Official Speculation Thread (Pt. XLVIII"Preseason"Ed.)

[glennathan]

ESPN SportsCenter - NBA fines Spurs $250,000 for sending four players home prior to Thursday's game vs. Heat

[Bensational]

Is he really? He swore up and down that he's a fan of several teams including the Magic. I guess it's much like maginno - he was fan of SVG and iggy being a T-Mac fan.

We all have more than one team we like to follow. Pistons and Magic are my top priorities with the Heat being a 3rd being I lived in south Florida as a kid and spent time in Detroit off and on my whole life. But, I lived in Orlando the longest. All (3) teams have had great success during my stints in those cities.

All? Not really.

Not sure how one can be a fan of 2 rival teams, but hey if it works for you....

When the Magic play the Heat or the Pistons, who do you *want* to win?

the words he used were "have more than one team we like to follow". not necessarily "fan", but "follow".

i've seen you talk down other arguments with "why can't it just be about entertainment", so why does this matter have to be black and white? if it's only entertainment, then the 'rivalry' is really only a superficial one, and a good game of basketball is all that should really matter, right?

i generally follow other teams because of players i like on those teams, like Houston, LAL, Utah, OKC. if it comes to a head to head between them and Orlando, i'd probably just want to see the player i like have a good game whilst Orlando wins the match. otherwise, it would depend on what's at stake in terms of who i want to see win. if the Magic are lottery bound and one of those teams needs the win to scrape into the playoffs, then i'll probably want to see the other team win.

[BelgianMagic]

Anyone wanna make a quick GT?? Game starts in a few and there still isn't a GT ..

I'd make one, but i'm still at work, so ..

[OrlandO]

ESPN SportsCenter - NBA fines Spurs $250,000 for sending four players home prior to Thursday's game vs. Heat

That's stupid. We better see a crap ton of fines handed out at the end of the season when playoff teams rest their starters...

[fendilim]

After the Twolves trade, Barea will bring more fans than both. Dude is a Puerto Rican legend!

Carlos Arroyo says hi!

[fendilim]

ESPN SportsCenter - NBA fines Spurs $250,000 for sending four players home prior to Thursday's game vs. Heat

That's stupid. We better see a crap ton of fines handed out at the end of the season when playoff teams rest their starters...

Double standards! I doubt Stern fines the team if we sit out Afflalo, Nelson and BBD.

[PeePee la Fritz]

ESPN SportsCenter - NBA fines Spurs $250,000 for sending four players home prior to Thursday's game vs. Heat

That's stupid. We better see a crap ton of fines handed out at the end of the season when playoff teams rest their starters...

The resting of players at the end of a season is an accepted policy and that specific precedent has been set. It is done in almost every sport. I do not agree with much of what David Stern does, but I am 100% behind him on this. First and foremost the NBA is a business, and the product it sells is entertainment. TNT paid millions of dollars for the rights to broadcast games, and to get top tier NBA games. Companies then paid TNT millions of dollars to run commercials during their broadcast. What do you think Pop's decision did to the number of people who tuned into the game? And let's also not ignore the fact that every body who paid top dollar for an early elite Spurs v Miami matchup just got shafted. The Spurs have a right to rest their players, but the NBA has to step in and penalize them to protect their product. This is about big time money, protecting the fans, the sponsors, and the broadcasters. And sorry, nobody is going to feel sorry for a tired athlete making tens of millions of dollars a year.

[Def Swami]

David Steele ‏@SteeleMagic
“@Danny_Krazit: @SteeleMagic When can we expect to see Al playing again?” Hard to say. Possibly by early January?

[SEBAS-07]

David Steele ‏@SteeleMagic
“@Danny_Krazit: @SteeleMagic When can we expect to see Al playing again?” Hard to say. Possibly by early January?

We traded for an injured player with a bad contract.

[thelead]

David Steele ‏@SteeleMagic
“@Danny_Krazit: @SteeleMagic When can we expect to see Al playing again?” Hard to say. Possibly by early January?

Why did we trade for all of those players again? Vuc is soft, Afflalo is average, Al is injured for half of the year, Moe needs years of development to become average and the draft picks are garbage. At least Hennigan can say that we'll be able to build through the draft. I still can't believe Hennigan said that Moe was "the guy" he targeted.

Jameer was also resigned to a bad contract and he's missed more than half the games played so far. It's not like he didn't have a history of being injured. JJ is probably the most entertaining magician and he will most likely be dealt unless Hennigan plans on overpaying him to stick around.

There is not one player on this team worth following. Worst of all, the draft looks weak as hell and we'll have endure 2 seasons of this crap minimum.

Sorry for the rant. Even though I expected this winning percentage I am very disappointed that none of Hennigan's pickups are exciting to watch. If we're going to suck, which we do, at least be entertaining. I broke my promise and paid to see a "game" last night and could not even say that I'm proud of the product.

[OrlandO]

ESPN SportsCenter - NBA fines Spurs $250,000 for sending four players home prior to Thursday's game vs. Heat

That's stupid. We better see a crap ton of fines handed out at the end of the season when playoff teams rest their starters...

The resting of players at the end of a season is an accepted policy and that specific precedent has been set. It is done in almost every sport. I do not agree with much of what David Stern does, but I am 100% behind him on this. First and foremost the NBA is a business, and the product it sells is entertainment. TNT paid millions of dollars for the rights to broadcast games, and to get top tier NBA games. Companies then paid TNT millions of dollars to run commercials during their broadcast. What do you think Pop's decision did to the number of people who tuned into the game? And let's also not ignore the fact that every body who paid top dollar for an early elite Spurs v Miami matchup just got shafted. The Spurs have a right to rest their players, but the NBA has to step in and penalize them to protect their product. This is about big time money, protecting the fans, the sponsors, and the broadcasters. And sorry, nobody is going to feel sorry for a tired athlete making tens of millions of dollars a year.

I'm not disputing that players should play. I'm a fan, I want to see the best of the best go at it as well. What I'm saying is there's an obvious double standard here. If you're going to penalize a team for resting players early in the season, you have to penalize teams for doing it late in the season, too. Exhibit A - Miami vs Boston on national TV (TNT) late last season was missing LeBron, Wade, Bosh, KG, RayRay and Rondo: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore;_y ... 2012042402

Stern has to decide either one way or the other.

[arsenal6106]

^Great article by Mannix on the situation. Great, b/c I agree with it.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/w ... ine-wrong/


There are ways around this for Pop. Next time, he can start them and sub them out immediately for the rest of the game. What is Stern going to do? Fine Pop/Spurs for the number of minutes he plays his stars?

[tiderulz]

ESPN SportsCenter - NBA fines Spurs $250,000 for sending four players home prior to Thursday's game vs. Heat

That's stupid. We better see a crap ton of fines handed out at the end of the season when playoff teams rest their starters...

The resting of players at the end of a season is an accepted policy and that specific precedent has been set. It is done in almost every sport. I do not agree with much of what David Stern does, but I am 100% behind him on this. First and foremost the NBA is a business, and the product it sells is entertainment. TNT paid millions of dollars for the rights to broadcast games, and to get top tier NBA games. Companies then paid TNT millions of dollars to run commercials during their broadcast. What do you think Pop's decision did to the number of people who tuned into the game? And let's also not ignore the fact that every body who paid top dollar for an early elite Spurs v Miami matchup just got shafted. The Spurs have a right to rest their players, but the NBA has to step in and penalize them to protect their product. This is about big time money, protecting the fans, the sponsors, and the broadcasters. And sorry, nobody is going to feel sorry for a tired athlete making tens of millions of dollars a year.

Stern has his idea, but the league was wrong. 4 games in 5 nights, on top of those 2 long road trips for SA. And Pop has done this before. Miami fans come to see Miami, not SA. Pop is paid to bring SA a championship, not paid by the sponsors of TNT.

[OrlChamps2030]

David Steele ‏@SteeleMagic
“@Danny_Krazit: @SteeleMagic When can we expect to see Al playing again?” Hard to say. Possibly by early January?

Why did we trade for all of those players again? Vuc is soft, Afflalo is average, Al is injured for half of the year, Moe needs years of development to become average and the draft picks are garbage. At least Hennigan can say that we'll be able to build through the draft. I still can't believe Hennigan said that Moe was "the guy" he targeted.

Jameer was also resigned to a bad contract and he's missed more than half the games played so far. It's not like he didn't have a history of being injured. JJ is probably the most entertaining magician and he will most likely be dealt unless Hennigan plans on overpaying him to stick around.

There is not one player on this team worth following. Worst of all, the draft looks weak as hell and we'll have endure 2 seasons of this crap minimum.

Sorry for the rant. Even though I expected this winning percentage I am very disappointed that none of Hennigan's pickups are exciting to watch. If we're going to suck, which we do, at least be entertaining. I broke my promise and paid to see a "game" last night and could not even say that I'm proud of the product.

I see things a lot differently than you. You really can't see any positives in Vuc, Harlkess, and Affalo?

Vuc - Only 22 and clearly needs to bulk up so he can play a bit better on the defensive end but he is still averaging a double double. If his points steadily go up and his rebounds stay about the same that pretty much makes him a ~top 10 center. Not bad for a guy whose name most fans could not even pronounce when he first came here.

Affalo - Above average starter on a very moveable 4 year contract. Not a liability on either end of the floor. Will probably get moved eventually but he is a productive player.

Harkless - Clearly a project player. Youngest player in the league. Played a lot of PF and C in college last year. Voted 2nd in GM survey as who is going to be a "sleeper success". Measurement wise he is the prototype small forward - 6"9 in shoes, 7" wingspan, and a 37 inch vertical. Needs time to develop his offensive game but he clearly has quite the motor on defense.

Al Harrington - no comment

This team probably won't give you instant gratification. But I'm not sure what you're expecting a few months into Rob's tenure.

[RickB-Orlando]

Why did we trade for all of those players again? Vuc is soft, Afflalo is average, Al is injured for half of the year, Moe needs years of development to become average and the draft picks are garbage. At least Hennigan can say that we'll be able to build through the draft. I still can't believe Hennigan said that Moe was "the guy" he targeted.

Jameer was also resigned to a bad contract and he's missed more than half the games played so far. It's not like he didn't have a history of being injured. JJ is probably the most entertaining magician and he will most likely be dealt unless Hennigan plans on overpaying him to stick around.

There is not one player on this team worth following. Worst of all, the draft looks weak as hell and we'll have endure 2 seasons of this crap minimum.

Sorry for the rant. Even though I expected this winning percentage I am very disappointed that none of Hennigan's pickups are exciting to watch. If we're going to suck, which we do, at least be entertaining. I broke my promise and paid to see a "game" last night and could not even say that I'm proud of the product.

I see things a lot differently than you. You really can't see any positives in Vuc, Harlkess, and Affalo?

Vuc - Only 22 and clearly needs to bulk up so he can play a bit better on the defensive end but he is still averaging a double double. If his points steadily go up and his rebounds stay about the same that pretty much makes him a ~top 10 center. Not bad for a guy whose name most fans could not even pronounce when he first came here.

Affalo - Above average starter on a very moveable 4 year contract. Not a liability on either end of the floor. Will probably get moved eventually but he is a productive player.

Harkless - Clearly a project player. Youngest player in the league. Played a lot of PF and C in college last year. Voted 2nd in GM survey as who is going to be a "sleeper success". Measurement wise he is the prototype small forward - 6"9 in shoes, 7" wingspan, and a 37 inch vertical. Needs time to develop his offensive game but he clearly has quite the motor on defense.

Al Harrington - no comment

This team probably won't give you instant gratification. But I'm not sure what you're expecting a few months into Rob's tenure.

Pretty much this. We're looking at a year or two before we start to see the young players really develop. The mid-range picks will either need time or be used as trade sweeteners over time. The best this team will do until the first and second year players start to blossom is 30-40 wins.

Didn't you, and most everyone, advocate tanking? This is what tanking feels like.

(and to be clear, I'm not a fan of tanking. I think you have to get very lucky to successfully build through the draft).

[thelead]

I know guys. It was a rant. It's just hard because we literally have had an allstar on every magic team since 1993 (minus the heart and hustle year that was just a great team to watch anyway). I just want ONE guy that can play an exciting brand of basketball throughout the rebuild.

I predicted 28 wins, and was called an idiot for it, so I knew what the record was going to be. I was just hoping that Harkless was going to be better, earlier, than what I saw in St. Johns (since Hennigan tagged him as the guy he wanted).

[bigdogdylan5]

In this espn insider "Trades ideas for contenders" he put this
Memphis Grizzlies acquire: J.J. Redick
Orlando Magic acquire: Tony Wroten, Jerryd Bayless, Hamed Haddadi
I know alot of us wanted more for JJ but i think this is wat we can expect i know alot of people like me really like Wroten and his prospects i think he fits really well another project player just like Vuc and Harkless. Wat u guys think?

[bigdogdylan5]

and i think Memphis jumps at that offer

[thelead]

I would rather let JJ walk. That is a weak offer.

[bigdogdylan5]

I would rather let JJ walk. That is a weak offer.

Really i think we might be able to get them to add a first round pick but i really like Wroten think he is vastly underated and can fit well with our plans