Official Speculation Thread ‘18-19’: XX: Year of the Vuc

[MoMM]

Keeping Vuc, Missing playoffs and picking 15-20th ROFL... Hopefully the FO isn't short sided and the picking on bamba should back that. If they were going for playoffs they would've made moves to grab a PG or any sort of guard to help the scoring issue we have.

If we miss the playoffs there is a good chance that we will have at least a Top 10 pick.

[VFX]

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Talk about short sighted.

“They won’t trade their best player trying to make a playoff push”.

“We don’t know what is in store for Vucevic in free agency. They are planning on keeping him this season regardless.”

“They need a point guard, but it’s extremely hard to find one. We need to make the playoffs.”

What could go wrong? LOL

This franchise man...

Keeping Vuc, Missing playoffs and picking 15-20th ROFL... Hopefully the FO isn't short sided and the picking on bamba should back that. If they were going for playoffs they would've made moves to grab a PG or any sort of guard to help the scoring issue we have.

Let’s not forget either losing him in free agency for nothing or overpaying him for more of the same past 7 years. This FO loves to limit their options.

[BadHombre]

Bamba has been playing center for 10 years and doesn't have a post move. I was taught post moves in the junior magic league when I was 9 years old in one season that I still use today at the park to score on everyone. It just doesn't make sense to me. How can you not know any moves after playing for so long? I had one coach, a dad from the boy scouts who taught me; Bamba has had qualified coaching, personal trainers, and now and NBA team helping him. It blows my mind. He has to have something hidden. I hope this isn't a Dwight Howard thing, where he admits a decade later he was actually too scared to do things he could do alone on the practice court on the game floor under the bright lights.

This is exactly why you don’t draft bigs in the top of the lottery unless they are extremely skilled. There have been way more instances of finding good bigs later in the draft for this reason (Jokic, Gasol, Gobert, D.Jordan, etc). Bamba had crazy measurements, but it doesn’t matter if the skillset isn’t there on the court.

I think Bamba will become a decent starter in the league and he deserves a chance to grow with the Magic. That being said, I would much rather Orlando drafted Bridges, Knox, or Shai. This pick will look stupid if Vuc is resigned for any amount of money and years.

Will look stupid? It already looks stupid. We already had a BETTER center and there were more skilled players after Bamba. The problem is overrating players based on measurements, then passing on guys that actually have skill.

EDIT:

You’d hope that at 27 and 7 years into his professional career that Vucevic would be a better C than Bamba currently.

We had ‘prospects’ at nearly every position already after 7 seasons of lottery finishes, so whoever we picked was going to create some duplication unless we took a PG. Shai would have been great. But apart from him, the rest would have been battling with Gordon/Isaac/Fournier/Ross for minutes on the wing - and they’re all presently better than the rookies mentioned anyway.

[pepe1991]

This is exactly why you don’t draft bigs in the top of the lottery unless they are extremely skilled. There have been way more instances of finding good bigs later in the draft for this reason (Jokic, Gasol, Gobert, D.Jordan, etc). Bamba had crazy measurements, but it doesn’t matter if the skillset isn’t there on the court.

I think Bamba will become a decent starter in the league and he deserves a chance to grow with the Magic. That being said, I would much rather Orlando drafted Bridges, Knox, or Shai. This pick will look stupid if Vuc is resigned for any amount of money and years.

Will look stupid? It already looks stupid. We already had a BETTER center and there were more skilled players after Bamba. The problem is overrating players based on measurements, then passing on guys that actually have skill.

EDIT:

You’d hope that at 27 and 7 years into his professional career that Vucevic would be a better C than Bamba currently.

We had ‘prospects’ at nearly every position already after 7 seasons of lottery finishes, so whoever we picked was going to create some duplication unless we took a PG. Shai would have been great. But apart from him, the rest would have been battling with Gordon/Isaac/Fournier/Ross for minutes on the wing - and they’re all presently better than the rookies mentioned anyway.

No PG
No SF
SG 26 years old

[Knightro]

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Weltman and Hammond sitting on their hands, eh?

[Furinkazan]

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Weltman and Hammond sitting on their hands, eh?

If they tried for Rozier Id rather have them do nothing.
Rozier is fools gold.

[Audi]

Heard David Griffin say this on NBA radio about Hammond/Weltman and I don’t know how to feel about it - he said that this season so far has been a surprise to them and that we are currently one year AHEAD of where they expected to be in terms of their desired development/rebuild.

[Def Swami]

Reminder that Terry Rozier has never shot above 40% for his career.

[Def Swami]

Heard David Griffin say this on NBA radio about Hammond/Weltman and I don’t know how to feel about it - he said that this season so far has been a surprise to them and that we are currently one year AHEAD of where they expected to be in terms of their desired development/rebuild.

They really like this team. It was apparent last season when Hammond would go on record claiming that they thought they were a playoff team if they had stayed healthy during the season.

[MartinsIzAfraud]

Heard David Griffin say this on NBA radio about Hammond/Weltman and I don’t know how to feel about it - he said that this season so far has been a surprise to them and that we are currently one year AHEAD of where they expected to be in terms of their desired development/rebuild.

GM's going to try and pump up as much value as possible for our team is a smart move. Saying we're behind would really really look bad IMO.

[VFX]

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Weltman and Hammond sitting on their hands, eh?

The bigger takeaway is that they wouldn’t have to scramble to find a point guard (that they won’t likely find this season) if they had just drafted properly or made players available in their “evaluation” year. They drafted projects offensively and failed to address issues with the roster. They don’t get a pass because they are failing to acquire the obvious names of point guards most of this board already knew were options.

[Blue_and_Whte]

We keep saying this over and over but the NBA is a perimeter players league now and we keep drafting defenders with long arms and limited skills and wonder why we cant score worth a damm. Actually drafting defenders has been going on since Rob, difference was he wasn't just taking the widest wingspan but still drafting limited skill players who were known as defenders. Its no wonder we are among the worst in the league every single year in scoring. Our biggest problem is not defense as Alex Martins I'm sure thinks. Its offense. We can't score and only can do so for limited periods. The terrible offense makes the defense worse, its really obvious except to Magic management. All WeHam has done is extend the rebuild period by not drafting any scorers or guards in 2 drafts, not even 2nd rounders, nothing. Fool got lucky with Giannis and thinks that recipe works readily.

To add to your point
Magic in 5 of last 6 years finished as top 4 worst offensive team in whole league.
Right now they are 4th worst team by off rating.

I’m not saying that I don’t find value in Bamba and Isaac as prospects, and that they won’t improve over time. However, I was extremely disappointed that this FO drafted both, back to back, while failing to address glaring weaknesses that have plagued this roster for years.

Those draft picks were extremely important to this rebuild and they took huge risks on two projects offensively. That is simply unacceptable for a new FO and the current direction of this franchise IMO. Watching them scramble to acquire a guard now is laughable.

In regards to Bamba There is certainly value there. While I think improvement is inevitable i don't think its to the level people think it will be. Its just a fact that if a player will be elite at anything, that we'd see consistent flashes of it by now especially in a 20 year old. Thats why I like JI so much. Hes not a finished product but we have consistently seen flashes of defensive impact even in his rookie year.

All players start out young and skinny. Experience and weight arent THAT impactful when determining a players trajectory. If Bamba adds 10-15 lbs its not going to suddenly turn him into Hakeem. Just like the muscle JI added that
people were fawning over didnt miraculously turn him into KD.


Sent from my VS501 using RealGM mobile app

[BadHombre]

Will look stupid? It already looks stupid. We already had a BETTER center and there were more skilled players after Bamba. The problem is overrating players based on measurements, then passing on guys that actually have skill.

EDIT:

You’d hope that at 27 and 7 years into his professional career that Vucevic would be a better C than Bamba currently.

We had ‘prospects’ at nearly every position already after 7 seasons of lottery finishes, so whoever we picked was going to create some duplication unless we took a PG. Shai would have been great. But apart from him, the rest would have been battling with Gordon/Isaac/Fournier/Ross for minutes on the wing - and they’re all presently better than the rookies mentioned anyway.

No PG
No SF
SG 26 years old

Only PG worth drafting that was available was SGA. I’d have been happy with him but there would have been a meltdown if we took him over Bamba on draft night.

Gordon and Isaac both do a perfectly fine job playing SF in a 3&D capacity. What SF prospects would have been an improvement over them at our draft position? I think what you’re trying to say is that we don’t have an Allstar, playmaking SF.

Since when is 26 too old? You realise Vucevic is almost 2 years older than that, so if a 26 year old SG is a priority to upgrade then surely a near 28 year old C ranks just as highly? :shrug:

[Furinkazan]

You’d hope that at 27 and 7 years into his professional career that Vucevic would be a better C than Bamba currently.

We had ‘prospects’ at nearly every position already after 7 seasons of lottery finishes, so whoever we picked was going to create some duplication unless we took a PG. Shai would have been great. But apart from him, the rest would have been battling with Gordon/Isaac/Fournier/Ross for minutes on the wing - and they’re all presently better than the rookies mentioned anyway.

No PG
No SF
SG 26 years old

Only PG worth drafting that was available was SGA. I’d have been happy with him but there would have been a meltdown if we took him over Bamba on draft night.

Gordon and Isaac both do a perfectly fine job playing SF in a 3&D capacity. What SF prospects would have been an improvement over them at our draft position? I think what you’re trying to say is that we don’t have an Allstar, playmaking SF.

Since when is 26 too old? You realise Vucevic is almost 2 years older than that, so if a 26 year old SG is a priority to upgrade then surely a near 28 year old C ranks just as highly? :shrug:

Im not so sure
many people(at least here) wanted to trade for 2 clippers picks
I liked SGA and Mikal Bridges idea
Mikal went 10th ofc but some other people would porpably take SGA and injured Porter or maybe there was an option to trade 12th + many seconds we own for 10th in such situation as obviosuly Phila wasnt attached to Mikal

[MartinsIzAfraud]

Rather stay put then give up assets for Rozier. Dude is massively overrated.

[Skybox]

Bamba needs to stop chucking 3s and start being around the rim. We saw OKC do this this Domantas - had him shoot a bunch of 3s, and then Indiana moved him closer and he turned into an ultra productive bench player. He's in love with the 3 even though it's hurting him as a player. He's not in position to get o-rebounds, be a cutter, etc.

How exactly is not shooting threes going to make him better? A lot of people made the same argument for why Vooch shouldn't try to add a 3 to his game, and those people look a little silly now...

I tend to agree... his rookie offense is the lesser of my concerns. If he’s not BEASTING on D, he might as well be 5’10...I’d like to see him contesting everything EVERYTHING...foul out/ learn not to foul, basically become a presence that is always on the minds of the other team...it’s what he’s built for. His rebound numbers are pretty good for his PT. I’d rather work on refining over-aggressiveness than wonder when he’ll get meaner.

[VFX]

You’d hope that at 27 and 7 years into his professional career that Vucevic would be a better C than Bamba currently.

We had ‘prospects’ at nearly every position already after 7 seasons of lottery finishes, so whoever we picked was going to create some duplication unless we took a PG. Shai would have been great. But apart from him, the rest would have been battling with Gordon/Isaac/Fournier/Ross for minutes on the wing - and they’re all presently better than the rookies mentioned anyway.

No PG
No SF
SG 26 years old

Only PG worth drafting that was available was SGA. I’d have been happy with him but there would have been a meltdown if we took him over Bamba on draft night.

Gordon and Isaac both do a perfectly fine job playing SF in a 3&D capacity. What SF prospects would have been an improvement over them at our draft position? I think what you’re trying to say is that we don’t have an Allstar, playmaking SF.

Since when is 26 too old? You realise Vucevic is almost 2 years older than that, so if a 26 year old SG is a priority to upgrade then surely a near 28 year old C ranks just as highly? :shrug:

SGA and Sexton were both prospects that made sense and could have been traded back for. DSJr was also a pick that could have made sense the year prior. There was also a lot of time to acquire another point guard in the evaluation year other than DJ Augustine.

AG and Isaac dont do particularly well covering the SF position. Neither are distributors and neither have a reliable outside-in game offensively. Isaac has covered the position the last few games and his offense looks pedestrian. They are both PF’s in all likelihood. Dynamic wing players are the most difficult position to acquire, but finding one that can provide good defense isn’t impossible to find.

There is no ceiling with Vuc or Evan. They are who they are at this point in their careers. Sure, they could be more effective with a better roster and coaching, but anyone on this roster can be moved.

[Magic_Johnny12]

I say some wild shii time to time around here, but just went over to the Washington board to see if anyone was talking about the new Beal rumor and saw this

"If we stayed at Pick 6 in the draft, and Phoenix had pick 1 or 2. Would they be interested in a pick swap and sending Otto Porter aswell. We could take back a josh Jackson possibly. "

I don't even have Otto having positive value let alone being the difference between the #1 pick and #6 and still having enough value to pull Jackson out of the trade as well

[MagicStarwipe]

It seems people haven't noticed, but looks to me like Bamba has started contesting more and having more awareness on D the last several games.

[J the Drafter]

Bamba has been playing center for 10 years and doesn't have a post move. I was taught post moves in the junior magic league when I was 9 years old in one season that I still use today at the park to score on everyone. It just doesn't make sense to me. How can you not know any moves after playing for so long? I had one coach, a dad from the boy scouts who taught me; Bamba has had qualified coaching, personal trainers, and now and NBA team helping him. It blows my mind. He has to have something hidden. I hope this isn't a Dwight Howard thing, where he admits a decade later he was actually too scared to do things he could do alone on the practice court on the game floor under the bright lights.

It’s pretty clear to me that a lack of post moves isn’t Bamba’s weakpoint. He just doesn’t have the weight to pull them off against NBA bigs right now. He also doesn’t have the luxury of operating against junior league and Rec league “defenses.”