Grade the magic trade deadline

[Rainwater]

Shocked this hasn't been posted yet but grade the Magic's overall trade deadline. I posted a similar poll on the GB and most fans loved what the magic did. I also thought a complete overhaul was long past overdue and thought the magic did a great job as well. But what grade would you give them?

[Last Guardian]

I think B is appropriate. Deciding to rebuild - A. Return on assets - C.

[basketballRob]

A

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[SOUL]

B+. Can nitpick about what younger players we got but 1st round picks are really hard to get and we got 2 that may be pretty good (Nuggets one as well but that's far away). Hampton will be interesting, WCJ is obviously not the BEST young prospect but combined with the picks probably was better than anything else offered.

[OrlandoSaban]

A. I was not expecting Vuc to be moved. I disliked AG and actually liked EF, but it was time for a drastic change. Vuc was just too soft for my liking. Having said that I think Vuc is the only little thing that is left in the NBA.

He wasn't flashy, he wasn't a drama queen, he was humble and didn't care about endorsements.. being in a big market, etc so to me it stung a little when I heard the news.

After getting that through me and listening to Jeff talk like a kid in the candy store in the Press Conference. I am actually excited for what the future holds.

[The Effect]

A
Started the rebuild.
Got 2 solid vets (albeit on bad contracts)
a 21 year old center who was the 7th pick a couple years ago and has put up nice numbers in limited games, again 21 yo...still room to grow
a nice young prospect in 2020 1st round pick RJ Hampton who has a ton of potential and is still very young at a premium position (SG)
3 future 1st round picks, 2021,2023 and 2025, one of which should be a nice pick in the 15-22 range this year (so this is like adding another Cole Anthony or Okeke)
2 future 2nd rounders

I could see some people, especially on this board, who will hate that return, but thats quite a haul for 3 guys with 1 allstar game between them and 2 playoff wins in 7 years. I love gordon, hes been my favorite player since dwight left, vuc is such a pro and fun to watch, and i really liked evan until he decided he needed to be the hero, but again, 2 playoff game wins and 1 all star selection between the 3 in 7 years....

[thelead]

A solid B

[Knightro]

A+

[PrimeThyme]

In a vacuum, It's an easy A for me. I really like the return we got on Vucevic. I'm fine with the return we got on AG. && Evan's market was what it was. We had to move him. More importantly tho is it ushered in a youth movement && we picked a clear-cut direction. Now we have hopefully secured top 4 draft odds and will get to see what we have in WCJ/Bamba/Okeke/Anthony/Hampton.

However, I say in a vacuum because this is at least a year overdue (I'd argue longer). I believe we could have gotten a better deal for Fournier this time last year and could have ushered in this much-needed rebuild earlier on rather than treading water for 3 years.

I can't give Weltman too much credit for that reason. I'm still not a fan, though I will say that I'm not a sworn enemy any longer either after yesterday. I never saw that coming.

[Xatticus]

I voted B.

I thought we left some value out there. I thought Ennis should've been moved for sure. He could help us win a couple games and surely someone would've given something for him? I would've moved Birch as well. I would leave as little to chance with the draft lottery as possible. I know many think this team will struggle to compete, but I'm not so sure we've even taken a step back. I think Hampton and Mane will really help the tank if they get consistent minutes, but we still have a lot of solid players on this roster and teams will have to work to beat us.

[thelead]

I voted B.

I thought we left some value out there. I thought Ennis should've been moved for sure. He could help us win a couple games and surely someone would've given something for him? I would've moved Birch as well. I would leave as little to chance with the draft lottery as possible. I know many think this team will struggle to compete, but I'm not so sure we've even taken a step back. I think Hampton and Mane will really help the tank if they get consistent minutes, but we still have a lot of solid players on this roster and teams will have to work to beat us.

If Porter and Harris get back soon, our tank will not look good. I don’t know the status of their injuries but hopefully we’re very ‘cautious’ with them. Vuc kept us in, and won us some games, but so can a group effort from solid vets.

[cedric76]

B+

[Anti Chalmers]

I’m pretty happy with what we got. Surprised we didn’t at least get a protected frp from Boston for Fournier, but then again I might overrate his value a little bit. Those two 2nd rd picks will probably be sold for cash.

I think we got fair value for AG. We basically got two frp for him as Hampton is still a rookie. I’m pretty excited to see how well he does for us. I think Harris can be flip this summer to a playoff team for some assets.

I was hoping the 2023 pick from Bulls was unprotected. Seems like WCJ has been a bust based on what I’ve seen from Bulls fans.

Overall I give us a B+. Just happy to see us do a full reset instead of half-assing a rebuild.

[Ducklett]

It honestly comes down to where the picks end up/what we trade for them. If they are kept and picked in the 20s, this is a D or F. If one of them is lotto, it is a C or B. If all of them end up in the teens or better or they are traded for a superstar, it is an A.

[MagicMatic]

B

Would be an A+ had they made these moves 2+ years ago for much better return. They basically wasted 2 years of our lives because of complacency.

[Skybox]

I say B overall. I was opposed to moving Vuc because we just weren't going to recoup fair value for a 30 year old. But, I think we did as good as we could have hoped. I honestly think CHI is jumping the gun on their win-now move and we could end up with a second lottery pick this year-even if there aren't any injuries. I was certainly not on the calls, but I'm disappointed in the return for Evan - I would have much preferred a young prospect than 2 picks in the 50's. Maybe BOS would have upgraded their offer to Nesmith or Langford if we has included Birch (who would really help BOS-probably more than Evan). The return on AG is okay but if we had taken back Millsap instead of Harris, we'd have a little more immediate cap flexibility-I'm intrigued by Hampton and he's just the kind of prospect with upside I was hoping we'd be raking in...Bottom line, I would have liked a few more Hampton-types for our 3 best, but I can't complain about the potential of the Vuc return. I'm even softening to the idea that WCJ might become a similar player to Vuc - although I'm still rooting for Bamba to show up as Gobert with a 3pt shot surrounded by dynamic wings as opposed to new Vuc stepping in. Flat B because there are many things that could go really well or all could easily fall flat...typical Magic season preview ("If Isaac becomes DPOY and Hampton and Fultz's shooting..."). None of the individual hopes are unreasonable, but a lot has to go right for GM of the year.

[zaymon]

B for return, A for plan.

Vucevic- I wanted him to stay, but after all the moves i am quite pleased with the return. Its funny that Bulls poster predicted the trade on our board and i didnt like it but i was propably too homerish and defensive about Vucevic.... Those are very good picks and Vucevic/Lavine defensive combination could be a disaster. Thats why they propably asked for Aminu, but he is coming back from serious injury. I wonder if Bulls are really so much better than us last year.

Fournier- its hard to get a good deal when contract have a player option. We still had possibility of resiging him or doing sign and trade in the summer.
One underrated aspect is making Celtics better who will play Bulls two more times and possibly making our pick better. 4D chess lol.

Gordon- I was all in on trading AG, we should have traded him after Raptors series. I like the return. Fournier was trying on defense, but he didnt really had tools to defend "into the ball" like Gary Harris can. Clifford already said Gary is one of his favourite players in the nba, saw it coming lol. Hampton has all the tools, his first step is blinding fast and he can pass too. His shooting is bad, but we made AG shoot 40 % this year so anything is possible lol. Pick is only top 5 protected, you never know what happens. High upside package.

Overall the return was good, the timing was mostly fine. The end grade will depend on ping pong balls which is troubling but maybe we can do something with Harris, Porter and cap space. B+.

[Skybox]

Those are very good picks and Vucevic/Lavine defensive combination could be a disaster.I wonder if Bulls are really so much better than us last year.

That's the BIG question that will determine the value of our day.

Frequent statements over the years (not necessarily agree to by me)...
-Vuc is an empty stats guy on a bad team. He's useless if the offense doesn't run through him. He a turnstile on D.
-Vuc would be a great 2nd or 3rd option with a star leading the team.
-Nobody in the NBA does less to make other players better than Zach Lavine. He gets buckets in iso, but that's it.
-Zach would be a great 2nd or 3rd option with a star leading the team.
-CHI is a rudderless team without a true PG. Coby White is a chucker off the bench, not a PG.
-Markannen is just not that good. He's a one-dimensional shooter who hasn't even been a good shooter over the last few years.
-Patrick Williams MIGHT be really good someday, but not for a few years.
-Donovan hasn't been a great coach since he left UF

...point is, you could make a decent argument that this year's opening day ORL roster (if healthy) was at least as good as today's post-trade deadline CHI team. As I said, I don't agree with all those assessments, but we could still end up with 2 really high picks in '21

[GelbeWand09]

I voted B.

I thought we left some value out there. I thought Ennis should've been moved for sure. He could help us win a couple games and surely someone would've given something for him? I would've moved Birch as well. I would leave as little to chance with the draft lottery as possible. I know many think this team will struggle to compete, but I'm not so sure we've even taken a step back. I think Hampton and Mane will really help the tank if they get consistent minutes, but we still have a lot of solid players on this roster and teams will have to work to beat us.

Yea i think if we play those guys, we gonna win definitely more games than most people think.
Guys like Ennis, Harris, Porter & co just know what to do on the court, if you combine that with a Coach like Cliff. We gonna be more prepared, organized & play better defense than Houston, Minnesota & co.
Even on offense. We lost a ton of scoring, but i'm sure we are gonna be a better defensive team, which creates a lotta easy points.

No one gonna catch Houston, i hope Minny wins more games because of there talent, but they miss most of the things i wrote above.
Detroit i think is a lot like us, with a worse version of Cliff. If i would guess, i think we catch Minnesota but not sure about Detroit & i fear Cleveland.

Grading the deadline: B+ I like all the trades, just doesnt like we kept Ennis & Birch.

[Viper1500]

B+ in terms of trades

I was not happy with the Gordon trade. But it was obviously the best one out there.

However, I give our new direction an A++++