Official 2025 Offseason Thread

[BadMofoPimp]

It took Tatum and Brown 7 seasons to win a ship. Franz, Suggs and Paolo still have time to develop even further

[Knightro]

It took Tatum and Brown 7 seasons to win a ship. Franz, Suggs and Paolo still have time to develop even further

The current CBA doesn't really give teams the luxury of waiting that long anymore.

[eyriq]

It took Tatum and Brown 7 seasons to win a ship. Franz, Suggs and Paolo still have time to develop even further

Exactly this. Paolo and Franz are several seasons away from their primes and then we'll have several seasons during their primes. This is why going all in right now would likely be a mistake and why we need to keep our picks and maintain a player development pipeline—there is a ton of runway open for us to develop a contender around Paolo and Franz.

[BadMofoPimp]

It took Tatum and Brown 7 seasons to win a ship. Franz, Suggs and Paolo still have time to develop even further

The current CBA doesn't really give teams the luxury of waiting that long anymore.

Are not Suggs, Paolo and Franz under contract all together for the next 4 to 5 seasons?

[Knightro]

It took Tatum and Brown 7 seasons to win a ship. Franz, Suggs and Paolo still have time to develop even further

The current CBA doesn't really give teams the luxury of waiting that long anymore.

Are not Suggs, Paolo and Franz under contract all together for the next 4 to 5 seasons?

Yes they are.

And the Magic only won 41 games last year. And only 47 the year before that. And they haven't yet won a single playoff series.

But the Magic are already butting up against the tax aprons despite no tangible success.

This CBA is insanely penal and this ownership group isn't likely to play around deep into the aprons. Probably ever.

[Rainwater]

It took Tatum and Brown 7 seasons to win a ship. Franz, Suggs and Paolo still have time to develop even further

People don’t wanna hear this, lol. If they don’t win next year it’s a bust lol

[eyriq]

It took Tatum and Brown 7 seasons to win a ship. Franz, Suggs and Paolo still have time to develop even further

People don’t wanna hear this, lol. If they don’t win next year it’s a bust lol

I can definitely believe some posters think this! Reality is we shouldn't reasonably expect contender status until 2026-27.

Next season will be about earning darkhorse status.

[cedric76]

It took Tatum and Brown 7 seasons to win a ship. Franz, Suggs and Paolo still have time to develop even further

The current CBA doesn't really give teams the luxury of waiting that long anymore.

It can be done but it needs more careful planning.

It s a new CBA so teams need to adjust accordingly and this is what we have been doing

[cedric76]

It took Tatum and Brown 7 seasons to win a ship. Franz, Suggs and Paolo still have time to develop even further

People don’t wanna hear this, lol. If they don’t win next year it’s a bust lol

I can definitely believe some posters think this! Reality is we shouldn't reasonably expect contender status until 2026-27.

Next season will be about earning darkhorse status.

Yes and we have a tread explaining this viewtopic.php?t=2456884

Unfortunately it has been hijacked by some very Bright posters

[GelbeWand09]

That Tatum & Brown argument is so bad. No matter on which side of the argument you are but this is just a bad example. Who cares if they won in the 7th year. They were a top team from almost day one and reached countless conference finals and semifinals til they won the chip. Winning a ship has so much to do with luck but you have to have a team that got there to even have the luck.

[GelbeWand09]

And this discussion is again in extremes. Nobody expect us to win a ship with this young core. The problem is Weltman doing absolutely nothing and ignoring all the obvious weaknesses for years and because of that this team doesn't even had a chance to be successful or a overachiever in the playoffs or profit from injury luck if the favorites are injured. They doesn't even had a chance to become a surprising semifinalist because Weltman doing nothing. That's what many people here are mad about and not if Paolo and Franz doesn't won a championship with 22.

[pepe1991]

It took Tatum and Brown 7 seasons to win a ship. Franz, Suggs and Paolo still have time to develop even further

Rookie Tatum ( 19) and sophomore Brown (21) went to Eastern Conference Finals, as starters in game 7.
Tatum led them in scoring.

Starting 5: Rozier, Brown, Tatum, Horford, Baynes. Smart off bench.


We won't just go from wining .500 to winning title. We are yet to win playoff series.

This whole planning for some imaginary year where everybody is "ready to win" is crazy talk.

Kawhi Leonard won first title at age of 22.
Duncan at age of 22.
Parker at age of 21.
Kobe 21.

Needless to say that whole bunch of superstars peak in early 20s and due injuries their "prime" isn't what most people view as prime.
Griffin, Carter, Tracy all peaked around 24.


Tatum himself is now screwed because he has massive injury to recover from, Brown will need rest or surgery. Both are in their alleged "prime" today.

Just sitting and waiting until players hit some arbitrary age is suicidal. Luxury tax, repetitive luxury tax, aprons will chew you up and force in rebuild very soon. Magic aren't even signed Banchero yet and they are already at first apron. Good luck playing Jett Howard and Tristan Da Silva, Bol Bol & other scrubs in 3 years because you can't afford nba players.

[Skybox]

It took Tatum and Brown 7 seasons to win a ship. Franz, Suggs and Paolo still have time to develop even further

The current CBA doesn't really give teams the luxury of waiting that long anymore.

Maybe the resulting “correction“ in ownership direction is to adjust the big extensions given to mediocre development by guys on rookie deals. The quickest way into deep CBA water is to pay in advance of performance. At risk of another thread polluted and sidetracked, AB/Franz is an excellent example.

Franz killed it from day one…give the man his extension. But then AB, perhaps on a more typical development curve, is up for an extension next summer…we’re all still encouraged by his potential, but how much do you commit to his next deal if his development next season is still just creeping up?

It’s like for some guys, the second deal SHOULDNT be the big payday…owners/GMs really need to be very reluctant to throw big deals around, because it’s now a MAJOR bet - you could be stuck with a roster that just bleeds you to death because you’re shackled by immovable deals and buried by punitive multiples of the actual salaries…maybe that’s the ultimate goal of the ownership in agreeing to the new CBA…to sort of force themselves to be more prudent with second deals for good, but not great players or paying too much for unrealized upside.

Also, one significant injury can lead to massive change in trajectory- that, on the surface, makes sense but it shouldn’t be based directly on $$$. Crazy that BOS must bust thing up because, for one year, they won’t be contenders. They are facing 100’s of millions in penalties alone as repeat violators of the second apron…100s of millions beyond the actual salaries…that’s like world hunger/cure cancer money.

[Knightro]

With Boston and Milwaukee both likely to take a significant step backwards and no one outside of maybe Philadelphia looking like they’re ready to take a major step forward, the Magic are absolutely positioned with the correct moves to make a jump into the top 4.

The time is now. The East is going to suck next year. The best team in the East is going to be a team that’s flamed out in the first or second round three straight years.

The Magic need to position themselves right now to take advantage of how chaotic things appear primed to be around them.

[eyriq]

The new CBA and the aprons are working

Read on Twitter

?t=627JXYjmBMsLtH76ix-G3A&s=19

[Knightro]

The new CBA and the aprons are working

I would say the amount the CBA is "working" is heavily dependent on how much you enjoy parity as a fan.

It certainly feels like we're rapidly approaching a place where teams are basically gonna get a 2-3 year contention window at best and then have to reshuffle things because of finances.

[eyriq]

The new CBA and the aprons are working

I would say the amount the CBA is "working" is heavily dependent on how much you enjoy parity as a fan.

It certainly feels like we're rapidly approaching a place where teams are basically gonna get a 2-3 year contention window at best and then have to reshuffle things because of finances.

Well, given that parity was the stated objective of the new CBA I'd say it's independent of how much you enjoy parity as a fan.

[Knightro]

Well, given that parity was the stated objective of the new CBA I'd say it's independent of how much you enjoy parity as a fan.

I'd question whether or not parity is actually a good thing or not given that fan interest in the sport (specifically casual fan interest) is what actually has historically driven the financial train forward for the league.

But hey, maybe the NBA is just accepting that they have a brand new media rights deal about to kick in and two expansion franchises with massive expansion fees on the horizon and simply doesn't care about the fans to the same level they used to since they're going to make ungodly amounts of money no matter what over the next decade.

[Rainwater]

That Tatum & Brown argument is so bad. No matter on which side of the argument you are but this is just a bad example. Who cares if they won in the 7th year. They were a top team from almost day one and reached countless conference finals and semifinals til they won the chip. Winning a ship has so much to do with luck but you have to have a team that got there to even have the luck.

It’s not the luck aspect that is my issue. It’s this idea that guys are winning titles at 22 and 23. Most guys don’t start winning until several years in when they are mid to late 20s or they have a vet superstar like a Shaq. LeBron, MJ, Joker, etc all did not win title until their late 20s. To expect Paolo and Franz to do so is crazy to me especially since they are still learning to play.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

It took Tatum and Brown 7 seasons to win a ship. Franz, Suggs and Paolo still have time to develop even further

Rookie Tatum ( 19) and sophomore Brown (21) went to Eastern Conference Finals, as starters in game 7.
Tatum led them in scoring.

Starting 5: Rozier, Brown, Tatum, Horford, Baynes. Smart off bench.


We won't just go from wining .500 to winning title. We are yet to win playoff series.

This whole planning for some imaginary year where everybody is "ready to win" is crazy talk.

Kawhi Leonard won first title at age of 22.
Duncan at age of 22.
Parker at age of 21.
Kobe 21.

Needless to say that whole bunch of superstars peak in early 20s and due injuries their "prime" isn't what most people view as prime.
Griffin, Carter, Tracy all peaked around 24.


Tatum himself is now screwed because he has massive injury to recover from, Brown will need rest or surgery. Both are in their alleged "prime" today.

Just sitting and waiting until players hit some arbitrary age is suicidal. Luxury tax, repetitive luxury tax, aprons will chew you up and force in rebuild very soon. Magic aren't even signed Banchero yet and they are already at first apron. Good luck playing Jett Howard and Tristan Da Silva, Bol Bol & other scrubs in 3 years because you can't afford nba players.

For Tatum and Brown, their teams were stacked and the East was crap.

As for Kawhi, he was on a team with Duncan, Manu, and Parker along with a 4x championship coach in Pop.

The CBA with the 1st and 2nd aprons is only 2/3 years old and rookie max is what is killing teams because they are coming so early, players don’t really earn them, it is more on potential and if you don’t give it, they want to be traded.

Also, we can point to players as young as 21 and 22 who won the chip, but you can also point to older players like Jordan and LeBron who won it latter in their prime.

Paolo wasn’t going to win the chip in his 1st year, half the team was injured and we couldn’t shoot. The second season, they should have won the playoff series, but it was everyone’s first time, half the team couldn’t shoot. And this year, well, injuries and our shooting killed us. Weltman just standing on his hands did no service to anyone on this team. We are hitting the aprons because of Weltman’s resigning players when he shouldn’t have. That is was going to break this team apart if he doesn’t do anything to improve this team.