hootie249

I work nights again this year and it was frustrating being off several nights and no game. Anyhow I'm working most of the next weeks games, don't think i will be missing anything. Poor OKC they keep SGA on the bench and still beat the Celtics. I wonder how many "Injuries" they have tonight.

Going back to the trade when the Ibaka experiment failed, what a debacle. Henny traded for a non star on a one year contract, mistake number one.Then knowing he is probably going to lose him trades him to Toronto. While Ibaka is not a star, he is in his prime and helped Toronto win a chip. So what does he get? Well first the Raptors have two first round picks in the next draft. So Henny gets the later pick. It was later traded away by Welt/Ham. The rumor is they didn't want to pick anyone in that spot because OG Anunoby was already gone. Picked two spots earlier by those pesky Raptors who wouldn't give us that first for Ibaka. Then he gets to negotiate a player in return. We got Ross, who at the time had the same player profile he does to this day. Streaky shooter who doesn't pass,rebound or defend. Look it up it's on his draft profile and player comps. Players we didn't get; Pascal Siakam.....a player i remember a ton of people on this forum wanted. And he was a rookie. Norman Powell, another guard that at least developed into a better player. His best years were much more consistent then Ross. I think i wanted him, hard to remember. Jacob Poeltl. We were trading them Ibaka, a small ball center. It stands to reason we could have gotten a center back. Oh but we had two already thanks to that awful Biyombo signing. Who became a free agent after his epic run in the playoffs.....in Toronto. They let him go because they had Jonas and Poeltl. Those two were involved in the trades for Gasol and Kawhi. Maybe if we had got Jacob back we never draft Bamba and go for a point guard instead. Speaking of point guards we still had ***** all for one on that team. Meanwhile Toronto had three of them and then got an undrafted player named Vanvleet. Sure Corey Joseph and Delon Wright would not have changed the buddy ball team much, but honestly would have been better. Ross was great on that one playoff team as a 6th man, but he didn't allow Gordon or even Vucevic to develop. Wright and Delon are still kicking it in the league. Meanwhile Ross has been useless since 2019 and DJ had that one good year and has been useless or out of the league. To make it short, Toronto's Gm took us to school. Ross sucks. Too many games he has had to show anything the last two years, he could be on a playoff team but can't even bother to have one or two good games. Rant over.

Smiths best case scenario is Rashard, without his handle. Paolo will be a star who puts up over 25 point triple doubles someday. It's almost the new year. The win streak was great and we will have more win streaks. Now it's time to focus on getting JI back to see what we have and keeping guys rested and healthy. Next big thing for the Magic is Isaac's guarantee on the 10th, but it's a given. I thought it was the date his next season was guaranteed but i was wrong! His contract this season becomes set on the 1/10/23 according to this website. https://www.spotrac.com/nba/orlando-magic/jonathan-isaac-23601/ So JI becomes one big expiring trade chip if he stays healthy! I mean if he comes back as a 7 foot tall defensive wizard, no need to trade him but i think eventually he will be gone one way or another. Paolo and Franz are the future. I bet he will be back next week.

Sometimes we are the Magic, sometimes we are the Tragic. LOL. When we were all doom and gloom it was too early in the season. When we started talking playoffs it was too early. Let's just focus on staying healthy, getting JI on the court and getting Paolo back on track to win ROTY. Honestly that is what matters this year. Making the play-in would be sweet but that's hard to do one year after having the worst record in the league. Suspensions incoming but they will stagger them. It goes by alphabetical order.

Yeah this in a nutshell. First half we shot poorly on free throws and they were godly at the 3. Paolo got in to foul trouble and we spent too much time playing catch up and gave up some wide open looks. If it was closer i'm sure we would have gone inside more in the second half.

I watched the game. The Lakers just shot lights out. On to the next one.

Now that this team is coming together we can finally see how good Fultz is but lets not get crazy. Fultz is not even close to untouchable. Lets see if he can finish the year healthy first. If he does finish the year without any health issues i can see him elevating himself all the way to third most important Player. It's Paolo,Franz and possibly Fultz if he stays healthy in that order. If Wendell can actually play the rest of the year he is third. That front court is special and it's up to Fultz,Suggs and Cole to make the Magic a complete team.

Shameful selfish post incoming. Anyone in these threads have an extra ticket to the Lakers game tomorrow? It's my birthday and due to recent break-up i have no plans. I have not been to a Magic game this year. A buddy of mine usually has tickets through promotions, but no luck and i'm not paying the lakers premium. I would love to go with a forum fan. Still trying through other means, but if you don't ask you never know!!! Full disclosure, i am a divorced middle aged bartender. Big fan so i would be decked out in all my Magic Gear!

I was able to watch the final christmas game.Denver is rolling and Aaron Gordon was amazing! Just had to give a shout out the the guy who i used to give so much slack. He finally arrrived this year. It's got to be the new hair and 30 pounds he added. Check it out he is jacked now!

If everyone is healthy soon Magic will have played the uno reverse card. Teams will come to us if they like a player or think we facilitate a 3 team trade. If something looks good they can evaluate it.

The Magic put him in a bad spot, still would have fired him.

47-15? You sir, are the greatest optimist ever! Kudos! For a team with such a low winning percentage the last few years and being the third youngest team, going .500 from now till the season is over would be a great achievement. Lets say we stay healthy, being between 35 and 40 wins would be massive. Even riding high right now we only have 13 wins. I think we are the next Memphis. I watched them destroy the Suns last night. Expect big things next season but the best we can do is be play in eligible, and that's great!

Of course Cole has a career game after these trade talks. You think he reads the forum?

Yes many of us have stated Gary would be the better trade since we need a shooting guard. Still we would have to sign him after this season but that would not be a problem. If we are trading Bamba and Cole, or Harris and Bamba or whoever the salaries would even out in the long run. Question would be what draft picks are switching teams? Also the VanVleet trade would be for different reasons.

Fred was an undrafted player who made it. He got his bag and his ring. Both he and Gary Trent have player options, not team options. They are both rumored to be traded because of those options. However i think it's for opposite reasons. I think Toronto knows Gary will opt out and would love to keep paying him the same salary, but are worried he will test the free market. With Fred they are afraid he will opt in and he has shot 30% from 3 for almost a full season. Trading both makes sense if they get back flexibility or another future piece. If we wind up trading for Fred, i think it's more about consolidation. Fred has shot poorly lately, but obviously he could bounce back. He is a winner and more of a leader then some of our players. lastly it's about cost control, he would not be costly to trade for, plus we would probably know if he would opt in. If he opts in we know we have a lead guard who comes off the books when we have to extend Suggs and Wagner. He basically does everything Cole does but is a veteran. So hypothetical trade happens two ways. Let's say we are willing to part with Cole because we want the path clear for Suggs and don't want the hassle of extending him. Orlando Trades Cole,RJ and Bamba for Fred. Ok before you freak out about giving up so much, it's about the fit. RJ hasn't been playing because they knew they were trading him. Bamba is hard to give up on but he was always the odd man out. Cole i already said, don't want to pay him. This also opens up roster spots for us to add someone. If the players don't seem right there are other combos like Harris and Bamba or Ross, but i don't think anyone is trading for those two. Gary just can't stay healthy and Ross is filler. People will trade for them to free up space and lead a tank crew, that's it. TL;DR. I think Toronto is a smart team and would gladly trade with us for a chance to see what they have in Cole and Bamba. I think it could benefit us as we finally get a vet and Bamba and Cole are too inconsistent with us and are not in the teams future. Neither team would be giving up draft capitol in the scenario. That is another big reason a trade like this could get done. Both teams giving up enough in value not to have to use draft picks.

They are not under the cap so they would have to send salary back....LOL what a ****ty rumor. Quick check on sportrac.com or fanspo.com. The Lakers are so screwed with trades, after the big 3 of LeBron,Davis and Westbrook the next big salaries are Beverly at 13 million and walker at about half that. Everyone else is 2 million or less. What a messed up team. Still, i feel someone will bail them out by trading for Westbrook just to drop salaries. Maybe.

Yeah i guess we are the perfect example of how hard it would be to get back to back top 4, top 3 picks. So one of the those picks should convey.

Yeah i guess your right. Opps.

We should be looking hard at the Pacers to do some kind of trade. I would even use the Bulls pick and Jonathan Isaac as trade bait. The pacers are in a unique situation. They know their backcourt of the future is Mathurin and Haliburton. They have a ton of guards, and question marks in the frontcourt. Maybe we can get them to give up Buddy and one of Duarte,Nesmith or Nembhard. Perhaps they would take a chance on rehabbing Isaac. Maybe they want Bamba for one or two of their young guards. Who knows but they have a ton of swing men. I want to point out the Bulls pick is just going to lose value as they keep sucking.

Both our front office guys are completely out of the doghouse and would get another job instantly for 5 reasons. The biggest thing is they drafted Banchero. There was so much obvious media and scouting bull**** going on. Paolo was the Defacto guy before the college season with Chet a firm second. They navigated the bull**** and still chose size,skill and a player that had a great season. Second but might as well be 1A is drafting Wagner and getting his brother. Years from now you cannot overlook this. It's not quite Giannis but just as important. Third is the mid-season trades. It was late but together with re-signing Vucevic, looking back...wow. Fourth could be Fultz, but that was no risk and they still didn't provide the buddy ball team with a good point guard but they tried with Fultz. Fifth is getting Bol Bol and low key paying WCJ a dirt cheap contract for 4 years. NBA gm's hit and miss but they did too much to turn it around.

Yeah they might consider it if we get the number 1 pick and that is probably it. They already have a million picks. Only Victor moves the needle for that team i think. I'm not gonna speculate anymore of us getting that pick until the end of the season. I want to win. We need to get lucky again where we land and get a Desmond Bane,Halliburton or Mitchell type late lotto player. At the end of the season no Magic fan would hate us trading picks for a good guard. However it is way to early to predict who that could be. Maybe not a big name but someone lowkey. A big name like Mitchell or Booker would have been cool, but since they are not available imagine if we had gotten Halliburton or DJ. Two totally different players but they were available. At this time the next step is if we get a non star and go for it this season. Like a Jordon Clarkson for scoring or a project like the Lakers did with Lonnie Walker. By the way the answer to your question Is Jaylen Brown. When this year ends he will be eligible for a huge extension. He is another head case but i bet he doesn't stay in Boston.

Yeah best team we had was that playoff team where everyone stayed healthy all year. Even then we knew that was the best they could play. This team is so much more fun and the sky is the limit.

I watched the whole game for the first time in a while. Great win! We really battle and nobody gets down when things go wrong. Coaching is better, guys are learning to trust each other. Biggest thing is we have talent all over the place. Go Magic! We need to pass the ball a little more and Fultz needs more experience. Love that he is mostly playing within himself. Paolo is a stud, all of our guys have energy now and we are soooooooo looooooong! Go long bois!

Yeah Aaron is finally having his best year, only took him 9 years to learn how to shoot. It was always his head and work ethic. The guy still hardly ever gets rebounds for all the size and hops he has. Paolo was the choice for two big reasons. When the shot doesn't fall some players contribute in other ways. Superstars just change the game. Paolo was just the clear number 1 because he already was a man among boys at 19 and a natural scorer. Throw in the ability to pass and get to the line and all we have to hope is he becomes decent on defense and maybe shoot the 3. Most of the big names we have talked about the last 10 years started off bad at shooting the 3. Lebron,Kawhi,PG,Embiid,Gianiss,Doncic,AD,Jokic....etc. lots of these guys didn't have a 3 point shot the first few years or still don't. The Warriors just broke the league having 3 of the best shooters in league history on one team. If Sharpe becomes the guy you think he will of course the Magic could use him! But we needed a Paolo first and we could only choose one.

What he said times twenty. I wanted laVine with the old Buddy ball Squad, not this one. Hard pass. We need a to improve around the margins now that we have talent. Get Gary Trent or Clarkson and if they want to get paid get someone else. In other words get a scorer with slight upside or even just somebody that's hungry, like DeRozan.....3 years ago. You have to be careful. LaVine earned his money but was always a guy who loses everything if he loses his quickness. To give you an example, Fox is the next one, SGA is a much better version that 3 years from now might suck if he gets hurt.