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

[NEM]

Kleber just entered 10-14 day COVID isolation. This will inevitably cause a few of our guys to miss some time as well. There honestly is no reason to try and tank this year, it’ll take care of itself with Kelle and JI being out for the year, Evan and AG missing time. Pretty soon we will look like Philly last night: dress 7 players, two of them from your regular rotation, the other 5 off the street who happen to test negative that day.

[Magicfanatic82]

Washinton just lost Bryant to a torn ACL. We could ship them Birch and force playing time to Bamba.

[NEM]

Washinton just lost Bryant to a torn ACL. We could ship them Birch and force playing time to Bamba.

Or ship them bamba and cut our losses

[thelead]

Washinton just lost Bryant to a torn ACL. We could ship them Birch and force playing time to Bamba.

Or ship them bamba and cut our losses

Stop it. And get what back? I'd rather play him and actually see what he can do when given minutes.

Trading him for 2nd rd picks is the alternative. No thanks. We don't use those anyway.

[pepe1991]

Washinton just lost Bryant to a torn ACL. We could ship them Birch and force playing time to Bamba.

Or ship them bamba and cut our losses

Stop it. And get what back? I'd rather play him and actually see what he can do when given minutes.

Trading him for 2nd rd picks is the alternative. No thanks. We don't use those anyway.

He will make over 7,5M next year so you are cutting bad salary.
I'm not really invested into notion of trading him for second round picks, but should be part of bigger trade? No doubt. He is soon to be 23 years old and looks to be years away from being 20-25 min solid rotation peace. I'm not wasting my future cap for poor man's Javale McGee.

[MagicFan101]

Or ship them bamba and cut our losses

Stop it. And get what back? I'd rather play him and actually see what he can do when given minutes.

Trading him for 2nd rd picks is the alternative. No thanks. We don't use those anyway.

He will make over 7,5M next year so you are cutting bad salary.
I'm not really invested into notion of trading him for second round picks, but should be part of bigger trade? No doubt. He is soon to be 23 years old and looks to be years away from being 20-25 min solid rotation peace. I'm not wasting my future cap for poor man's Javale McGee.

Mo Bamba for Malik Monk is a deal I have seen both on this board and in general trade suggestion articles by Bleacher Report and more.

This deal offers us guard depth and Monk is an expiring deal while Bamba has an extra year left.

However ... if Monk should prove valuable we might have to resign him for more years and / or more $$ than Bamba.

... I’m not really a fan of this deal but it’s worth discussing given how things are playing out.

[thelead]

Or ship them bamba and cut our losses

Stop it. And get what back? I'd rather play him and actually see what he can do when given minutes.

Trading him for 2nd rd picks is the alternative. No thanks. We don't use those anyway.

He will make over 7,5M next year so you are cutting bad salary.
I'm not really invested into notion of trading him for second round picks, but should be part of bigger trade? No doubt. He is soon to be 23 years old and looks to be years away from being 20-25 min solid rotation peace. I'm not wasting my future cap for poor man's Javale McGee.

Who cares about cap space at this point? The front office obviously has no plans on attracting any big time free agents. It's getting comical how bad our situation is right now.

[Magicfanatic82]

Really the Aminu contract is the reason we are pressed against the tax. Without it we could resign Evan with no problem. The only way it makes sense is if he starts in place of a traded AG.

[KillMonger]

Really the Aminu contract is the reason we are pressed against the tax. Without it we could resign Evan with no problem. The only way it makes sense is if he starts in place of a traded AG.

why would we want to resign evan? he himself said if a contender offers him a decent contract he's gone

[RookieStar]

Sooo. most of our caps space ( except for Evan ) are tied to players that are injured right? JI, Fultz and Aminu?

[KillMonger]

In my head i've been wondering if the way clifford runs the team have an effect on player growth? I've said time and time again that Clifford's offense is a mistake free offense so he has specific roles for everyone that they must play. I wonder if being "on rails" so much of the time stunts growth? We run the same thing every game pretty much the same way, with the usual suspects.....buddy ball....AG post turnaround fadeaways......T-Ross heads or tails offense for the second unit.....same ole same ole.......

There have been some people saying clifford has an issue with young players and development, there might be something to it. I tend to think he'll play the young players minutes but where i have the issue is whether they're INVOLVED or not. Markelle was a lot more involved this year but it's no surprise considering who's NOT here anymore, DJ.....Fultz can't sit in a corner anymore with DJ gone, so i'd think Fultz is more involved now due to circumstance maybe lol.....

I look at JI and feel he may be a victim of clifford in a way because besides the injuries all these years later and we STILL don't really know how much JI can handle offensively....We still don't know if he's given consistent opportunities can he consistently contribute on the offensive end? He was never put in a position to do so, I don't think in his entire career he's had a 20 attempt game...Vuc had that by the end of 3rd quarter last night...Clifford out of his own mouth said that he doesn't run plays for JI and i could never understand why....

Now i know there is a certain someone that can come up with stats that will tell me something different but i can't help but feel that clifford may not want to deal with developing young players in an effective way....maybe i'm wrong, i'm just hoping that clifford going forward doesn't do that to cole as well.....

[pepe1991]

In my head i've been wondering if the way clifford runs the team have an effect on player growth? I've said time and time again that Clifford's offense is a mistake free offense so he has specific roles for everyone that they must play. I wonder if being "on rails" so much of the time stunts growth? We run the same thing every game pretty much the same way, with the usual suspects.....buddy ball....AG post turnaround fadeaways......T-Ross heads or tails offense for the second unit.....same ole same ole.......

There have been some people saying clifford has an issue with young players and development, there might be something to it. I tend to think he'll play the young players minutes but where i have the issue is whether they're INVOLVED or not. Markelle was a lot more involved this year but it's no surprise considering who's NOT here anymore, DJ.....Fultz can't sit in a corner anymore with DJ gone, so i'd think Fultz is more involved now due to circumstance maybe lol.....

I look at JI and feel he may be a victim of clifford in a way because besides the injuries all these years later and we STILL don't really know how much JI can handle offensively....We still don't know if he's given consistent opportunities can he consistently contribute on the offensive end? He was never put in a position to do so, I don't think in his entire career he's had a 20 attempt game...Vuc had that by the end of 3rd quarter last night...Clifford out of his own mouth said that he doesn't run plays for JI and i could never understand why....

Now i know there is a certain someone that can come up with stats that will tell me something different but i can't help but feel that clifford may not want to deal with developing young players in an effective way....maybe i'm wrong, i'm just hoping that clifford going forward doesn't do that to cole as well.....

To not make huge reply, no. Magic just add challenged and raw players without offensive skills.
Clifford is working with s**t.

[RookieStar]

In my head i've been wondering if the way clifford runs the team have an effect on player growth? I've said time and time again that Clifford's offense is a mistake free offense so he has specific roles for everyone that they must play. I wonder if being "on rails" so much of the time stunts growth? We run the same thing every game pretty much the same way, with the usual suspects.....buddy ball....AG post turnaround fadeaways......T-Ross heads or tails offense for the second unit.....same ole same ole.......

There have been some people saying clifford has an issue with young players and development, there might be something to it. I tend to think he'll play the young players minutes but where i have the issue is whether they're INVOLVED or not. Markelle was a lot more involved this year but it's no surprise considering who's NOT here anymore, DJ.....Fultz can't sit in a corner anymore with DJ gone, so i'd think Fultz is more involved now due to circumstance maybe lol.....

I look at JI and feel he may be a victim of clifford in a way because besides the injuries all these years later and we STILL don't really know how much JI can handle offensively....We still don't know if he's given consistent opportunities can he consistently contribute on the offensive end? He was never put in a position to do so, I don't think in his entire career he's had a 20 attempt game...Vuc had that by the end of 3rd quarter last night...Clifford out of his own mouth said that he doesn't run plays for JI and i could never understand why....

Now i know there is a certain someone that can come up with stats that will tell me something different but i can't help but feel that clifford may not want to deal with developing young players in an effective way....maybe i'm wrong, i'm just hoping that clifford going forward doesn't do that to cole as well.....

I sometimes read other team's board and they sometimes mention players/coaches that are related to us. I forgot which one but someone mentioned that Cliff does play rookies but he kinda instills discipline and "good behavior/traits" ,whatever that means, to rookies so that bad habits won't be formed down the road.

I think that is what we are seeing with Cole. If I compare him with his UNC days where he was a chucker/gunner, he gives up the ball to the vets and plays within the system a lot. Now we compared him to the latest rookie darling Maxey who scored ( was it 39?? ) points BUT it took him ( was it really 33 shot attempts? ) I mean yeah why not. If we are gonna be blown away anyway why not give Cole the green light to look off his teammates and try to shoot 33 times.. see where it goes. But nope, he still tries to pass,give the ball up, play the gameplan.. which is good for a player and team but not so for us fans who wants to see him go off.

[Xatticus]

In my head i've been wondering if the way clifford runs the team have an effect on player growth? I've said time and time again that Clifford's offense is a mistake free offense so he has specific roles for everyone that they must play. I wonder if being "on rails" so much of the time stunts growth? We run the same thing every game pretty much the same way, with the usual suspects.....buddy ball....AG post turnaround fadeaways......T-Ross heads or tails offense for the second unit.....same ole same ole.......

There have been some people saying clifford has an issue with young players and development, there might be something to it. I tend to think he'll play the young players minutes but where i have the issue is whether they're INVOLVED or not. Markelle was a lot more involved this year but it's no surprise considering who's NOT here anymore, DJ.....Fultz can't sit in a corner anymore with DJ gone, so i'd think Fultz is more involved now due to circumstance maybe lol.....

I look at JI and feel he may be a victim of clifford in a way because besides the injuries all these years later and we STILL don't really know how much JI can handle offensively....We still don't know if he's given consistent opportunities can he consistently contribute on the offensive end? He was never put in a position to do so, I don't think in his entire career he's had a 20 attempt game...Vuc had that by the end of 3rd quarter last night...Clifford out of his own mouth said that he doesn't run plays for JI and i could never understand why....

Now i know there is a certain someone that can come up with stats that will tell me something different but i can't help but feel that clifford may not want to deal with developing young players in an effective way....maybe i'm wrong, i'm just hoping that clifford going forward doesn't do that to cole as well.....

Clifford has no idea what to do with talent. He can't see beyond the next game on the schedule. He believes that instilling discipline is teaching. He doesn't care whether or not you get the answers right, he cares whether or not you raise your hand before speaking. He should've been a drill instructor.

[MagicFan101]

In my head i've been wondering if the way clifford runs the team have an effect on player growth? I've said time and time again that Clifford's offense is a mistake free offense so he has specific roles for everyone that they must play. I wonder if being "on rails" so much of the time stunts growth? We run the same thing every game pretty much the same way, with the usual suspects.....buddy ball....AG post turnaround fadeaways......T-Ross heads or tails offense for the second unit.....same ole same ole.......

There have been some people saying clifford has an issue with young players and development, there might be something to it. I tend to think he'll play the young players minutes but where i have the issue is whether they're INVOLVED or not. Markelle was a lot more involved this year but it's no surprise considering who's NOT here anymore, DJ.....Fultz can't sit in a corner anymore with DJ gone, so i'd think Fultz is more involved now due to circumstance maybe lol.....

I look at JI and feel he may be a victim of clifford in a way because besides the injuries all these years later and we STILL don't really know how much JI can handle offensively....We still don't know if he's given consistent opportunities can he consistently contribute on the offensive end? He was never put in a position to do so, I don't think in his entire career he's had a 20 attempt game...Vuc had that by the end of 3rd quarter last night...Clifford out of his own mouth said that he doesn't run plays for JI and i could never understand why....

Now i know there is a certain someone that can come up with stats that will tell me something different but i can't help but feel that clifford may not want to deal with developing young players in an effective way....maybe i'm wrong, i'm just hoping that clifford going forward doesn't do that to cole as well.....

Clifford has no idea what to do with talent. He can't see beyond the next game on the schedule. He believes that instilling discipline is teaching. He doesn't care whether or not you get the answers right, he cares whether or not you raise your hand before speaking. He should've been a drill instructor.

We needed that when he got here.

We probably needed that for half a season. Give him a full season to be nice.

I appreciate what he has done. Thank you Cliff.

His particular skills are no longer needed. We need a basketball coach now.

[jonbob17]

In my head i've been wondering if the way clifford runs the team have an effect on player growth? I've said time and time again that Clifford's offense is a mistake free offense so he has specific roles for everyone that they must play. I wonder if being "on rails" so much of the time stunts growth? We run the same thing every game pretty much the same way, with the usual suspects.....buddy ball....AG post turnaround fadeaways......T-Ross heads or tails offense for the second unit.....same ole same ole.......

There have been some people saying clifford has an issue with young players and development, there might be something to it. I tend to think he'll play the young players minutes but where i have the issue is whether they're INVOLVED or not. Markelle was a lot more involved this year but it's no surprise considering who's NOT here anymore, DJ.....Fultz can't sit in a corner anymore with DJ gone, so i'd think Fultz is more involved now due to circumstance maybe lol.....

I look at JI and feel he may be a victim of clifford in a way because besides the injuries all these years later and we STILL don't really know how much JI can handle offensively....We still don't know if he's given consistent opportunities can he consistently contribute on the offensive end? He was never put in a position to do so, I don't think in his entire career he's had a 20 attempt game...Vuc had that by the end of 3rd quarter last night...Clifford out of his own mouth said that he doesn't run plays for JI and i could never understand why....

Now i know there is a certain someone that can come up with stats that will tell me something different but i can't help but feel that clifford may not want to deal with developing young players in an effective way....maybe i'm wrong, i'm just hoping that clifford going forward doesn't do that to cole as well.....

I sometimes read other team's board and they sometimes mention players/coaches that are related to us. I forgot which one but someone mentioned that Cliff does play rookies but he kinda instills discipline and "good behavior/traits" ,whatever that means, to rookies so that bad habits won't be formed down the road.

I think that is what we are seeing with Cole. If I compare him with his UNC days where he was a chucker/gunner, he gives up the ball to the vets and plays within the system a lot. Now we compared him to the latest rookie darling Maxey who scored ( was it 39?? ) points BUT it took him ( was it really 33 shot attempts? ) I mean yeah why not. If we are gonna be blown away anyway why not give Cole the green light to look off his teammates and try to shoot 33 times.. see where it goes. But nope, he still tries to pass,give the ball up, play the gameplan.. which is good for a player and team but not so for us fans who wants to see him go off.

Why are we saying that like it’s a bad thing. Maxey scored 39 points on 55%. I mean it’s pretty weird didn’t get to the line on 33 shots. On 33 shots we can only expect about 20 points or so from Cole plus a few free throws.

[KillMonger]

In my head i've been wondering if the way clifford runs the team have an effect on player growth? I've said time and time again that Clifford's offense is a mistake free offense so he has specific roles for everyone that they must play. I wonder if being "on rails" so much of the time stunts growth? We run the same thing every game pretty much the same way, with the usual suspects.....buddy ball....AG post turnaround fadeaways......T-Ross heads or tails offense for the second unit.....same ole same ole.......

There have been some people saying clifford has an issue with young players and development, there might be something to it. I tend to think he'll play the young players minutes but where i have the issue is whether they're INVOLVED or not. Markelle was a lot more involved this year but it's no surprise considering who's NOT here anymore, DJ.....Fultz can't sit in a corner anymore with DJ gone, so i'd think Fultz is more involved now due to circumstance maybe lol.....

I look at JI and feel he may be a victim of clifford in a way because besides the injuries all these years later and we STILL don't really know how much JI can handle offensively....We still don't know if he's given consistent opportunities can he consistently contribute on the offensive end? He was never put in a position to do so, I don't think in his entire career he's had a 20 attempt game...Vuc had that by the end of 3rd quarter last night...Clifford out of his own mouth said that he doesn't run plays for JI and i could never understand why....

Now i know there is a certain someone that can come up with stats that will tell me something different but i can't help but feel that clifford may not want to deal with developing young players in an effective way....maybe i'm wrong, i'm just hoping that clifford going forward doesn't do that to cole as well.....

I sometimes read other team's board and they sometimes mention players/coaches that are related to us. I forgot which one but someone mentioned that Cliff does play rookies but he kinda instills discipline and "good behavior/traits" ,whatever that means, to rookies so that bad habits won't be formed down the road.

I think that is what we are seeing with Cole. If I compare him with his UNC days where he was a chucker/gunner, he gives up the ball to the vets and plays within the system a lot. Now we compared him to the latest rookie darling Maxey who scored ( was it 39?? ) points BUT it took him ( was it really 33 shot attempts? ) I mean yeah why not. If we are gonna be blown away anyway why not give Cole the green light to look off his teammates and try to shoot 33 times.. see where it goes. But nope, he still tries to pass,give the ball up, play the gameplan.. which is good for a player and team but not so for us fans who wants to see him go off.

For me it's not so much that, i get the idea about breaking habits but i'm not so sure i would give clifford a lot credit with that i mean Fournier, AG still have a ton of bad habits that have yet to be broken and they are WHOLE VETERANS out here so theres no excuse for them.....What i mean with cole is i hope with clifford that the essence of the player he is isn't lost trying to fit cole into a system if that makes any sense.....cole is a scorer at heart, i don't want him to play like he's john stockton....I hope that cole's strengths is fostered and his weaknesses fortified....

What ever kind of player he ends up being the early path is so important....Honestly i prefer that cole is being thrown into the fire as i think it will accelerate his development but clifford makes me wonder sometimes....like why are you fighting so hard for an 8th seed? i mean i get it but that's more for the now, does clifford not think about trying to set up the future?

[RookieStar]

In my head i've been wondering if the way clifford runs the team have an effect on player growth? I've said time and time again that Clifford's offense is a mistake free offense so he has specific roles for everyone that they must play. I wonder if being "on rails" so much of the time stunts growth? We run the same thing every game pretty much the same way, with the usual suspects.....buddy ball....AG post turnaround fadeaways......T-Ross heads or tails offense for the second unit.....same ole same ole.......

There have been some people saying clifford has an issue with young players and development, there might be something to it. I tend to think he'll play the young players minutes but where i have the issue is whether they're INVOLVED or not. Markelle was a lot more involved this year but it's no surprise considering who's NOT here anymore, DJ.....Fultz can't sit in a corner anymore with DJ gone, so i'd think Fultz is more involved now due to circumstance maybe lol.....

I look at JI and feel he may be a victim of clifford in a way because besides the injuries all these years later and we STILL don't really know how much JI can handle offensively....We still don't know if he's given consistent opportunities can he consistently contribute on the offensive end? He was never put in a position to do so, I don't think in his entire career he's had a 20 attempt game...Vuc had that by the end of 3rd quarter last night...Clifford out of his own mouth said that he doesn't run plays for JI and i could never understand why....

Now i know there is a certain someone that can come up with stats that will tell me something different but i can't help but feel that clifford may not want to deal with developing young players in an effective way....maybe i'm wrong, i'm just hoping that clifford going forward doesn't do that to cole as well.....

I sometimes read other team's board and they sometimes mention players/coaches that are related to us. I forgot which one but someone mentioned that Cliff does play rookies but he kinda instills discipline and "good behavior/traits" ,whatever that means, to rookies so that bad habits won't be formed down the road.

I think that is what we are seeing with Cole. If I compare him with his UNC days where he was a chucker/gunner, he gives up the ball to the vets and plays within the system a lot. Now we compared him to the latest rookie darling Maxey who scored ( was it 39?? ) points BUT it took him ( was it really 33 shot attempts? ) I mean yeah why not. If we are gonna be blown away anyway why not give Cole the green light to look off his teammates and try to shoot 33 times.. see where it goes. But nope, he still tries to pass,give the ball up, play the gameplan.. which is good for a player and team but not so for us fans who wants to see him go off.

Why are we saying that like it’s a bad thing. Maxey scored 39 points on 55%. I mean it’s pretty weird didn’t get to the line on 33 shots. On 33 shots we can only expect about 20 points or so from Cole plus a few free throws.

As i said in my post I am one of those who wnats him to shoot like kobe 81. However, as a magic fan looking for the future i dont want him to be like jennings, monta, etc that can get you points but totally and always look off your teammates as long you get yours.

Maxey is played as a SG, Cole right now is being played as a PG. Thus, he needs ti at least setup the play before taking the shot.

[RookieStar]

In my head i've been wondering if the way clifford runs the team have an effect on player growth? I've said time and time again that Clifford's offense is a mistake free offense so he has specific roles for everyone that they must play. I wonder if being "on rails" so much of the time stunts growth? We run the same thing every game pretty much the same way, with the usual suspects.....buddy ball....AG post turnaround fadeaways......T-Ross heads or tails offense for the second unit.....same ole same ole.......

There have been some people saying clifford has an issue with young players and development, there might be something to it. I tend to think he'll play the young players minutes but where i have the issue is whether they're INVOLVED or not. Markelle was a lot more involved this year but it's no surprise considering who's NOT here anymore, DJ.....Fultz can't sit in a corner anymore with DJ gone, so i'd think Fultz is more involved now due to circumstance maybe lol.....

I look at JI and feel he may be a victim of clifford in a way because besides the injuries all these years later and we STILL don't really know how much JI can handle offensively....We still don't know if he's given consistent opportunities can he consistently contribute on the offensive end? He was never put in a position to do so, I don't think in his entire career he's had a 20 attempt game...Vuc had that by the end of 3rd quarter last night...Clifford out of his own mouth said that he doesn't run plays for JI and i could never understand why....

Now i know there is a certain someone that can come up with stats that will tell me something different but i can't help but feel that clifford may not want to deal with developing young players in an effective way....maybe i'm wrong, i'm just hoping that clifford going forward doesn't do that to cole as well.....

I sometimes read other team's board and they sometimes mention players/coaches that are related to us. I forgot which one but someone mentioned that Cliff does play rookies but he kinda instills discipline and "good behavior/traits" ,whatever that means, to rookies so that bad habits won't be formed down the road.

I think that is what we are seeing with Cole. If I compare him with his UNC days where he was a chucker/gunner, he gives up the ball to the vets and plays within the system a lot. Now we compared him to the latest rookie darling Maxey who scored ( was it 39?? ) points BUT it took him ( was it really 33 shot attempts? ) I mean yeah why not. If we are gonna be blown away anyway why not give Cole the green light to look off his teammates and try to shoot 33 times.. see where it goes. But nope, he still tries to pass,give the ball up, play the gameplan.. which is good for a player and team but not so for us fans who wants to see him go off.

For me it's not so much that, i get the idea about breaking habits but i'm not so sure i would give clifford a lot credit with that i mean Fournier, AG still have a ton of bad habits that have yet to be broken and they are WHOLE VETERANS out here so theres no excuse for them.....What i mean with cole is i hope with clifford that the essence of the player he is isn't lost trying to fit cole into a system if that makes any sense.....cole is a scorer at heart, i don't want him to play like he's john stockton....I hope that cole's strengths is fostered and his weaknesses fortified....

What ever kind of player he ends up being the early path is so important....Honestly i prefer that cole is being thrown into the fire as i think it will accelerate his development but clifford makes me wonder sometimes....like why are you fighting so hard for an 8th seed? i mean i get it but that's more for the now, does clifford not think about trying to set up the future?

Yeah same... I want Cole to be like Dame rather than John Stockton. Both are great players but differeny kind of PG and I want Cole to.be the former kind.

Who knows.. my dream is when we totally lose control and go straight tabking, Cliff already sees that Cole can follow the play and has broken bad habits.. thus let him loose and get his.

[j-ragg]

This is the last year of Cliff’s contract right? Does anyone doubt they’d extend him if it’s still WeltHam in charge?