Official Speculation Thread (Pt. XXXVI Off-Season Edition)

[AshBlackstone]

Man, I hope we didn't pass up a package that brought us Toronto's pick, Jeremy Lamb, and some cap relief....because we were chasing even more cap relief.


The idea of having this still hanging over our franchise coming into the season makes me sick.

[D12VCMagic]

C-Lee is massively overrated by Magic fans.

[mhectorgato]

The Magic, a rebuilding team, just committed to a long term contract with Jameer who certainly has a real ceiling, yet you are supporting the move.

How can you trash getting a young starter like Collison, who is essentially an expiring contract if his team doesn't want him. He would be ideal for our team.

Your post doesn't make sense.

3 years, and we don't know if there are any team/player options in there.

Even YOU hope there is though, right?

Of course I do ... it's prudent to have options. I've also said I hope it's front-loaded.

[AshBlackstone]

C-Lee is massively overrated by Magic fans.

Yep. I don't understand it. The guy is a backup caliber 2 guard.

[SmiteaDwight]

LOL @ losing sleep over the NBA. Must all be kids

[Def Swami]

Josh Robbins ‏@JoshuaBRobbins
With #Nets out of running for D12 until mid-Jan, don't count on the Magic trading him for Andrew Bynum:

A few pieces of the story: http://ht.ly/cbeAN

What happens next is not immediately clear. Magic general manager Rob Hennigan told reporters that he's in no rush to trade Howard, and he would not rule out having Howard begin training camp with the team in early October.

Although many Magic fans have clamored for the team to trade Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers for All-Star center Andrew Bynum, any potential Magic-Lakers deal faces a significant hurdle.

Magic officials have concerns about the health of Bynum's knees, according to two NBA sources with knowledge of the team's thinking. Bynum's lengthy injury history worries the Magic more than the fact that Bynum is scheduled to become a free agent after the 2012-13 season.

With the Nets out of the picture until at least mid-January and with a deal for Bynum facing a roadblock, the Houston Rockets now might be the front-runners to acquire Howard. The Rockets, desperate to add some star power to their perpetually mediocre roster, are willing to trade for Howard even if Howard gives them no assurance that he will remain with the franchise beyond next season.

The Rockets could offer a mix of draft picks, rookies and established veterans, such as Luis Scola and Kevin Martin.

Howard now faces a choice: Will he consider expanding the list of teams he could consider signing with long-term?

So far, he has said he only would re-sign with the Nets.

It still seems highly unlikely that Howard will reconsider his stance toward the Magic.

Many NBA observers believe his relationship with the franchise suffered irreparable damage in early April, when team officials did not defend him after Stan Van Gundy said, in response to a direct question, that Howard wanted him fired.

[MagicFan101]

Man, I hope we didn't pass up a package that brought us Toronto's pick, Jeremy Lamb, and some cap relief....because we were chasing even more cap relief.


The idea of having this still hanging over our franchise coming into the season makes me sick.

All the whispers seem to imply that Henny loves Bynum. I'm not sold on Bynum's character but you can't argue with his talent. After the events of this afternoon, I would have to believe that Henny is waiting for Dwight to realize that he can't go to Brooklyn through trade or free agency and that he has to expand his list. If this list includes the Lakers, Henny is in business. If the Lakers are not on that list, I would assume that we settle would settle for the Houston offer before the season starts.

With that said, I prefer the Houston offer now that they have that Toronto pick. I like Lamb as well. Forget about this past season and go back and look at what he did in the 2011 tournament. He can play. We would also gain cap space and have two top draft picks. This looks good to me...

[Skin]

I haven't seen any whispers suggesting that Henny loves Bynum.

[JBR152]

Was there a press conference with Rob talking about not trading Dwight?

[Bensational]

making moves doesn't mean blowing cap space on FA's. it means getting rid of the deadweight on the roster.

let's just think about what we're potentially looking at getting in return from an LA/HOU trade?

LA: Bynum

HOU: KMart, Lamb, White/Jones/Parsons, picks

in either of those returns, where do Hedo/JRich/Duhon factor in? if Henny really thinks they're needed to make this team a contender, or help in the rebuild, then i'm not onboard with his vision. if he doesn't, then what's stopping him from dealing them now???

considering the talk in all rumours is which team would take JRich's contract, i'd imagine he's someone we're quite keen to get rid of. i still think he's very movable, especially to a team like Minny/Utah/LAC/Chicago. considering Atlanta was able to move Marv for Harris, surely we could move JRich, who's on a much better contract, for anything of value (player/expiring contract).

there are moves which can be made which won't impact a Howard trade scenario. deal Hedo. deal Duhon. deal whoever. THEY CAN BE MOVED. teams have shown that anyone can be moved at the moment.

and if there are quality young FA's around that we can sign now, at an affordable rate, and let them put up big numbers on a tanking team, then let's do it! let's capitalise on inflated value for once. because no team is going to offer a high price for Jameer Nelson if he manages to step up his game. and all the loyalty we're showing him right now won't be worth jack in 3 seasons when he bails to join a contender.

[G-Heel]

C-Lee is massively overrated by Magic fans.

We tend to overrate players we like. Jameer, Lee, JJ, Ryno, etc.

[mhectorgato]

making moves doesn't mean blowing cap space on FA's. it means getting rid of the deadweight on the roster.

let's just think about what we're potentially looking at getting in return from an LA/HOU trade?

LA: Bynum

HOU: KMart, Lamb, White/Jones/Parsons, picks

in either of those returns, where do Hedo/JRich/Duhon factor in? if Henny really thinks they're needed to make this team a contender, or help in the rebuild, then i'm not onboard with his vision. if he doesn't, then what's stopping him from dealing them now???

considering the talk in all rumours is which team would take JRich's contract, i'd imagine he's someone we're quite keen to get rid of. i still think he's very movable, especially to a team like Minny/Utah/LAC/Chicago. considering Atlanta was able to move Marv for Harris, surely we could move JRich, who's on a much better contract, for anything of value (player/expiring contract).

there are moves which can be made which won't impact a Howard trade scenario. deal Hedo. deal Duhon. deal whoever. THEY CAN BE MOVED. teams have shown that anyone can be moved at the moment.

and if there are quality young FA's around that we can sign now, at an affordable rate, and let them put up big numbers on a tanking team, then let's do it! let's capitalise on inflated value for once. because no team is going to offer a high price for Jameer Nelson if he manages to step up his game. and all the loyalty we're showing him right now won't be worth jack in 3 seasons when he bails to join a contender.

The various trade scenarios seem to include Jrich along with D12.

Hedo only has 6 guaranteed for the 13-14 season; Duhon is only guaranteed 1.5ish for the same time frame.

They become more attractive trade pieces then. If not, they can be waived for 50% of their contract, instead of the 100%.

[MagicFan101]

I haven't seen any whispers suggesting that Henny loves Bynum.

You can only buy so much into twitter reports; hence the use of the word "whispers." But in the midst of the Bynum and Artest for Howard rumors of a few days ago were reports that Bynum was the player Hennigan had been targeting all along. Considering the rumored alternatives were Brook Lopez, Marshon Brooks or rookies / expiring contracts, this wasn't much of a leap for reporters but still.

[OOO]

IMO Henny wanted Bynum since the beginning. The Lakers wouldn't trade Bynum without a commitment from Howard. Now that the Nets are out of the picture, it opens the path.

Bynum had two freak injuries. One of them Kobe fell on his knee. The last time Bynum injured his knee was over 2 years ago.

[RickB-Orlando]

Yet every team is still making moves and we're just fondling our testicles. Frustrating.

i get so sick of seeing other teams making dramatic improvements with nothing more than the scrubs of their team to offer.

Don't you think that dealing with the Dwight situation should take precedence as it sets the tone for the rest of the off-season/season?

what's the vision of this team? are we in tank and rebuild mode, or are we in add winning veterans and compete now mode?

no reason we can't be addressing either of those visions regardless of what happens with Dwight.

The problem is, until you know what's happening to Dwight, you don't know if you're tanking or reloading.

[RickB-Orlando]

Why so much love for Darren Collison? Shock value drives up the stock of players year after year and people rarely learn from it. Early last season people were raving that the Heat didn't need Chris Paul because Norris Cole was an emerging star. Jeremy Lin has one good month before teams collapsed on him and he just signs a ridiculous contract. Just the other day people around here were drooling of Ramon Sessions, now Darren Collison? Collison filled in nicely for Paul when he went down in New Orleans but people blew that way out of proportion. If Sessions and Collison had half the potential that you guys claim they do they wouldn't be sitting around waiting for a contract or be shipped away for nothing.

I know Nelson isn't the best option at starting PG and if we had a happy Dwight Howard along with a strong core, I would agree that these are guys to target for depth. However, a rebuilding team should not be interested in offering a long term contract to someone with a very real and mediocre ceiling.

The Magic, a rebuilding team, just committed to a long term contract with Jameer who certainly has a real ceiling, yet you are supporting the move.

How can you trash getting a young starter like Collison, who is essentially an expiring contract if his team doesn't want him. He would be ideal for our team.

Your post doesn't make sense.

Collison is fool's gold. He shows flashes but doesn't have the head on his shoulders to put it all together and keep doing so.

[Def Swami]

I'm pretty sure, through the first round of the playoffs, Collison had the highest PER of any player at like 32. Can't find the stat right now, but I remember someone in Game 5 saying that and me being impressed by that.

He can play. Good young point guard to have.

[TDJacksonville]

a guy who we could sign for cheap would be C Kyrylo Fesenko. guy seems to play nicely but really never gets any Playing time. hes 7 foot 1 280 with a 7 foot 4 wing span and hes fairly young at age 25. idk about you guys but i feel that we could use a bigger bodied guy like Fesenko and he should be cheap to get as he only played 3 games last year for the pacers

[MagicFan101]

Why so much love for Darren Collison? Shock value drives up the stock of players year after year and people rarely learn from it. Early last season people were raving that the Heat didn't need Chris Paul because Norris Cole was an emerging star. Jeremy Lin has one good month before teams collapsed on him and he just signs a ridiculous contract. Just the other day people around here were drooling of Ramon Sessions, now Darren Collison? Collison filled in nicely for Paul when he went down in New Orleans but people blew that way out of proportion. If Sessions and Collison had half the potential that you guys claim they do they wouldn't be sitting around waiting for a contract or be shipped away for nothing.

I know Nelson isn't the best option at starting PG and if we had a happy Dwight Howard along with a strong core, I would agree that these are guys to target for depth. However, a rebuilding team should not be interested in offering a long term contract to someone with a very real and mediocre ceiling.

The Magic, a rebuilding team, just committed to a long term contract with Jameer who certainly has a real ceiling, yet you are supporting the move.

How can you trash getting a young starter like Collison, who is essentially an expiring contract if his team doesn't want him. He would be ideal for our team.

Your post doesn't make sense.

i·de·al
noun
a conception of something in its perfection.

By definition, surely we can agree that Collison would not be "ideal" for our team. I would claim that an elite talent such as Chris Paul or a young star such as Kyrie Erving would be better fit for the "ideal" label.

[Def Swami]

Jonathan Feigen ‏@Jonathan_Feigen
Update on Rockets talks w/ Magic about Dwight Howard trade, and the need to clear even more cap room to make it happen.

http://blog.chron.com/ultimaterockets/2 ... w-serious/

Getting in position for the planned next move will be difficult. To create enough cap room for the kind of blockbuster trade that has been proposed, the Rockets are considering making veteran forward Luis Scola an amnesty cut, likely in the next 48 hours, a person with knowledge of the move said. That would create enough cap room for the Rockets to take on the additional contracts necessary to complete a trade for Howard.

Scola, 32, is due $21 million guaranteed over the next three season. The Rockets could wait until July 17 to make Scola an amnesty cut, in which he would receive his full guaranteed salary but not count against the salary cap or luxury tax figures, but received information that he would have a better chance of moving to a stronger team if the move was made quickly.