hootie249

This guy gets it. Look i think we can and should keep Clifford and Weltham. Mistakes are inevitable, the problem is doubling down on those mistakes. Read this article about how the Suns have changed. Now at this moment, they haven't achieved anything. I watch basketball, i know they have a won all the game in the bubble, i have seen them play.Because of tiebreakers, they might not pull it out. However, it's obvious they have turned a corner. Read this article. https://www.theringer.com/nba/2020/8/13/21365383/phoenix-suns-team-building-cam-johnson-james-jones Especially the part about the draft. Suns have had a ridiculous amount of draft busts this past decade and one really lucky pick. IN 2018 they get a new Gm who finnally has the balls to dump everyone. Now they still looked pretty lost the last two seasons until just before the break, kinda like we did. I guess the big difference is they acquired players who can actually shoot, we just had a hot streak. Lets see who actually gets better next season. I think the Suns and Wolves finally turn the corner next year, but it's not to late for the Magic. They need to make some difficult decisions.

Bamba's upside is not in the realm of any superstar center in the NBA right now. The league has changed, there are truly only two superstar centers in the league right now. Jokic and Embiid are the only true superstar centers right now and what's funny it's two different skill sets. Kat, Davis,Zingus play like power forwards. There are only a handful of other actual centers that do something elite right now, lead by Gobert. Bamba is a center, not a power forward his absolute ceiling is Myles Turner, a very useful player who might get traded by next years deadline.

I said he will have to show something first it's too late now i would have traded him with Evan at the deadline.

It's like the old saying when a pair of guys is being chased by the lion or bear. I just have to be faster then the next guy, not the lion.I'm telling you right now the Magic are the "next guy". We are the Knicks and Kings right now, and we are the Twolves and Suns since the Nash era. The organization has 4 really bad reputations right now. Dysfunction, no real leadership, no ability to develop players and and an elephant in the room nobody talks about. The elephant in the room? Which Star player has left the Magic in the last 30 years without some kind of problem with the team? Think about it,Shaq,Penny,Hill,Mcgrady,Dwight,Hedo,Lewis,Nelson,Dipo and i'm using the phrase star player recklessly here. What i really mean is nobody has left this team either as the hero or as former beloved player going on his own terms. Really truly think about that. We are dangerously close to the team that pisses everyone off and goes 15 years without a good team.

LOL you kidding me give me another bored day and i'll suggest 100 of em better then the nothing our management has done. Here is number 1...super easy number 1 move for this franchise. The millisecond you can give Bamba any kind of upside again, trade him. Even though that time might have passed. Like many past moves that were missed might be too late, but i would guess there is going to be one more chance.

Wrong buddy. The team that only relies on getting rid of players and playing rookies becomes a revolving door of sadness. What i want is a team that starts making moves. Rookies in today's NBA are more raw and unproductive then ever before with only a few exceptions. Most of the teams i have mentioned the last 24 months have used draft picks and cap space to absorb cast-offs or disgruntled players. Adding to those players draft picks who have time to grow. Throw a bunch of rookies together with no leaders equals disaster, cultivating a team with a few good vets can change things. See Toronto the last ten years. Houston, Memphis and even Philly after the proccess. Even Dallas acquired a few good pieces before Luka and Zingus. Portland and indiana make lots of changes and have drafted stars. The Suns have made huge changes and they actually hit on Booker, still made huge mistakes and overturned the whole roster. Edit; The sky is falling. More then any other season the last 8 years this is it. Do me a favor and go watch the movie Margin Call. Pay attention to Jeremy Irons character and his speech. The music is about to stop and we are going to be holding the biggest bag of excrement in the NBA. We have no cap space, no killer young talent not injured and the young talent we do is injured and Questionable. No way to absorb useful contracts like the Hawks or Memphis or Cleveland did recently. No way to trade for a disgruntled star like several other teams have recently. Nothing. Be first, be smarter or cheat.

Skiles was not the coach Henny wanted, he was forced to hire him. Skiles came in and said he could't win with our point guards so Henny obtained one he worked with before. I don't think it was a deliberate sabotage just a power struggle between two men. Then Skiles quits and Henny goes all-in knowing he is going to be fired. It's literally the worst situation you want with someone is in charge of personal. His Ibaka nonsense was a head scratcher the minute it happened. After the whiteboard incident it became obvious Henny did not know what he was doing. He used the Ibaka trade to try to create whatever he was going to do if he had gotten his "Combo forward center" star. His trades were disasters that every single media outlet derided and questioned. So yes, upper management failed us this decade.They should have stopped this nonsense. After that the failure of current management to trade some medium priced vets for better pieces allowed us to win just enough so we couldn't draft a star. Nuff said. In essence waiting and hoping isn't going to change anything, it's time for another reset, the Isaac injury is the catalyst. Maybe if it didn't happen we could try to win but it's not going to happen now, let's give Fultz another year to develop and start dumping contracts as well as we can.

Yeah i'm still 100% sure Henny did the first to spite Skiles and the second to spite Martins.

Something was going on between Martins,Skiles,Henny and ownership that set this team back half a decade. Henny and Skiles weren't on the same page and the year they worked together set the stage for our franchise to go backward. Even if you don't openly believe in conspiracy theory like me it's obvious The Tobias and Oladipo trades might have been killed by better management.

They blew it, let's face it. As the other people are discussing, questionable decisions at the top. I do not want Cliff fired or the gm's yet.. The Magic have had too many changes already in the last 8 years. So keep the coach and gm and start getting rid of players. It's time, Isaacs injury is what is really motivating me to say this. Our cap is a mess and Jonathan had the most upside of all our players. It's the team that plays it safe that gets nowhere. Trust me the injury never happened and we played the whole bubble like we did the scrimmiges then maybe we keep people. It's too late, it's done as others have said, even in the best case scenario i do not see us even making the playoffs next year.Only if everyone else is healthy, and we replace who is leaving. Our starters are mediocre our draft picks aren't developing and our all-star plays the least important position in the new NBA. Blow it up.

Yes and they are willing to spend money. However perhaps the non meddling is the problem. It's the upper management that has been the problem.

Just gonna add that everything is on the table now. Yes the league will be wary of the salary cap, salary tax more then ever. This still opens things up. Gordon, Ross and Vucevic are set commodities. Evan will go and teams might likely do a sign and trade because it helps them. Even Aminu by next trade deadline might be an asset if only to trade a player that needs to be resigned.

Ross is an asset with a strong showing next year, his contract is good. Obviously Gordon is an asset, great contract and fit with certain teams. Vucevic is a sneaky asset. For instance what if Gobert has really pissed Utah off, i can already see them not wanting to pay him the Max.One for one trade they get a steady 20-10 player and don't have to pay Gobert, we convince him to stay cheaper or let him go on his walk year. Fultz is a former number one player with serious issues who will almost certainly cost 20 million or more per year. However what if the Knicks want him? You gonna turn down a number one pick in a year we are both gonna suck? Of course we can play him all year and his play might merit a smaller contract. Ahh now we are on to something, so if he sucks why do we want him? If he is marginally better, why pay him 24 million a year? It's almost a no- win situation with Fultz. The only real question is with Issac, loved by the organization and a good guy. Of course he wouldn't be traded while injured, it wouldn't look good. I am only bringing him up if the team gets sold and everyone get's fired or something weird happens.In my opinion, he had the most potential of any Magic player. However he won't be the same player again until after he is paid or offered the qualifying offer. So to bring up trades again, everyone is on the block, if somebody offered something good, i would do it. Again none of this will happen, i'm just trying to stress that nobody is untradeable on this team.Nobody.

This is important this off season, was even more important last offseason, but it's never too late to start.The magic need to get this under control. Flexibility is king in this new NBA. As an example despite being the tire fire of organizations, the Suns and Wolves purged their rosters the last two seasons, giving up actual good players to get control of their cap space again.(Covington,Warren). Let me be more specific, we have 3 players who need to get paid very soon and we are already up against a wall. These players being Fultz,Isaac and after that Bamba(lol). I think it's the right time for a reset. Everyone should be on the block. We should be looking to get lean, gain space and picks. It's too late to save this team.Everyone should be on the block, nobody is untouchable.Just my thoughts. Of course it's all relative, for instance who is gonna trade for Isaac or Fultz? Two players all of you would freak out on for even mentioning. Honestly who would trade for them right now? So again, i say everyone is available even if it's just to gain shorter contracts and picks. Including our beloved Aaron Gordon who i was just reminded has one of the lowest effective field goal percentages in the NBA. I also do not think Evan plays for us ever again, think he sits out for the rest of this mess and turns down the option.He knows he has value and doesn't want to get hurt.He will bolt and we will have one less asset. Best case scenario is a sign and trade to help another team that already wants him but has a few bad contracts to dump. It's time.

We did tank, we just missed being a 2 or 3. No way once we were number 6 did we have a chance at either Doncic or trea, it was minor miracle what actually happened and will live in Infamy for years if your a suns,kings,memphis fan. kudos to the Mavs and Hawks they did their thing. If the Magic had a lower pick i was sure we would pick Trea but who knows we might have still picked Bamba and i would hate the Magic now.

We never had a chance to trade for him, it was shocking that both Luka and Trea dropped passed the first two picks and the Hawks just took advantage. We just shouldn't have won that last game the year before. Even in hindsight, if we had the third pick i think we would have picked Trea. Who knows, imagine if we did have a lower pick and still picked Bamba. If that had happened i think i wouldn't be a fan anymore, probably have jumped ship.

What? I think those two years most of the posters changed their mind after the draft lotto. This board was all over Trea Young,Luka and Jaren Jackson JR hoping we would get a little lucky and move up.I don't think anyone wanted Bamba it's we were told he was BPA at that spot. It's easy to fall into the trap of hope and people were just being fans. I mean most of us could have **** all over Bamba before the draft and demanded management have enough balls to draft a point guard. I just don't think the whole board is full of contrarians, or negative people. I'm that negative guy along with a few others. Everyone else was just going along with the national news to be fans. Bottom line with our management.They chose the guys almost every publication said they would, so they went the safe route, Isaac then Bamba. Honestly most teams do it, it's not like we are the only team.It's just some teams constantly reinvent themselves. I used the Pacers as an example because they have been very similar to Orlando the last 30 years. They have had some very good teams and with just little more luck could have won a championship. They have kept changing and evolving.I think the Orlando Magic have exhibited all the signs of a perennial losers. It happens and i feel the Magic deserve better. It's just mind boggling we had a solid 5 year stretch when we were easily one of the 3 worst teams and yet we never got a high pick. I'm talking about after the Dipo draft. I feel like management was just waiting for a savior instead of making moves. I think the one thing the fans do not want is complacency.

At this point if i had to bet real money on Bamba being the starting center for the Magic i wouldn't bet a dime. As i pointed out Myles Turner is to me the closet comparison to Bamba and was showing it in his second season. Turner's second and fourth season were his best because he was healthy. Players don't have to be in the league for years to show what they can do. Sometimes it takes years to build up your body and learn how to play good NBA caliber defense but you should still see something.A guy on another forum and also on a radio show pointed to his advanced defensive metrics. Wow, in limited minutes against second and third stringers he blocked some shots. Everyone says put him in play him more but you guys miss two big things. Number one is he doesn't know what he's doing out there, when you play him against starters he gets eaten alive! Number two, most of our sets go through Vucevic. It's not a easy transition when you switch them.Once they resigned Vooch they should have traded him.It's that simple.We screwed up, i think the disconnect is lot's of teams screw up picks and player acquisitions, they just choose to do something about it. We should have picked a guard in Bamba's draft and last year we should have traded that pick and players for other players with experience. Instead we choose a player who couldn't even suit up for us, classic Magic! Tons of people on this very board wanted Brandon Clarke,Walker or Thybulle! But the Magic have to take someone who was injured.And you guys want another rookie at 15? Some project who will stay in Europe or develop into a basketball player sometime next decade.? I'm tired of rookies, however i fear the worst. If Evan opts out i can see a small tank coming. Not even on purpose,they might start next year trying to win, but pull the plug by the middle of the season. Oh well with Gordon and Isaac out and Fultz looking kind of average, i'm out. Edited to say that The Lakers looked like ass last night and only shot 13% from 3!!!! I don't know why but it makes me feel better when they suck.They won't win anything this year.

Guys the Evan thing is completely in his hands.It's a player option. I would love for a decent trade to happen with Evan but as always, that ship has sailed. Even if he opts in 17 million is still pretty steep for a contender to trade for. At first i thought he would be stupid to turn down 17 million but i feel there are enough teams out there that might offer him something worth leaving for. Here is the breakdown https://www.spotrac.com/nba/cap/2020/

Hey hey i'm gonna watch the game and i will be absolutely thrilled if they win. That being said i'm still shocked at the long-boi, lets not get any shooters, or any ball handlers draft and free agency strategy. This is why we *****! So whenever we have a good stretch its because almost everyone is healthy and we have an abnormal hot shooting stretch. It took almost a miracle for us to be .500 last year. Have to be proactive...start doing anything to get better players. Cough, cough TJ Warren. Pacers lost PG 13 and got 2 players for him and still went out and got Brogdon,drafted a PG,Let Bogdan walk, paid Myles because he is an asset, acquired McConnel, traded for warren, basically flipped the whole team. And guess what they won't be done. If Dipo is healthy next year they will decide who is a better fit with the team between Sabonis and Myles and both will have great value because they are SIGNED!!!! Remind me in a year if one of them are not traded for a good asset. Meanwhile 8 years later we are still rolling out Vucevic and Evan. AND I LOVE VOOCH! However i wish he were traded before he cost 28 million. RANT OVER

Yeah some of the names are not sexy but every member of their team has multiple skills and can actually play basketball. They don't really deal with projects. Indiana is going to be scary next year with Dipo getting healthy.Look at their top seven all of them are hitting prime age around the same time. They will only have that one year though, cause after next year 3 of those players will be gone...such is life in the NBA with short 4 year contracts and a small markets.

Yeah the Tj's torched us in that first quarter and that was it. By the way if anyone wonders what Bamba can be i hope you watched the game. In my opinion Myles Turner is basically what Bamba could be, a big, lanky 3 point shooting center. Bamba has the physical tools to be a better shot blocker but not sure he has the basketball IQ.Myles is only two years older then Bamba but is already on his second contract and much,much better. Edit: Myles was drafted 3 years before Bamba. He makes 18 million a year and was still involved in trade rumors because teams do not like paying centers anymore. Also they just paid Sabonis. Think about that for a minute, they thrashed us and didn't even have Sabonis,who i think is better then Myles. Look at Turner's box score from last night. If Bamba isn't having a few of those games by the end of next season he will not get an extension. He will ride out his last guaranteed season or get traded. Vucevic is not going anywhere, he is still our best player. Not saying this because i love that thought, it's just reality.

Eh lets enjoy the game fellas. Something about the injury seemed to put a strange calm over me. For one, Isaac is young he will be back and he will be good. Now we know they won't trade Gordon and lord knows i love talking trades. I think we can settle in and just start enjoying the team. I think this is it for another year.The only thing i would like to see is for them to trade the draft pick, we don't need another rookie.Lets get these guys some more playoff reps and see what happens next year. I'd love for them to at least reach the potential they have, either which way, i think next season is the last one for this team as currently constructed. So lets watch some B-Ball!

Was watching the game had to turn it off right after the injury. First off big shout to the Magic, who played fantastic! Guy's i'm devastated by the injury but please do not get angry he was playing. It was a non contact injury, same knee. Pretty obvious it was a partial tear initially, whatever the case best thing for this young man is surgery. Better now then next year. Let's all say a prayer for him and cheer our team.

One thing i completely didn't factor into this bubble. Alot of guys....really.....REALLY want to earn a paycheck next year. Take a look at the free agent list for next year...it's huge! Just like Baseball and Football i think for the first time NBA teams will favor low cost alternatives after covid. There are a ton of vets used to getting 1 to 10 million that will just be happy to have a job! On our team MCW and Dj are definitely playing for a next payday...you can tell.