Official Speculation & Free Agency Thread (PtXI, Mods close)

[rcklsscognition]

Hawks just signed Dampier, will he play against Dwight Friday? Probably.

[arkknight1988]

from espn:

From Elias: Ryan Anderson had a memorable first half for the Magic in their 102-89 home win over the Heat. Anderson made five of six three-point shots and five of eight free throws while grabbing eight rebounds before halftime. The last player with at least five three-pointers, free throws made, and rebounds in the first half of an NBA game was Tracy McGrady, also for Orlando on March 19, 2002 (5 3-pointers, 5 FT, 7 rebounds vs. Milwaukee).

[PeePee la Fritz]

Would Shaq really be that much worse than Otis Smith at GM? Atleast he would be entertaining lol

BTW- since Steven Jackson is gonna be moved any day now, any chance we should see a S-JAX for TURK and 1st RD pick? or another combination

If NJ wanted to play dirty they could offer a package of Morrow and Humphries. That is a lot better then Turk. The Bucks are solid at the SF....they are still winning some games with Jax on the bench.

[SolidSnake008]

Hawks just signed Dampier, will he play against Dwight Friday? Probably.

And here we are still without a legit backup C...I think the reason why we don't have a backup for Dwight is because of Big Baby....You have to justify that contract plus if we got a backup for Dwight Baby's minutes would obviously take a nose dive then we'll be stuck with a literal Big Baby crying about minutes disrupting the lockeroom...

[The Real Dalic]

From Magic Basketball Online: http://www.magicbasketballonline.com/20 ... rformance/

Rookie DeAndre Liggins may not have played tonight (or this season), but that doesn’t mean that Stan Van Gundy isn’t pleased from what he has seen from him. As of 7pm yesterday, Liggins contract became guaranteed for the remainder of the season. Stan pointed out that despite having been here only 2 months he has already gained 15 pounds of muscle. The key for Liggins will be to just gain experience. At the moment he is buried on the bench, but keeping him around all season, the Magic are clearly pleased with the off-court development they’ve seen.

15 pounds of muscle in 2 months? That's pretty solid growth for anyone, but considering his size he must not have lifted much in college.

Or maybe he found R Lew's old locker...

[Def Swami]

Shaq's first move as GM would be to trade Dwight for the "best big man in the game."

[WeAreVenom]

Taken from TrueBlue.....Confirmed by Catman:

Here is a little inside story I just got.

For those who don't know, I sit low enough to hear and see all of the players interactions. Well, last night I didn't go to the game but my friend who we share seats with did. He is friends with some people, who know some people. Anyway, he and Jack (he is high up, and I'll name protect him in case he didn't want his name out) were in the Club at the Arena, when Dwight's bodyguard came walking in. They know eachother from here and there and started to talk a little bit. Obviously the Dwight staying/going came up and the Bodyguard said flat out "don't believe everything you hear, Dwight wants to stay, he really does." So they countered with well, why doesn't he just say so and whats the deal, etc? Again the bodyguard said he wanted to stay but there were some things that have started to get Dwight mad. He spelled it all out:

Over the summer, prior to Dwight asking for the trade, he flew up to Grand Rapids to meet with DeVos about how he felt. He also had a few minor (I see them as immature but subtle) demands. 1- he wanted Deron Williams and/or Stephen Jackson/Monta Ellis (everyone knows this). 2- he wanted his personal trainer to be allowed to travel with the team and himself. This is something that DeVos, for whatever reason denied him of. Then Dwight said he wanted to change some small tedious stuff, like when he got flown to the All Star Game last year, the Magic flew him on their sponsor airline; Air Tran or Jet Blue, instead of on a Jet like the rest of the All Stars got. He said he wanted to be treated like all of the other "Stars" in the league pretty much.

So, my friend and *Jack, (much like all of you now) said minus Williams/Jackson/Ellis, that sounded dumb and easily attainable. The bodyguard stated again that if the Magic got another any all-star style player and some things changed that Dwight would stay. *Jack is personal friends with DeVos, who was at the game last night, and asked if he could share this little story. The Bodyguard said "you can tell anybody you would like." So, *Jack went straight to DeVos himself at the game and started telling him what he had just heard. DeVos nodded the entire time and said that was an accurate story.

So there you have it, straight from both sides.

[ADRajX]

Shaq's first move as GM would be to trade Dwight for the "best big man in the game."

Roy Hibbert? ... according to Shaq the best big men in the game are

1. Hibbert
2. Bynum
3. Griffin

[The Real Dalic]

Shaq's first move as GM would be to trade Dwight for the "best big man in the game."

He'd probably throw Ryan Anderson in too, thinking that a straight up Dwight for Bynum swap is unfair to the Lakers...

[The Real Dalic]

@ WeAreVenom, is that guy reliable though?

[Driguez]

Taken from TrueBlue.....Confirmed by Catman:

Here is a little inside story I just got.

For those who don't know, I sit low enough to hear and see all of the players interactions. Well, last night I didn't go to the game but my friend who we share seats with did. He is friends with some people, who know some people. Anyway, he and Jack (he is high up, and I'll name protect him in case he didn't want his name out) were in the Club at the Arena, when Dwight's bodyguard came walking in. They know eachother from here and there and started to talk a little bit. Obviously the Dwight staying/going came up and the Bodyguard said flat out "don't believe everything you hear, Dwight wants to stay, he really does." So they countered with well, why doesn't he just say so and whats the deal, etc? Again the bodyguard said he wanted to stay but there were some things that have started to get Dwight mad. He spelled it all out:

Over the summer, prior to Dwight asking for the trade, he flew up to Grand Rapids to meet with DeVos about how he felt. He also had a few minor (I see them as immature but subtle) demands. 1- he wanted Deron Williams and/or Stephen Jackson/Monta Ellis (everyone knows this). 2- he wanted his personal trainer to be allowed to travel with the team and himself. This is something that DeVos, for whatever reason denied him of. Then Dwight said he wanted to change some small tedious stuff, like when he got flown to the All Star Game last year, the Magic flew him on their sponsor airline; Air Tran or Jet Blue, instead of on a Jet like the rest of the All Stars got. He said he wanted to be treated like all of the other "Stars" in the league pretty much.

So, my friend and *Jack, (much like all of you now) said minus Williams/Jackson/Ellis, that sounded dumb and easily attainable. The bodyguard stated again that if the Magic got another any all-star style player and some things changed that Dwight would stay. *Jack is personal friends with DeVos, who was at the game last night, and asked if he could share this little story. The Bodyguard said "you can tell anybody you would like." So, *Jack went straight to DeVos himself at the game and started telling him what he had just heard. DeVos nodded the entire time and said that was an accurate story.

So there you have it, straight from both sides.

So that's what really happened during the summer? Give this guy his own private jet for himself and his trainer for all games! Geez

[SolidSnake008]

I remember catman from the old magic boards...i remember him being pretty reliable if i'm remembering correctly.....So other than getting Ellis/Deron or whoever it comes down to little stuff? Being flow out on a Jet? Trainer traveling with the team? you know what this does kinda makes sense...It matches up with what Dwight said about something happening to him over the summer....Man this whole thing just keeps getting more convoluted

[magicman123]

so the OMG story that completely flipped dwights thinking, was simply flying on a jet plane once a year?

[Nyce_1]

I believe catman.

[WeAreVenom]

I remember catman from the old magic boards...i remember him being pretty reliable if i'm remembering correctly.....So other than getting Ellis/Deron or whoever it comes down to little stuff? Being flow out on a Jet? Trainer traveling with the team? you know what this does kinda makes sense...It matches up with what Dwight said about something happening to him over the summer....Man this whole thing just keeps getting more convoluted

Yeah, I was unsure of it until Catman confirmed it.

@TheRealDalic, yeah he's pretty reliable. He broke the Phoenix trade a while back before it happened, and his word is like gospel to those on that board.

It does line up with what Dwight was saying, and also that whole "I feel used" sentiment.....

[Edrock]

The Magic's treatment of non-players traveling with the team has come up in the past. I believe the story was back in 2000 Tim Duncan asked if his wife could travel with the team on the plane, and was denied. After that event (and David Robinson cutting his Hawaii vacation short to talk to TD) Duncan returned to San Antonio. I can certainly see the Magic denying these request for just ANY player, but it boggles the mind that they would do this for superduperstars (like Dwight and TD back in the day). The things management signs off on (trading for damaged Gilbert Arenas, extra long deals for Rashard, Q-Rich, J-Rich, and Big Baby) but the things they deny (a private jet trip for their best player, concessions to Dwight's requests) seem awfully confusing and shortsighted. Wouldn't the mistake mgmt. made w/TD be a LEARNING POINT with Dwight, that perhaps conceding (what to me seem like minor) requests to players that deserve it are a big deal to the players?

[MagicFan41]

I've been meaning to post a thread about this for a little while now....because it kind of hit me the other day. I think the Magic are too "old school" in their management. Why do you think these guys are attracted to playing for guys like Cuban or the Nets with Prok/Jay Z? Most of these players nowadays grew up as being spoon-fed everything from when they were young. They are used to being spoiled and treated to everything and shown love 24/7 (now via Twitter and such). So tiny stupid little things are going to bruise their egos. The Magic organization though, to me, simply seems to "old school" in it's management style.

They go and get a guy like Otis (an "old school" Magic guy from the old days) as their GM, who said repeatedly that he didn't contact Dwight or his agent for like a week after the lockout ended. He has made snide comments referring to Dwight such as "the tail doesn't wag the dog". The team had banned headbands up until this year (probably at Dwight's request). It doesn't do the more new-age marketing type stuff to lap up to its players (like having big pictures of them on buildings). Even going to Magic games, it just feels like the whole event is put on a bit cheesily. Devos has said many times that he wants everyone to be able to bring their families and not have any hostility, etc etc. I'm not trying to fault the guy, because I understand his moral standpoint, but all of that to some extent does compromise a bit of the "new" NBA feel (players are now treated like celebs, want everything given to them at every request, it's supposed to be more aligned with actors, rappers, etc than just athletes....you don't see that in hockey, baseball, football as much). It doesn't make the players feel "wanted", when they see what all these other organizations do for their players (just look at Cuban).

All of this is echoed by the types of guys they hire too. Stan is the exact type of thing I am talking about. A total NON-players coach, but a great x's and o's type guy, a pure "old school" basketball player. He will constantly come out and when asked something like "your guys seemed to think this would be a big momentum builder? what do you think" will reply with something like "I don't believe in momentum". He is a buzzkill if you will, something that in this day and age, players hate. For better or worse, that's the reality of the NBA today. Even the other guys in the FO (BVW, Martins, etc) just all feel a bit too cheesy for me. They don't come off as slick, savvy business guys...which is what I think a lot of players are looking for these days (they all think they're great businessmen too....). This above story from the bodyguard just seems to corroborate my feelings. Denying small, easily attainable things, just for the sake of it.

That being said, I think it's stupid on both sides for this to have come to this other a few simple luxuries. Is he really going to leave all of what he has in Orlando behind because his trainer can't fly with him and he doesn't get a private jet once a year? Wow. Dwight, get over yourself a bit, and RDV, stop being so stubborn.

[ADRajX]

I remember Catman from back in the day on another forum, he's good reliable poster... I believe him.

[BelgianMagic]

I think we all know that if Otis somehow got Ellis or Deron to Orlando, Dwight's most likely gonna stay .. It's been that way for a couple of years now, & that story confirms it

[ADRajX]

I think we all know that if Otis somehow got Ellis or Deron to Orlando, Dwight's most likely gonna stay .. It's been that way for a couple of years now, & that story confirms it

I still feel like we have a slight chance at landing Ellis sometime after March 1st and before the trade deadline IF we can find a 3rd team.