Knightro wrote:Bensational wrote:Skybox wrote:
I agree with this take. I like Gordon and he's going to do really well somewhere else. Not only is he replaceable but we've brought in his potential replacement three times already...time to trade for roster fit for a change. A healthy Isaac is a lot closer to irreplaceable, a healthy Aminu is a solid player bringing the same D and mediocre floor spreading, and I think Okeke will be better for us (with Isaac) than AG because of his shooting potential. I keep saying AG on a team with elite scorers like GSW or BRK or even MIN will be a beast!
Tried to replace him 3 times and not one of them could last on the court. People are going to be disappointed when the replacements aren't up to his standard. Aminu doesn't have Dame and CJ making him look good anymore so he looks absolutely atrocious on the court. Isaac we know the situation. Okeke is the only one we can hope for good things next season.
But it seems time for the two to part ways anyway. If he's moved I hope it's part of more deals and larger change. Vuc/Aminu/Okeke/Fournier/Fultz would not have me watching next season, that's for sure.
But I say again...
If the front office tries to replace Gordon and ultimately fail to do, are the Magic actually worse off in the long run?
I'm just not stressing out these "oh man if we lose player X, we'll get so much worse!" takes because getting worse isn't a bad thing to me.
It depends what the broader plans are. Going off the track record for WeHam, they won't intend to get worse. They'll want a competitive team. So if we do get worse in the short term, we're still likely to end up with late lottery odds by the nature of the management. So then the replacement value of what Gordon is traded for becomes much more crucial and needs a significantly higher upside or else we're trading him just to maintain a similar level of status quo.
I think whatever WeHam do next, it all needs to be geared around getting us our first real piece to build the next era of the team. Something you can build off of and use to recruit other players.
For example, say they trade Gordon for #17 and James Johnson, but then they bring back Fournier for the season. We could still be competitive enough to fight for a play-in spot and end up with a #11-14 pick with a roster of:
Vuc/Bamba
Aminu/(Isaac)
Okeke
Ross
Fultz
+ #15, #17 and whatever pick we get in 2021. Fournier is a FA, and unless one of 15/17 look like his replacement we probably bring him back for similar results. That lineup will struggle to convince me to watch unless we hit on 15/17.
I'm just most concerned about the time it will take for WeHam to either let the team get bad enough to acquire good talent, or the team gets lucky enough to land one through draft or trade. And I don't think they're in any kind of hot seat. These guys will do an easy decade with the team.