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

[Def Swami]

It's all moot if Bamba has no chance of playing on this team. The Magic have 5 power forwards, 3 of which are hurt, 1 of which is kind of hurt, and 1 that probably belongs in the G League.

Usually, if you draft a raw prospect like Bamba in the lottery, you have a game plan for his development. John Hammond's Bucks had a plan for Giannis. There's absolutely none right now for Bamba. And it's not a health issue. They have totally mismanaged the #6 pick. It's fireable how badly they've wasted it. Bamba's trade value is probably a 2nd round pick that the Magic would inevitably trade away for nothing. Adding a former #2 prospect in a similar situation might be the best the Magic can do.

I think a more likely outcome for all of this is Bamba is used as a throw in for a trade involving Fournier or Gordon this year.

[The Effect]

From a modern NBA perspective, I still prefer Bamba. Who knows why he's not playing though

Theres nothing ive seen from Bamba that says hes anywhere near as good as Bagley

Have you watched Bagley though? He’s a terrible defender and below average on offense.

At least Bamba has shown flashes of elite rim protection and long range shooting.

I don't understand the bamba hype on this board
He hasn't shown elite anything, he's barely shown he's above average at anything.

He might be able to block shots, but he's still a bad one on one defender, is extremely lazy on the court unless he thinks he had a highlight type play available, and most importantly, hes done nothing to prove to the coaches that he's worth playing over BIRCH!

Sorry but I'd take bagley over him in a heart beat

Seriously, someone explain the bamba hype to me? I really believe it's his predraft projections over anything he's shown on the court

[RookieStar]

Bagley.. before the GSW dynasty where even shoots the 3 is probably the prototypical F/C.

Mobiel Agile enough to play the PF and big enough to play the C. 2nd bounce and athleticism is elite but without a 3pt shot... well... If he does share the floor with Vuc, then he can probably gobble the rebounds our players misses a lot on.

[Bensational]

The annoying thing is that despite our injuries we don't have any interesting developing bodies to fill in when the others go down. Instead of having a THT or Trent Jr who could be giving us minutes with Fournier out, we've got MCW and Bacon. With Isaac, Aminu, Okeke and Gordon half injured we're only left with Gary Clark.

Why don't we have any decent youth or prospects? Bamba, Okeke and Cole will be our only rookie scale prospects after this season.

[cedric76]

We need to ship Gordon for a SF that can play D and shoot 3s

[3ddman23]

The annoying thing is that despite our injuries we don't have any interesting developing bodies to fill in when the others go down. Instead of having a THT or Trent Jr who could be giving us minutes with Fournier out, we've got MCW and Bacon. With Isaac, Aminu, Okeke and Gordon half injured we're only left with Gary Clark.

Why don't we have any decent youth or prospects? Bamba, Okeke and Cole will be our only rookie scale prospects after this season.

Second round picks.... the magic just dont use them or if they do they don't pick very well in the second round. Both of those guys are second round picks that where highly touted going into college and fell to the second round.

For some weird reason its almost always been a thing with this organization of underutilized the second round and never really being able to truly develop quality players or seek out talent. Only one I can really think of is gortat.

[nicnac215]

The annoying thing is that despite our injuries we don't have any interesting developing bodies to fill in when the others go down. Instead of having a THT or Trent Jr who could be giving us minutes with Fournier out, we've got MCW and Bacon. With Isaac, Aminu, Okeke and Gordon half injured we're only left with Gary Clark.

Why don't we have any decent youth or prospects? Bamba, Okeke and Cole will be our only rookie scale prospects after this season.

Guys like MCW and Bacon would be cut by a true contender. That’s why MCW was a FA when we signed him late in the season. No one wanted him

[Bensational]

Look at the Hawks - their starting lineup apart from Capella is all their drafted players. The expensive veterans they signed in the offseason are looking like bench/depth pieces at this early junction. OKC have done something similar with their mix of youth and veterans, NOP and Phoenix, too.

But here we are with no cornerstone pieces, no cap space, and our own veterans are in-house guys like Vuc and Fournier.

[cedric76]

Look at the Hawks - their starting lineup apart from Capella is all their drafted players. The expensive veterans they signed in the offseason are looking like bench/depth pieces at this early junction. OKC have done something similar with their mix of youth and veterans, NOP and Phoenix, too.

But here we are with no cornerstone pieces, no cap space, and our own veterans are in-house guys like Vuc and Fournier.

We r better than those 3 franchises you mentioned

[thelead]

Look at the Hawks - their starting lineup apart from Capella is all their drafted players. The expensive veterans they signed in the offseason are looking like bench/depth pieces at this early junction. OKC have done something similar with their mix of youth and veterans, NOP and Phoenix, too.

But here we are with no cornerstone pieces, no cap space, and our own veterans are in-house guys like Vuc and Fournier.

We r better than those 3 franchises you mentioned

We're better than who????????? You may have an argument that we're better than OKC today but they have a million draft picks from smart trades coming in. NOP are a bit better than us with a much brighter future due to their youth.

Phoenix and Hawks are WAY better than us.

[SOUL]

Phoenix and Hawks are WAY better than us.

it's cedric don't worry

[MagicFan101]

Look at the Hawks - their starting lineup apart from Capella is all their drafted players. The expensive veterans they signed in the offseason are looking like bench/depth pieces at this early junction. OKC have done something similar with their mix of youth and veterans, NOP and Phoenix, too.

But here we are with no cornerstone pieces, no cap space, and our own veterans are in-house guys like Vuc and Fournier.

We r better than those 3 franchises you mentioned

Atlanta has Trae Young.

New Orleans has Zion and Ingram.

OKC has SGA and a treasure trove of picks to build with in the coming years.

Phoenix has Booker and Ayton.

What does Orlando have? What is our core for building beyond the 8th seed?

I’ll get the popcorn. This should be entertaining.

[VFX]

As of now for the future Orlando has:

Isaac (starter)
Fultz (starter/possible 6th man)
Okeke (prospect/ role player)
Anthony (prospect/ 6th man)
Bamba (raw prospect/ bust)

No, Orlando is not more talented than PHX, NO, or ATL moving forward.

No, Orlando does not have a better direction than OKC.

[Husky1]

Look at the Hawks - their starting lineup apart from Capella is all their drafted players. The expensive veterans they signed in the offseason are looking like bench/depth pieces at this early junction. OKC have done something similar with their mix of youth and veterans, NOP and Phoenix, too.

But here we are with no cornerstone pieces, no cap space, and our own veterans are in-house guys like Vuc and Fournier.

We r better than those 3 franchises you mentioned

Are you joking? We’re not even close to them if we’re talking rosters. Not even in same ballpark

[tiderulz]

Look at the Hawks - their starting lineup apart from Capella is all their drafted players. The expensive veterans they signed in the offseason are looking like bench/depth pieces at this early junction. OKC have done something similar with their mix of youth and veterans, NOP and Phoenix, too.

But here we are with no cornerstone pieces, no cap space, and our own veterans are in-house guys like Vuc and Fournier.

well, Bogdan and Gallo are both better than Hunter right now. and starting lineups dont matter as much as finishing. Harden didnt start in OKC for awhile, but that didnt mean he wasnt one of the better players

[nicnac215]

Look at the Hawks - their starting lineup apart from Capella is all their drafted players. The expensive veterans they signed in the offseason are looking like bench/depth pieces at this early junction. OKC have done something similar with their mix of youth and veterans, NOP and Phoenix, too.

But here we are with no cornerstone pieces, no cap space, and our own veterans are in-house guys like Vuc and Fournier.

We r better than those 3 franchises you mentioned

Atlanta has Trae Young.

New Orleans has Zion and Ingram.

OKC has SGA and a treasure trove of picks to build with in the coming years.

Phoenix has Booker and Ayton.

What does Orlando have? What is our core for building beyond the 8th seed?

I’ll get the popcorn. This should be entertaining.

Orlando has a championship team if you can trade Gary Clark+2nd rd pick for Lebron. Vuc, Fultz, Fournier, Ross, Gordon would all play great next to LBJ.

[cedric76]

Look at the Hawks - their starting lineup apart from Capella is all their drafted players. The expensive veterans they signed in the offseason are looking like bench/depth pieces at this early junction. OKC have done something similar with their mix of youth and veterans, NOP and Phoenix, too.

But here we are with no cornerstone pieces, no cap space, and our own veterans are in-house guys like Vuc and Fournier.

We r better than those 3 franchises you mentioned

We're better than who????????? You may have an argument that we're better than OKC today but they have a million draft picks from smart trades coming in. NOP are a bit better than us with a much brighter future due to their youth.

Phoenix and Hawks are WAY better than us.

ATL and Young are over rated, cant defend ****
NOP backcourt sucks, Zion is over rated and wont be able to stay on the floor
Pho wont make the playoff this year

So yeah, when healthy we ll be better than those team, we might not have a superstar but our team is better than them

[Xatticus]

Theres nothing ive seen from Bamba that says hes anywhere near as good as Bagley

Have you watched Bagley though? He’s a terrible defender and below average on offense.

At least Bamba has shown flashes of elite rim protection and long range shooting.

I don't understand the bamba hype on this board
He hasn't shown elite anything, he's barely shown he's above average at anything.

He might be able to block shots, but he's still a bad one on one defender, is extremely lazy on the court unless he thinks he had a highlight type play available, and most importantly, hes done nothing to prove to the coaches that he's worth playing over BIRCH!

Sorry but I'd take bagley over him in a heart beat

Seriously, someone explain the bamba hype to me? I really believe it's his predraft projections over anything he's shown on the court

It's not complicated.



Bamba's closest physical comp is Gobert, except that Bamba is more agile than Gobert. Bamba has the potential to be an elite shot blocker and rim protector. 274 players played more minutes than Bamba did last year. Only 17 of them blocked more shots than did Bamba. He had a higher block percentage than did anyone that played enough minutes to qualify and his rebound percentage would've placed him about 13th in the NBA if he played enough minutes. That's elite. That's not too bad for someone that is "extremely lazy" is it? And make no mistake... rim protection is the most important thing that a center brings to your team. There is a place in the NBA for anyone that can get themselves up and down the floor and that can protect the basket.

[MagicFan101]

We r better than those 3 franchises you mentioned

Atlanta has Trae Young.

New Orleans has Zion and Ingram.

OKC has SGA and a treasure trove of picks to build with in the coming years.

Phoenix has Booker and Ayton.

What does Orlando have? What is our core for building beyond the 8th seed?

I’ll get the popcorn. This should be entertaining.

Orlando has a championship team if you can trade Gary Clark+2nd rd pick for Lebron. Vuc, Fultz, Fournier, Ross, Gordon would all play great next to LBJ.

Lebron is old.

Gary Clark for Giannis makes much more sense but adding the 2nd round pick is an over pay. Haven’t you been reading the thread? 2nd round picks are gold man. We can’t be throwing them away so easily! If anything they should add a pick. Clark for Giannis + a pick.

[jonbob17]

Theres nothing ive seen from Bamba that says hes anywhere near as good as Bagley

Have you watched Bagley though? He’s a terrible defender and below average on offense.

At least Bamba has shown flashes of elite rim protection and long range shooting.

I don't understand the bamba hype on this board
He hasn't shown elite anything, he's barely shown he's above average at anything.

He might be able to block shots, but he's still a bad one on one defender, is extremely lazy on the court unless he thinks he had a highlight type play available, and most importantly, hes done nothing to prove to the coaches that he's worth playing over BIRCH!

Sorry but I'd take bagley over him in a heart beat

Seriously, someone explain the bamba hype to me? I really believe it's his predraft projections over anything he's shown on the court

The shot blocking is elite. The changing opponent’s efficiency is elite. This league has become about shooting 3’s and making layups. When Bamba is in the game, opponents make 60% of shots at the rim VS 65% when he is not. By making it harder to score in the paint, it also allows our defenders to do a better job of closing out (knowing they have help behind them). When Bamba is in the game opponents shoot 33% from 3 VS 39% when he is not. This is obviously last years data when he was actually seeing the court. He also had the highest screen assists rate on the team, for those that argue about his screening.

The percentages above are huge changes. Game deciding types of differences. Let’s give him the time to see if his on ball defense gets better and his offensive game comes around.

The hustle. I can see how the coaching staff/fans get pissed about it, but that doesn’t mean we are not better with him in the game than Birch. He’s better than Birch right now, and could be really good if the other aspects of his game improve.