Official Summer 2024 Magic Free Agency and Trade Ideas Thread 8.0: A Forum Divided

[eyriq]

I've noticed the last 3 years that every skinny white 6'9" young player is being compared to Franz.

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Nobody has anything close to that hostage hesitation Franz has at 6’9-6’10.

If he develops a consistent shot he is an absolute weapon on offense.

We basically got what many people consider the no 1 pick as the 8th.

It is part n parcel that I am hopeful our assessments of talent has gotten better with AB and yes even Jett Howard. It may take time for both of them to cook but if they follow even a Suggs level of development path we have a very dangerous team for a while. Maybe even the pieces for a contender.

It's also why here I am mentioning it again. We played a player in the playoffs who may not be in the NBA by the end of this off season over either rookie, in a series we lost anyway. Granted, I guess we came really close to the second round, so there is that.

I should bury the hatchet. It just looks too shiny and I don't want people to think I am not pulling my AB weight.

Well done, checks in the mail

[tiderulz]

I've noticed the last 3 years that every skinny white 6'9" young player is being compared to Franz.

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2 years ago. 3 years ago he was just drafted and i dont think many people thought he would be what he is now.

[tiderulz]

Current roster thoughts.

We are stacked in the "G" position.

Weak to extremely weak in terms of centers.

Great to contender worthy at PF / F positions.

disagree. WCJ is an above average center. Goga shows solid backup and possible avg starting quality. and then Moe from an offensive perspective.

[tiderulz]

What if we signed Huff to a two way contract and started AB out with Osceola at the start of the season? Huff could start out the year on the bench and in the inevitable WCJ missing time due to an injury possibly step in and start. Mosley doesn’t like to mess with the bench lineup so Mo isn’t going to start when MCJ isn’t playing. Yes we have Goga but I’ve seen a lot to like from Huff to warrant seeing more. Also of WCJ is tradable we’d need another center depending on what he was traded for.

honest question, what have you seen from Huff that you havent from Goga?

[VFX]

Suggs | Cole | AB | CJ
KCP | Harris | Jett | Queen
Franz | TDS | Houstan
Paolo | Isaac |
Carter | Moe | Goga

That’s what it is. Like it or not.

From a pure positional standpoint... I do agree with this.

I do think there's a strong chance they look to use three-guard bench units.

They will have Jett and Houstan fill in at SF when needed IMO as the third/ fourth options should they need to shift da Silva to PF in Isaac’s absence or foul trouble. They also have the option of AB if they need defense instead.

That plan makes the most sense to me.

[three3d]

What if we signed Huff to a two way contract and started AB out with Osceola at the start of the season? Huff could start out the year on the bench and in the inevitable WCJ missing time due to an injury possibly step in and start. Mosley doesn’t like to mess with the bench lineup so Mo isn’t going to start when MCJ isn’t playing. Yes we have Goga but I’ve seen a lot to like from Huff to warrant seeing more. Also of WCJ is tradable we’d need another center depending on what he was traded for.

honest question, what have you seen from Huff that you havent from Goga?

A 3 point shot, running the length of the court WITH the ball for a dunk.

[JoshuaPotter]

Current roster thoughts.

We are stacked in the "G" position.

Weak to extremely weak in terms of centers.

Great to contender worthy at PF / F positions.

disagree. WCJ is an above average center. Goga shows solid backup and possible avg starting quality. and then Moe from an offensive perspective.

Oh if everyones healthy we are fine. I am assuming at some point WCJ will inevitably get randomly injured. At that point, we go from as you say above avg to possible avg jakyl n hyde. Mo & Goga

[JoshuaPotter]

Well done, checks in the mail

[eyriq]

There's lots of interesting subplots to determining our rotation.

The starting unit doesn't need a primary playmaker because Franz and Paolo share playmaking duties.

The bench unit either needs a primary playmaker which we don't have on the roster or will also need to share playmaking duties because Cole is not a primary playmaker.

Hence, Black is an obvious person to plug into the rotation.

Suggs also has playmaking upside, and can share playmaking duties, so I expect that two of Franz, Paolo, Cole, AB, and Suggs will always need to be on the court.

Jett Howard's path to playing time is not at all clear to me. As a three-point specialist, he's going to rely on other playmakers. An all bench lineup with him in it doesn't really work in my mind.

He would actually make a bit more sense as a starter than a bench player, but there's still a big unknown around his ability to defend.

[JBSouthpaw]

Suggs | Cole | AB | CJ
KCP | Harris | Jett | Queen
Franz | TDS | Houstan
Paolo | Isaac |
Carter | Moe | Goga

That’s what it is. Like it or not.

From a pure positional standpoint... I do agree with this.

I do think there's a strong chance they look to use three-guard bench units.

They will have Jett and Houstan fill in at SF when needed IMO as the third/ fourth options should they need to shift da Silva to PF in Isaac’s absence or foul trouble. They also have the option of AB if they need defense instead.

That plan makes the most sense to me.

I know this isn't how to determine playing time, but who do you take in a game of 2 vs. 2?
Harris/Cole or AB/Jett???

I think AB/Jett would win 70% of the time.

[eyriq]

Cole really needs to improve his shooting efficiency to make it with us.

[JoshuaPotter]

Cole really needs to improve his shooting efficiency to make it with us.

We need IMHO the Cole from the winning streak to return to us. He seemed to lose his mojo around December and it never really returned.

[p0peye]

Cole really needs to improve his shooting efficiency to make it with us.

He ain't on a max contract. He does enough as bench scorer, about what he is paid. Improved or not, he could be easily packaged in any trade, no questions asked. Or he could just as easily stay here without any issue.

[tiderulz]

What if we signed Huff to a two way contract and started AB out with Osceola at the start of the season? Huff could start out the year on the bench and in the inevitable WCJ missing time due to an injury possibly step in and start. Mosley doesn’t like to mess with the bench lineup so Mo isn’t going to start when MCJ isn’t playing. Yes we have Goga but I’ve seen a lot to like from Huff to warrant seeing more. Also of WCJ is tradable we’d need another center depending on what he was traded for.

honest question, what have you seen from Huff that you havent from Goga?

A 3 point shot, running the length of the court WITH the ball for a dunk.

why does everyone fixate on a center having to have a 3 pt shot. Hartenstein did pretty well for NY without one. so did Dallas' centers.

[tiderulz]

Cole really needs to improve his shooting efficiency to make it with us.

He ain't on a max contract. He does enough as bench scorer, about what he is paid. Improved or not, he could be easily packaged in any trade, no questions asked. Or he could just as easily stay here without any issue.

Im not sure he could be "easily packaged", unless you are just talking about his salary amount, which even then may be a little high with his bad efficiency

[89Magicfan]

I expect that we will start the season with Suggs/AB labeled as PGs in rotation with Corey Joseph being third wheel. Cole would probably be a 6th man again, as PG/SG combo guard behind KCP and ahead of Harris/Jett.

Needless to say that this makes me anxious as to what the plan is for the offence, for on paper, it seems very, very unlikely this rotation can produce league average offensive efficiency.

I can only go by what the data I’ve seen last few weeks but it seems that Franz is probably our best play maker and one of the tops in the league at playmaking and pnr. My guess is to expand that as Paolo is there as well (Franz is rated higher tho).

Just an educated guess but we might be molding him to be our Doncic, Hedo, etc.

Yeah, I think we tried that before when Vogel was a coach.

That was also with AG who was not an elite playmaker and PnR player. He just could dribble a few feet and throw a pass to an open player so Vogel thought “oh look maybe next GHill”.

[three3d]

honest question, what have you seen from Huff that you havent from Goga?

A 3 point shot, running the length of the court WITH the ball for a dunk.

why does everyone fixate on a center having to have a 3 pt shot. Hartenstein did pretty well for NY without one. so did Dallas' centers.

Where do Paolo and Franz ( Franz more so than Paolo ) prefer to score at?

[eyriq]

Cole really needs to improve his shooting efficiency to make it with us.

He ain't on a max contract. He does enough as bench scorer, about what he is paid. Improved or not, he could be easily packaged in any trade, no questions asked. Or he could just as easily stay here without any issue.

He was nearly unplayable in the playoffs, I don't think his current level of performance is sustainable.

[OnlyFranz22]

Westbrook to the Nuggets

[VFX]

Paolo is going to make a HUGE jump in 3 point shooting this year. You can hold me to that.