Official 2023-2024 Magic General Season Thread

[eyriq]

While many people are unhappy here, I think it's pretty remarkable what some of our guys have done and even our team success in the span of the last 12 months:

+12 wins last year with a bunch of young guys + major injuries
On pace this year to have our best record since 2011-2012
Paolo won rookie of the year
Franz & Germany won FIBA
Paolo gets to be an All-Star in his second year
Suggs & Isaac maybe getting some sort of defensive honors, or at least having their name thrown around

Lots to be proud of.

This x100. We are on a great upward trajectory. I genuinely don’t understand all the negativity.

I think of the concern as falling into two categories.

1. Concern over the general team building strategy
or
2. Concern over roleplayers

The main themes in the first category:
- We should accelerate the build by using pre-extension cap space and draft equity to acquire a stud guard. Names like Simons, Murray, and Lavine stand out.
Or
- We should be actively removing blockers for AB and Jett.

The main themes in the second category:
- Fultz can't shoot, we need a PG that can shoot. Upgrade this man. Names like Brogdon and Tyus stand out.
and/or
- Harris is getting cardio, we need a volume shooter. Names like Hield, Bogdan, GTJ, Bojan, and McDermott stand out.

[flying_mollusk]

While many people are unhappy here, I think it's pretty remarkable what some of our guys have done and even our team success in the span of the last 12 months:

+12 wins last year with a bunch of young guys + major injuries
On pace this year to have our best record since 2011-2012
Paolo won rookie of the year
Franz & Germany won FIBA
Paolo gets to be an All-Star in his second year
Suggs & Isaac maybe getting some sort of defensive honors, or at least having their name thrown around

Lots to be proud of.

Not to mention we are on pace to exceed last seasons 34 wins by possibly another 10-12 wins which is quite an accomplishment. I say enjoy this incredible success as opposed to trashing it.

I remmber at the height of Dwight and Magic's success, there were those who complained incessently. Enjoy it, don't trash it.

Then when we started the rebuild they realized winning 45-50+ games doesn’t just happen. Finding stars doesn’t just happen. I think a lot of teams would switch with us in a second.

[Knightro]

Multiple things can be true at the same time.

It is obvious that things are trending in the right direction because Paolo and Franz are both really good. The Magic have clearly hit big on at least two and possibly 3-4 lotto picks depending on how it ultimately shakes out with Suggs, Black and Jett.

The hardest part is over!

However…

It is also factual that generally speaking the order of operations in terms of building a roster capable of winning at elite levels in most cases is…

1. Draft high end talent
2. Supplement high end drafted talent with veteran talent using trades and/or free agency *before* drafted talent gets significant pay increases
3. Exceed salary cap to retain drafted talent

Step 1 is clearly accomplished. We just haven’t seen (yet) Weltman have even a hint of a desire to approach step 2 and time is unfortunately already ticking until we are at step 3.

[The-Stallion70]

So, you would rather make a bad trade for the only reason to make a trade or try to sign someone in a lateral move. Jesus, this ain't NBA2k.

No **** I wanted a good trade why would I want a bad trade for a lateral move? You like to pick fights on here so I'll give you one lameduck, McDermott, Hield, and Bojan were all players who could help us but we stood pat for zero reason with our zero spacing roster when we have two guys who draw double teams.

I

If there are Zero good trades available where the Magic get the short end of the stick, what do you expect Management to do?

How do you know there were zero good trades available? Many respected posters on here have lamented the Magic's decision to stand pat as well.

[Knightro]

I'm generally annoyed with the passive nature of Jeff Weltman and the rest of this Magic's front office, but ultimately the only guy who actually got traded that would have been a fit for this team was Buddy Hield. Maybe Monte Morris too.

Murray wasn't moved. Tyus wasn't moved. Simons wasn't moved. Brogdon wasn't moved. Huerter wasn't moved.

I can't in good conscience kill Weltman too badly for not pulling off trades that 28-29 other teams also weren't able to make.

[SOUL]

Read on Twitter

Wonder if this is real or a tank move.

[Knightro]

Read on Twitter

Crazy stats.

What's crazier is that a lot more of those minutes have come with a single guard, Franz at the 2, Paolo at the 3, Isaac at the 4 and a center on the court and NOT with Isaac at the 5.

[Residual-Heat]

Im thinking the Blazers weren't offered a 1st round pick for Brogdon, if they were and they passed then it was a dumb decision given his injury history.

[Darth Magic]

Read on Twitter

Crazy stats.

What's crazier is that a lot more of those minutes have come with a single guard, Franz at the 2, Paolo at the 3, Isaac at the 4 and a center on the court and NOT with Isaac at the 5.

Interesting indeed

[eyriq]

Read on Twitter

Crazy stats.

What's crazier is that a lot more of those minutes have come with a single guard, Franz at the 2, Paolo at the 3, Isaac at the 4 and a center on the court and NOT with Isaac at the 5.

If JI can continue scaling up his minutes we are going to be very dangerous in the playoffs. A healthy JI is the biggest accelerator for the team.

[BadMofoPimp]

No **** I wanted a good trade why would I want a bad trade for a lateral move? You like to pick fights on here so I'll give you one lameduck, McDermott, Hield, and Bojan were all players who could help us but we stood pat for zero reason with our zero spacing roster when we have two guys who draw double teams.

I

If there are Zero good trades available where the Magic get the short end of the stick, what do you expect Management to do?

How do you know there were zero good trades available? Many respected posters on here have lamented the Magic's decision to stand pat as well.

Do you actually think a single poster on this board knows what goes on behind closed doors? Obviously, you nor I do.

[jezzerinho]

Im thinking the Blazers weren't offered a 1st round pick for Brogdon, if they were and they passed then it was a dumb decision given his injury history.

My feeling on Brogdon is he just looks after himself. A lot of his injuries iirc are minor and easy to exaggerate. I don't think he takes any chances with his body.

I might be off, but it always looked that way to me. Not a guy who goes to war, come what may.

[Blue_and_Whte]

Read on Twitter

[Blue_and_Whte]

Read on Twitter

Crazy stats.

What's crazier is that a lot more of those minutes have come with a single guard, Franz at the 2, Paolo at the 3, Isaac at the 4 and a center on the court and NOT with Isaac at the 5.

Interesting indeed

I’d be interested to know what they look like defensively with Goga on the floor.

[thelead]

Read on Twitter

Crazy stats.

What's crazier is that a lot more of those minutes have come with a single guard, Franz at the 2, Paolo at the 3, Isaac at the 4 and a center on the court and NOT with Isaac at the 5.

To be clear, my stance is that he can play center. Not that he IS absolutely a center.

It makes a ton of sense to play him with WCJ or Goga (or Mo to a lesser extent) so that he can roam on defense.

On the Franz at the 2 and Paolo at the 3... they both have shown that they're capable of guarding those positions. I love the lineups Mose is toying with.

We have to hope JI stays healthy. We are not even a play-in team in the weak east without him. It's why I was never willing to give up on him. There are very few replacements, in the entire league, for what he brings and how well he fits in with Franz and Paolo.

[Knightro]

I’d be interested to know what they look like defensively with Goga on the floor.

Franz/Paolo/Isaac/Goga have played 9 minutes together - 113.3 ORTG, 87.5 DRTG, 25.8 NET

[RookieStar]

JI is a C only if the opponents C are like Mitch, Wemby, Chet , Mobley/Allen, etc.

[thelead]

JI is a C only if the opponents C are like Mitch, Wemby, Chet , Mobley/Allen, etc.

There are A LOT of those though (Lively, Claxton, Sengun, Gafford, Sabonis, Kristaps, Bam, etc)... There a few giants like Emiid and Jokic (even guys like Nurkic) that I wouldn't want him guarding but I've been clear on that.

[basketballRob]

I would start Goga, Ji, Banchero, Franz, and Suggs. I think Wendell would make a big impact on that second unit.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

[BadMofoPimp]

Who was realistically available for us to help get us out of the first round though?

Considering the moves that were made, I reckon that any of those players would push the needle that much in a trade. Weltman was smart to not bite and work towards the long term as opposed to short term. Good thing Fans are not GMs. Heck, none of these fans ever been to a practice.

long term. long term, we have still needed a legit PG and outside shooting. long term, they havent done much to fix that. i expect the same going forward.

Being the team has already made good strides 2 years consecutively, these are all things that can be addressed as they most likely improve and the team addresses in the off-season. Yet, I feel there will be those people who will continue to not enjoy this great strides the team has already made.