PrimeThyme wrote:Knightro wrote:PrimeThyme wrote:Do you see any benefit in it though? I get the tanking argument. I’ve been right there with you the last couple years. I’ve also been very critical of WeHam as well, but I’m starting to see some real signs of life here.
This is the million dollar question for me.
Clifford has shown he's a very competent NBA head coach. He believes in his system wholeheartedly and is a good enough coach to take a mid 20s win team and make them into a high 30s win team and there's something commendable about that.
That said...
What's next?
It's going to cost a lot of money to retain Vucevic and Ross. If they don't bring them both back, the team is clearly going to take a step backwards. That step backwards will be significant if Vucevic doesn't return.
But if you DO sign both of them back at fair market value, you're pretty much ensuring you won't have a significant amount of cap space or really cap flexibility for the next few seasons.
At that point, with limited avenues to improve the team both in free agency and in the draft, you're pretty much throwing your eggs into Isaac, Bamba and Fultz's development basket. You'd have a 35 to 40 win roster and the only chance of them improving past that would be on the back of how good Isaac, Bamba and Fultz end up becoming.
I love watching this team win games. I absolutely want to make the playoffs, even if they get swept. I just don't really know how the Magic can go from a 35-40 win team to a 45-50 win team capable of winning a playoff series or two.
In the next two to three years, I think a 5-8 seed is our ceiling. The value of Isaac, Bamba, and Fultz playing meaningful minutes in a winning environment is still undeniable to me though. That alone would make resigning Vuc and Ross worth it. Possibly both to a 3-year deal where at the end of it you would have Fultz and Isaac coming off their rookie contracts and ideally have them both be ready to take over the reins of the team.
It really comes down to how good you think Isaac, Bamba, and Fultz can be. I get that people here aren't high on that core and there are questions surrounding it but I think Isaac and Fultz, in particular, are really going to be very good players in this league. Im not sure if they will ever make us a championship contender by themselves, but I definitely think we could become a 50 plus win one. I can live with us making the 6-8th seed until those guys are ready because I still see a lot of value in it.
Can’t say I agree, but I support you or anyone for believing it. I wish I too could believe it, and that the pessimist in me wasn’t so prevalent regarding professional basketball.