Official Speculation & Free Agency Thread (PtXI, Mods close)

[Rick Rolled]

Josh Robbins @JoshuaBRobbins

Jameer Nelson, Dennis Scott & WNBA's Marie Ferdinand-Harris will represent Orlando in All-Star's Shooting Stars event.

So Meer, a Hawks homer, and some chick who lives in Miami.

Great representation of the organization.

I'd prefer JJ, Nick, and Foyle with a wig.

*Local guy Chandler Parsons will be shooting for Houston's team.

[gp123]

What about JJ/Duhon for S.Jax and Jennings?

They know jennings isn't sticking around and JJ can be an expiring. Maybe throw in a guy like liggins or ish if they need additional feel good filler.

Please stop, Jennings is a borderline all-star right now... and if they wanted an expiring they would just let Jennings and Jackson both walk after next season... DUHON LOL.

"Maybe throw in a D-Leaguer to soften the blow" Lol...wow.

my bad... Admittedly reaching there, and I guess I haven't paid attention to the guy... he's got ok stats and upside but come on - he's not a steve nash on paper or anything though. just because your a glimmer of hope on a bad team shouldn't inflate your value, but i digress.

Duhon: you don't think we are allowed to send them some of our trash if we're taking back 10m of there hot stank? I am of the presumable minority that would prefer NOT to swap hedo for jax, which I'll wait for the flames there as well, but I think hedo is a huge x factor for us.

I may be naive, but are there any other teams out there willing to take on s.jax right now? This dude is a super cancer for the bucks right now, and I would think they'd rather get JJ and a replacement scrub at pg for a dude they're going to lose soon then simply amnesty jax?

[arkknight1988]

Josh Robbins @JoshuaBRobbins

Jameer Nelson, Dennis Scott & WNBA's Marie Ferdinand-Harris will represent Orlando in All-Star's Shooting Stars event.

So Meer, a Hawks homer, and some chick who lives in Miami.

Great representation of the organization.

I'd prefer JJ, Nick, and Foyle with a wig.

*Local guy Chandler Parsons will be shooting for Houston's team.

glad to see jameer getting involved in allstar weekend. I've bashed jameer a lot lately but im starting to realize that he is not the problem. in fact we would be in trouble without him. i have good feelings about this season for jameer.

[Rick Rolled]

Josh Robbins @JoshuaBRobbins

Jameer Nelson, Dennis Scott & WNBA's Marie Ferdinand-Harris will represent Orlando in All-Star's Shooting Stars event.

So Meer, a Hawks homer, and some chick who lives in Miami.

Great representation of the organization.

I'd prefer JJ, Nick, and Foyle with a wig.

*Local guy Chandler Parsons will be shooting for Houston's team.

glad to see jameer getting involved in allstar weekend. I've bashed jameer a lot lately but im starting to realize that he is not the problem. in fact we would be in trouble without him. i have good feelings about this season for jameer.

Honestly, Meer deserves it after missing All-Star Weekend with an injury a few years back.

He also seems to be regaining form these past few games.

[gp123]

how/who decides the WNBA player?

[Blue_and_Whte]

I dont think any major trades happen in Orlando unless it involves Dwight. The more everything settles down the more I think they'll roll with this line up. I fully anticipate some media person to throw another rumor out there just to get the Dwight -drama going again. Seems like Lin's season is drawing much of the attention.

[ADRajX]

Uhh wouldn't it have made sense to get Nykesha Sales or Carolyn Peck as the woman representative of the Orlando team (you know, the Orlando Miracle all-time leading scorer and the head coach respectively)?

IMO, It should be Nelson, Nick, and Sales (or Peck)

I guess they chose Marie Ferdinand-Harris because she was born in Florida (Miami?)

3D is okay... he might be a Hawk homer, but I have fond memories of his time in Orlando... he will always be a Magic player in my mind, so that's not a bad choice

[TheDarkKnight]

The same people that are saying we don;t need JR Smith will be going on a wild tirade when we get to the playoffs and lose a game because no one could breakdown a team's defense and score when we need it. You never know we might run into the knicks in the playoffs and get to see JR's ankle breaking crossovers all over J-Rich.

[BadMofoPimp]

The same people that are saying we don;t need JR Smith will be going on a wild tirade when we get to the playoffs and lose a game because no one could breakdown a team's defense and score when we need it. You never know we might run into the knicks in the playoffs and get to see JR's ankle breaking crossovers all over J-Rich.

LOL at SVG going with JR over JJ, JRich or maybe even QRich.

[PeePee la Fritz]

Josh Robbins @JoshuaBRobbins

Jameer Nelson, Dennis Scott & WNBA's Marie Ferdinand-Harris will represent Orlando in All-Star's Shooting Stars event.

So Meer, a Hawks homer, and some chick who lives in Miami.

Great representation of the organization.

I'd prefer JJ, Nick, and Foyle with a wig.

*Local guy Chandler Parsons will be shooting for Houston's team.

I honestly did not know people actually watched that event.

[BadMofoPimp]

Anyways, this year we are going to be doing live shows Friday, Saturday and Sunday in front of the Movie Theater plaza at Church and Orange (3 blocks from the Arena). We got over 20 artists performing. We got flyers all over downtown and got so much going on now. So, I won't even be watching the events much anyways. I never did watch All-Star games too much, mostly watch the replays since the All Star Game is more a fun event as opposed to a true game. 3 point contest and maybe the Rookie/Sophomore game are the only things I will DVR. Rest will be Youtube.

[RHBullsFan]

how/who decides the WNBA player?

When will David Stern stop forcing the WNBA into the NBA's all-star weekend? This is the NBA all-star weekend. Nobody watching wants to see the WNBA

[MJallday59]

Just curious. What about a Felton for Nelson swap?

Both look like they could use a change of scenery.

[JustDwight]

Just curious. What about a Felton for Nelson swap?

Both look like they could use a change of scenery.

No. Nelson is playing just fine ATM. We will take a variety of other players for him though if the price is right!

[ChildishGambino]

Damn it man....Seems like Kyrylo Fasenko is going to be off the Free Agent Board.....That is the Big that i wanted here....7"1 280 pounds....A legitimate backup center not some over-sized SF that shall not be named....Maybe we'll make a move at the deadline and we should because i don't think we can go into the playoffs with just Big Baby backing up Dwight....If we do then that tells me the only reason we're not trying to get a Backup center is to give Big Baby his minutes....Think about it....If we would of gotten a Backup already then Big Baby's minutes would be cut by almost half....

It's a damn shame that we can't be a more complete team just because Big Baby needs minutes and his contract needs justification......

[eyriq]

Interesting paper on the best combinations of 'Big 2's and Big 3's. The methodology breaks player styles into 14 clusters, based on criteria they describe in the paper.

Orlando's 'Big 2' is fairly obvious; Howard and Anderson. Howard falls into cluster 12, or the high scoring, high rebounding, high blocks bigs group. Anderson falls into cluster 11, or the stretch 4 group.

Unfortunately a 11 + 12 player type duo didn't have any statistically significant impact on over-performing, at least as far as the study could see. Frankly I attribute this to the relative dearth of elite stretch-4's. The fact that there wasn't any negative correlation for this duo is at least something positive to take away.

What I find really interesting is looking at who our 3rd best player could be. Salary wise and MPG wise that would be Hedo, PER and WS/48 wise it is Redick, and PPG wise it is JRich.

We'll start with Hedo, since he was part of the 'Big 3' that took this team to the finals in '09. His high assists and great three point shooting puts him most comfortably in cluster 8, or the high scoring, multifaceted wings grouping. The problem is he doesn't score near enough, get to the line enough, and turns the ball over way too much. This thing of it is, 8 + 12 is the strongest duo in the study, so if Hedo could get back to his '08 and even '09 form the Magic have themselves a very, very dangerous pairing. This potential alone should give us some semblance of hope come playoff time.

Redick best fits in cluster 4, or with the wing three point shooters group. A team with this type player as part of their big 3 doesn't register as either significant or harmful. The positive news is that Redick is well above average at what he does, so if he is indeed our 3rd best player it won't be that the sky is falling. But he'll also need more than 25 MPG...

JRich, well at one point he may have been in cluster 2, or the dynamic scoring 2 guard group, but I think that ship has sailed. Now he too is transitioning into that cluster 4 group as a wing three point shooter. Shoots the three well but doesn't contribute much else like getting to the line and assisting the ball. Not as good as Redick at this stage IMO, but we seem hell bent on getting something out of him.

Well, I really just wanted to ramble on about the thoughts I had relating that paper to the Magic. I find it very interesting that Hedo is most likely our most important player outside of Dwight, and that while chemistry may be settling in terms of who our 2 best players are there is still a cloud over the 3 spot in our team's hierarchy.

One final thought, Iggy or Ellis would both be huge upgrades over Hedo if we could get them. I didn't realize that both fit so nicely into cluster 8, but seeing that now and seeing how significant an advantage pairing 8's and 12's gives a team, I'm more interested than ever in grabbing Ellis.

[Blue_and_Whte]

Damn it man....Seems like Kyrylo Fasenko is going to be off the Free Agent Board.....That is the Big that i wanted here....7"1 280 pounds....A legitimate backup center not some over-sized SF that shall not be named....Maybe we'll make a move at the deadline and we should because i don't think we can go into the playoffs with just Big Baby backing up Dwight....If we do then that tells me the only reason we're not trying to get a Backup center is to give Big Baby his minutes....Think about it....If we would of gotten a Backup already then Big Baby's minutes would be cut by almost half....

It's a damn shame that we can't be a more complete team just because Big Baby needs minutes and his contract needs justification......

You just made up some random scenerio then convinced yourself that, thats whats happening. Otis didnt go out and get a back up center last year and he probablly wont this year. Why should he fresnko would play what 5 mins? He's better than that and would command more PT. Makes no sense. Activate Orton if they need a center

[ChildishGambino]

Damn it man....Seems like Kyrylo Fasenko is going to be off the Free Agent Board.....That is the Big that i wanted here....7"1 280 pounds....A legitimate backup center not some over-sized SF that shall not be named....Maybe we'll make a move at the deadline and we should because i don't think we can go into the playoffs with just Big Baby backing up Dwight....If we do then that tells me the only reason we're not trying to get a Backup center is to give Big Baby his minutes....Think about it....If we would of gotten a Backup already then Big Baby's minutes would be cut by almost half....

It's a damn shame that we can't be a more complete team just because Big Baby needs minutes and his contract needs justification......

You just made up some random scenerio then convinced yourself that, thats whats happening. Otis didnt go out and get a back up center last year and he probablly wont this year. Why should he fresnko would play what 5 mins? He's better than that and would command more PT. Makes no sense. Activate Orton if they need a center

I believe we did homes....Malik Allen ring a bell? He was just there to spell howard for a few minutes...we still could of done better than Allen though....I'm Fed up with Big Baby because from what i'm seeing he isn't giving us anything a BIG should....Inconsistent Defense...Zero rim protection....Inconsistent rebounding....Redundant scoring......I much rather get someone with legit Center size that can go out there and just focus on Rebounding and Defense....

[pakishazi]

I know it's a pipe dream but how sweet would it be to have a player like the Birdman on this team.

I was wondering how long it would take for Denver to shop him...bout time.

[Furinkazan]

how/who decides the WNBA player?

When will David Stern stop forcing the WNBA into the NBA's all-star weekend? This is the NBA all-star weekend. Nobody watching wants to see the WNBA

I dont think he will ever stop

ultimate goal is propaly let woman play in the NBA

this will sell nicely