Around the NBA, 2020/21 Edition

[MagicFan101]

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There goes the Westbrook trade fantasy some of our posters have. Lol

Yeah... lets tank this season with the way other East teams have reloaded.

Teams in the East *clearly* better than Orlando:

(in no particular order)

1) Bucks
2) Heat
3) Nets
4) 76ers
5) Celtics
6) Raptors
7) Pacers
8) Hawks
9) Wizards
10) Hornets (?) -- this is where things get iffy. it depends on the development of guys like Fultz / Ball

What is not *iffy* is the question "is Orlando making the playoffs?" --- no, no they are not. So climb aboard that TANK! and roll on.

[Bensational]

I think Westbrook and Beal will surprise and have that team as a 6-7 seed.

I don't think Charlotte are better than us. I don't think Hayward will move the needle for them that much on his own. So we're likely 10th and fighting for a play-in spot.

But we will probably start slow, fall out of that play-in position, rally against weak teams leading up to ASB and then double down, again, as we always do.

We'll just have to hope the lottery is kind to us for a change.

[MagicFan101]

What is the point to fighting for the right to barely MISS the playoffs?

It is bad enough to fight for the right to get embarrassed in the first round.

We need to tank.

[Bensational]

I'm not disagreeing, just stating what's likely to happen with the current management.

[CZ Eddie]

Teams in the East *clearly* better than Orlando:

(in no particular order)

1) Bucks
2) Heat
3) Nets
4) 76ers
5) Celtics
6) Raptors
7) Pacers
8) Hawks
9) Wizards
10) Hornets (?) -- this is where things get iffy. it depends on the development of guys like Fultz / Ball

What is not *iffy* is the question "is Orlando making the playoffs?" --- no, no they are not. So climb aboard that TANK! and roll on.

Ehh, when the Magic are playing well, they are a top 15 team in the entire league.
Our biggest problem, IMO... is inconsistent offense.
Give us just one new consistent scorer and it could change the entire team offensive chemistry for the better.
And keep up that decent D.

[Rainwater]

Teams in the East *clearly* better than Orlando:

(in no particular order)

1) Bucks
2) Heat
3) Nets
4) 76ers
5) Celtics
6) Raptors
7) Pacers
8) Hawks
9) Wizards
10) Hornets (?) -- this is where things get iffy. it depends on the development of guys like Fultz / Ball

What is not *iffy* is the question "is Orlando making the playoffs?" --- no, no they are not. So climb aboard that TANK! and roll on.

Ehh, when the Magic are playing well, they are a top 15 team in the entire league.
Our biggest problem, IMO... is inconsistent offense.
Give us just one new consistent scorer and it could change the entire team offensive chemistry for the better.
And keep up that decent D.

Lol at the magic being a top 15 team when they play well. I think Pepe had a stat indicating that the magic were one of the worse teams to ever make the playoffs in NBA history. The magic are a terrible team, they are lucky they play in the east. But i agree with the original list, could definitely see the magic as 10th or 11th seed this season.

[Knightro]

I would say the Bucks, Heat, Nets, 76ers, Celtics, Raptors and Pacers are the only teams in the East who are no questions asked better than the Magic.

The Hawks, Wizards, Hornets and Bulls *could* all be better, but they could all be be worse too.

I think the Magic will be better than the Cavs, Pistons and Knicks.

Feels like Orlando's range is 8 to 12 depending on injuries and breaks and all that.

If they do end up 12th in the East, there's a good chance they'll be in the bottom 5 because there's really only one clear cut tanker out West (OKC).

[Bensational]

Westbrook hasn't missed the playoffs in the West in years, including his season with an underperforming Oladipo. With Beal and in the East he will dominate. It's really surprising how many people seem to sleep on this.

Guarantee - he and Beal will do well and the majority of posters on this board will be then screaming that we should've traded for him or make a similar trade in the future for a player like him.

Then when one becomes available they'll turn around again and say "too old!", "not for that money!", etc etc.

[Ducklett]

Westbrook hasn't missed the playoffs in the West in years, including his season with an underperforming Oladipo. With Beal and in the East he will dominate. It's really surprising how many people seem to sleep on this.

Guarantee - he and Beal will do well and the majority of posters on this board will be then screaming that we should've traded for him or make a similar trade in the future for a player like him.

Then when one becomes available they'll turn around again and say "too old!", "not for that money!", etc etc.

If we had a disgruntled star PG to trade for PG Westbrook, everyone here would have been happy to do it.

Asking us to trade 3/5s of our starting lineup (none PG) for Westbrook to go from 10-12th seed to 7-9th seed is such a different scenario that comparing the two is fruitless.

[MoMM]

Westbrook hasn't missed the playoffs in the West in years, including his season with an underperforming Oladipo. With Beal and in the East he will dominate. It's really surprising how many people seem to sleep on this.

Guarantee - he and Beal will do well and the majority of posters on this board will be then screaming that we should've traded for him or make a similar trade in the future for a player like him.

Then when one becomes available they'll turn around again and say "too old!", "not for that money!", etc etc.

Excluding injuries, Wizards will make the playoffs for sure, IMO, it's not like it is Beal + Russ, they also have Bryant, Rui and Bertans, that's a good starting 5 in the Eastern conf.

[MagicFan101]

I would say the Bucks, Heat, Nets, 76ers, Celtics, Raptors and Pacers are the only teams in the East who are no questions asked better than the Magic.

The Hawks, Wizards, Hornets and Bulls *could* all be better, but they could all be be worse too.

I think the Magic will be better than the Cavs, Pistons and Knicks.

Feels like Orlando's range is 8 to 12 depending on injuries and breaks and all that.

If they do end up 12th in the East, there's a good chance they'll be in the bottom 5 because there's really only one clear cut tanker out West (OKC).

I can’t get on board with the Wizards being in the same discussion as Orlando now. They have two (healthy) stars above anyone on our team + some okay role players + a nice rookie coming in.

Atlanta made a lot of moves and has another year with a clear young star. Their trajectory is up. I’ll give you that we don’t know what to expect from Fultz, Okeke or Cole and we have trade potential but I see their star shining brighter. But sure, I’m okay leaving them in the “Maybe” group for now.

Charlotte gets questionable only because people want to tell me Ball is a future star and they added Gordon Hayward. I’m not a believer but you have to leave the door open.

I’m not impressed with Chicago.

[basketballRob]

JJ is back with Stan.

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[drsd]

JJ is back with Stan.

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That was ACE !


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[basketballRob]

Maxey out with Covid19.

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Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

[pepe1991]

Good to see Wiggins in his mid season form
0 rebounds
1 assist
3-8 FG
4 fouls
2 turnovers

$32M well spent

I 100% confident Warriors won't win more than 35 games.

[Bensational]

Good to see Wiggins in his mid season form
0 rebounds
1 assist
3-8 FG
4 fouls
2 turnovers

$32M well spent

I 100% confident Warriors won't win more than 35 games.

I think they'll be competing for the playoffs and a play-in spot. The West might end up with a similar glut of good teams chasing those spots like last season and they'll be amongst that lot and 35 wins might be enough for that.

I wish we'd traded Vuc and Fournier for him just to see your head explode watching Bamba/Gordon/Wiggins/Fultz on the same team.

[pepe1991]

Good to see Wiggins in his mid season form
0 rebounds
1 assist
3-8 FG
4 fouls
2 turnovers

$32M well spent

I 100% confident Warriors won't win more than 35 games.

I think they'll be competing for the playoffs and a play-in spot. The West might end up with a similar glut of good teams chasing those spots like last season and they'll be amongst that lot and 35 wins might be enough for that.

I wish we'd traded Vuc and Fournier for him just to see your head explode watching Bamba/Gordon/Wiggins/Fultz on the same team.

Bennett sucked, was removed from nba, Wiggins sucks as bad, but plays so devalues every team even more.
Easly one of the least valuable basketball players out there. Normally, bad players don't start or play in general, this guy gets 30 min a game to suck life out of every team he is part of.

[Ducklett]

Good to see Wiggins in his mid season form
0 rebounds
1 assist
3-8 FG
4 fouls
2 turnovers

$32M well spent

I 100% confident Warriors won't win more than 35 games.

I think they'll be competing for the playoffs and a play-in spot. The West might end up with a similar glut of good teams chasing those spots like last season and they'll be amongst that lot and 35 wins might be enough for that.

I wish we'd traded Vuc and Fournier for him just to see your head explode watching Bamba/Gordon/Wiggins/Fultz on the same team.

Bennett sucked, was removed from nba, Wiggins sucks as bad, but plays so devalues every team even more.
Easly one of the least valuable basketball players out there. Normally, bad players don't start or play in general, this guy gets 30 min a game to suck life out of every team he is part of.

I find it interesting how you wrote his stat-line, I said to myself "Wow, that is bad". I went to the GSW boards and they gave him an A- for his game. What am I missing? Lol.

[pepe1991]

I think they'll be competing for the playoffs and a play-in spot. The West might end up with a similar glut of good teams chasing those spots like last season and they'll be amongst that lot and 35 wins might be enough for that.

I wish we'd traded Vuc and Fournier for him just to see your head explode watching Bamba/Gordon/Wiggins/Fultz on the same team.

Bennett sucked, was removed from nba, Wiggins sucks as bad, but plays so devalues every team even more.
Easly one of the least valuable basketball players out there. Normally, bad players don't start or play in general, this guy gets 30 min a game to suck life out of every team he is part of.

I find it interesting how you wrote his stat-line, I said to myself "Wow, that is bad". I went to the GSW boards and they gave him an A- for his game. What am I missing? Lol.

Denial stage with new player.

Don't worry, won't last long

They were before game, and whole offseason long hyping Chriss, Chriss would struggle to find starting job on serious Euroleague team.

They tried to defend Jokic 1 on 1 with him... well 25 points in 20ish min on 81% FG.
Went as anybody would expect from draft bust

[drsd]

Teams in the East *clearly* better than Orlando:

(in no particular order)

1) Bucks
2) Heat
3) Nets
4) 76ers
5) Celtics
6) Raptors
7) Pacers
8) Hawks
9) Wizards
10) Hornets (?) -- this is where things get iffy. it depends on the development of guys like Fultz / Ball

What is not *iffy* is the question "is Orlando making the playoffs?" --- no, no they are not. So climb aboard that TANK! and roll on.

ESPN has the Wizards and Hawks over the Magic, and the Hornets behind.

10th seed here we come ????


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