Official Speculation Thread (Pt.LXI Countdown To Preseason)

[BadMofoPimp]

Ayon with a monster game. He showed flashes at times but battled injuries a lot. Has nice passing instincts. He should have a career as a nice backup center.

Ayon's game is taylored more to the international game than NBA. He could become a monster overseas.

[rcklsscognition]

NBA2k14 PR guy released the first 3 NBA ratings for this year's new game. Our rookie @VicOladipo was one of the 3 and will be rated 76.

I hope they don't screw us over and give Tobias a sub 80 ranking. I'd like him at 84, though I think he'll be lower around 82, and Vuc better be near 80.

[Blue_and_Whte]

Harris needs to hover around 78 IMO. He's probably an above avg scorer while at the same time an average 3pt shooter, perimeter defender, and rebounder. He has a nose for the ball so offensive and defensive awareness should be fairly high. I would rate him slightly higher than Oladipo.


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[tiderulz]

if Harris takes any sort of step up to show he's a consistent 20ppg small forward with pretty hefty rebounding from the three, small forward certainly isn't a position of need.

I think Harris put on all that muscles to play PF. Harkless is developing at SF and is probably just as good a player as Turner albeit younger. Then, we have Oladipo at SG.

Unless Turner is signed to backup these players, I see no need for him.

turner has better handles and passing than Harkless

[BadMofoPimp]

if Harris takes any sort of step up to show he's a consistent 20ppg small forward with pretty hefty rebounding from the three, small forward certainly isn't a position of need.

I think Harris put on all that muscles to play PF. Harkless is developing at SF and is probably just as good a player as Turner albeit younger. Then, we have Oladipo at SG.

Unless Turner is signed to backup these players, I see no need for him.

turner has better handles and passing than Harkless

Harkless has better Defense (which every team craves) and size for the SF position than Turner. Turner shot just under 42% for all of last season while playing 35mpg only averaging 13.3 ppg on a team that needs scorers.

Harris OR Harkless are both younger and >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Turner.

I only like Turner as a backup for about lets say $4-6 mil per. I seriously doubt he gets anything better than that anywhere else.

[Versubio]

Arroyo was more than serviceable during his time with the Magic. Some of you guys just have plain irrational hatred for the guy.

some weird hate for the guy.....he got the jj treatment from the crows whenever he came into the game......he was playing with a very short leash under bryan hill and svg if he shot 1 bad shot he was benched immediately

People hated him because puerto ricans would fill the stands cheering him on waving flags and thats what it boils down to because if you take all of that away he was pretty servicable, not much different than Dad who people liked.

Brings back so many memories...I would literally hear people who were sitting right next to me lob racial slurs at Arroyo and his fan base when he came into the game not realizing that I'm rican....and since I'm prone to not keeping quiet for anyone needless to say it didnt go over too well. It was crazy to see people who seemed normal sitting next to us just flip a switch... sad.

Boils down to racial and ethnic bias. Carlos was never a star in the NBA, but has been and still is a super star FIBA player.

Guys like Travis Diener wish they have had a quarter of the success Carlos has had in his professional career both in the NBA and Europe.

[in-limbo]

BTW guys im making an oladipo song and taking my time to make sure the quality and lyrics are perfect to see if ut can get radio time or played during the games.

I'm a bit of a songwriter myself, what's the genre? Good luck with it.

Carlos was a guy I always liked and never got the hate. Puerto Rican fans had one of their own here and enjoyed cheering for him, a lot, so what?

[NickAnderson]

Never understood liking a player just because of their race or ethnicity.

[Versubio]

Never understood liking a player just because of their race or ethnicity.

He's not liked because of his race. He's loved because of his achievements playing for his national team. In Puerto Rico basketball is the number one sport hands down and national team players are like rockstars. You guys have nothing like that here in the USA. When team Puerto Rico, the whole island literally stops to watch.

[NickAnderson]

Never understood liking a player just because of their race or ethnicity.

He's not liked because of his race. He's loved because of his achievements playing for his national team. In Puerto Rico basketball is the number one sport hands down and national team players are like rockstars. You guys have nothing like that here in the USA. When team Puerto Rico, the whole island literally stops to watch.

He most definitely is.

[Driguez]

Never understood liking a player just because of their race or ethnicity.

He's not liked because of his race. He's loved because of his achievements playing for his national team. In Puerto Rico basketball is the number one sport hands down and national team players are like rockstars. You guys have nothing like that here in the USA. When team Puerto Rico, the whole island literally stops to watch.

He most definitely is.

Carlos was loved in Orlando, as Versubio said, not bc of his race. Please, really? Think about it. Carlos has made PR proud w his international play time and time again. Not because his race, aka Hispanic. How many hispanic fans filled Amway to watch Ayon? Exactly. Whether it's liked or not the Puerto rican population in FL is a hair under 1 million, and central FL is home to most puerto ricans in FL, hence the reason why he filled seats, people were proud of what he has done, not exactly as a Magic but for his international play. Why he was hated? He was taking time away from glass joe meer and at times he tried too hard ending in a chuck fest. Other than that I have no idea besides single cell minded reasons.

[rcklsscognition]

Cause I'm bored and hyped about 2k14, my predicted ratings of the Magic:

Tobias Harris- 79- PF
Aaron Afflalo - 79 - SG
Victor Oladipo- 78- SG
Jameer Nelson - 77 - PG
Nikola Vucevic - 77 - C
Glen Davis - 74 - PF/C
Moe Harkless - 72 - SF
Andrew Nicholson - 70 - PF
E'Twaun Moore- 68 PG
Jason Maxiell- 66 PF/C
Hedo Turkoglu - 65 - SF
KOQ- 63- PF/C
Doron Lamb - 59 - SG

[Reverse_Angle]

I don't get the notion that sophomores are judged solely based on whether they bulk up during the off-season. If they do not have a feel for the game, which Harkless did not appear to have last season, he is just an average joe in my gym--only a lot taller and probably less annoying. There is nothing special about lifting weights for 4 days a week, especially if you are being paid to workout.

I think everybody should reserve their judgments about Harkless at least until December. Let's see how he improved his game first.

[mityamag]

Gustavo Ayon the FIBA Americas MVP after leading Mexico to title over Puerto Rico. Argentina 3rd. Scola's 3 straight FIBA America MVPs over

[cedric76]

Beasley back to Miami, should be fun



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[Leissak]

He's not liked because of his race. He's loved because of his achievements playing for his national team. In Puerto Rico basketball is the number one sport hands down and national team players are like rockstars. You guys have nothing like that here in the USA. When team Puerto Rico, the whole island literally stops to watch.

He most definitely is.

Carlos was loved in Orlando, as Versubio said, not bc of his race. Please, really? Think about it. Carlos has made PR proud w his international play time and time again. Not because his race, aka Hispanic. How many hispanic fans filled Amway to watch Ayon? Exactly. Whether it's liked or not the Puerto rican population in FL is a hair under 1 million, and central FL is home to most puerto ricans in FL, hence the reason why he filled seats, people were proud of what he has done, not exactly as a Magic but for his international play. Why he was hated? He was taking time away from glass joe meer and at times he tried too hard ending in a chuck fest. Other than that I have no idea besides single cell minded reasons.

Other than JWill, I feel like Arroyo was probably one of our best backup PGs in the past ~10 years. He shot a pretty good percentage from the field, provided good scoring and ball movement from the bench (even earned a starer role for a bit due to his play, but was demoted to a bench role once again, which is really his best role in the NBA), and played passionately for the team. He wanted to finish his career in Orlando. Unfortunately, Magic fans generally remember more of the bad than good. Yeah, there were nights where he tried to do too much, but he was generally a good backup point guard you could count on.

The only knock on him was he was never a very good defensive player, but we had Keyon Dooling for that, at the time.

[Versubio]

He most definitely is.

Carlos was loved in Orlando, as Versubio said, not bc of his race. Please, really? Think about it. Carlos has made PR proud w his international play time and time again. Not because his race, aka Hispanic. How many hispanic fans filled Amway to watch Ayon? Exactly. Whether it's liked or not the Puerto rican population in FL is a hair under 1 million, and central FL is home to most puerto ricans in FL, hence the reason why he filled seats, people were proud of what he has done, not exactly as a Magic but for his international play. Why he was hated? He was taking time away from glass joe meer and at times he tried too hard ending in a chuck fest. Other than that I have no idea besides single cell minded reasons.

Other than JWill, I feel like Arroyo was probably one of our best backup PGs in the past ~10 years. He shot a pretty good percentage from the field, provided good scoring and ball movement from the bench (even earned a starer role for a bit due to his play, but was demoted to a bench role once again, which is really his best role in the NBA), and played passionately for the team. He wanted to finish his career in Orlando. Unfortunately, Magic fans generally remember more of the bad than good. Yeah, there were nights where he tried to do too much, but he was generally a good backup point guard you could count on.

The only knock on him was he was never a very good defensive player, but we had Keyon Dooling for that, at the time.

Arroyo and Dooling were a good tandem off the bench. They complemented each other well.

[Blue_and_Whte]

Never understood liking a player just because of their race or ethnicity.

He's not liked because of his race. He's loved because of his achievements playing for his national team. In Puerto Rico basketball is the number one sport hands down and national team players are like rockstars. You guys have nothing like that here in the USA. When team Puerto Rico, the whole island literally stops to watch.

He most definitely is.

And? It's not just his race, he's one of the most successful National players to ever play and he happens to be from PR. Ayuso and JJ Barrera are both Puerto Rican but aren't as celebrated as Arroyo beacuse they havent had the success he's had in their overall basketball careers. Did Renaldo Balkman have PR's in the stands waving flags for him like they did for Arroyo?

[OrlDave]

This off-season is absolutely dragging. I mean we are currently in the midst of an argument about our back-up PG from 5 years ago.

[Versubio]

Yeah, cannot wait for training camp...