hootie249

Agree, the Elfrid trade set up almost every failure since. Including getting owned by Hinkie.

I never had any doubts that Oladipo's shot was going to improve. I saw him go scorched earth in the fourth quarter enough times. I think at the time, i thought he had to go to the basket more and draw fouls to justify his draft position. To live up to what he would be might cost to extend. I will admit, that year, Fournier was already a better finisher. It was just obvious he had a lower ceiling then Oladipo.

Sexton and SGA seem to have the same limitations we saw before the draft. However, they are both starting and have a higher usage then Bamba. Already Sexton has a higher 3 point and free throw percentage then most of the players we have been looking at lately.(.384 and .846). Yes i saw the offensive, defensive ratings and Vorp. I still think Sexton is too small and more of a scorer then passer, but omg do we need some of the things he does! All i keep hearing is Bamba is a few years away.Well after taking a front court player with a high ceiling, shouldn't we have taken a player that could start right now? Sexton and SGA are starting right now!

Yeah we all hated that deal but assuming it was gonna happen anyway, why did we have to add a lottery pick? Inexcusable! And then when Henny made the trade to Toronto he got back the worse of 2 first round picks. I know we didn't have much leverage but cmon. That one tiny part of that whole mess is huge because the new regime seemed to be all in on a player that went earlier and they traded that pick away! So frustrating!

Actually the rebuild started off fantastic. Whatever happened the Skiles year really screwed up everything. I'll even give them a pass with Mario, seems like every team that has lottery picks 4 or 5 years in a row drafts at least one complete bust. I really can't forgive them for not drafting a Point guard the last two years. I am usually all about best player available but neither Isaac or Bamba were can't miss prospects. In fact it seems like we just followed the script of every website or publication that had draft analysis. Heck if we had just kept Dario,Layman, Sabonis and had Ish Smith the last 5 years we would be better off then this mess.

If we are gonna dream, i'd rather dream we lost that last game 10 months ago and we made the trade for Luka. Omg he would be so amazing with this team.

Didn't he lose most of those next two years to back injuries?

Nice move there.

To be fair even last decade when the Heat, Knicks,Lakers and Celtics played Amway was half full of other teams fans.

Magic just look like they lack confidence half the time. Imagine what one alpha dog could do with this team.

Fournier finishing like that.....love it! why can't he do it more often? Ps. bad defense right after

I dislike the new 3 point dominated NBA. It's great when it comes with movement and within certain offensive sets. Mostly it just happens and it happens too much. This is coming from me, a guy who had to endure late 90's thugs ball. That is the basketball which made the league change the rules. I almost miss that **** because 3 ball is getting so bad!

Kyrie appears to have a 2 year contract, but he has a player option. If he was traded to New Orleans he would just walk this summer. Anyhow to the people trading expiring contracts in mocks. The Pelicans would want players STILL under contract, plus picks. Even if they decided to do a full rebuild and trade away Jrue, you still need a few warm bodies. I do not believe they want to do a full rebuild. If they trade with the Lakers there will be a 3rd or 4th team involved to get them a vet or two, plus picks and maybe one of the youngsters.

The fact that he is looking worse then Elfrid has cooled my jets as well. Still, if it didn't involve our pick you have to do it.He is another asset.

1. Trade for Anyone. 2. Win an NBA title 3. ?????????????? 4. Profit?

I think it's mental i really think Ball needs a place like Orlando to Blossom. Just reject all the publicity and distractions and glamour and salvage his value.

A healthy Ball would make this team better in just two easy ways. Ball and Fournier are huge for guards, we would stop getting scorched by the opposing teams guards with the proper coaching. Better transition looks for Gordon and Isaac. I had to edit because my real dream scenario is we get rid of Vucevic for ball and just run the fastest pace in the NBA the rest of the year. That would make me watch the games again.

Paul George is going to L.A.

Eh on another board i put a few Magic trades up to show that we could beat a Celtics or Lakers offer. We could beat them easily if the Pelicans really wanted a soft reboot. Our players fit with Jrue and Randle better. Our picks could be better since Memphis and Clippers picks might not convey and the Sacramento pick has a good chance of being much higher then previously thought. It's all for fun.

I would be happy to stay the course if we could somehow, someway get rid of one of our bad contracts. To depend on just our draft pick to improve us is ludicrous. We have to clear a little more cap room to go after a guard. This means we need to get rid of Fournier or Mozgov. I just can't come up with a scenario where that happens. Luckily, i do not get paid to be the Magics GM. Thank god we have a real professional with that job. Let's hope they can figure it out. Until then i'll post stupid fantasy trades where we get AD.

Sometimes you have to shoot for the stars. Seriously we already think management might bring back Vucevic and Ross. Wouldn't you rather try that combo with Gordon or a possible MVP?

Well, lets be honest we would have to give up Gordon to get him.

I would love to win the number one pick. However we would still be a very bad team next year with Zion. If he became a star we would be much better off, but winning would still be years away. How about this plus our first and second for Davis. http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yajx5x6p This would be a great win now, have a future move for them. For us this gives us one year to make it happen, we can resign Ross and Vuc or maybe do another trade for a point guard.

The funny thing is the Pelicans screwed up in the same way as the Magic. They traded a young guard for a center/forward who really didn't help them win. I believe they played better after he was hurt. They lose that player the very next off season. Even if Cousins didn't get hurt, not sure he stays. Player they traded away blows up. Check out Buddy Hields stats this year. Considering that the pelicans biggest hole is at shooting guard, it makes you wonder. In the modern NBA, dominated by guards who shoot 3's, the pelicans traded away one of the best young prosepcts.

OK lets do this for fun. Basically we would be rooting for this team like our 2015 team. Young but infinite possibilities. First we would have to be a 3rd team in a Lakers, Pelicans trade. In this hypothetical we keep B.I.G plus our pick. Kind of a stretch if you ask me, but possible. Then we have to move up to number 2 or 3 in the draft. The only time this happened in the last 7 years was the year after Dwight left. We had the worst record. OK the impossible part is done. Now thoughts on the team. It would be fun to watch! However this team would have trouble scoring, maybe more then the last two years. Best case scenario, Lonzo becomes a good spot up 3 shooter(possible). He continues his good defense while we become lob city with Gordon and Bamba. Barrett is Tatum 2.0 and Isaac takes a leap forward on offense. One can only dream.