JI has been sidelined again and I hope he is healthy for the Play In Push

[drsd]

There is no playoff push. Stop it. We're tanking. Teams that are serious about the playoffs make moves for the current year. We sold off assets and just signed MCW

I don't see this is as accurate.

For me, the Magic is somewhere between these extremes. The team is not tanking AND will fail to make the playoffs. That's how I see the reality.

Orlando will probably finish with a 36-46 record. That is an 11-10 record to close out the season.

..

[pepe1991]

There is no playoff push. Stop it. We're tanking. Teams that are serious about the playoffs make moves for the current year. We sold off assets and just signed MCW

Watch on YouTube

There is no playoff push but also no tanking.
Magic play their fully healthy starters on regular bases and also their bench players.

We didn't "sold off " anything: We vaiwed Ross because he cried to be vaiwed for year and half ( and that laughable 1st round pick price tag should be meme ) and Hampton ,who we didn't bother pick team's option.


But also there won't be playoff push because we have roster that ins't constructed to win many games nor is experienced enough to grind it out.

30ish wins season. Call that whatever it is, but this ain't playoff push nor tanking. Just existing i guess?

[drsd]

But also there won't be playoff push because we have roster that ins't constructed to win many games nor is experienced enough to grind it out.

30ish wins season. Call that whatever it is, but this ain't playoff push nor tanking. Just existing i guess?

And-1

Look: the Magic has been either 3 or 4 games out of the play-ins for about 6 weeks now. This team has not been getting worse and is not getting better. The roster as constructed is a 50% winning roster.

..

[basketballRob]

There is no playoff push. Stop it. We're tanking. Teams that are serious about the playoffs make moves for the current year. We sold off assets and just signed MCW

Watch on YouTube

There is no playoff push but also no tanking.
Magic play their fully healthy starters on regular bases and also their bench players.

We didn't "sold off " anything: We vaiwed Ross because he cried to be vaiwed for year and half ( and that laughable 1st round pick price tag should be meme ) and Hampton ,who we didn't bother pick team's option.


But also there won't be playoff push because we have roster that ins't constructed to win many games nor is experienced enough to grind it out.

30ish wins season. Call that whatever it is, but this ain't playoff push nor tanking. Just existing i guess?

If they team was healthy for the entire season, they would've made the playoffs.

This draft has some generational players, so not being healthy the entire season could work out. We have a 32% chance of getting one of Scoot, Wembanyama, or Miller.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

[pepe1991]

There is no playoff push. Stop it. We're tanking. Teams that are serious about the playoffs make moves for the current year. We sold off assets and just signed MCW

Watch on YouTube

There is no playoff push but also no tanking.
Magic play their fully healthy starters on regular bases and also their bench players.

We didn't "sold off " anything: We vaiwed Ross because he cried to be vaiwed for year and half ( and that laughable 1st round pick price tag should be meme ) and Hampton ,who we didn't bother pick team's option.


But also there won't be playoff push because we have roster that ins't constructed to win many games nor is experienced enough to grind it out.

30ish wins season. Call that whatever it is, but this ain't playoff push nor tanking. Just existing i guess?

If they team was healthy for the entire season, they would've made the playoffs.

This draft has some generational playoffs, so not being healthy the entire season could work out. We have a 32% chance of getting one of Scoot, Wembanyama, or Miller.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

They would make playin, not playoffs. 6th seeded Knicks have 57% win rate.
Would healthy Magic beat Hawks or Heat for playin? Play it simple, 80% - no.

Magic won't make playoffs until they solve their guard rotation, upgrade SG, clean up rotations etc.
That ,however, won't happen next year if whole goal is to just add one or two rookie and keep everything else as it is.


If they chase Vleet, it makes no sense to keep picks.

I don't know. I also don't like fact that 8 players will be in contract year in same seasons where fans expect growth of team.

[jonbob17]

Franz can play the 2 guard but I'd rather save his knees at SF so he can be around for a really long time.
We need to figure out how to create two different lineups with Isaac and Cole as co-sixth player of the year.

I have more faith in JI playing the 2 than Franz.

Go watch the game against the Jazz, Clarkson ran around Franz especially during crunch time.

Still, JI shouldnt start yet.

Yah, we all love Franz, but he still has a lot of room to grow as a defender, especially for those suggesting he could play the two guard. He can switch some but, if we put him out there on the more athletic guards in the league he's going to get dusted.

unfortunately I am not sure JI is equipped to play 2/3 either. I think JI is going to be best served as a super sub. if we could eventually get 24 minutes out of him subbing 3/4/5 i think that might be one of the most valuable bench players in the league, and an incredibly valuable playoff player

[MartinsIzAfraud]

What's the point if he will be on his 10 mpg a week restrictions for rest of a year?

I am wondering if Load Management is the new Cash Considerations for Orlando.

I hear he's got game!


..

I think they are well aware that his body can't really survive serious PT nor whole season so they just play along until his contract is up or they can trade him for something.

Nobody with straight face can tell me that after near 3 years player can't play more than 10-15 mpg and needs 4 days of rest in between. At age of 25. Fact that he needed 3 years to recover from something most players return in 9-12 months is enough of evidence.

Honestly figuring out how waive him at the end of the year and let him move on with his life, dude can't even stay healthy on 10-16 minute restriction and we're supposed to eat 15-18M in cap space for that?

[JoshuaPotter]

There is no playoff push. Stop it. We're tanking. Teams that are serious about the playoffs make moves for the current year. We sold off assets and just signed MCW

I don't see this is as accurate.

For me, the Magic is somewhere between these extremes. The team is not tanking AND will fail to make the playoffs. That's how I see the reality.

Orlando will probably finish with a 36-46 record. That is an 11-10 record to close out the season.

..

+1!!!!

I will restate it here. Paolo + Franz = not probable to tank unless they are both injured. Paolo + Franz + anything that resembles top 20-30 starting lineup talent is roughly the equivalent of a .500 team.

The facts simply are we started the season off the a lot of injuries and management was in no rush for them to come back. Once they have come back we are firmly a .500sh team.

Our loss to the Pacers is more brought on by a young team trying to figure it out. If the roster stays relatively the same and we get another bump out of Franz or Paolo (hopefully both) then next year we likely win this game. Flaws with the roster included.

[thelead]

There is no playoff push. Stop it. We're tanking. Teams that are serious about the playoffs make moves for the current year. We sold off assets and just signed MCW

Watch on YouTube

There is no playoff push but also no tanking.
Magic play their fully healthy starters on regular bases and also their bench players.

We didn't "sold off " anything: We vaiwed Ross because he cried to be vaiwed for year and half ( and that laughable 1st round pick price tag should be meme ) and Hampton ,who we didn't bother pick team's option.


But also there won't be playoff push because we have roster that ins't constructed to win many games nor is experienced enough to grind it out.

30ish wins season. Call that whatever it is, but this ain't playoff push nor tanking. Just existing i guess?

Call it whatever you want to call it but when you're the 5th worst team and you don't make any trades that moves the needle, that tells me you're not serious about wins yet and are quite happy with getting the best lotto odds possible. To me, I call that 'tanking'.

[JoshuaPotter]

Call it whatever you want to call it but when you're the 5th worst team and you don't make any trades that moves the needle, that tells me you're not serious about wins yet and are quite happy with getting the best lotto odds possible. To me, I call that 'tanking'.

I'm going to ask you to challenge your perspective.

What trash on our roster that isn't Paolo + Franz that another team desperately needs enough to make the 5th worst team a playoff sure thing?

Now if you were to phrase, we need to make a trade that makes our .500 team a playin team this year. Is a more valid view imho. That being said, we are not in a position to improve our worst roster spots (the guard rotation) by trading that same guard rotation for a better guard rotation. It doesn't work that way.

We have two gold bricks on our roster to develop and the mediocre product that surrounds it is a .500 team but that doesn't change that our assets aren't very tangible or valuable for immediate injection of roster improvement.

Do I have you pinned wrong? Please join us in the free agency / trades idea with trades that can improve our roster today that you find realistic today without hindsight.

[Knightro]

There is no playoff push. Stop it. We're tanking. Teams that are serious about the playoffs make moves for the current year. We sold off assets and just signed MCW

Watch on YouTube

[Knightro]

All jokes aside... the Magic aren't officially tanking until guys who have been healthy enough to play big minutes (Isaac doesn't count) start mysteriously missing time because of injuries they could probably play through.

I don't think the Magic are there yet, but I think they certainly will be before the season is over.

They'll never say it out loud, but I think the front office is perfectly content to stay 5th worst.

[Audi]

It does make you wonder where we'd be without that 5-20 start...

[drsd]

It does make you wonder where we'd be without that 5-20 start...

The same place the OKC Thunder is now.

[swarlesbarkley]

Hard not to be negative about this.

Can't stay on the court playing 10 minutes a game while also skipping 1 out of every 4 games.

[Skin]

Hard not to be negative about this.

Can't stay on the court playing 10 minutes a game while also skipping 1 out of every 4 games.

Good for his next contract price. Keeping him for less will be fantastic.

[pepe1991]

Hard not to be negative about this.

Can't stay on the court playing 10 minutes a game while also skipping 1 out of every 4 games.

Good for his next contract price. Keeping him for less will be fantastic.

Not having him would be even better...
I mean what's the point? He play sub 30 games a year, needs ages to recover, eats salary cap, has min restriction on min he can be used, is not good offensive player... Might as well pick some Robert Covington for $4-5M a year, at least he suits up to sit on bench every game, and i'm not 100% sure there is any significant quality differential left.

[JBSouthpaw]

All jokes aside... the Magic aren't officially tanking until guys who have been healthy enough to play big minutes (Isaac doesn't count) start mysteriously missing time because of injuries they could probably play through.

I don't think the Magic are there yet, but I think they certainly will be before the season is over.

They'll never say it out loud, but I think the front office is perfectly content to stay 5th worst.

Agreed.
And you know what?
we get to 30+ wins and still in 5th, I'd say it's almost a perfect season.

[Skin]

Hard not to be negative about this.

Can't stay on the court playing 10 minutes a game while also skipping 1 out of every 4 games.

Good for his next contract price. Keeping him for less will be fantastic.

Not having him would be even better...
I mean what's the point? He play sub 30 games a year, needs ages to recover, eats salary cap, has min restriction on min he can be used, is not good offensive player... Might as well pick some Robert Covington for $4-5M a year, at least he suits up to sit on bench every game, and i'm not 100% sure there is any significant quality differential left.

Because when he does play, he's a difference maker. Proves it all the time.

[pepe1991]

Good for his next contract price. Keeping him for less will be fantastic.

Not having him would be even better...
I mean what's the point? He play sub 30 games a year, needs ages to recover, eats salary cap, has min restriction on min he can be used, is not good offensive player... Might as well pick some Robert Covington for $4-5M a year, at least he suits up to sit on bench every game, and i'm not 100% sure there is any significant quality differential left.

Because when he does play, he's a difference maker. Proves it all the time.

I would not mind him on some $5M a year contract knowing he is throwaway body without expetations and wild card . I want no part of him making + $10M a year and playing 10 min a game for 10-20 games a year.

"proves it all the time" is joke witihn itself. All the time is what? 10 games in 3 yeras?