RealGM

This is the new NBA Trade Game sweeping the nation!

Your role: You are the newly appointed GM of the Orlando Magic and Rich Devos has given you command to WIN NOW. Alex Martins has been fired! There is no committee to pass your ideas through. Scott Skiles is still your HC though. You are solely in charge and Devos has given you assurance that money will NOT be an issue for any expense!

Your situation: In order to free up their cap space and afford to sign 2 max players this summer, the Magic have renounced every RFA and Team Option except for Evan Fournier.

Your task:

Step 1: To put together a TRADE to acquire a big named star using current Magic assets. Trade has to pass approval through ESPN's Trade Machine: http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine

Step 2: Use your newly acquired star to help recruit 2 max FAs to play alongside him in Orlando.

You may not duplicate the submission of another previous poster. So the faster you submit your idea, the better.

--------- Submission Template ------------

Trade: Player A, Player B, Future 1st, etc for Player C (star)
ESPN Trade Machine link:

2 Max FA Signings:

Player A
Player B

Starting 5 Roster:
PG
SG
SF
PF
C

Your Thoughts:


******** PLEASE REFRAIN FROM COMMENTING ON OTHER PEOPLE'S SUBMISSIONS AT THIS TIME ***********

Submissions due on Friday, 4/28 Midnight EST

After that time, we will allow voting for the best submission. Winner is the poster who receives the most votes!

Realism will be a factor in the judging!

Submission Template

Trade: Nikola Vucevic, Victor Oladipo, Mario Hezonja, swap 2016 1st and give LAL future 1st for Chris Paul. *Clippers sign Conley in the offseason*
ESPN Trade Machine link: http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=hdb7yhr

2 Max FA Signings:
Player A- Kevin Durant
Player B- Hassan Whiteside

Starting 5 Roster:
PG- Chris Paul
SG-Brandon Rush
SF-Kevin Durant
PF-Aaron Gordon
C-Hassan Whiteside

Bench: Evan Fournier, Elfrid Payton, Joakim Noah, Taurean Prince, Quincy Acy.

Your Thoughts:

Additional info...
-draft Taurean Prince with LAC 1st.
-stretch Watson.
-Use trade exception and 2nd rounder in S&T for Joakim Noah.
-sign Quincy Acy.
-Fill out the roster with insurance players.

Reasoning

Considering that Whiteside's max is about 23 million and Durant is 27 million, thats the best value you can get for our 50 million in cap space.

Can you think of a better trio than Chris Paul, Kevin Durant and Hassan Whiteside? Their games complement each other so well. We could be in the running for both the top defense and top offense in the league with these guys at the helm. It doesn't hurt to have low usage players like AG and Rush in the starting lineup so that the stars can have space and get their shot attempts. Also, if you thought AG got some easy attempts this year... wait until you see him with Chris Paul. We become the best team in the East in the span of a few days.

The bench has some built in firepower as well. We just paid a pretty penny to keep Fournier, but he delivers for us and is in the running for 6th man of the year. Elfrid isn't thrilled coming off the bench, but he can deal with it if he gets to go to the Finals. Prince is a great 3&D type who can space the floor and switch every screen. Acy has added the 3 to his arsenal to go along with his elite rim rolling ability. Noah brings vet leadership to the bench and his deep postseason experience proves invaluable to the team. His passing and defense elevates the level of play of the bench.

One of my favorite aspects of this deal is that we have real veteran leadership, without sacrificing our future. Two of our stars are 27 years old and 4 of our rotation players are in between the ages of 21-24. Chris Paul, Joakim Noah and Brandon Rush are the elder statesmen who are hungry for a championship. You can't go wrong with this team.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REzlxX4ZywU[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkUdT4OCd8A[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0esYUPvuW4[/youtube]

As Otis Smith once said... "I like this team".

Magic trade:
Vucevic
Payton
Hezonja
2016 first round pick

Kings trade:
Cousins

Sign Kevin Durant to max
Sign Mike Conley to max
Sign Jason Smith to 2/6mill

Re-sign/match Evan Fournier

Fill out roster with minimum vets

PG-Conley/Watson
SG-Oladipo/Fournier
SF-Durant/Fournier/Gordon
PF-Gordon/Durant
C-Cousins/Smith

That team is EASILY the best team in the east, possibly in the league.

Putting this here snoop!

~Snoopy~ wrote:Phase 1
Trade
Oladipo+Vucevic+CJ Watson for Butler + Mirotic
Phase 2
Sign Whiteside
Horford

Resign Fournier Jennings

Phase 3
enjoy ecf

Payton
Fournier
Butler
Horford
Whiteside

or Payton
Butler
Gordon
Horford
Whiteside

or insert Jennings instead of Payton

Trade: Vucevic, Hezonja, Elfrid Payton 2015 1st, 2016 unprotected 1st for John Wall
ESPN Trade Machine link: http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=j7s5eb9

2 Max FA Signings:

Player A: Kevin Durant
Player B: Hassan Whiteside

Starting 5 Roster:
PG: John Wall
SG: Victor Oladipo
SF: Kevin Durant
PF: Aaron Gordon
C: Hassan Whiteside

Bench: DJ Augustin, Evan Fournier, Larry Sanders, Matt Barnes, Dwayne Dedmon

Your Thoughts:

Best defensive team in the league. Not the best shooting team but still have plenty of good shooters. Will add more when I'm not at work

N/A

Keep 'em comin'!

Trade

Orlando Sends: Vuc, Oladipo, and 2016 #1 pick

To

Chicago For: Jimmy Buttler

[u]Sign[/u]

KD
Dwight Howard (or Hassan Whiteside)


Payton
Butler
KD
Gordon
Howard (or Whiteside)

Alright, here's my go...

Trade: (http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=zau972h)

ORL
in: Porzingis, Afflalo, Calderon
out: Vuc, Oladipo, Hezonja

NYK
in: Cousins
out: Porzingis, Afflalo, Calderon

SAC
in: Vuc, Oladipo, Hezonja
out: Cousins


Draft: Valentine

Waive/Opt out: Afflalo opt out of his player option (he should want to chase money, but if not, tell him he won't make the rotation)

Sign MAX FA 1: Durant

Sign MAX FA 2: Horford

Re-sign: Fournier

Re-sign: Dedmon

Roster:

Horford/Dedmon
Porzingis/Gordon
Durant/Gordon
Fournier/Valentine
Elf/Calderon/Watson


Thoughts:

Durant has often professed his love for 'skilled' players. He's previously said that if he could pick 2 guys to play 3 on 3 with, it would be Bird and Dirk. He has called Porzingis a 'unicorn'. And he has openly gushed over Curry being the greatest shooter ever.

I think Durant wants to desperately play with more options around him, so that he's not forced to run the same plays over and over every night (as is the case with him and Westbrook). With Horford, KP and Fournier stretching the defense, plus all being capable passers, the options are pretty limitless. Defensively, that team defends from the paint out. Fournier and Elf can work on funnelling their men towards the bigs, and rely on an intimidating force to back them up.

I'm gonna throw one more proposal out...

Trade 1:
ORL: Millsap
ATL: Vucevic


Trade 2:
ORL: Dipo + Hezonja
CHI: Butler


Free Agents:
*NOTE: We'd now have $15M less cap space with Millsap and Butler's contracts on the books, which would essentially leave enough for 1 MAX, and $10M-ish after that.

Durant (MAX)
Gasol or Noah (cheap, 1 year contender deal)
Fournier (match RFA offer)


Final Roster:

(Gasol/Noah)/(#11?)
Millsap
Durant/Gordon
Butler/Fournier
Payton/Watson


Thoughts:
The team would be maxed out cap-wise, but it has depth to spare. Versatile players who play hard on both ends. Definite conference finals team, with a strong shot at a finals appearance.

Trade: Nikola Vucevic, Elfrid Payton, CJ Watson, '18 LA 1st for Marc Gasol

ESPN Trade Machine link: http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=zf566ya

2 Max FA Signings:

A) Kevin Durant
B) Mike Conely

Starting 5 Roster:
PG Conely
SG Oladipo
SF Durant
PF Gordon
C Gasol

Bench
PG
SG Hezonja
SF Fournier
PF Skal
C

Your Thoughts:

According to recent OrlandoMagicDaily article (link below) we should have roughly 40m IF we extend offer sheets to Fournier/Dedmon/Nicholson and the cap hold of Jason Smith and keep our pick.

BUT with the rules of the game say we only extend an offer sheet to Fournier which will bring the new realistic figure to roughly 51.5m and with the trade I proposed earlier we add an extra million to the books so lets just say we have a clear 50 mil after the trade everyone is renounced/extended.

25.9 mil to Durant
25.9 mil to Conely

REALISTICALLY we may be shy a couple million to pull this off, but I would look in trading Napier on draft night to free up more cap maybe attaching our 2nd this year for immediate cap relief to make this all an actual reality.

Draft - I would draft the best big man available. Hope Poeltl drops, but more then likely draft Skal, a skilled raw big man that has the upside to be effective big man in the league.

I believe the MLE is 5.45m for teams over the cap this yr, I will use that to fill out the roster with ring chasing vets (Andre Miller/Gasol?/etc)

I think I missed the deadline, but that's quite alright.

http://orlandomagicdaily.com/2016/04/30/how-much-cap-did-the-tobias-harris-trade-free-up-for-orlando-magic/

Magic trade:
Vucevic -Kings
Oladipo - Kings
Fournier - New Orleans
Nicholson - Kings
J Smith - New Orleans
2016 #11 to Kings


New Orleans trade:
Davis - Magic
Anderson - Magic
Cunningham - Kings


Kings trade:
Cousins - New Orleans
Belinelli - Magic
2017 1st rd pick to New Orleans


http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=hu5fpp8

New Orleans gains Cousins, Fournier, 2017 1st rd pick from Kings and they'll likely have the 6th pick(Hield, Dunn, Brown, J Murray, Bender) on their own this draft.

Kings gain Vuc, Dipo and Nicholson,(I see them cutting Cunningham) and 2016 11th pick(Skal, Poetl, Korkmaz,D Murray,Chriss) from Magic. Giving them 2 picks in the lottery this draft 8(their own) & 11.




Sign Durant max, sign Ezeli and E Turner.


Payton/Watson
Hezonja/Belinelli
Durant/Turner
AG/Anderson
Davis/Ezeli

It's past the deadline so I feel I can make comments now.

And this, my friends, is why people have unreasonable expectations. There is a grand total of 1 scenario that has any chance of happening, and that's Snoopy's and he didn't even post it himself lol.

Kudos to Melvin for posting videos of Chris Paul and Durant so he can make the case of why we'd want to acquire them. That cracked me up.

OrlDave wrote:It's past the deadline so I feel I can make comments now.

And this, my friends, is why people have unreasonable expectations. There is a grand total of 1 scenario that has any chance of happening, and that's Snoopy's and he didn't even post it himself lol.

Kudos to Melvin for posting videos of Chris Paul and Durant so he can make the case of why we'd want to acquire them. That cracked me up.

Well Skin added the realism/realistic rule after my original idea. So basically everything is not got to be realistic. Chris Paul is not realistic. Stephen Curry is not realistic. DeMarcus Cousins is not realistic. Jimmy Butler is not realistic. Paul George is not realistic. Blake Griffin is not realistic. Lebron is not realistic. Wade is not realistic. Marc Gasol is not realistic. etc etc etc. It's hard to put together an idea when everybody whines and says every idea is unrealistic. It will never happen. Basically if you use any top 20 player in the NBA in your idea, it will be considered unrealistic.So what is the point of this thread if everything is going to get bashed on??

Nemesis21 wrote:

OrlDave wrote:It's past the deadline so I feel I can make comments now.

And this, my friends, is why people have unreasonable expectations. There is a grand total of 1 scenario that has any chance of happening, and that's Snoopy's and he didn't even post it himself lol.

Kudos to Melvin for posting videos of Chris Paul and Durant so he can make the case of why we'd want to acquire them. That cracked me up.

Well Skin added the realism/realistic rule after my original idea. So basically everything is not got to be realistic. Chris Paul is not realist. Stephen Curry is not realistic. DeMarcus Cousins is not realistic. Jimmy Butler is not realistic. Paul George is not realistic. Blake Griffin is not realistic. Lebron is not realistic. Wade is not realistic. Marc Gasol is not realistic. etc etc etc. It's hard to put together an idea when everybody whines and says every idea is unrealistic. It will never happen. Basically if you use any top 20 player in the NBA in your idea, it will be considered unrealistic.So what is the point of this thread if everything is going to get bashed on??

Well I was actually hoping for realistic ideas rather than a NBA 2K17 team. And the proposals are so weird. It's like a half commitment. Why post this one crazy idea, then hold back. Why not just fill the team with stars. We all know the ESPN trade machine will allow anything that works in money terms.

For the record, Durant is not realistic either. In a normal season a team like the Orlando Magic MIGHT well have a shot. It would be the star's home team and maybe 3-4 other teams with money, two of which would be complete garbage. So we'd probably have a punchers chance. But stars rarely leave their team, esp a team that is already contending. Then you add another 20+ teams with money all calling Kevin at 12:01. It's not happening.

In terms of realism, I don't think any big names mentioned in this thread are on the move.

I also don't think we'll sniff a title with our current squad, without a player like Durant. Even Horford and Conley on our squad just makes us another Atlanta/Toronto style pretender.

We'd have to hope to trade our guys for a Durant style player to have a hope, and then you can cue the "you think that team would trade that player for our guys?" comments.

So the truth of the matter is we've tried to enter the game of trying to be a contender without having a legit franchise player, or defined pathway to obtaining one.

Bensational wrote:In terms of realism, I don't think any big names mentioned in this thread are on the move.

I also don't think we'll sniff a title with our current squad, without a player like Durant. Even Horford and Conley on our squad just makes us another Atlanta/Toronto style pretender.

We'd have to hope to trade our guys for a Durant style player to have a hope, and then you can cue the "you think that team would trade that player for our guys?" comments.

So the truth of the matter is we've tried to enter the game of trying to be a contender without having a legit franchise player, or defined pathway to obtaining one.

Fair enough. Although I think AG can be better than any single player on those teams. Probably not enough to make us a contender though.

I get lost with the "sign Durant." This is thoroughly implausible.

We don't need anybody new. We just need to change our rotations. Also, we need to not let our guys party on New Years Eve.... a 2 month hangover is ridic!

drsd wrote:I get lost with the "sign Durant." This is thoroughly implausible.

I've never heard someone who isn't a homer Magic fan suggest that KD will come to Orlando.