2016 Official Speculation Thread: Episode V - The Preseason Strikes Back

[Orlwillbeback]

Everyone here seems to agree that Vucevic is likely to be moved, but imo we cannot afford to unless we get a talent upgrade in return. The Magic are not in a position to give up one of our better players for inferior talent/future assets at this time.

I personally don't believe it would result in an addition by subtraction scenario like every team that traded Rudy Gay but I'm open to hearing a good argument in that vain.

[Nyce_1]

No doubt Ibaka will want to get paid. I'd much rather pay a rim protecting, floor stretching, defensive first team unicorn than a SG who can't shoot. Rob agrees.

But that's that thing. If we're judging based on recent history, we are counting on a declining asset. He hasn't made an all defensive team since Roy Hilbert was relevant and he isn't that great of a shooter. If he plays as bad as he played last year he will still demand the max. Is everyone comfortable with henny paying just to save face?

Rather sign a star for max than ibaka.

Luckily, we can do both.

[TDJacksonville]

But that's that thing. If we're judging based on recent history, we are counting on a declining asset. He hasn't made an all defensive team since Roy Hilbert was relevant and he isn't that great of a shooter. If he plays as bad as he played last year he will still demand the max. Is everyone comfortable with henny paying just to save face?

Rather sign a star for max than ibaka.

Luckily, we can do both.

If u could only get 1 max guy who u go with ibaka or a star.

[King Close]

Rather sign a star for max than ibaka.

Luckily, we can do both.

If u could only get 1 max guy who u go with ibaka or a star.

Depends on the star. If Vuc, and Biz fall off a cliff and Serge becomes the man again - then 9 times out of 10 resign Serge because he's a major priority if that happens, which is not likely ofcourse.

If it's a player on the tier of PG, Butler then I chose them all day every day and let Serge walk - we got spare rim protection ala Matumbo Jr.

[OrlandoDream]

I spoke yesterday with one of the magic columnists and he said that the mindset of RH and Vogel going forward is on AG and Mario. Nothing breaking but its good to see that the FO is on the same page as the fans. He said that the hope is that AG and Mario become our star duo for years to come and everybody else is just a complementary piece. The FO loves payton and still believes he can be our future PG but the centerpieces and the hopes of this franchise getting back and staying in the Playoffs in on Aaron Gordon and Mario Hezonja. A lot of pressure on these guys.

Going to be an exciting season to see how they respond!

[RickB-Orlando]

Everyone here seems to agree that Vucevic is likely to be moved, but imo we cannot afford to unless we get a talent upgrade in return. The Magic are not in a position to give up one of our better players for inferior talent/future assets at this time.

I don't agree with your premise. I know for a fact that not everyone agrees with it.

[premo321]

Everyone here seems to agree that Vucevic is likely to be moved, but imo we cannot afford to unless we get a talent upgrade in return. The Magic are not in a position to give up one of our better players for inferior talent/future assets at this time.

I don't agree with your premise. I know for a fact that not everyone agrees with it.

Agree, think we need to see him one year with above average coach and we will know what he really is, its worst possible time to trade big in this center saturated market, ZERO chance magic get starting caliber wing for him, and they have enough rotation/bench guys atm

[BadMofoPimp]

Just got back from vacation where I spent my time on boats and didn't use internet for a week. Thus, I am not sure if anyone saw this. Even Vogel thought of AG as mainly a Power Forward until he got Ibaka.

"If Serge Ibaka weren't here, Aaron Gordon would be my power forward," Vogel said. "But Serge is here. Aaron is going to be playing [small forward]. We are going to put the ball in his hands a lot. We're going to use him like Paul George."

[BadMofoPimp]

I am glad Harkless proved Henny wrong with his solid contract. Henny gave him away for nothing while Harkless proved he will have a solid future as a NBA rotation player.

[thelead]

I spoke yesterday with one of the magic columnists and he said that the mindset of RH and Vogel going forward is on AG and Mario. Nothing breaking but its good to see that the FO is on the same page as the fans. He said that the hope is that AG and Mario become our star duo for years to come and everybody else is just a complementary piece. The FO loves payton and still believes he can be our future PG but the centerpieces and the hopes of this franchise getting back and staying in the Playoffs in on Aaron Gordon and Mario Hezonja. A lot of pressure on these guys.

Going to be an exciting season to see how they respond!

Yup. This was evident the moment they traded Dipo.

[tiderulz]

I am glad Harkless proved Henny wrong with his solid contract. Henny gave him away for nothing while Harkless proved he will have a solid future as a NBA rotation player.

solid contract doesnt mean anyone is wrong. Did Jeff Green's solid contract prove anyone wrong?

Did Mozgov's contract prove Cleveland wrong? Evan Turners solid contract prove Ainge wrong?

[Jiwol]

I am glad Harkless proved Henny wrong with his solid contract. Henny gave him away for nothing while Harkless proved he will have a solid future as a NBA rotation player.

solid contract doesnt mean anyone is wrong. Did Jeff Green's solid contract prove anyone wrong?

Did Mozgov's contract prove Cleveland wrong? Evan Turners solid contract prove Ainge wrong?

Exactly. Trail Blazer bid against themselves. Unless they envision Mo as some kind of small ball era PF, that contract doesn't make sense. They just paid absurd amounts of moneyz to Crabbe and Turner too - both SF's. Big mistake on their behalf. I'd cringe if it were the Magic who pay Harkless 10 mil per year.

[OrlandoNed]

I am glad Harkless proved Henny wrong with his solid contract. Henny gave him away for nothing while Harkless proved he will have a solid future as a NBA rotation player.

solid contract doesnt mean anyone is wrong. Did Jeff Green's solid contract prove anyone wrong?

Did Mozgov's contract prove Cleveland wrong? Evan Turners solid contract prove Ainge wrong?

All Harkless proved is that almost any scrub can fool some GM somewhere into paying him 10 million per year with a brief moment of competence in the playoffs where said player had little influence on their team being there.

[OrlandoNed]

I am glad Harkless proved Henny wrong with his solid contract. Henny gave him away for nothing while Harkless proved he will have a solid future as a NBA rotation player.

solid contract doesnt mean anyone is wrong. Did Jeff Green's solid contract prove anyone wrong?

Did Mozgov's contract prove Cleveland wrong? Evan Turners solid contract prove Ainge wrong?

Exactly. Trail Blazer bid against themselves. Unless they envision Mo as some kind of small ball era PF, that contract doesn't make sense. They just paid absurd amounts of moneyz to Crabbe and Turner too - both SF's. Big mistake on their behalf. I'd cringe if it were the Magic who pay Harkless 10 mil per year.

Even if they did envision Harkless as a small-ball PF they still have Aminu who is a much better and more proven player on a similar contract doing the exact same thing but is currently excelling at. So why bother paying him that much, especially while signing Crabbe and Turner to sizeable deals as well?

[in-limbo]

I'm asking a question here; can we sign and trade Ibaka if he was looking to move? Can we sign him above the cap? I seriously don't know much about the cap stuff. If he does jet wouldn't it be nice to still have Vuc.? Obviously you move him if you get a good offer but is there some particular hurry?

[Blue_and_Whte]

solid contract doesnt mean anyone is wrong. Did Jeff Green's solid contract prove anyone wrong?

Did Mozgov's contract prove Cleveland wrong? Evan Turners solid contract prove Ainge wrong?

Exactly. Trail Blazer bid against themselves. Unless they envision Mo as some kind of small ball era PF, that contract doesn't make sense. They just paid absurd amounts of moneyz to Crabbe and Turner too - both SF's. Big mistake on their behalf. I'd cringe if it were the Magic who pay Harkless 10 mil per year.

Even if they did envision Harkless as a small-ball PF they still have Aminu who is a much better and more proven player on a similar contract doing the exact same thing but is currently excelling at. So why bother paying him that much, especially while signing Crabbe and Turner to sizeable deals as well?

Because you all are wrong about Hark and NBA front offices know more about talent than we do?

I'm asking a question here; can we sign and trade Ibaka if he was looking to move? Can we sign him above the cap? I seriously don't know much about the cap stuff. If he does jet wouldn't it be nice to still have Vuc.? Obviously you move him if you get a good offer but is there some particular hurry?

Considering the money being thrown around, the fact that we wont be contenders (imo), and that there will exist teams that have a better chance at contending with money, I have my doubts about our ability to retain Ibaka. This was a high risk high reward move by Hennigan that I think he felt he needed to take so it wouldn't seem like we we're just sitting still. I think we've improved our post defense (understatement) however I don't think we've improved that much overall. We just shifted the talent due to the logjam at SG/SF.

[Jiwol]

Exactly. Trail Blazer bid against themselves. Unless they envision Mo as some kind of small ball era PF, that contract doesn't make sense. They just paid absurd amounts of moneyz to Crabbe and Turner too - both SF's. Big mistake on their behalf. I'd cringe if it were the Magic who pay Harkless 10 mil per year.

Even if they did envision Harkless as a small-ball PF they still have Aminu who is a much better and more proven player on a similar contract doing the exact same thing but is currently excelling at. So why bother paying him that much, especially while signing Crabbe and Turner to sizeable deals as well?

Because you all are wrong about Hark and NBA front offices know more about talent than we do?

#JeromeJames

[Blue_and_Whte]

Even if they did envision Harkless as a small-ball PF they still have Aminu who is a much better and more proven player on a similar contract doing the exact same thing but is currently excelling at. So why bother paying him that much, especially while signing Crabbe and Turner to sizeable deals as well?

Because you all are wrong about Hark and NBA front offices know more about talent than we do?

#JeromeJames

#NicolaVucevic I understand that there are exceptions to the norm, but generally speaking they know more than we do. So its likely they see talent and value in Harkless that we don't, especially a bias fan base who want so bad to not have given yet another young player away for nothing.

[OrlandoNed]

Exactly. Trail Blazer bid against themselves. Unless they envision Mo as some kind of small ball era PF, that contract doesn't make sense. They just paid absurd amounts of moneyz to Crabbe and Turner too - both SF's. Big mistake on their behalf. I'd cringe if it were the Magic who pay Harkless 10 mil per year.

Even if they did envision Harkless as a small-ball PF they still have Aminu who is a much better and more proven player on a similar contract doing the exact same thing but is currently excelling at. So why bother paying him that much, especially while signing Crabbe and Turner to sizeable deals as well?

Because you all are wrong about Hark and NBA front offices know more about talent than we do?

Going by that logic GMs are above criticism and fans have never correctly predicted a GM's decision to end poorly. We've seen Harkless for 4 years, 3 with us, and he's still not a good basketball player.

[Jiwol]

Because you all are wrong about Hark and NBA front offices know more about talent than we do?

#JeromeJames

#NicolaVucevic I understand that there are exceptions to the norm, but generally speaking they know more than we do. So its likely they see talent and value in Harkless that we don't, especially a bias fan base who want so bad to not have given yet another young player away for nothing.

Of course they do. But this move is highly questionable. I honestly think Blazers will regret it. Portland's offseason signings have potential to go down in history as one of the worst in recent years. They will pay 226 million for 4 years of Crabbe, Turner, Leonard and Harkless. It's 56 mil per season for those 4 guys!!! I don't think their FO knows what they are doing, really.