Magic All-Star forward Paolo Banchero barely looked worse for wear upon returning to action after missing two-plus months with an oblique injury. He recently reflected on his time away in a “diary entry” for Andscape’s Marc J. Spears.
“The toughest part was just missing out on the competition, missing out on the games and being out there with your teammates,” Banchero said. “Obviously, they did a really good job of getting wins and playing at a high level. But as a competitor, you just want to be out there. For me, it was the longest injury I’ve had to deal with.”
In his four games back so far, the former Rookie of the Year has averaged 24.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 0.8 blocks and 0.5 steals per night.
“So, just having to sit there and watch night after night, it allowed me to grow in some other areas, whether it was watching the game from the bench and helping teammates out, telling them what I see, [or] what I think they can do differently throughout the game,” Banchero added. “And also, just talking to the coaches’ staff too after every game on the road, different times, just picking their brains as well and seeing what they think.”
There’s more out of the Southeast Division:
- The Magic have been struggling all year with their shooting from beyond the arc, observes Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. As of this writing, the Magic have the worst three-point conversion rate in the league at 30.4%. That’s 3.4% worse than the Wizards, who are the No. 29 club in that department. “Got to go back and look at them and see if we’re getting the right ones,” head coach Jamahl Mosley said. “We’re getting downhill and teams are collapsing. We’re going to see more zone [defense], understood. But we’ve got to keep continuing to make the right play. I’m never discouraged when we’re getting the right looks.”
- The Hornets have assigned rookie lottery pick big man Tidjane Salaun to their G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm, for the first time this season, the team announced (Twitter link). The 19-year-old has appeared in 34 contests for Charlotte, averaging 4.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists per contest off the bench.
- Wizards guard Jordan Poole had a big night on Saturday against his former team, the Warriors, scoring a game-high 38 points, but it wasn’t enough to secure a win, notes Varun Shankar of The Washington Post.“Made some really tough shots, big shots for us,” said head coach Brian Keefe of Poole’s impact. “I thought he was terrific tonight. They threw the kitchen sink at him down the stretch to make life difficult for him. He really pulled us forward tonight. Hell of a game.”