Official Speculation Thread I

[TDJacksonville]

Steve Kyler ‏@stevekylerNBA 12m
RT @airbed2121: afflalo for bledsoe gonna happen at all ? ---> Long dead. Highly unlikely. Clips say they want to keep Bledsoe

this translates to We havent found a deal that we like for Bledsoe

[D12VCMagic]

Ok guys assuming the the roster stays as is going into the season what is your lineups and who gets minutes?

Very little chance it stays the way it is, but if for some bizarre reason it does...

C-Vucevic/O'Quinn, with Nik getting 32-35 mpg

PF-Harris/Nicholson, Harris should be getting 32-35 mpg but he can also slide to SF when Harkless is on the bench so Nicholson could end up with more minutes. I'd give Davis the Al Harrington treatment until we dump him.

SF-Harkless/Harris/Afflalo, Moe gets 32-35 mpg while Harris and Afflalo could slide around to allow other guys like Nicholson and Oladipo get more minutes.

SG-Afflalo/Oladipo, Afflalo would likely start right away but we can slide him to SF or play Oladipo at PG to get Victor more minutes than just Afflalo's backup minutes.

PG-Nelson/Moore/Oladipo, I'm not sure how serious we are about Victor at PG but it can happen with the roster as is. Especially since you can count on Jameer missing games at some point in the season. I'm not a fan of Moore, but he'll still get minutes in this scenario.

There's no way Big Baby is out of the rotation (or starting lineup for that matter) if he is still on this roster. Harkless is obviously the odd man out since he is like our 7th or 8th best player.

The only way he will or should start is if he is better then one of Harris, Afflalo, Davis or even Oladipo. It's highly debatable if he is a better player then Nicholson if were going to be honest about it.

Harkless being the odd man out is absurd. He came on so strong at the end of last season and IMO has the most upside of anyone of the roster, including Oladipo. Having him ride the bench so tubby can jack up more dumb shots and steal minutes from our youngsters is a bad idea. He is another Otis mistake that we need to move to develop the young guys. If we can't find a taker, then he needs the Al Harrington treatment.

[Skin]

Arron Affalo's website/blog:

http://www.arronafflalo4.com/news/different-approach-offseason-training

A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO OFFSEASON TRAINING

I’m at the point in my career where you search for those things to provide the fuel that goes into being motivated as a basketball player or professional.

Watching an exciting Finals and exciting playoffs this year was just fuel for me. I really want to be a part of that. I want to experience a Finals atmosphere. I want to experience that joy of winning. I’ve always, in my mind, felt I was a winner. I was built to win, and I play the game to win moreso than anything else.

As I get into my offseason training, I'm focusing a lot on my overall strength and conditioning, particularly my power and explosiveness. I feel like, in trying to get better on the NBA level throughout my career, I've really pushed myself mentally in terms of trying to educate myself on the game and my perspective on the game to try and just improve who I am as a person and hopefully it translates well on the court.

Being 27 years old and entering the prime of my career, I feel I have to catch up athletically to what I can do on the court mentally. Right now it's all about my body. I'm working on improving the explosiveness in my legs, my overall strength of my upper body and then my conditioning. I feel like, if asked to, I should be able to play a 48-minute basketball game and not get tired. I'm shooting for that type of level of conditioning.

With the help of a trainer, I’ve begun a progressive 12-week camp to put me in the best position going into next season. I started on June 15th and I'll be going until September 15th, which will take me pretty much right up to training camp. The goal is to tone it up and by the end of it to kind of level off into the position I need to be to peak physically going into training camp for next season.

As part of this camp, I'm doing some cross sport training. I've implemented a lot of different elements when it comes to my overall core conditioning and building up my lungs: boxing, some swimming, a lot of aquatic stuff and basic sprints.

The underwater workouts take away my ability to breathe as I train, which hopefully builds up my lungs. I'm also doing a lot of sprint work, shorter distances with less rest to build up my lung capacity without so much rest. Some of my other cross training has to do with MMA and boxing a little bit.

there's more..

Thanks for sharing! This is another reason why I like to come here.

[RickB-Orlando]

You're kidding, right? Starting shooting guard that's a perfect third option and can play harassing defense at $7Mill permyear is right on the number or maybe even underpaid on that team.

You realize we were 6.7 points per 48 WORSE with him on the floor right?

I realize you ignored my comment, instead creating a straw man, blaming Afflalo for being in a situation that set him up for failure. He's not a number one scorer, yet he was expected to be most nights, and his defense suffered.

On a team like the Clips, where he doesn't have to bear the burden of the scoring load and can return to concentrating on defense and being a third option on plays, he's just right. It's a perfect situation for him.

[RickB-Orlando]

Probably BS, but thought i'd share

Amin Elhassan ‏@AminESPN
I love the information age. College buddy tweets me that Paul Millsap is on his flight to Orlando. They can create space to sign him by waiving either Turkoglu (50%guarantee on last year) or Harrington (50% guarantee on last two years)

Well, Elhassan is "legit" in that he's an actual ESPN journalist. The rest is obviously conjecture, assuming that his friend has correctly identified Millsap, that Millsap is on his way to Orlando for NBA (specifically Magic) related reasons.

Maybe he's coming down to take his kids to Disney. Thus the report would be technically accurate while still being inconsequential.

[thelead]

Meer/Lamb/Moore
AA/Oladipo
Harris/Harkless/Osby
BBD/Nicholson
Vuc/KOQ

PLEASE trade some vets.

I would really like Hark & Harris in the starting lineup together with Oladipo.

Meer/Moore
Oladipo/Lamb
Harkless/Osby
Harris/Nicholson
Vuc/KOQ

So we run Meer and Afflalo at the 1/2 and backup with Moore, Oladipo, and Harkless? Then run Harkless/Harris/Nicholson/Vucevic/Oquinn at the 3/4/5? Gonna be a long season.

I have a real problem with a #2 pick (that's a coming out as a junior, not a freshman) coming off the bench for a club that won 20 games last year. It just doesn't sit well with me.

We saw Harkless and Nicholson be brought along very slowly as rookies. Don't be surprised at all.

Sometimes rushing them too early will ruin them. Just trust JV. He's doing a great job developing so far.

I know, it just doesn't sound/feel right.

[sportsrock37]

What I would like:

PG: Jameer- 25-30 mins, Oladipo 10-15 mins, Moore/Lamb any extra
SG: Afflalo- 25-30 mins, Oladipo 15-20 mins, Harkless/Lamb any extra
SF: Harkless- 30-35 mins, Harris 10-15 mins, Afflalo any extra
PF: Harris- 20-25 mins, Nicholson 20-25 mins, Osby any extra
C: Vucevic: 30-35 mins, O'Quinn 10-15 mins

Jameer 25-30 mins(to hopefully he keep him a little more healthy this year, cut his mins some)
Oladipo: 25-30 mins
Afflalo: 25-30 mins
Harkless: 30-35 mins
Harris: 30-35 mins
NIcholson: 20-25 mins
Vucevic: 30-35 mins
KOQ: 10-15 mins

Since this is being viewed as a rebuilding year I'm hoping we will keep the minutes balanced for all of guys so that all of our young guys are able to develop. It also gives our young guys enough consistent minutes so they can show what they can do. Later on in the season I expect Afflalo and possibly Jameer's minutes to go down to give the best looking young players 35-40 mins to gain chemistry for next year and also to give guys like Lamb, Osby, and Moore more mins to see if they will be on the roster next year.

If BBD is still on the roster, he will take out most of Nicholson and O'Quinn's minutes. Maybe some of Harkless.

[Neon1]

Harkless being the odd man out is absurd. He came on so strong at the end of last season and IMO has the most upside of anyone of the roster, including Oladipo. Having him ride the bench so tubby can jack up more dumb shots and steal minutes from our youngsters is a bad idea. He is another Otis mistake that we need to move to develop the young guys. If we can't find a taker, then he needs the Al Harrington treatment.

Again. If Glen Davis is on this roster and healthy, which was the question posed, he will be in the lineup, AND starting.

Harkless has the most "upside". Again were using things that don't have actual value or proof to give reasons to why we should be starting players for no other reason then them actually proving they are worthy of that status.

Harkless "upside" was said to be "best case" Trevor Ariza and "worse case Devin EBanks" and what he produced was EXACTLY that, right in the middle of both. If you want "Proof" of that get back at me and ill prove it to you.

[KingRobb02]

You're kidding, right? Starting shooting guard that's a perfect third option and can play harassing defense at $7Mill permyear is right on the number or maybe even underpaid on that team.

You realize we were 6.7 points per 48 WORSE with him on the floor right?

I realize you ignored my comment, instead creating a straw man, blaming Afflalo for being in a situation that set him up for failure. He's not a number one scorer, yet he was expected to be most nights, and his defense suffered.

On a team like the Clips, where he doesn't have to bear the burden of the scoring load and can return to concentrating on defense and being a third option on plays, he's just right. It's a perfect situation for him.

Wasn't ignoring you, I just had to make a Publix run and get dinner cooked.

Basically, my opposition to that is that in his last year in Denver, Synergy had Afflalo rated as the worst wing defender in the league. Now we all know ow he isn't the worst, bit to be rated that poorly by the numbers suggest that he is far from a good defensive option.

Also, I don't think we set him up for failure. He and Baby, just took it upon themselves to force up shots. Had we taken the team approach on offense like a poor man's version of the post-Carmelo Nuggets, I think this team wins around 30 games.

I understand that those guys had aspirations of pitting the team on their back, or stepping up. I just think that Afflalo went about it the wrong way. After being in the league for this long, he should know his strengths and play the game the right way. His public pouting after JJ moved into the starting lineup kind if soured me on him as a team guy.

[sportsrock37]

Harkless being the odd man out is absurd. He came on so strong at the end of last season and IMO has the most upside of anyone of the roster, including Oladipo. Having him ride the bench so tubby can jack up more dumb shots and steal minutes from our youngsters is a bad idea. He is another Otis mistake that we need to move to develop the young guys. If we can't find a taker, then he needs the Al Harrington treatment.

Again. If Glen Davis is on this roster and healthy, which was the question posed, he will be in the lineup, AND starting.

Harkless has the most "upside". Again were using things that don't have actual value or proof to give reasons to why we should be starting players for no other reason then them actually proving they are worthy of that status.

Harkless "upside" was said to be "best case" Trevor Ariza and "worse case Devin EBanks" and what he produced was EXACTLY that, right in the middle of both. If you want "Proof" of that get back at me and ill prove it to you.

Why are you down on Harkless? He improved his shot big time throughout the season and was a lot more aggressive at the end of the year offensively. Sure he wasn't consistent but he's only 20 years old and hasn't had a full offseason or training camp yet. Why are you so positive to write him off? I agree with the previous poster that he has some of the highest upside on the team. I would rate him at worst in Harris, Vucevic, and Oladipo's level for upside and probably 2 or 3 on that list. He seems like he works hard has all the physical tools to be in the NBA for a long time.

[TNMagicFan]

Maybe we give Milsap one of those funky deals ... max money for 1 yr . Doesn't make sense for us at this point unless Henny is done stock piling youth

Sent from my Laptop using my Keyboard

[G-Heel]

Harkless being the odd man out is absurd. He came on so strong at the end of last season and IMO has the most upside of anyone of the roster, including Oladipo. Having him ride the bench so tubby can jack up more dumb shots and steal minutes from our youngsters is a bad idea. He is another Otis mistake that we need to move to develop the young guys. If we can't find a taker, then he needs the Al Harrington treatment.

Again. If Glen Davis is on this roster and healthy, which was the question posed, he will be in the lineup, AND starting.

Harkless has the most "upside". Again were using things that don't have actual value or proof to give reasons to why we should be starting players for no other reason then them actually proving they are worthy of that status.

Harkless "upside" was said to be "best case" Trevor Ariza and "worse case Devin EBanks" and what he produced was EXACTLY that, right in the middle of both. If you want "Proof" of that get back at me and ill prove it to you.

He's already close to Ariza's level and it's only his rookie season. You're seriously underrating him in all your posts. In time, he'll prove to be very important because of his ability to play defense.

All in all, I'm not very high on anyone we have except Dipo. But Harkless can certainly be a very valuable member of a contending team.

[woosah]

Milsap is just going to Disney.

The magic sure are low key with stuff if they have a meeting with him.

[NEM]

I just did the math and according to my numbers we should have 9.5 million in cap space as long as we cut hedo and al, and renounce beno and dqj... I'd split that between wright and collison and see how they do this coming season... That is unless we are playing dipo at pg in which case is just make a run at wright. He'd be good next to vooch as he is more of a defensive presence. We would have to move baby in this case but I'm for that anyways

[D12VCMagic]

Harkless being the odd man out is absurd. He came on so strong at the end of last season and IMO has the most upside of anyone of the roster, including Oladipo. Having him ride the bench so tubby can jack up more dumb shots and steal minutes from our youngsters is a bad idea. He is another Otis mistake that we need to move to develop the young guys. If we can't find a taker, then he needs the Al Harrington treatment.

Again. If Glen Davis is on this roster and healthy, which was the question posed, he will be in the lineup, AND starting.

Harkless has the most "upside". Again were using things that don't have actual value or proof to give reasons to why we should be starting players for no other reason then them actually proving they are worthy of that status.

Harkless "upside" was said to be "best case" Trevor Ariza and "worse case Devin EBanks" and what he produced was EXACTLY that, right in the middle of both. If you want "Proof" of that get back at me and ill prove it to you.

Who says Ariza is best case for Harkless? Many legit basketball minds think he could end up being a Iggy or Paul George kind of player too. He has an ideal NBA body with great athleticism and so much room to improve. Having him rot on the bench for a fat inefficient black hole four-man is insane. It won't happen anyways since Henny and Vaughn are both huge fans of Harkless and thankfully are intelligent enough to know we're developing youth and not wasting time for overpaid Otis leftover poo.

Also, using the stats of a 19 year old rookie as proof of anything is also absurd. Especially considering Harkless' averages for the year where dragged down by his lack of playing time early in the season because of his injury and lack of confidence at the time. At the end of the season, he was flashing big time ability, and he wasn't even 20 yet. He is pretty much locked into the starting SF role and may even see some SG time if Afflalo is traded. Especially since Jacque seemed to view Harris as a PF last year.

[MellowRose]

Moe Harkless vs. Jimmy Butler - I think these players have a tremendous amount in common in terms of playing style, and I'm expecting Harkless to make a big jump this upcoming season just as Butler did.

I'm looking at the advanced stats section, fyi.

Harkless - http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... lma01.html

Butler - http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... eji01.html

Butler has a better 3 point shooting percentage, but that's where I'm projecting Harkless will have better numbers at this upcoming season.

[rcklsscognition]

Players generally never become significantly better than they were in their 1st NBA season. With Harkless, we actually have a lot of stats of him playing big minutes. He projects to be a 12PPG, 6RPG, 2 AST, 1.5STL, 1 BLK player. If he makes a leap on his 3pt % like a Deng, he could be a 14-15PPG. At best you're getting Igoudala, maybe Ariza.

If he doesn't show sustained improvement in his shooting percentages next season, I'd trade him, despite him being my favorite Magician behind Jameer. Odds are he never gets over 12PPG, but if he's going to break out, we'll see it in his percentages in the first few months.

And before anyone gets Paul George reference in, he bumped his 3point percentage up 2nd year and everything else pretty much went up in proportion to minutes played.

[MellowRose]

Harkless being the odd man out is absurd. He came on so strong at the end of last season and IMO has the most upside of anyone of the roster, including Oladipo. Having him ride the bench so tubby can jack up more dumb shots and steal minutes from our youngsters is a bad idea. He is another Otis mistake that we need to move to develop the young guys. If we can't find a taker, then he needs the Al Harrington treatment.

Again. If Glen Davis is on this roster and healthy, which was the question posed, he will be in the lineup, AND starting.

Harkless has the most "upside". Again were using things that don't have actual value or proof to give reasons to why we should be starting players for no other reason then them actually proving they are worthy of that status.

Harkless "upside" was said to be "best case" Trevor Ariza and "worse case Devin EBanks" and what he produced was EXACTLY that, right in the middle of both. If you want "Proof" of that get back at me and ill prove it to you.

He's already close to Ariza's level and it's only his rookie season. You're seriously underrating him in all your posts. In time, he'll prove to be very important because of his ability to play defense.

All in all, I'm not very high on anyone we have except Dipo. But Harkless can certainly be a very valuable member of a contending team.

Why aren't you high on Tobias?

[NEM]

Harkless being the odd man out is absurd. He came on so strong at the end of last season and IMO has the most upside of anyone of the roster, including Oladipo. Having him ride the bench so tubby can jack up more dumb shots and steal minutes from our youngsters is a bad idea. He is another Otis mistake that we need to move to develop the young guys. If we can't find a taker, then he needs the Al Harrington treatment.

Again. If Glen Davis is on this roster and healthy, which was the question posed, he will be in the lineup, AND starting.

Harkless has the most "upside". Again were using things that don't have actual value or proof to give reasons to why we should be starting players for no other reason then them actually proving they are worthy of that status.

Harkless "upside" was said to be "best case" Trevor Ariza and "worse case Devin EBanks" and what he produced was EXACTLY that, right in the middle of both. If you want "Proof" of that get back at me and ill prove it to you.

He's already close to Ariza's level and it's only his rookie season. You're seriously underrating him in all your posts. In time, he'll prove to be very important because of his ability to play defense.

All in all, I'm not very high on anyone we have except Dipo. But Harkless can certainly be a very valuable member of a contending team.

Let me get this straight, you're only high on dipo and moe but not Harris or vooch??? So you're higher on two guys who have proven nothing than on two guys who have proven to be either scorers (harris), rebounders (vooch), or both (harris)... All at the same age as the two you're "high" on...

Harkless is not yet at arizas level... He is barely above ebanks, check the numbers. I also remember this board touting ariza as the next tmac and almost committing mass homicide when we traded him. Ariza was doing the same things moe is doing now when he was here and he is actually a better defender and ball handler.

Y'all are going to be disappointed in moe because you're putting unfair expectations on him, while neon1 and I will be just fine with his 12 and 6 in 34 minutes in his prime at a decent price (20 million/4 years)

[rcklsscognition]

Moe Harkless vs. Jimmy Butler - I think these players have a tremendous amount in common in terms of playing style, and I'm expecting Harkless to make a big jump this upcoming season just as Butler did.

I'm looking at the advanced stats section, fyi.

Harkless - http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... lma01.html

Butler - http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... eji01.html

Butler has a better 3 point shooting percentage, but that's where I'm projecting Harkless will have better numbers at this upcoming season.

Butler shot 49%, 35%, and 78% in college and just didn't shoot the 3 in his 1st year. He shot 47%, 38%, 80% in year 2 Otherwise, he's made no improvements really. He just went from playing 8 minutes a game to playing 26. If you project the numbers out to 36 MPG, he's a 12PPG/5RPG/2APG/1SPG guy.