CTMagicUK

Celtics Vs Heat 4-3

My board for the Magic, excluding guys who almost certainly won't be on the board at 15 is probably: Pokusevski Cole Anthony Tyrese Maxey Kira Lewis Tyrell Terry RJ Hampton Leandro Bolmaro Grant Riller Aaron Nesmith Theo Maledon Josh Green In that order. That middle group of guards of Cole, Maxey, Terry and Kira are all super close and might appear in a different order on a different day. I'd be surprised (and disappointed) if the player we drafted wasn't in that group. (Unless of course it's because we somehow got Hayes or Vassell)

Personally I'd draft Lamelo but that's a whole other conversation.

Be interesting to know if we are open to trading AG and who's shown interest. Best case for us is both the Wolves and Warriors are really interested. Get a bidding war going. Saying that though I think it's more likely we don't trade AG than we do. The thing is I really don't like Anthony Edwards or James Wiseman and I'm not confident Avdija, Okoro, Vassell, Okongwu, Toppin etc will be better players than AG is so I'm hesitant to get excited about the possibility of us somehow winding up with a top 2 pick.

I really hope we trade him but a 4 year 50 million deal would be a deal easy enough to trade at any point in the future so I wouldn't be aggrieved by it.

I honestly think the only way we bring him back is if the trade market for him is non existent and he's an all star next year or something.

Just seen Evan Fournier bought a $3 million house in the Orlando area. That doesn't bode well for the hope that we don't extend him... Although maybe he'll still use it as a second home in the summer.

Seems like OKC are going to blow it up. Be interesting to see where all their pieces go. Have to imagine they're going to trade CP3, Schroeder, maybe Steven Adams too. Plus Gallo, Roberson and Noel are free agents. They could be a very different team by the start of next season.

He's a point guard though so he can do more than just jack shots. His role in the NBA for the first couple of years would probably be more off ball but no I don't think more shooting would be a negative on this team.

Very true.

If Vassell is there some teams have *****ed up. He shouldn't make it out of the top 10. The two prospects I most want to fall are Hayes and Vassell. I've seen both mocked as low as 14-15 range but they're both top 7-8 picks easily in my mind. But yea if Vassell is on the board he's a no brainer pick for this FO. Combining Vassell's defense with a healthy Isaac would make for an ungodly defense.

Don't get me wrong he's 160lbs at the moment. He's going to get bullied on defense his first few years in the league. But he does play defense, he rotates when he needs to and helps in the right places which bodes well. On offense his handle isn't as tight as you'd like and I've seen some scouts suggest that's as a result of his lack of weight and strength (i.e. he gets knocked off the ball too easily) but besides that he's a solid passer, really good finisher at the rim for his size and has a great jumper. He's not going to make much of an impact his first couple years in the league, his defense will limit his floor time and his handle will limit him to playing off ball but by all accounts his feel for the game is off the charts (there was some story about how he'd tested really well in team meetings) and he's a hard worker so by the time he's reaching the end of his rookie deal he could be a really good player.

You mean OG Anunoby (pick 23) who was already off the board at our pick (pick 25)? Also reminder, we traded that pick for the pick we used in the Fultz trade.

In the first couple of years yea I totally agree. But I think Terry can develop into more than a bench player whereas I don't think Howard will.

I like Howards' handle and he's a big time shooter but he's a worse passer, worse defensive player, a much worse finisher at the rim and a couple years older as well as being shorter. I also think it's much easier to imagine Terry off ball than Howard. Its not that Howard isn't a great spot up guy too because he is but he struggles to finish at the rim in college so if he gets run off the 3 point line he'll struggle to finish against NBA athletes. Plus Howard does a lot of his damage off the dribble. So I just think Terry has an easier path to NBA minutes because he can play on or off ball. I'm also slightly concerned that NBA length will cause him trouble. He takes a lot of semi-contested shots. And he makes them in college but it's just whether that extra couple of inches of length, extra burst in athleticism etc will get his shot blocked more often Dont get me wrong he's probably worth a pick in the second round (I don't think it'll be by us) and I wouldn't surprised if he made it as a JJ Barea type spark plug at all. Just don't personally think he's as good a prospect as Terry.

I'm still high on Tyrrell Terry. He's not the kind of player our front office usually drafts so I went away from him out of not wanting to be disappointed but he's a very intelligent player with a terrific jumper. I just can't imagine he fails. Worst case he could still probably be Seth Curry. If he adds some strength I think that'll help his handle a lot and then he'll have the jumper, the finishing at the basket (which he's already very good at for a 6'2 guy) and the handle to get everywhere he needs to. At that point he could be like a Jason Terry (not just a comp because of name) or maybe a CJ McCollum type player.

Austin Rivers might be an interesting guy to target in free agency (presuming he declines his player option). Scoring guards have had quite a lot of success in Clifford's system and Austin could give us a nice lift off the bench as a shooter, scorer and ball handler, similar to Jeremy Lin with the Hornets under Clifford. Don't think he's going to command big money and he might think the extra opportunity, combined with being back where he played HS ball, is worth coming here over a contender.

I'm expecting fireworks on offense for that team now. Of course nobody actually has any idea what Steve Nash is like as a coach so that's exciting in itself.

Where the hell did Head Coach Steve Nash to the Nets come from?! Didn't even hear a whisper of a rumour about this. Has he ever even been an assistant?

Clippers Vs Nuggets: 4-1 Lakers Vs Rockets: 4-2

Heres a list of 2nd round guys who I think we'll look at considering that Weltman and Hammond really seem to value potential 2 way guys (often wings) with length in the second round: Karim Mane - young, long combo guard straight out of highschool. Derrick Alston Jr - Essentially a 6'9 SG. Still very thin for his draft age but really long and can shoot and pass pretty well. Elijah Hughes - if he's on the board he's definitely got the frame and he's been a pretty good scorer in college. Robert Woodard II - Don't think he'll be on the board but he's a pretty good bet as a 3 and D wing. Nate Hinton - Huge motor wing. Probably the best rebounder in the whole class when you account for height. Can hit a catch and shoot 3 too. Isaiah Joe - Not sure he'll be on the board but he's a 3 point gunner who uses his long arms to be a really disruptive defensive player. Skylar Mays - just a really solid all around SG. Can pass, dribble and shoot. Also a really high character guy, comes from a family of Doctors and wants to study to be a doctor after his career. Immanuel Quickley - he's really an undersized SG but he does have a huge wingspan and he can shoot the ball. Abdoulaye N'Doye - long international guard. Allegedly 6'7 with a 7'2 wingspan. Can handle and pass the ball and shot 44% from 3 (on very low volume) in France. Malik Fitts - Long combo forward who shot over 40% from 3. Paul Reed - Not sure he'll be there but the build is obviously something we'd be a fan of. Long defensive power forward. Showed some potential as a shooter. Cassius Stanley - really athletic wing from Duke. Old for a freshman though and only a +1 wingspan. If they're bothered about a big man they might also consider Udoka Azubuike if he's on the board. He's just a huge human being.

Challenge accepted. Only 22 year old lottery prospect is Obi Toppin. Still too early to identify any late risers I'd say. Low assist wings: Aaron Nesmith is the most obvious example here with an assist rate of an astonishingly low 7%. The eye test says he's a terrible passer as well, it's one of the reasons I'm lower on him. Devin Vassell, Patrick Williams, Isaac Okoro, Saddiq Bey all had assist percentages below the article suggested 15%. The thing is all those guys have at least shown some propensity for being competent passers. Okoro is even lauded for his ability to pass. I think this is one of those things were assists =/= passing ability and it's using stats where the eye test is a much better indicator. We'll see how it plays out I guess but I'm not confident in this one as a bust potential thing. Jayson Tatum had an assist % less than 15. Low block bigs: The article suggests under 6% block rate is troublesome. Here are all the bigs under that: Obi Toppin. That's it actually. Isaiah Stewart, Precious Achiuwa and Daniel Oturu are all close to 6 but all get over it. The article offers up some 'master of none' players. But I'm struggling with that category to be honest. It's pretty hard to define and also really subjective.

But... Without looking I'd guess not a single bench player from 8 years ago is here now? So I guess I don't see your point. The season Weltman and Hammond took over we had these players: Jonathan Simmons Elfrid Payton Mario Hezonja Shelvin Mack Bismack Biyombo Mareese Speights Aaron Afflalo Plus a smattering of guys we tested out on minimum deals that only played a handful of games. Last year we had: Jarrell Martin Jerian Grant And another 3 or 4 guys on minimum contracts that played a handful of games (one of whom was MCW who has proven to be a successful reclamation project). Btw both Martin and Grant are examples of guys we acquired who were young and had been overlooked on other teams. Now admittedly that's a lot less of turnover between last year and this year but I think that's more of a product of getting caught up in running it back with a year of experience and development from Isaac plus adding in Fultz than it was a long term strategy. I fully expect roster churn this summer.

Alec Burks and Landry Shamet were both first round picks. And Alec Burks made the vet minimum this season. If we wanted him we probably could have got him. And we could probably still get him this summer if we wanted him (to be fair a cheap guard who can get his own shot isn't a terrible idea) but I really don't see how there's anything to complain about for not signing him? He wouldn't move the needle. We have Khem Birch who we signed as a UFA. We have Wes Iwundu who we picked in the second round. We picked up Gary Clarke off waivers. Every year like 60 guys go undrafted and only a few of them make the league and play a role. Likewise only a handful of 2nd rounders every year ever become impactful players. The odds are always stacked against you. And considering Weltman and Hammond have selected a grand total of 3 2nd round guys so far, one of them being a marginally successful pick in Iwundu, I can't see how there's much to complain about there given the tiny sample. Also that's really not what happened with Wade and Bosh in Miami. Wade left as a free agent to Chicago and Bosh retired due to heart issues. They didn't convince anyone to retire. In fact they brought Wade back for a farewell tour.

Not really in any "trade" talk. He kind of came up with regards to the injuries the team suffered down the stretch (paraphrasing from memory) "when we signed Farouq it was described by some as a 'logjam' but we felt there was enough positional versatility to make it work... And we ultimately ended up with all 3 guys injured for the playoffs" And then it was brought up how hard it was for AG not playing in the playoffs (again paraphrasing from memory) "he'd have played with one leg if we'd let him... But he just never got quite to the point where we felt comfortable playing him"