Official Speculation Thread '20-'21 VI: "I like this team"

[The Effect]

Bamba has not had the time on the court for you to justify this claim.

Yet hes had enough time to justify that hes an "Elite rim protector"?

Yes and he's the best defensive center we have based on the stats.

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So how is it possible hes played enough to say hes the best at something, but not played enough to say he sucks at something??

And by the way, he might be a good shot blocker when its just someone coming straight at him, but hes still a **** one on one defender down in the post. I bet you thats why he doesnt play more, he probably looks so bad in practice in the paint against a good post player like Vuc that Cliff wont even bother putting him in against other players

[The Effect]

Whiteside isn't a great rim protector because he isn't disciplined. Blocks aren't a great indicator of a player's ability to defend the rim, though there is certainly some correlation. He is far better at protecting the paint than Vucevic though and his teams have won many more games over the years, yet everyone points to him to demonstrate how unimportant rim protection is. I find it silly.

And this is precisely what I mean when I say turd polishing. Whiteside was the starting center and an integral piece for a series of Miami teams that were no more talented than the Orlando Magic over the same era yet that enjoyed significantly more success than the Orlando Magic over the duration. The difference is that Riley wasn't satisfied and decided to change course instead of doubling down on a team that wasn't good enough to compete. We polish our turds and then hold them up for all to admire while we bask in the glory of a 42-win season and rejoice in the knowledge that we aren't the Sacramento Kings (except that we are).

Exact same thing is true about Bamba. Mo is very undisciplined and is a bad defender, but he does get some blocks. So again, bamba is much closer to Whiteside than Gobert. No one is saying that rim protection isnt important, what every is sayin is that it isnt the end-all that people are trying to make it out to be. There needs to be more to a player than "he can occassionally block shots". Thats why guys like Whiteside and Noel move around from team to team. Its important, but you need to be able to do more

Bamba is closer to Kwame Brown than he is to Whiteside.

After my post i realized hes literally a taller Noel

Both athletic "freaks" who make highlight level blocks but not really good defenders, both we drafted #6 overall and both have absolutely no semblence of an offensive game. Bambas a better 3pt shooter, ill give him that much

[pepe1991]

Yea i'm sure Heat going from Whiteside to Adebayo and all the sucess that followed has nothing to do with that Jimmy Butler guy, who never played single min in his life with Whiteside

Bamba is undiciplined and way closer to "bad Whiteside " than anything Adebayo related.
Also being backup on limited min means he never even faced elite offense so how execlly can anybody claim he is "elite rim protector" ? Based on blocks? Who, even people who think that, admit, isn't indicator of good defense ( see: old Marcus Camby, modern day Whiteside).

Noel, McGee, WSC, Jah Okafor, Looney, Biyombo, one leg Cousins, Ed Davis, Damian Jones are just some of backups that prove you can get away with playing everything and everybody at backup C for 10-15 mpg and nothing will happen.

Does this mean rim protecting isn't important? No. It is. But we are soo far away from Roy Hibbert - lumbeing stiff wood camping inside paint toward Porzingis, Anthony Davis, Isaac, Gobert being rim protectors, super fast, quick players who don't play in slooooooooooow motion, like Bamba plays.

Overall he lacks any offensive skills to be starting center and on top of that his conditioning is terrible so he couldn't be, even if some coach would wanted him to be.
I find it hilarious that only game he was able to play was bust vs bust Hammond's picks duel, vs Maker.

AANDDD on top of that he flat out doesn't care.
Guy had to be dragged from bed to practice by Ross ( listen to his podcast), he didn't play basketball since early August of 2020 , hit head before game and decided he won't play ( just couple of days ago), and now, finally he gets in game, and looks like he has no desire to be there whatsoever.
i already said on other thread that imo, once he saw he is not going back to Dallas, he kind a gave up on basketball. Or he never wanted to play basketball, but it was best path toward money. However, that guy doesn't care. Neither should we.

[Husky1]

Yea i'm sure Heat going from Whiteside to Adebayo and all the sucess that followed has nothing to do with that Jimmy Butler guy, who never played single min in his life with Whiteside

Bamba is undiciplined and way closer to "bad Whiteside " than anything Adebayo related.
Also being backup on limited min means he never even faced elite offense so how execlly can anybody claim he is "elite rim protector" ? Based on blocks? Who, even people who think that, admit, isn't indicator of good defense ( see: old Marcus Camby, modern day Whiteside).

Noel, McGee, WSC, Jah Okafor, Looney, Biyombo, one leg Cousins, Ed Davis, Damian Jones are just some of backups that prove you can get away with playing everything and everybody at backup C for 10-15 mpg and nothing will happen.

Does this mean rim protecting isn't important? No. It is. But we are soo far away from Roy Hibbert - lumbeing stiff wood camping inside paint toward Porzingis, Anthony Davis, Isaac, Gobert being rim protectors, super fast, quick players who don't play in slooooooooooow motion, like Bamba plays.

Overall he lacks any offensive skills to be starting center and on top of that his conditioning is terrible so he couldn't be, even if some coach would wanted him to be.
I find it hilarious that only game he was able to play was bust vs bust Hammond's picks duel, vs Maker.

AANDDD on top of that he flat out doesn't care.
Guy had to be dragged from bed to practice by Ross ( listen to his podcast), he didn't play basketball since early August of 2020 , hit head before game and decided he won't play ( just couple of days ago), and now, finally he gets in game, and looks like he has no desire to be there whatsoever.
i already said on other thread that imo, once he saw he is not going back to Dallas, he kind a gave up on basketball. Or he never wanted to play basketball, but it was best path toward money. However, that guy doesn't care. Neither should we.

**** me I have seen some ridiculous posts on here but this takes the cake.

[pepe1991]

Yea i'm sure Heat going from Whiteside to Adebayo and all the sucess that followed has nothing to do with that Jimmy Butler guy, who never played single min in his life with Whiteside

Bamba is undiciplined and way closer to "bad Whiteside " than anything Adebayo related.
Also being backup on limited min means he never even faced elite offense so how execlly can anybody claim he is "elite rim protector" ? Based on blocks? Who, even people who think that, admit, isn't indicator of good defense ( see: old Marcus Camby, modern day Whiteside).

Noel, McGee, WSC, Jah Okafor, Looney, Biyombo, one leg Cousins, Ed Davis, Damian Jones are just some of backups that prove you can get away with playing everything and everybody at backup C for 10-15 mpg and nothing will happen.

Does this mean rim protecting isn't important? No. It is. But we are soo far away from Roy Hibbert - lumbeing stiff wood camping inside paint toward Porzingis, Anthony Davis, Isaac, Gobert being rim protectors, super fast, quick players who don't play in slooooooooooow motion, like Bamba plays.

Overall he lacks any offensive skills to be starting center and on top of that his conditioning is terrible so he couldn't be, even if some coach would wanted him to be.
I find it hilarious that only game he was able to play was bust vs bust Hammond's picks duel, vs Maker.

AANDDD on top of that he flat out doesn't care.
Guy had to be dragged from bed to practice by Ross ( listen to his podcast), he didn't play basketball since early August of 2020 , hit head before game and decided he won't play ( just couple of days ago), and now, finally he gets in game, and looks like he has no desire to be there whatsoever.
i already said on other thread that imo, once he saw he is not going back to Dallas, he kind a gave up on basketball. Or he never wanted to play basketball, but it was best path toward money. However, that guy doesn't care. Neither should we.

**** me I have seen some ridiculous posts on here but this takes the cake.

Hmm, i'll help you find one dummer



MONEEYYY mid range, worst mid range shooter in baketball today

Now be a good boy and take triple L. Your "exiting " lineup is as exiting as watching hair growth.

[basketballRob]

I'm on Team Bamba but he looked like he was running in mud last night.

Well yeah, he needs 15 minutes a game for like 30 games to regain form. We have a poor developmental team here.

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[drsd]

It is time.

Read on Twitter

Moved for increased visibility

[drsd]

It is time.

Read on Twitter

Moved for increased visibility

The "good" news here is that the Cavs is more banged up than Orlando. So this is a reasonable game to rest Carter-Williams and Fournier.

I guess this is the depth chart:

Fultz/Anthony/Bone
Bacon/Mané
Ennis/Ross
Gordon/Clark
Vučević/Birch/Bamba

I would expect all 12 players to get minutes.


EDIT: so we could have a situation with these five on the court together: Bone/Mané/Ennis/Clark/Birch.
I would think the average NBA fan has never heard of any of these five players.


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[KillMonger]

wouldn't be surprised if bamba is out there with birch at the PF.....with bamba healthy with no restrictions you can't NOT play him....got to find a way to get him out there

[MasterGMer]

Hope Evan is okay and he plays tonight

[OrlandO]

wouldn't be surprised if bamba is out there with birch at the PF.....with bamba healthy with no restrictions you can't NOT play him....got to find a way to get him out there

Bamba is one of Weltman's pet projects... he will get his minutes back soon whether he earns them or not. Only reason he hasn't been playing is because of his health... they're afraid of his body breaking down after a major conditioning setback and not playing games for 10 months. He's cleared to play, but his huge and underdeveloped frame is still vulnerable until he gets in full game shape. They'll ease him in with garbage minutes and ramp it up from there.

[Blue_and_Whte]

Yet hes had enough time to justify that hes an "Elite rim protector"?

Yes and he's the best defensive center we have based on the stats.

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So how is it possible hes played enough to say hes the best at something, but not played enough to say he sucks at something??

And by the way, he might be a good shot blocker when its just someone coming straight at him, but hes still a **** one on one defender down in the post. I bet you thats why he doesnt play more, he probably looks so bad in practice in the paint against a good post player like Vuc that Cliff wont even bother putting him in against other players

Lol. Exactly. With his length alone he can get blocks but he’s not a good defender. Birch is playing well. Gonna be hard to find a reason to not keep playing him.

[tiderulz]

sell every player not staying and tank now.

[OrlandO]

Nightmare scenario for Weltman.... the two young players he was banking on the most to develop will instead lose a year of development and neither will probably be 100% in weltman's contract year next season. I hope his "I need to save my job" desperation trade will be better than Hennigan's was...

[pepe1991]

Fultz will also miss very big chunk of next year as well, if not all next year.
ACL tear normally takes around 13-14 months to recover. If we use 14 as some "normal" scenario ( Okeke, Porzingis), we talk about return in March of 2022. Witch is tail end of 2021-22 season.

Esencially 1 of 2 ( +1 ) year of exstension gone.

[GelbeWand09]

Nightmare scenario for Weltman.... the two young players he was banking on the most to develop will instead lose a year of development and neither will probably be 100% in weltman's contract year next season. I hope his "I need to save my job" desperation trade will be better than Hennigan's was...

They are lucky, because they doesnt need one. As long as we have 90% veterans playing, we will always have a very good chance for the 8th place. We just make less errors & play better defense (at least in head to head games) than all the teams coming from behind.
It saved them the job for years now.

[pepe1991]

Lasting impact of this is huge, Magic should enter and implement 2023- and beyond strategy, ignoring Isaac, Bamba and Fultz as " building stones " as no longer any of them can be viewed as long term solution.

Fultz will miss reminder of 2020-21 and probably huge chunk, if not all of 2021-22 season.
His new knee issue, along with no improvement of shoulder condition, along with his contract that only goes until 2022-23, or end of 2023-24, if they pick his option for 3rd year, pretty much makes his salary controlable for maximum of 2 years, after he recovers. After that team has no control over his decisions.

Similar situation is with Isaac, we talk about 4 years of exstension, where one will probably already be throwaway as he'll have to go through rust and in same time, we will have crappy roster to be considered anything more than another waste of a year.

Bamba. Simply not good player, keeping him for next year is fine, after that, whatever. Some team friendly contract exstension during painful years that will come.

So what do to next? I think blowing it up is only logical decision. Also i would aim draft picks in 2022, 2023 and 2024 more than ones from 2021 draft, to make more logical timeline of rebuild.


I don't view Okeke nor Cole Anthony as huge peaces to be involved into " core" of rebuild. Therfore i find no reason to pretend they are " cornerstones".

[zaymon]

Its a weird position to be right now. We have less and less young players to develop while given how Fultz was playing lately we wont be much worse with veteran signing ( or even better). It will be hard to tank with veterans healthy and young core injured, propably impossible.

[drsd]

sell every player not staying and tank now.

If Gordon and Fournier are traded, this is the net outcome of this season. Let's see what happens.


..

[Skybox]

I hope the FO feels a little more comfortable now at least considering some action...they have solid excuses to take a risk on the trade market now...the ceiling for us has dropped.