Official Speculation & Free Agency Thread (Pt X, Mods close)

[YosemiteSam]

I'm not sure how BS slipped this in or why, but

CEO Alex Martins won't deal with Dwight Howard's agent after training-camp meeting/demand. Only GM Otis Smith speaks with Dan Fegan now.

I know, it was a random tweet in the middle of BS's postgame. Thought it was strange. I know many here were banking on Alex running the show, according to BS, he's not. I'm not sure if Devos was ever involved in trades before, but I still believe he will have the final say with Dwight.

^^^^Exactly. I don't take this to mean he's leaving it to Otis, I think it means he's only talking directly to Dwight, not to his reps/handlers. My guess is in the preseason meeting he felt that the agent was only interested in moving Dwight and couldn't be trusted to share all the relevant details with Dwight so he wasn't negotiating in good faith - therefore he would speak with Dwight directly and let Otis handle the reps as a way to dis-empower Otis further. It remains to be seen how much influence Fegan has on Dwight vs. Dwight himself or Adidas or Jay-Z.

That might be why Otis has been so hostile to Dwight in quotes - he may be basically barred from discussing with Dwight directly while Martins handles that and Otis is left to stew on the side with Fegan (and not be able to consumate whatever bargain led to the JRich 4 year contract fiasco)

[BadMofoPimp]

What Fagen does could define his career and not just make him rich off of Dwight, but gain many more lucrative Players under his wing. So, he probably has more to gain that Dwight.

[MagicFan41]

http://www.iamagm.com/news/2012/02/07/k ... ixed.kiddy

Kobe claims the Dwight rumors about him and Dwight aren't true...

[LC_Magic]

Kobe is never going to say "yh i upset him in a phone call"

[jim rockford]

grunching here but why haven't NYK, Miami or Atlanta been mentioned much in Dwight sweepstakes?

i assume he'd play those places and each has the pieces to get it done i think. NYK should unload carmello. obvargument that otherteams shouldn't want him

[WeAreVenom]

http://www.iamagm.com/news/2012/02/07/kobe.bryant.rumors.he.had.falling.out.dwight.howard.i.m.not.getting.mixed.kiddy

Kobe claims the Dwight rumors about him and Dwight aren't true...

I pressed on, nonetheless. I sent Kobe the story and asked him to confirm, deny or both depending on the paragraph.

“omg! I’m not getting mixed up in this kiddy drama spit, bro. too old for that spit,” Bryant responded via email.

“How do you think I feel at my age having to chase down this stuff,” I answered. “I understand your position. But if it’s untrue, any of it, and allowed to circulate throughout the league, which already is happening, I would think you’d want to say it’s not.”

“It’s not true,” Kobe responded.

I have a very hard time believe Kobe typed the words 'omg'.

Hell, I'm 10 years younger than him and I feel like I'm too old to use it.....

[WeAreVenom]

I'm not sure how BS slipped this in or why, but

so we are really going ALL in with otis? an isolated otis at that

Otis isn't calling the shots, I'd bet my life on it. There is no way Otis would have the final say on anything to do with Dwight. I just think this means Alex is annoyed with Fegan and doesn't want to deal with him directly.

Exactly.

Otis is part of the reason we're in this mess, no way in hell does he get the final say in this.

[MagicFan41]

http://www.iamagm.com/news/2012/02/07/kobe.bryant.rumors.he.had.falling.out.dwight.howard.i.m.not.getting.mixed.kiddy

Kobe claims the Dwight rumors about him and Dwight aren't true...

I pressed on, nonetheless. I sent Kobe the story and asked him to confirm, deny or both depending on the paragraph.

“omg! I’m not getting mixed up in this kiddy drama spit, bro. too old for that spit,” Bryant responded via email.

“How do you think I feel at my age having to chase down this stuff,” I answered. “I understand your position. But if it’s untrue, any of it, and allowed to circulate throughout the league, which already is happening, I would think you’d want to say it’s not.”

“It’s not true,” Kobe responded.

I have a very hard time believe Kobe typed the words 'omg'.

Hell, I'm 10 years younger than him and I feel like I'm too old to use it.....

Peter Vecsey is a pretty damned renowned NBA journalist (which is why he has the ability to evidently email Kobe directly and get a response). You think he made it up knowing that might come back to Kobe? I dunno about that...these guys text and such all day long. "omg" is a pretty commonly used phrase by athletes and celebs and such in today's twitter-oriented world. "SMH" anybody? I mean, do you say you're "too old for this kiddy drama spit" either? Who knows, but I def wouldn't put that out of what Kobe would say, that sounds like Kobe's typical type of response.

I'm not saying Kobe DIDN'T say some things to Dwight about being mainly a Chandler-esque type of piece to the puzzle, I'm simply saying I believe the quotes are actually from Kobe denying it.

[magicman112]

[Otis isn't calling the shots, I'd bet my life on it. There is no way Otis would have the final say on anything to do with Dwight. I just think this means Alex is annoyed with Fegan and doesn't want to deal with him directly.[/quote]

Exactly.

Otis is part of the reason we're in this mess, no way in hell does he get the final say in this.[/quote]


Yep, the rumored Nets deal a few months back was shot down by ownership reportedly so if it was true that confims it...

[WeAreVenom]

http://www.iamagm.com/news/2012/02/07/kobe.bryant.rumors.he.had.falling.out.dwight.howard.i.m.not.getting.mixed.kiddy

Kobe claims the Dwight rumors about him and Dwight aren't true...

I pressed on, nonetheless. I sent Kobe the story and asked him to confirm, deny or both depending on the paragraph.

“omg! I’m not getting mixed up in this kiddy drama spit, bro. too old for that spit,” Bryant responded via email.

“How do you think I feel at my age having to chase down this stuff,” I answered. “I understand your position. But if it’s untrue, any of it, and allowed to circulate throughout the league, which already is happening, I would think you’d want to say it’s not.”

“It’s not true,” Kobe responded.

I have a very hard time believe Kobe typed the words 'omg'.

Hell, I'm 10 years younger than him and I feel like I'm too old to use it.....

Peter Vecsey is a pretty damned renowned NBA journalist (which is why he has the ability to evidently email Kobe directly and get a response). You think he made it up knowing that might come back to Kobe? I dunno about that...these guys text and such all day long. "omg" is a pretty commonly used phrase by athletes and celebs and such in today's twitter-oriented world. "SMH" anybody? I mean, do you say you're "too old for this kiddy drama spit" either? Who knows, but I def wouldn't put that out of what Kobe would say, that sounds like Kobe's typical type of response.

I'm not saying Kobe DIDN'T say some things to Dwight about being mainly a Chandler-esque type of piece to the puzzle, I'm simply saying I believe the quotes are actually from Kobe denying it.

I think he meant sh*t, and he just edited it.

I'm not saying he didn't deny it, I'm sure he did. I was just saying I find it hard to believe that Kobe actually sat there and typed "OMG".

[Bensational]

I know, it was a random tweet in the middle of BS's postgame. Thought it was strange. I know many here were banking on Alex running the show, according to BS, he's not. I'm not sure if Devos was ever involved in trades before, but I still believe he will have the final say with Dwight.

^^^^Exactly. I don't take this to mean he's leaving it to Otis, I think it means he's only talking directly to Dwight, not to his reps/handlers. My guess is in the preseason meeting he felt that the agent was only interested in moving Dwight and couldn't be trusted to share all the relevant details with Dwight so he wasn't negotiating in good faith - therefore he would speak with Dwight directly and let Otis handle the reps as a way to dis-empower Otis further. It remains to be seen how much influence Fegan has on Dwight vs. Dwight himself or Adidas or Jay-Z.

That might be why Otis has been so hostile to Dwight in quotes - he may be basically barred from discussing with Dwight directly while Martins handles that and Otis is left to stew on the side with Fegan (and not be able to consumate whatever bargain led to the JRich 4 year contract fiasco)

No doubt Fegan is looking at that DRose deal with Adidas and licking his lips at his cut of a similar deal with Dwight.

what do you mean about the JRich contract? you think there was a favour coming our way for giving him that contract, or you think that contract was a favour if we dealt Dwight? Fegan would/should have known that that contract would ultimately eat into our chances at making a run at cap space to make our own effort to sign Deron.

[MagicFan41]

No doubt Fegan is looking at that DRose deal with Adidas and licking his lips at his cut of a similar deal with Dwight.

what do you mean about the JRich contract? you think there was a favour coming our way for giving him that contract, or you think that contract was a favour if we dealt Dwight? Fegan would/should have known that that contract would ultimately eat into our chances at making a run at cap space to make our own effort to sign Deron.

I think it was done to appease Fegan (who would then try to swing Dwight Orlando's way), who also is J-Rich's agent right? The Baby move was done to appease Dwight and the J-Rich move to appease Fegan.

[YosemiteSam]

No doubt Fegan is looking at that DRose deal with Adidas and licking his lips at his cut of a similar deal with Dwight.

what do you mean about the JRich contract? you think there was a favour coming our way for giving him that contract, or you think that contract was a favour if we dealt Dwight? Fegan would/should have known that that contract would ultimately eat into our chances at making a run at cap space to make our own effort to sign Deron.

I think it was done to appease Fegan (who would then try to swing Dwight Orlando's way), who also is J-Rich's agent right? The Baby move was done to appease Dwight and the J-Rich move to appease Fegan.

What I meant (and it's all supposition) was that we signed JRich for more (and definitely LONGER) than he could get elsewhere and then Fegan works to get Otis a solid deal from NJ for Dwight - that was the Lopez/G Wallace/picks for Dwight and Hedo deal. This was to avoid Dwight sabatoging all the options and threatening to just sign straight up with the Nets unless we traded him for scraps so that the Nets wouldn't be stripped from acquiring him. But then ownership killed the deal and decided to try and keep him or find a better deal (which I bet sent Fegan through the roof) and he likely started lobbing threats which caused ownership to offload him to Otis.

I also think Vanderweide approved the JRich and Davis deals (as ownership) and after finding that out Daddy sent his son-in-law (Tommy Boy) off to pasture and put a grown-up in charge (Martins)

[Reverse_Angle]

aaron brooks is the answer. Suns will not match.
anyone remember jamon gordon?

both works much better than duhon. if it is brooks, nelson-off-the-bench would average an efficient 20 ppg. i think we are a fast/quick PG away from contending.

[Orlando Prodigy]

Apparently SVG was on Magic Drive Time an hour ago. Was anything good said?

[jezzer45]

jrich has almost reached the point where he deserves minutes over jj(who is not helping his chances with his play of late). With him becoming a productive starter (10-15ppg) for 6 mil a year is a great bargain. SVG system seems to bring scorers ppg down in the first season(specially sg), also with dwight being in the game for as long as he is, others really can not get the green light to fire. I am not sure if the magic can upgrade that position and reap the benefits from any non-superstar scorer. In my opinion what is needed is a defend first starting guard/forward to stop the other teams top guy.
I would try to get someone like Ariza. Even though he has fallen off in NO he is still an above average defender and is most likely available. I know he was not good in the SVG system but the magic are in a desperate need of a defender more than anything.

[rcklsscognition]

All things indicating Stephen Jackson will be traded soon. Steve Nash in the news a lot too.

[Blue_and_Whte]

jrich has almost reached the point where he deserves minutes over jj(who is not helping his chances with his play of late). With him becoming a productive starter (10-15ppg) for 6 mil a year is a great bargain. SVG system seems to bring scorers ppg down in the first season(specially sg), also with dwight being in the game for as long as he is, others really can not get the green light to fire. I am not sure if the magic can upgrade that position and reap the benefits from any non-superstar scorer. In my opinion what is needed is a defend first starting guard/forward to stop the other teams top guy.
I would try to get someone like Ariza. Even though he has fallen off in NO he is still an above average defender and is most likely available. I know he was not good in the SVG system but the magic are in a desperate need of a defender more than anything.

I respectfully disagree. I think they need a true play maker at one of the wing spots. Iggy (who does both) comes to mind, Monta, pretty much all the guys we as Magic fans can only dream of landing. Turk fills that role well for stretches but he's pretty inconsistant.

Our offense is way too stagnant and it's because we dump the ball into Dwight, if teams single cover and stay on the shooters we have trouble scoring 1. b/c if Dwight gets fouled his FT shooting isnt consistent enough to make teams pay, and our other guys aren't good enough to create offense for themselves or others. Thats what the issue is imo. we could stand to use some better defenders but I dont think that issue out weighs the fact that this team is can be, quite easily I might add, shutdown.

[Blue_and_Whte]

All things indicating Stephen Jackson will be traded soon. Steve Nash in the news a lot too.

what things? I only saw the one article on the Suns listening to a Nash trade request. Either way..get BOTH!

[rcklsscognition]

All things indicating Stephen Jackson will be traded soon. Steve Nash in the news a lot too.

what things? I only saw the one article on the Suns listening to a Nash trade request. Either way..get BOTH!

haha, just my take on the general vibe of things. It's all speculation. If you read about the Stephen Jackson situation though, it really seems like they've set him up to move him. He's saying all the right things, the coaches talk real good about him, yet he sits on the bench.