Magic forward Paolo Banchero, the No. 1 overall pick of this year’s draft, is trying to adjust to the NBA’s extensive use of pick-and-rolls, writes Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel (subscriber link). As Price notes, only 64 of Banchero’s pick-and-roll possessions ended with him shooting in 39 games with Duke last season, a figure that is sure to rise as a rookie in 2022/23.
Banchero had mixed results as both a ball-handler and a roll man in his first preseason game, and he acknowledges the speed of the pro game will take some getting used to.
“In college, a lot of it was isolation, so that’s what I’m used to making a lot of my reads out of, pure isolation,” Banchero said. “I got to get used to making a lot more reads out of the pick-and-roll as the handler and the roller, and speeding that up. I felt like I made my reads a lot slower than usual.”
The 6’10” Banchero believes he’s already making progress after watching film and getting more practice reps, Price adds.
“Watching the film, I didn’t look sped up. I didn’t look like I was super uncomfortable. Knowing I can get to wherever I want to get to is really encouraging. Now I’ve got to make the right decision when I get there,” Banchero said as part of larger quote.
Here’s more on the Magic:
- Second-year forward Franz Wagner is expected to make his preseason debut against the Spurs on Thursday, Price writes for The Orlando Sentinel. The Magic are being cautious with their promising youngster after a busy offseason saw him help Germany to a bronze medal at EuroBasket, Price notes.
- Head coach Jamahl Mosley said Orlando plans to play “a bunch of (lineup) combinations throughout the preseason” in order to have everyone on the roster comfortable with each other (video link via Price). In a story for The Orlando Sentinel on the topic, Price explores six preseason lineups Mosley might deploy, including a jumbo combination featuring Banchero, Wagner, Wendell Carter Jr., Mohamed Bamba and one of Bol Bol, Chuma Okeke or Caleb Houstan.
- In his season preview for the Magic, John Hollinger of The Athletic writes that while Wagner and Banchero have All-Star potential and things might be better in the future, he believes Orlando will struggle in ’22/23 and finish with a 21-61 record, the worst in the East.
Mo Wagner had a great game the other night, didnt get a mention but he had 15 pts, 4rebs, 2 stls, 4-6 from 3pt, in 20 mins, was the Magic’s best big, better than Banchero, better than Wendell Carter Jr., it’s one game but it should enlighten some people on the kind of game Mo has.
“Dirk II”
Mo Wagner has always had a decent offensive game, but he can’t play with the big boys down low and isn’t fast enough to guard anyone else.
His energy level is consistently high, but his shooting and defense are extremely erratic with wild swings from night to night.
He plays hard but he’s a poor interior defender that brings very little rim or paint protection + his high energy way too often puts opponents on the FT line unnecessarily (team high 4.6 PF per36).
Also, WCJr just had a bad game – primarily because Mosley was experimenting with huge lineups that night that didn’t work…yesterday’s game WCJr was back to his norm, in 22 min dropped super-efficient 20 pt on 13 fga + 10 reb, 3 ast and 2 blocks.
lol at comparing Moritz to Dirk….c’mon dude that’s just flat out silly
I’m really curious to see how Jonathan Isaac looks when he comes back, as well as what lineups they use, considering their extreme plethora of 4s and 5s on the roster, who all arguably deserve rotation spots, except for Bol, who isnt an NBA player
Today’s Vic Wembanyama highlights were more ridiculous than the one’s from the 1st game.
The Orlando Front Office has one goal this season. Just One!!! Lose as many games as possible, to get as many Lottery Balls as possible.
Not much by way of attractive assets on the Orlando roster. Not gonna be easy to make this roster much worse. We can be certain that Orlando will be making no roster upgrades this season.
Why do people like this, that obviously never watch the Magic, feel compelled to comment on them…smh
The Magic are filled with a ton of talent and many attractive assets…team is just extremely young so it will take time for results to show in the W column.
Magic have talent. Its chemistry and direction they lack. I believe this is Bancheros team now. Suggs and Banchero are the anchors for them. Wagner at the 3 is also looking good.
Bamba, Anthony can be a part of it. Fultz, Issac are great chips to move. Even a lottery pick next yr. Is a big addition for any team. Imo Magic are set to start playing well. Banchero is legit. Bamba gives them rim protection and rebounding. They can win 30 gms.
Im really interested to see if they trade Fultz and Issac. Plenty of teams should come looking. I really like Banchero.
Isn’t Carter starting over Mamba ? It seems like Miami is trying to poke around for a fifth starter.
This will be the worst team in the NBA this season. I don’t think it will be particularly close either.