Official Summer 2024 Magic Free Agency and Trade Ideas Thread 6.0

[Knightro]

At literally no point since the day the Celtics drafted Jaylen Brown 3rd overall in 2016 have they not been super aggressive in adding talent to their roster.

[Nyce_1]

Would you trade for Brook Lopez

[RookieStar]

Would you trade for Brook Lopez

For who?

[Fortune Teller]

Welt is a one-trick pony. He works on draft night and takes the rest of the year off.

[eyriq]

At literally no point since the day the Celtics drafted Jaylen Brown 3rd overall in 2016 have they not been super aggressive in adding talent to their roster.

They also didn't have five lottery talents they drafted within a 3 season span. Do you think that changes the team building strategy? They had three lottery talents drafted over a 4 year span.

2014 select Smart 6th overall
2016 select Brown 3rd overall
2017 select Tatum 3rd overall

Also, regardless of how aggressive they were it didn't matter in the end, their championship window opened up once their lottery talent reached their primes.

There's no point in skipping steps. If your best players are young you have to develop them. Our best players are young.

[thelead]

At literally no point since the day the Celtics drafted Jaylen Brown 3rd overall in 2016 have they not been super aggressive in adding talent to their roster.

They also didn't have five lottery talents they drafted within a 3 season span. Do you think that changes the team building strategy? They had three lottery talents drafted over a 4 year span.

2014 select Smart 6th overall
2016 select Brown 3rd overall
2017 select Tatum 3rd overall

Also, regardless of how aggressive they were it didn't matter in the end, their championship window opened up once their lottery talent reached their primes.

There's no point in skipping steps. If your best players are young you have to develop them. Our best players are young.

You don’t think it was valuable for Brown and Tatum to get to see older all-stars put work in every day? It’s not about skipping steps, it’s about building a winning culture. Man, was I wanting us to sign Jrue before Boston locked him up…

[SOUL]

The Magic have not had to make moves on the level of Boston who were at a very different spot early on - thinking they should seems wild when considering we had just moved AG/Vuc/Fournier/everyone from that era besides Isaac and Fultz and were rebuilding through the draft.

Now is when he will need to be shrewd and (more) active. Can't say with confidence they will be, but using it as a slight when we've literally gotten better each year from mostly continuity is.. a take. Doesn't mean smaller moves couldn't have been made around the edges, but that's like being mad at GMs for not eking out value for every single player or not battling 100% in drafts.

Presti is considered an amazing/the best GM, and just made a great trade... but he completely struck out on the Giddey draft where 3 out of the 4 guys aren't on the team anymore, there's maybe 2 more draft picks that may not play for them at all since then, he didn't address needs last year and they were still the #1 seed.

Some moves aren't there to be made or the asking price is too much, stuff we aren't privy to.

[eyriq]

Here's a question. Do you think we have the main ingredients for a championship team already on the roster and we just need to slow cook it? Or do you think we're missing some critical ingredients?

Mostly missing time: to see how the young guys develop, and to see what pieces will be needed to become a champion when our guys are ready. Nobody knew the C’s needed JRue, White, Porzingis and Horford for Tatum and Brown to become champions after their 2nd season.

Agreed. Time is the most important factor here as the players will develop. Also critical are reps.

"We want another playmaker and a three-point specialist? Let me introduce you to AB and Jett."

It's almost like Weltman knows what he's doing

[Knightro]

The Magic have not had to make moves on the level of Boston who were at a very different spot early on - thinking they should seems wild when considering we had just moved AG/Vuc/Fournier/everyone from that era besides Isaac and Fultz and were rebuilding through the draft.

Now is when he will need to be shrewd and (more) active. Can't say with confidence they will be, but using it as a slight when we've literally gotten better each year from mostly continuity is.. a take. Doesn't mean smaller moves couldn't have been made around the edges, but that's like being mad at GMs for not eking out value for every single player or not battling 100% in drafts.

Presti is considered an amazing/the best GM, and just made a great trade... but he completely struck out on the Giddey draft where 3 out of the 4 guys aren't on the team anymore, there's maybe 2 more draft picks that may not play for them at all since then, he didn't address needs last year and they were still the #1 seed.

Some moves aren't there to be made or the asking price is too much, stuff we aren't privy to.

Good GMs are proactive though. They make moves and if those moves don't work out, they just make more moves.

Giddey ended up not being a fit with the Thunder roster as SGA and more specifically Jalen Williams both developed and progressed into better on ball players than Giddey and Presti wasted absolutely no time unloading him.

Do you think there's any chance on earth that Jeff Weltman would unload one of his lotto picks before year 4?

I certainly don't.

[eyriq]

The Magic have not had to make moves on the level of Boston who were at a very different spot early on - thinking they should seems wild when considering we had just moved AG/Vuc/Fournier/everyone from that era besides Isaac and Fultz and were rebuilding through the draft.

Now is when he will need to be shrewd and (more) active. Can't say with confidence they will be, but using it as a slight when we've literally gotten better each year from mostly continuity is.. a take. Doesn't mean smaller moves couldn't have been made around the edges, but that's like being mad at GMs for not eking out value for every single player or not battling 100% in drafts.

Presti is considered an amazing/the best GM, and just made a great trade... but he completely struck out on the Giddey draft where 3 out of the 4 guys aren't on the team anymore, there's maybe 2 more draft picks that may not play for them at all since then, he didn't address needs last year and they were still the #1 seed.

Some moves aren't there to be made or the asking price is too much, stuff we aren't privy to.

Good GMs are proactive though. They make moves and if those moves don't work out, they just make more moves.

Giddey ended up not being a fit with the Thunder roster as SGA and more specifically Jalen Williams both developed and progressed into better on ball players than Giddey and Presti wasted absolutely no time unloading him.

Do you think there's any chance on earth that Jeff Weltman would unload one of his lotto picks before year 4?

I certainly don't.

Are they an alleged rapist?

[SOUL]

Do you think there's any chance on earth that Jeff Weltman would unload one of his lotto picks before year 4?

I certainly don't.

I think this offseason one could be moved tbh, also think 18 could be moved in a trade.

Black I think they have a lot of hope in. It just matters if he gets buried or not this free agency.

[RookieStar]

The Magic have not had to make moves on the level of Boston who were at a very different spot early on - thinking they should seems wild when considering we had just moved AG/Vuc/Fournier/everyone from that era besides Isaac and Fultz and were rebuilding through the draft.

Now is when he will need to be shrewd and (more) active. Can't say with confidence they will be, but using it as a slight when we've literally gotten better each year from mostly continuity is.. a take. Doesn't mean smaller moves couldn't have been made around the edges, but that's like being mad at GMs for not eking out value for every single player or not battling 100% in drafts.

Presti is considered an amazing/the best GM, and just made a great trade... but he completely struck out on the Giddey draft where 3 out of the 4 guys aren't on the team anymore, there's maybe 2 more draft picks that may not play for them at all since then, he didn't address needs last year and they were still the #1 seed.

Some moves aren't there to be made or the asking price is too much, stuff we aren't privy to.

Good GMs are proactive though. They make moves and if those moves don't work out, they just make more moves.

Giddey ended up not being a fit with the Thunder roster as SGA and more specifically Jalen Williams both developed and progressed into better on ball players than Giddey and Presti wasted absolutely no time unloading him.

Do you think there's any chance on earth that Jeff Weltman would unload one of his lotto picks before year 4?

I certainly don't.

Are they an alleged rapist?

Cmon eyeriq, that issue has been beaten down to death. Giddey was 19, the girl 17 in a 18 above bar. Thats a nothing burger.

Besides there was no issue about rape only about the supposed underage at the time issue.

[SOUL]

I mean, like I said, I'll certainly be more harsh on them if they are inactive when I want or expect them to be active. But if they're clearly rebuilding for 2-3 years with young guys, why do I expect massive amount of movement on the scale of other teams in way different positions? The big critique I could've had was burying AB during the end of the season especially, but before that I didn't mind him being used for like 20 mpg. Jett is weird because he was essentially an extra pick and we didn't "need" one really.

It's sort of how the "long boi" narrative stuck long past due when they had drafted Cole, Suggs, Jett, Houstan, Paolo (in the face of Jabari and Chet) in the last 3 seasons who do not follow that mold, although maybe "Michigan boi" is alive and well lol.

[eyriq]

Good GMs are proactive though. They make moves and if those moves don't work out, they just make more moves.

Giddey ended up not being a fit with the Thunder roster as SGA and more specifically Jalen Williams both developed and progressed into better on ball players than Giddey and Presti wasted absolutely no time unloading him.

Do you think there's any chance on earth that Jeff Weltman would unload one of his lotto picks before year 4?

I certainly don't.

Are they an alleged rapist?

Cmon eyeriq, that issue has been beaten down to death. Giddey was 19, the girl 17 in a 18 above bar. Thats a nothing burger.

Besides there was no issue about rape only about the supposed underage at the time issue.

My bad, lame shot from me. Just seemed funnily obvious as a reason Weltman would sell out on one of his lottery picks.

[Knightro]

I mean, like I said, I'll certainly be more harsh on them if they are inactive when I want or expect them to be active. But if they're clearly rebuilding for 2-3 years with young guys, why do I expect massive amount of movement on the scale of other teams in way different positions? The big critique I could've had was burying AB during the end of the season especially, but before that I didn't mind him being used for like 20 mpg. Jett is weird because he was essentially an extra pick and we didn't "need" one really.

It's sort of how the "long boi" narrative stuck long past due when they had drafted Cole, Suggs, Jett, Houstan, Paolo (in the face of Jabari and Chet) in the last 3 seasons who do not follow that mold, although maybe "Michigan boi" is alive and well lol.

They drafted two guys in the lottery and one barely played (only because of multiple injuries) and one literally didn't play at all.

There's no reason to believe Black or Howard are ready to contribute next season at a high level after what happened in their respective rookie seasons.

[SOUL]

There's no reason to believe Black or Howard are ready to contribute next season at a high level after what happened in their respective rookie seasons.

Maybe Black.

I'm just generally frustrated with the low hanging fruit debate topics of "Black didn't get 30 mpg and free rein so the FO doesn't know what they're doing" sort of talk. It's panicky and not exactly real. You even said yourself that guys like Black and Jett are cost controlled and we have them for cheap for a few years so it's not as blasphemous of signing a guy with cap space who we thought would be a big addition who turns out to be a dud and plague to our cap.

Everything we do is going to be based off of Paolo/Franz/Suggs right now but people keep circling the center of the discussion over Black and Jett for some reason.

If fans cannot parse that with each passing year that our draft picks are not going to get carte blanche minutes and roles that our previous ones did (with more hype/expectations), then that's on them. I certainly hope that we have a plan for Black especially, but it would not surprise me if Jett gets moved at all.

The early Sixers process and even the recent Thunder strategy has been just to draft high ceiling guys they think might work on their team or hit, and then try again next year with more picks. Having 4 potential young keepers in Paolo, Franz, Suggs and Black is probably the edge of where you can even consider wanting to devote a lot of time and minutes to with young dudes.

Is OKC panicking about Cason Wallace maybe getting buried with Dort/SGA/Caruso/etc who showed a bit more than others last year? I don't really think so. It'll shake out fine. Same with every other young guy on a good team who got buried a bit until specific points of the season - Jarace, Hendricks (first half Jazz), Whitmore, Hawkins, etc.

A guy like Pritchard wanted out of Boston after three years of sub 20 mpg and suddenly got a bigger role and extended. That's like the worst case scenario of how I want the Black stuff to go but it just shows how things can change suddenly.

A guy like Dyson Daniels is in a similar spot with 17 mpg his first year and went up to 22 mpg, which usually jumps a lot in the 3rd year.. which is an extremely common trend with picks that somehow is being treated as an anomaly with Black.

Jett is an entirely different story, where I just think we did not want to develop that many young guys at once. I cannot gauge how that will go.

[Cammo101]

I'm so not here for these 2 year role player contracts and staying the course. That is not how teams get better. We need to be aggressive this offseason. Everything has lined up perfectly for us to make a splash play, we have an overachieving team with two stars and a boatload of cap space. This is not the time to be risk averse. Go after Ingram, go after Simons, go after George.

Show your players and your fan base you are serious about winning.

What about the internal development of lottery picks?

What about them? Youth develops better in a winning culture next to vets than they do on a team where everyone is under 25. Being aggressive in adding talent doesn't preclude you from developing your young players, it enhances it because you aren't trying to develop 10 guys at a time.

[Cammo101]

At literally no point since the day the Celtics drafted Jaylen Brown 3rd overall in 2016 have they not been super aggressive in adding talent to their roster.

100% this.

Sitting around hoping what you have internally all blossoms simultaneously is a fool's errand.

[SOUL]

It's just all about who you choose to invest in.

Would not mind if it's just Paolo/Franz/Suggs and Black in terms of young guys, anybody else, including this year's 18th pick can be had or on the table.

And as the years move on and we learn more about the team, suddenly nobody is truly untouchable. (Obviously anybody can be traded for the right offer).

[eyriq]

I'm so not here for these 2 year role player contracts and staying the course. That is not how teams get better. We need to be aggressive this offseason. Everything has lined up perfectly for us to make a splash play, we have an overachieving team with two stars and a boatload of cap space. This is not the time to be risk averse. Go after Ingram, go after Simons, go after George.

Show your players and your fan base you are serious about winning.

What about the internal development of lottery picks?

What about them? Youth develops better in a winning culture next to vets than they do on a team where everyone is under 25. Being aggressive in adding talent doesn't preclude you from developing your young players, it enhances it because you aren't trying to develop 10 guys at a time.

They need reps to develop. Aggressive moves for players to take key roles will reduce reps for all the lottery picks.

Fair point about the winning culture. However, Mosley is proving that he can instill a winning culture with young players filing critical roles. Players in the top 3 in minutes are all 22 and under. Harris and Ingles were the veterans. Pretty much the bare minimum of veteran support, right? Yet we went 7 games in the first round and almost finished second in the East. Winning culture. Why change the recipe?