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

[drsd]

Not until Elf makes teams respect his jumper. The defense will go under screens all day and stick to the roller, leaving Elf wide open.

Last year Payton had one of the better assists-leading-to-dunk stats of all PGs (i.e. alley oops passes). It is reasonable to assume that the Magic will gain a great deal of points from dunks, given how the roster is built.


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[drsd]

I really hope Payton Wins Games for all Magic fans.

That looks nice !



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[drsd]

I still think Skiles got the boot.

As a concept, yes. But he left 10M dollars on the table. Who does that?


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[fendilim]

I still think Skiles got the boot.

As a concept, yes. But he left 10M dollars on the table. Who does that?


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Didn't he receive some sort of severance?

[MagicStarwipe]

It's crazy how some other teams get tons of footage from training camp and we get basically nada every year.

[damon3825]

Bianchi strikes: "Magic players already like Frank Vogel better than Scott Skiles"

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-magic-scott-skiles-mike-bianchi-0929-20160928-column.html

I would pay good money to get a full story on what went down with Skiles and the team behind closed doors from January to his resignation.

Hearing from people in the know that the insistance of keeping Payton as the starter now and for the future had ALOT to do with Skiles decision to resign as he saw that as a sign of things to come in terms of his say within the organization.

[MagicStarwipe]

Bianchi strikes: "Magic players already like Frank Vogel better than Scott Skiles"

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-magic-scott-skiles-mike-bianchi-0929-20160928-column.html

I would pay good money to get a full story on what went down with Skiles and the team behind closed doors from January to his resignation.

Hearing from people in the know that the insistance of keeping Payton as the starter now and for the future had ALOT to do with Skiles decision to resign as he saw that as a sign of things to come in terms of his say within the organization.

Skiles with Elfrid all last season...

Watch on YouTube

[tiderulz]

Bianchi strikes: "Magic players already like Frank Vogel better than Scott Skiles"

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-magic-scott-skiles-mike-bianchi-0929-20160928-column.html

I would pay good money to get a full story on what went down with Skiles and the team behind closed doors from January to his resignation.

not a big surprise. Its been his track record at practically every place he has coached

[j-ragg]

It's crazy how some other teams get tons of footage from training camp and we get basically nada every year.

I have a dream.

In that dream. We WILL get televised preseason coverage! We WILL get training camp coverage and by golly we WILL get a nationally televised game!!

#Ragg2016

[Gomagic44]

One day I'd love to know what really happened with Skiles. Between the hiring, the Tobias trade, and him "quitting". Wonder if there was some kinda playoff agreement after the trade.

Oh well he sucks. Hope some of his followers followed him on the way out the way they defended him on here for every little move.

Yeah!! Haha! Wtf were we thinking being loyal to our coach and wanting to be optimistic with our franchise! Where was our hindsight? The madness!


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[EasternMagic]

Better question, is why are we still even talking about Skiles...?

[Optimus_Steel]

Ummm we have a preseason game Monday!!!!!

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[j-ragg]

One day I'd love to know what really happened with Skiles. Between the hiring, the Tobias trade, and him "quitting". Wonder if there was some kinda playoff agreement after the trade.

Oh well he sucks. Hope some of his followers followed him on the way out the way they defended him on here for every little move.

Yeah!! Haha! Wtf were we thinking being loyal to our coach and wanting to be optimistic with our franchise! Where was our hindsight? The madness!


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Haha amazing how us fortune tellers were able to see the guy is an ass hole. Players could see. Rob could see. All of his baby mothers I'm sure can see.

But hey. Keep being loyal!

[darthcheech2000]

Ummm we have a preseason game Monday!!!!!

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Damn right!

[j-ragg]

Ummm we have a preseason game Monday!!!!!

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Wish we were at full strength

But nonetheless I'm pumped! Hoping for a Jumbotron feed.

[AddiFB]

We have a preseason ahead of us and Scott Skiles has to figure out how to season his fish. I prefer talking about the preseason.

[PennytoShaq]

I will say this - Skiles had a lot of say in the drafting of Mario. I also am not sure Hennigan was 100% on board with this. The reason for the second opinion is because when I talked to Rob about Mario he was very lukewarm (before his first season) and basically said "we shall see" when I talked to him. I personally expected more excitement, but Rob is a legit dude and if you ever talk to him you will know what I mean. Very respectful to people and straightforward.

This is not to say that Rob did not have scouts all over Mario or that Rob does not want him here or believe in him. I think he was crushed that he couldn't get Porzingis last draft and Wiggins or Parker the draft before. I also think he resented Skiles coming in as a noob and having so much immediate input. He probably took it personally when Skiles started telling him negative stuff about Payton, a guy that he had to make big moves to draft. Add that to Skiles having a meltdown in Jan, and I can see how frustrating it would be to have a guy who almost quit on the team come in after the season and start making personnel demands.

It's all really on Alex Martins, who needs to butt out moving forward.

I do believe that Mario will be one of our best players in a year or two, but there may have been a guy out there that Rob wanted even more. We will never know.

[thelead]

I still think Skiles got the boot.

As a concept, yes. But he left 10M dollars on the table. Who does that?


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Didn't he receive some sort of severance?

He did, which means he didn't 'quit'. Both side weren't happy and Skiles got money to go away quietly.

[PrimeThyme]

Ummm we have a preseason game Monday!!!!!

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Basketball season has finally come!!! This is going to be an exciting year

[Def Swami]

I will say this - Skiles had a lot of say in the drafting of Mario. I also am not sure Hennigan was 100% on board with this. The reason for the second opinion is because when I talked to Rob about Mario he was very lukewarm (before his first season) and basically said "we shall see" when I talked to him. I personally expected more excitement, but Rob is a legit dude and if you ever talk to him you will know what I mean. Very respectful to people and straightforward.

This is not to say that Rob did not have scouts all over Mario or that Rob does not want him here or believe in him. I think he was crushed that he couldn't get Porzingis last draft and Wiggins or Parker the draft before. I also think he resented Skiles coming in as a noob and having so much immediate input. He probably took it personally when Skiles started telling him negative stuff about Payton, a guy that he had to make big moves to draft. Add that to Skiles having a meltdown in Jan, and I can see how frustrating it would be to have a guy who almost quit on the team come in after the season and start making personnel demands.

It's all really on Alex Martins, who needs to butt out moving forward.

I do believe that Mario will be one of our best players in a year or two, but there may have been a guy out there that Rob wanted even more. We will never know.

I initially held a similar conspiracy theory for the past year as well. I thought they'd go Myles Turner after missing on another big man who could block shots and shoot.

I recall Brian Schmitz tweeting and writing a few days before the draft that Skiles was a huge Hezonja fan. So when we drafted Hezonja, despite positional overlap and need for front court depth, I found the pick sort of dubious.

At the same time, Jonathon Givony of DraftExpress, who is pretty close with Rob Hennigan, always had Hezonja pegged at #3 on his own personal draft board. That gave some credence to Hezonja's draft stock.

Also, a friend of mine, also a sedentary poster here, talked with a pretty high-ranking front office member who was really high on Hezonja. So

Personally, I still really like Hezonja's skillset and demeanor. I'm excited to see what a coach that builds him up can do for him. I anticipate he will force Vogel to play him next to Fournier and Gordon this year.