Official Speculation Thread (Pt.XXXIX Off-Season Edition)

[mhectorgato]

I don't hate Fran. Just the people who drafted him.

Fran does annoy me ... from all reports he was interested in coming over. For example - I remember people saying that he was questioning former NBA players about the league. Also Twadzic (sp?) was friends with Fran's coach and indications from the coach was that he wanted to come over.

I think at the end of it all it changed his mind because of his girlfriend (now wife).

I don't know. Sometimes family is more important than a job. No culture shock. I'm sure Jorge Garbajosa had some horror stories for him. Plus all his European money is untaxed.

I agree 100% -- I just wish he would have let everyone know sooner!!

[Def Swami]

No way the Lakers offer both Bynum and Gasol. Come on, people.

HOU deal is better by far then.

We have NO idea what the houston deal is. We just looked at all of their assets and went MINE like the seagulls on finding Nemo. I am starting to think Houstons actual offer is much much lower than we are imagining or the deal would have been done by now. We know two things about the current Magic FO, they did not want the Dwight drama to continue to linger and they are not about to take a crap offer. If they have not taken the Houston offer yet i am going to have to assume it is much lower than currently believed.

And if the Lakers are offering only Bynum, then HOU will know to ante up.

And there is no HOU offer because Lin/Asik's situation hasn't been solved yet.

[Def Swami]

Larry Ridley ‏@mrlarryridley
GM Rob Hennigan is in Vegas for Summer League business, other Magic officials on the way now, keep an eye on Lakers/Rockets #Magic #Orlando

[T-Rob]

No way the Lakers offer both Bynum and Gasol. Come on, people.

Come on dude it's not that unrealilistic

It kind of is.

If they had a Dwight extension signed they would be idiots not to trade old ass Gasol and a far inferior center in Bynum[/quote]
lmao yeah trade both Bynum and Gasol for bad back Dwight, ok. lmao Also Jim Buss came out and said last year before Bynum improved that only an idiot would trade both for Dwight, so stop dreaming.[/quote]

Did this Bynum homer just call him bad back Dwight? Smh. Prob cause Bynum never gets hurt, makes so much sense now.

[TheMagicOne]

The biggest problem the Lakers have is #1 Gasol has played very soft and ineffective int he playoffs the last two years. #2 they have ZERO depth behind their starters.

When you bring in a player like Nash you have to bring in shooters. You have no choice. The Magic have shooters in SPADES. If you are the Lakers I would rather lose Gasol over World Peace because of his contract difference AND World Peace can spread the floor and hit the open Jumper.

If you have Nash driving the lane you cannot have Howard & Gasol in the lane looking for the pass. GASOL WILL NOT PLAY OUTSIDE 8 feet from the rim. This is a HUGE PROBLEM if they trade for Howard.

Now you take the Magic team who, oh by the way, had one of the best records in the league prior to Howard going down. You trade for Howard and all the shooters that were put around him to compliment him and all you give up is Bynum (who Howard replaces) and Gasol who has not shown up for two years in the playoffs. And you not only solidify your starting 5 but you add a tremendous amount of Depth.

If you are the Lakers you trade for the following if Howard will commit. Howard, Hedo, JRich, BBD & QRich for Gasol, Bynum & McRoberts.

Hedo becomes your ball handler when Nash has to sit. JRich is backing up Kobe, QRich is your defense backing up World Peace & BBD is your starter with Jamison NEXT TO DWIGHT.

PG - Nash, Blake
SG - Kobe, JRich
SF - World Peace, Hedo (6th man), QRich (Instant Defense)
PF - BBD, Jamison
C - Howard, Jermain O'Neal

That is a roster that will steam roll the western confernence

Also they can cut Hedo next year and save more $$$ than if they kept Bynum & Gasol and signed Bynum long term. Signing Howard long term and having the money Gasol would have made broke up in to quality Vets gives Kobe the best chance at a 6th ring. Period end of story. Having $19 million tied up in Gasol who NO ONE will trade for is a tough pill to swallow when you get your tails kicked by the Thunder for the last two years.

[MAGICian619]

If they had a Dwight extension signed they would be idiots not to trade old ass Gasol and a far inferior center in Bynum

do you wanna avatar bet? I know someone close to laker organization, they are defeinitely not trading gasol.

if lakers trade gasol and bynum for dwight, i will take whatever avatar you give me for rest of of eternity.

same thing for you if they only give up bynum and other pieces, not gasol

do you have the balls?

Looks like you already lost that bet

[Coach_McGuirk]

Interesting take, even though I still wouldn't send Dwight to the Nets...

Looking for a reason why Kris Humphries is getting $12 million a year? Just look at the cap math from the Brooklyn Nets’ perspective... and then turn your gaze toward Florida.

If they’re thinking about trading for Dwight Howard after Jan. 15, when Brook Lopez is trade eligible – and most certainly, they are – then signing Humphries to a short contract of this size makes all kinds of sense.

The reason is that it allows the Nets to take back much bigger contracts from Orlando in a trade. Paying Humphries $12 million means that the combination of Humphries, Tyshawn Taylor and Reggie Evans can be used to take back $18.6 million in contracts from Orlando – which conveniently, is exactly enough to swallow the contracts of Orlando veterans Glen Davis, Jason Richardson, Chris Duhon and Quentin Richardson and clean the Magic’s books going forward.

Do that, and then put Lopez and MarShon Brooks in a deal for Howard (again, just clearing enough salary from the New Jersey end to take back his salary from Orlando), throw in all the same draft picks New Jersey would give in the original deal, and the trade still works. In fact, it works better, since the Nets can swallow a bit more salary in this one than in the deal mooted over the summer.

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_ ... look-south

[Def Swami]

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA
Free agent Grant Hill has reached agreement on a deal with the Los Angeles Clippers, league sources tells Y!

[MAGICian619]

lmao you guys are funny, thinking the lakers would give up both their big man for Dwight. lmao

That's usually the way it works...give up 2 good players for 1 great player...sorry bro we are not the Memphis Grizzlies and just give you s*** for free.

[TheMagicOne]

mhectorgato, i just made a little research here and the problem was Magic drafted a guy they didnt practice with a high pick and hoping him to come to US without even talking with him too. Look at the Spurs:

Manu Ginobili, 57th in 1999
Luis Scola, 55th in 2002
Beno Udrih, 28th in 2004
Goran Dragic, 45th in 2008
Tiago Splitter, 28th in 2007
Nando de Colo, 53rd in 2009 (they signed him this year)

And you know what? All of them were drafted when they were 22 years old. You should spend a low pick to draft these gambles, if they dont come, no problem, probably if you had drafted an NCAA player with this pick he wouldnt be in the league anymore anyway, but Spurs got 3 Euroleague MVPs this way (Manu, Scola and Splitter).

Their exceptions are Parker and Mahimmi, who were under 20 when drafted.

Those two were under 20 when drafted because they actually declared. If they do not declare they are automatically in the draft at age 22.

[darthkiller]

If they had a Dwight extension signed they would be idiots not to trade old ass Gasol and a far inferior center in Bynum

do you wanna avatar bet? I know someone close to laker organization, they are defeinitely not trading gasol.

if lakers trade gasol and bynum for dwight, i will take whatever avatar you give me for rest of of eternity.

same thing for you if they only give up bynum and other pieces, not gasol

do you have the balls?

Looks like you already lost that bet

do you take the bet or no, cuz i m more sure the lakers will not give up both gasol and bynum for dwight than if the sun will rise tomorrow

[Michael Lucky]

lmao you guys are funny, thinking the lakers would give up both their big man for Dwight. lmao

That's usually the way it works...give up 2 good players for 1 great player...sorry bro we are not the Memphis Grizzlies and just give you s*** for free.

yeah give a 20/14 player on a team in which he's the only rebounder and scorer for a 19/12 guy and 17/10 guy fighting for their rebounds and points with Kobe. Sorry dude, the team that has the less leverage is the one that is desperate to trade one of its players not a team like the Lakers who are looking to win a championship in the next two years. So keep dreaming all you want but you'll be seriously disappointed and I repeat Jim Buss siad only an Idiot yes he used those words would trade both his bigs for Dwight, and now that Dwight is injured and still can't run, good luck on that.

[darthkiller]

lmao you guys are funny, thinking the lakers would give up both their big man for Dwight. lmao

That's usually the way it works...give up 2 good players for 1 great player...sorry bro we are not the Memphis Grizzlies and just give you s*** for free.

yeah give a 20/14 player on a team in which he's the only rebounder and scorer for a 19/12 guy and 17/10 guy fighting for their rebounds and points with Kobe. Sorry dude, the team that has the less leverage is the one that is desperate to trade one of its players not a team like the Lakers who are looking to win a championship in the next two years. So keep dreaming all you want but you'll be seriously disappointed and I repeat Jim Buss siad only an Idiot yes he used those words would trade both his bigs for Dwight, and now that Dwight is injured and still can't run, good luck on that.

that magician dude is probably the most delusional poster ive ever seen on Realgm

[Orlando Tragic]

The biggest problem the Lakers have is #1 Gasol has played very soft and ineffective int he playoffs the last two years. #2 they have ZERO depth behind their starters.

When you bring in a player like Nash you have to bring in shooters. You have no choice. The Magic have shooters in SPADES. If you are the Lakers I would rather lose Gasol over World Peace because of his contract difference AND World Peace can spread the floor and hit the open Jumper.

If you have Nash driving the lane you cannot have Howard & Gasol in the lane looking for the pass. GASOL WILL NOT PLAY OUTSIDE 8 feet from the rim. This is a HUGE PROBLEM if they trade for Howard.

Now you take the Magic team who, oh by the way, had one of the best records in the league prior to Howard going down. You trade for Howard and all the shooters that were put around him to compliment him and all you give up is Bynum (who Howard replaces) and Gasol who has not shown up for two years in the playoffs. And you not only solidify your starting 5 but you add a tremendous amount of Depth.

If you are the Lakers you trade for the following if Howard will commit. Howard, Hedo, JRich, BBD & QRich for Gasol, Bynum & McRoberts.

Hedo becomes your ball handler when Nash has to sit. JRich is backing up Kobe, QRich is your defense backing up World Peace & BBD is your starter with Jamison NEXT TO DWIGHT.

PG - Nash, Blake
SG - Kobe, JRich
SF - World Peace, Hedo (6th man), QRich (Instant Defense)
PF - BBD, Jamison
C - Howard, Jermain O'Neal

That is a roster that will steam roll the western confernence

Excellant post.

[MoMM]

mhectorgato, i just made a little research here and the problem was Magic drafted a guy they didnt practice with a high pick and hoping him to come to US without even talking with him too. Look at the Spurs:

Manu Ginobili, 57th in 1999
Luis Scola, 55th in 2002
Beno Udrih, 28th in 2004
Goran Dragic, 45th in 2008
Tiago Splitter, 28th in 2007
Nando de Colo, 53rd in 2009 (they signed him this year)

And you know what? All of them were drafted when they were 22 years old. You should spend a low pick to draft these gambles, if they dont come, no problem, probably if you had drafted an NCAA player with this pick he wouldnt be in the league anymore anyway, but Spurs got 3 Euroleague MVPs this way (Manu, Scola and Splitter).
Their exceptions are Parker and Mahimmi, who were under 20 when drafted.

Those two were under 20 when drafted because they actually declared. If they do not declare they are automatically in the draft at age 22.

Yes, i know it. Just like Leandrinho who was drafted when was 21 with the #28 pick by the Spurs too (come on, freaking scouts!).

[Nyce_1]

Interesting take, even though I still wouldn't send Dwight to the Nets...

Looking for a reason why Kris Humphries is getting $12 million a year? Just look at the cap math from the Brooklyn Nets’ perspective... and then turn your gaze toward Florida.

If they’re thinking about trading for Dwight Howard after Jan. 15, when Brook Lopez is trade eligible – and most certainly, they are – then signing Humphries to a short contract of this size makes all kinds of sense.

The reason is that it allows the Nets to take back much bigger contracts from Orlando in a trade. Paying Humphries $12 million means that the combination of Humphries, Tyshawn Taylor and Reggie Evans can be used to take back $18.6 million in contracts from Orlando – which conveniently, is exactly enough to swallow the contracts of Orlando veterans Glen Davis, Jason Richardson, Chris Duhon and Quentin Richardson and clean the Magic’s books going forward.

Do that, and then put Lopez and MarShon Brooks in a deal for Howard (again, just clearing enough salary from the New Jersey end to take back his salary from Orlando), throw in all the same draft picks New Jersey would give in the original deal, and the trade still works. In fact, it works better, since the Nets can swallow a bit more salary in this one than in the deal mooted over the summer.

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_ ... look-south

but that leaves us with BROOK LOPEZ @ $15M/YEAR

[Just Plain Mark]

Well, Fran is from Spain and wants to live in Spain, what's the problem? He is earning big bucks there too and close to his family. What's the problem? Most of us already turned better offers to stay in a city you liked more, right?

We understand that but why declare for a draft if your intentions aren't to come over. Really screws over an organization...

He did not declare you dunce. Foreign players DO NOT HAVE TO DECLARE...PERIOD. They are automatically "draft eligible" at a certain age or after so many years of playing professional ball. There are completely different rules for foreign players than for American Born prospects. Hence the reason high school prospects have threatened to go play over seas if the NBA changes from a NBA freshman eligible to a sophomore or older.

You are correct that international players don't have to "declare" for the draft at a certain age, but Fran gave some impressions that he was interested in playing in the NBA. So while Fran didn't have to declare, if he didn't want to come over, he could have easily communicated through his agent that he wasn't leaving Spain. I think he and his agent used the prospect of the NBA to get him a bigger contract in Europe (it worked). Instead of saying he wasn't coming no matter what, he came to the states to work out.

However, there are reports that it wasn't hard to tell he wasn't really interested in ever playing for the NBA.

The people we spoke with overwhelmingly agreed that if Vazquez was serious about being drafted as high as he could have, he most definitely should been here in the States working out for teams two weeks ago

http://forums.nykfp.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11057

The Magic should've been much more cautious in dealing with a guy who came to the US at the last minute, had 2 disappointing workouts, was heavily influenced by his girlfriend, and had just lost his father.

I spent three days with Vasquez in Spain after he refused to sign with the Magic and I could have told you after spending 15 minutes with him that he was a nice guy but also a country-bumpkin manipulated by his girlfriend, spoke no English, and wanted nothing to do with the United States.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/en_fuego/2012/05/orlando-magic-shakeup-should-include-otis-smith.html

[T-Rob]

And the coddled laker fans start trolling once again! At least we know the Orlando board is followed by other teams fans it's kinda flattering. I sure as hell don't care about theirs.

[TheMagicOne]

Well, Fran is from Spain and wants to live in Spain, what's the problem? He is earning big bucks there too and close to his family. What's the problem? Most of us already turned better offers to stay in a city you liked more, right?

We understand that but why declare for a draft if your intentions aren't to come over. Really screws over an organization...

He did not declare you dunce. Foreign players DO NOT HAVE TO DECLARE...PERIOD. They are automatically "draft eligible" at a certain age or after so many years of playing professional ball. There are completely different rules for foreign players than for American Born prospects. Hence the reason high school prospects have threatened to go play over seas if the NBA changes from a NBA freshman eligible to a sophomore or older.

You are correct that international players don't have to "declare" for the draft at a certain age, but Fran gave some impressions that he was interested in playing in the NBA. So while Fran didn't have to declare, if he didn't want to come over, he could have easily communicated through his agent that he wasn't leaving Spain. I think he and his agent used the prospect of the NBA to get him a bigger contract in Europe (it worked). Instead of saying he wasn't coming no matter what, he came to the states to work out.

However, there are reports that it wasn't hard to tell he wasn't really interested in ever playing for the NBA.

The people we spoke with overwhelmingly agreed that if Vazquez was serious about being drafted as high as he could have, he most definitely should been here in the States working out for teams two weeks ago

http://forums.nykfp.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11057

The Magic should've been much more cautious in dealing with a guy who came to the US at the last minute, had 2 disappointing workouts, was heavily influenced by his girlfriend, and had just lost his father.

I spent three days with Vasquez in Spain after he refused to sign with the Magic and I could have told you after spending 15 minutes with him that he was a nice guy but also a country-bumpkin manipulated by his girlfriend, spoke no English, and wanted nothing to do with the United States.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/en_fuego/2012/05/orlando-magic-shakeup-should-include-otis-smith.html[/quote]


WRONG I remember watching the draft and following the coverage up to the draft and all reports came up that day that Fran really did not plan on playing in the NBA anytime soon. The Magic would have known this had they at least interviewed him.

The issue brought up was that someone thought Fran "DECLARED" for the draft and that was out and out wrong because he did not. Second you should never draft a player you did not work out or interview. i.e. see Steve Francis and the Vancouver Grizzlies for an American Version of this.

[TDJacksonville]

Interesting take, even though I still wouldn't send Dwight to the Nets...

Looking for a reason why Kris Humphries is getting $12 million a year? Just look at the cap math from the Brooklyn Nets’ perspective... and then turn your gaze toward Florida.

If they’re thinking about trading for Dwight Howard after Jan. 15, when Brook Lopez is trade eligible – and most certainly, they are – then signing Humphries to a short contract of this size makes all kinds of sense.

The reason is that it allows the Nets to take back much bigger contracts from Orlando in a trade. Paying Humphries $12 million means that the combination of Humphries, Tyshawn Taylor and Reggie Evans can be used to take back $18.6 million in contracts from Orlando – which conveniently, is exactly enough to swallow the contracts of Orlando veterans Glen Davis, Jason Richardson, Chris Duhon and Quentin Richardson and clean the Magic’s books going forward.

Do that, and then put Lopez and MarShon Brooks in a deal for Howard (again, just clearing enough salary from the New Jersey end to take back his salary from Orlando), throw in all the same draft picks New Jersey would give in the original deal, and the trade still works. In fact, it works better, since the Nets can swallow a bit more salary in this one than in the deal mooted over the summer.

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_ ... look-south

but that leaves us with BROOK LOPEZ @ $15M/YEAR

flip brook to Houston for their Lottery pick and a Player?