Post#13 » by dsg2021 » Sat Oct 12, 2019 3:40 pm
I'm still waiting one more summer to finish rating our ORL FO, but yes, that rosy view of an "A" rated FO might become just another one of the many "B" rated FO's out there after July, 2020. Or more likely, an above average "B+" FO at that time.
Hennigan might end up with the better draft record, but he also had better draft spots than WeHam. What sucks for Hennigan was also having one or two "C-" rated moments like trading away Tobias and Oladipo, holding onto Elfrid so long (after he just kept worsening and worsening after his stellar rookie year), and passing up on one or two draft names and trades he probably could of had.
One thing I'll genuinely rave about with the WeHam FO is they don't seem to be the types to have that one, bad, too-costly "C-" moment that another FO might have from time to time. Not with Weltman here, in particular. There's also like, again, 4-5 former GM's (and all the scouts/analysts) in our own FO, another supporting reason for our FO to probably never make any too-costly mistakes and have higher chances than most other FO's at hitting consistent single runs and double runs.
WeHam, as in Hammond, is the one or two who seem to be genuinely hunting homeruns too; JI as the copy/paste form of KD's base, and lengthy draft picks who are one level away from reaching Giannis-type impact, Fultz as a low-risk All Star within a few years, always drafting for BPA over need. It's a sign of the environment in how hard it is to get quality, break-it-down guard play when it's been two FO's in ORL who still haven't addressed this need. But at the same time; WeHam is starting to wiff out on some big draft picks, particularly with the Bamba and Okeke one, even though those two will probably end up as "double runs." I'm that high on Okeke. My most damning wiff is the Doncic draft, because a lot of our board saw him AT WORST the floor of our Hedo Turkoglu's prime (exactly what we needed), the Euro data on him as damning as a "homerun hit", and he had a lot of marketability. And it's even more perplexing because if WeHam are big on flipping draft picks away so often in trades, red-shirt years, and "flattening outs", then why not just send a bunch of picks away for the one player you know is a "triple run" or "homerun" (aka, getting Doncic with outgoing picks mainly).
Hopefully this "double-hitting" FO can find a way to make it work for us, somehow. Our city is used to the Magic not just being in the playoffs in the years that they are, but usually as a +.500 post-season, ECF and title threat of a team, too.