magic fans

[PigsEatHam]

I know it is hypotetically wrong to wish injuries on players, but I hope at least one team in this league is dirty enough (cough, cough, Boston, cough) to go Tanya Harding on the Heat and shatter some important ligaments. Because short of that, or a Magic trade to get an additional superstar, I suspect I won't be watching the NBA next season. This is absolute BS and trash.

P.S. Please, anyone who remembers this, if I start posting in November or December, remind of this post and slap some sense in to me.

Man, I'm ticked. I love basketball, and the NBA is making it unwatchable for me.

...Go UCF?

[Deezy]

it'll be hilarious if the heat don't even make the playoffs, which is very possible.... even one of those guys go down for extended time and they're f**d

Umm, Wade + scrubs can make the playoffs. Bosh + scrubs can make the playoffs. LeBron + scrubs can make it to the ECF.

Something doesn't add up.

obviously you don't know the definition of a scrub.... your bout to find out

You could fill the team with D-Leaguers and they'd still rip through the league.

Worst case scenario, you have a lineup of Chalmers/Wade/LeBron/Bosh/Anthony. Chalmers & Anthony are both decent defenders and roleplayers that will benefit mightily playing off of The Big Three. Wade is a good defender, LeBron is one of the better defenders at his position, and Bosh can hold his own, at least.

Now, tell me how many minutes the team would operate without at least one of The Big Three on the floor -- especially in the playoffs where playing time increases for stars.

Sorry, but your logic is not adding up.

[darthmerrick]

Lets just wait and see what Otis does this summer before we all go jumping off the bridge...

[Cammo101]

All you guys preaching bench depth are underestimating how many vets will take the minimum to play on that team and win titles. Guys like Shaq, Tmac, Jay Will, Big Z, Brad Miller, Earl Watson...

[Last Guardian]

But, it is a stars league. Superstars win titles and Miami has 2 and a half.

Except every team that has actually won a title in RECENT years has had no more than 1 superstar and had a great overall team.

[Visirale]

I seriously don't get how people are saying that "this isn't fair."

Riley played within the rules of the CBA. He got players who were willing to take a paycut to WIN.

Stop ripping them, and start ripping Otis who thought giving Rashard the max was a GREAT IDEA. In 2012-13 Rashard will still be the highest paid player on this team at 23 million dollars. Think anyone wants to take that contract on?

We've been lucky to experience the success we have. Anything we do from this point on will be a steep uphill battle. Here's to the boys in blue... they'll need to put everything they have into beating this team. What Vince gave us last year... won't cut it. If we don't trade him, he needs to step up his game about 10 notches. Jameer needs to bring it like he did in the playoffs. Dwight needs to work on his freethrows. Rashard, if he goes to SF, needs to work on his defense and not be afraid to dunk. If Bass gets the PF slot he needs to work ALOT and it won't be a finished product until the playoffs start.

I'm not saying it's impossible, but we have A LOT of work ahead of us.

[jayrehme]

Umm, Wade + scrubs can make the playoffs. Bosh + scrubs can make the playoffs. LeBron + scrubs can make it to the ECF.

Something doesn't add up.

obviously you don't know the definition of a scrub.... your bout to find out

You could fill the team with D-Leaguers and they'd still rip through the league.

Worst case scenario, you have a lineup of Chalmers/Wade/LeBron/Bosh/Anthony. Chalmers & Anthony are both decent defenders and roleplayers that will benefit mightily playing off of The Big Three. Wade is a good defender, LeBron is one of the better defenders at his position, and Bosh can hold his own, at least.

Now, tell me how many minutes the team would operate without at least one of The Big Three on the floor -- especially in the playoffs where playing time increases for stars.

Sorry, but your logic is not adding up.

all three will have to play a ridiculous amount of minutes just to even make the playoffs

[MostValuableGM]

I seriously don't get how people are saying that "this isn't fair."

Riley played within the rules of the CBA. He got players who were willing to take a paycut to WIN.

Stop ripping them, and start ripping Otis who thought giving Rashard the max was a GREAT IDEA. In 2012-13 Rashard will still be the highest paid player on this team at 23 million dollars. Think anyone wants to take that contract on?

We've been lucky to experience the success we have. Anything we do from this point on will be a steep uphill battle. Here's to the boys in blue... they'll need to put everything they have into beating this team. What Vince gave us last year... won't cut it. If we don't trade him, he needs to step up his game about 10 notches. Jameer needs to bring it like he did in the playoffs. Dwight needs to work on his freethrows. Rashard, if he goes to SF, needs to work on his defense and not be afraid to dunk. If Bass gets the PF slot he needs to work ALOT and it won't be a finished product until the playoffs start.

I'm not saying it's impossible, but we have A LOT of work ahead of us.

Lewis playing defense at the 3 against Pierce, LBJ...omg...

[Deezy]

it'll be hilarious if the heat don't even make the playoffs, which is very possible.... even one of those guys go down for extended time and they're f**d

Umm, Wade + scrubs can make the playoffs. Bosh + scrubs can make the playoffs. LeBron + scrubs can make it to the ECF.

Something doesn't add up.

I get what you're saying, but Miami will be lucky to sign players as good as Mo Williams, Varajao, Calderon, Bargnani, etc, for the minimum.

(They will be able to sign players who were better than Wade's cast)

The thing is, all they need are players that buy into the system and feed off of their Big 3. So, guys like Chalmers & Anthony are perfect because they're not high USG% players and they actually are decent-to-good defenders. Adding a couple of veteran ring chasers (Shaq, TMAC, Iverson, J-Will, etc) for the minimum and you could very easily fill the rest of the roster with D-Leaguers.

They might lose a couple of extra games in the regular season because of the inadequate depth, but when the playoffs hit and rotations shorten, there'd be nothing wrong with running an 8 or 9 man rotation. Hell, with the amount of minutes their Big 3 are capable of logging (40+), they might could get away with a 7 man rotation.

Regardless, this team will easily walk out of the East. Some may disagree, but I think that has more to do with shock more than anything.

[JigenDaisuke]

The Magic are so screwed. You have to give credit to Pay Riley though he pulled off the impossible.

[OMagic1989]

But, it is a stars league. Superstars win titles and Miami has 2 and a half.

Except every team that has actually won a title in RECENT years has had no more than 1 superstar and had a great overall team.

Oh yeah Boston and the Lakers were on trick ponies.

Before that Miami had Shaq and Wade and the Bulls had Jordon and Pippen and Horace then Rodman. Then the Spurs had Robinson and Duncan and then Parker and Ginobli.

Teams win championships with TALENT and right now it is not even close.

Cmon, I have bled blue since the begining, and have usually stayed hopeful, but this is not a time for sunshine, this is a time for realism and understanding that to keep up big changes need to be made, unless our goal for the next 5 to 7 years is just to get to the playoffs.

[Heat_team02]

Come off the ledge my friends. They have Chris Bosh as their big man. The same Chris Bosh who got owned by Rashard Lewis. RaShard Lewis!

WE HAVE DWIGHT HOWARD. There are Lebron stoppers. There are Wade stoppers. There is no DWIGHT HOWARD Stopper as proved in the Boston series. We get Chris Paul and we are in the hunt.

Best PG + Best bigman+ Best bench > then best SF + best SG + 3rd best PF + No bench!

Lol. There are more Dwight Howard stoppers than there are Lebron or Wade stoppers.

Correction there were more Howard stoppers. Then the Boston series happened. Now there are none!

Bosh is not scarying me at all. Bron Bron and Wade are not going to work. Quit being over dramatic magic fans. We get CP3 and we are still alpha dog in the east. The freaking Bulls and Hawks took the Celtic big three +Rondo+Perkins to 7 games. In the end we have DWIGHT HOWARD. They have Dwayne Wade and Lebron James and no bench. It will not work.

We won 47 games last season with Michael and a bunch of Tito's.

[Cammo101]

But, it is a stars league. Superstars win titles and Miami has 2 and a half.

Except every team that has actually won a title in RECENT years has had no more than 1 superstar and had a great overall team.

No.

[Big A All Day]

But, it is a stars league. Superstars win titles and Miami has 2 and a half.

Except every team that has actually won a title in RECENT years has had no more than 1 superstar and had a great overall team.

Oh yeah Boston and the Lakers were on trick ponies.

Before that Miami had Shaq and Wade and the Bulls had Jordon and Pippen and Horace then Rodman.

Teams win championships with TALENT and right now it is not even close.

Cmon, I have bled blue since the beggining, and have usually stayed hopefull, but this is not a time for sunshine this is a time for realism and understanding that to keep up big changes need to be made unless our goal for the next 5 to 7 years is just to get to the playoffs.

^^^ This guy knows what he's talking about... Couldn't have said it better myself

[Nene]

I'm not bailing ship, but it certainly is going to feel futile next season, and for the next 5 or 6 seasons to come.

[OMagic1989]

SVG:

"You've got to give Pat a ton of credit for pulling off what he did," Van Gundy said. "I think we've had times in the league where we've had three guys of that caliber together, but I don't know if it's ever happened when all three guys were in their prime."

Already well over the 2010-11 NBA salary cap figure of $58.044 million, the Magic have had limited options offseason as they attempt to upgrade their roster.

Asked if the Magic would make a move to keep pace with the Heat, Van Gundy responded, "You do everything you can in your limitations to make your team better, but that's what you do all the time. You're always trying to get as good as you can get. It's not like there's some possibility out there that we weren't previously going to do that we all of a sudden can do now. There's still a salary cap. It doesn't change just because somebody else ended up with three great players."

[Jaxfann]

But, it is a stars league. Superstars win titles and Miami has 2 and a half.

Except every team that has actually won a title in RECENT years has had no more than 1 superstar and had a great overall team.

Oh yeah Boston and the Lakers were on trick ponies.

Before that Miami had Shaq and Wade and the Bulls had Jordon and Pippen and Horace then Rodman. Then the Spurs had Robinson and Duncan and then Parker and Ginobli.

Teams win championships with TALENT and right now it is not even close.

Cmon, I have bled blue since the begining, and have usually stayed hopeful, but this is not a time for sunshine, this is a time for realism and understanding that to keep up big changes need to be made, unless our goal for the next 5 to 7 years is just to get to the playoffs.

Very true!

[Last Guardian]

Oh yeah Boston and the Lakers were on trick ponies.

Before that Miami had Shaq and Wade and the Bulls had Jordon and Pippen and Horace then Rodman.

Teams win championships with TALENT and right now it is not even close.

Cmon, I have bled blue since the begining, and have usually stayed hopeful, but this is not a time for sunshine, this is a time for realism and understanding that to keep up big changes need to be made, unless our goal for the next 5 to 7 years is just to get to the playoffs.

Hilarious

You start off with a sarcastic retort that isn't even remotely accurate. I said they had GREAT overall teams. How does that translate to being one trick ponies.

God, if you guys are priding yourselves on being realistic, then actually be accurately realistic.

You guys must have a very loose definition of a superstar. You are trying to tell me Lakers, Celtics, Heat, Pistons and Spurs have had more than one superstar in their championship seasons....LMAO.

Sorry but stacked teams win championships.....not top heavy teams.

[ba1487]

Don't worry man. LBJ = Torn ACL, Bosh will ask to be traded. See you in the finals.

[OMagic1989]

From Twitter:


STEIN_LINE_HQ ESPN.com sources: Miami has agree to a trade with Minnesota that will send Michael Beasley to the Wolves. Link forthcoming