CTMagicUK

I realise it's easy for me to say this since my job isn't on the line but I say try and hit a home run with this pick. Pick the guy you think has the best chance of becoming a star. If it doesn't pan out then it doesn't pan out but we have a pretty solid core already and drafting a great player over a really good role player here could be the difference between getting bounced in the second round and winning a championship.

Im with you on Mudiay. I can't shake the feeling that he's Andrew Harrison who avoided getting exposed by playing in China.

Donovan and Gentry have both hired their top assistant now but still no word on any assistants for Skiles. Wonder if we're waiting on JB to decide whether to stay on here. (He's apparently considering multiple offers)

Pretty much everyone available at 5 is great in transition.

Nah they had Gordon at 5, we were picking 4. They did however have us taking Oladipo at 2 for what that's worth.

Nah they didn't have us taking Gordon. They had Gordon at 10 for a lot of last year until just before the draft where he moved to 5 (because apparently the Jazz were going to take him there).

Draft Express had us taking Exum last year. Just because they know each other doesn't mean Rob told him anything important considering this is a very important pick and we're in a very interesting spot.

Right but you (and Pelton) arw assuming that all teams are created equal. None of Skiles teams had the talent to win a championship so blaming that on him is ridiculous.

I've come to the conclusion that Pelton is a terrible writer. He's all about "numbers" but ignores basic logic when trying to make a point. This artcile is clearly him trying and failing at supporting his opinion with numbers. I mean, he says "Skiles teams on average improve 13.6 wins in their first year" "Skiles consistently takes teams from bad defensively to average defensively or from average defensively to great defensively" and then he says "The Magic will ultimately regret this hire". Yea... If we win 40 games next year with a top 10 defense I'm sure we'll all HATE this hire... :rolleyes:

Personally I think AG can be a much better defensive player than Odom but I can see where you're coming from.

The fact that we have to have a discussion about if WCS can be as good as Dwight is ridiculous. Prime Dwight could dominate the game. WCS is just a good defender.

It makes me sad that the highest draft pick we got in our rebuild was in the worst of the 3 drafts.

Yea maybe good sites/blogs (if any) too

I think best case WCS is a Joakim Noah like player. Similar frame. WCS is actually more athletic probably but he doesn't have that non stop motor that Noah has, nor does he have the passing.

No.

Yea Self's offense is a lot better for guards and bigs but he consistently attracts great wing players and I don't really understand it. I can see him not wanting to let Oubre handle a lot because he's pretty turn over prone but he came in with the reputation of a big time athletic scorer and took like the 4th or 5th most shots on the team.

Early on I did when he was logging like 5 minutes a night and I hadn't had many chances to actually see him pick up a basketball but he was still a top 5 pick. And I still do think he has a high chance of being a bust but sometime in the season he started getting some PT and I saw he definitely has talent. Honestly, I don't remember when but I think I posted in here about it there were a few games I watched where he was doing some good things, he was defending he was rebounding, he made an open shot or two and I'm thinking "Ok I like this, they need a bucket let's see if they go to him" and then he'd just get frozen out by his guards. I spent so much time watching Frank Mason offense this year while Oubre stood on the wing.

Right now I'd be delighted with: Hezonja Porzingis Winslow and I'd be pretty happy with: Johnson Oubre WCS This list assumes the top 4 of Towns, Okafor, Russell and Mudiay (and I'd be happy with anyone of those guys except maybe Mudiay) so that just about covers pretty much everybody who's likely to be picked in the top 10 so I'm pretty cool with whichever way we go.

It's interesting to see how Bogut's blocks per 36 and his defensive rating both improved quite a lot under Skiles. I'm not holding my breathe that he'll turn Vuc into an All Defensive team player or anything but if he can make Vuc a competent help defender that'd be really great.

Honestly I'm just more surprised that NO didnt hire Jeff Van Gundy. I'd take him over Gentry any day. But it seems like the Pels decision makers want to play that pace and space type game on offense.

He shot 36% earlier in his career? What the year he made 7 3 pointers total? No way Carroll cracks 40% from 3 if he leaves Atlanta for a team that expects him to be anything more than a 4th or 5th option.

Demaree Carroll max contract?! No thanks. Rather keep Tobias. I doubt Carroll keeps those shooting numbers up in a system worse than the Hawks and we don't need perimeter defense that much compared to other areas. Plus Harris was as good of a shooter at 22 in his 4th year in the league as Carroll was at 27 in his 5th year in the league so there's no reason to believe that Tobias won't continue to improve his jump shot.

I doubt OKC will be rushing to pay Singler much if anything. To me he isn't worth much more than the vet minimum.

Hes been horrible but he does have a great nickname.

You're suprised? He takes every chance possible to bash him.