Official Speculation Thread '20-'21 VII: Magic Expected To Retain Core

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Dear My Beloved Orlando Magic,
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Injuries and Question Marks - Where will we go from here?







TRADE??? FA LOSS??? - Where will we go from here?






TANK OR NOT TO TANK? - Where will we go from here?



HENNY VS. WEHAM - Where will we go from here?





Promises or Lies? - Where will we go from here?





New coach??? New Front Office??? - Where will we go from here?





LOVE, Your Beloved Fans

[PrimeThyme]

Nowhere, && that's the worst part. This Fo/franchise has no interest in going up or down. They are content with summing up our struggles to injuries, && are content with competing for a 6-8th seed.

That's why I said we were in purgatory during playoff time last year. I could live with hell if it meant we would get a high draft pick out of it && I could live with heaven if we pushed the chips in for a big trade and competed for a higher seed.

But what I can't live with is being in purgatory, && us being more than satisfied with that outcome.

[RookieStar]

Guys.. I actually think we are STEALTH tanking.

Seriously, injuries decimated us but did we make ANY kind of move to remedy it? I think we really are throwing in the towel and losing as many games while fighting it out.

I mean sure I would want trades to happen so I can see nee Magic players but my endgame has always been in the Suggs/Cade/Green wars.

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[KillMonger]

Guys.. I actually think we are STEALTH tanking.

Seriously, injuries decimated us but did we make ANY kind of move to remedy it? I think we really are throwing in the towel and losing as many games while fighting it out.

I mean sure I would want trades to happen so I can see nee Magic players but my endgame has always been in the Suggs/Cade/Green wars.

there might be some stealth tanking going on, was almost sure we would pick up another PG but i was wrong....i do feel a bit strange that they haven't yet as there is seemingly no timetable on MCW, so i guess they're content with Cole/Bone and AG sharing PG duties.....i hate the mentality around tanking but this is probably the perfect year to tank for us, we have a built in excuse

[Magicfanatic82]

Maybe the 3rd 2-way contract will be a PG

[VFX]

With Nurkic out for Portland is it finally time?

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=y4naz87u

[RookieStar]

Guys.. I actually think we are STEALTH tanking.

Seriously, injuries decimated us but did we make ANY kind of move to remedy it? I think we really are throwing in the towel and losing as many games while fighting it out.

I mean sure I would want trades to happen so I can see nee Magic players but my endgame has always been in the Suggs/Cade/Green wars.

there might be some stealth tanking going on, was almost sure we would pick up another PG but i was wrong....i do feel a bit strange that they haven't yet as there is seemingly no timetable on MCW, so i guess they're content with Cole/Bone and AG sharing PG duties.....i hate the mentality around tanking but this is probably the perfect year to tank for us, we have a built in excuse

Yeah I hate tanking.. when we had that 1-19 record with Tmac it really sucked.. but it led to Dwight. Although I think Tmac left because of that season ( in my opinion anyway ).

But with a shortened season, multiple injuries to our key guys and games being cancelled over Covid left and right plus we have 2 rookies we want to develop in Cole and Chuma.... I think this is the perfect time to do it.

P.S. forgot to add : this is also the draft with the greatest reward in the top part.

[KillMonger]

Guys.. I actually think we are STEALTH tanking.

Seriously, injuries decimated us but did we make ANY kind of move to remedy it? I think we really are throwing in the towel and losing as many games while fighting it out.

I mean sure I would want trades to happen so I can see nee Magic players but my endgame has always been in the Suggs/Cade/Green wars.

there might be some stealth tanking going on, was almost sure we would pick up another PG but i was wrong....i do feel a bit strange that they haven't yet as there is seemingly no timetable on MCW, so i guess they're content with Cole/Bone and AG sharing PG duties.....i hate the mentality around tanking but this is probably the perfect year to tank for us, we have a built in excuse

Yeah I hate tanking.. when we had that 1-19 record with Tmac it really sucked.. but it led to Dwight. Although I think Tmac left because of that season ( in my opinion anyway ).

But with a shortened season, multiple injuries to our key guys and games being cancelled over Covid left and right plus we have 2 rookies we want to develop in Cole and Chuma.... I think this is the perfect time to do it.

P.S. forgot to add : this is also the draft with the greatest reward in the top part.

yeah i agree, it's like this year we don't need to try as hard to make the playoffs even though saying that makes my skin crawl.......it's the reality though, it's hard to make any noise in the playoffs missing so many key players so why not? Plus i feel this upcoming draft has star talent even in the deep lottery area much less at the top.....as much as it sucks, this may be an opportunity to try and up our chances at star talent.....because as much as we need shooting, we need a star more

[The1llness]

The optimist in me thinks that the Magic are in good shape next season when a healthy Isaac and Fultz return to a team with a top 3 pick, an improved Bamba and some intriguing young assets acquired for Vucevic/Gordon/Fournier.

The realist in me knows that Isaac and Fultz are damaged goods, Mo Bamba the player will never be as good as Mo Bamba the song, the Magic will win just enough games to draft some role player in the 7-10 range and the trade market for Vuc, AG and Evan is deader than Ronald Reagan.

[MoMM]

Guys.. I actually think we are STEALTH tanking.

Seriously, injuries decimated us but did we make ANY kind of move to remedy it? I think we really are throwing in the towel and losing as many games while fighting it out.

I mean sure I would want trades to happen so I can see nee Magic players but my endgame has always been in the Suggs/Cade/Green wars.

Probably we will draft Mobley anyway, so we can have a new 3rd string center after trading Bamba for cash considerations.

[MoMM]

With Nurkic out for Portland is it finally time?

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=y4naz87u

Trade machine predicts that Orlando will lose 6 more games and Portland 7, sounds a good idea for them...

[Forsteria]

Can we please trade the hole team and make it fun again. This product sucks

Sent from my VOG-L29 using RealGM mobile app

[VFX]

With Nurkic out for Portland is it finally time?

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=y4naz87u

Trade machine predicts that Orlando will lose 6 more games and Portland 7, sounds a good idea for them...

Because what both teams have been doing has worked out great so far...

Orlando needs a reset. Portland needs to contend now.

[pepe1991]

With Nurkic out for Portland is it finally time?

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=y4naz87u

Trade machine predicts that Orlando will lose 6 more games and Portland 7, sounds a good idea for them...

Because what both teams have been doing has worked out great so far...

Orlando needs a reset. Portland needs to contend now.

Blazers will never contend with Dame and his buddy. They highjack offense and take around 60% of teams shots and play no defense. Dame is allegedly amazing shooter who shoots 1% above leagues average. Playing along side them is punishment. No ball movment, random 40 feet 3 point shots, and in same time other 3 guys have to defend for them. Blazers didn't develope anybody in last 5 years for that particular reason.

Dame is in nba for a decade, he only once passed second round. Got swept. Most of the time he is empty calories offense guy for first round exits. Curry cheap knockoff

[Xatticus]

Trade machine predicts that Orlando will lose 6 more games and Portland 7, sounds a good idea for them...

Because what both teams have been doing has worked out great so far...

Orlando needs a reset. Portland needs to contend now.

Blazers will never contend with Dame and his buddy. They highjack offense and take around 60% of teams shots and play no defense. Dame is allegedly amazing shooter who shoots 1% above leagues average. Playing along side them is punishment. No ball movment, random 40 feet 3 point shots, and in same time other 3 guys have to defend for them. Blazers didn't develope anybody in last 5 years for that particular reason.

Dame is in nba for a decade, he only once passed second round. Got swept. Most of the time he is empty calories offense guy for first round exits. Curry cheap knockoff

I was actually thinking about this recently. I think the only franchises that are as hopeless as we are at present are Sacramento and Portland.

Sacramento has Fox and Haliburton. That's about it. They have some decent pieces, but nothing near useful enough to actually win games. Fox is what he is. He is a nice young point guard, but really nothing special. Holmes is a nice player, but I don't know how much value he has even if they make him available. They'd have trouble dumping Barnes or Hield with those contracts. That franchise appears to be going nowhere, they aren't likely to get a crack at one of the elite talents in the draft, and they don't have anything that they can get a significant return for in trade.

It's the same with Portland. Lillard is a nice player, but he is 30 and McCollum is 29. They are nice offensive players, but they haven't been able to build a defense around them. The issue with Portland is that it seems very unlikely that they will ever trade Lillard, so they are doomed to retooling for low-tier playoff berths until they have to completely tear that thing down after Lillard ages himself out of the league. That could be another five+ years down the road. They seem terribly far from relevance.

Every other franchise has some source of optimism. I'm not saying things are going to work out for Minnesota, Cleveland, New York, or Detroit, but at least you can see the light at the end of the tunnel if you squint. New York can dream on Thibodeau and free agency. Detroit fans are salivating at the prospects in this year's draft. Minnesota is as well, plus they have Edwards and they could get a haul for Towns. Cleveland has... ugh. At least their core is young. Orlando, Portland, and Sacramento are organizations that haven't yet acknowledged that they need to tear it down and start over even though that is the obvious course of action.

[drsd]

I forgot about this image:

[Viper1500]

I would find a way to sit out 2 of Fournier/Gordon/Vuc and just tank. It's a decent draft coming up, better than last season at least.

[Skybox]

I would find a way to sit out 2 of Fournier/Gordon/Vuc and just tank. It's a decent draft coming up, better than last season at least.

Might as well feature Fournier, let him get his shots and then sell him off to a contender. Honestly, I'd say Gordon too...but the longer AG is "featured" as Point Forward, the lower his value plummets as his weaknesses are on display. The sooner the better.

*I think right now I'm supportive of trading anybody for anybody just do something!

[jonbob17]

Guys.. I actually think we are STEALTH tanking.

Seriously, injuries decimated us but did we make ANY kind of move to remedy it? I think we really are throwing in the towel and losing as many games while fighting it out.

I mean sure I would want trades to happen so I can see nee Magic players but my endgame has always been in the Suggs/Cade/Green wars.

That's fine but at the end of the season every win is going to count. And not in a good way.
If we weren't losing by 30 yesterday AG and Vuc are both playing 33+ minutes. That is trying your hardest to win. We won't be playing Boston and Brooklyn every night. We play our AG, Vuc, and Fournier 30+ minutes we are going to accumulate wins, especially later in the season when the pretenders aren't pretending any more.

Once Fournier is back healthy, we got to find him a new home. AG, let's see what he can do elsewhere. If we turned down two firsts for him, we made a terrible mistake, we need to find out what we can get.

We haven't made any moves to fix the roster, but that is more because we don't have the cap space to fix it. They are still trying to win, we just can't