Leaderboard

Yeah coz it was Devos family’s fault for Shaq turning down more money from the Magic (which was offered) and for D12 being a douche bag. The Magic have been committed to being a classy and philanthropic organization, and they are willing to spend on players, build state of the art arena, and if not for bad luck (Nick Anderson free throws and early Jameer return) we may have been more competitive. We may not be perfect but we’ve given our heart to this organization and are still committed to doing so by bringing top notch management that has helped both Toronto and Milwaukee.

Then why do it? That would be a bad trade to move most of your young assets for a player that will decline sooner rather than later, who will swallow up any cap space, and who hasn't shown an ability to get his team to a home court advantage or even to the second round as the main guy. (I am not saying Gordon is better than Westbrook, but 24 year old Gordon on less than 20 a year is better than 31 year old Westbrook at 40+ per year).

With this line of thinking, you would have dumped Oladipo and Leonard before they broke out. (See my AG thread with stats). And what is “star potential” to you? Multiple 40 point games don’t count? Anyone who watched us in the playoffs could easily see that AG was our best player on the court. And this is coming from an Isaac homer who was beating the drum to draft him as early as anyone on this board. Unless we’re getting a prime all star/asset on a good contract, AG and Isaac are untouchable in my book.

Lakers get Avery Bradley. Good pick up by them. Shooting and Defence

If we trade Gordon, Fultz and Bamba for Westbrook I think I'd have to walk away from the sport for a few years.

Cannot upvote this enough. Shaq wanted to go to Hollywood(which made sense in the 90’s), Nick choked but we still love him for all he’s done for us, Dwight made a bad choice but gave us some of our best years, and T-Mac was a victim of the Grant Hill era. (A healthy Grant made us beasts of the east for a better part of a decade regardless of a miss Tim Duncan signing). We’ve been on the cusp several times. Orlando is a great city with beautiful diversity from all over this planet(thanks in large part to the late great Walt Disney for choosing us for his EPCOT) and we’ve all been through some crazy **** as fans. Really silly to place it on ownership.

Just tell the Thunder to wait until Vuc can be moved. Trading Gordon for Westbrook would be a colossal mistake

Loyalty! Top man

You can't just defend and not be able to score. You can make the playoffs that way but you want go far. You can't just score and not be able to defend. You can make the playoffs that way but you won't go far. You have to do both. Favoring one over the other is pointless.

He's been pretty bad since he left Boston

Don’t forget about Rip Hamilton on that team.. dude was automatic from mid-range... back when that was still a good thing

I see us evolving into a team like the 2004 Detroit Pistons, they had no stars with players like B Wallace, Billups, Hamilton , R Wallace and Prince. A tough, gritty team who shared the ball and played for one another. Everyone embraced their role and played within themselves.

Westbrook isn’t that good trade though. Only if we don’t have to include anything meaningful like the BIGMF core. I’m all for sacrificing draft picks and Vuc/Fournier for him but that’s about it. He isn’t worth breaking up our team over but would be a welcomed addition if we could somehow pull it off without including those guys mentioned. .

We sell them every year anyway...Does it really matter?

I’m from Brazil, so excuse me for any language mistake, please! Let’s think in a best case scenario with a little bit of conspiracy theory... I don’t bite the “we don’t know where Fultz is in his recovery”. Obviously it is just for not giving him any unnecessary pressure and to not create any hope that latter could prove to be nothing more than the hope it self. The resigning of Vooch and Ross could very well be just a movement to continue to win and to create an good environment for our young core, as some had pointed here. Or even a nothing better to do anyway, as others had. But, maybe it’s another thing. Let’s assume Fultz is recovering very well, and Magic know he will comeback in great shape. It will be basically a 2nd year player that has a lot to prove and to learn, but still, it would be and upgrade from anything we had last year. Just remember, at PG we had DJ and literally nothing more, and Fultz was #1 pic for a reason. If that wasn’t the case, why spend all our money this season on a PF (a need for deep too, but much less needed than help at Guard)? If I’m right. They resign both Vooch and Ross, went after a PF for deep and released Mozgov because the see this team as one that can do a lot better than last year. Follow me: Fultz - Fournier - Isaac - Gordon - Vooch Assuming a Fultz that looks like the one at college, Isaac with a consistent 3pts shoot and a Gordon a little bit better at 3 too. Normal Vooch and a Fournier more like his normal. DJ - Ross - Iwundu - Aminu - Bamba assuming a DJ, Ross and Aminu as always, Iwundu with 33% from 3, and Bamba as last year Birch with 3pts even without consistency What that roster can accomplish?? We wouldn’t have a real game finisher, as I doubt Fultz, Isaac or Gordon would develop to be that player this year. But, virtually anyone in a hot day could do that in this team. Almost everyone had that “one day potencial” ... Denver do basically it and they got to semifinals on a crowded west... I think Hennigan believes in this best case scenario, with privileged knowledge on Fultz... It makes sense, if you think why Aminu, why release Mozgov (no trade coming, they will give this roster one year chance to prove they are right). Of course, it could be that they don’t believe any star would come to Orlando this time, wouldn’t bring anyone that wouldn’t dramatically improve the team with the cost of young core, and Aminu is a young good player with experience anyway... But, it can also be that they know and they believe in where Fultz, Isaac, Gordon, Iwundu are... maybe, ... glass half full this time. Why not? I’m a believer.

Yes you did

I'm just going to be blunt and say anyone advocating a Westbrook trade at this point just doesn't know anything about basketball. I get that people are unhappy with Vucevic--I guarantee you'll be even more unhappy when Westbrook is on our team and needs to be paid 46 million dollars at age 35.

In all fairness I wasn’t on the boards officially when Isaac first came into the league (lurker) but I’ve been sold on him from day one and the injuries to his ankles were the only thing holding him back. He looks to have overcome those ankle issues and has been trending upward ever since he got consistent playing time. If we run more offense for JI this year you will see his play increase in both ends of the floor but especially in his ppg. I see him having all the tools to becoming one of our All Stars on this team. I believe we have a few more on the team as well if developed correctly and given consistent minutes. Anyways this year should be a good one with the continued development and growth of our boys and the continuity with the coaching staff I see us making a jump as a team and fighting for a 4 seed or higher.

By not giving up 3 unprotected firsts and Bamba. By doing that trade, we’re basically going all in for two years and being left with dramatically less upside.

Good point. I also think our overcommitment to EP held us back for years.

In the end i don't think they do it and the safest thing to do is stand still. Team is locked in as is for the next 4 years. Again i believe we are a playoff team and have 4 guys who might break out. Isaac, Bamba,Fultz and Chuma. I think Gordon will get better but this is his last year to show star potential. Somebody in the media said star players always show potential in the first few years, even late bloomers. Westbrook is a 25 PPG guy, we need scorers and an alpha.The league is driven by stars and scorers. Westbrook can defend so he fits our identity and he just needs shooters. I'm all for this trade if we surround him with shooters. If we can get Westbrook, Ferguson and keep two of our young guys and two of our shooters it's worth it.None of our guys have shown us anything special.Maybe Isaac, and he should be the untouchable player for us right now. It moves the needle. And guess what if it doesn't work all the big contracts are off the board at the same time. Vucevic, Ross and Westbrook gone in 4 years. I'm betting we are a high playoff seed for at least 3 of those years.Hopefully by then we have a good culture and changed the perception of the league.Right now the Magic are a joke around the league. It was just ten years ago when we were a powerhouse. Again we have assets, if we trade the farm, then yeah we suck.But if we make a good trade with an eye for competing right now, why not?

Thank god the Devios family is saving money. I was worried.

GM of the year for you! Spot on Jerry West!

I think there are a few teams that would trade for Westbrook, but only a couple who could offer something better then Orlando. That being said i think Weltham want to see this through, not reshape what they have already built. If they do it they will get rid of players from former management. So if there is a trade it's definitely starting with Gordon, and our signing of Aminu and drafting of Qkeke makes him a little expendable. If the Magic traded for Westbrook i would want to maximize our window the next two years, so for me DJ is an untouchable. All the online trade proposals have him included because he is expiring and we are getting back a point guard. This would be a huge mistake, if we are going for it we need the boost of having a shooting, veteran back-up.We especially need DJ to be our Van-fleet, because Westbrook can't shoot 3's! If Augustin is included hard pass from me.It would negate the whole point of the trade to finally have a decent guard rotation. The second player would probably be Fournier, and most of you would have no problem with that. But listen, i think it would be better to include Fultz. Fournier leaving is a dream come true for most of us on this board. However i would not be on board unless we were getting a shooter back, even if it's from a 3rd team. I would love Ferguson, as i stated in a post above. Losing Fultz would hurt, but we still know nothing about him and best case he is still a year a way from being a decent player.Part of me thinks they would hesitate to trade Evan, he is one of the few ball-handlers we have. OK now that you have heard my thoughts here is the trade i would like to see. http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yymsxlqn We get Westbrook, Feguson and Patterson. They get Gordon,Evan and Fultz. We do it to actually compete and have an all-star. They do it because we include a few protected picks and Gordon. Also they are hoping Shai or Fultz becomes a star in a few years. Two point guards, two chances for them to strike gold. Meanwhile we are much better the next few years. Westbrook DJ MCW Ross Ferguson Frazier? Isaac Iwundu Okeke Aminu Peterson Martin Vucevic Birch Bamba. I would love this team, but again only if we keep DJ and get Ferguson. The most likely trade package is Gordon, Fultz and Bamba. They are talking about it right now on 740 the team. Most likely it would include Fultz and Bamba. See below. http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yxvg7sw7

One of the worst ownership in sports. Hopefully they sell soon.