for the national media to play around with to trash a guy when they don’t like him.
The only modern superstar who would probably qualify as “efficient” is Nikola Jokic.
Ludicrously dumb statement. SGA, Curry, Anthony Edwards, Jokic, Kevin Durant, Giannis, Kawhi Leonard, all of these guys are considered efficient by the metrics. Paolo Banchero has an eFG% below 50% (49.6%), which makes him 10% worse than an average player, he’s inefficient.
Randle” “Why did he say fuck me for?”
This is a massive misconception about Paolo. Yes he’s statistically better in the playoffs (partly because his regular season stats are so mid)
but his playoff stats are still not amazing. Very inefficient and inconsistent, big volume but the decision making and feel can still be very bad
Is he though? He just got his 3 to fall in a couple of first round series but other than that, its more or less the same player
Paolo is not a playoff riser. He shot his team out of the series vs Detroit. Too many shots. Too many shots missed. Bad offense, average defense.
Ehh, I guess looking back he was inconsistent. But a dude who can score 45 in a close out game after scoring 38 in game 5 on good efficiency is worth something
He scored 45 in a loss. And missed the exact amount of freethrows this team would have needed to win the game.
Scoring a lot of points on decent efficiency doesn’t mean anything if you can only do it one or two times in a 7 game series. Especially if the dude fumbles it at the free throw line anyway
certainly it isn’t paolo’s fault that Suggs shot 16% from the field in the playoffs
No Suggs shot them out the series
Suggs was also ass
Look I’m not the biggest Paolo guy (to say the least) but like what else what that Orlando team supposed to do on offense? It’s just a nasty offensive team with basically zero playmaking and one good shooter.
The narrative surrounding Paolo would be so different if the Magic FO built a cohesive functional roster around him, like at all.
alot of player perception and legacy is based around how competent their front office is and a little roster/injury luck. ppl were genuinely comparing wiggins and kat to jimmy as if jimmy wouldn’t have won had he had similar talent around him or been fortunate enough to be 2nd fiddle.
I’m a magic fan. I can tell you if you watch him play, you’ll see Paolo choosing to shoot pull up jumpers and make lousy decisions with the ball in his hands. It isn’t a system issue, it’s a Paolo issue. He shoots like he is Kobe but can’t make shots consistently. He needs to shoot less, or get better at making baskets.
You think Kobe made shots consistently? LOL
Paolo’s overall FG% last year was the same as Kobe’s during his MVP season.
He definitely had bad games that series but he is not the sole reason they lost that series lol. Pretty sure there was some stat that said the non-Paolo members of the team shot like 26% in Game 7 and the last 2 quarters of Game 6. And you can look at the regular season vs. playoff numbers if you want stats on being a playoff riser.
Yeah the whole team sucked ass. Im.not absolving any other player.
But “dog shit” in the regular season to just “shit” in the playoffs is not a “playoff riser” but I see what you mean.
A 23 year old is in a “shit or get off the pot” season? Is 23 prime years now?
Vecenie has been a serious Paolo hater since his draft night when the Magic GM made Vecenie and various other “draft prediction gurus” look stupid by taking Paolo first.
Vecenie spent that whole summer telling everyone on a million podcasts that the Magic were 100% taking Jabari, and maybe Chet, but his “sources” were all but certain Jabari was going number 1. The Magic’s GM was clearly putting this out there and hacks like Vencenie, Woj, and various other talking heads were eating it up.
Then, when they took Paolo number one Vencenie had to save face and he began talking about how dumb the Magic were and how Jabari and Chet were going to be so much better than P. He hasn’t stopped since.
Vencenie is a hack who is trying to move into the “hot take podcast” space. Someone should look at his efficiency on his picks.
frankly yes, by year 5 a 6’10” player on a max needs to show they can be a number 1 option or elite 2 way guy in order to live up to the contract
or at least be hovering just under that level in order to justify the magic making another big move to get a stretch 5 in or something. This version of the team doesn’t really fit well and they need to do something.
I mean, they paid him massive money to be their superstar and while 23 is young for an NBA athlete - you can usually project on what kind of player you have (all star, elite role player, 6th man….etc)
He’s also had the reigns from like day 1 and hasn’t shown significant improvement despite that - it’ll be like 5 years in the league for him and he’s turning 24 in November
Another mediocre year and suddenly the youth argument doesn’t seem so strong when he’ll be 25 at start of the next season
It’s kind of the same discourse people had about guys like Gordon or even like Fultz (‘give them time and they’ll be stars!’) and then you find out one season that they turned 27
I would argue he has shown significant improvement. Do you watch Paolo a lot? His fg%, free throw percentage, assists, and rebounds were all career highs last year. He also is a much better defender than he was when he entered the league.
Were they supposed to not pay him? Franz, Barnes, Chet, all got the same amount of money that summer bc GMs knew the aprons were coming. I never hear anyone complain about Franz’s contract when he has barely been available the last two years? Or Chet’s contract when he hasn’t developed into a player who can create his own shot.
Rebounds went up by 0.9 compared to last year
Assists went up by 0.4
FG% went up by 0.07
FT% went up by 0.5
I’m not really sure how you would call that a significant improvement. Even impact metrics don’t paint a nice picture about him either
His scoring average dropped by 3 points (worst in the last 3 years) and he still hasn’t been able to hit league average scoring efficiency
The minor improvements in some of his stats are nice, but he’s getting paid a like $240 million dollars
I’m not blaming the Magic for hoping that he can improve but thats brutal now with the second apron in play
>I never hear anyone complain about Franz’s contract when he has barely been available the last two years? Or Chet’s contract when he hasn’t developed into a player who can create his own shot.
Those guys are still great players already and Chet was part of a core that won a title
They bought themselves some grace with their recent success whereas Paolo’s impact as a player was questioned since year 2 despite having the ultimate greenlight
People like you get so caught up in the fact that nba players are young and can’t accept that he’s already been in the league for 4 years.
Please include examples of players who have made drastic improvements after being in the league 5 full seasons.
Brunson and Steph come to mind. Butler too. Probably every overlooked superstar
Brunson and Butlers biggest issue was playing next to established stars before they could really go off
Curry had some injury issues as well in his 3rd year too - but his career is honestly an outlier
Feels like he just decided to pop off and become one of the greatest guards ever
Either way, Paolo had the greenlight since day 1 and hasn’t really changed as a player much
You could make the argument of situation, health, roster construction, etc with Paolo too.
Does he really need to “drastically improve” to be an All NBA/multi-time all star or worthy of the contract?
Last year he shot 46% fg, 30% from three, and 77.5% from free throw.
If he shoots 48% from the field, 33-34% from 3, and 80% from the line…. He probably averages 25-27 ppg, 9 Rebs, 5 assists. Those are certainly all star or all nba numbers.
Is going from 46% to 48% that drastic of an improvement?
I was responding to your comment above, which entirely implies that he is 23 and will continue to improve
And yes, I can name multiple players who got much better after their 4th year and became great players.
You are just throwing absolutes out there like “players don’t get better after 23/4th year” and that isn’t true at all.
Steph Curry, Steve Nash, Chauncey Billups, Jermaine O’Neal, Lowry, Jimmy Butler, Oladipo, Jalen Brunson, Paul Milsap, Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph,
I’m sure I can think of more but that’s a pretty good group.
Edit: Tracy McGrady
Age doesnt really matter as much in the 2nd apron era. Salary matters more. You can have a player who’s 23 years old and being called your future franchise player but if he’s in a situation like Paolo, he needs to be able to perform up to that contract or it will be difficult to justify paying someone superstar money who isnt playing like one
For the superstar and future all NBA player hes being made out to be? Hell yeah. All the other young stars in the league have been progressing and taken giants leap while he looks to be stagnant.
Look at how much Ant, Cade, Wemby, Barnes, Maxey, Castle and Jalen Johnson have improved as players and theyre all around his age. Luka and SGA are a few years older but they took their leaps around this age also.
Banchero was supposed to be this elite 2 way superstar and he hasnt really improved on either end of the floor.
As a huge Magic fan, I don’t really agree with you. This will be his fifth season in the NBA. He hasn’t improved on his most glaring weaknesses at all unfortunately. His three ball has stayed in the bad category. Think of all the max players in the league and really be objective.
Not all max players are created equal. Paolo is not a top tier player in the league but we are paying him like he is. Alongside Franz. Plus a few other large contracts. It’s not sustainable at the current rate unless he takes a step forward and can knock down the three reliably. How many more years can we give someone to improve facets of their game? He’s a solid player but sadly our team can’t shoot for shit, we need our max players to not have a glaring weakness.
Most people forget that by year 4⁄5 most stars are close to all they will ever be in the league. Rope players are different since sometimes what they need is proper playing time to figure things out.
Okay, let’s look at objectively then. Here are all of the players on max contracts in the 0-6 year range like Paolo and Franz.
I see a lot of flawed players here. Are all of these guys knock down shooters and top 20 or all NBA? How come we never hear anywhere near the hate for these guys as we do for Paolo and his contract:
Lauri Markkanen, Sabonis, KD (check), OG Anunoby, Darius Garland, Ja Morant, Zion, Scottie Barnes, Chet, Jalen Williams (similar efficiency as Paolo as a second option on one of the best offensive teams in the league.
7-9 year max players that are flawed:
Jamal Murray, Evan Mobley, Paul George, Bam Adebayo (worse efficiency than Paolo), DeAron Fox, Jaren Jackson, Zach Lavine, Trae Young, Siakam (worse efficiency than Paolo last year).
Are we not holding Paolo to a standard we don’t hold these other similar paid players to?
You didn’t list players in 0-6 range or whatever but please don’t lol.
I see a lot of flawed players here. Are all of these guys knock down shooters and top 20 or all NBA? How come we never hear anywhere near the hate for these guys as we do for Paolo and his contract: Lauri Markkanen, Sabonis, KD (check), OG Anunoby, Darius Garland, Ja Morant, Zion, Scottie Barnes, Chet, Jalen Williams (similar efficiency as Paolo as a second option on one of the best offensive teams in the league.
Most of these guys are much more efficient in their careers like Lauri, Sabonis, KD (wtf? lol), OG, Jalen Williams (efficiency a lot better than P5 minus this last year where he was injured). Other guys get criticized often. Barnes is a much better defender. Chet is a role player who excels in his role and is a champion. Garland gets criticized for being too small and a bad defender. Morant and Zion have been criticized their whole career.
You are also simply missing the facts that a lot of these guys who don’t shoot the three that well like Bam are elite at something else, like he is always in the DPOY conversation. Plus that last group of players are later in their careers and are eligible for higher compensation.
Do you even know ball haha
Every single player you mentioned is arguably better than Paolo besides lavine
Players develop faster than ever, and so must the early expectations. A lot of people feel similarly about Chet, who’s still only 24 but his ceiling already feels defined. Similarly, Wemby is only 22 but you can sense the foot-tapping already. The fact that he couldn’t get it done in the Finals does raise some eyebrows of whether he’s really a franchise cornerstone given his sluggish development in key areas
Well, that is silly. If anyone thinks Chet, or Barnes, or Paolo, or Franz, or Jabari Parker, or any 23-25 year old has a “defined ceiling” right now, then they haven’t followed the NBA for a long time.
People who think like that are probably newer fans who watch online clips and “player ranking podcasts” instead of actually following the sport itself.
I don’t think these guys are going to randomly stumble upon some new skillset. Chet isn’t going to be crossing people up or bullying in the post. Barnes and Franz aren’t going to become an on-ball scorer. Even Anthony Edwards, who became much better than projected, is largely building around the skillset he proved out years ago: an explosive guard with a jumper.
Likewise, anyone still clinging to the fantasy that Wemby is going to become like Durant or Giannis on offense is kidding themselves. His ceiling is more than likely closer to Anthony Davis, which is a respectable target
Its hate atp. Franz never got this treatment and iirc many superstars across the NBA don’t get this kind of pressure put on them especially at this age. Paolo is literally 23 years old.
There is never a peep about Franz whose contract situation is worse bc he hasn’t been available.
Yeah right. Look at Zion.
i think pretty much everyone has given up on zion as a winning player
Zion’s sophomore season is still clearly better than any Paolo season funny enough
That was 6 years ago
Not sure what your point is
Sorry, my point is his sophomore season was six years ago and he’s about to start his 8th season. He’s trending away from his best season so why is it relevant to bring up one outlier of a season.
This guy is a generational Paolo hater and almost certainly unemployed
Imagine the size shits he unloads into the pot
Well you can’t unshit that contract so what you see is what you get.
is he dying or what
Yes, don’t you know you peak at 23 in sports?
I guess Yaxel missed his window before even playing his first game in the NBA, how sad
I’m sorry what
It’s a “Shit or get off the pot year” for Banchero
Glad it wasn’t just me. Tf is he trying to say?
Its an expression, step up and be the star or move aside and let others take over
Make or break season to prove himself as a real star
It’s a common phrase. Are you really that cooked?
I think that, bare minimum showed him and Franz cannot play together so this year is more to determine who gets traded when they inevitably shake this core up
Like I’m sorry, your new head coach hire isn’t going to magically improve either’s ability to space the floor or rewire Paoloks propensity to avoid being as physically dominant as he should be
Most likely franz as it will be much easier to get a good asset back I guess
Trading Franz would be punting on being a top 6 seed for the next half decade. He is literally the last guy they can trade.
I completely agree but I think the bar to trade stuff for Paolo is much higher than franz imo
I can see a team with an established star trading a lot of stuff for franz
I can’t see anyone giving up a lot for Paolo
I think they would trade Paolo to teams like the kings, nets, clippers in a deal similar to what trae young was dealt for if it doesn’t work out.
And then Black would be the next guy to get dealt maybe suggs if the right deal presents itself. Franz is far and away their best player imo and the bane trade makes it so that they can’t cut the cord anytime soon on the franz era.
I don’t think it’s a matter of return - if they wanted to, they could probably have just trade one of them and Black for Giannis - so much as it’s evaluating who will be easier to build a team around. Right now, I’d give the edge to Franz but it depends on if he can stay healthy or not this season.
i feel like they would have done that if they felt good about their chances of inking giannis to an extension
How? GMs are just going to ignore that he has been out more than half the games the last two seasons?
I swear r/nba’s hate boner for Paolo jumps the shark sometimes and ignore logic.
For any team with an established star that is more likely to trade considerable assets, franz is an easier fit
Was there any need to attack ad hominem just because someone voiced an opinion you disagreed with?
Where does the “can’t play together” narrative come from? On/off stats?
If you zoom out, the Magic’s starting 5 has statistically been one of the elite lineups in the league when healthy over the last few seasons. Admittedly, they haven’t been healthy much. But basketball is 5-on-5, and I put more stock into full lineup data than player-player pairings, if that was part of the assertion here.
Additionally, the Magic were an ill-timed Franz calf injury away from knocking off a 60-win one seed. Would these “can’t play together” narratives be happening if Franz just doesn’t get hurt at the worst possible time?
I just ran through this in an experiment in another thread, but most NBA players you see their potential by year 5, with their peak being year 6 and then their prime is however long they can sustain that.
Year 6 is like 2008-09 LeBron, 2012-13 KD, 2014–15 Curry, 2016-17 Kawhi, 2018-19 Giannis, 2020-21 Jokic, 2021-22 Embiid (although he only played 31 games in 16-17 so 22-23 might be more apt when he won MVP as his “true” year 6), 2022-23 Tatum, 2023-24 SGA, 2023-24 Luka, 2023-24 Brunson, this past year for Edwards posting a career high points. It’s true for almost every superstar.
Banchero year 6 will be 27-28. He has time, but I’d say if he can’t put together a top 10 season this upcoming season and show that potential, he’s not going to be a player that you can expect to lead a team on any kind of deep playoff run with championship aspirations. If he’s just having a pretty good year and not an All-NBA 2nd team type of season, the Magic are probably never winning with the guys they have now.
The blueprint for 2 wings are probably the Celtics with Tatum and Brown, and in year 5 Tatum was first team All-NBA and went on a finals run. If Banchero has a top 10 year and makes like a deep 2nd round series or ECF, I’d say okay give it time. If he’s not and they are another first round exit or miss the playoffs, the Magic can’t be pushing the 2nd apron with this group.
Whenever they are both healthy they have showed a pretty high ceiling. Problem has been health the last couple of seasons.
Paolo may never make an All-NBA team in his entire career and Barstool Sam gotta cash in on the negativity by saying that he’s either going to be an All-NBA player or All-NBA player lol
Is Julius Randle bad? What was that
Randle is better than paolo
He’s not but Paolo was drafted 1st and there are expectations to get (at the minimum) a perennial all star
But getting to Randle is still better than what Paolo is right now. It’s not like Randle is his floor
Orlando is not going anywhere, Boston, Toronto, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, Indiana, Knicks, and arguably Hawks are all more talented and complete than the Magic.
Paolo sucks. He’s not ever becoming an All-NBA player. Zero chance.