Official Speculation Thread ‘18-19’: XX: Year of the Vuc

[PrimeThyme]

&& the long list of "What if's' for our franchise continues to grow:

https://clutchpoints.com/clippers-news-doc-rivers-says-magic-almost-traded-for-heats-dwyane-wade-back-in-2003/

Spoiler:

LOS ANGELES – The L.A. Clippers fell to the Miami Heat on Saturday night, a game in which Miami had only eight players available to play due to an overwhelming amount of injuries. Heat star Dwyane Wade led his team to the upset victory with 25 points, six rebounds, and six assists in 32 minutes off the bench.

After the game, Clippers head coach Doc Rivers was asked to reflect about the life and career of the future Heat legend in Wade. In the process of answering, Rivers also dropped a major, never-before-heard tidbit about a potential deal the Orlando Magic and Heat had back on June 26, 2003.

“We had a trade for [Wade] on Draft Day,” revealed Rivers to ClutchPoints postgame, who was coaching the Magic at the time. “We thought we were going to get Dwyane [Wade]. We had a deal with Miami that if they didn’t get their guy, we were gonna flip [picks]. When it got to their pick, we thought they were about to call us and tell us let’s do the trade. Instead they said ‘we have our guy.’ we were crushed.”

The Heat had the fifth overall pick in the draft while the Magic held the 15th pick. The complete details of the potential deal are unclear, but it would’ve made for a very interesting, league-changing trade.

Wade would’ve been on the Magic, but would Tracy McGrady have been a part of the deal or would they have been teammates? Does Shaquille O’Neal leave the Lakers for the Heat, ending the L.A.’s dynasty? How does that then affect both LeBron James and Chris Bosh’s decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors, respectively, in free agency?

We’ll never know for sure, but this could certainly go down as one of the NBA’s biggest ‘What if’s.’

[Knightro]

&& the long list of "What if's' for our franchise continues to grow:

https://clutchpoints.com/clippers-news-doc-rivers-says-magic-almost-traded-for-heats-dwyane-wade-back-in-2003/

Spoiler:

LOS ANGELES – The L.A. Clippers fell to the Miami Heat on Saturday night, a game in which Miami had only eight players available to play due to an overwhelming amount of injuries. Heat star Dwyane Wade led his team to the upset victory with 25 points, six rebounds, and six assists in 32 minutes off the bench.

After the game, Clippers head coach Doc Rivers was asked to reflect about the life and career of the future Heat legend in Wade. In the process of answering, Rivers also dropped a major, never-before-heard tidbit about a potential deal the Orlando Magic and Heat had back on June 26, 2003.

“We had a trade for [Wade] on Draft Day,” revealed Rivers to ClutchPoints postgame, who was coaching the Magic at the time. “We thought we were going to get Dwyane [Wade]. We had a deal with Miami that if they didn’t get their guy, we were gonna flip [picks]. When it got to their pick, we thought they were about to call us and tell us let’s do the trade. Instead they said ‘we have our guy.’ we were crushed.”

The Heat had the fifth overall pick in the draft while the Magic held the 15th pick. The complete details of the potential deal are unclear, but it would’ve made for a very interesting, league-changing trade.

Wade would’ve been on the Magic, but would Tracy McGrady have been a part of the deal or would they have been teammates? Does Shaquille O’Neal leave the Lakers for the Heat, ending the L.A.’s dynasty? How does that then affect both LeBron James and Chris Bosh’s decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors, respectively, in free agency?

We’ll never know for sure, but this could certainly go down as one of the NBA’s biggest ‘What if’s.’

Not really a what if. The Magic had a tentative deal in place to move up to 5, unless Wade was there for Miami... and Wade was there.

More like a "Orlando evaluated Wade properly" story than a "the Magic missed out!" story.

[MagicMatic]

I'm just not sure what they can get for Vucevic. He's playing really well, but his contract is expiring, which dampens any trade value he may have for a team that can just sign him in the off-season and retain assets. He'd have to go to a team that is desperate to make a deep playoff run and needs help at center. Maybe Boston? Maybe LA? Dallas could be an interesting trade partner.

The issue is that they’ve already chosen a direction for the future with Bamba. I believe the question was - “Should we take the risk of keeping Vuc past the deadline if it means we end up losing him for nothing.” His value hasn’t been higher and trading him will definitely make this team bottom out because of his production. That’s the dilemma.

However, i think building something for a better team down the road is infinitely better than being able to say “Hey remember when we made the playoffs in 2019”.

As for Los Angeles, Lebron isn’t going to stand by missing the playoffs... ever. They have Hart, Bonga, and Lonzo. I’m not saying those options are musts or even on the table, but you take what value you can for a team needing to make the playoffs. Vuc’s expiring makes his contract actually more appealing IMO because it’s a worthwhile risk to a team if he doesn’t work out in a shorter timeframe.

I don’t see many viable trade scenarios with Boston unless it’s something like -

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=y8b7k4k5

It’s still better than losing him for nothing or tying up large cap space to run with this same roster for the foreseeable future. Hell, I’d even take a mid-late first

[Nyce_1]

Lebron/Laker fan with Intel says we're getting Ball.

[PrimeThyme]

Read on Twitter

Lol

[MagicStarwipe]

Read on Twitter

Lol

Evan really isn't having a good season

[J the Drafter]

Lebron/Laker fan with Intel says we're getting Ball.

Ball sounds...interesting. Mostly because our pg rotation is terrible and almost anyone would be a big help. He’s a bad shooter, and crucially, he’s also a bad dribble penetrator and finisher. Dribble penetration and finishing is Payton’s scoring bread and butter. It’s what let’s him draw in help defenders to free up teammates. I’m only partially bringing up Elfrid because I have an excuse to. I’m also comparing Lonzo and Elf to illustrate how Payton manages to be a threat without being a good shooter.

On another note, Bamba shouldn’t be constrained to the center position unless he doesn’t become the athlete he’s expected to be. Bamba was billed as a guy who could guard all five positions. Couple that with his outside game and there’s no reason he shouldn’t be able to play power forward once he develops strength and stamina.

[NavalAviator94]

I'm just not sure what they can get for Vucevic. He's playing really well, but his contract is expiring, which dampens any trade value he may have for a team that can just sign him in the off-season and retain assets. He'd have to go to a team that is desperate to make a deep playoff run and needs help at center. Maybe Boston? Maybe LA? Dallas could be an interesting trade partner.

The issue is that they’ve already chosen a direction for the future with Bamba. I believe the question was - “Should we take the risk of keeping Vuc past the deadline if it means we end up losing him for nothing.” His value hasn’t been higher and trading him will definitely make this team bottom out because of his production. That’s the dilemma.

However, i think building something for a better team down the road is infinitely better than being able to say “Hey remember when we made the playoffs in 2019”.

As for Los Angeles, Lebron isn’t going to stand by missing the playoffs... ever. They have Hart, Bonga, and Lonzo. I’m not saying those options are musts or even on the table, but you take what value you can for a team needing to make the playoffs. Vuc’s expiring makes his contract actually more appealing IMO because it’s a worthwhile risk to a team if he doesn’t work out in a shorter timeframe.

I don’t see many viable trade scenarios with Boston unless it’s something like -

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=y8b7k4k5

It’s still better than losing him for nothing or tying up large cap space to run with this same roster for the foreseeable future. Hell, I’d even take a mid-late first

That’s absurd that they “chose direction”. They chose best player available, end of story. We hope he works out.


Sent from my iPad using RealGM mobile app

[Def Swami]

Trade this man now.

Read on Twitter

Lol

[Xatticus]

I'm just not sure what they can get for Vucevic. He's playing really well, but his contract is expiring, which dampens any trade value he may have for a team that can just sign him in the off-season and retain assets. He'd have to go to a team that is desperate to make a deep playoff run and needs help at center. Maybe Boston? Maybe LA? Dallas could be an interesting trade partner.

He has value because we possess his bird rights. Any team that won't have money available this summer could benefit from acquiring him and then re-signing him.

[MagicMatic]

I'm just not sure what they can get for Vucevic. He's playing really well, but his contract is expiring, which dampens any trade value he may have for a team that can just sign him in the off-season and retain assets. He'd have to go to a team that is desperate to make a deep playoff run and needs help at center. Maybe Boston? Maybe LA? Dallas could be an interesting trade partner.

The issue is that they’ve already chosen a direction for the future with Bamba. I believe the question was - “Should we take the risk of keeping Vuc past the deadline if it means we end up losing him for nothing.” His value hasn’t been higher and trading him will definitely make this team bottom out because of his production. That’s the dilemma.

However, i think building something for a better team down the road is infinitely better than being able to say “Hey remember when we made the playoffs in 2019”.

As for Los Angeles, Lebron isn’t going to stand by missing the playoffs... ever. They have Hart, Bonga, and Lonzo. I’m not saying those options are musts or even on the table, but you take what value you can for a team needing to make the playoffs. Vuc’s expiring makes his contract actually more appealing IMO because it’s a worthwhile risk to a team if he doesn’t work out in a shorter timeframe.

I don’t see many viable trade scenarios with Boston unless it’s something like -

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=y8b7k4k5

It’s still better than losing him for nothing or tying up large cap space to run with this same roster for the foreseeable future. Hell, I’d even take a mid-late first

That’s absurd that they “chose direction”. They chose best player available, end of story. We hope he works out.


Sent from my iPad using RealGM mobile app

Nothing absurd about it. It would be absurd to not manage assets properly.

[KillMonger]

how may top picks have the lakers had recently? ingram/ball/russell? none of them really impressing anyone and all top 3 picks. At some point we have to get out from the bottom of the barrel. I mean trading vuc when we got a shot to make the playoffs would be a gut punch to the fans. Everybody has a price and im not against trading vuc but, trading him would clearly signal to warm up the tank especially when bamba clearly isn't ready for a starting role.

[MagicMatic]

how may top picks have the lakers had recently? ingram/ball/russell? none of them really impressing anyone and all top 3 picks. At some point we have to get out from the bottom of the barrel. I mean trading vuc when we got a shot to make the playoffs would be a gut punch to the fans. Everybody has a price and im not against trading vuc but, trading him would clearly signal to warm up the tank especially when bamba clearly isn't ready for a starting role.

Yeah it’s definitely a tricky situation, because there really is no middle ground outcome. Orlando either trades Vucevic at his highest value (12m expiring + bird rights on his best season) OR resign him for a big contract for multiple seasons as Orlando’s primary option. It’s a win-now vs build for later situation. However, this team still has a losing record and could easily miss the playoffs; especially without Vuc. Oh yeah, and we just spent the #6 pick in the draft on a player that plays the same exact position. Whatever WeHam choose to do will ultimately impact this franchise heavily one way or the other.

[pepe1991]

Did anybody else noticed how this 3 ball fest makes almost whole middle pack of the nba equal ?
So many teams are sitting at .500 record because every game comes down to who's shooting was hotter.

So every team can beat every other team on given night. Crazy times.
On West between current 2# and 14# seed there is only 5 wins difference. And 14# are Houston.

[Furinkazan]

Did anybody else noticed how this 3 ball fest makes almost whole middle pack of the nba equal ?
So many teams are sitting at .500 record because every game comes down to who's shooting was hotter.

So every team can beat every other team on given night. Crazy times.
On West between current 2# and 14# seed there is only 5 wins difference. And 14# are Houston.

yeah pretty much everybody figured that out by now.Now we are waiting for someone to break the wheel again.

[rcklsscognition]

Trade this man now.

Read on Twitter

Lol

As someone quickly pointed out on Reddit, Evan has very recently beaten T-Mac's 3pt's made record here.

[Knightro]

Trade Evan immediately.

T-Mac slander doesn't have a place in this house.

[fendilim]

Trade Evan immediately.

T-Mac slander doesn't have a place in this house.

He may actually be right tho. Its close.

[Furinkazan]

Id pick cupcake too

T-MAc is butthurt but he had no shame while forcing a trade like a lil B...
How was that different from Dwightmare?T-MAc is getting the pass on what basis ?Team around him was weak?
Team around Howard wasnt exactly an all star setup either.

[Furinkazan]

Tracy McGrady got his wish, and the National Basketball Association has another glamour team. McGrady, the superstar swingman who demanded a trade from the Orlando Magic, was dealt to Houston yesterday in a long-anticipated seven-player deal that could propel the Rockets into the league's elite.

Orlando preferred to keep McGrady, but he told the club two weeks ago that he planned to opt out of his contract after next season, so it had little choice but to trade him. Eight years ago, the Magic neglected to trade O'Neal; he went to the Lakers as a free agent, and Orlando received nothing in return.

Determined not to repeat the mistake, the Magic put McGrady on the market and received several strong offers. Indiana and Phoenix were the Rockets' closest competitors for McGrady, but he wanted to play with Yao.