Official Speculation Thread ‘17-18’: XVIII: The Long Wait Continues

[KillMonger]

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Told ya...

The Athletic's stuff is behind a paywall right? Robbins is a good one, shame i wonder who is next on deck.....i need someone besides the king of the leading question John Denton.

[YosemiteSam]

Exclusive footage of Isaac at shootaround this morning:

[Knightro]

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Encouraging.

[j-ragg]

Don’t think I’d ever like Robbins stuff so much to pay for it. Not to crap on journalism or anything but it’s nothing groundbreaking imo. Most of us dorks who watch every game don’t really need recaps but to each his own.

[DiplomaticMagic]

Don’t think I’d ever like Robbins stuff so much to pay for it. Not to crap on journalism or anything but it’s nothing groundbreaking imo. Most of us dorks who watch every game don’t really need recaps but to each his own.

Josh is the best we have, but I agree. If he had inside information that he would post, I would consider it. But he really doesn't know much more than an average hardcore fan.

[Knightro]

Don’t think I’d ever like Robbins stuff so much to pay for it. Not to crap on journalism or anything but it’s nothing groundbreaking imo. Most of us dorks who watch every game don’t really need recaps but to each his own.

One thing I like about The Athletic is that these guys aren't really on deadlines after the game like they are with newspapers.

They can write as much as they want about whatever they want to write about. There's no real limits on space.

I'm hopeful Robbins, who I like, will be able to dive deeper into some storytelling in his new gig.

[YosemiteSam]

So the Spurs have lost Dejounte Murray for the season and Lonnie Walker for 6-8 weeks and the their coach and rest of their roster is built to win now. Perhaps us and the Kings can help them out while also getting something for our effort.

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yb4qlnjj

Spurs Trade: P Gasol, Derrick White and Lottery Protected 1st
Receive: DJ Augustine and Vuc

Kings Trade: Z Randolph
Receive: P Gasol, W Iwundu and Lottery Protected 1st from Spurs

Magic Trade: DJ and Vuc
Receive: Z Randolph and D White

Why for the Spurs: They get a center that fits their system with one less year on the books plus a serviceable backup for Patty Mills plus get to retain Murray and Walker as pieces for the future

Why for the Kings: They pick up a 1st Round Pick for parking Gasol on their roster one more year than Randolph - they could also buy out Gasol - they have plenty of cap room anyway

Why for the Magic - we clear off DJ's 2nd year, acquire toughness in Zebo that can start at C but will be more open to additional minutes for Bamba than Vuc, acquire a well-thought of young PG in D White and likely tank more effectively for next year's draft

I'm not sure if I like it for Kings or Magic but it would clear out 2 out of our 5 holdovers from Henny.

[Blue_and_Whte]

Don’t think I’d ever like Robbins stuff so much to pay for it. Not to crap on journalism or anything but it’s nothing groundbreaking imo. Most of us dorks who watch every game don’t really need recaps but to each his own.

Josh is the best we have, but I agree. If he had inside information that he would post, I would consider it. But he really doesn't know much more than an average hardcore fan.

Exactly. Good for him but I don't really need to read his stuff

Sent from my VS501 using RealGM mobile app

[Magic_Johnny12]

So as you know I'm officially an insider and have broke several ground breaking Magic related news (Briscoe signing/Isaac starting at SF) the list goes on and I'm highly regarded around these parts

No but seriously the same person who gave me all that info (NBA ref for whoever is new around these parts) just told me some interesting things, this time it isn't the most positive news...

A few cliffnotes on our conversation..

- Magic look TERRIBLE in practice (so bad that Clifford stopped practice and sent the refs home and blatantly told the team "you guys are wasting everyone's fking time)"

- It looks like Fournier & Gordon are going backwards in regards to improvement/development

- Clifford told another colleague that Bamba looked lost on offense and defense and all he wants to do is shoot 3's

Apparently Clifford wasn't having any of it and busting everyone's a$$ at practice

As always take everything with a grain a salt and this is obviously from one persons POV and it's still preseason so just something to talk about. Discuss!

[YosemiteSam]

So as you know I'm officially an insider and have broke several ground breaking Magic related news (Briscoe signing/Isaac starting at SF) the list goes on and I'm highly regarded around these parts

No but seriously the same person who gave me all that info (NBA ref for whoever is new around these parts) just told me some interesting things, this time it isn't the most positive news...

A few cliffnotes on our conversation..

- Magic look TERRIBLE in practice (so bad that Clifford stopped practice and sent the refs home and blatantly told the team "you guys are wasting everyone's fking time)"

- It looks like Fournier & Gordon are going backwards in regards to improvement/development

- Clifford told another colleague that Bamba looked lost on offense and defense and all he wants to do is shoot 3's

Apparently Clifford wasn't having any of it and busting everyone's a$$ at practice

As always take everything with a grain a salt and this is obviously from one persons POV and it's still preseason so just something to talk about. Discuss!

Over/under # of games on Clifford quitting like Skiles?

[DiplomaticMagic]

So as you know I'm officially an insider and have broke several ground breaking Magic related news (Briscoe signing/Isaac starting at SF) the list goes on and I'm highly regarded around these parts

No but seriously the same person who gave me all that info (NBA ref for whoever is new around these parts) just told me some interesting things, this time it isn't the most positive news...

A few cliffnotes on our conversation..

- Magic look TERRIBLE in practice (so bad that Clifford stopped practice and sent the refs home and blatantly told the team "you guys are wasting everyone's fking time)"

- It looks like Fournier & Gordon are going backwards in regards to improvement/development

- Clifford told another colleague that Bamba looked lost on offense and defense and all he wants to do is shoot 3's

Apparently Clifford wasn't having any of it and busting everyone's a$$ at practice

As always take everything with a grain a salt and this is obviously from one persons POV and it's still preseason so just something to talk about. Discuss!

Damn, I was getting hype too. Appreciate the info, true or not.

[rcklsscognition]

I totally believe that story because there's nothing negative about Vuc in there. He's Clifford's favorite player.

[Magic_Johnny12]

I totally believe that story because there's nothing negative about Vuc in there. He's Clifford's favorite player.

For the LOL'z I sent him a text just for you and said "Anything on Vuc? Seems to be Cliffords new favorite playe" his exact response was..

"Trust me what Clifford says to the media and what he says behind closed doors is way opposite"

[DiplomaticMagic]

I totally believe that story because there's nothing negative about Vuc in there. He's Clifford's favorite player.

For the LOL'z I sent him a text just for you and said "Anything on Vuc? Seems to be Cliffords new favorite playe" his exact response was..

"Trust me what Clifford says to the media and what he says behind closed doors is way opposite"

I knew Iwundu is still a$$

[SOUL]

I appreciate the sources but as far as sources and this website, very little if any have been true. I don't really believe that seeing Bamba/Gordon have both looked really good as far as preseason is concerned. Clifford seems like the tough love sort of coach, but this makes him out to be completely negative about things which doesn't seem like his character at all.

[fklt]

josh has quite a bit of inside info. he broke the story vogel being martin's guy, which is a fact i still find under acknowledged on this board.

[Knightro]

I'm glad Clifford is coaching them hard. I hope he blasts them repeatedly if they give weak effort.

The good news is, with as many as 8 free agents heading into this upcoming offseason even if Clifford wears out his welcome with a lot of these guys they'll just be sent out after the year.

[PennytoShaq]

I totally believe that story because there's nothing negative about Vuc in there. He's Clifford's favorite player.

For the LOL'z I sent him a text just for you and said "Anything on Vuc? Seems to be Cliffords new favorite playe" his exact response was..

"Trust me what Clifford says to the media and what he says behind closed doors is way opposite"

No surprise. I love that Clifford is calling these guys out on sucking as well. I have a feeling he will help clean house here. He will be able to bust the players asses as long as he keeps it behind closed doors like this.

[Xatticus]

No one has really answered the question because you “feeling “ that those contracts are movable does not mean anything.

Mostly everything you have said is speculation. If there were rumors out there that we were involed in trading these guys i would be upset as well. No doubt about it.It simply is not the case though with vuc. I just dont think he has value until closer to the deadline.

Additonally 2/3 guys you want to move are bench players. Plus I think ross is actually a nice player to have here since we need shooting.

Vuc,evan,dj. Those are the main guys to move. Simmons and ross, ok but it doesnt do much in terms of what you want.

Aside from Bamba, Gordon, and Isaac, our roster is composed of expendable pieces from other rosters that we have collectively grown unusually attached to. The difference between the five or so extra wins that they hypothetically provide has almost certainly been more of a detriment to our rebuild due to the damage it has done to our draft position.

We aren't privy to the vast majority of the goings on behind closed doors, but we do know that John Gabriel managed to purge a roster full of veterans in the span of about a week and reconstruct a roster within the span of about a year.

I'm trying to be patient with this front office, but it's difficult to construe their "evaluation" period or lack of activity on the trade front as anything other than a lack of clear direction. Not spending money in free agency and making lottery picks is the very minimum that they could've done up to this point.

John Gabriel era was worlds away. Teams just can’t purge rosters like that very often anymore.

I don’t think grabbing two legit lotto picks and navigating the cap well is the very minimum at all. In fact, that is something many teams blow right away. I keep reading people saying how Trae Young is already a bust. That could be extremely damaging for the Hawks if so. They passed on Doncic and Bamba for him. And this is a guy from the GSW family, who people here hold as the gold standard of modern basketball. He is a guy who prioritized shooting in his draft (which many wanted the Magic to do)and it looks like it may have backfired completely.

To say what Weltman has done is a bit underwhelming is fair. To say it is the “very minimum” is simply wrong. I will take two strong lotto picks and fixing our cap as a solid first step in turning things around here.

You're delving into the subjectivity of forecasting career outcomes to justify our draft picks. That's all fine, but it doesn't translate as action. Moving up to draft Doncic or dealing the picks for an established player would constitute more activity; right or wrong. And while you can be perfectly happy with the players we have chosen, we have precious little evidence to work with that we didn't already have before the draft took place. It's way too early to start throwing out the bust label for anyone in this draft. It's also worth noting that pretty much everyone had us taking Young if he was still on the board, so it might very well be that circumstance resulted in our drafting of Bamba as opposed to preference.

Our front office has done nothing to rectify our cap situation aside from sitting on their hands. You are rationalizing inactivity as progress. Again, that's fine, but there is no evidence of a master plan here. Anyone can do nothing. I'm not actually trying to criticize them here. It's very possible that their best efforts would do more harm than doing nothing, though that wouldn't really be a ringing endorsement. I think we can safely say that this front office is well within the confines of the metaphorical box and that they lack either the courage or conviction to hasten the transformation of this roster.

[Mauro Pedrosa]

So as you know I'm officially an insider and have broke several ground breaking Magic related news (Briscoe signing/Isaac starting at SF) the list goes on and I'm highly regarded around these parts

No but seriously the same person who gave me all that info (NBA ref for whoever is new around these parts) just told me some interesting things, this time it isn't the most positive news...

A few cliffnotes on our conversation..

- Magic look TERRIBLE in practice (so bad that Clifford stopped practice and sent the refs home and blatantly told the team "you guys are wasting everyone's fking time)"

- It looks like Fournier & Gordon are going backwards in regards to improvement/development

- Clifford told another colleague that Bamba looked lost on offense and defense and all he wants to do is shoot 3's

Apparently Clifford wasn't having any of it and busting everyone's a$$ at practice

As always take everything with a grain a salt and this is obviously from one persons POV and it's still preseason so just something to talk about. Discuss!

That's the funniest thing I've ever read