RealGM

Finally it’s draft week and I’ve been thinking lately of our 35 years of basketball in Orlando and the best players we’ve had by draft or free agency. The point guard and shooting guard has by far been the weakest positions we’ve ever had. Why has such an important position been so blatantly ignored all of these years, who’s behind it. And what has it cost us?

First have to acknowledge or 2 best pg’s ever have been Penny and Jameer Nelson. I’m going to argue Penny wasn’t a Magic pick, I’m going to give Shaq the credit on that. But non the less he was a Magic. By far he’s still to this day the best pg we’ve ever had. Second of course is Jameer Nelson, head scratching right now I can’t think of anyone else other than Darrell Armstrong. How’s it possible 35 years of operation this is what we’ve had?

Shooting guard? Lol umm wait, have we ever had a relevant really great shooting guard? The 90’s the area of great points guards and players like Jordan and Kobe we had Nick Anderson and that might seriously be all. For relevance, Jalen Suggs might already be the 2nd best shooting guard we have ever had. No knock on Suggs but let that sink in…..

We’ve historically ignored these important positions, haven’t corrected the course we had been on and to what cost? You can argue that the point guard and shooting guard spot might have cost us two NBA Championships. 1995 ugh Nick those 4 free throws 2009 Rafer Alston and Jameer Nelson now I’m not saying we would/could have won those but I’m saying 2 Finals appearances with losses with questions about pg and sg.

All of those years and with lots of changes in different levels of management of the team there are two consistence. The DeVos family, and Alex Martins. Could this be why two important positions have been so undervalued all of these years?

Draft week is finally here and after 35 years I’m hoping this is the season that is finally corrected through the draft and free agency. I find it hard to understand why things have gone on this way so long. I’m hopeful for change and a new way of thinking. Being patient sense 94-95 isn’t that easy lol.

We've drafted Suggs, AB, and Jett in the lottery over the past three seasons. Do they not count or something?

Yeah Steve Francis, Gilbert Arena, and Vince Carter were past their primes by the time we had them, they could still have good games but not consistently. Aside from them we had more specialists like Redick or Pietrus.

T-Mac was truly great but had no help on his rosters. I wish he would've waited for Dwight to develop.

We have drafted plenty of bust guards over the years....Jaryl Sasser, Elfrid Payton, Reese Gaines immediately come to mind.

We also had a no name player called Tracy McGrady.

Even none prime Vince Carter has played here to somewhat great effect.

Otherwise, I am not sure what you expect. Here is hoping Black or Suggs explode into the "G" you wish we had?

eyriq wrote:We've drafted Suggs, AB, and Jett in the lottery over the past three seasons. Do they not count or something?

did you see where I counted Suggs as probably the 2nd best SG we’ve had? I can’t say anything at all about Jett yet except obviously he wasn’t good enough to sit on the bench and rot away like AB. What else can I say about AB when I don’t even know what position they want him to play?

Magicman125 wrote:Yeah Steve Francis, Gilbert Arena, and Vince Carter were past their primes by the time we had them, they could still have good games but not consistently. Aside from them we had more specialists like Redick or Pietrus.

T-Mac was truly great but had no help on his rosters. I wish he would've waited for Dwight to develop.

Steve Franchise era was nuts....remember his buddy Catino Mobley?

Gilbert fools gold Arenas. Or was Vince Carter fools gold?

JoshuaPotter wrote:We have drafted plenty of bust guards over the years....Jaryl Sasser, Elfrid Payton, Reese Gaines immediately come to mind.

We also had a no name player called Tracy McGrady.

Even none prime Vince Carter has played here to somewhat great effect.

Otherwise, I am not sure what you expect. Here is hoping Black or Suggs explode into the "G" you wish we had?

What position was McGrady? Who played point guard and shooting guard in the McGrady area because that’s what I’m talking about.

JoshuaPotter wrote:

Magicman125 wrote:Yeah Steve Francis, Gilbert Arena, and Vince Carter were past their primes by the time we had them, they could still have good games but not consistently. Aside from them we had more specialists like Redick or Pietrus.

T-Mac was truly great but had no help on his rosters. I wish he would've waited for Dwight to develop.

Steve Franchise era was nuts....remember his buddy Catino Mobley?

Gilbert fools gold Arenas. Or was Vince Carter fools gold?

Remember what happened when Catino Mobley got traded?

three3d wrote:

eyriq wrote:We've drafted Suggs, AB, and Jett in the lottery over the past three seasons. Do they not count or something?

did you see where I counted Suggs as probably the 2nd best SG we’ve had? I can’t say anything at all about Jett yet except obviously he wasn’t good enough to sit on the bench and rot away like AB. What else can I say about AB when I don’t even know what position they want him to play?

Yeah I saw it. I don't get how you can have a thread about us ignoring shooting guards and point guards when we spent the majority of our draft capital on the positions over the past three seasons. Like it seems like you meant to have a different title for the thread. Maybe one about how we're not focusing on the types of point guards and shooting guards you like?

JoshuaPotter wrote:

Magicman125 wrote:Yeah Steve Francis, Gilbert Arena, and Vince Carter were past their primes by the time we had them, they could still have good games but not consistently. Aside from them we had more specialists like Redick or Pietrus.

T-Mac was truly great but had no help on his rosters. I wish he would've waited for Dwight to develop.

Steve Franchise era was nuts....remember his buddy Catino Mobley?

Gilbert fools gold Arenas. Or was Vince Carter fools gold?

Also do you remember how exactly we would up with Francis and Mobley..? Just another one of those situations an All Star got tired of waiting it out in Orlando and doing it all himself.

three3d wrote:

JoshuaPotter wrote:We have drafted plenty of bust guards over the years....Jaryl Sasser, Elfrid Payton, Reese Gaines immediately come to mind.

We also had a no name player called Tracy McGrady.

Even none prime Vince Carter has played here to somewhat great effect.

Otherwise, I am not sure what you expect. Here is hoping Black or Suggs explode into the "G" you wish we had?

What position was McGrady? Who played point guard and shooting guard in the McGrady area because that’s what I’m talking about.

PG Darrel Armstrong
SG Tracy McGrady
C don't remember but it was bad
SF Grant Hill
PF Bo Outlaw / Drew Gooden / Juwan Howard

eyriq wrote:

three3d wrote:

eyriq wrote:We've drafted Suggs, AB, and Jett in the lottery over the past three seasons. Do they not count or something?

did you see where I counted Suggs as probably the 2nd best SG we’ve had? I can’t say anything at all about Jett yet except obviously he wasn’t good enough to sit on the bench and rot away like AB. What else can I say about AB when I don’t even know what position they want him to play?

Yeah I saw it. I don't get how you can have a thread about us ignoring shooting guards and point guards when we spent the majority of our draft capital on the positions over the past three seasons. Like it seems like you meant to have a different title for the thread. Maybe one about how we're not focusing on the types of point guards and shooting guards you like?

Umm I pretty much put it into perspective by saying 35 years of history. Thats 35 years of drafting , 35 years of free agency.

JoshuaPotter wrote:

three3d wrote:

JoshuaPotter wrote:We have drafted plenty of bust guards over the years....Jaryl Sasser, Elfrid Payton, Reese Gaines immediately come to mind.

We also had a no name player called Tracy McGrady.

Even none prime Vince Carter has played here to somewhat great effect.

Otherwise, I am not sure what you expect. Here is hoping Black or Suggs explode into the "G" you wish we had?

What position was McGrady? Who played point guard and shooting guard in the McGrady area because that’s what I’m talking about.

PG Darrel Armstrong
SG Tracy McGrady
C don't remember but it was bad
SF Grant Hill
PF Bo Outlaw / Drew Gooden / Juwan Howard

T-Mac wasn’t the shooting guard though

three3d wrote:

eyriq wrote:

three3d wrote:
did you see where I counted Suggs as probably the 2nd best SG we’ve had? I can’t say anything at all about Jett yet except obviously he wasn’t good enough to sit on the bench and rot away like AB. What else can I say about AB when I don’t even know what position they want him to play?

Yeah I saw it. I don't get how you can have a thread about us ignoring shooting guards and point guards when we spent the majority of our draft capital on the positions over the past three seasons. Like it seems like you meant to have a different title for the thread. Maybe one about how we're not focusing on the types of point guards and shooting guards you like?

Umm I pretty much put it into perspective by saying 35 years of history. Thats 35 years of drafting , 35 years of free agency.

It's an irrelevant trend if in the last three seasons we've spent three lottery picks on the positions, ya know?

eyriq wrote:

three3d wrote:

eyriq wrote:Yeah I saw it. I don't get how you can have a thread about us ignoring shooting guards and point guards when we spent the majority of our draft capital on the positions over the past three seasons. Like it seems like you meant to have a different title for the thread. Maybe one about how we're not focusing on the types of point guards and shooting guards you like?

Umm I pretty much put it into perspective by saying 35 years of history. Thats 35 years of drafting , 35 years of free agency.

It's an irrelevant trend if in the last three seasons we've spent three lottery picks on the positions, ya know?

In your argument it’s newer trend than what they have done. And honestly they aren’t or haven’t been proactive enough to fix this problem in all of these seasons. I don’t think and argument can really be made to justify us not having a relative point guard since Jameer Nelson. I like Suggs but with how little he’s done outside last season for him to probably be our second best sg is also kinda crazy. These are only my opinions, but to me, they show a lack of willingness to fix a problem outside bandaids.

Our most impactful drafts and free agent signings have always been forwards and centers.

Outside the LeBron James Lakers tell me a team that won the championship without really good to great guard play.

As much as I disliked him, I think Skiles was a pretty good PG for us.

Audi wrote:As much as I disliked him, I think Skiles was a pretty good PG for us.

Yea he was he’s probably actually the 2nd best we’ve had

JoshuaPotter wrote:We have drafted plenty of bust guards over the years....Jaryl Sasser, Elfrid Payton, Reese Gaines immediately come to mind.

We also had a no name player called Tracy McGrady.

Even none prime Vince Carter has played here to somewhat great effect.

Otherwise, I am not sure what you expect. Here is hoping Black or Suggs explode into the "G" you wish we had?

yeah, i immediately thought of Carter and McGrady.