Official Speculation Thread '20-'21 VI: "I like this team"

BadMofoPimp · Post #1181 » by **BadMofoPimp** » Sun Dec 6, 2020 6:58 pm

Bergmaniac wrote:Has there ever been a time on this board where people weren't complaining the coach isn't playing the young players enough?

Every board on RealGM has this problem.

BadMofoPimp · Post #1182 » by **BadMofoPimp** » Sun Dec 6, 2020 7:04 pm

I am afraid Mo may end up being the next Noah Vonleh. An undrafted transient outplays him half the time. Still have hope he can prove me wrong!

KillMonger · Post #1183 » by **KillMonger** » Sun Dec 6, 2020 7:08 pm

Def Swami wrote:Just trade Bamba. He's never going to play here. We're wasting our time if there's no plan to even play him minutes as a back up center. We've completely devalued the pick. Keeping him on the bench doesn't do us or him any service.

I don't blame Clifford. He is who he is. I blame the front office. Just poor roster management. No clear direction for this team. This team is the brain child of Weltman and Hammond.

it's deeper than that brodie....it's the ownership....they have such a "hands off the wheel approach" that it makes you wonder if the devos family are the actual owners of the team....they gave weltham full autonomy to do whatever and even with a leash as long as you want what have they done? we need people from the top that will at times rule with an iron fist if things aren't getting done

basketballRob · Post #1184 » by **basketballRob** » Sun Dec 6, 2020 7:09 pm

Cliff was talking about how good Birch is at the four. I remember Bejilca looking like all world against him.

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

KillMonger · Post #1185 » by **KillMonger** » Sun Dec 6, 2020 7:10 pm

basketballRob wrote:Cliff was talking about how good Birch is at the four. I remember Bejilca looking like all world against him.

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

yeah he's capping

zaymon · Post #1186 » by **zaymon** » Sun Dec 6, 2020 7:56 pm

MagicMatic wrote:People are missing the point here.

If someone hires you to build a house, but only gives you construction paper and Elmer's glue, you wouldn’t blame the guy building the house. You would blame the employer for not supplying the materials to accomplish the job.

Yes, Clifford played Kemba Walker. The 9th pick in his draft and currently on a 4 year / $140m contract with Boston. He’s proven he’s a more than capable talent In this league. It would be more shocking if he didn’t play him and he blew up after leaving Charlotte. He was good then, and he’s good now.

Charlotte had little options for Clifford in his tenure with them. He had to play bad/mediocre talent, similar to his current situation in Orlando. The point in all of this is that Orlando lacks talent and continues to pick late in the draft hoping to change the outcome.

Clifford is just working with what he has (which isn’t much) and there is far less incentive for him to invest playing time into rookies with a task of “playoffs at all costs”.

The problem here is the Front Office and ownerships expectations. This team has hit a ceiling and refuses to take a step back. The only move that signaled anything differently was not resigning DJ, and instead drafting Cole Anthony. Even then, it’s not like DJ wasn’t without his flaws.

If you don’t believe Clifford will play Vuc, Evan, and AG their 33mpg, you are fooling yourself.

Can we at least wait until we see what we have in Chuma and Cole ? If they are reserve level players then even I will be a lot more sceptic about future of our team.

RookieStar · Post #1187 » by **RookieStar** » Sun Dec 6, 2020 8:33 pm

zaymon wrote:
MagicMatic wrote:People are missing the point here.

If someone hires you to build a house, but only gives you construction paper and Elmer's glue, you wouldn’t blame the guy building the house. You would blame the employer for not supplying the materials to accomplish the job.

Yes, Clifford played Kemba Walker. The 9th pick in his draft and currently on a 4 year / $140m contract with Boston. He’s proven he’s a more than capable talent In this league. It would be more shocking if he didn’t play him and he blew up after leaving Charlotte. He was good then, and he’s good now.

Charlotte had little options for Clifford in his tenure with them. He had to play bad/mediocre talent, similar to his current situation in Orlando. The point in all of this is that Orlando lacks talent and continues to pick late in the draft hoping to change the outcome.

Clifford is just working with what he has (which isn’t much) and there is far less incentive for him to invest playing time into rookies with a task of “playoffs at all costs”.

The problem here is the Front Office and ownerships expectations. This team has hit a ceiling and refuses to take a step back. The only move that signaled anything differently was not resigning DJ, and instead drafting Cole Anthony. Even then, it’s not like DJ wasn’t without his flaws.

If you don’t believe Clifford will play Vuc, Evan, and AG their 33mpg, you are fooling yourself.

Can we at least wait until we see what we have in Chuma and Cole ? If they are reserve level players then even I will be a lot more sceptic about future of our team.

Yup.. its like college ball right now. First 3-4 games in and 5star prospects in UK are already busts and should be ready for china, Duke's JJ should consider a transfer for his suckiness, Suggs from Gonzaga is injury prone ala Grant Hill for tweaking his ankle.. etc etc

Let's see how our new guys do for at least 20 games in before we decide to bring out our pitchforks ok?

MagicFan4Lyfe · Post #1188 » by **MagicFan4Lyfe** » Sun Dec 6, 2020 8:38 pm

Ok I'll admit- if we get Anthony and Chuma playing big roles this season, I will have slightly more hope for this team and can get excited for the season. But if we get the same old nonsense again, I am watching the Raptors.

basketballRob · Post #1189 » by **basketballRob** » Sun Dec 6, 2020 9:23 pm

Watch Melvin Frazier become a 10 yr pro in OKC.

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

basketballRob · Post #1190 » by **basketballRob** » Sun Dec 6, 2020 10:32 pm

Basketball Friday and Sunday!

Read on Twitter

?s=19

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

Gomagic44 · Post #1191 » by **Gomagic44** » Sun Dec 6, 2020 10:59 pm

I don't hold clifford responsible. He gets this roster and he can only do so much.

purpleswordfish wrote:
Gomagic44 wrote:Ironically there is no winning with this organization for the past decade. Can you believe many fans are upset? The point is to win it all or try. Do you look at the magic for the past 10 years and see a winning product? A winning strategy? A clear direction? I don't!
purpleswordfish wrote:Personally, I totally understand what Clifford is saying about playing time as it pertains to the Magic. Head coaches are hired to win games. That's it. They are hired/fired based on wins. Of course he'll play the veteran hands if it equates to more wins.

The last coach that was hired to develop players regardless of winning was Jacque Vaughn. Of course this board wanted him fired for not winning enough. No pun intended, but there is no winning with this fanbase. The coach is always the "problem."

Sent from my HD1900 using RealGM mobile app

I can believe fans are upset with a franchise that has spent 9 years rebuilding to be an #8 seed in a weak Eastern Conference. But, look at all your points:

"Do you look at the Magic...and see a winning product? A winning strategy? A clear direction."

Clifford as a head coach is trying to win as many games as possible. That's attempting to create a winning product through a winning strategy (playing vets over unproven younger talent). Not sure he has much direct control over the franchise's direction. Not sure how that's a coaching problem.

My point is that you can't blame a head coach for trying to win games by any means necessary. Coaches generally don't participate in tanking because it'd be career suicide if they did. It's not that different than suggesting players help tank. No player is going to purposely try to lose when a huge chunk of them are literally playing for their next contract.

Sent from my HD1900 using RealGM mobile app

Blue_and_Whte · Post #1192 » by **Blue_and_Whte** » Mon Dec 7, 2020 1:01 am

basketballRob wrote:Cliff was talking about how good Birch is at the four. I remember Bejilca looking like all world against him.

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

well that’s one game where he shot 80% and
Bejilca had three 30 point games last season iirc so he’s prone to having big games like that also it wasn’t only against Birch.

MasterGMer · Post #1193 » by **MasterGMer** » Mon Dec 7, 2020 1:47 am

What if Giannis doesn't sign the max extension with Mil before the season starts? Will he be a FA next summer?

Nyce_1 · Post #1194 » by **Nyce_1** » Mon Dec 7, 2020 1:58 am

MasterGMer wrote:What if Giannis doesn't sign the max extension with Mil before the season starts? Will he be a FA next summer?

Yes

basketballRob · Post #1195 » by **basketballRob** » Mon Dec 7, 2020 2:00 am

Blue_and_Whte wrote:
basketballRob wrote:Cliff was talking about how good Birch is at the four. I remember Bejilca looking like all world against him.

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app
well that’s one game where he shot 80% and
Bejilca had three 30 point games last season iirc so he’s prone to having big games like that also it wasn’t only against Birch.

He may of got better as the season went on, but Birch had a really hard time guarding the perimeter in that game

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

Xatticus · Post #1196 » by **Xatticus** » Mon Dec 7, 2020 2:50 pm

Def Swami wrote:lol

Read on Twitter

This **** is hilarious. Clifford is on PR campaign to justify his exclusion of Bamba from the rotation and lionizing Birch is just a part of that.

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced/?Season=2019-20&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&TeamID=1610612753&GroupQuantity=2&CF=GROUP_NAME*E*birch

You have to scroll down to Birch/Bamba to find a lineup with a positive net rating. Bamba was the only player in the rotation with whom Birch had a positive net rating. Isn't that a wonderful example of irony?

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced/?Season=2019-20&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&TeamID=1610612753&GroupQuantity=2&CF=GROUP_NAME*E*bamba

Bamba is Clifford's whipping boy. There will never be peace in the Middle East for as long as Bamba is slow on his rotations and lacking effort.

If I were running this organization, I'd call Clifford into my office for a clarification session. If he doesn't like it, he can start working on his resume. Of course, this will never happen as ours is the clearest example of a rudderless ship as you will find in the NBA.

And shame on the people in this thread that are invoking the names of Malone, Popovich, and Spoestra to defend Clifford. Clifford has won nothing, the young guys never touch the ball, and nobody under his tutelage ever improves. How on earth can you compare him to a group of coaches that will end up in the Hall of Fame?

JBSouthpaw · Post #1197 » by **JBSouthpaw** » Mon Dec 7, 2020 3:25 pm

basketballRob wrote:Watch Melvin Frazier become a 10 yr pro in OKC.

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

Frazier was cut from OKC either last night or this morning.

pepe1991 · Post #1198 » by **pepe1991** » Mon Dec 7, 2020 3:36 pm

JBSouthpaw wrote:
basketballRob wrote:Watch Melvin Frazier become a 10 yr pro in OKC.

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

Frazier was cut from OKC either last night or this morning.

guy menaged to play less than 30 games in 2 years with Magic.

YosemiteSam · Post #1199 » by **YosemiteSam** » Mon Dec 7, 2020 3:39 pm

Gomagic44 wrote: The point is to win it all or try.

Is this really the only point? I feel this assumption is why there is so much agitation around the Magic and most of sports. I don't believe this belief is universally shared. I know I don't subscribe to it.

Skybox · Post #1200 » by **Skybox** » Mon Dec 7, 2020 4:22 pm

YosemiteSam wrote:
Gomagic44 wrote: The point is to win it all or try.

Is this really the only point? I feel this assumption is why there is so much agitation around the Magic and most of sports. I don't believe this belief is universally shared. I know I don't subscribe to it.

100...this is why I grab Westbrook and jump to 4th seed - and then figure out what's next. Too many here (IMO) pump the brakes on progress with "not on our timeline" or "doesn't make us contenders" as if progress was a problem. Get good, then get great...avoid terrible...Lebron is not coming in the draft anytime soon.