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What would you like to see the team do?

Short Term: Finishing the season, goals, players to feature, etc.

Draft: Who to draft, or what to do with the draft pick?

Free Agency: Who to sign, who to let go. (Dream about Durant, but make a plan 1b, too)

Trades: Any trades?

Final Roster: Up to you.

Fire Skiles.

Don't match for Fournier .

Try to make a run at Conley or Horford.

Rabb and Skiles seem like the best players in our range.

Keep developing the young guns.

I'd be happy with our starting lineup looking like this:

Conley/Dipo/Mario/AG/Vucevic or Elfrid/Dipo/Mario/AG/Horford.

I wrote a really long reply, and it just got deleted :/

In short...

I don't want to tank even though we have to go 12-1 to finish .500. I still want to develop the young guys though, accountability is one thing, not enforcing it for every player is another. Leaving Ersan in last night was inexcusable.

In the draft, I like Rabb, Davis, and Johnson in the mid lotto range, Poeltl would be a steal. Skal would be nice as well, especially with Turner's success, I just think it'll be difficult to develop him with the current system, not a knock on Skiles, it'll just be difficult for him to not learn through his mistakes. Trading down for a quality get would be nice as well, lot of nice role players like Petr Cornelie late in the draft, who could be a draft and stash if we want to maximize cap space.

I had a detailed write up of why we should go after Conley and Parsons and not Horford, but it mainly has to do with fit and depth. PG is not our best position, other than Payton, everyone is inconsistent. Conley would be a great leader and locker room presence as well as a mentor for Elf. Parsons is the hometown kid and brings a lot to the table, he could also help recruit players. I would be concerned with him wanting to be a key piece to our future though, as I think it'll wind up being Payton Dipo Mario AG and Vooch as our future starters. Horford mainly has to do with positional fit. His natural position is the 4 and so is AG's (offensively at least, AG can guard a lot more positions). I still love Horford and what he did for Gator Nation, and I would not mind signing him as he does being solid veteran and locker room presence. I don't see us re-signing Evan for more than we did Tobias.

The future of this team is great, it'll be fun when things start rolling.

magician4ever wrote:I wrote a really long reply, and it just got deleted :/

In short...

I don't want to tank even though we have to go 12-1 to finish .500. I still want to develop the young guys though, accountability is one thing, not enforcing it for every player is another. Leaving Ersan in last night was inexcusable.

In the draft, I like Rabb, Davis, and Johnson in the mid lotto range, Poeltl would be a steal. Skal would be nice as well, especially with Turner's success, I just think it'll be difficult to develop him with the current system, not a knock on Skiles, it'll just be difficult for him to not learn through his mistakes. Trading down for a quality get would be nice as well, lot of nice role players like Petr Cornelie late in the draft, who could be a draft and stash if we want to maximize cap space.

I had a detailed write up of why we should go after Conley and Parsons and not Horford, but it mainly has to do with fit and depth. PG is not our best position, other than Payton, everyone is inconsistent. Conley would be a great leader and locker room presence as well as a mentor for Elf. Parsons is the hometown kid and brings a lot to the table, he could also help recruit players. I would be concerned with him wanting to be a key piece to our future though, as I think it'll wind up being Payton Dipo Mario AG and Vooch as our future starters. Horford mainly has to do with positional fit. His natural position is the 4 and so is AG's (offensively at least, AG can guard a lot more positions). I still love Horford and what he did for Gator Nation, and I would not mind signing him as he does being solid veteran and locker room presence. I don't see us re-signing Evan for more than we did Tobias.

The future of this team is great, it'll be fun when things start rolling.

Yup.... THIS for the most part. Just a lil more gungho about Big Al signing. "Positionally" it will give us the first time in years where our lineup fits and players are playing at positions they can excel in.
Conley/Payton
Dipo/Hezonja
Hezonja/Gordon (No particular order)
Horford/Gordon
Vuc/Horford

And with many players ability to play multiple positions we will pretty much be able to sustain our team quality on the floor at all times... less opportunity of the lulls in play when the bench comes in and most of our best/young players will be given the opportunity to get their 30 mins of play.

by bringing in a vet at pg. payton gets extra time to develop. I still see him as part of our future... but by bringing him back and letting him mature his game under a solid vet... we can be prepping for the future while competing at a very high level in the present with his tutor (mike conley). Better to bring in an established vet than another draft pick...that would definitely be a gut punch.

I still see the potential even while others might be waning. And yes..... EVEN UNDER SKILES! (no denying... when we click... WE CLICK.. just gotta do it for 48 min and not 32.) Conley and Horford are the types of leaders you want on the floor... and will establish skiles' schemes throughout the game... both on the offensive and defensive ends of the court. Both a good defenders/smart individuals/ lead by example.... i can see the system running much smoother.


In time... I believe hezonja will be a better talent than fournier. If he comes at too much of a cost... let him go... even sign and trade to help fill out any bench spots.

Drink lotsa beer. Work alot. Do some fishing, diving and hiking. Play and Record lots of Guitar, Bass and Drums. Harrass Magic Fans on RealGM.

BadMofoPimp wrote:Drink lotsa beer. Work alot. Do some fishing, diving and hiking. Play and Record lots of Guitar, Bass and Drums. Harrass Magic Fans on RealGM.

Starting to warm up its time for fishing, and video games in the AC. The more I think about it I think conley would fit very well so heres hoping for that. Take PF, C in the the draft. Id be cool.

Ok - Here is my fantasy land summer. 2 Max Free Agents and a Blockbuster Trade.

1. Sign Durant & Mike Conley

2. Trade - Aaron Gordon, Ilyasova, Watson, Pick - for Blake Griffin. Is there a better offer for the Clippers out there? They get Gordon at the 3 or 4, Ilysaova at the 4 or waive(for cap space to sign other FA) plus a lottery pick & a solid back up point guard. Risky on our part as Griffin will be a free agent soon BUT I'm sure we would ask the right questions and we would have one of the best teams in the league. I think the max cap space for 2 free agents was a decision based on conversations during the trade deadline(and back channels with agents) and we know there were conversations with LA on Griffin. If Durant decides to leave OKC, I think we present a team that is his, that would represent his legacy, is family friendly and the tax savings on a max contract is significant. Honestly, I think his image would also be ok because I believe everyone wants to see Orlando win after the years of setbacks due to Shaq and Dwight Howard. I think they could see this as a positive move but hey - I'm just wishing here too.

3. Resign Fournier, Jason Smith or see what free agents are out there at this point.

4. Free Agent Possibilities - Matt Barnes, J Noah, Mozgov, Pick your Depth. Obviously all could impact Fournier/Smith but we would have options.



Conley/Payton/Napier
Oladipo/Hezonja/Fournier
Durant/Fournier/FA
Griffin/Smith/FA
Vuc/Smith/FA

I'm not a Cap Guru but I think this would work. Curious to know if there are any holes here money wise.

magician4ever wrote:I wrote a really long reply, and it just got deleted :/

In short...

I don't want to tank even though we have to go 12-1 to finish .500. I still want to develop the young guys though, accountability is one thing, not enforcing it for every player is another. Leaving Ersan in last night was inexcusable.

In the draft, I like Rabb, Davis, and Johnson in the mid lotto range, Poeltl would be a steal. Skal would be nice as well, especially with Turner's success, I just think it'll be difficult to develop him with the current system, not a knock on Skiles, it'll just be difficult for him to not learn through his mistakes. Trading down for a quality get would be nice as well, lot of nice role players like Petr Cornelie late in the draft, who could be a draft and stash if we want to maximize cap space.

I had a detailed write up of why we should go after Conley and Parsons and not Horford, but it mainly has to do with fit and depth. PG is not our best position, other than Payton, everyone is inconsistent. Conley would be a great leader and locker room presence as well as a mentor for Elf. Parsons is the hometown kid and brings a lot to the table, he could also help recruit players. I would be concerned with him wanting to be a key piece to our future though, as I think it'll wind up being Payton Dipo Mario AG and Vooch as our future starters. Horford mainly has to do with positional fit. His natural position is the 4 and so is AG's (offensively at least, AG can guard a lot more positions). I still love Horford and what he did for Gator Nation, and I would not mind signing him as he does being solid veteran and locker room presence. I don't see us re-signing Evan for more than we did Tobias.

The future of this team is great, it'll be fun when things start rolling.

This and I would just like to add Sign Oladipo ASAP! As soon as we are capable, sign the man to the money he deserves.

magician4ever wrote:I wrote a really long reply, and it just got deleted :/

In short...

I don't want to tank even though we have to go 12-1 to finish .500. I still want to develop the young guys though, accountability is one thing, not enforcing it for every player is another. Leaving Ersan in last night was inexcusable.

In the draft, I like Rabb, Davis, and Johnson in the mid lotto range, Poeltl would be a steal. Skal would be nice as well, especially with Turner's success, I just think it'll be difficult to develop him with the current system, not a knock on Skiles, it'll just be difficult for him to not learn through his mistakes. Trading down for a quality get would be nice as well, lot of nice role players like Petr Cornelie late in the draft, who could be a draft and stash if we want to maximize cap space.

I had a detailed write up of why we should go after Conley and Parsons and not Horford, but it mainly has to do with fit and depth. PG is not our best position, other than Payton, everyone is inconsistent. Conley would be a great leader and locker room presence as well as a mentor for Elf. Parsons is the hometown kid and brings a lot to the table, he could also help recruit players. I would be concerned with him wanting to be a key piece to our future though, as I think it'll wind up being Payton Dipo Mario AG and Vooch as our future starters. Horford mainly has to do with positional fit. His natural position is the 4 and so is AG's (offensively at least, AG can guard a lot more positions). I still love Horford and what he did for Gator Nation, and I would not mind signing him as he does being solid veteran and locker room presence. I don't see us re-signing Evan for more than we did Tobias.

The future of this team is great, it'll be fun when things start rolling.

I'm not sure. Horford played at center for 85% of his PT throughout his carrer according to b-ball ref. If we indeed signed Horford I'd have him playing 5 and AG playing 4.

Fire Skiles even if the best option is Scott Brooks. A lot of this losing is not on Skiles, but the team needs a coach who is willing to run a modern NBA offense, and Brooks modified his to just that in his last season with OKC. Brooks also is a players coach who is a better motivator than what they have now.

Sign Mike Conley to a max. Conley is a star player at PG and he has around 4-5 years of high caliber play in him most likely.

Let's assume Durant is not happening, just to keep things realistic. Obviously Durant is the ideal FA that everyone wants but planning around getting him is too easy.

Next step - trade Vuc. The Magic explored doing this last summer, but I think they need to make it happen now. Brian Schmitz suggested trading him for Derrick Favors. I do not think that is realistic, but if it is - by all means do this. The Magic could play favors at the 5 next to Gordon at times and have an incredibly athletic and talented front court on both offense and defense. I watched Favors play the 5 spot against Cleveland last week and he killed them. He is a big guy.

Draft a big unless there is a sleeper star available at our pick. Rob has proven he can find star talent and will reach a little early in the draft if need be. If he sees talent that falls in our lap, he need to grab it regardless of what position it is. As Magic fans we have seen firsthand that great rookies are probably best suited as bench players and not starters. A talented rookie will save $ and add depth to our bench. If there is no sleeper, draft the best big on the board. Again, reach if you see a sleeper. We have seen some of the better rookies in the last draft did go in the spots we are projected to pick now, so it is possible we get a good bench player.

Get one of these 3 SFs in this order - Nick Batum, Chandler Parsons, Harrison Barnes. We need a real SF. No more rolling out undersized guys. None of these guys are perfect, and Barnes has the most potential to explode since he has never had the PT he'd get with us, but Batum is the safest bet. Not only is he a great 3 and D guy, but he is fantastic at ball movement as well. To do this, the Magic would need to let Fournier explore free agency and only match if he does not get a large offer.

I'd resign Jason Smith to a cheap deal. And then I would do the final move - try and sign Dwight Howard. This is assuming a team does not overpay him. I do not see this happening. The reason is because while teams have crazy cap space for two years, the crippling effect of signing Howard to a max deal for 5 years is something I can't see any sensible GM doing. The Magic could swoop in and potentially get him at a bargain for 3 years.

We know a few things about Howard - he is an all-star C on the decline. He is not able to play every game. Hence trading Vuc and getting Favors. The Magic could start Favors at the 5 and put Gordon in the starting lineup when this happens.

At this point we'd have a lineup of Conley/Oladipo/Batum/Favors/Howard. That is easily a playoff team and every starter is either an all-star or has the potential be one. The bench would be lead by Gordon as 6th man playing PF and SF and flanked by Elfrid,Mario and Jason Smith to round out the 9 man rotation. I would let Fournier go unless he comes at a deal, and I doubt that happens.

Here is the main thing - our starting lineup is almost all new guys who are proven veteran stars.Our young guys would finally be able to develop off the bench AND win games.

The problem is this is pretty ambitious. Getting Favors may be impossible and getting Howard on a deal is not a given either. Heck, we could offer Conley the max and not get him either. But this would be my plan to turn this team around dramatically.

I´ll be fine with something like this.

1- Fire Skiles

2- If Sacramento finally decides to trade DeMarcus:

Oladipo+Vucevic+Hezonja+¿LA pick? for Cousins+McLemore

3- Draft Rabb or Labissiere

4- Resing Fournier, Smith/Nicholson.

5- Parsons, Noah, Dudley in the FA


Payton-Watson-2º round
Fournier-McLemore
Parsons-Dudley
Gordon-¿Rabb-Labissiere?-Nicholson/Smith
Cousins-Noah

NavalAviator94 wrote:Conley/Payton/Napier
Oladipo/Hezonja/Fournier
Durant/Fournier/FA
Griffin/Smith/FA
Vuc/Smith/FA

This might be a 70-win team.






..

Miss out on durant
Miss out on batum
Go after biyombo
Match Evan
Qo on AN
Big 2 yrs deal with team option on second year to jennings
Good 2 yrs deal with team option on second year to smith
Optin on ersan

Get ready for 2017





Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

PennytoShaq wrote:Fire Skiles even if the best option is Scott Brooks. A lot of this losing is not on Skiles, but the team needs a coach who is willing to run a modern NBA offense, and Brooks modified his to just that in his last season with OKC. Brooks also is a players coach who is a better motivator than what they have now.

Sign Mike Conley to a max. Conley is a star player at PG and he has around 4-5 years of high caliber play in him most likely.

Let's assume Durant is not happening, just to keep things realistic. Obviously Durant is the ideal FA that everyone wants but planning around getting him is too easy.

Next step - trade Vuc. The Magic explored doing this last summer, but I think they need to make it happen now. Brian Schmitz suggested trading him for Derrick Favors. I do not think that is realistic, but if it is - by all means do this. The Magic could play favors at the 5 next to Gordon at times and have an incredibly athletic and talented front court on both offense and defense. I watched Favors play the 5 spot against Cleveland last week and he killed them. He is a big guy.

Draft a big unless there is a sleeper star available at our pick. Rob has proven he can find star talent and will reach a little early in the draft if need be. If he sees talent that falls in our lap, he need to grab it regardless of what position it is. As Magic fans we have seen firsthand that great rookies are probably best suited as bench players and not starters. A talented rookie will save $ and add depth to our bench. If there is no sleeper, draft the best big on the board. Again, reach if you see a sleeper. We have seen some of the better rookies in the last draft did go in the spots we are projected to pick now, so it is possible we get a good bench player.

Get one of these 3 SFs in this order - Nick Batum, Chandler Parsons, Harrison Barnes. We need a real SF. No more rolling out undersized guys. None of these guys are perfect, and Barnes has the most potential to explode since he has never had the PT he'd get with us, but Batum is the safest bet. Not only is he a great 3 and D guy, but he is fantastic at ball movement as well. To do this, the Magic would need to let Fournier explore free agency and only match if he does not get a large offer.

I'd resign Jason Smith to a cheap deal. And then I would do the final move - try and sign Dwight Howard. This is assuming a team does not overpay him. I do not see this happening. The reason is because while teams have crazy cap space for two years, the crippling effect of signing Howard to a max deal for 5 years is something I can't see any sensible GM doing. The Magic could swoop in and potentially get him at a bargain for 3 years.

We know a few things about Howard - he is an all-star C on the decline. He is not able to play every game. Hence trading Vuc and getting Favors. The Magic could start Favors at the 5 and put Gordon in the starting lineup when this happens.

At this point we'd have a lineup of Conley/Oladipo/Batum/Favors/Howard. That is easily a playoff team and every starter is either an all-star or has the potential be one. The bench would be lead by Gordon as 6th man playing PF and SF and flanked by Elfrid,Mario and Jason Smith to round out the 9 man rotation. I would let Fournier go unless he comes at a deal, and I doubt that happens.

Here is the main thing - our starting lineup is almost all new guys who are proven veteran stars.Our young guys would finally be able to develop off the bench AND win games.

The problem is this is pretty ambitious. Getting Favors may be impossible and getting Howard on a deal is not a given either. Heck, we could offer Conley the max and not get him either. But this would be my plan to turn this team around dramatically.

Yup! I was pro signing Brooks in the first place. People like to think that he got 2 superstars on a silver plate, but in reality he is a great development coach, who is really good at maximizing players strenght and putting them in a best position to succeed. He couldn't get Okc over the top, but he'd be great for a young developing team like Magic. He also played a big role in development of KD, Russ, Harden, Reggie, Serge,Adams and they corrected many of their flaws under him. Not to mention that all of his players in Okc really loved him and had great relationship with him.

Yeah I liked Brooks as well. I am not on the Hate Skiles train that some are on, but in his press conference he set expectations for an over .500 record and a top 5 defense, and said we had the personnel to do that. So he has grossly underperformed in that regard.

Go after Hassan Whiteside at 12:01 a.m. We need interior defense and not sure getting a defensive 4 is that good of a solution. But in order to get Whiteside to sign on with us we have to pursue someone to pair with him so I am looking at Mike Conley, Demar Derozan or Parsons as well and pursuing one of them to bring a good duo that can not only push us into the playoffs but also grow with our young talent. Durant of course would be awesome but not sure he is that likely but still i would at least put in a call.

I then trade Vuc and either Dipo or Payton(depending on who we get to pair with Whiteside) for another good piece or two. Not sure who would be available via trade but I would be looking at a good 2s, 3s or 4s(depending on where we plan putting Gordon and Hezonja at).

In the draft we could go in a number of directions. Depth at the 4 spot with Rabb or Deyonta Davis or Skal Labissiere. Or a shooter like Buddy Hield, Jamal Murray, Denzel Valentine or Furkan Kormaz. We could trade the pick, trade up or down, or use in the trade above. We would need more shooters with Conley and Whiteside so i am leaning that way but we could get that with the trade as stated above.

Look at my sig. Everything else will take care of itself.

Trade Vuc plus Dipo and Pick for Butler of bulls plus there pick

Resign Smith to freindly contract.

Let Evan go.

Make free agent play for Conley, Bismack and Parson/Barnes/Batum.

If we have our pick still and its in the expected range of 9-12 providing hes available id take a chance on Skal.

If our pick lands in top thre then we can celebrate big time and grab simmons,ingram, Heild.

Line up would be

Conley
Butler
Bismack
Gordon
Parsons/Barnes/Batum

Mario coming of bench along with EP and Smith for some solid bench scoring.

Exciting summer ahead guys. Im sure none of this will work out and well end up with nothing.

Im happy for us to keep Dipo by the way but we have to make a big desicion on him soon as alot of teams will be interested in paying him big the following year. Vuc value has never been so high. Hes a great scorer but would rather see bismack, Favours, whiteside maybe instead. We have had four years of tanking to try and land a star through the draft and it hasnt worked out as well as wed have liked. We landed Gordon who Ive always said can be a star in this league kinda like Dramond Green. But no more tanking now lets swing for the big boys and get back in playoffs. As long as there sensible swings like Conley (proven top tier player) or Bismack (young player with ALOT of upside) then i dont mind

If we get really really lucky in draft and land in top three it will have mayjor affect on who we make a play for in free agency.

Plan A)Go for the Home Run, go all out for Durant.

Plan B)If no Durant, sign Conley, Batum and Mahinmi(piggy backing on LBPTarHeel's idea). Resign Fournier, Jennings and Jason Smith.

Conley/EP/Jennings
Dipo/Fournier/T Harvey
Batum/Hezonja/Marble
AG/Smith/Rabb 2016 1st rd pick
Vooch/Mahinmi/Dedmon