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I know a total rebuild or tanking is the way many of our fans want. They do not want mediocrity or first round exit in the playoff and since we have already lost Fultz and Isaac, we should just give it up.

But does tanking work? What if we can not get the top pick this year?

I, personally, do not want tanking.

Another thing is the flattering of lottery odds. NYK got 8th pick with one of the worst winning percentage last year.

What if we indeed tanking for the season, how do we rebuild next year and year after? Do we come back and become competitive for the playoff again next season with Fultz and Isaac back?

I do not think tanking works. It is a whole year without competitive basketball and waste of talent developments. Plus losing doesn't guarantee us top picks.

I hope they TRADE. That is the only way to go. All eyes will be watching before the trade deadline. Let's hope we DO NOT WASTE another year

No but if we are not going to retain players who have value in the trade market we should really utilize our assets since we aren't winning anything this season.

Maybe.

I want the team playing to win, but trying to develop the young. If that leads to loses and a high pick, i'm ok with that.
Also, we need to try to sell Fournier high since we dont have cap to resign him.

Trick question.

For fans? Yes.

For players, coaches, and ownership? No.

The FO should be smart enough to know a top 3 pick in this draft is more valuable than any other asset Orlando currently has. Unfortunately, they are not smart at all.

Anything but the status quo should be an option worth considering.

I'm fine for losing organically...but when people talk about "getting off Vuc's deal" for peanuts, I'm out. Trade AG and Evan for prospects under contract and re-work our team vision on the fly with Fultz, Isaac, Vuc as the base of the system. Everything else is on the table, IMO...actually, all of them are on the table, just not giveaways.

Definitely

This team is still lacking a star, and with no cap space or real trade assets, there is only one place to find one.

For our team? H*** yes!! We need an up and coming superstar this draft projects to have.

With so many injuries, no one really expects us to be out of the bottom 5. Even before injuries, in the preseason, most projected us to be in the bottom 10.

NY had the 6th worst record and picked 8th. We have a legit shot at the bottom 3.

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For this year only? Yes. If we can come out of this with one of the highly touted prospects, I'd consider it a huge win. Hopefully not a big though.

After this season, I want to try to win as many games as possible though. Assuming we get both Isaac and Fultz back and they're good to go with no lingering issues.

with our schedule? it's not really going to matter, we're going to be piling up L's......let's be honest for a second....let's take the magic colored glasses off for a min....The only way for us to get top shelf talent is through the draft....with trades nobody wants what he have all that much....with as many trade offers AG supposedly got none of them were good enough to pull the trigger...We're also not a free agent destination, i wish we were but it's been a very long time since we got an established star to walk through the door...the last one was Rashard iirc? that was a long time ago....so when no one wants what we got through trades and we can't attract free agents then the only door that we have left to walk through is the draft/tank door

Skybox wrote:I'm fine for losing organically...but when people talk about "getting off Vuc's deal" for peanuts, I'm out. Trade AG and Evan for prospects under contract and re-work our team vision on the fly with Fultz, Isaac, Vuc as the base of the system. Everything else is on the table, IMO...actually, all of them are on the table, just not giveaways.

It's less about Vuc's deal and more about what value Vuc could bring back. If it's not worth it, keep Vuc because he's an all-star center. If we get younger and maybe more of a "complete" scorer/defender, then we can pull the trigger. Only if it's worth it though. No reason to just ship an all-star player for a bad deal, and I don't see the Magic ever doing that or disrespecting Vuc like that.

We are not handcuffed to Vuc. He's a great center, prob should be two time all-star if our team was better, but teams have moved on from way better players in every sport.

We are 5-6 years of lotto picks away from doing anything. That is just how bad our players are.

We are tanking by default

in this moment injury list:
PG: Fultz ( out for a year) - Cole Anthony ( yet to be figured)
SG: Evan Fourner ( day to day)
SF: Gordon ( 4-6 weeks) / MCW ( should return at some point within week or two )
PF :Isaac ( year ) / Aminu ( probably another 2 weeks or so )

I'm nba and sports fan for years, i have never seen sports team with 7 rotation players hurt ( if it's not some food poisoning or something minor like that ).


As far as trades goes, it all depends on where Fultz,Isaac are at with recovery. If first prognoses don't see them comming back up until calendar year of 2022 than there is no reason to keep Vuc because next year is another waste.

Evan should be traded regardless due contract situation and Gordon should be shopped hard, his health is getting worst every year and how he plays, his game won't age well.

It's not an option so much as our destiny.

No, not an option.

Only option is for a capped out gentleman’s sweep.

Tanking this year is the best option

Play younger guys and see what they can do against starters from other teams. Possibly build trade value in surrounding pieces. Collect a high draft pick. We will be subjected to some horrific basketball but long term benefits outweigh the short here.

If there is any year to be bad it’s this, no crowds, deep draft... Buzz for next year with a Cade or one of the Jalens would offset the stench of this injury riddled season.

Vuc/Gordon/Isaac/Jalen??/Fultz will be fun to watch.

My only concern is Clifford, as we know managements position is to try make playoffs but he is flat out coaching to try win in a nothing year where no one would blame him for a poor record when you look at the injuries sustained.
The reluctance to play Bamba has me worried that management too is ok sacrificing a high draft pick to try get into a play-in game for this season, which seems asinine.

The lack of talk about a possible Fournier trade does seem to indicate the stand pat and try win is the direction we seem to be under

With the injuries we have it's not really a choice anymore, we'd be terrible no matter what, so we might as well tank and maximise our draft odds. Even in the bad East you can't get anywhere close to the playoff spots when your only healthy players are Vucevic, Ross, a rookie PG (who just got injured too so he may not count either) and a bunch of G-league level players.

This is flawed like every conversation on this board...what is tanking? If it means playing young guys, resting veterans in inconsequential games, making moves based on next year (not 2025), then I'm a tanker.

If it means trading Vuc for a handful of late picks for the sake of losing, I'm not.

there's no other path than to trade Fournier, possibly Birch and get whatever asset we can get. Continue to play basketball and we'll end the season bottom 3 in NBA.