So... what's the solution?

[Bensational]

We're pretty far into the season now, with a rapidly closing window on having any hope of making the playoffs. We've had plenty of time to evaluate all sorts of lineups with the injuries.

So where do we go from here?

I know a lot of people want to see a new PG. Some want to see a new C. Some want to see a new SG.

Do we try and get competitive, or do we reinvest in youth again? What are WeHam likely to want to do?

[MagicMadness]

Mario Hezonja

[Nemesis21]

Tank this mofo! I want one of Doncic, Ayton, Porter Jr, Bagley, Sexton, Young.

[Skin]

Trade for Eric Bledsoe.

[Xatticus]

I'd hope that our new front office has at least figured out that we aren't a few tweaks from being competitive. We have won 3 of our last 19 games. No combination of injuries or scheduling quirks can explain how ineffective this group of players has been over the last few years.

I'm not going to advocate for tanking, but the status quo is just about the only thing that shouldn't be under consideration at this point.

[VFX]

Blow it up and properly tank.

Minor tweaks will not address the problems of this current roster.

This organization needs a change of scenery, badly. If WeHam can make smart moves, to separate this roster from the familiar faces of the last 5 Years, the better off this franchise will be.

[PennytoShaq]

Play the young guys, trade the high value vets for draft picks, a young SF with scoring potential and a vet PG like George Hill.

Just keep feeding minutes to Isaac, AG, Iwundu, Mario. Get Birch in there. Let Artes play more.

[thelead]

Get rid of Alex Martins

[bargnanimvp]

Blow it up and fire Martins.

Trade Vuc to split up the Fournier and Vuc pairing. Trade Fournier only if there's some value and demand.

In my opinion avoid going for guys like Hill because they won't change anything here.

[Patrick1978]

Play the young guys, trade the high value vets for draft picks, a young SF with scoring potential and a vet PG like George Hill.

Just keep feeding minutes to Isaac, AG, Iwundu, Mario. Get Birch in there. Let Artes play more.

A young scoring sf?who?

[MagicStarwipe]

Clearly we should stand pat, wait for everyone to get healthy and win some meaningless games towards the end of the year on our way to the 10th pick in the draft. Rinse and repeat next season.

Truthfully, I'd trade almost everyone on the team. Isaac is probably the only one WeltHam wouldn't part with. I want Fournier and Vuc gone the most, but I wouldn't feel too bad about any of them being traded. This is just a bad situation that nobody can seem to thrive in. Hit the reset button, change our jersey's, logo, commentary team and hope for the best.

[PrimeThyme]

Start a lineup of Elf-Mario-Isaac-AG-Birch the rest of the year and tank the season away. Find suitors for Vuc, Evan, Augustin, and Biyombo and try to get some draft picks and young prospects out of the deals. The fan base and this new regime deserve a chance at a reset and proper rebuild. We've got some pieces but need more. Tank as hard as you can this year to try and get in the top 4. Next years draft is even deeper and filled with superstar talent. Two years of tanking, a new young coaching staff, a rebrand, and we can have something special going.

[FFBlitzace]

With us now being on track for a high pick, I don't think there's a rush to do anything major that might make us better right now. But if we start next season with Vuc and Evan being our go-to players, I will rage. I don't really have a solution. I expect changes but there's no way to know what those changes will be. We need better fit, better competitiveness, better attitude, and more overall talent. So, ya know, not asking for much. Only everything.

As for specifics for this year's deadline, here are some of my opinions on individual players and predictions for their fate.

Gordon: Not untouchable but our best young piece so I wouldn't be actively looking to move him. I expect him to stay.

Isaac: These guys drafted him so I'd be shocked if he was moved.

Payton: If there's a market for him and you can get a decent return (no bad contracts, not a mediocre veteran as the centerpiece, etc) then sure. Otherwise there's a decent chance you might be able to retain him in restricted free agency for a bargain amount, since the league might not want a PG in his mold, much like the majority of Magic fans. If we can acquire a good PG prospect, having EP around for a good deal isn't the worst idea. If the PG prospect pans out, EP might be the first good backup PG we've had in a long time. Jason Williams wasn't bad. People always say Rafer, but he came off our bench for what, 6 games? His first game I think (and didn't he have a uniform with no number on it?), and then the 5 games in the Finals. He does not count as having been a backup PG for us. But anyway. EP is a player who also might play out the 5th year on a qualifying offer. I would lean towards not expecting him to be here next year, but it's hard to say.

Fournier: Shop hard. But trade for long term, don't just tread water by trading for an equal player that won't move the needle. I expect him to not be here next year. I identify him as being part of the culture problem. I think he does have toughness, he does have competitiveness, and he does want to win. But he wants to be the one doing it. I don't think he's satisfied when the Magic win a tough game with somebody else scoring a lot.

Vuc: Shop hard. Same thing. I expect him to not be here next year. I also think he's part of the culture problem, but in a different way. I don't think he's a me-first guy with the same kind of attitude as Evan. I just think he's soft as ****.

Biyombo: Shop hard. I would expect there are teams willing to have him on their bench, but you're not going to be "winning" any of those trades in all likelihood. I don't think it's impossible to see him get traded, I just don't expect it to be anything that wows us. I expect him to still be here next year.

Ross: Probably one of our most easily traded guys. Reasonable salary and a team-first guy that could fit anywhere as a shooter. But because of his character, that might make him a guy that we intend to keep for that very reason.

Simmons: I'm sure a lot of teams would like to trade for him now at his salary. But again, we'd probably just want to keep him for that reason.

Augustin: Who knows, every commentator in the league thinks this guy is gold, so maybe somebody will think he'd be an upgrade for their bench. Obviously you shop him hard. He's a guy I don't expect to be with us next year, whether he gets traded at the deadline or not.

Mario: We might be getting close to taking him off life support, which is a surprise. There's very little precedent for lottery picks getting their options declined (for good reason; even if they seem to suck, you really owe it to yourself to hope they pan out), so just because we've never seen a guy like that get his 4th year declined and then still sign with that same team doesn't mean it can't or won't happen. We need talent, so if he keeps playing well, why not try to bring him back if the price is right? But as of now, he's still almost certainly gone, one way or another.

I don't think there are any other players that matter. Just throwaway veterans or guys with no value.

[Audi]

Rev up the tank and trade some pieces for picks/young prospects and do this tanking thing right already. Accept that anything resembling a ECF or Finals showing like we've experienced in years past is simply unobtainable for the next couple years and instead invest heavily in the youth that may someday bring us there.

[bargnanimvp]

Play the young guys, trade the high value vets for draft picks, a young SF with scoring potential and a vet PG like George Hill.

Just keep feeding minutes to Isaac, AG, Iwundu, Mario. Get Birch in there. Let Artes play more.

A young scoring sf?who?

middleton

[JF5]

Start completely over with Issac ... There isn't really much to salvage with this roster.

[JF5]

Play the young guys, trade the high value vets for draft picks, a young SF with scoring potential and a vet PG like George Hill.

Just keep feeding minutes to Isaac, AG, Iwundu, Mario. Get Birch in there. Let Artes play more.

A young scoring sf?who?

middleton

? Middleton is 26 years old, and he's pretty much untouchable unless he's traded for a star...

[ralphie9898]

We're pretty far into the season now, with a rapidly closing window on having any hope of making the playoffs. We've had plenty of time to evaluate all sorts of lineups with the injuries.

So where do we go from here?

I know a lot of people want to see a new PG. Some want to see a new C. Some want to see a new SG.

Do we try and get competitive, or do we reinvest in youth again? What are WeHam likely to want to do?

Well first off we still need better players. But for in house fixes the best I can think of is to sit Payton. We Did well at the start of the year without him but when he came back we took a bad downward spiral. I am not blaming it all on Payto. Also I am not sure that we would start winning again like we did in the first couple weeks even if we sat Payton. We need more offense as well as defense. We need more players who can do both though and not be liability on one side or are more of one-trick pony on offense. Shooters are nice but if that player can't be also a threat to drive the ball(either in the half court or on fast breaks) can make them easier to defend. Though shooters do draw defenders away from the middle it does help make space for other guys to get inside. We need more multi-dimensional talent that can keep offenses at bay while also keeping them guessing when they are on defense. Plus we are still somewhat young with most of our potential lying with Isaac who is more project then an immediate return. Rookies in almost every case don't move the needle much even if they play well. We simply need better players. To win in the NBA you need stars and we don't really have one much less two or three like teams like Golden State or Cleveland have.

[Bensational]

For me, I feel like the biggest step the team can take in the right direction will be to once and for all identify someone they're prepared to allow to become the #1 option and go to scorer for the team. Even if that's a player who's still developing, or a player on another team. But we can't continue with this empty 'share the ball' philosophy that our guys aren't buying into.

Guys on our team that might get the look in are: Vuc, AG, Simmons and Evan.

After that, then we just need to start moving guys for players who will properly compliment that player.

Considering the downward path this team is already on, I'd like to hope we spend the rest of the season attempting to properly develop players, whilst positioning ourselves for a high pick.

We also need to clean up our cap situation. Plan the next phase of the cap around AG's upcoming contract extension, and make sure we'll have space at all the right times to add FAs before we have to extend Isaac and any rookie we pick up this summer. At this point, 2019 FA class looks to be the first year we'll have money to chase FAs. Vuc and Ross are due to come off the books then, along with all the veterans we've been adding. If we stand pat and only extend Gordon, then we'd only have the following guys left on the books:

Isaac/Biyombo
Gordon
Simmons
Fournier
Augustin

And $50-60M of cap space. At the end of that season we'd have another $25M coming off the books with Biz and Augustin's contracts finishing.

Until then, I'd like to see us invest in youth again, and this time commit to it properly. If we can move Vuc, Fournier and Payton for a proper star-type player (like McCollum), then do it and get behind him. If not, look for young players that might not have had a chance on another team (Phoenix, LA and Sacramento are all stacked, for example), and good high character guys that actually have skills. (I'm so sick of seeing a bench unit that's devoid of scorers, especially since Vogel refuses to stagger lineups).

Birch/Biyombo
Isaac
Gordon
Simmons/Hezonja
?

I'd be down with them wrapping up the season. I'd give Isaac and Gordon time to see how they can make the 3 and 4 spots work between them, in case we end up drafting the C of the future in this next draft. If not, then explore moving Isaac to C. Get a 3 and D point guard in who likes to run and push the pace, and then just see what happens.

[p0peye]

Weltman and Hammond do not strike me as risk takers. Sure, they found gold in Giannis, but it isn't like Bucks are lightning the league right now. Toronto is consistently good last few years, but I attribute that to Massai more than anybody else.

They might just play it safe and replace obvious targets in offseason (Payton, Mario) they already refused to extent/pick up options and may trade Vuc or Ross since their contracts are expiring in 2019. Or may choose to keep them for the same reason.

They bloody refused to use 1st round pick in this draft, trading it for conditional several years down the road, which might as well become 2 2nds. These moves everyone clamors for are Hinkie type moves, we brought these guys because we are playing it safe. We struggled to reach mediocrity after 5 years with Rob, now we should be able to do that in 2019.