The Elfrid Payton/Aaron Gordon contract extension conundrum

[Bensational]

Looks like the AG/Isaac pairing will be a sore point for the season, on top of questions about Elf.

Here's how it's gonna play out - naysayers will point to any failure from any of the 3 as evidence that it can't work, and optimists are gonna have plenty of excuses to fall back on (AG is young, Isaac is a rookie, etc etc).

There isn't gonna be any resolution for the topic this season, so best prepare yourselves for it.

[j-ragg]

It's stupid to speak in absolutes either way, much like most things in life.

"They can't coexist" or "They can definitely play together" both mean the same thing. Nothing. No one knows yet.

I'm not against speculating, just those blanket statements are kind of silly. I am hopeful for an eventual 4/5 of AG/Isaac though.

[yoyojw17]

It's stupid to speak in absolutes either way, much like most things in life.

"They can't coexist" or "They can definitely play together" both mean the same thing. Nothing. No one knows yet.

I'm not against speculating, just those blanket statements are kind of silly. I am hopeful for an eventual 4/5 of AG/Isaac though.

Everything is either black or white.... no? lol

But for real though... i personally believe that Isaac is just a pile putty.... that can be molded into many roles and can be an fit/asset to any team in the league.... of course including ours.

[OrlandoNed]

Looks like the AG/Isaac pairing will be a sore point for the season, on top of questions about Elf.

Here's how it's gonna play out - naysayers will point to any failure from any of the 3 as evidence that it can't work, and optimists are gonna have plenty of excuses to fall back on (AG is young, Isaac is a rookie, etc etc).

There isn't gonna be any resolution for the topic this season, so best prepare yourselves for it.

There has to be some resolution this season. Two of these 3 players are up for new contracts really soon. One of Payton and Gordon has to improve drastically as a shooter because a team with 3 starters who shoot 30% or worse from 3 is not good enough to compete offensively in the modern NBA.

[Optimus_Steel]

Looks like the AG/Isaac pairing will be a sore point for the season, on top of questions about Elf.

Here's how it's gonna play out - naysayers will point to any failure from any of the 3 as evidence that it can't work, and optimists are gonna have plenty of excuses to fall back on (AG is young, Isaac is a rookie, etc etc).

There isn't gonna be any resolution for the topic this season, so best prepare yourselves for it.

There has to be some resolution this season. Two of these 3 players are up for new contracts really soon. One of Payton and Gordon has to improve drastically as a shooter because a team with 3 starters who shoot 30% or worse from 3 is not good enough to compete offensively in the modern NBA.

Which is why I'm in favor of trading Elf away before we give him an extension. I think we can get by with AG being a terrrible 3pt shooter but it hurts more that Elf is a terrible 3pt shooter, being that he is the primary ball handler and initiator of offense, it diminishes our potential scoring.

[OrlandoNed]

Looks like the AG/Isaac pairing will be a sore point for the season, on top of questions about Elf.

Here's how it's gonna play out - naysayers will point to any failure from any of the 3 as evidence that it can't work, and optimists are gonna have plenty of excuses to fall back on (AG is young, Isaac is a rookie, etc etc).

There isn't gonna be any resolution for the topic this season, so best prepare yourselves for it.

There has to be some resolution this season. Two of these 3 players are up for new contracts really soon. One of Payton and Gordon has to improve drastically as a shooter because a team with 3 starters who shoot 30% or worse from 3 is not good enough to compete offensively in the modern NBA.

Which is why I'm in favor of trading Elf away before we give him an extension. I think we can get by with AG being a terrrible 3pt shooter but it hurts more that Elf is a terrible 3pt shooter, being that he is the primary ball handler and initiator of offense, it diminishes our potential scoring.

At minimum, an offense needs three 3 point shooters at PG, SG and SF. A really good offense needs a PF who can shoot to go with the shooters at PG, SG and SF. Three point shooting at center is a luxury, but that isn't the necessary skill that a starting center should have. The skills that are a requirement for centers in today's NBA is defense and rebounding.

Even after this offseason, Orlando's shooting is still an issue. Our projected starting lineup has 3 terrible 3 point shooters, 1 average one and 1 above average one. That's about how it's been since Hennigan first started and we have all seen that it doesn't work.

This is why I was so adamant about replacing Payton with Dennis Smith in the draft instead of taking Isaac who most likely will be best at PF when we already have Gordon who we know is a PF. Instead of finally balancing out the shooting of our starting lineup, we have a 2nd tweener type with a shaky jumper that were high draft picks and still have a terrible shooter at PG. We would of been so much better off with Smith at PG, a glut of versatile wings at SG and SF, Gordon and a rookie that we could of had like Bell or Lydon at PF and an offense/defense center combo of Vucevic and Biyombo.

[Patrick1978]

Armchair gms

[Jiwol]

Armchair gms

Armchair scout