Official Speculation Thread ‘18-19’: XIX: Rise of the BIG

[Just Plain Mark]

The Jimmy Butler trade to Philly involved a lottery pick (Saric) and an undrafted FA (Covington). The Butler trade to MN involved three lottery picks from MN, and two of those were in the form of already drafted players (Lavine and Dunn). The Kawhi Leonard trade involved DeRozan (drafted at 9). My point is, the draft seems key whether you 'tank' or not.

The Magic have 5 former lotto picks on their roster, 3 of them drafted by them.

They're going to add another one this summer. They'll have pieces to move if they need to move them.

Gordon can asset but I don' think Isaac or Bamba will hold much value because the Magic will be seeking wing/PG's and who is going to trade a superior perimeter player for big men that haven't shown the kind of potential of Embiid or Ayton?

[YosemiteSam]

With Warriors management siding with Durant in his dustup with Draymond, anyone think there might be a chance they trade Green if they come to an agreement with Durant he'll stay if they move Green? If so would you want him on the Magic and who would you trade for him? I personally think he is EXACTLY what this franchise needs to change the culture - I'd be willing to trade any one of BIG and a lightly protected 1st - note he has 1.5 years left on his current deal I believe. Likely not even an option but if it was would you be interested?

[Knightro]

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[MartinsIzAfraud]

With Warriors management siding with Durant in his dustup with Draymond, anyone think there might be a chance they trade Green if they come to an agreement with Durant he'll stay if they move Green? If so would you want him on the Magic and who would you trade for him? I personally think he is EXACTLY what this franchise needs to change the culture - I'd be willing to trade any one of BIG and a lightly protected 1st - note he has 1.5 years left on his current deal I believe. Likely not even an option but if it was would you be interested?

Draymond needs to be extremely careful with where he ends up. Dude's game is extremely flawed and for the most part pretty meh. He's able to do his role because he's playing with 2 of the best shooters in the NBA and a Legend in KD.

Put him on the Magic and he's be big baby Davis.

[MagicFan4Lyfe]

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How many minutes into this game will GlassAnkles get injured again?

[OrlandoNed]

With Warriors management siding with Durant in his dustup with Draymond, anyone think there might be a chance they trade Green if they come to an agreement with Durant he'll stay if they move Green? If so would you want him on the Magic and who would you trade for him? I personally think he is EXACTLY what this franchise needs to change the culture - I'd be willing to trade any one of BIG and a lightly protected 1st - note he has 1.5 years left on his current deal I believe. Likely not even an option but if it was would you be interested?

Draymond needs to be extremely careful with where he ends up. Dude's game is extremely flawed and for the most part pretty meh. He's able to do his role because he's playing with 2 of the best shooters in the NBA and two Legends in KD and Curry.

Put him on the Magic and he's be big baby Davis.

FTFY. C'mon now you can't forget Steph.

[VFX]

Two things...

1. I simply said the Magic would be a playoff team. I won't be surprised at all if the 8 seed in the East makes the playoffs with sub 40 wins. I think the 7 seed could also be under .500 as well.

2. I didn't say they would be competitive against the top four teams in the East, because I don't think they would be.

I am of the opinion the Magic are going to win in the low 30s with the roster they have right now, warts and all. Replace the two worst players in that rotation with two competent players and why wouldn't they win in the upper 30s?

True, but what is the end goal here ? Is it to get by just enough, with a win-now coach, to get blown out by a top tier team with more talent?

Vuc, who like it or not shoulders a lot of the offense, is not going to be on this team next year - maybe even by the trade deadline. With that in mind, doesn’t it make more sense to continue to build, rather than squeeze out a few more wins for the sake of immediate results. This is the same mistake this organization has made continuously by sacrificing the long term results for the short.

Unless management acquires a younger point guard that can grow with Bamba and Isaac’s strengthened ankles, there really isn’t an end goal positive to getting an established point guard to make the playoffs for this season. That is unless you are a believer that moral victories matter even though this roster should look completely different if the FO is doing their job correctly.

People seem to think that we need to leap from bottom feeder to championship contender in one huge step.

There's nothing wrong with incremental improvement. Making the playoffs is an important step to becoming a true contender.

Unless one or multiple Magic players make a huge leap in improvement, it’s safe to say that this team is still looking for talent to put them into contention. Incremental improvement isn’t what this league is built around anymore for contention if you haven’t noticed.

[MagicStarwipe]

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How many minutes into this game will GlassAnkles get injured again?

That's not very nice.

[Blue_and_Whte]

With Warriors management siding with Durant in his dustup with Draymond, anyone think there might be a chance they trade Green if they come to an agreement with Durant he'll stay if they move Green? If so would you want him on the Magic and who would you trade for him? I personally think he is EXACTLY what this franchise needs to change the culture - I'd be willing to trade any one of BIG and a lightly protected 1st - note he has 1.5 years left on his current deal I believe. Likely not even an option but if it was would you be interested?

Draymond needs to be extremely careful with where he ends up. Dude's game is extremely flawed and for the most part pretty meh. He's able to do his role because he's playing with 2 of the best shooters in the NBA and a Legend in KD.

Put him on the Magic and he's be big baby Davis.

Why would we trade young assets for a disgruntled forward who’s success is predicated on playing with elite talent AGAIN? This would be the effing Ibaka deal 2.0. Green benefits from playing alongside THREE ALL STARS AND TWO HOFs. For the love of it all NO.

EDIT: Not to mention he’s on a title winning team and COMPLAINING.. Geezus people

[IllMagic04]

Gotcha. Yeah I’m just hoping that the biggest takeaway from the moves this season/ offseason are centered around the future, regardless of what Clifford resembles as a coach. Of course he won’t tank, but management has to realize when the fold and when to push the chips in by assessing the risk appropriately. If not, this organization will perpetually be a first round exit team.

Some fans will want immediate results to “feel good” about this team even if it means sacrificing draft position or making better moves down the line.

My feelings on what the Magic *should* do and what the Magic *will* do are pretty dramatically different. What should they do? Get as high of a draft pick as they can. Pretty obvious. There are really just two ways to land star players if you're not a destination city.

1. Draft them.
2. Trade for them after drafting intriguing young guys.

That said...

I do not, under any circumstances, believe the Orlando Magic are going to tank while Clifford is here. I don't necessarily agree with it, but that's how it most certainly is so my thought process has adjusted accordingly.

My expectation is that the Magic will end up winning somewhere between 30-35 games this year. If they don't get any lotto luck, they'll end up drafting around 8th or 9th. From there, they'll pick someone like Romeo Langford, Quinten Grimes or Kevin Porter.

They they'll go into the summer and aggressively pursue a starting caliber PG - be it Walker, Rozier, Russell in free agency or any number of potential trade targets like Wall, Conley, Murray, Jackson, Bledsoe.

Once they've acquired said PG, they'll look to fill out the rest of the roster in free agency with second tier guys. Perhaps they bring Ross back. But ultimately the goal will be to make the playoffs next season.

Yup that is EXACTLY what we are going to do. Unless we either get lotto luck or nail a late pick we are screwed.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using RealGM mobile app

[MagicFan4Lyfe]

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How many minutes into this game will GlassAnkles get injured again?

That's not very nice.

It’s not nice. But it’s the reality.

[Blue_and_Whte]

How many minutes into this game will GlassAnkles get injured again?

That's not very nice.

It’s not nice. But it’s the reality.

I will call him Glankles from now on.

[Knightro]

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[rcklsscognition]

JI will play tonight according to Clifford. Also, first night with our new city uniforms.

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[NotACat]

I think Weltman and Hammond are gambling on a couple things...

1. They'll be able to draft well regardless of where their draft picks end up.
2. They'll be able to, when the time comes, leverage their financial flexibility to acquire better talent either through FA or through trades.

I think Weltman coming from Toronto thinks he can build a team in a similar way they did up north.

Look at their rotation from a year ago when they won 59 games. Not a single high lotto pick in the mix except Jonas. The rest were acquired via good scouting and good trades. Toronto has also done as good a job as anyone of developing players as well.

Anunoby - 23rd overall pick
DeRozan - 9th overall pick
Ibaka - acquired via trade for former 8th overall pick (Ross) and 25th overall pick
Lowry - acquired via trade for 12th overall pick
Miles - signed as a free agent for 3 years, 25M
Poeltl - 9th overall pick
Powell - 46th overall pick
Siakam - 27th overall pick
Valanciunas - 5th overall pick
Wright - 20th overall pick

I expect the Magic to at least attempt to do something similar. Whether they'll succeed or not remains to be seen. Most people are skeptical. We'll have a much better idea of how well/poorly this plan is going based on what they do this summer with financial flexibility.

I don't have a huge issue with the plan, but like you said, the front office has to capitalize on the draft. Utah were able to do something similar, but it works when you find Mitchell at pick 13 and Gobert at pick 27.

It's also worked out for Denver. Utah and Denver should be our models because they're similarFA destinations, or at least before those 2 teams got real good.

[mr2good]

I think Weltman and Hammond are gambling on a couple things...

1. They'll be able to draft well regardless of where their draft picks end up.
2. They'll be able to, when the time comes, leverage their financial flexibility to acquire better talent either through FA or through trades.

I think Weltman coming from Toronto thinks he can build a team in a similar way they did up north.

Look at their rotation from a year ago when they won 59 games. Not a single high lotto pick in the mix except Jonas. The rest were acquired via good scouting and good trades. Toronto has also done as good a job as anyone of developing players as well.

Anunoby - 23rd overall pick
DeRozan - 9th overall pick
Ibaka - acquired via trade for former 8th overall pick (Ross) and 25th overall pick
Lowry - acquired via trade for 12th overall pick
Miles - signed as a free agent for 3 years, 25M
Poeltl - 9th overall pick
Powell - 46th overall pick
Siakam - 27th overall pick
Valanciunas - 5th overall pick
Wright - 20th overall pick

I expect the Magic to at least attempt to do something similar. Whether they'll succeed or not remains to be seen. Most people are skeptical. We'll have a much better idea of how well/poorly this plan is going based on what they do this summer with financial flexibility.

I don't have a huge issue with the plan, but like you said, the front office has to capitalize on the draft. Utah were able to do something similar, but it works when you find Mitchell at pick 13 and Gobert at pick 27.

It's also worked out for Denver. Utah and Denver should be our models because they're similarFA destinations, or at least before those 2 teams got real good.

Yeah this is a good line of thinking when trying to give Magic fans hope for the future. We're not going to tank this year unless we get overrun with injuries, so pushing for the playoffs to show future free agents that we're becoming a more desirable destination is the current play. We will need to nail one of these upcoming mid lotto picks and make a good FA signing or trade to get this whole organization back into a winning culture, which Weltman has done in the past.

[OrlandoNed]

JI will play tonight according to Clifford. Also, first night with our new city uniforms.

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Not liking these new City jerseys, they are a real stepdown from last year's galaxy jerseys.

Orlando just has got to do something about the streaking Magic ball. It's not a great logo, and it looks even worse just cut and pasted onto a plain black background. Makes the jersey look uninspired and amateurish.

I hate the current streaking ball logo and almost every curved and streaking logo like ours, the Philadelphia Eagles, the LA Chargers, the Seattle Seahawks etc. I'd prefer to have flat, forward-facing emblem type of logo like the Indy Colts and Dallas Cowboys. Hell we could stick with our stars and start ripping off the Cowboys' star designs for some inspiration and sprinkle in more Orlando Magic flavor to it.

[VFX]

That's not very nice.

It’s not nice. But it’s the reality.

I will call him Glankles from now on.

[magicman112]

JI will play tonight according to Clifford. Also, first night with our new city uniforms.

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And we get to be Jimmy Butler's debut game for the Sixers.

[Skin]

I don't have a huge issue with the plan, but like you said, the front office has to capitalize on the draft. Utah were able to do something similar, but it works when you find Mitchell at pick 13 and Gobert at pick 27.

It's also worked out for Denver. Utah and Denver should be our models because they're similarFA destinations, or at least before those 2 teams got real good.

Yeah this is a good line of thinking when trying to give Magic fans hope for the future. We're not going to tank this year unless we get overrun with injuries, so pushing for the playoffs to show future free agents that we're becoming a more desirable destination is the current play. We will need to nail one of these upcoming mid lotto picks and make a good FA signing or trade to get this whole organization back into a winning culture, which Weltman has done in the past.

The problem with this strategy is that Toronto has always been pretenders. No one ever puts them in legitimate consideration to be NBA Champions and I feel like they are at their peak of what they will ever become. After this year, Kawhi is moving on and the Raptors will be left with questionable future.

You need stars to win in this league. The honest fan simply has to tell themselves that the only way the Magic are getting out of this is that they will have to hit on finding a star with a late lottery pick and get lucky on someone who no one saw coming.