2018-19 Roster

[Howard Mass]

Arron Afflalo is still listed because he is an unsigned free agent. That is how it is for unsigned free agents. Hopefully, he will get into a team's training camp.

The goals this off season were this.

- Make a good pick at #6
- Re-Sign Aaron Gordon to a good contract
- Make Upgrades to the roster via trades and only sign a free agent to a multi-year deal if you get a bargain.
- Find at least one player in the second round.

At #6, I think Mohamed Bamba was a very good pick with good upside. He is the center of he future here.

The Magic got Aaron Gordon re-signed well below max and the contract is front loaded and decreases each year.

Through trades, they were able to add Jerian Grant who is still developing at point guard and a solid reserve forward in Jarell Martin.

Both have expiring contracts and The Magic will be able to match any offer either receives next season as they will be restricted free agents.

Point Guard is going to be shaky this season especially with DJ Augustin as the projected starter for 82 games. I'm unsure he will hold up and to be safe, I'd only play him 28-30 mins a game.

Grant or Isaiah Briscoe will need to step up. It is possible a trade is made sometime before February for another point guard.

Many of us are anticipating Nikola Vucevic being moved and I think that will happen. Mo Bamba needs to be starting no later than after The All-Star Break. I'll miss Vuc but it is time for both sides to move on.

As for the second round picks, we will see what happens with Melvin Frazier Jr. and if Justin Jackson even signs. There are already 15 guaranteed deals and the two-way slots have been filled.

Any other player signed for camp is likely being signed for Lakeland.

We haven't seen the trade of Vucevic or a swing man yet to upgrade at point guard bhut other than that, this offseason has gone as expected and believe WeltHam have done a good job given the circumstances.

[OrlandO]

I seriously wonder how, doing nothing but going after every long-armed guy that they can found instilled this much confidence for this management in some of you guys that they can build something good. long or short term.

they may as well someday, but earning the benefit of the doubt should be something harder than this to achieve.

What has management done to warrant such doom and gloom? Are Isaac and Bamba busts already? Is AG's contract bad? Is Clifford a failure before he's even coached 1 game? Is cap flexibility no longer valued? Is Payton an all star? Is Hezonja an all star?

There's a difference between praising management and being patient with them.... the plane hasn't even taken off, yet some of you are already jumping out of it. Giving the benefit of the doubt is a lot more neutral than doom and gloom at this point.

this isn't about doom and gloom, this is more about not being able to feel excitement with the current state of affairs.

i need a sense of vision at play that we're on a path to success. even hinkie and henny, aside from their inability to execute, gave the impressions of men with ideas on how to get there. when i look at our roster, and see our 3 highest potential guys are in the same mold of can't shoot, can't create, athletic freaks that plays on the same side of the court; all i can think of is these guys' whole plan is just throwing **** at the wall to see if anyone of them can look like a giannis.

Henny had much better vision? You mean the guy that built the team backward with a PG who couldn't shoot (now getting paid less than his QO) and an offensive C (later tried replacing with a downgrade who couldn't catch or make a layup), traded away some of our best talent for scrubs, drafted a euro bench player with a high lottery pick and referred to him as a turd a year later, hired multiple clown coaches with little to no leadership qualities, never signed a good free agent to a long term deal, and put us in a financial crunch for years by grossly overpaying career backups. After many years of rebuilding, he actually thought you could start EP, AG and Biyombo together and compete for the playoffs. That's not just poor execution... it's poor everything.

Weltman is having to undo Henny's failed rebuild before getting his own rebuild fully underway and you are upset because it's taking longer than a year? Do you know who was leading our team in year 2 of Henny's rebuild? Afflalo, Nelson and Big Baby with Jacque Vaughn as coach... we didn't know what Hennigan had planned at that point either. Similarly, we can't get a full grasp on Weltman's vision or plan yet because it's too early. That doesn't mean he doesn't have something in mind or a plan in place.

I would argue that Weltman appears to be doing what Hennigan only talked about doing... Hennigan wanted a team full of athletic players who could guard 3 or 4 positions, but that never even came close to coming to fruition. In a year Weltman's already added two of our most versatile defenders since dwight at positions that need it. Surely you see the vision on the defensive end? Isaac and Bamba need to develop offensively, but let's not pretend they're finished products and lack potential. Both these guys have better looking shooting strokes at age 20 than EP/AG did.

I think the only reason some of you are so impatient and overly critical is because Henny wasted five years of our rebuild and you're unfairly projecting some of that failure onto Weltman. Is it really so difficult to give Weltman at least 2 full years to rebuild the failed rebuild before declaring him clueless? You've seen Isaac play less than 30 games and much of that time was while hurt. You've seen Bamba in 0 games. You don't even know who he wants as a starting PG, how he'd spend significant cap space, or which "core" players he views more as trade assets. All that stuff is coming sooner than later.

[Howard Mass]

Right now, we are just waiting to see who the other two players for Training Camp to be sent to Lakeland will be.

[fendilim]

Whats the juice on Justin Jackson? Will he even be fully recovered by the start of the season?

[spinedoc]

Whats the juice on Justin Jackson? Will he even be fully recovered by the start of the season?

He should be good to go. He's 8 months removed from his surgery, and kept him out of SL as a precaution. Strength should be, or has returned by now. Game shape might be a different story considering we are talking about a professional athlete.

[Curtis Lemansky]

Khem Birch finished the season nicely, do you guys expect him to be a regular part of the rotation?

[SOUL]

Khem Birch finished the season nicely, do you guys expect him to be a regular part of the rotation?

If/when Vuc is gone I could see it. Early on...ehhh, I anticipate only spot minutes. Hard to guess with a new coach though.

[Howard Mass]

Khem Birch finished the season nicely, do you guys expect him to be a regular part of the rotation?

If/when Vuc is gone I could see it. Early on...ehhh, I anticipate only spot minutes. Hard to guess with a new coach though.

The thing everyone is waiting on is the Vucevic trade which is expected to happen no later than The Trading Deadline.

The other question is how much Gordon or Issac gets used at small forward?

I think Birch would have played over Biyombo had he not be moved but right now it is indeed looking like spot minutes for him.

Hopefully, we will see a trade to clear the front court logjam sooner rather than later although nothing should be forced.

[Furinkazan]

I see the depth cart going to the preseason as:

Augustin/Grant/Briscoe
Fournier/Ross/Iwundu
Isaac/Simmons/Frazier
Gordon/Martin/Birch
Vučević/Bamba/Mozgov

Most of these 15 will float between roster slots. It is a versatile, defense led group. It might be at the bottom of the league in shooting percentage, but the team looks at first glance to be fun to watch.


..

Fun to watch?Watching them struggle to score will be like

[OrlandoDream]

I still cant believe we will be going into the season with DJ as our starting PG. The Free agent and/or trade PG market could not have been that bad.

[Magic4champ]

Let's see what we got this year and hopefully gain experience by winning and take a playoff spot this season

Ballhandlers, playmaker, offense initiator
1. Augustin
2. Fournier
3. Simmons
4.Grant
5. Gordon
6. Ross
7. Briscoe

Wings, 3D, defense
1. Isaac
2.Frazier
3. Martin
4. Iwundu

Bigs
1.Vucevic
2.Bamba
3. Birch
4. Mozgov

[pepe1991]

I still cant believe we will be going into the season with DJ as our starting PG. The Free agent and/or trade PG market could not have been that bad.

It's not just that he is starter, he is also that much better than his backups that he should backup himself

[Blue_and_Whte]

You still continue to struggle grasping the concept of tanking. The goal was not to get better this summer.

That is sig worthy right there. Let me see, since I've been back to the boards I've learned that mid-range shots are bad, three pointers and layups are the only thing acceptable due to some math formula, pass first pg's are not needed anymore, and the pf position is being transformed to something completely unrecognizable, and being a tweener is actually a desired thing now. And to add to that, I clearly don't understand the art of tanking, and that trying your best to get better every year is a no no. Man, I am a dinosaur.

Wow...Yeah you've been gone awhile. Also mid range shots are acceptable..depending on the name on the back of the jersey.