RealGM

The trade deadline has come and gone. And I am absolutely ecstatic with the trades WeHam did.

Count it up.

Draft Capital
- Three 1st Round picks. Two of them only top-4 protected (from CHI).
- Two 2nd Round picks.

Young Pieces
- Wendell Carter Jr. (22 years old soon)
- R.J. Hampton (Just turned 20 years old)

Basketball Pieces
- Otto Porter Jr. (Still only 27 years old)
- Gary Harris (Still only 26 years old)

The book on Garry Harris has been health and 3P efficiency. He was not long ago a much deadlier 3P shooter on top of being a defensive SG at a 16.5 PER. Health and 3P% have dipped since then.

The book on Otto Porter has been health as well. He was not long ago a picture-perfect 3/4 Wing in the NBA at a 18.3 PER and an always great 3P% and defender no matter what season he's in. Health has dipped since then.

But look at these two basketball pieces. We conceivably did not worsen IF their health returns and they adapt to ORL's and Cliff's system very well. With such wholesale changes to the roster, the system will actually feature them and help them find a new shine and high PER's again. What's even more absurd is they're not even old veterans for a few more seasons. They can literally be featured pieces if we all of a sudden hit on a massive draft pick and want to start gearing up for the 2nd Round of the Playoffs and beyond.

If ORL tries to keep Harris and Porter out all year, or as much possible, then their Draft spot for 2021 starts to looking better and better. And their 2021-22 roster starts to look healthier and healthier too.

But we're not done there yet. ORL is still looking for under-23 All Stars, and they accomplished that with 3 first rounders, Wendell Carter Jr., and R.J. Hampton.

Wendell has had health issues too, but give him a bigger role TODAY (not tomorrow with improvements), and his Per 36 says he's gonna give you 16 pts, 11 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk, 1 3PM at a 16 PER. He's gonna end up eerily similar to Vooch's path of versatility, passing, and spacing it out over the years.

R.J. Hampton is a pure potential play, ultra-tall PG with a baseline for huge improvements. A target of many here two drafts ago.

You can also look at ORL's cap space sheet with some positivity again, too.

Finally, three 1st's and two 2nd's is a great way to top it all off now. With the hopes of hitting on new young pieces who can stand out from all of that draft capital.

So in this whole new era of no more Fournier, Vooch, and AG, did you come out of the Trade Deadline with some Positivity again?
All I can hope for is that Harris and Porter play zero games this season for improving their health, we hit big in this summer's draft, and we come in 2021-'22 healthy and incredibly dangerous to play against.

we hit big in this summer's draft,

We have been saying this every single year. At least we go Bamba!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How much cap room does this free up in the near future? Cap space was a growth issue for us.
Now we will have a core with cap space for that free agent to finish the team out, hopefully sooner than later.

i dont trust this front office on the picks. with Bamba and WCJ still here, im betting we draft Mobley for another big man

RJ doesnt seem a PG to me, and likely wont with Fultz still here.

i just dont see the same optimism

tiderulz wrote:i dont trust this front office on the picks. with Bamba and WCJ still here, im betting we draft Mobley for another big man

RJ doesnt seem a PG to me, and likely wont with Fultz still here.

i just dont see the same optimism

Really? We are building this team for the future and 2021 is going to be a big year because of that.

Otto Porter is expiring with 28M and Gary Harris can be a great serviceman next season. It all sets up for a huge summer.

Magic did the right thing for their future no doubt. This draft is very important, hopefully it lands in the top 3 at least.

Since I said last night that this front office wouldn't do anything and they then ended up trading the entire team....I will now say this. There is no way the Magic throw Bamba into the fire and start him.

Positivity?? On this forum?!?

I just read about all the trades.
I'll miss our guys. Loved all 3 and even during frustration periods we were attached to them. They were OUR guys to complain about.
Vooch is a top 5 center in the league and we won't replace him anytime soon talent-wise. We will suffer from watching our other frontcourt guys playing.
Evan was a super pro. All the hate he got, and he clearly knew it because he uses social networks, and still 0 complaints and was always ready to take a game in his hands (even if we didn't like it). He was our most reliable scorer after Vooch for the last 6 years or so.
AG, man, he brought us hope of being in the spotlight again, and he always gave it all.

I love them all and will root for them all, but it was time to let them go.
I'm not super thrilled with the return we got, but still digesting it. It was a fire sale, and we got way less than face value (and lless FRP than I'd like to), but now we're tanking hard, and here's to that!
Cheers!

In weham i trust

Well done, i just really hope we don't buy out otto

I want him back next season on the cheap

And we need vet presence with all those young guys

Harris and otto r needed here

MasterGMer wrote:

tiderulz wrote:i dont trust this front office on the picks. with Bamba and WCJ still here, im betting we draft Mobley for another big man

RJ doesnt seem a PG to me, and likely wont with Fultz still here.

i just dont see the same optimism

Really? We are building this team for the future and 2021 is going to be a big year because of that.

Otto Porter is expiring with 28M and Gary Harris can be a great serviceman next season. It all sets up for a huge summer.

he hasnt been for the past 2-3 years, why do you think he will be now?

and the expiring wont matter much, we arent a destination place and do not have a star to attract anyone right now

I think you could draw parallels between someone like Lavine and Hampton. RJ is an athlete who's main issues seems to be he has no one elite offensive skillset right now. It really all depends on his development over the next 2-3 years. We need to give him plenty of burn and let him develop.

It's an interesting dynamic with him and Fultz. Do they see RJ as a PG or a wing?

WCJ is another interesting one, high draft pick where maybe a change of scenery does him the world of good.

To me both of the above requires very careful thought on one thing that hasn't changed yet. Coaching.

cedric76 wrote:In weham i trust

Well done, i just really hope we don't buy out otto

I want him back next season on the cheap

And we need vet presence with all those young guys

Harris and otto r needed here

Why would Otto re-sign on the cheap?

Ecstatic with all 3 trades. Return is subjective but probably realistic, but the fact they ripped the bandaid off makes me give them an A+.

Great job WeltHam

penny_nz wrote:I think you could draw parallels between someone like Lavine and Hampton. RJ is an athlete who's main issues seems to be he has no one elite offensive skillset right now. It really all depends on his development over the next 2-3 years. We need to give him plenty of burn and let him develop.

It's an interesting dynamic with him and Fultz. Do they see RJ as a PG or a wing?

WCJ is another interesting one, high draft pick where maybe a change of scenery does him the world of good.

To me both of the above requires very careful thought on one thing that hasn't changed yet. Coaching.

Lavine shot 38% from 3 his 1 year in college. RJ shot 29% in NZ. all scouting reports had him as more of a SG than PG, the PG skills just werent there.

WCJ has had injury issues and projects to me as a journeyman center. He will give you about 10/8/1bpg

Got to develop as best we can next season (and Mo this season). I'm willing to give clifford a chance, he won't be coaching for wins at this point I assume.

I’m just relieved it’s finally done. The topic of trading those three guys was exhausting. Fresh players with something to prove is the way I will look at it.

Happy to see some changes. Good or bad, we shall. Magic will probably let Ross go bonkers and trade him in the off season to a playoff team.

With getting WCJ, I'm surprised we didn't trade Birch for a 2nd.

tiderulz wrote:

penny_nz wrote:I think you could draw parallels between someone like Lavine and Hampton. RJ is an athlete who's main issues seems to be he has no one elite offensive skillset right now. It really all depends on his development over the next 2-3 years. We need to give him plenty of burn and let him develop.

It's an interesting dynamic with him and Fultz. Do they see RJ as a PG or a wing?

WCJ is another interesting one, high draft pick where maybe a change of scenery does him the world of good.

To me both of the above requires very careful thought on one thing that hasn't changed yet. Coaching.

Lavine shot 38% from 3 his 1 year in college. RJ shot 29% in NZ. all scouting reports had him as more of a SG than PG, the PG skills just werent there.

WCJ has had injury issues and projects to me as a journeyman center. He will give you about 10/8/1bpg

I didn't realise his numbers were that bad in NZ, he certainly looked tentative and didn't take many. He also played alot of the bench and never really seemed to find rhythm.

Maybe that SG / secondary playmaker is the right role for him then, but he'll have to develop a reliable shot