Is Jalen Suggs our 3rd best player?

[tooler]

Shot selection has been a sneaky huge improvement for the team. Mosley stopped the centers from jacking up 3s. Paolo is getting his feet set on them. Suggs is using his speed where it matters — in transition — instead of where it hurts him (set defense).

[Residual-Heat]

Its still very early in the season, but so far i would say Suggs has been close to/better than Oladipo was at the same age. Ofcourse Suggs has been playing less minutes and has a more limited role on offense.
https://stathead.com/basketball/versus-finder.cgi?request=1&seasons_type=perchoice&player_id1=suggsja01&p1yrfrom=2024&p1yrto=2024&player_id2=oladivi01&p2yrfrom=2015&p2yrto=2015

[GelbeWand09]

Suggs is now shooting 36.5% from 3 on 4 attempts over his last 50 games. Pretty much half of his NBA career. It looks like he is gonna be a (much) better shooter than Tony Allen (28% career) & Smart (32.3%), who he's often compared to.

[Optimus_Steel]

Suggs is now shooting 36.5% from 3 on 4 attempts over his last 50 games. Pretty much half of his NBA career. It looks like he is gonna be a (much) better shooter than Tony Allen (28% career) & Smart (32.3%), who he's often compared to.

Interesting, thanks for sharing. That would be huge for us.

[JoshuaPotter]

I too am still not sold that Suggs is our 3rd best player.

However.

He may very well be.

Remove Suggs, play Fultz + Harris. Do we retain the hot streak?

I'm inclined to say not just "no" but "heck no".

Remove Suggs, I do not think in totality this streak of ours happens. It's a lot for me like saying "remove Isaac" even in his limited role. he puts up monstrous numbers that are NBA Jam level worthy.

There is a metric that Suggs + Isaac give us that can't be substantiated by PPG.

At the same time, take away Cole + Mo Wagner and 1 or 2 of these games we turn into 10-7. Not mad about that by the way. But I think we are closer to 8-7 without Suggs+Isaac.

[jezzerinho]

Isaac is getting waaaaaay overhyped on these threads imo.

Availability: Has played 14 mpg and missed 3 games.

Usage: 19% - good for 5th om the team, but his Off. EPM is -2.3, 32nd percentile offense.

Efficiency: eFG% is in the 17th percentile. Shooting 21% from 3

Ball movement: assist percentage of only 3.9% (nearly bottom of the league)

Defensively, he's been a monster in his limited minutes. Just a force of nature.

But, he's the definition of a 1-way player and is giving you deep bench minutes.

Is he contributing to the run? Of.course. But his contribution is behind those of all the starters (bar maybe Black), behind Cole, Moe, Jingles, Harris. So, about 9th best performing player, realistically.

Potentially, i could see him climbing to 6th or so. He is not in the 3rd best player conversation, by a country mile.

[MagicMatic]

Isaac is getting waaaaaay overhyped on these threads imo.

Availability: Has played 14 mpg and missed 3 games.

Usage: 19% - good for 5th om the team, but his Off. EPM is -2.3, 32nd percentile offense.

Efficiency: eFG% is in the 17th percentile. Shooting 21% from 3

Ball movement: assist percentage of only 3.9% (nearly bottom of the league)

Defensively, he's been a monster in his limited minutes. Just a force of nature.

But, he's the definition of a 1-way player and is giving you deep bench minutes.

Is he contributing to the run? Of.course. But his contribution is behind those of all the starters (bar maybe Black), behind Cole, Moe, Jingles, Harris. So, about 9th best performing player, realistically.

Potentially, i could see him climbing to 6th or so. He is not in the 3rd best player conversation, by a country mile.

As much as I can appreciate Isaac’s defensive ability… I completely agree.

You can’t be the third best player on the team if you are playing 14mpg and play every other game due to injury precaution.

Also, probably can’t be by definition coming in to play the same position as your legitimate #1 option.

The answer to this poll is yes. If Suggs starts playing offense like a 3rd option, then it will ease the minds of a few people on the forum that don’t believe a complimentary defensive player can be your #3 option next to two Playmaking Forwards carrying the offense.

People have been posting the metrics. It’s apparent Suggs has raised his level of play and efficiency on offense higher than his detractors expected. If he remains aggressive and takes pressure off of Franz/Paolo then Orlando will be hard to beat.

[Bensational]

Suggs and Isaac have been elite role players during our win streak. Suggs is shooting 40% from 3 on 4 attempts a game with a TS% of 66.2%, which places him 3rd behind Moe Swags and Isaac. But Isaac is only shooting 20% from 3 so his efficiency is all around the rim.

[Audi]

I think the biggest question is - can we afford to have Suggs be our 3rd best player? Or, said differently, can we afford to have our C and PG be 4th and 5th options, or do we need to find a player for one of those slots that is for sure our 3rd best (or better).

[SOUL]

Top 25 in EPM ‘23-‘24

Jokic
Embiid
SGA
Haliburton
Chet
Book
LeBron
Curry
Tatum
S. Barnes
KD
Giannis
Trae
PG
Edwards
Luka
Mitchell
KP
Şengün
Fox
Maxey
Middleton
Kyrie
Lauri
Suggs

[Bensational]

I think the biggest question is - can we afford to have Suggs be our 3rd best player? Or, said differently, can we afford to have our C and PG be 4th and 5th options, or do we need to find a player for one of those slots that is for sure our 3rd best (or better).

True, that’s the fundamental divide in a lot of opinions.

For now our starting PG and C are asking more of Paolo, Franz and Suggs and they’re delivering, and I don’t see any reason to put a cap on that over the next few seasons. If Suggs shooting takes off a lot more of the game will open up for him consequently. But lately Cole has been closing so I suppose when we need that extra option we’ve got one on the roster already.

If we can find a consistent and stable offense through Paolo and Franz then I think we just allow the others to find their games within that and build off the strengths: paint scoring, passing, cutting, offensive rebounds and open 3’s.

[ogmagicfan]

Isaac is getting waaaaaay overhyped on these threads imo.

Availability: Has played 14 mpg and missed 3 games.

Usage: 19% - good for 5th om the team, but his Off. EPM is -2.3, 32nd percentile offense.

Efficiency: eFG% is in the 17th percentile. Shooting 21% from 3

Ball movement: assist percentage of only 3.9% (nearly bottom of the league)

Defensively, he's been a monster in his limited minutes. Just a force of nature.

But, he's the definition of a 1-way player and is giving you deep bench minutes.

Is he contributing to the run? Of.course. But his contribution is behind those of all the starters (bar maybe Black), behind Cole, Moe, Jingles, Harris. So, about 9th best performing player, realistically.

Potentially, i could see him climbing to 6th or so. He is not in the 3rd best player conversation, by a country mile.

Isaac = Has a 94 Defensive Rating when on the court, which is insane.

He also has been rebounding the ball well.

If he wasn't playing those 14 mpg, our bench would not function how they need to. He cleans up defensive mistakes. He also has been closing out games for the Magic

Clearly he needs to perform better offensively, but even with his poor offensive play, he's been a big net positive because his defense has been generational

[byeganyo]

He is a hard worker, that's something we can all agree on, maybe a bit too hard actually... so he will keep improving unless he breaks down, till he reaches his full potential, that's a certain. Obviously he has some limitations, but I dont think that the start of the 3rd season is supposed to be his prime, so lets wait and see, his shooting is clearly improving and he reached the league average in true shooting already, can he sustain this form and slightly improves it, i dont know, but im hopeful. And then yes, he can be a legitimate 3rd best player on a competing team.

[Residual-Heat]

Early in their careers, no one really thought Kawhi Leonard or Jimmy Butler would be MVP level players. They were for the most part, defensive specialists. Now i highly doubt Suggs ever reaches that level, but i do think he has got a higher ceiling than most believe.

[tooler]

Yes, who knows what Suggs will become, but ceiling talk has always been so meaningless. The best players from that draft change every season.

[MagicFan101]

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[neuraldarwinism]

regardless of if he is or isnt capable of being the 3rd best player on a championship team, an elite defending, high volume 37% 3 shooter (let alone what else he brings) is extremely valuable across the league.
if the 3 is stable even at this average success rate (let alone if he hit 39%ish) he's definitely a 4th best player on a championship team.

simply, once again i am vindicated

[Def Swami]

I feel like this is the Suggs we all thought we would eventually get when we drafted him in 2021.

[GameOver25]

I feel like this is the Suggs we all thought we would eventually get when we drafted him in 2021.

To be honest I didn't know he would have the defensive impact he's shown thus far. It's been amazing.

[OrlChamps2030]

He’s definitely playing like our 3rd best player right now. His defense has been elite as ever and his shooting, finishing, and TOV% have all significantly improved. I would really like to see him sustain as a 36-37% 3PT shooter this season.

I hope Fultz doesn’t come back and **** it all up