Synciere wrote:picc wrote:Every year fans surprise me with how appalled they are at good teams who just traded themselves into near-contenders giving up first round picks.
Like yeah, the Magic should have kept those picks because one of them could end up being as good as... Desmond Bane?
What do you guys think the point of basketball is? To hoard coinflip low first-round picks? The 20th pick in the draft isn't gonna do jack ish to help Orlando get to the ECF, but Desmond **** Bane might.
Agreed.
Most fans can’t relate to players bc they weren’t anywhere near as good as them. But people can be smart enough to be in a front office, so they can relate easier to the executives. Superfans like us who post on a Site called Realgm probably have that complex as well. So they look at team building and think of you have a bunch of ‘assets’ you’ll always have a chance to make moves to be better and build a contender. They value picks more than established players bc every pick could turn into a Core All Star and on smaller contracts that’s how you supposedly build a team that can contend for years to come.
What people can’t seem to get their heads around is that Orlando has already done that. They have two REALLY good young guys in Franz and Pablo that they got high in the lottery. Their picks are never going to be high in the lottery again if those guys are healthy. They have to hope they strike it big with late firsts and find another Bane, who they’ll have to wait three or four years to turn into that player. Getting him now, already signed long term, with his prime years ahead is very valuable. Losing the Suns pick hurts but there’s no guarantee they’ll be bad either, especially since they have no reason to tank for other teams. Like the Rams, man f*** them picks! They’re going for it now, and I tip my hat to every team hustling hard to win a chip.
I hear what you say, and there is some validity in it, but i still don't really agree with mind process. Gobert, Mikal, Bane. All those deals are bad. Just because teams repeat same mistake, it does not make it less of an mistake.
It was like when salary cap went up and every fool under a Sun was burning money on backup Cs just to use new salary pocket.
So over span of single season you got:
Biyombo on $17M a year
Ian Mahinmi 4 years $64M contract
Mozgov contract
Carroll 4 years $58M
Fournier 4 years $85M
Mike Conley veteran max
Horford 4 years $113M
Brad Beal 5 years vet max
Batum max
Bezmore outrage contract
And guess what? Herd mentality "they did it, that makes it good" was pretty much dagger for all those teams in terms of flexibility. Like my mother always told me when 8 years old me said " but mom friends did it too" , she would reply "if they jump off building would you too" ?
Trading picks 3-4-5 years in advance is simply dumb because whole bunch of things happen and change in that time frame.
Look at 2021 standings: Suns, Nets, Jezz and 76ers held top 2 records in their conference.
Look where their picks landed in 2025: 3#, 5#, 7#, 10#. All top 10 in lottery. How royally screwed all those teams would be if they were giving up unprotected picks back then?
Trading 4 unprotected picks for player that isn't top 10-15 player in his prime is just flat out silly.
You say those picks won't be high. Magic own pick was 16# pick this year, being 1-2 losses away from lottery. On East.
Magic pretty much gutted all their assets and still didn't solve their biggest position of need- point guard.
And their C lineup is paper tin: injury prone Wendell, injury prone Isaac ( who isn't C to being with) and Goga. PF depth is Isaac. SF depth is TDS who was not even used in playoffs (neither did Goga). Guard depth are Jett Howard ( red shirted for two years) and Black ( closer to SF than guard).
Goga and Moe have team options worth $18M, Moe has ACL tear and won't return up until at some point in Feb. or March.
I agree with your take that fans overvalue picks in some mystery box syndrome. But 4 unprotected picks for player that isn't even top 20 player ( not even close tbh ) , to a team that didn't pass first round of playoffs with current core , on team that already has SG but has no PG is some knee jerk reaction to crappy playoffs and rushing decision before you asses who else is available.
This type of deal is what Magic should have offered to Dončić or Booker or Maxey or Jamal Murray.
It's not type of trade you go get third best player on team that got historically waxed in first round against true contender, where he couldn't dribble the ball in front of Caruso. And who only "run PG " on 27-55 team on 30# ranked offense, and drive home conclusion " yea, he can play PG".
Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. -John Lennon
