Official Speculation Thread '20-'21 VI: "I like this team"

[Optimus_Steel]

It's ownership guys. They are extremely conservative and are not passionate about the team. That's why the team is in quicksand.

[Furinkazan]

I’m not even sure we are better than Cavs.When healthy with Drummond and Love that about 30 rebs a game just from 2 guys.
Meanwhile we lost our best shooter in DJ as much as I hated him...,,,,and even with him we were one of the worst in the league.It’s jaw breaking what this FO is doing,instead of signing few cheap 3 point shooters we re signed our brick layers.

[Bensational]

So we go into the season, have a hot tub early and then a slump leading up to the ASW. We win a couple games back to back before the trade deadline so WeHam go all in on the squad again. No trades. Sub .500 record. We qualify for a play-in spot but lose that game.

Then what? Rinse repeat? Resign Fournier "because we can't lose an asset for nothing", not trade our guys cos we don't get the returns we want.

This is just exhaustingly disappointing at this point. I'll be watching a lot more Pelicans, Thunder and Nuggets this season just cos they have fun teams and know how to rebuild.

[RookieStar]

I’m not even sure we are better than Cavs.When healthy with Drummond and Love that about 30 rebs a game just from 2 guys.
Meanwhile we lost our best shooter in DJ as much as I hated him...,,,,and even with him we were one of the worst in the league.It’s jaw breaking what this FO is doing,instead of signing few cheap 3 point shooters we re signed our brick layers.

as much as I am part of the exasperated group of fans, you have to be fair, technically replacing DJ with someone of Cole's caliber in the Guard spot s already a win. I think comparable 3pt wise ( remains to be seen ) but def better scorer/driving than DJ

[Skin]

I agree with zay in the sense that teams might get desperate for winning later on in the season rather than going all in right now and being content with their younger guys. (IE: Redick for Tobias trade of the past) - those are the deals we should be aiming for but might not be readily available at the moment.

Sure, we’ve also been saying the for 3 years. So what will be the excuse when it doesn’t happen?

You wanted to tank for Ball or Edwards ? I hope the excuse is we are actually winning games with Fultz, Anthony, Okeke and Bamba. If we are as bad as most of posters here think we will be positioned beautifully for a top 10 pick next year.
If we are really bad next year, bye bye Vucevic and Fournier, welcome tank commander Bamba. If Gordon starts season on a tear he will have a lot of suitors, gms are like flags in the wind.

Minny didn't have to tank for Edwards and yes, If rather have him than being a first round exit team based off the shoulders of poor to mediocre vets.

[SOUL]

Sure, we’ve also been saying the for 3 years. So what will be the excuse when it doesn’t happen?

Oh, I agree in team direction with you, I just don't want to really entertain bad FA signings and forcing trades "just for change". If we legit do go another season without ANY moves then I will have a lot to bitch about, but it's not like I expected anything thus far anyway. Still think AG or Fournier will be traded potentially by the time season starts, but I do think this season will be extremely telling as far as what direction we want to take.

[Howard Mass]

Opening Night Rotation

Fultz-Fournier-Ennis-Gordon-Vucevic start
MCW-Ross-Aminu-Birch off bench

Kill me

It is essential that Anthony, Okeke and Bamba if he is healthy, get minutes this season.

You’re right it is essential, but we are talking about the Magic..

If things are going the wrong way or they are indeed shown to be stuck, the pressure will be on to play the young guys if they are not already playing.

[Xatticus]

I’m not even sure we are better than Cavs.When healthy with Drummond and Love that about 30 rebs a game just from 2 guys.
Meanwhile we lost our best shooter in DJ as much as I hated him...,,,,and even with him we were one of the worst in the league.It’s jaw breaking what this FO is doing,instead of signing few cheap 3 point shooters we re signed our brick layers.

as much as I am part of the exasperated group of fans, you have to be fair, technically replacing DJ with someone of Cole's caliber in the Guard spot s already a win. I think comparable 3pt wise ( remains to be seen ) but def better scorer/driving than DJ

There is almost zero chance that Anthony doesn’t hurt us. It’s a massive downgrade. I’m not an Augustin fan, but he made us better. Rookie PGs almost always struggle. Anthony hasn’t demonstrated that he can handle the ACC. I didn’t like the pick, but I’m not going to be slinging ‘I told you so’s when he struggles. We have to be patient while he takes his lumps. My bigger concern is that he might get squeezed out of the rotation if we are healthy. The pick has been made and we have to commit to his development. Clifford wants to win the next game and MCW is going to give us a better chance at winning games.

[Knightro]

Legitimate questions...

Does Clifford opt to use Michael Carter-Williams as his backup point guard?

I thought MCW really thrived playing as a wing last year, but Augustin also played 25 minutes a game so there are a lot of minutes to fill.

Do we really think Clifford is going to opt to give those minutes to Cole Anthony?

I suppose Fultz's minutes could be bumped up from 28 MPG too.

[D12VCMagic]

It's ownership guys. They are extremely conservative and are not passionate about the team. That's why the team is in quicksand.

I think ownership has a bigger role in this than we realize. It wouldn’t surprise me if they basically have told the FO that any sort of risky moves are not allowed after the botched Oladipo trade. We’ve literally made zero moves with any sort of risk at all, even trading for Markelle we gave up nothing of value. I don’t think his family has the desire to win that Rich did. Firing WeltHam may only fix some of our problems, but I worry that we will forever be a mickey mouse team as long as the DeVos family still runs it.

[PrimeThyme]

I just don't see how there is anyone on this planet who could still believe in Weham. Hawks are just the latest team to complete a rebuild in literally 1/3 of the time we have (ours is still ongoing), and are now set up to compete in the East for a long time. All by building the right way and drafting/signing/trading for high-end offensive talent.

That's the blueprint in today's NBA. We hired a GM/President who wanted to go against the grain and do the opposite of that. It's mind-boggling, && they still to this day feel no sense of urgency to do anything about it.

That honestly says more about Martins and our ownership group then anything. They're content with this product.

[The Effect]

Legitimate questions...

Does Clifford opt to use Michael Carter-Williams as his backup point guard?

I thought MCW really thrived playing as a wing last year, but Augustin also played 25 minutes a game so there are a lot of minutes to fill.

Do we really think Clifford is going to opt to give those minutes to Cole Anthony?

I suppose Fultz's minutes could be bumped up from 28 MPG too.

I'm so happy we drafted cole, but sadly I already know cliff is going to give him the monk\bamba treatment. He's going to play like 10 mins a game

[Bakomagic]

I’m not even sure we are better than Cavs.When healthy with Drummond and Love that about 30 rebs a game just from 2 guys.
Meanwhile we lost our best shooter in DJ as much as I hated him...,,,,and even with him we were one of the worst in the league.It’s jaw breaking what this FO is doing,instead of signing few cheap 3 point shooters we re signed our brick layers.

as much as I am part of the exasperated group of fans, you have to be fair, technically replacing DJ with someone of Cole's caliber in the Guard spot s already a win. I think comparable 3pt wise ( remains to be seen ) but def better scorer/driving than DJ

There is almost zero chance that Anthony doesn’t hurt us. It’s a massive downgrade. I’m not an Augustin fan, but he made us better. Rookie PGs almost always struggle. Anthony hasn’t demonstrated that he can handle the ACC. I didn’t like the pick, but I’m not going to be slinging ‘I told you so’s when he struggles. We have to be patient while he takes his lumps. My bigger concern is that he might get squeezed out of the rotation if we are healthy. The pick has been made and we have to commit to his development. Clifford wants to win the next game and MCW is going to give us a better chance at winning games.

Massive downgrade?

DJ was

10.5 pts
4.6 ast
2.1 reb

40% from the field
35% from 3P
47% true shooting


I’d be really disappointed if Cole is not slightly better than DJ defensively.

So what numbers do you see Cole averaging cuz DJ’s mediocre stats do leave much room for anyone to be a massive downgrade.

[shadrock]

We have to be blowing it up and tanking, otherwise this front office has lost its mind and needs to go.

[RookieStar]

From having a 5'11 backup PG to a 6'3 PG is a massive downgrade at least defensively? Also, having the ball pounded a lot before throwing a desperate 3pter or being blocked by a drive to the rim compared to Cole's offensive reputation ( cuz he is a rookie we don't even know yet )

C'mon as much as I am down with our direction, at least be realistice to what DJ did compared to what Cole's reputation ( for now ) will do for us.

[basketballRob]

I think Cole gets around 20 mpg and averages 5 3 pt shots per game.

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

[shadrock]

i feel like heading into this offseaon, we had two options:
1: Add some instawin guy like CP3/Russ Westbrook and try to win as much as we can this year, then blow it up.
2: Blow it up now.

Im seriously hoping we are actually doing option 2, because if we have added nothing and then decide to win 35-40 games and end up with the 12th pick i might lose my mind.

[shadrock]

I mean, does Alex Martins seriously think evern fan is dumb enough not to see through this bull? Having a "playoff team" that wins 41 games and has not future is not a better option for fans. I preferred this team when we were winning 20 games but had hope for real things in the future. Stop treating us like low IQ robots who just buy popcorn and season tickets.

[Bensational]

Legitimate questions...

Does Clifford opt to use Michael Carter-Williams as his backup point guard?

I thought MCW really thrived playing as a wing last year, but Augustin also played 25 minutes a game so there are a lot of minutes to fill.

Do we really think Clifford is going to opt to give those minutes to Cole Anthony?

I suppose Fultz's minutes could be bumped up from 28 MPG too.

It will all depend on how ready to play Cole is. Cliff said in his presser in very cloaked language not to expect him to play much early on due to the shortened preseason. I'd say the plan right now is to see if the team can get out ahead of the pack with consistency on the roster in a shortened season.

With the addition of Bacon I wonder if Okeke is even going to struggle to get minutes early on. I could see a Birch/Aminu/Bacon/Ross/MCW 2nd unit. Clark/Okeke/Cole filling up the depth minutes in blow outs. Sounds like Bamba already has the covid excuse for Cliff to keep him off the court.

[Knightro]

People are dramatically underestimating how bad Cole Anthony is going to be.

The vast majority of rookies are terrible from a positive impact perspective and Anthony was REALLY BAD (it can't be over stressed how bad he was) in college.

If Anthony is not god awful this year, it would be a massive victory for the Magic.