Official Speculation Thread ‘19-'20 I: Big decisions on the horizon

[yoyojw17]

Vuc leaving his best friend was always going to be hard for him... I'd say it's even harder now that we know Fournier is about to have a baby boy. Those two have probably been talking about raising their kids together all season. The family aspect might play a bigger role than anyone thought.

I agree.... a lot of sentimentality will come into play with his decision. He was given a chance here and this is where his career took off and brought him to where his is now. There was a lot of blood sweat and tears to get em to where they are right now. being accustomed to the city, coaches, teams and trajectory will give him more comfort in staying. plus he loves the city and the notion of raising his child with his bff.

[ezzzp]

That T Ross exit interview did not sound promising. His body movement got agitated and his answers were non-commital in both tone and content. You expect evasiveness in that line of questioning but his vocal and physical demeanor didn't feel right to me.

Hopefully I'm wrong.

[Magic_Johnny12]

That T Ross exit interview did not sound promising. His body movement got agitated and his answers were non-commital in both tone and content. You expect evasiveness in that line of questioning but his vocal and physical demeanor didn't feel right to me.

Hopefully I'm wrong.

No no no, hopefully you're 100% right.

Ross is the typical contract year kind of player. The second we sign him to a long-term contract and the very first time he has one of his dud games the city will turn on him (similar to Fournier).

I'll go on record that I'm happily content with renouncing both Vucevic and Ross.

By doing so and stretching Mozzy we have roughly 27m in available cap

We are one dump trade away of having max cap space. Don't think it would be that hard or take much to trade Augustine and his expiring.

Trading Augustine into someones cap space could give us 34m in cap.

Dumping Fournier which Kyler said we had a chance to do can open a whopping 44m in open cap

Read on Twitter

Not saying we use that money to max a player out, but it gives us a lot of options.

I rather have 27m in cap space and Bamba starting/developing then resigning both Vucevic & Ross to long-term contracts which will sequentially cripple our cap for years to come and directly effect the development of Bamba.

[VFX]

That T Ross exit interview did not sound promising. His body movement got agitated and his answers were non-commital in both tone and content. You expect evasiveness in that line of questioning but his vocal and physical demeanor didn't feel right to me.

Hopefully I'm wrong.

No no no, hopefully you're 100% right.

Ross is the typical contract year kind of player. The second we sign him to a long-term contract and the very first time he has one of his dud games the city will turn on him (similar to Fournier).

I'll go on record that I'm happily content with renouncing both Vucevic and Ross.

By doing so and stretching Mozzy we have roughly 27m in available cap

We are one dump trade away of having max cap space. Don't think it would be that hard or take much to trade Augustine and his expiring.

Trading Augustine into someones cap space could give us 34m in cap.

Dumping Fournier which Kyler said we had a chance to do can open a whopping 44m in open cap

Read on Twitter

Not saying we use that money to max a player out, but it gives us a lot of options.

I rather have 27m in cap space and Bamba starting/developing then resigning both Vucevic & Ross to long-term contracts which will sequentially cripple our cap for years to come and directly effect the development of Bamba.

Like Kyler said in regards to Kemba, sometimes it doesn’t matter if you have the money. The player still has to want to go to a situation like Orlando over other opportunities to compete. This is likely going to be true for most 28+ year old players in or past their prime.

I agree with you though that moving on from both and getting Bamba minutes, even if it’s behind Birch, is a better option.

[Magic_Johnny12]

That T Ross exit interview did not sound promising. His body movement got agitated and his answers were non-commital in both tone and content. You expect evasiveness in that line of questioning but his vocal and physical demeanor didn't feel right to me.

Hopefully I'm wrong.

No no no, hopefully you're 100% right.

Ross is the typical contract year kind of player. The second we sign him to a long-term contract and the very first time he has one of his dud games the city will turn on him (similar to Fournier).

I'll go on record that I'm happily content with renouncing both Vucevic and Ross.

By doing so and stretching Mozzy we have roughly 27m in available cap

We are one dump trade away of having max cap space. Don't think it would be that hard or take much to trade Augustine and his expiring.

Trading Augustine into someones cap space could give us 34m in cap.

Dumping Fournier which Kyler said we had a chance to do can open a whopping 44m in open cap

Read on Twitter

Not saying we use that money to max a player out, but it gives us a lot of options.

I rather have 27m in cap space and Bamba starting/developing then resigning both Vucevic & Ross to long-term contracts which will sequentially cripple our cap for years to come and directly effect the development of Bamba.

Like Kyler said in regards to Kemba, sometimes it doesn’t matter if you have the money. The player still has to want to go to a situation like Orlando over other opportunities to compete. I agree with you though that moving on from both and getting Bamba minutes, even if it’s behind Birch, is a better option.

Oh I wholeheartedly agree that we are not convincing any star players to come here to play with a Vucevic-less team shi* I dont even think you can convince them to come even with Vucevic still on the team

BUT

Anything could happen, I've seen crazier. This is a money league and it's always good to be the team with a lot of it (no state taxes also helps).

[MagicFan4Lyfe]

AG just said he wants ross and vuc to come back lol
Fournier said he thinks they will stay

They must really love more losing in the first round of the playoffs

I am sure AG and Fournier prefer it to winning only 20-25 games in a season.

Well some prefer trying to put together a team to win a championship not whose ceiling is 40-42 wins per season and first round ousters. Sometimes you have to take a step back in order to move forward.

[ChosenSavior]

That T Ross exit interview did not sound promising. His body movement got agitated and his answers were non-commital in both tone and content. You expect evasiveness in that line of questioning but his vocal and physical demeanor didn't feel right to me.

Hopefully I'm wrong.

Didn't see that at all. He always appears like that when he is being interviewed. He even slipped the tongue at times that he would like to stay but we'll see. It is up to us at the end of the day if we really want him back or not. I am still leery if he can replicate or even improve from last season once he gets his money.

[Magic_Johnny12]

They must really love more losing in the first round of the playoffs

I am sure AG and Fournier prefer it to winning only 20-25 games in a season.

Well some prefer trying to put together a team to win a championship not whose ceiling is 40-42 wins per season and first round ousters. Sometimes you have to take a step back in order to move forward.

Exactly, I literally texted that to a friend yesterday. This could easily be a take a step back to take two steps forward kinda season. This will show us how Gordon looks as a primary option, how Isaac looks with more offensive opportunities, how Fultz/Bamba develops and come into next summer with Mosgov/Augustine off the books.

[OrlandO]

Read on Twitter

[ezzzp]

That T Ross exit interview did not sound promising. His body movement got agitated and his answers were non-commital in both tone and content. You expect evasiveness in that line of questioning but his vocal and physical demeanor didn't feel right to me.

Hopefully I'm wrong.

No no no, hopefully you're 100% right.

Ross is the typical contract year kind of player. The second we sign him to a long-term contract and the very first time he has one of his dud games the city will turn on him (similar to Fournier).

I'll go on record that I'm happily content with renouncing both Vucevic and Ross.

By doing so and stretching Mozzy we have roughly 27m in available cap

We are one dump trade away of having max cap space. Don't think it would be that hard or take much to trade Augustine and his expiring.

Trading Augustine into someones cap space could give us 34m in cap.

Dumping Fournier which Kyler said we had a chance to do can open a whopping 44m in open cap

Read on Twitter

Not saying we use that money to max a player out, but it gives us a lot of options.

I rather have 27m in cap space and Bamba starting/developing then resigning both Vucevic & Ross to long-term contracts which will sequentially cripple our cap for years to come and directly effect the development of Bamba.

Cap space is useless to a small market team that just lost the two most vital players that got them to the playoffs after a 7 year drought. No good free agent is signing with a team that just set its course straight to the lottery - for at least 2 seasons.

Also, there is no realistic way to salary dump Fournier. It's the offseason, there are no expiring contracts only team options. The 3-4 that are large enough to match salary are either unlikely to be traded or those teams definitely aren't giving up a remotely decent asset. On the contrary, Magic would have to give up a good asset for them to do that.

[VFX]

Read on Twitter

[ezzzp]

They must really love more losing in the first round of the playoffs

I am sure AG and Fournier prefer it to winning only 20-25 games in a season.

Well some prefer trying to put together a team to win a championship not whose ceiling is 40-42 wins per season and first round ousters. Sometimes you have to take a step back in order to move forward.

Contenders are built in many ways. Teams like Toronto, Houston, Boston, Milwaukee etc all were built by gradual gain utilizing all three mechanisms to improve (trade, fa, draft).

[SOUL]

Read on Twitter

That's a non-committal answer though. What's he supposed to say? "Thanks Vuc, but we really don't want you here anymore."

I think him, Vuc, and Hammond all mentioning how "it's a business" means it's not a sure thing. Like many of us, there probably is a number/year amount max they'd want Vuc back for, but if it's not good for Vuc, then I can see him signing elsewhere too.

[Magic_Johnny12]

Read on Twitter

This means nothing lol

This means Vucevics representatives calling Weltman saying Dallas is offering a 4 yr/100m contract can you beat that? And Weltman laughing hysterically on the phone until Vucevic representations hangs up because he doesn't stop laughing.

[pepe1991]

Even if Vuc and Ross leave, Magic won't have anywhere near cap space to offer anybody max offer, and probably best they could do is to overpay Brogdon. And imo lot of people will be suprised how average Brogdon is if he leaves Giannis/Bucks.
Right now he is elite spot up shooter who has 84% of all 3s assisted.
Guy made 104 threes this season, 90 of them where made when closest defender way 6 feet or more away from him ( wide open by nba.com ).

So, as anybody with brain could figure out, he gets good looks only because of Giannis, and if he gets to team without such an elite player, somebody will actually start to guard him, and with Bucks that simply isn't a case. Matter of fact even Lopez had more shots contested than Brogdon.

[MagicFan4Lyfe]

I am sure AG and Fournier prefer it to winning only 20-25 games in a season.

Well some prefer trying to put together a team to win a championship not whose ceiling is 40-42 wins per season and first round ousters. Sometimes you have to take a step back in order to move forward.

Contenders are built in many ways. Teams like Toronto, Houston, Boston, Milwaukee etc all were built by gradual gain utilizing all three mechanisms to improve (trade, fa, draft).

For every one of the teams you just posted, there is Atlanta, Charlotte, New Orleans, Sacramento... teams whose ceiling wasnt very high to begin with. If the goal is to just get into the playoffs, sell some tickets and some t shirts for the casual fan to get excited about, then bring back this squad, add a mid tier first round pick, maybe a mid level veteran.

If the goal is a championship-
1. let Vuc walk
2. resign Ross
3. hope to god Fultz and Bamba reach their potential. If we sign Vuc, it is pretty much us saying we messed up the 2018 draft big time. Because by the time that Vuc contract is up, Bambas rookie contract will be up too. If he is just a bench player during those years then we will not know what we truly have with Bamba and he will probably want to leave this organization.

[MagicFan4Lyfe]

Well some prefer trying to put together a team to win a championship not whose ceiling is 40-42 wins per season and first round ousters. Sometimes you have to take a step back in order to move forward.

Contenders are built in many ways. Teams like Toronto, Houston, Boston, Milwaukee etc all were built by gradual gain utilizing all three mechanisms to improve (trade, fa, draft).

For every one of the teams you just posted, there is Atlanta, Charlotte, New Orleans, Sacramento... teams whose ceiling wasnt very high to begin with. If the goal is to just get into the playoffs, sell some tickets and some t shirts for the casual fan to get excited about, then bring back this squad, add a mid tier first round pick, maybe a mid level veteran.

If the goal is a championship-
1. let Vuc walk
2. resign Ross
3. hope to god Fultz and Bamba reach their potential. If we sign Vuc, it is pretty much us saying we messed up the 2018 draft big time. Because by the time that Vuc contract is up, Bambas rookie contract will be up too. If he is just a bench player during those years then we will not know what we truly have with Bamba and he will probably want to leave this organization.
4. expect to take a step back next year, clear more salary cap space and hope our young core can attract a top FA in summer of 2020

[MagicFan4Lyfe]

I have no idea what I just did ^ lol... sorry for double post

[JF5]

We need an unsure/neutral option...

[VFX]

Well some prefer trying to put together a team to win a championship not whose ceiling is 40-42 wins per season and first round ousters. Sometimes you have to take a step back in order to move forward.

Contenders are built in many ways. Teams like Toronto, Houston, Boston, Milwaukee etc all were built by gradual gain utilizing all three mechanisms to improve (trade, fa, draft).

For every one of the teams you just posted, there is Atlanta, Charlotte, New Orleans, Sacramento... teams whose ceiling wasnt very high to begin with. If the goal is to just get into the playoffs, sell some tickets and some t shirts for the casual fan to get excited about, then bring back this squad, add a mid tier first round pick, maybe a mid level veteran.

If the goal is a championship-
1. let Vuc walk
2. resign Ross
3. hope to god Fultz and Bamba reach their potential. If we sign Vuc, it is pretty much us saying we messed up the 2018 draft big time. Because by the time that Vuc contract is up, Bambas rookie contract will be up too. If he is just a bench player during those years then we will not know what we truly have with Bamba and he will probably want to leave this organization.

Yeah, Milwaukee, Houston, Boston, and Toronto all have foundational allstar/superstar level players. Orlando isn’t attracting free agents like Irving, Harden, Giannis, and Kawhi with this current roster. That’s the issue. You bring back players that will win enough to have us picking further back in the lottery, but also tie up cap and force us to run an archaic offense. All while we lose years from valuable rookie scale contracts. It’s a lose lose either way in the grand scheme of things.