Official Speculation & Free Agency Thread (Pt IV Mods Close)

[Idunkonyou2]

This whole thing has been on our front office from the beginning. They're a joke. Dwight looks at other teams like NJ, DAL, LA and it's like amateur hour in Orlando. Why be held down by these clowns? It's been like this since the birth of the Magic.

What have the Nets done lately besides suck? Also where would the Lakers be right now if the corrupt league didn't allow a Brown for Gasol swap?

the Nets set themselves up to get Dwight a legit sidekick, plus have caproom, plus keep Brook Lopez.

the Lakers know how to screw the rest of the league over. we all hate it, but a player is like a solider, and every soldier wants to know his general can win wars.

The Nets still suck and they have no guarantee of getting Howard. No guarantee of Williams staying either.

The Lakers are pathetic. If not for the league licking their a$$, they would be Kobeless right now.

The only team out of those 3 that has really made the right moves, although they made a lot of bad moves along the way to get there, are the Mavs and they did it legit.

[ADRajX]

I actually like Alex Martin... I just wish he and RDV wasn't so buddy-buddy with Otis... Otis has to go... some way, some how... tall order to fill though :-/

[TSKD000]

It's starting to look like all the "superstar" egomaniacal players will ruin whatever franchise they play for into the ground. The players want to pick and choose their teammates, they only will play for certain coaches, they will only play defense if they get to run whatever offense they want, etc. etc. Cry, cry, cry.

[Def Swami]

This whole thing has been on our front office from the beginning. They're a joke. Dwight looks at other teams like NJ, DAL, LA and it's like amateur hour in Orlando. Why be held down by these clowns? It's been like this since the birth of the Magic.

What have the Nets done lately besides suck? Also where would the Lakers be right now if the corrupt league didn't allow a Brown for Gasol swap?

the Nets set themselves up to get Dwight a legit sidekick, plus have caproom, plus keep Brook Lopez.

the Lakers know how to screw the rest of the league over. we all hate it, but a player is like a solider, and every soldier wants to know his general can win wars.

+1
Dwight wants to be in a place that is committed to winning. He sees the Nets took an aggressive risk in trading for D-Will, knowing Dwight wants to play with him. They've gone out of their way to lure Dwight in every capacity they can. And say what you want about the Lakers, but they get guys that help build a championship; the Lakers expect titles and they expect bring in players that win them.

How can Dwight see those teams, then come to Orlando and see Otis fail hard time and time again?

[PeePee la Fritz]

I don't know about that, look at Cleavland, they basically let Lebron run the team, kissed his @$$ 24/7 did not call him out on his mistake and since they didn't win he left.
you can get rid of Otis but if we still did not win the championship Dwight would still leave[/quote][/quote]


I truly believe Dwight has more character the Lebron. And Dwight never asked to run the team, he is just longing for a productive give and take relationship like Dirk has with Cuban. Mutual respect is a powerful thing.....and I believe Dwight did not get that respect from management

[D12VCMagic]

It just really sucks, star players keep leaving us left and right. It is hard to have faith that whenever we do someday find another star, that he will want to stay here.

[G-Heel]

This was all over at that BVW press conference for his retirement. Otis went up there and basically said that he made championship moves and the players failed to produce like they should have. He thought his trades were golden. Dwight didn't. We lose both ways.

That idiot thought he made championship moves? Looooooooool, he's a bigger fool than I thought

If I remember correctly the team he built did go to the finals.

At the time, I actually thought it was bad, future-wise, that we went to the finals. I was happy, trust me, but I knew that we were lucky. Celtics didn't have KG, Cavs were just a bad matchup. We never had talent to be the best team in the league.

Also, because we went to the finals, management thought Otis was actually a competent GM. I wanted Otis fired the moment he signed Rashard Lewis. It doesn't matter that Lewis helped us into the finals, we can never go all the way with all the money tied to Lewis. Which was proven. Instead of step by step building a championship team, Otis opted to go all in and shot himself in the foot.. then shot himself in the foot again (Arenas) and again (Hedo).

[WeAreVenom]

I really can't see Otis surviving this, actually I hope to God he doesn't.

He has survived this long. For some reason, it wouldn't shock me if he's still here. Magic should clean house with everyone in player personnel decisions.

Honestly, I don't think I would be, either.

Which is frightening.

[Bensational]

Whatever. If you tell me Monday that Dwight and Otis are gone, fine by me. But don't lay it all on the FO, Dwight wanted to go, just like Shaq wanted to go.

that's cool if Dwight was always going to go. the problem lies with the FO for not putting together a strong enough contender in the window we had.

you can't assume your window will stay open forever, and that's what Otis did. he had no foresight to sign deals that would expire at a timely fashion so we could chase one of the big FA's last season. he didn't have the foresight to sign deals that would expire next summer. he continuously chose to chase washed up, former all stars and former Warriors, and he thought THOSE were championship moves?

at least Dallas added Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, Caron Butler and Tyson Chandler. we added VC, Arenas, Jason Richardson and Hedo.

this goes way back to the Shard signing. we should have been positioning ourselves then and there to find a second fiddle to Dwight. instead we sign Rashard to a massively overpriced deal when we had NO competition.

i know hindsight is great and all, but a little foresight is just as valuable.

[ADRajX]

Whatever. If you tell me Monday that Dwight and Otis are gone, fine by me. But don't lay it all on the FO, Dwight wanted to go, just like Shaq wanted to go.

that's cool if Dwight was always going to go. the problem lies with the FO for not putting together a strong enough contender in the window we had.

you can't assume your window will stay open forever, and that's what Otis did. he had no foresight to sign deals that would expire at a timely fashion so we could chase one of the big FA's last season. he didn't have the foresight to sign deals that would expire next summer. he continuously chose to chase washed up, former all stars and former Warriors, and he thought THOSE were championship moves?

at least Dallas added Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, Caron Butler and Tyson Chandler. we added VC, Arenas, Jason Richardson and Hedo.

this goes way back to the Shard signing. we should have been positioning ourselves then and there to find a second fiddle to Dwight. instead we sign Rashard to a massively overpriced deal when we had NO competition.

i know hindsight is great and all, but a little foresight is just as valuable.

wow +1

[Idunkonyou2]

+1
Dwight wants to be in a place that is committed to winning. He sees the Nets took an aggressive risk in trading for D-Will, knowing Dwight wants to play with him. They've gone out of their way to lure Dwight in every capacity they can. And say what you want about the Lakers, but they get guys that help build a championship; the Lakers expect titles and they expect bring in players that win them.

How can Dwight see those teams, then come to Orlando and see Otis fail hard time and time again?

Is this a joke? A team who has sucked for the last 5 or so years > than a team who has been to the finals and ECFs over the last 3 years?

GTFO with that logic. Otis has put Howard in position to win titles. Maybe if Howard would have made a few more FTs and got a few less Ts, we would have won a title by now. If I remember correctly, 2 of the 4 games we lost to the Lakers was due to missed layups and FTs, otherwise, we may have won the title.

The only things I can really blame Otis for was the snap trades of last year. Again he was trying to create a spark that the team was obviously lacking. His timing sucked though. So because of that 1 YEAR, Howard and the fans are now saying Otis didn't do his job? I guess you could say that about every GM in the league then because lighting doesn't happen in a bottle EVERY F'ING YEAR.

Howard will find this out no matter where he goes.

[TheDarkKnight]

You guys keep saying about Dwight looking sad during the press conference but if its correct that he asked for a trade earlier in the week then why is he now being honest about it. He probably had to be forced to tell the public knowing how he is so worried about his image. he's been ready for a trade and yet telling people to not worry because he is here right now

[jadewbj]

Lets make it happen!

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/fire-otis-smith/

[G-Heel]

I really can't see Otis surviving this, actually I hope to God he doesn't.

He has survived this long. For some reason, it wouldn't shock me if he's still here. Magic should clean house with everyone in player personnel decisions.

Honestly, I don't think I would be, either.

Which is frightening.

We can't move forward with otis smith at the helm. I'm boycotting if Dwight leaves and otis is still here. To show my disrespect for him, I'm not going to capitalize his name, lol.

[ADRajX]

Lets make it happen!

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/fire-otis-smith/

F It... why not.. I'll sign and promote any and everything to get that incessant blowhard out of office

[Idunkonyou2]

At the time, I actually thought it was bad, future-wise, that we went to the finals. I was happy, trust me, but I knew that we were lucky. Celtics didn't have KG, Cavs were just a bad matchup. We never had talent to be the best team in the league.

Also, because we went to the finals, management thought Otis was actually a competent GM. I wanted Otis fired the moment he signed Rashard Lewis. It doesn't matter that Lewis helped us into the finals, we can never go all the way with all the money tied to Lewis. Which was proven. Instead of step by step building a championship team, Otis opted to go all in and shot himself in the foot.. then shot himself in the foot again (Arenas) and again (Hedo).

And we lost Nelson that year, who was playing at an allstar level. The injury excuse is just that. An excuse. You can go back 30 years and see how teams took advantage of better teams injuries to win titles, their conference, division, whatever.

[OrlandO]

They keep talking about something that happened in the summer that contributed to dwight's decision... has that been leaked yet?

[D12VCMagic]

Dwight wants to be in a place that is committed to winning. He sees the Nets took an aggressive risk in trading for D-Will, knowing Dwight wants to play with him. They've gone out of their way to lure Dwight in every capacity they can. And say what you want about the Lakers, but they get guys that help build a championship; the Lakers expect titles and they expect bring in players that win them.

How can Dwight see those teams, then come to Orlando and see Otis fail hard time and time again?

The Magic have spent more luxury tax than any team in the league except maybe the Lakers, and we're not committed to winning? Otis may have made some poor moves, but to say we're not committed to winning is absurd.

[PeePee la Fritz]

Lets make it happen!

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/fire-otis-smith/

signed

[Bensational]

The Nets still suck and they have no guarantee of getting Howard. No guarantee of Williams staying either.

The Lakers are pathetic. If not for the league licking their a$$, they would be Kobeless right now.

The only team out of those 3 that has really made the right moves, although they made a lot of bad moves along the way to get there, are the Mavs and they did it legit.

we were just knocked out of the 1st rd by the freaking Hawks! we don't have a legit 2nd option. we don't have ANY flexibilty to add a second option. we have been taking backwards step after backwards step since our finals run.

we don't even have a GM who can shed contracts - he just signs ridiculous deal after ridiculous deal.