Official Spec Thread: I guess now's the time to blow this dumpster fire up and bask in the glow!

[richi_v25]

It is sad to see this forum slow down but once we get our lottery position I'm sure it'll pick up again. I for one have always supported the Magic, my first season was our heart and hustle team so I'm not picky. I liked our team coming into the season but I'm also ok with choosing a new direction. WCJ and Okeke give me hope we'll be competitive next year with the addition of 2 1st round picks, Fultz and JI. Shoot even Gary and Mo have been for good so we should have a decent bench

[richi_v25]

Somebody call the waaaambulance?

Sponsored by AdventHealth

[Skin]

Even if you refresh first page, you can see that most of the threads have 1-3 new comments a day.
Game thread between Magic and Raptors had 134 comments, same opponent when we were 8-12 during start of the season,but after injuries, had 184 comments.

My narative is always same, cold blooded facts over feelings.

If somebody has daily traffic data, feel free to share. Since i joined the forum to this date, i have never seen less traffic here. I was there yesterday, and logged in today, and almost all threads had no new replys. It got so awkward that i thought i got banned again

Even new entery topic from Ben, that had very nice writeup about theory of veteran PG, had amazing total of TWO replys. Entery post, 2 replys and since i saw nobody will even bother to say anything , i posted something. But it looks like thread is dead.
Only semi active threads are this one , with very random comments and no serious discussion about anything, around nba and two tanking and lottery related topics.

Each and every single player- thread- died off.

Game threads down, Draft thread and Ping Pong thread UP UP UP!

So, nobody waches young players that play, but want to add more young players so they can countinue to not watch them and wanting even more young players ? Tnx for making my point for me. 2012-13 had 63% drop in viewership because nobody wanted to watch team suck. 2013, despite landing 2# pick had worst team's revenue in last 15 years. 2015, in moments when team had THREE top 5 picks, still nobody watched team.
Despite adding 4 lottery picks in 3 years, team was still garbage that nobody watched all the way until 2018 and first playoff in 6 years when tv ratings saw first boom.

Just to go back to rock bottom, again.

You just like to find ways to be controversial. Watching these games have been the best part of the season. ...and you HATE it because you think that every time Chuma or Carter has a good game that we go overboard in our cheering for them.

So what is it? Are we not watching young players or ARE WE???? You can't have it both ways.

[thelead]

The funny thing is that vets are not mythical creatures that just come out of nowhere. At some point, the vets were developing young players. We have a few solid young guys that will turn into solid vets eventually. I find enjoyment watching those guys develop.

[Skin]

What i want? Nothing. Because that's execlly what they are now. G league roster with probably zero starting level players in this moment. And closest thing to starter is Isaac, who spent more time in hospital than on the floor.

As for trade, once upon a time Payton, Vuc , Gordon , Harris were all "future" and "better than previous era" until it turned out they are not. Hitting reset button is fine, it's easiest way how to sell illusion of "bright future" while sitting in room of ashes. That doesn't mean future is guaranteed to be any better than past.
And their "past" is just continuation of same approach to rebuild they had in past- sucking for ping pong balls. This is how Magic got FIVE top 6 picks in 7 years. And not a single one of them pulled them away from missery. Case and point- added former 1# pick two years after he was " can't miss prospect" -who just happend to miss.

As i've said, i don't even bother watching them, and by looking how many activity there is on forums ( OPP; reddit, here) - nobody else does.

What did we lose? Championship pieces? You're so into your own brain that it's trapped you from reality. Vuc can't even help Chicago make a little improvement, Fournier was gone after the season and Gordon... wait you're complaining about losing him now???

The return we got in every trade was a WIN, WIN, WIN, WIN, WIN, WIN.

WIN in draft pick compensation.
WIN in salary dump.
WIN in tanking purposes.
WIN in getting Carter who is a C that is much easier to build a team around.
WIN in giving opportunities for new young players to develop.
WIN in creating space for new leadership to emerge.

Building through the draft is not an exercise in failure. You can find championship teams and contenders that have done it in the past and present.

2012-13 worst record. Magic got new Dwayne Wade.
2014 one of worst season in team history. Magic got new Kawhi Leonard.
2015 one of worst season in team hitory. Magic got Euro Kobe.
2017 one of worst seasons in team history, Magic got defensive Durant
2018 one of worst seasons in team history, Magic got Gobert with 3 point shot

It all sounded so promising and amazing...

On side note you are actually getting exited about Wendel Carter? You know, guy who Magic could flat out draft if they wanted to in 2018?

From 2012 to 2021 Magic didn't change strategy, it's execlly the same strategy. Tanking and building through draft. This time around it's just 9th time in a row where fools will be fooled.

You can't fault tanking.

You can fault lottery luck, because we were often 1 pick away from star players.
You can fault not making the right draft choice.
You can fault the Magic for not developing their players.
You can fault the Magic for their misguided and premature intent to win (thinking that they were ready to chase the championship).

You know you are damn right lying to yourself about thinking that the Magic have tanked ever since they hired Skiles.

[pepe1991]

Look, i didn't try to start anything nor this is topic worth of too much words. Today, only 8 different threads had any new posts written. And i think i made 2 of 8. So it's not hard to figure nobody is posting anything.
Also it's not really hard to track down numbers and figure that there is very little interest in current "new" team, despite hardcore fans claiming they like and elect to watch young players "develop". Years of tv ratings prove that simply is not a case for majority of fans.

Fans like winning, compeating and shiny new toys, young teams generate buzz on start but fizzle down without sucess very fast. Case and point, Pelicans went from " muct watch" by mainstream media to " yea... that Ingram guy, is he still playing basketball? " . You can track down allstar votes and see how little attention span nba fans have when it comes to young players and/or interest of fans in watching actual development.
Lonzo had 960 000 votes for allstar game in 2019 and 57 000 in 2021. Guy lost 94% of votes because fans moved to new shiny toy to adore and worship. D'angello Russell also saw 90% drop in votes , Trae Young lost like 2 million votes despite playing better, with team that was playing better.

We can here debate until our heads turn purple about direcition and how much is this "win win" or " suck suck" or whatever, the reality is, we did execlly this in 2012.
Reality is also that Magic had top 5 worst record 5 times in last 9 years. This is nothing new to a team. Some people here just conviced themselfs it is.
Also in mean time, lottery reform changed, and Magic ,despite having 4th worst record, still have better chance at drafting OUTSIDE of top 5 than inside top 4, just like other pick they own, still has much bigger chance being late lottery or lost pick than actually turning into high pick for Orlando.

Lot of this is empty filler talk and non of this will matter. But i got tired about reading how it "hurts our tank, we have to reach top 3" like there are any major, groundbreaking things when it comes to odds that change moving few spots up and down.

the word record has 40,1% chance for top 3 pick
2 worst has 40,1% for top 3 pick
3rd worst has 40,1% for top 3 pick
4th worst has 36,66% for top 3 pick
5th worst has 31,6% for top 3 pick.

if you think that's groundbreaking "improvment" you should really be angry at your math teacher. Especially because both lotteries AFTER reform showed that somebody in 5-12 range is almost guaranteed to be drafting in top 3 pick because their cumulative odds of leapfrogging are simply too high.
If i had to bet, i would bet that 1# pick will go to Toronto, for start, they never won lottery and they were forced to leave country. Sounds like fitting reward from commisionaire from not at all rigged ( eye roll) lottery.

[pepe1991]

Game threads down, Draft thread and Ping Pong thread UP UP UP!

So, nobody waches young players that play, but want to add more young players so they can countinue to not watch them and wanting even more young players ? Tnx for making my point for me. 2012-13 had 63% drop in viewership because nobody wanted to watch team suck. 2013, despite landing 2# pick had worst team's revenue in last 15 years. 2015, in moments when team had THREE top 5 picks, still nobody watched team.
Despite adding 4 lottery picks in 3 years, team was still garbage that nobody watched all the way until 2018 and first playoff in 6 years when tv ratings saw first boom.

Just to go back to rock bottom, again.

You just like to find ways to be controversial. Watching these games have been the best part of the season. ...and you HATE it because you think that every time Chuma or Carter has a good game that we go overboard in our cheering for them.

So what is it? Are we not watching young players or ARE WE???? You can't have it both ways.

Once upon a time you were clapping your heads in exitment how Mo Harkless will be developed into elite player because in games where team was getting runned over by 30, he scored 12


Just like you were clapping in exitment after Harris trade so we can develop superstar Gordon

Just like you were clapping in exitment how euro Kobe Hezonja has "dawwwgggggggg" swagger

Feel free to clap , that's what you do. Than you backtrack it years later and claim you were never high on XY player

[pepe1991]

The funny thing is that vets are not mythical creatures that just come out of nowhere. At some point, the vets were developing young players. We have a few solid young guys that will turn into solid vets eventually. I find enjoyment watching those guys develop.

And most of role player vets are used to be super overhyped lottery picks projected to be something they had no business being. Go figure.
Terrence Ross , Otto Porter are lottery picks. Otto was 3rd overall. At age of 28 he is closer to retireing than serious career. Once upon a time some fools thought he will be guy that will save their team . Go figure.

I'll never forget summer of 2012 when bleacher report had 4000 comments how Thomas Robinson is hardest worker in nba that wil be new KG .

[basketballRob]

Lol

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

[zaymon]

I dont think winning lottery is our only plan. That would be naive. We have a lot of young talent and now picks. If we want to win next year Harris, Isaac, Okeke, Carter, Fultz, Porter are not the worst players to have.

[BCS]

Look, i didn't try to start anything nor this is topic worth of too much words. Today, only 8 different threads had any new posts written. And i think i made 2 of 8. So it's not hard to figure nobody is posting anything.
Also it's not really hard to track down numbers and figure that there is very little interest in current "new" team, despite hardcore fans claiming they like and elect to watch young players "develop". Years of tv ratings prove that simply is not a case for majority of fans.

Fans like winning, compeating and shiny new toys, young teams generate buzz on start but fizzle down without sucess very fast. Case and point, Pelicans went from " muct watch" by mainstream media to " yea... that Ingram guy, is he still playing basketball? " . You can track down allstar votes and see how little attention span nba fans have when it comes to young players and/or interest of fans in watching actual development.
Lonzo had 960 000 votes for allstar game in 2019 and 57 000 in 2021. Guy lost 94% of votes because fans moved to new shiny toy to adore and worship. D'angello Russell also saw 90% drop in votes , Trae Young lost like 2 million votes despite playing better, with team that was playing better.

We can here debate until our heads turn purple about direcition and how much is this "win win" or " suck suck" or whatever, the reality is, we did execlly this in 2012.
Reality is also that Magic had top 5 worst record 5 times in last 9 years. This is nothing new to a team. Some people here just conviced themselfs it is.
Also in mean time, lottery reform changed, and Magic ,despite having 4th worst record, still have better chance at drafting OUTSIDE of top 5 than inside top 4, just like other pick they own, still has much bigger chance being late lottery or lost pick than actually turning into high pick for Orlando.

Lot of this is empty filler talk and non of this will matter. But i got tired about reading how it "hurts our tank, we have to reach top 3" like there are any major, groundbreaking things when it comes to odds that change moving few spots up and down.

the word record has 40,1% chance for top 3 pick
2 worst has 40,1% for top 3 pick
3rd worst has 40,1% for top 3 pick
4th worst has 36,66% for top 3 pick
5th worst has 31,6% for top 3 pick.

if you think that's groundbreaking "improvment" you should really be angry at your math teacher. Especially because both lotteries AFTER reform showed that somebody in 5-12 range is almost guaranteed to be drafting in top 3 pick because their cumulative odds of leapfrogging are simply too high.
If i had to bet, i would bet that 1# pick will go to Toronto, for start, they never won lottery and they were forced to leave country. Sounds like fitting reward from commisionaire from not at all rigged ( eye roll) lottery.

Ok....so what is your solution, what should have happened? All I read is whining but nothing constructive. No one here thinks the team we have now is good enough...we are missing our alpha as we have since Dwight. We need some lottery luck and we need to choose right, if we do not it is a longer process but most here finally have hope as we have finally chosen a direction, does it mean everything goes according to plan? No. But there is no need for all the negativity you bring. Just relax, be hopeful, you will enjoy the team more.

Our previous core was not good enough and it took many more years than it should have to make a change, and change has finally come so there is excitement again, it sucks now because we have to lose then there are still many question marks of course but there is hope once again because there is change.

I've always said, in this league you are either at the top or at the bottom, the worse spot is in the middle, barely a playoff team or one that gets bounced in the 1st rd...yuck.

At the top you enjoy competing for a championship at the bottom you are hopeful for what might be, for getting that game changing star, the alpha we need.

But if you have a better idea, go ahead and share instead of the constant whining.

Sent from my SM-A716U using RealGM mobile app

[pepe1991]

I dont think winning lottery is our only plan. That would be naive. We have a lot of young talent and now picks. If we want to win next year Harris, Isaac, Okeke, Carter, Fultz, Porter are not the worst players to have.

If you think this is going to be one and done year in lottery i have bad news for you.
Next year will be just more of post allstar all round sucking for this team with incredible amount of untalented young players being played during "evaluation vol 3" .

I highly doubt this team will even be in conversation for playoffs until 2024-2025. Their complete lack of talent on pretty much each and every position but PF , compared to anything worth watching on East ( top 3 team) is like difference between prime Jordan and George Constanza.

[uraverage]

Spoiler:

Look, i didn't try to start anything nor this is topic worth of too much words. Today, only 8 different threads had any new posts written. And i think i made 2 of 8. So it's not hard to figure nobody is posting anything.
Also it's not really hard to track down numbers and figure that there is very little interest in current "new" team, despite hardcore fans claiming they like and elect to watch young players "develop". Years of tv ratings prove that simply is not a case for majority of fans.

Fans like winning, compeating and shiny new toys, young teams generate buzz on start but fizzle down without sucess very fast. Case and point, Pelicans went from " muct watch" by mainstream media to " yea... that Ingram guy, is he still playing basketball? " . You can track down allstar votes and see how little attention span nba fans have when it comes to young players and/or interest of fans in watching actual development.
Lonzo had 960 000 votes for allstar game in 2019 and 57 000 in 2021. Guy lost 94% of votes because fans moved to new shiny toy to adore and worship. D'angello Russell also saw 90% drop in votes , Trae Young lost like 2 million votes despite playing better, with team that was playing better.

We can here debate until our heads turn purple about direcition and how much is this "win win" or " suck suck" or whatever, the reality is, we did execlly this in 2012.
Reality is also that Magic had top 5 worst record 5 times in last 9 years. This is nothing new to a team. Some people here just conviced themselfs it is.
Also in mean time, lottery reform changed, and Magic ,despite having 4th worst record, still have better chance at drafting OUTSIDE of top 5 than inside top 4, just like other pick they own, still has much bigger chance being late lottery or lost pick than actually turning into high pick for Orlando.

Lot of this is empty filler talk and non of this will matter. But i got tired about reading how it "hurts our tank, we have to reach top 3" like there are any major, groundbreaking things when it comes to odds that change moving few spots up and down.

the word record has 40,1% chance for top 3 pick
2 worst has 40,1% for top 3 pick
3rd worst has 40,1% for top 3 pick
4th worst has 36,66% for top 3 pick
5th worst has 31,6% for top 3 pick.

if you think that's groundbreaking "improvment" you should really be angry at your math teacher. Especially because both lotteries AFTER reform showed that somebody in 5-12 range is almost guaranteed to be drafting in top 3 pick because their cumulative odds of leapfrogging are simply too high.
If i had to bet, i would bet that 1# pick will go to Toronto, for start, they never won lottery and they were forced to leave country. Sounds like fitting reward from commisionaire from not at all rigged ( eye roll) lottery.

To be fair it was happening before the season started, there is not even a fantasy league happening this year. Its the shortened season and the different schedule that has contributed to the demise of the activity. Not saying the above is not correct but it is not totally the cause.As fans, all we have is hope and a total rebuild in my eyes gave me hope for a better future than where we were going.

[zaymon]

I dont think winning lottery is our only plan. That would be naive. We have a lot of young talent and now picks. If we want to win next year Harris, Isaac, Okeke, Carter, Fultz, Porter are not the worst players to have.

If you think this is going to be one and done year in lottery i have bad news for you.
Next year will be just more of post allstar all round sucking for this team with incredible amount of untalented young players being played during "evaluation vol 3" .

I highly doubt this team will even be in conversation for playoffs until 2024-2025. Their complete lack of talent on pretty much each and every position but PF , compared to anything worth watching on East ( top 3 team) is like difference between prime Jordan and George Constanza.

I dont think we lack talent at every position. Harris and Isaac are solid starters if healthy. Fultz, Okeke and Carter are slightly below average starters but young and developing. Anthony is growing on me lately. Porter is really good (again, if healthy). Thats more than most of the bottom teams in the east that dont care about defensive personel at all and it bites them in the ass.
We will be propably bad next next, but if Weltman spends some assets we can be at least average in the east (not that i think thats the right time). Next is is most likely lost but 2022/2023 can be interesting.

[pepe1991]

Look, i didn't try to start anything nor this is topic worth of too much words. Today, only 8 different threads had any new posts written. And i think i made 2 of 8. So it's not hard to figure nobody is posting anything.
Also it's not really hard to track down numbers and figure that there is very little interest in current "new" team, despite hardcore fans claiming they like and elect to watch young players "develop". Years of tv ratings prove that simply is not a case for majority of fans.

Fans like winning, compeating and shiny new toys, young teams generate buzz on start but fizzle down without sucess very fast. Case and point, Pelicans went from " muct watch" by mainstream media to " yea... that Ingram guy, is he still playing basketball? " . You can track down allstar votes and see how little attention span nba fans have when it comes to young players and/or interest of fans in watching actual development.
Lonzo had 960 000 votes for allstar game in 2019 and 57 000 in 2021. Guy lost 94% of votes because fans moved to new shiny toy to adore and worship. D'angello Russell also saw 90% drop in votes , Trae Young lost like 2 million votes despite playing better, with team that was playing better.

We can here debate until our heads turn purple about direcition and how much is this "win win" or " suck suck" or whatever, the reality is, we did execlly this in 2012.
Reality is also that Magic had top 5 worst record 5 times in last 9 years. This is nothing new to a team. Some people here just conviced themselfs it is.
Also in mean time, lottery reform changed, and Magic ,despite having 4th worst record, still have better chance at drafting OUTSIDE of top 5 than inside top 4, just like other pick they own, still has much bigger chance being late lottery or lost pick than actually turning into high pick for Orlando.

Lot of this is empty filler talk and non of this will matter. But i got tired about reading how it "hurts our tank, we have to reach top 3" like there are any major, groundbreaking things when it comes to odds that change moving few spots up and down.

the word record has 40,1% chance for top 3 pick
2 worst has 40,1% for top 3 pick
3rd worst has 40,1% for top 3 pick
4th worst has 36,66% for top 3 pick
5th worst has 31,6% for top 3 pick.

if you think that's groundbreaking "improvment" you should really be angry at your math teacher. Especially because both lotteries AFTER reform showed that somebody in 5-12 range is almost guaranteed to be drafting in top 3 pick because their cumulative odds of leapfrogging are simply too high.
If i had to bet, i would bet that 1# pick will go to Toronto, for start, they never won lottery and they were forced to leave country. Sounds like fitting reward from commisionaire from not at all rigged ( eye roll) lottery.

Ok....so what is your solution, what should have happened? All I read is whining but nothing constructive. No one here thinks the team we have now is good enough...we are missing our alpha as we have since Dwight. We need some lottery luck and we need to choose right, if we do not it is a longer process but most here finally have hope as we have finally chosen a direction, does it mean everything goes according to plan? No. But there is no need for all the negativity you bring. Just relax, be hopeful, you will enjoy the team more.

Our previous core was not good enough and it took many more years than it should have to make a change, and change has finally come so there is excitement again, it sucks now because we have to lose then there are still many question marks of course but there is hope once again because there is change.

I've always said, in this league you are either at the top or at the bottom, the worse spot is in the middle, barely a playoff team or one that gets bounced in the 1st rd...yuck.

At the top you enjoy competing for a championship at the bottom you are hopeful for what might be, for getting that game changing star, the alpha we need.

But if you have a better idea, go ahead and share instead of the constant whining.

Sent from my SM-A716U using RealGM mobile app

so what is your solution, what should have happened? All I read is whining but nothing constructive.

You didn't really post any consctrutive suggestion either.

it sucks now because we have to lose then there are still many question marks of course but there is hope once again because there is change.

What hope are we talking about? it's just blind faith that you will win lottery ( dumb luck) and pick right player ( even more luck) and develop him in right way ( even more luck ) and that guy won't leave you ( would be first not counting Vuc) as soon as he makes name for himself ( even more luck).

Sounds like very luck-based plan, that you have no control over, other than praying every night.

I've always said, in this league you are either at the top or at the bottom, the worse spot is in the middle, barely a playoff team or one that gets bounced in the 1st rd...yuck.

In SIX YEARS Magic have had TOP FIVE WORST RECORD FIVE DIFFERENT TIMES.

Magic kept on sucking from 2012 to 2018-19 season. Only time in last DECADE Magic were not doing what they are doing now were : Scott Skiles single season and Steve Clifford 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. But each and every other season ,since Dwight left have been - TANKING YEARS.

Jesus Christ are you guys have collective amnesia or what a f*** is going on? This is same Orlando Magic that had 20-62 record - WORST RECORD IN BASKETBALL in 2012-13.
Same ORlando Magic that had 23-59 record in 2014 and freaking 25-57 record JUST TWO AND HALF YEARS AGO.


What is alternative? Well now there is no alternative. They picked to suck and pray. Because it worked so amazing for mid size teams in past, i mean look at all sucess Suns had prior finally adding vet HOF player, or all this epicness of Towns, wiggins, Lavine, Edwards , Culver and countless championships T wolves collected with their sucking for years... I mean- pure glory of championships it was.
ofc never forget mighty power of 17 years in lottery as "strategy" of Sacramento Kings

[pepe1991]

I dont think winning lottery is our only plan. That would be naive. We have a lot of young talent and now picks. If we want to win next year Harris, Isaac, Okeke, Carter, Fultz, Porter are not the worst players to have.

If you think this is going to be one and done year in lottery i have bad news for you.
Next year will be just more of post allstar all round sucking for this team with incredible amount of untalented young players being played during "evaluation vol 3" .

I highly doubt this team will even be in conversation for playoffs until 2024-2025. Their complete lack of talent on pretty much each and every position but PF , compared to anything worth watching on East ( top 3 team) is like difference between prime Jordan and George Constanza.

I dont think we lack talent at every position. Harris and Isaac are solid starters if healthy. Fultz, Okeke and Carter are slightly below average starters but young and developing. Anthony is growing on me lately. Porter is really good (again, if healthy). Thats more than most of the bottom teams in the east that dont care about defensive personel at all and it bites them in the ass.
We will be propably bad next next, but if Weltman spends some assets we can be at least average in the east (not that i think thats the right time). Next is is most likely lost but 2022/2023 can be interesting.

LIterally each and every memeber of orlando Magic projected starting 5 , other than imaginary top 3 pick -has had only one thing going 100% for him. Injury.

Even entertain idea that somhow now Isaac, Fultz, Okeke, Bamba, Wendell Carter, Porter ( if there ) and Harris will now turn page and be healthy ,after having cumulative record of missing 2 out of 3 seasons at average -is silly talk.

[tiderulz]

Look, i didn't try to start anything nor this is topic worth of too much words. Today, only 8 different threads had any new posts written. And i think i made 2 of 8. So it's not hard to figure nobody is posting anything.
Also it's not really hard to track down numbers and figure that there is very little interest in current "new" team, despite hardcore fans claiming they like and elect to watch young players "develop". Years of tv ratings prove that simply is not a case for majority of fans.

Fans like winning, compeating and shiny new toys, young teams generate buzz on start but fizzle down without sucess very fast. Case and point, Pelicans went from " muct watch" by mainstream media to " yea... that Ingram guy, is he still playing basketball? " . You can track down allstar votes and see how little attention span nba fans have when it comes to young players and/or interest of fans in watching actual development.
Lonzo had 960 000 votes for allstar game in 2019 and 57 000 in 2021. Guy lost 94% of votes because fans moved to new shiny toy to adore and worship. D'angello Russell also saw 90% drop in votes , Trae Young lost like 2 million votes despite playing better, with team that was playing better.

We can here debate until our heads turn purple about direcition and how much is this "win win" or " suck suck" or whatever, the reality is, we did execlly this in 2012.
Reality is also that Magic had top 5 worst record 5 times in last 9 years. This is nothing new to a team. Some people here just conviced themselfs it is.
Also in mean time, lottery reform changed, and Magic ,despite having 4th worst record, still have better chance at drafting OUTSIDE of top 5 than inside top 4, just like other pick they own, still has much bigger chance being late lottery or lost pick than actually turning into high pick for Orlando.

Lot of this is empty filler talk and non of this will matter. But i got tired about reading how it "hurts our tank, we have to reach top 3" like there are any major, groundbreaking things when it comes to odds that change moving few spots up and down.

the word record has 40,1% chance for top 3 pick
2 worst has 40,1% for top 3 pick
3rd worst has 40,1% for top 3 pick
4th worst has 36,66% for top 3 pick
5th worst has 31,6% for top 3 pick.

if you think that's groundbreaking "improvment" you should really be angry at your math teacher. Especially because both lotteries AFTER reform showed that somebody in 5-12 range is almost guaranteed to be drafting in top 3 pick because their cumulative odds of leapfrogging are simply too high.
If i had to bet, i would bet that 1# pick will go to Toronto, for start, they never won lottery and they were forced to leave country. Sounds like fitting reward from commisionaire from not at all rigged ( eye roll) lottery.

thats because there isnt a lot to talk about right now. We dont need to make multiple threads because a rookie has 1 good or bad game and go off on them. We can sit back, watch the young guys play and see what they might become while hoping for losses for a better pick. There isnt going to be a thread about lineups going into the playoffs, because that isnt happening. There isnt going to be a thread about trades, because that isnt happening for months. There just isnt anything much to post about right now. it isnt so much lack of interest in the team, but waiting to see where we end up and what pick we have. then more threads will pop up

[pepe1991]

One thing that gets under my nerves so much is " but this time we have new direction, we tank". For f*** sake we were tanking in 2018. Only season we were NOT tanking were 2019 and 2020. Taking in considirations 2020 season ended like 6 months ago,and we are already up to new tanking. In TEN YEARS Magic only did NOT tank THREE times.

What's so new about this direction? This is execlly what they were doing since Dwight threw Stan under a bus.

[MagicFan101]

What i want? Nothing. Because that's execlly what they are now. G league roster with probably zero starting level players in this moment. And closest thing to starter is Isaac, who spent more time in hospital than on the floor.

As for trade, once upon a time Payton, Vuc , Gordon , Harris were all "future" and "better than previous era" until it turned out they are not. Hitting reset button is fine, it's easiest way how to sell illusion of "bright future" while sitting in room of ashes. That doesn't mean future is guaranteed to be any better than past.
And their "past" is just continuation of same approach to rebuild they had in past- sucking for ping pong balls. This is how Magic got FIVE top 6 picks in 7 years. And not a single one of them pulled them away from missery. Case and point- added former 1# pick two years after he was " can't miss prospect" -who just happend to miss.

As i've said, i don't even bother watching them, and by looking how many activity there is on forums ( OPP; reddit, here) - nobody else does.

What did we lose? Championship pieces? You're so into your own brain that it's trapped you from reality. Vuc can't even help Chicago make a little improvement, Fournier was gone after the season and Gordon... wait you're complaining about losing him now???

The return we got in every trade was a WIN, WIN, WIN, WIN, WIN, WIN.

WIN in draft pick compensation.
WIN in salary dump.
WIN in tanking purposes.
WIN in getting Carter who is a C that is much easier to build a team around.
WIN in giving opportunities for new young players to develop.
WIN in creating space for new leadership to emerge.

Building through the draft is not an exercise in failure. You can find championship teams and contenders that have done it in the past and present.

2012-13 worst record. Magic got new Dwayne Wade.
2014 one of worst season in team history. Magic got new Kawhi Leonard.
2015 one of worst season in team hitory. Magic got Euro Kobe.
2017 one of worst seasons in team history, Magic got defensive Durant
2018 one of worst seasons in team history, Magic got Gobert with 3 point shot

It all sounded so promising and amazing...

On side note you are actually getting exited about Wendel Carter? You know, guy who Magic could flat out draft if they wanted to in 2018?

From 2012 to 2021 Magic didn't change strategy, it's execlly the same strategy. Tanking and building through draft. This time around it's just 9th time in a row where fools will be fooled.

You’re spinning a false narrative to fit your story.

Few here were in love with Dipo, AG, Mario or Bamba. You’re simply snagging a random hype label someone somewhere gave them but by no means were they ever declared saviors of the franchise or the prize of our tank efforts.

Dipo was one of the best of a bad draft class. It is what it is.

For the others, we did not tank well. This team has been criticized for winning meaningless games late in the season. For their careless efforts we time and time again watched the real prizes go one spot ahead of the guy we settled for.

Also, people are excited about 22 year old Wendell Carter + 2 draft picks (likely lottery). It isn’t as cut and dry as you list it here. We got more than just the player.

Pepe-Logic strikes again.

[tiderulz]

One thing that gets under my nerves so much is " but this time we have new direction, we tank". For f*** sake we were tanking in 2018. Only season we were NOT tanking were 2019 and 2020. Taking in considirations 2020 season ended like 6 months ago,and we are already up to new tanking. In TEN YEARS Magic only did NOT tank THREE times.

What's so new about this direction? This is execlly what they were doing since Dwight threw Stan under a bus.

the front office went in on the tank this year full bore, unlike 2018. instead of signing any real vets, they have been rotating G-league, 2-way contract type of players. they didnt do it that much in 2018.