Official Speculation Thread ‘19-'20 III: It's B-ball Time !!!

[dsg2021]

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Uhoh

Fournier answered this question when he met DeRozan in a game. Fournier is so underrated and under-appreciated here. Obviously, we want a Beal or a Harden instead, but Fournier (and Ross) are as solid as they come.

The best argument for it is to just mix up the culture and energy on the team. If you wholesale change some major touches players like DJ and Fournier, even laterally, you could end up with a more creative team and better team. You know your list of ORL untouchables, so why not blow it up a little around them? I just hope it isn't Fournier for DeRozan.

[axl_c_cool]

Is it just me? I would absolutely tender my resignation if I was working in a FO and didn't recommend Doncic at practically any cost. I don't know. A part of my imagination wants to pretend I'm a team owner to tell league execs they're fired whenever they miss out on a top 5-10 player in the league. As a fan, I'm culpable of putting my heads in the clouds and secretly wanting a draft trade-up for guard or wing X every year, but that Doncic draft was particularly glaring than every other year. And it's a shame a fanbase who saw prime Hedo and was ready to answer all of Doncic's "weaknesses" as something grossly overstated had a new FO who didn't see prime Hedo like us true Magic fans.

There's some serious issues with firing a FO for missing out on a star though, like churning the FO something like once every 4 years, scaring execs away, and starting in a hole asset-wise with a new FO that might make it unviable.
But I think there's hungry "non-veteran" execs to be found.
I think the cost of risky trades is not so bad because we'll be tanking with good assets anyways.
And I think we all would rather have a top 5-10 player over a bunch of solid hits that an experienced B+ FO gets with veteran execs and longterm visions.

We're clearly stuck in the mud in an era as fans who don't appreciate solid hits much anymore. The things I saw from Isaac day 1 took most of the RealGM fanbase three years to see. Good God the number of people who wanted Isaac for DSJr a few months ago. Same with AG's two-way, multi-faceted impact in every game that he doesn't go 4-15. Vooch is clearly a golden piece to keep around too, but most of the base here dislikes him. In the end though, I get why a big part of the fanbase, namely the RealGM one, whose collective last exciting non-centers, read: next up JI, and "offense-before-defense-stars" were Tmac and Penny from decades ago is genuinely ready to tank and hunt for a star. Maybe these two losses has me agreeing with them temporarily.

But right now, there's never going to be any reset button that makes losing any of Isaac, AG, and Vooch worth it. And Chuma and Fultz are probably on that list too.

I was literally screaming for Doncic and when he went before us I was so annoyed. It was clear he would be a star and we should have done what was needed to move up. I’m not sure they would have wanted JI, but a combination of a future picks and Vucevic, Fournier, or Gordon would have surely got it done, and would have been worth it.

[jezzerinho]

Is it just me? I would absolutely tender my resignation if I was working in a FO and didn't recommend Doncic at practically any cost. I don't know. A part of my imagination wants to pretend I'm a team owner to tell league execs they're fired whenever they miss out on a top 5-10 player in the league. As a fan, I'm culpable of putting my heads in the clouds and secretly wanting a draft trade-up for guard or wing X every year, but that Doncic draft was particularly glaring than every other year. And it's a shame a fanbase who saw prime Hedo and was ready to answer all of Doncic's "weaknesses" as something grossly overstated had a new FO who didn't see prime Hedo like us true Magic fans.

There's some serious issues with firing a FO for missing out on a star though, like churning the FO something like once every 4 years, scaring execs away, and starting in a hole asset-wise with a new FO that might make it unviable.
But I think there's hungry "non-veteran" execs to be found.
I think the cost of risky trades is not so bad because we'll be tanking with good assets anyways.
And I think we all would rather have a top 5-10 player over a bunch of solid hits that an experienced B+ FO gets with veteran execs and longterm visions.

We're clearly stuck in the mud in an era as fans who don't appreciate solid hits much anymore. The things I saw from Isaac day 1 took most of the RealGM fanbase three years to see. Good God the number of people who wanted Isaac for DSJr a few months ago. Same with AG's two-way, multi-faceted impact in every game that he doesn't go 4-15. Vooch is clearly a golden piece to keep around too, but most of the base here dislikes him. In the end though, I get why a big part of the fanbase, namely the RealGM one, whose collective last exciting non-centers, read: next up JI, and "offense-before-defense-stars" were Tmac and Penny from decades ago is genuinely ready to tank and hunt for a star. Maybe these two losses has me agreeing with them temporarily.

But right now, there's never going to be any reset button that makes losing any of Isaac, AG, and Vooch worth it. And Chuma and Fultz are probably on that list too.

I was literally screaming for Doncic and when he went before us I was so annoyed. It was clear he would be a star and we should have done what was needed to move up. I’m not sure they would have wanted JI, but a combination of a future picks and Vucevic, Fournier, or Gordon would have surely got it done, and would have been worth it.

What we should have done is tank those last couple of stupid meaningless games instead of winning them and snatching failure from the jaws of lottery success. I remember waking up the morning of a game near the season's end that we won and thinking "well, that's Doncic gone".

[MartinsIzAfraud]

Is it just me? I would absolutely tender my resignation if I was working in a FO and didn't recommend Doncic at practically any cost. I don't know. A part of my imagination wants to pretend I'm a team owner to tell league execs they're fired whenever they miss out on a top 5-10 player in the league. As a fan, I'm culpable of putting my heads in the clouds and secretly wanting a draft trade-up for guard or wing X every year, but that Doncic draft was particularly glaring than every other year. And it's a shame a fanbase who saw prime Hedo and was ready to answer all of Doncic's "weaknesses" as something grossly overstated had a new FO who didn't see prime Hedo like us true Magic fans.

There's some serious issues with firing a FO for missing out on a star though, like churning the FO something like once every 4 years, scaring execs away, and starting in a hole asset-wise with a new FO that might make it unviable.
But I think there's hungry "non-veteran" execs to be found.
I think the cost of risky trades is not so bad because we'll be tanking with good assets anyways.
And I think we all would rather have a top 5-10 player over a bunch of solid hits that an experienced B+ FO gets with veteran execs and longterm visions.

We're clearly stuck in the mud in an era as fans who don't appreciate solid hits much anymore. The things I saw from Isaac day 1 took most of the RealGM fanbase three years to see. Good God the number of people who wanted Isaac for DSJr a few months ago. Same with AG's two-way, multi-faceted impact in every game that he doesn't go 4-15. Vooch is clearly a golden piece to keep around too, but most of the base here dislikes him. In the end though, I get why a big part of the fanbase, namely the RealGM one, whose collective last exciting non-centers, read: next up JI, and "offense-before-defense-stars" were Tmac and Penny from decades ago is genuinely ready to tank and hunt for a star. Maybe these two losses has me agreeing with them temporarily.

But right now, there's never going to be any reset button that makes losing any of Isaac, AG, and Vooch worth it. And Chuma and Fultz are probably on that list too.

I was literally screaming for Doncic and when he went before us I was so annoyed. It was clear he would be a star and we should have done what was needed to move up. I’m not sure they would have wanted JI, but a combination of a future picks and Vucevic, Fournier, or Gordon would have surely got it done, and would have been worth it.

What we should have done is tank those last couple of stupid meaningless games instead of winning them and snatching failure from the jaws of lottery success. I remember waking up the morning of a game near the season's end that we won and thinking "well, that's Doncic gone".

Best part was Martins trying to sell the last game fan appreciation games as big wins for future years to Season Ticket Holders at thank you dinners. Dude was pretty much laughed at by most the attendees.

[basketballRob]

Hard to win without AG and MCW

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

[MartinsIzAfraud]

Hard to win without AG and MCW

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

you're over valuing MCW by like 1000 dude wouldn't have helped the fact we scored 33 points in the 2nd half..

[Xatticus]

Is it just me? I would absolutely tender my resignation if I was working in a FO and didn't recommend Doncic at practically any cost. I don't know. A part of my imagination wants to pretend I'm a team owner to tell league execs they're fired whenever they miss out on a top 5-10 player in the league. As a fan, I'm culpable of putting my heads in the clouds and secretly wanting a draft trade-up for guard or wing X every year, but that Doncic draft was particularly glaring than every other year. And it's a shame a fanbase who saw prime Hedo and was ready to answer all of Doncic's "weaknesses" as something grossly overstated had a new FO who didn't see prime Hedo like us true Magic fans.

There's some serious issues with firing a FO for missing out on a star though, like churning the FO something like once every 4 years, scaring execs away, and starting in a hole asset-wise with a new FO that might make it unviable.
But I think there's hungry "non-veteran" execs to be found.
I think the cost of risky trades is not so bad because we'll be tanking with good assets anyways.
And I think we all would rather have a top 5-10 player over a bunch of solid hits that an experienced B+ FO gets with veteran execs and longterm visions.

We're clearly stuck in the mud in an era as fans who don't appreciate solid hits much anymore. The things I saw from Isaac day 1 took most of the RealGM fanbase three years to see. Good God the number of people who wanted Isaac for DSJr a few months ago. Same with AG's two-way, multi-faceted impact in every game that he doesn't go 4-15. Vooch is clearly a golden piece to keep around too, but most of the base here dislikes him. In the end though, I get why a big part of the fanbase, namely the RealGM one, whose collective last exciting non-centers, read: next up JI, and "offense-before-defense-stars" were Tmac and Penny from decades ago is genuinely ready to tank and hunt for a star. Maybe these two losses has me agreeing with them temporarily.

But right now, there's never going to be any reset button that makes losing any of Isaac, AG, and Vooch worth it. And Chuma and Fultz are probably on that list too.

I was literally screaming for Doncic and when he went before us I was so annoyed. It was clear he would be a star and we should have done what was needed to move up. I’m not sure they would have wanted JI, but a combination of a future picks and Vucevic, Fournier, or Gordon would have surely got it done, and would have been worth it.

What we should have done is tank those last couple of stupid meaningless games instead of winning them and snatching failure from the jaws of lottery success. I remember waking up the morning of a game near the season's end that we won and thinking "well, that's Doncic gone".

We should've tanked the whole season. We knew the team was severely flawed, but our new management team came in, plugged some holes, and spent the year evaluating. We heard the rumors that they were brought in with the stipulation that they gave Vogel a fair chance, but that fair chance is probably what cost us a chance at Doncic (or any of the other potential organizational centerpieces).

I'm not blindly advocating for tanking here, but you have to be pragmatic. We knew that team was DOA before the season started. It wouldn't have taken much more than a nudge to ensure that we were the worst team in the league and guarantee that we were in line to get one of those transcendent talents. Sometimes it's a fine line between being principled and being stupid.

[jezzerinho]

I was literally screaming for Doncic and when he went before us I was so annoyed. It was clear he would be a star and we should have done what was needed to move up. I’m not sure they would have wanted JI, but a combination of a future picks and Vucevic, Fournier, or Gordon would have surely got it done, and would have been worth it.

What we should have done is tank those last couple of stupid meaningless games instead of winning them and snatching failure from the jaws of lottery success. I remember waking up the morning of a game near the season's end that we won and thinking "well, that's Doncic gone".

We should've tanked the whole season. We knew the team was severely flawed, but our new management team came in, plugged some holes, and spent the year evaluating. We heard the rumors that they were brought in with the stipulation that they gave Vogel a fair chance, but that fair chance is probably what cost us a chance at Doncic (or any of the other potential organizational centerpieces).

I'm not blindly advocating for tanking here, but you have to be pragmatic. We knew that team was DOA before the season started. It wouldn't have taken much more than a nudge to ensure that we were the worst team in the league and guarantee that we were in line to get one of those transcendent talents. Sometimes it's a fine line between being principled and being stupid.

We didn't even have to go full tank mode that year. Once it was clear, past halfway, that the best we could hope for was a good pick in the draft, we should have run up the white flag. Even the last two games or so that we bafflingly went out to win would have elevated our number of ping pong balls exponentially had we lost. I can't remember how far our lottery odds dropped but it was by a lot.

[yoyojw17]

After terence davis lit us up.... i have been keeping up with his play. If it wasn't for the fact that he is under contract next season (player option).... i would totally love him on our team.... and yes... even as a possible replacement for fournier ... long term or for the time being.

[basketballRob]

Luckily Fournier only has to face Kennard 2 or 3 more times.

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

[OrlChamps2030]

I was literally screaming for Doncic and when he went before us I was so annoyed. It was clear he would be a star and we should have done what was needed to move up. I’m not sure they would have wanted JI, but a combination of a future picks and Vucevic, Fournier, or Gordon would have surely got it done, and would have been worth it.

What we should have done is tank those last couple of stupid meaningless games instead of winning them and snatching failure from the jaws of lottery success. I remember waking up the morning of a game near the season's end that we won and thinking "well, that's Doncic gone".

Best part was Martins trying to sell the last game fan appreciation games as big wins for future years to Season Ticket Holders at thank you dinners. Dude was pretty much laughed at by most the attendees.

Lmao. That’s honestly pathetic. What a ****ing clown

[MartinsIzAfraud]

What we should have done is tank those last couple of stupid meaningless games instead of winning them and snatching failure from the jaws of lottery success. I remember waking up the morning of a game near the season's end that we won and thinking "well, that's Doncic gone".

Best part was Martins trying to sell the last game fan appreciation games as big wins for future years to Season Ticket Holders at thank you dinners. Dude was pretty much laughed at by most the attendees.

Lmao. That’s honestly pathetic. What a ****ing clown

Dude is a business man to the T. Shouldn’t be anywhere near basketball ops or basketball decision making.

[NavalAviator94]

Best part was Martins trying to sell the last game fan appreciation games as big wins for future years to Season Ticket Holders at thank you dinners. Dude was pretty much laughed at by most the attendees.

Lmao. That’s honestly pathetic. What a ****ing clown

Dude is a business man to the T. Shouldn’t be anywhere near basketball ops or basketball decision making.

lmao just stop. The Magic are a business that needs to sell tickets to stay in business.

[MartinsIzAfraud]

Lmao. That’s honestly pathetic. What a ****ing clown

Dude is a business man to the T. Shouldn’t be anywhere near basketball ops or basketball decision making.

lmao just stop. The Magic are a business that needs to sell tickets to stay in business.

Magic are in this mess thanks to Martins meddling with basketball decisions/forcing a direction in the Hennigan era, if you don't want to believe that then that's fine. We went from stockpiling youth and draft picks to trading youth for washed up vets and playoff pushes. The push to get into the playoffs before DeVos died had been mentioned plenty of times.

Have no issues with Martins working to sell tickets and be creative with marketing and the whole downtown complex that's coming. He's good at that stuff obviously.

[Xatticus]

What we should have done is tank those last couple of stupid meaningless games instead of winning them and snatching failure from the jaws of lottery success. I remember waking up the morning of a game near the season's end that we won and thinking "well, that's Doncic gone".

We should've tanked the whole season. We knew the team was severely flawed, but our new management team came in, plugged some holes, and spent the year evaluating. We heard the rumors that they were brought in with the stipulation that they gave Vogel a fair chance, but that fair chance is probably what cost us a chance at Doncic (or any of the other potential organizational centerpieces).

I'm not blindly advocating for tanking here, but you have to be pragmatic. We knew that team was DOA before the season started. It wouldn't have taken much more than a nudge to ensure that we were the worst team in the league and guarantee that we were in line to get one of those transcendent talents. Sometimes it's a fine line between being principled and being stupid.

We didn't even have to go full tank mode that year. Once it was clear, past halfway, that the best we could hope for was a good pick in the draft, we should have run up the white flag. Even the last two games or so that we bafflingly went out to win would have elevated our number of ping pong balls exponentially had we lost. I can't remember how far our lottery odds dropped but it was by a lot.

The problem here is that we didn't really put a competitive lineup out there. We just won some games. Dallas tanked a bit harder, but you just don't know what it's going to take to give yourself a shot at getting the premium talent in any given year. The team that wins the tank is often the team that commits to it earliest in the season. This is how Cleveland landed LeBron James. Again though, I'm not really advocating for tanking indiscriminately. When the upside is potentially 30 wins, there just isn't much downside to it, especially when the draft class is so enticing.

[NavalAviator94]

Dude is a business man to the T. Shouldn’t be anywhere near basketball ops or basketball decision making.

lmao just stop. The Magic are a business that needs to sell tickets to stay in business.

Magic are in this mess thanks to Martins meddling with basketball decisions/forcing a direction in the Hennigan era, if you don't want to believe that then that's fine. We went from stockpiling youth and draft picks to trading youth for washed up vets and playoff pushes. The push to get into the playoffs before DeVos died had been mentioned plenty of times.

Have no issues with Martins working to sell tickets and be creative with marketing and the whole downtown complex that's coming. He's good at that stuff obviously.

My comment was about him selling tickets, the post you responded to. Don't put words in my mouth.

[Bensational]

I'm still shocked the Suns took Ayton over Doncic after signing his national coach. Doncic-Booker would be looking pretty phenomenal right now. Plus they had the money to sign big FAs, so they could've built a super team in one season if they'd played their cards right.

[MartinsIzAfraud]

I'm still shocked the Suns took Ayton over Doncic after signing his national coach. Doncic-Booker would be looking pretty phenomenal right now. Plus they had the money to sign big FAs, so they could've built a super team in one season if they'd played their cards right.

would never ever take a big-man in the top 10... they take too long to get ready for the NBA game and honestly most of them bust. Wonder if Ayton didn't go to Arizona would they have passed, not saying that had to do with it but the hometown college player now becoming the home state NBA player.

[Xatticus]

I'm still shocked the Suns took Ayton over Doncic after signing his national coach. Doncic-Booker would be looking pretty phenomenal right now. Plus they had the money to sign big FAs, so they could've built a super team in one season if they'd played their cards right.

I think if the Suns took Doncic, their fans would already be talking about who they could get for Booker. Suns fans don't seem to be enamored with Booker on the whole. I'm not saying he will be made available, but that would be Doncic's team if they took him. He is on another level. I don't understand why anyone would've passed on Doncic, but two teams did. I would've sold the farm to get him. He was just so accomplished and his understanding of basketball so advanced. Athleticism be damned.

[NavalAviator94]

I'm still shocked the Suns took Ayton over Doncic after signing his national coach. Doncic-Booker would be looking pretty phenomenal right now. Plus they had the money to sign big FAs, so they could've built a super team in one season if they'd played their cards right.

I think if the Suns took Doncic, their fans would already be talking about who they could get for Booker. Suns fans don't seem to be enamored with Booker on the whole. I'm not saying he will be made available, but that would be Doncic's team if they took him. He is on another level. I don't understand why anyone would've passed on Doncic, but two teams did. I would've sold the farm to get him. He was just so accomplished and his understanding of basketball so advanced. Athleticism be damned.

Nearly every team in the NBA is kicking themselves for not being more aggressive to get Doncic. I hope he can stay healthy for a long time because he is clearly one of the rare generational great players