The Starter - Fngb3's Blog - Operation Sports

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The Starter

Posted on February 11, 2012 at 04:45 PM.

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The 2013-14 season began with exciting news for the 15th pick in the 2011 draft. Ion Falls had been named starting small forward for his Indiana Pacers. To commemorate the change Ion had shaved off his dreads and started the season with a short stubble that grew into his natural waves by Christmas and the turn of the calendar year.

Once the season began it was clear that mentally Falls benefited from the display of confidence his team was showing in him. With a slightly more polished post game and improvements in most of his weakest aspects Skinny came out ready to take smarter shots from the floor, especially from the post, and capitalize on his increased time in the block with better passing skills to create looks for his teamates. Finally he wanted to make some kind of impact defensively by using his length to play passing lanes and get his hands on shots, specifically from the perimiter.

By this time Falls had completely mastered his go-to move. The proficiency of his post fadeaway was great, and the lanky kid known as Skinny looked so slick when he shot it they gave him a new nickname: Smooth.

Being in the final year of his rookie contract, Falls was a resitricted free agent of some promise. Unsure whether to commit to Falls or the other young talents on their team such as Eric Gordon and Patrick Patterson the Pacers looked into trading the young small forward for veteran pieces on stable contracts, knowing Falls would be looking for a significant pay-day at the end of the season.

The Pacers traded Falls to the Atlanta Hawks on January 7th, 2014 for veteran Marvin Williams and a first round pick.

Ion fit well with his new team and Atlanta finished as the 7th seed in the East. Smooth was a starter in his first trip to the postseason ever, and riding the wave of confidence granted by being named the 2013-14 Most Improved Player, looked to help his new team make a deep run in the playoffs. However Atlanta got bounced in the first round and Ion suddenly found himself dealing, for the first time, with teams throughout the NBA knocking at his door looking to pay him for his services.

Going into restricted free agency Ion's averages for his 3rd season were impressive:
86 GP
32.3 MPG - 18.3 PPG - 6.5 RPG - 1.6 APG - 0.6 SPG - 0.6 BPG - .486 FG% - .217 3P% - .688 FT%

After contemplating many offers Falls decided to sign with the Orlando Magic as a starter for $11.18 million per year for 3 years. Falls hoped playing alongside a true superstar in Dwight Howard would help him evolve his game further, particularly on the defensive end where Dwight Howard dominated the game.

His focus in the offseason was going to be being able to spread the floor around the offensive post monster that was Howard. He and the Magic hoped that by coming out of the next summer with enough of a 3 point game to keep the floor spread around Orlando's marquee player, the Magic would make it back into the playoffs where they had not been in two years.

Ended the season as 79 overall.

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Ion Falls traded to Atlanta in 3rd year. Patented post fadeaway

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