Official Speculation Thread ‘19-'20 III: It's B-ball Time !!!

[XtremeDunkz]

Fultz actually did it. He conned his way in to a full 4 year rookie contract without playing any real basketball. His agent is amazing.

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[Knightro]

There's two schools of thought here, depending on if you're optimistic or pessimistic.

Optimistic - The Magic's medical staff, player development staff, strength and conditioning staff and coaching staff have been working with Fultz very closely over the last six months and based on what all of those groups have seen, Jeff Weltman and John Hammond are confident enough to pick up his option because they believe he will be a contributing player in 2019-2020 and beyond.

Pessimistic - Fultz is still a wreck mentally and the Magic exercised his option early so he wouldn't be forced to come to camp and play in the preseason/beginning of the regular season with the pressure of essentially playing for next year's salary hanging over his head.

[pinoynurse]

Fultz actually did it. He conned his way in to a full 4 year rookie contract without playing any real basketball. His agent is amazing.

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He conned you guys thats for sure lmao

[X_O_Z]

There's two schools of thought here, depending on if you're optimistic or pessimistic.

Optimistic - The Magic's medical staff, player development staff, strength and conditioning staff and coaching staff have been working with Fultz very closely over the last six months and based on what all of those groups have seen, Jeff Weltman and John Hammond are confident enough to pick up his option because they believe he will be a contributing player in 2019-2020 and beyond.

Pessimistic - Fultz is still a wreck mentally and the Magic exercised his option early so he wouldn't be forced to come to camp and play in the preseason/beginning of the regular season with the pressure of essentially playing for next year's salary hanging over his head.

Shows faith and commitment to Fultz that if he does pan out for us, which I know he can, than we will rise above our expectations. I'll go with the first part that they have enough information to justify this commitment before the training camp starts. Exciting times are ahead of us Magic fans, it's been many years that we have been in this kind of position with our young core.

[pinoynurse]

There's two schools of thought here, depending on if you're optimistic or pessimistic.

Optimistic - The Magic's medical staff, player development staff, strength and conditioning staff and coaching staff have been working with Fultz very closely over the last six months and based on what all of those groups have seen, Jeff Weltman and John Hammond are confident enough to pick up his option because they believe he will be a contributing player in 2019-2020 and beyond.

Pessimistic - Fultz is still a wreck mentally and the Magic exercised his option early so he wouldn't be forced to come to camp and play in the preseason/beginning of the regular season with the pressure of essentially playing for next year's salary hanging over his head.

I wouldnt be surprised if he didnt play in preseason or was held out of most of it. Our front office is just overly cautious. I wouldnt panic

[Knightro]

I will say this...

If Fultz cannot play by the start of the season because he's "too injured" still, I'm going to be particularly annoyed with this whole thing.

I'm trying to be as optimistic as I can. I'd rather him be able to play and play terribly than not be able to play at all.

[NavalAviator94]

Born in July of 1992, played rookie year that started in October of 2011 and finished in April 2012 means that he finished rookie year while still being 19 years old.

Born in May of 1998, played rookie year that started in October of 2018 and finished in April of 2019 means Mo Bamba was 20 during whole rookie year.

That is why basketball reference refer to Harris rookie year as "19 years old" and Bamba as "20" . because it's something factual

This is nothing new , Sekou Doumbouya and Talen Horton-Tucker are both 18 years old and will finish rookie years being just 19.
Where Doumbouya played in France he didn't fall into "regular"college rules, Talen actually did play at college, yet will still be just 18 when nba season starts, and 19 when it finishes, in mean time Cam Reddish played one year at college but is already 20.

Suggesting i'm doing "fake news" and in same time failing at 1st grade math is pretty sad.

As for how team performed with Bamba, net rating says it all.

You blame Ross and Evan for team's poor performance, yet ignore that Bamba played all the way until end of January, where team lost 9 of 12 games, yet, in second he is gone, team wins 6 of next 7 games and finishes month with 8 -3 record. Coincidence?

How about team having 17-3 record with Birch playing <15min while in mean time around 13-20 record when Bamba was playing <15 min'

The Magic had their worst net rating this year with Bamba on the court at -15.2 points per 100 possessions. Orlando gave up 108.3 points per 100 possessions with Bamba on the floor.

When Khem Birch was on the floor, the Magic had a +2.8 net rating and a 102.0 defensive rating.

As for pinning blame on Evan and TRoss

The three-man lineup of Mohamed Bamba, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier played together just 122 minutes together at a -23.4 net rating.

A lot of those had to come while the Magic were experimenting with a twin tower lineup of Bamba and Vucevic together on the floor. That unit. . . did not work — -37.5 net rating in 36 minutes.

So he was terrible with every single Magic starter.

I just don't get why it's so "taboo" to say that player sucked during rookie year? How many rookies don't ? Pretty much only all time greatest come off gate and are transending, even Lebron missed playoffs in rookie year.

I apologize. You were totally correct. The bio I looked at for Tobias showed him as born in 1991 and he was born in '92.

Turns out it appears Bamba was held back a year in his schooling at some point (He was already 19 before his Freshman year of college) so maybe he is complete crap.

No problem
In general one and done rule and age limit is pretty awkward thing. You still have players entering nba while being 18 or just turning 19. Thon Maker is entering his 5th nba season and guy will turn 23 at the end of the season
I don't know anything about "holding back" at school in USA, in my country you either pass -because you don't have any Fs , or drop/fail/repeat/ if at end of school year you have at least 3 Fs in subjects OR you didn't fix/corret it on last deadline before start of new school year ( for highschool). At college you drop a year if you didn't collect enough ECTS points to make it to next year ,and you can't move to higher year ( 4th and 5th ) if you didn't " clean" all subjects.

Also it probably depents when you were born ( what month ) .

A lot of parents hold their kids back a year in the U.S., especially if you are born in the May/June time frame. You would typically be younger than most of your peers. Parents thinking ahead want to give their children that extra "year" to develop emotionally and physically, especially if they want their kids to play sports. My son was born in June and we did the same thing.

[NavalAviator94]

I will say this...

If Fultz cannot play by the start of the season because he's "too injured" still, I'm going to be particularly annoyed with this whole thing.

I'm trying to be as optimistic as I can. I'd rather him be able to play and play terribly than not be able to play at all.

I will be as well.

I think the Magic felt strong enough he had the potential to recover and planned on picking up his option when they made that trade. I think I shared that back when it happened but until they did I was reticent. This gives me hope, something we've all had to temper for many years and not something I feel comfortable even doing now.

[rcklsscognition]

Robbins confirmed the people in Markele's summer workout videos were Orlando Magic trainers, so they made a decision based on better intel than we have, with their boss's money. Glad he's looking good.

[Blue_and_Whte]

Someone put pepe on suicide watch.

[PrimeThyme]

Read on Twitter

Training camp isnt far people. We will know where we stand with him soon. If he still isnt ready by then the decision to pick up his option so soon is going to be a real headscratcher.

[NavalAviator94]

Someone put pepe on suicide watch.

lol we are all holding our breath.

[Blue_and_Whte]

Fultz actually did it. He conned his way in to a full 4 year rookie contract without playing any real basketball. His agent is amazing.

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Markelle has real estate in Sixers fans heads. I saw less cry babies on Election Night 2016

[XtremeDunkz]

Fultz actually did it. He conned his way in to a full 4 year rookie contract without playing any real basketball. His agent is amazing.

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Markelle has real estate in Sixers fans heads. I saw less cry babies on Election Night 2016

not crying about anything lol. good riddance. You'll see soon enough, dont worry.

[ezzzp]

Fultz actually did it. He conned his way in to a full 4 year rookie contract without playing any real basketball. His agent is amazing.

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Markelle has real estate in Sixers fans heads. I saw less cry babies on Election Night 2016

not crying about anything lol. good riddance. You'll see soon enough, dont worry.

you're literally on another team's page whining about a player that hasn't been on your team for months

[XtremeDunkz]

Markelle has real estate in Sixers fans heads. I saw less cry babies on Election Night 2016

not crying about anything lol. good riddance. You'll see soon enough, dont worry.

you're literally on another team's page whining about a player that hasn't been on your team for months

Not whining. Applauding his representatives ability to keep Fultz mysterious long enough to get another option accepted. Thats all. Good on him.

[Blue_and_Whte]

Markelle has real estate in Sixers fans heads. I saw less cry babies on Election Night 2016

not crying about anything lol. good riddance. You'll see soon enough, dont worry.

you're literally on another team's page whining about a player that hasn't been on your team for months

Its not whining guys... We’ll see

[ezzzp]

https://www.nba.com/amp/magic/orlando-magic-q-a-steve-clifford-20190916

DENTON: With Mo Bamba and Khem Birch, you have two backup centers who are highly capable and getting better. How do you handle that competition between the two of them for minutes behind Vucevic?

CLIFFORD: Mo will be the backup to start. I’m a believer that you don’t lose your position because of an injury, and Khem understands that and we’ve talked about it. That doesn’t mean Khem isn’t going to play. Khem’s a very good player and he was a big, big part of our team last season. When you have a situation like this, you look to find ways to keep (Birch) ready.

[ezzzp]

https://www.nba.com/amp/magic/orlando-magic-q-a-steve-clifford-20190916

On Ross:

...he’s a big time shot-maker. I know he makes shots that make people say, `Wow,’ but when you watch him work out, he makes those shots every day.

...He rebounded the ball well

...he was a better pick-and-roll player than I ever realized and at the end of the year he faced a lot of double-team schemes and he did a good job of moving the ball out of them.

On Vucevic:

...I think he’ll shoot it even better this season.

...the thing that goes unnoticed with him is that for as good as he was offensively, he was very good defensively....

...talent comes in different ways. He’s not a high flyer, but his basketball IQ and his decision-making for a man his size – there’s not many who can do all the things that he can do.

On Fournier:

...I know he wasn’t happy last year with how he shot the ball, but I do think he established himself as a very good two-way player

....he guarded point guards, guarded (shooting guards) and (small forwards) and his team defense was really good. He’s got great size and he continued passing the ball well.

...his playmaking has also greatly improved.

On Gordon:

...he’s done a lot with Pat Delany and he’s done a lot of shooting with Bruce Kreutzer

...he’s done a lot, working on his iso-game, working on his post-up game and working on his range shooting.

...people got to see his ability last year to be a good passer and he was a much better passer than I ever realized.

...he had a great year defensively and I was really disappointed that he didn’t get votes for the All-Defensive team.

On Isaac:

...he’s had a phenomenal summer. He’s in the weight room and on the court all the time. His experience with USA Basketball was so positive and Jeff Van Gundy was so impressed with him.

[Popsicle1228]

https://www.nba.com/amp/magic/orlando-magic-q-a-steve-clifford-20190916

DENTON: With Mo Bamba and Khem Birch, you have two backup centers who are highly capable and getting better. How do you handle that competition between the two of them for minutes behind Vucevic?

CLIFFORD: Mo will be the backup to start. I’m a believer that you don’t lose your position because of an injury, and Khem understands that and we’ve talked about it. That doesn’t mean Khem isn’t going to play. Khem’s a very good player and he was a big, big part of our team last season. When you have a situation like this, you look to find ways to keep (Birch) ready.

If Mo lacks progress and his insertion into the backup role begins to hurt the team, I have faith that Clifford will put Khem behind Vuc once again. Good to give the kid a chance. Though I suspect he will need to earn his spot at some point this year.