The Official Front Office Needs to Get to Work Thread

[pepe1991]

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They burned out and fatigued from games that they played like it's finals of Olympics or game 7 of nba finals.
NBA season is very slooooow and long marathon. If you gonna kill yourself phyically and mentally during random 17th game of 82 games season, at some point you will saffer from burnout.

[Black and Blue]

It’s going to be fun to see the Weltman robot (does Anthony Parker actually exist?) come out and say the Magic are happy with the pieces they have…when several of those pieces are expiring or need to be extended in short order. Like, it’s gotten to a point the Magic literally HAVE to act. Inaction now means potentially losing pieces for nothing or alienating the players we want to keep long term.

Being risk adverse is an excellent way to keep your job as a GM because it means you can constantly promise time will solve all your problems. But when you do that for too long you get a reputation that’s hard to hire again as owners don’t want 7-8 year plans anymore.

As you can tell, I’m not a fan of this whole standing pat simply because it’s part of the plan. The best franchises don’t do this. They are open and nimble and jump on opportunities as they arise.

[Viper1500]

The Magic would be dumb to trade any first round picks in small deals. We are not a first round pick type of trade away from anything. Band-Aid trades are often regrettable. This team has a lot of issues, and I would rather wait til the offseason to fix them if the cost is anything more than second round picks, fultz, okeke and harris.

[Skybox]

The Magic would be dumb to trade any first round picks in small deals. We are not a first round pick type of trade away from anything. Band-Aid trades are often regrettable. This team has a lot of issues, and I would rather wait til the offseason to fix them if the cost is anything more than second round picks, fultz, okeke and harris.

Fair enough...then trade them in big deals.

WE had two lottery picks last season that have done basically nothing to address our needs (so far)...why would we want more children in the nursery when Paolo and Franz are ready to compete a year or two before their extensions kick in. This is not the time to add more prospects or to pump the brakes and continue "evaluating" a mismatched hodge hodge of talented but incomplete players.

My favorite options are not band-aids, they're full body casts involving as many picks as we can attach to our expiring, non-core guys.

[thelead]

The Magic would be dumb to trade any first round picks in small deals. We are not a first round pick type of trade away from anything. Band-Aid trades are often regrettable. This team has a lot of issues, and I would rather wait til the offseason to fix them if the cost is anything more than second round picks, fultz, okeke and harris.

For players like Simons, Herro, Murray? You trade a protected 1st or 2 and move on. Those guys are locked into deals. Our 11th pick hasn’t even gotten to play real minutes on this average team. What is the 2024 15th pick going to do for us next season? If we can trade it for one of the aforementioned players, you do it and you don’t give it a second thought.

[Ralof]

Magic are where they should be,solid play-in 50% position team,at half season,with a top 5 defense.

they have an estabileshed core of six guys with long term commitment contracts,everyone under 25 yo,four of them under 23 yo.

Magic are fine,only thing we lack it's a bit of realism by fans

[eyriq]

Magic are where they should be,solid play-in 50% position team,at half season,with a top 5 defense.

they have an estabileshed core of six guys with long term commitment contracts,everyone under 25 yo,four of them under 23 yo.

Magic are fine,only thing we lack it's a bit of realism by fans

Nailed it

[Skin]

Nothing special about Weltman. Any fan could've done what he's done. Paolo and Franz after all these years is simply not enough. Especially when Paolo came at having the #1 overall pick.

I'm done with him if he doesn't pull off a trade that helps this team become a contender.

[KillMonger]

Nothing special about Weltman. Any fan could've done what he's done. Paolo and Franz after all these years is simply not enough. Especially when Paolo came at having the #1 overall pick.

I'm done with him if he doesn't pull off a trade that helps this team become a contender.

A contender? That's a big ask from a team that was in the lottery a season ago

Sent from the phone in my hands

[RookieStar]

Bottom line is.... we got spoiled with our early season success. We thought we are ready for the contenders without acknowledging the fact that our top 3 guys are all less than 23 yrs old.

Before the season started and we saw without the process on how we got here this record? We would ALL be jumping for joy.

It's up to our FO if we follow our plan ( which is good based on results ) or we accelerate the process.

[Fortune Teller]

If Paolo and Franz are the guys then istart building around them now. You stop wasting time stock-piling mediocre draft picks. You have assets, use them.

[Vampirate]

Pacer beat the Sixers and the Suns without Hali (yesterday and today).

Why? Because their FO made a HUGE trade. They went out and got their star another star.

Siakam had 31pts/7rbs/4ast tonight (on 14-22 shooting) and 26pts/13rbs/10ast against the Sixers (on 9-13 shooting)

The Knicks are 11-2 since trading for OG

We were above both teams just a few weeks ago.

What is Weltman doing?

Bold 1: Siakam is about to be 30 and get the max or close to it, by the time Paolo hits his prime, Siakam is very likely declining, and maybe to the point you can't get off the contract.

Bold 2: Well if you wanted to trade us Franz+ to get OG then by all means

The actual truth is Paolo is not at the level of Brunson or Hali, and a big reason why is because of age. He's very young, but loaded with potential.

This is just an age timeline thing, you're relying on sophomore and 3rd year players as your best players, chill.

It'd help if Franz was shooting 3s closer to last years averages.

Tbh next year should provide more conclusive evidence for your team, not exactly this year. (see if Franz 3 point shot returns, see if Paolo takes a leap, see if Suggs keeps improving etc)

[VFX]

Weltman is great at squandering value out of guys and sitting on his hands.

We have heard the same song and dance now for 2-3 seasons. "We are waiting to see what we have" and "We need to further evaluate where we are this season to make a splash next season" and nothing happens.

Im expecting one of two things to happen. They will either make an extremely minor move for the sake of it (lesser to equal value) OR they will do absolutely nothing. Kind of like the Aminu or Bol Bol. Some inconsequential move that ultimately leads to solving nothing and keeps the status quo of problems with the roster.

Everyone not named Paolo, Franz, or Jalen should be on the table.

Highest priorities...

Starting point guard
Backup volume SG
A forward that isnt Chuma, plays basketball, and isnt nearing 40

[Skin]

Nothing special about Weltman. Any fan could've done what he's done. Paolo and Franz after all these years is simply not enough. Especially when Paolo came at having the #1 overall pick.

I'm done with him if he doesn't pull off a trade that helps this team become a contender.

A contender? That's a big ask from a team that was in the lottery a season ago

Sent from the phone in my hands

That's his fault for being a lottery team for that long. He's coming up on his 7th year this year! Completely unacceptable

[Skin]

Weltman is great at squandering value out of guys and sitting on his hands.

We have heard the same song and dance now for 2-3 seasons. "We are waiting to see what we have" and "We need to further evaluate where we are this season to make a splash next season" and nothing happens.

Im expecting one of two things to happen. They will either make an extremely minor move for the sake of it (lesser to equal value) OR they will do absolutely nothing. Kind of like the Aminu or Bol Bol. Some inconsequential move that ultimately leads to solving nothing and keeps the status quo of problems with the roster.

Everyone not named Paolo, Franz, or Jalen should be on the table.

Highest priorities...

Starting point guard
Backup volume SG
A forward that isnt Chuma, plays basketball, and isnt nearing 40

We've become a fan base that is supposed to be excited about the season because we signed Joe Ingles. I'm not having it!

Weltman is a joke! Time is proving that he's incompetent! We need to fire him.

[Black and Blue]

Magic are where they should be,solid play-in 50% position team,at half season,with a top 5 defense.

they have an estabileshed core of six guys with long term commitment contracts,everyone under 25 yo,four of them under 23 yo.

Magic are fine,only thing we lack it's a bit of realism by fans

Nailed it

I think in general the fans are pleased. Not only with how this season started, but in seeing Paolo flourish and our young core grow. In a grand scheme of things you can say it’s been a season by season improvement. At the same time the frustration you are seeing stems from it being incredibly clear what the weaknesses on this team have been for a few seasons now and there being nothing done to address them. Both can be true (glaring weakness being ignored and incremental improvement).

The big question now is how long can this go on? At what point does the front office actively invest in this team? While some think it’s when Paolo is entering his prime or has been resigned, I think given the past of this organization it IS important to promote a commitment to winning before a cornerstone becomes a free agent.

This is all to say you are right, we are doing well, but I think it’s also the definition of insanity to roll the same thing out year after year and expect different results. We were all floored by the start of this season, but as things sink closer to where last season ended it’s clear that SOLELY depending on development for improvement can only get you so far.

[Residual-Heat]

The definitely need to do something. Why is it so hard for this franchise to find a decent PG?

[JF5]

They're obviously going to get stuff done...

I think people here freak out too quickly here... This isn't a situation where the team stood pat for 3-4 years with no changes.

They're only a year and a half removed from drafting Paolo. They're technically right where they're supposed to be record wise as a young team given that improbable hot start they had.

I'm just going to enjoy watching the growing pains of an up and coming team.

I don’t think people are necessarily upset that the Magic are losing games this early in their development.

The issue for me is that Weltman has never shown the ability to tangibly be a buyer and the longer he waits, the less assets he’ll ultimately have at his disposal.

Maybe nobody wants expiring contracts, but to go into this summer with Fultz and Harris and Okeke just coming off the books. That’s $35M you could have used, ya know? And once you get to the summer, you gotta replace that money to hit the salary floor, so then what? Are you resigning incumbent veterans? Overpaying another guy like Ingles on a short deal? Splashing the pot like Houston did and giving out near max deals to guys probably not worth it?

Franz and Suggs are getting extended before the start of next season. The clock is ultimately ticking on this cap space and cap flexibility and the front office ultimately seems non-plussed by that fact.

It’s really easy to tear something down.

It’s relatively easy (with semi good fortune in the lotto) to start building it back up.

It’s not that easy to actually really make tangible progress in a build up if you’re too nervous to move chips to the middle of the table.

Well, I mean there were things they had to let play out. Ironically one of those situations was seeing if Fultz could've improved his shooting/game.

Now we have a much clear picture and we're around the deadline to see if he could be move with a draft pick/young player.

You gotta remember they invested 4-5 years into him to see if they could redevelop him back into what he could've been. And again given they were in a rebuilding phase it was the right thing to do.

Now they've got definitive blocks since the season has progressed and are likely to make moves around the deadline or during the off-season. It's not even close to do or die time with the front office.

[eyriq]

Magic are where they should be,solid play-in 50% position team,at half season,with a top 5 defense.

they have an estabileshed core of six guys with long term commitment contracts,everyone under 25 yo,four of them under 23 yo.

Magic are fine,only thing we lack it's a bit of realism by fans

Nailed it

I think in general the fans are pleased. Not only with how this season started, but in seeing Paolo flourish and our young core grow. In a grand scheme of things you can say it’s been a season by season improvement. At the same time the frustration you are seeing stems from it being incredibly clear what the weaknesses on this team have been for a few seasons now and there being nothing done to address them. Both can be true (glaring weakness being ignored and incremental improvement).

The big question now is how long can this go on? At what point does the front office actively invest in this team? While some think it’s when Paolo is entering his prime or has been resigned, I think given the past of this organization it IS important to promote a commitment to winning before a cornerstone becomes a free agent.

This is all to say you are right, we are doing well, but I think it’s also the definition of insanity to roll the same thing out year after year and expect different results. We were all floored by the start of this season, but as things sink closer to where last season ended it’s clear that SOLELY depending on development for improvement can only get you so far.

Hmmm, good point. It's completely baffling that they kept Harris, Cole, and Fultz while drafting Black and Jett. BUT a plan to move Fultz, Cole, or Harris last off-season was fragmented and held by a minority. The majority view was in favor of keeping all three. I think RealGM opinion likely reflects general views of the org since we are influenced by the Magic's PR machine.

Also, we literally just saw the Hennigan build fail because they tried to accelerate and consolidate. Hybrid rebuilds are out of favor around here as a result. We are getting an organic purist strategy instead. I don't hate it. The one thing that annoys me is that we aren't actively removing playtime blockers for Black and Jett. There is an effort to allow Fultz and Harris to earn a place on the team going forward, which makes no sense given we drafted Black and Jett.

What I think is behind that is a belief that the team is good enough to make the playoffs and that this is best for Franchero and Suggs. Competing incentives; allow Franchero and Suggs to compete while providing Black and Jett clear paths to playing time. The tension there is frustrating since Fultz, Cole, and Harris are clearly inadequate. So do we upgrade them with assets or clear a path for Black and Jett?

[SHAQ32]

It's funny how active the trade thread has been over the years despite not making any big moves in forever