Official Speculation Thread (Pt. XLV "Re-Building" Edition)

[Magic#1]

When's the earliest were even gonna see one of these draft picks?

Seems like 2014 from either New York or Denver.

[ADRajX]

I'm ready for Heart and Hustle 2.0

I'm also excited to see Harkless play for us, along with Nicholson, O'Quinn, Harper, and Liggins.

Vucevic looks solid, as does Ayon... it's going to be rough... but we're just going to have to tank, and rebuild for a couple years... OKC model.

It wouldn't hurt if Harkless turned into a very good player though. ... and hopefully Afflalo can net us 14-16ppg like he did last season for Denver.

Oh and at least J-Rich and Duhon are gone. I hope Ish Smith returns. And I hope Glen Davis plays hard again next season like he did near the end of last season and the playoffs.

New chapter, let's go.

[rcklsscognition]

Harkless will be the guy to watch for us. If we're lucky, he becomes Kevin Durant. At worst, he's Trevor Ariza. I'll really be pulling for him.

As in Kevin Durant staying in a small city, or KD in talent? I wonder what Harkless will look like in a Lakers uni.

Talent hopefully. He is a freak athlete. I just hope he can fit in sooner than later.

Same here. He was our mock draft pick for the longest time, I was pretty sure we were going to draft him to replace Hedo eventually. Looks like we got our wish.

[Noonskadoodle]

Future 3,4, & 5 of YOUR ORLANDOOOOOOOO MAGIC!!!

[Magic#1]

Have mercy. Sportscenter already sent out a tweet of Dwight in an LA jersey. Tools. They had that ready.

[ChosenSavior]

This hurts right now no doubt, but we have to show a bit of patience and see what the master plan is going to be for us at the end. We are obviously rebuilding and are going to focus on developing a team based culture where guys play in Orlando because they want to be here. The days of catering to superstars are over. We are definitely trying to implement the success that OKC and the Spurs have shown in the hopes that we may one day land a star who is legitimately humble and is all about team.

Try to stay strong everyone. Our time for sustainable success is coming.

[MagicTownBaller]

I'm ready for Heart and Hustle 2.0

I'm also excited to see Harkless play for us, along with Nicholson, O'Quinn, Harper, and Liggins.

Vuvecic looks solid, as does Ayon... it's going to be rough... but we're just going to have to tank, and rebuild for a couple years... OKC model.

It wouldn't hurt if Harkless turned into a very good player though. ... and hopefully Afflalo can net us 14-16ppg like he did last season for Denver.

Oh and at least J-Rich and Duhon are gone. I hope Ish Smith returns. And I hope Glen Davis plays hard again next season like he did near the end of last season and the playoffs.

New chapter, let's go.

The future is ours for the taking!

Is the press conference really at 3:30?

[MoMM]

This isn't as bad as everybody is saying it is. Still better than BK deal, cleveland deal, nobody knows what the houston deal was. Its not great but its no reason to rage quit being an orl fan. Whats funny is the guy saying "guess iggy had more value than dwight" philly traded iggy, vucevic, and harkless for bynum, lakers traded bynum, mcroberts, eyenga a 1st for dwight. If we wanted bynum, we couldve gotten bynum

So we traded D12 + Duhon + Earl for Bynum +McBob + Eyenga + 1st + 2nd
And then Bynum + Jrich for Vucevic + Harkless + 2 1sts + 1 2nd, right?

And also got afflalo.

You are right.

1st deal: D12 + Duhon + Earl for Bynum + McBob + Eyenga + 1st + 2nd (Lakers)
2nd deal: Bynum + Jrich for Vucevic + Iguodala + Harkless + 1st (Sixers)
3rd deal: Iguodala for Afflalo + Al + 1st + 2nd (Nuggets)

Which was the worst and the best deals of these? For me, the 3rd one looks the best one and the worst is the Lakers one.

[Noonskadoodle]

My top 2 players in this draft was Lillard then Harkless.

So I'm really happy with Harkless.

[ChosenSavior]

I'm ready for Heart and Hustle 2.0

I'm also excited to see Harkless play for us, along with Nicholson, O'Quinn, Harper, and Liggins.

Vuvecic looks solid, as does Ayon... it's going to be rough... but we're just going to have to tank, and rebuild for a couple years... OKC model.

It wouldn't hurt if Harkless turned into a very good player though. ... and hopefully Afflalo can net us 14-16ppg like he did last season for Denver.

Oh and at least J-Rich and Duhon are gone. I hope Ish Smith returns. And I hope Glen Davis plays hard again next season like he did near the end of last season and the playoffs.

New chapter, let's go.

Well said Raj. I'm just as excited as you are. We are no longer catering to superstars anymore and will finally embrace team play and togetherness. I'm here in San Antonio so I see the Spurs on a regular basis and if we can even come close to emulating their success, our team will be in great shape.

We will finally be able to develop the PG position correctly and more importantly we have players here that are all about team and want to play in Orlando.

[MoMM]

And also got afflalo.

You are right.

1st deal: D12 + Duhon + Earl for Bynum + McBob + Eyenga + 1st + 2nd (Lakers)
2nd deal: Bynum + Jrich for Vucevic + Iguodala + Harkless + 1st (Sixers)
3rd deal: Iguodala for Afflalo + Al + 1st + 2nd (Nuggets)

Which was the worst and the best deals of these? For me, the 3rd one looks the best one and the worst is the Lakers one.

I edited it, because i remember we also got Al, well, now i can say, we lost on all of these trades.

[ADRajX]

I'm ready for Heart and Hustle 2.0

I'm also excited to see Harkless play for us, along with Nicholson, O'Quinn, Harper, and Liggins.

Vucevic looks solid, as does Ayon... it's going to be rough... but we're just going to have to tank, and rebuild for a couple years... OKC model.

It wouldn't hurt if Harkless turned into a very good player though. ... and hopefully Afflalo can net us 14-16ppg like he did last season for Denver.

Oh and at least J-Rich and Duhon are gone. I hope Ish Smith returns. And I hope Glen Davis plays hard again next season like he did near the end of last season and the playoffs.

New chapter, let's go.

Well said Raj. I'm just as excited as you are. We are no longer catering to superstars anymore and will finally embrace team play and togetherness. I'm here in San Antonio so I see the Spurs on a regular basis and if we can even come close to emulating their success, our team will be in great shape.

We will finally be able to develop the PG position correctly and more importantly we have players here that are all about team and want to play in Orlando.

Exactly... it's going to take time... but we just have to enjoy the ride... it's going to be bumpy... we'll have 19, 25, 30 something winning seasons... but we'll get better and build ourselves back up again ... just enjoy the ride... embrace the underdog role in the meantime... clear cap, get young and develop, that's all we can hope for.

[rcklsscognition]

So we have the 15th, 16th, and 22nd picks between Harkless/Vucevic/Nicholson.

Anyone see Vucevic's euroleague stats? 16.9/9.7/1/1. Not bad.

[IGotDaMagicInMe]

So we traded D12 + Duhon + Earl for Bynum +McBob + Eyenga + 1st + 2nd
And then Bynum + Jrich for Vucevic + Harkless + 2 1sts + 1 2nd, right?

And also got afflalo.

You are right.

1st deal: D12 + Duhon + Earl for Bynum + McBob + Eyenga + 1st + 2nd (Lakers)
2nd deal: Bynum + Jrich for Vucevic + Iguodala + Harkless + 1st (Sixers)
3rd deal: Iguodala for Afflalo + Al + 1st + 2nd (Nuggets)

Which was the worst and the best deals of these? For me, the 3rd one looks the best one and the worst is the Lakers one.

Without a doubt the lakers one is the worse one, but we all knew the lakers weren't going to give up equal value for dwight, unless they gave up pau who nobody here wanted. (sixers getting pau and us getting bynum wouldve been great but that wouldve been a pipe dream)

2nd one is the best one to me, because bynum is injury-prone, might leave anyway, and a little bit overrated and we got two young pieces in harkless and vucevic and got iggy

3rd one isn't bad, iggy is better than afflalo but not by too much, AAA isn't getting enough love on here

[Ahmadab]

Magic Johnson is taking the piss on Twitter

[rcklsscognition]

Eye on Basketball ‏@EyeOnBasketball

Magic will hold a press conference at 3:30 ET to discuss the deal. This should go well.

[rcklsscognition]

Henny-

“A primary goal for our basketball team is to achieve sustainability while maintaining a long-term vision. We feel this deal puts us in a position to begin building in that direction,” said Hennigan. “In addition to the six players joining our team, we will be in a position to maximize our salary cap flexibility in the near future, as well as utilize the multiple draft picks we have acquired going forward.”

“Dwight Howard accomplished tremendous success on and off the court during his eight years in Orlando,” said Hennigan. “We wish him, Chris (Duhon), Earl (Clark) and Jason (Richardson) all the best in the future.”

[magicfan4life88]

Has anyone posted the '14 free-agent list

Also does anyone see afflalo breaking out somewhat like tmac did with us? He can score and but can defend also

[Ahmadab]

Dan Savage ‏@Dan_Savage
I see this as just the beginning, far from the end. RT @wonderbonzi You see any further trades mate?

[rcklsscognition]

Has anyone posted the '14 free-agent list

Also does anyone see afflalo breaking out somewhat like tmac did with us? He can score and but can defend also

We will have room for two maximum contracts in 2014.

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant Dirk Nowitzki, Amar’e Stoudemire, Chris Bosh, Pau Gasol, Paul Pierce, Danny Granger, Luol Deng, Rudy Gay, Zach Randolph and Andrew Bogut can become free agents.