The Boss

Ghost town. Hope everyone is healthy and nailing this social distancing, one of the most important things you will ever do.

I agree with not putting out the same crap next season, but there are a couple of things that might make that hard. Firstly if Fournier opts in then we have little room to move, unless we make a big move involving Vuc but I don't think the FO want to do that, at least not yet. The other issue is the FO might look at how we played recently and say to themselves 'imagine Isaac was healthy during that run, that could be next season'. I hope they have seen enough to realize some changes need to be made.

Gobert is definitely the DPOY though, he's locked up the whole league.

Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in (with the win streak). Then they served up this same old s*** and it reminded me why I gave up on this season weeks ago. Things need to change. We can't sneak into 7th in this weak a** division and call it a win. Management has to grow some balls and make some big decisions on some guys that have been around for years. Has to be a discussion about Clifford too I think.

So the NBA last 2 minute review of the game says there were a couple key mistakes by the refs, including a missed foul on Evans missed layup at the end. As if this loss wasn't already frustrating enough.

Bamba has potential, but he may never unlock it. It might take a pivotal career moment like being dropped from the rotation completely and him realizing things won't come easy for him any more. It might be being cut or not offered a contract. But also none of these things might give him the spark to give his all. He looks like, and it's been mentioned before, that he is the type of guy that doesn't care too much for basketball, took it up cos of his physicals and coasted it to the NBA. He needs a HELL of a lot of work in many facets of his game. It will take him putting in 100% commitment to basketball which it's clear he hasn't yet. This may or may not happen, it might happen at his next team, or the one after that (because he will bounce around if things don't change, teams will give up on him if he has this kind of commitment. He'll get picked up again because of potential but won't stick unless he changes his mindset). Now I'm not saying that there is some switch he can flick in his mind that will plot him on course to be a hall of famer, but I do think a lot of his potential is up to him to uncover, and to put in the work to unlock it.

So there is a discussion going on about Mo Bamba on the Orlando Magic reddit page. It seems the general opinion of him there is a lot worse than on here. Just thought I'd post it in case anyone wanted to read it. Link

You know what will kill 2 birds with one stone? Trade Vuc for a 'worse' center (who will actually be better for us as a team) that runs the floor and plays solid D and is on a good contract. Because we are trading the 'better' player, we can ask for a pick or a good young piece to develop as well. Can stack some assets to go after a disgruntled SG if one comes up this off season with Evan being part of that deal.

I'd love for us to play a lot more through Fultz and Gordon, and give Bamba a few more minutes a game and some more responsibility. I don't think this will happen though, I think Cliff will go with what he knows, he'll rely on Vuc and Evan to try and make the playoffs again (I think we make them either way, I actually think we'd be better off in the short term transitioning to more of Fultz and definitely a whole lot better in the long term).

I for one don't want him traded. I just want to see him in an offense with an athletic and fast paced C and SG to go with Isaac and Fultz, I think he'd flourish. He'd easily get 6 PPG or more just running the floor. Add that to how he played that efficient season last season with his fantastic D and you have yourself a very very good player. He may never be the superstar we dreamed of but it isn't easy for players to hit that high and the player I described is a damn great player and one every team would be stoked to have.

Yeah the whole thing is so poorly done. They should not be talking at all about the dunks before giving a score. The scoring is stupid too, way too many 'perfect dunks'. There should have been probably one 50 dunk and some high 40s.

https://twitter.com/ramonashelburne/status/1228893023645208577?s=19 So they agreed to make it a draw but someone changed their vote to make AG lose, wonder who that was, corrupt rubbish. How wade was allowed to be a judge with a heat player in it is a joke in the first place.

The dunk off the side of the backboard was ridiculous. https://twitter.com/ChrisPalmerNBA/status/1228885990250438657?s=09

I really hope Gordon hasn't been on the trading block, I hope that it's just a beat up by the media. If we have been actively trying to trade him as our priority while still keeping Evan and Vuc on the roster I'd be pretty disappointed. I get that Gordon would be our most valuable piece we'd entertain trading, so I don't mind if teams are contacting us and we hear what they have to say and even have a counter offer that is heavily weighted in our favor, but if it's us picking up the phone and making the calls I'm not on board.

If Hield publicly vents his frustration now and says he wants out, he could slowly keep lowering and lowering his potential return the rest of the season. Is there a way we could realistically trade for him this off-season? There would surely be a bit of competition. Could Fournier be involved in a sign and trade with them? Would they want Vuc? Surely their first request will involve Gordon.

At this point I think I would rather miss the playoffs, it might be just what we need to push the FO into shaking things up and moving on from the current vets we have. I don't mind Ross, I think we rely on him too much with the 2nd unit and when his shot isn't falling it doesn't look good, it's not his fault, it's what he's told to do. With a better bench I think he'll be fine. I'd like to move on from Vuc, Evan and DJ. I don't mind DJ from a mentoring perspective but I'd rather a fast paced push the ball type PG to match how I'd like the first unit to play. I'd love some sort of deal(s) in the off-season that rids us off Evan, Vuc and our first for the best SG we can get. Sign a short term vet center that will run and play solid D. Please make it happen WeHam.

As long as it doesn't mean we re-sign Evan I could be on board with this for the right move (would have to be huge). However, I don't think I want to move on from Gordon. I'd like to see him as part of the final product of roster the FO is trying to build. I'd love to see him as part of a Fultz - (Athletic 3&D) - Gordon - Isaac - Bamba lineup, this is with a full potential Fultz, Isaac and Bamba, if not Bamba then a center in the mold of what we think his potential could be. I really think Gordon will thrive on a running team like that, his defence will be huge and the miss match that he and Isaac will present every night will be a huge strength of ours. I think the current way the team is built and played works against Gordon too much (and it's not modern basketball, and won't be a successful product in the foreseeable future).

Haha we lost to the Knicks, we're a shambles.

The problem isn't trading for Ennis, that wasn't bad for the probable 59 pick. I think we all wanted a substantial change and it didn't happen. Maybe there was nothing out there for Evan. I feel like our franchise over values Vuc on the market, and probably also Evan, I think they don't know what to do with him and are just extending their time to work it out.

Shhh it's not hilarious, it's all completely true! We are not worthy to have him and some other team should swoop in and steal him from us.

If we pay Evan in the off-season I may need to step away for a while.

Detroit and Phoenix are discussing a deal centered on guard Luke Kennard, league sources tell ESPN. Suns' first-round pick is in play. Kennard has missed 22 straight games with bilateral knee tendinitis.

I was really disappointed when we re-signed Vuc, I wanted us to take a little step back and start Bamba. Clearly Bamba wasn't/isn't ready to start, the FO would have seen this so had to have someone start at center. So my question is, what realistic options could we have had in the off-season if we let Vuc walk, who was available that would have been on reasonable deals? I no longer blame the FO for not throwing Bamba in the deep end, it would have been a disaster.

This would be fantastic.

Buddy just upped his trade value.