Official Speculation & Free Agency Thread (Part IX)

D12VCMagic · Post #281 » by **D12VCMagic** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 8:38 pm

The Effect wrote:I keep hearing about liggins, but any word on harper?

He drained a three, but not much other than that. They didn't practice enough to get a good look at most guys.

caseyw20021 · Post #282 » by **caseyw20021** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 8:38 pm

chunnyboy wrote:idk how much this has been discussed, but is there a scenario in which we can see dwight simply OPT-IN through his contract?

it's only one extra year in a city that he says he loves, and the opportunity to leave would still be there- at the same time we'd have a bunch of contracts come off the books and potentially bring in BOTH josh smith and monta ellis in addition to dwight-

we could potentially start

Ellis
JRich
Smith
Davis
Dwight

in the 2013-2014 opening night

who are the bench guys and the role player and six man?

Reverse_Angle · Post #283 » by **Reverse_Angle** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 8:43 pm

Reverse_Angle wrote:don't read too much into anything actual basketball related. There was no booing and no negativity, that was the only relevant part.

the ballboy heavy "boo mafia" didn't bother to go to the arena, they rather wanted to spend that time finding a TV show and hating on it during the downtime.

TSKD000 · Post #284 » by **TSKD000** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 8:45 pm

chunnyboy wrote:idk how much this has been discussed, but is there a scenario in which we can see dwight simply OPT-IN through his contract?

it's only one extra year in a city that he says he loves, and the opportunity to leave would still be there- at the same time we'd have a bunch of contracts come off the books and potentially bring in BOTH josh smith and monta ellis in addition to dwight-

we could potentially start

Ellis
JRich
Smith
Davis
Dwight

in the 2013-2014 opening night

If we had a more aggressive GM, I'd say that lineup is possible...

Ellis, FA
JRich, Liggins
Smith, Clark
Davis, Anderson
Howard, MLE

Not bad, except we have Otis...

SubyWill · Post #285 » by **SubyWill** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 8:47 pm

What is Otis waiting for? We need a backup big, we need some other moves made. Sigh.

Orton looked terrible.

DontLeaveDwight · Post #286 » by **DontLeaveDwight** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:04 pm

Practice was good liked Liggins energy and after hit the back entrance and got dwight, jj and justin harper's signature

chunnyboy · Post #287 » by **chunnyboy** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:09 pm

caseyw20021 wrote:
chunnyboy wrote:idk how much this has been discussed, but is there a scenario in which we can see dwight simply OPT-IN through his contract?

it's only one extra year in a city that he says he loves, and the opportunity to leave would still be there- at the same time we'd have a bunch of contracts come off the books and potentially bring in BOTH josh smith and monta ellis in addition to dwight-

we could potentially start

Ellis
JRich
Smith
Davis
Dwight

in the 2013-2014 opening night

who are the bench guys and the role player and six man?

hopefully we keep ryan on a decent deal and then liggins can be another role player i suppose- I just found out that hedo actually has a player option (not a team option) so maybe we can convince him to take a longer deal and less money and he can be the facilitator of the second unit-

IGotDaMagicInMe · Post #288 » by **IGotDaMagicInMe** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:16 pm

Hedo is so lazy, who would want to trade for him?

G-Heel · Post #289 » by **G-Heel** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:23 pm

IGotDaMagicInMe wrote:Hedo is so lazy, who would want to trade for him?

Our truly, otis smith!

BigV1981 · Post #290 » by **BigV1981** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:24 pm

IGotDaMagicInMe wrote:Hedo is so lazy, who would want to trade for him?

I know it wont happen, But can we just cut or waive him? And if so how much would we have to pay him?

jadewbj · Post #291 » by **jadewbj** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:31 pm

Did dwight talk to media today?

caseyw20021 · Post #292 » by **caseyw20021** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:39 pm

did we trade for stephen jackson today?

MitchellUK · Post #293 » by **MitchellUK** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:40 pm

IGotDaMagicInMe wrote:Hedo is so lazy, who would want to trade for him?

The fact remains that there will always be some intrigue and desire for a player like Hedo. Power forward's height, small forward's mobility, a decent and fluid if not spectacular athlete, with point guard-like vision and passing, range out to 25ft, and a love of taking big late game shots. If Hedo starts to get back to anywhere near his 2008 or 2009 form, a lot of teams will suddenly start looking past his near-toxic contract and history of inconsistency and laziness. Some (not all) GMs will start dreaming about what a guy like Turk could do for their offense.

IGotDaMagicInMe · Post #294 » by **IGotDaMagicInMe** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:42 pm

Does anybody else feel like Arenas has more potential this year than Hedo? I mean, Arenas had his moments in the playoffs, Hedo, not so much. . .Of course I know that we don't have many forwards and I know that Arenas's contract was bigger than Hedo's, so I'm not really saying we should've amnestied Hedo instead, just a thought

PeePee la Fritz · Post #295 » by **PeePee la Fritz** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:43 pm

Brook Lopez today looked pretty damn good. 15 pts 11 rbs 5 blks. And he did it against Chandler and Amare

dsg2021 · Post #296 » by **dsg2021** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:45 pm

I don't think Hedo gives a flying care about practice and probably even preseason. I don't blame him to be honest. For his age, he shouldn't go all out. I'd wait till the first five games or so to see his real effort level.
I'm really happy to see Liggins doing well. I knew he was dramatically different from Sticks. Liggins is more defensive and from a more complicated college system. Like I posited from a while ago before preseason, I think Liggins has the height to start in SF and then just cross match whoever is the bigger scorer that night between the 2/3. This would probably not happen if Hedo is playing well, which I think is more possible than not, but maybe Liggins will grab a lot of rotation minutes anyways. Hearing about Wafer is nice but am I taking minutes from J Rich or JJ? No.
I saw the Nets-Knicks game just now, Brook Lopez dropped like 11 rebounds and 5 blocks, don't expect Dwight-efficient offense tho, but he's still a ~20/10 force imo. Morrow dropped 7/13 from the field. Damion James, a 2nd year rookie I believe, looks good defensively but doesn't take jumpers, could be Liggins-like if our Liggins avoids 3's/jumpers too. Marshon dropped 10 points on 4/6 FG and 2/2 FT and generally looked good, but he looks like he needs to mature up a little maybe, expecting the ball often and looking to score already in his 1st game. These are the kinds of assets you pillage from that team though, take those four players and four-six 1st rounders instead of just Lopez, one pick, and a 30yr freaking Wallace. Mind you, I'm leaning more towards Dwight staying all season, I got good feelings about this year's team, but I'm also mentally preparing for him gone to NJ too, and hoping we get a better offer from NJ alone than the trash offer Otis took to ownership.

J Lantern · Post #297 » by **J Lantern** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:51 pm

PeePee la Fritz wrote:Brook Lopez today looked pretty damn good. 15 pts 11 rbs 5 blks. And he did it against Chandler and Amare

Lopez is better than what people give him credit for. It's just most people on here compare him to Dwigth and in that case all Centers will look bad. But overall Lopez is not all that bad.

PeePee la Fritz · Post #298 » by **PeePee la Fritz** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:55 pm

J Lantern wrote:
PeePee la Fritz wrote:Brook Lopez today looked pretty damn good. 15 pts 11 rbs 5 blks. And he did it against Chandler and Amare

Lopez is better than what people give him credit for. It's just most people on here compare him to Dwigth and in that case all Centers will look bad. But overall Lopez is not all that bad.

I totally agree, I have always liked Lopez. He is not a piece you build your franchise around, but in the East the dude is an All Star center for the next 10 years. But no he is not Dwight. Lopez/Brooks plus picks and another young asset from another team is not a terrible deal. Granted I still hope Howard stays.....I am just not confident.

MitchellUK · Post #299 » by **MitchellUK** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 10:01 pm

PeePee la Fritz wrote:
J Lantern wrote:
PeePee la Fritz wrote:Brook Lopez today looked pretty damn good. 15 pts 11 rbs 5 blks. And he did it against Chandler and Amare

Lopez is better than what people give him credit for. It's just most people on here compare him to Dwigth and in that case all Centers will look bad. But overall Lopez is not all that bad.

I totally agree, I have always liked Lopez. He is not a piece you build your franchise around, but in the East the dude is an All Star center for the next 10 years. But no he is not Dwight. Lopez/Brooks plus picks and another young asset from another team is not a terrible deal. Granted I still hope Howard stays.....I am just not confident.

Our problem is that if we send Dwight out in a trade that sends Brook Lopez back in return, we will be able to do little else than build around him or let him walk when he hits restricted free agency next summer. He's a center, he's young, and he's skilled, which means he is going to want paying, and by paying we're talking about the max the CBA will allow a player with four years of service. You pay a guy that much, he's a foundation block, a centerpiece. Unfortunately we will have little opportunity to add young potential stud players because we are unlikely to have high draft picks and we don't have the tradeable assets to add stars or potential stars, and we all know what happens when Otis gets creative. If this trade goes down, welcome to long-term mediocrity, Magic fans.

jadewbj · Post #300 » by **jadewbj** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 10:03 pm

Just watched the sentinel video of dwight. He said he was happy to see the reaction. I wish one of the reporters would have asked if the crowd makes him want to stay.

I still think in a crazy season like this we gamble and keep him. Make the playoffs and the team can be dangerous.