Skin wrote:OK to disagree, but I'll bring a rebuttle.
Rookies are being asked to play big minutes all over the league. Ready or not ready. I think you have some old school mentality believing that young players should not play until they are no longer raw. This argument is old, outdated and myth busted. ...that somehow, players need to "show it in practice" before they deserve to get minutes in the games.
There are typically 3-5 rookies a year that play over 25+ minute threshold that's nothing new. Plus, you're assuming that I believe that all rookies are projects. I was pointing at our own roster of Issac/Bamba. I believed that Doncic/Ayton/Bagley were all ready to make an immediate impact given what I've seen from them in college/euro league.
Skin wrote:I can't believe I'm using the Kings as an example here, but they are riding their success on the heels of their young guys. They gave freedom to their players to work through their mistakes and weaknesses and that's still happening now. But they have the luxury of allowing that to happen because they know that their first priority is not winnning. It's developing players. Personally, I'm happy for WCS because he's having a breakout year and that was my pick over Hezonja at the time. It took not having Zach Randolph around for that to happen... and right now, Vuc is our Zach Randolph.
The Kings are doing well... But the difference between their youth and ours is that they can handle the influx of responsibility. On top of that it took guys like WCS and Hield 3-4 years before they developed into talent that contribute for 30+ minutes (Which is what I expect from Issac and Bamba). There are usually multiple times a year where a coach will throw more minutes and touches to the youth to see if handle the usage. Some exceed expectations while some others need more time.
Skin wrote:But yeah, "winning" shouldn't be our primary focus right now. Is that the source of your frustrations perhaps? Because it sounds like you're suggesting that we shouldn't put players out there unless they can "put up offense" so that we can win as many games as we can. Your quote from Clifford is exactly the problem. We brought in another "win now" coach instead of teacher. Why can't we have some healthy growing pains? The luxury to do that is now. We're shooting ourselves in the foot again and robbing ourselves of the chance to develop our players.
I don't even care
I knew the Magic were going to awful coming into the season, so its not like I was preparing myself for a playoff run. I stated it earlier in this topic that they were going to be a lottery team.
Clifford isn't a win now coach... He's the hard-ass who is supposed to place structure and direction for the youth that this team has. He's had success in the past with the Hornets so the Magic are hoping he could duplicate the same environment in Orlando. To say any coach who was going to be hired would be placed in a "win-now" situation with the Organization is laughable. Especially when Hammond/Weltman themselves said themselves it would take a few years.
Skin wrote:This team appears to lack offensive talent, but that's because Fournier, Ross, Augustin and Simmons are jacking up a lot of the shots. They are all averaging less PPS than Isaac and Bamba. Vuc is a good offensive player. He'd be great off the bench. But we need defense from our starting Center. The over-reliance on Vuc is a byproduct of wanting to "win now". Then when he is gone next year, all the time we invested in him is for naught. We're just helping him get that next contract as high as he can get it...and he's taking all the shots he needs to make sure of that.
Lol, I don't know how to answer this... You're saying those guys listed who are better offensive options than Issac/Bamba at this stage of their development are the problem?
Not only that but you're using essentially using a sample size of their low shot attempts per game from both players to say that their better offensive players than those guys you've mentioned. This isn't adding the context of player role/type of shot taken (Like spotting up/putbacks which is how both guys get the majority of their points).
Plus, this team is not invested into Vuc into the future. If that was the case they would've not even drafted Bamba. Just because he's not being developed the way you want him to doesn't mean he will not eventually get to start in a year or two. I mean look at Willie-Caulley Stein a guy you just mentioned. He wasn't the full time starter until his 3rd/4th year. Relax, his time is coming...
Skin wrote:You're dead wrong about AG having zero trade value. Nothing more to be said about that. It's factual. He may not be a star yet, but that doesn't mean no team wants him. When he's 26 years old and enjoying the peak of his career, he'll be a $16M dollar player and by that time, his contract value will be a steal.
We'll see... All I know is that his apologist have been talking the last 3 years about him breaking out and he's been relatively the same for the same amount of time while this being his 5th season in the league. Until he proves otherwise he's a role player.
