Official 2025 Offseason Thread

[basketballRob]

The Lakers would try to give us Knecht for Goga, maybe not that much.

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[ORLMagicGirl15]

You know, what if some of the players on bad teams are ready to break out? I keep thinking of AG and Oladipo broke out when they went somewhere else and was used correctly. Maybe the ones we’re looking for are players like Corey Kispert, Simone Fontecchio, Wendell Moore Jr (I know he has not been good in the NBA and is probably on his way out of the NBA, but his Duke connection with Paolo and he’s cheap because he’s a free agent—I’m pressing), or guys like Walker Kessler and Isaiah Collier (down side is that you have to deal with Utah’s GM)…now, I am only guessing but some of these players that are stuck behind other players might be the right fit for us.

[yoyojw17]

Rewiring this offense is an interesting task. Our top 4 in usage, the first three options and 6th man, are:

Paolo 33.6% usage, 26% AST%
Franz 31% usage, 26.6% AST%
Suggs 27.5% usage, 21.6% AST%
Moritz 26.8% usage, 13.7% AST%

Usages are inflated due to injuries expanding roles, but it's still illustrative. In fact, the inflated usages explain some of the poorer offense, but that's not the point.

The point of that is to say that in order to overhaul the offense in a significant way these roles are the 80/20 starting points.

Are any of them getting a demotion?

Paolo and Franz, no. First and second options that will drive shot creation.

Suggs, maybe. Needs to make the jump as a creator.

Moritz, uncertain. He's never been 6th man according to MPG. His usage is driven by his one dimensional skill set as an offense only big. Coming back from injury will further reduce his impact.

Cole (24.6 usage, 25.5% AST%) is the closest thing to a sixth man but failed conclusively in that role.

So, Suggs. If we target a Coby/Reeves/Simons/Poole/Sexton isn't the implication that Suggs has lost the third option role to a poor man's Murray? If you are doing that would you just trade Suggs outright?

Regardless of Suggs, it's obvious that Cole needs to be upgraded for a sixth man. I think this should be Black. Moritz enables this by having high usage and just requiring that AB sets the table at times.

We almost can't acquire a starting scoring guard without trading KCP, unless we think KCP is going to the bench.

Other offensive upgrades,

WCJ swapped for a better shooting big?
JI swapped for a offensive roleplayer?
Do we acquire a 4th guard or forward that is offensively oriented?

My guess is that we try to trade KCP for Coby/Reeves/Simons/Poole/Sexton and downgrade Suggs on offense. Then we try and trade for Cam Johnson to be our primary scorer off the bench and bring in a fourth guard via free agency.

I'm envious of Indiana, who had 7 players average double digits.

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Was just about to post something like this. I think we can be that team.... But the ball movement and confidence has to be raised.

[KillMonger]

will Suggs and Moe be ready to go next season?

[cedric76]

will Suggs and Moe be ready to go next season?

Suggs very likely, Moe not before December

[RookieStar]

These POs show how availability is key.

We need to load manage the heck of our guys to ensure them healthy for the POs

[Skybox]

These POs show how availability is key.

We need to load manage the heck of our guys to ensure them healthy for the POs

We need to upgrade and play our starters to ensure sniffing the playoffs

[basketballRob]

80% of Trailblazer fans want to trade Simons.

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[MagicTownBaller]

80% of Trailblazer fans want to trade Simons.

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They're just ready to move on. He's leaving after this season anyway.

[basketballRob]

80% of Trailblazer fans want to trade Simons.

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They're just ready to move on. He's leaving after this season anyway.

They don't think he's good. It's the same thing as Cole. If he isn't making shots, he's unplayable.

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[89Magicfan]

80% of Trailblazer fans want to trade Simons.

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They're just ready to move on. He's leaving after this season anyway.

They don't think he's good. It's the same thing as Cole. If he isn't making shots, he's unplayable.

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Which is why I wouldn’t give up much for him. He’s not an elite playmaker, not a defender at all, he IS an elite shooter which we need but I do agree we need win now players. Does Simons fit that? Does he helps us get out of the 1st round?

[Magic_Johnny12]

They're just ready to move on. He's leaving after this season anyway.

They don't think he's good. It's the same thing as Cole. If he isn't making shots, he's unplayable.

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Which is why I wouldn’t give up much for him. He’s not an elite playmaker, not a defender at all, he IS an elite shooter which we need but I do agree we need win now players. Does Simons fit that? Does he helps us get out of the 1st round?

I look at it like this, Simons isn’t a PG nor a playmaker and is a liability on the defensive end.

Orlando desperately needs more playmaking and a lead guard.

Simons best role would be coming off the bench as a vacuum scorer, similar to Cole which is also a poor defender and streaky. Portland played some of their best ball when Simons came off the bench and that’s not a coincidence.

However, you shouldn’t be trading for a player that makes 27M looking for another big pay day for him to come off the bench.

If the plan is to start and resign Simons then the writing is on the wall for Suggs imho.

[Skybox]

You know, what if some of the players on bad teams are ready to break out? I keep thinking of AG and Oladipo broke out when they went somewhere else and was used correctly. Maybe the ones we’re looking for are players like Corey Kispert, Simone Fontecchio, Wendell Moore Jr (I know he has not been good in the NBA and is probably on his way out of the NBA, but his Duke connection with Paolo and he’s cheap because he’s a free agent—I’m pressing), or guys like Walker Kessler and Isaiah Collier (down side is that you have to deal with Utah’s GM)…now, I am only guessing but some of these players that are stuck behind other players might be the right fit for us.

I'd love Kessler, but he is due for an extension this summer (he was in Paolo's draft class)...his tax bracket might look very different in a trade - which isn't necessarily a killer, in fact it might encourage Ainge to move him out before his bills come due- if UTA is going to continue to tank for another year.
I think that if Kessler quietly signs a team-friendly extension, there's really no reason for Ainge to not just keep him and work on the other spots on the team. They could suddenly have a frontcourt of Flagg, Lauri, and Kessler this summer- which makes for a pretty formidable trio...and then a bunch of pieces to play with to get their backcourt solidified. If Sexton is happy there, he might even sign another reasonable deal and stick with them.

To your point...I just posted a wild idea where we trade KCP (essentially straight up) for a SnT of Kuminga. Then WE put him in the right role in the same way that DEN did with AG. I like the way you're thinking...it's time for ORL to discover some hidden gem instead of breaking them in for other teams to win with.

Collier is a really good physical PG who just can't shoot...a lot like a healthy young Fultz, which isn't a bad player but it's hard to get very far with a guard that can't spread the floor. He's destined, maybe very successfully, for a reserve energy role, imo.

[Skybox]

80% of Trailblazer fans want to trade Simons.

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They're just ready to move on. He's leaving after this season anyway.

They don't think he's good. It's the same thing as Cole. If he isn't making shots, he's unplayable.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

What a bold statement...when are we going to come around to that being the case even for good defenders. ANYBODY that can't make shots is unplayable.

So, you get guys that USUALLY can make shots...Cole and Simons shouldn't ever be in the same sentence. Simons routinely shoots 40% from 3 on as high a volume as Steph, he routinely AVERAGES 20ppg...anybody can have an off night, especially shooters, but that doesn't make all weak defenders the same kind of risk. When Cole (who I love personally) has a great shooting night-we have a parade of tearful fans telling each other "I love that kid". When Simons has a great shooting night, it's just a regular Tuesday.

This dismissive dissecting of players that are incomplete is just stupid. Franz sucks - his 3pt % is actually under 30% for the season. Paolo sucks - his 3pt% was 32% and only 72% ft shooter.

[pepe1991]

Most of other forums are like Magic forum. People just looking at different angles to feed into personal agenda.

What's real reason why so many Blazers fans want Simons gone?

3rd overall pick from 2023 that they invested in Scoot.
7th overall pick from 2022 they invested in Sharpe.

Those are two main and only driving forces that are pushing Simons out among fans.

In reality Sharpe looks more like Lavine than anything good and Scoot has been all over a place, that's why he can't start (yet?) .


Blazers best player is Avdija, and it's up to debate who is second best. I don't think Simons is any worst than Ayton, Camara nor Sharpe. Ayton is by far most talented but just as lazy.

Sharpe & Scoot are still half-baked, raw players that are hard to judge. Blazers, like most other teams are hopeful Sharpe can turn into something more than mediocre efficiency, high usage chucker and Scoot can be lead guard.


Why Blazers GM might ( probably will) actually trade Simons?

Because salary cap exists and they are decisions to be made with Sharpe as soon as this summer, and Scoot next year.


btw isn't it funny how Blazers fans are so quick to tell you about his defense, but they bite the tongue with Sharpe on same subject? Can you name Blazers players with worst defensive rating than Simons?
Here's hint, one was 7th overall pick, other is 3rd overall pick.




So it all boils down to typical fans -being fanatic lunatics stuff. Becoming too overly invested in own lottery picks and finding every excuse under a Sun for them, coming from every single angle to defend them. And in whole lot of cases it means asking for trades to get rid of direct competition for position. Next step will be crying how some Camara/Ayton is taking shots from them.

[cedric76]

They don't think he's good. It's the same thing as Cole. If he isn't making shots, he's unplayable.

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Which is why I wouldn’t give up much for him. He’s not an elite playmaker, not a defender at all, he IS an elite shooter which we need but I do agree we need win now players. Does Simons fit that? Does he helps us get out of the 1st round?

I look at it like this, Simons isn’t a PG nor a playmaker and is a liability on the defensive end.

Orlando desperately needs more playmaking and a lead guard.

Simons best role would be coming off the bench as a vacuum scorer, similar to Cole which is also a poor defender and streaky. Portland played some of their best ball when Simons came off the bench and that’s not a coincidence.

However, you shouldn’t be trading for a player that makes 27M looking for another big pay day for him to come off the bench.

If the plan is to start and resign Simons then the writing is on the wall for Suggs imho.

You only trade for simons if he agrees to exgend here for less than 25M per year

[Skybox]

So it all boils down to typical fans -being fanatic lunatics stuff. Becoming too overly invested in own lottery picks and finding every excuse under a Sun for them, coming from every single angle to defend them. And in whole lot of cases it means asking for trades[b] to get rid of direct competition for position. Next step will be crying how some Camara/Ayton is taking shots from them.
[/b]

What do we call that here?

That scrub is BLOCKING my guy?

There's no CLEAR PATH for my guy to playing time?

IF your guy is good enough, the Coach will see it everyday in practice and the GM will see how the Coach handles it, in terms of playing time...unless there's some directive from upstairs-which I think is a very overstated situation (kind of like how every Little Leaguer's Dad likes to explain how their little superstar got benched because of "politics" ).

In an extreme scenario (DEN?)...the GM might even move a guy to forward HIS guy, in spite of the Coach (like "Moneyball" )...but again remote scenario.

[pepe1991]

So it all boils down to typical fans -being fanatic lunatics stuff. Becoming too overly invested in own lottery picks and finding every excuse under a Sun for them, coming from every single angle to defend them. And in whole lot of cases it means asking for trades[b] to get rid of direct competition for position. Next step will be crying how some Camara/Ayton is taking shots from them.
[/b]

What do we call that here?

That scrub is BLOCKING my guy?

There's no CLEAR PATH for my guy to playing time?

IF your guy is good enough, the Coach will see it everyday in practice and the GM will see how the Coach handles it, in terms of playing time...unless there's some directive from upstairs-which I think is a very overstated situation (kind of like how every Little Leaguer's Dad likes to explain how their little superstar got benched because of "politics" ).

In an extreme scenario (DEN?)...the GM might even move a guy to forward HIS guy, in spite of the Coach (like "Moneyball" )...but again remote scenario.

Bamba-ing?

Hezonjing?

Remember when Clifford was villain for not playing Bamba ? Turns out he played more for Clifford than any other coach after

[Skybox]

So it all boils down to typical fans -being fanatic lunatics stuff. Becoming too overly invested in own lottery picks and finding every excuse under a Sun for them, coming from every single angle to defend them. And in whole lot of cases it means asking for trades[b] to get rid of direct competition for position. Next step will be crying how some Camara/Ayton is taking shots from them.
[/b]

What do we call that here?

That scrub is BLOCKING my guy?

There's no CLEAR PATH for my guy to playing time?

IF your guy is good enough, the Coach will see it everyday in practice and the GM will see how the Coach handles it, in terms of playing time...unless there's some directive from upstairs-which I think is a very overstated situation (kind of like how every Little Leaguer's Dad likes to explain how their little superstar got benched because of "politics" ).

In an extreme scenario (DEN?)...the GM might even move a guy to forward HIS guy, in spite of the Coach (like "Moneyball" )...but again remote scenario.

Bamba-ing?

Hezonjing?

Remember when Clifford was villain for not playing Bamba ? Turns out he played more for Clifford than any other coach after

Ironically, I'd be thrilled to dump some of our zillion dollar okay depth guys and roll the bones on vet mins for Bamba AND Hezonja TODAY.

The only thing that warns me off of Bamba, even as an emergency 3mpg, maybe a nice surprise, placeholder is that Mose DID meet him. I remember how exciting it was to see those clips of Mose banging with Bamba, working solo with him in the gym on the same afternoon they announced his hiring as Head Coach. My logical brain says that Mose got excited about the potential, worked with him like a special project and quickly realized he's a lost cause mentally...who knows. I'd like to think guys mature, reflect on their life arc and massive opportunities blown...but not everyone.

Also, sign AJ Griffin.

[Knightro]

These POs show how availability is key.

We need to load manage the heck of our guys to ensure them healthy for the POs

The Cavs were the most pro load management team in the NBA and they are ravaged by injuries.

Sometimes things just happen and there's nothing that can be done about it.