hootie249

I wanna add that Portland received Ayton in the Lilliard trade. Whatever you think of the him you just can't forget they got back a former number 1 pick who is young and signed for 4 years.

Is that Markell? When did he change his hair?

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-top-100-chris-paul-jalen-brunson-kristaps-porzingis-among-top-risers-and-fallers/ Franz is the biggest riser in CBS annual top 100 list.

Two things i get from this. When WCJ was healthy and playing well it was probably the single biggest indicator of if we were winning or not. Second, i never understood why Presti didn't want the pick which became Sengun. I think that pick was traded from OKC.

Cole has to be a very good ball handler and hit his catch and shoot 3's very well this year, otherwise it won't be pretty. He will never be a good defender and could easily lose playing time later in the year. He is a good scorer but this year is his time to shine in that area.

Debatable rankings of "young cores" https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2023/8/1/23808945/nba-best-young-cores-ranked-thunder-rockets-pistons-magic

https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2023/7/18/23798344/nba-summer-league-stars-best-players-miami-heat-chicago-bulls Here are some guys. Butler or Springer.

I am underwhelmed by our offseason but as others have pointed out, it's probably for the best. While the draft and free agency went nowhere i predicted, i see what they were trying to do. Draft wise we got the shooter everyone said we needed at 11. Lets see if they picked a winner like Wagner. Just because it wasn't the guy i wanted or you guys wanted makes no difference. It was technically the type of pick we needed. With Black they picked the guard they thought had the most upside. Everyone wanted the 6th pick to be used on BPA leaning towards a guard or wing. That's what they did. I personally thought they would jump at the chance to get one of the two forwards in a draft lacking big men. I was wrong, hope they are right. Finally we thought it might be the perfect time to consolidate and turn a few role players into one better player. We did not choosing to bring back almost everyone. Getting Jingles was good forward depth if you wanted to avoid bringing in anyone who would take touches away from the young guys. I think that was the goal. As always i am disappointed in the sneaky little moves other teams do but we don't. Maybe we should have traded and signed Williams. Why don't we get and stash euro players or an undrafted college standout for Lakeland. Who knows? Clearly they think Cole,Suggs and Fultz have another gear to hit this year and don't want to mess it up. Black is a project but Jett and even Houston should get minutes if they can defend and knock down 3's. Overall i am excited but underwhelmed.

Didn't see either game,just the highlights. I used to love summer league but i agree with you guys, i just do not understand our approach. Meanwhile i am here in Denver and i have seen all three rookies they drafted hanging around the arena all week. I get it, they are tapped out with money and hope one if not all 3 develop into a few bench guys. But if the champs have the means to develop second rounders why can't we?

While i sort of believe this is true,NBA fans are so harsh. Yes i think even peak MVP Harden was more of a regular season dude then a playoff monster. However the guy has taken over games and even series in the Playoffs. We just always remember the last games. He singlehandedly won a few games for Philly last year. It was just ruined by his extremely poor shooting in the losses.

Yeah honestly after how badly we got burnt on the JI and Fultz extensions the first time i see them taking their time. That said if Cole and Fultz look good in camp expect something to happen. And yes they can extend both players if they feel confident in them.

Dejounte Murray just got his extension. It's about 30 million per. I think it's significant because i think this is the year Fultz makes a jump. Disregard draft position for a second. Fultz and Murray came into the league and started very slowly then got injured and missed a year. I think they are similar players. Murray has one more year then Fultz but his big jump came 2 years ago on a bad Spurs team. I think this is the year Fultz breaks out, he just needs to stay healthy and make free throws. If he can hit a few more 3's a game that would be great but if he can't stay healthy or make 80% or more of his freebies he has probably hit his ceiling offensively. What is a fair extension for Fultz before or during the season? How high can it rise if we wait and he has a breakout season?

All Magic first overall picks are HOF players it's a lock.

Murray was who i wanted if our pick had dropped past 3. Not Ivey,not Sharpe! If we are picking our favorite non Magic players from that class he is my boy!

At this point Sharpe is going to have to be MJ to justify these dumb conversations. I think ten years from now Paolo will have more ALL-NBA selections then any other person in his draft class. It's an easy bet,bigs dominate the NBA. Guards can rise to the top but big men still run the league. Curry changed the game and MJ changed the sports world but those guys were one of a kind. Look at the last 5 years, either highly skilled or highly physical big men are winning all the MVP's. Paolo is just 20 and looked like a man among boys already.

Bachero was not the third best prospect. Going into the college season he was seen as the best prospect and then the narrative changed. Smith had a great year and Chet who was maybe considered 1A had a decent year on a good team. The lottery was what really changed the national media. After we won the first pick everyone just said we needed shooting. Paolo was always the right pick we just couldn't agree on this board. He is freaking 6 foot ten, 240 and can handle,dribble and score at all 3 levels. Nuff said.

Also Haliburton. He was a top of lottery rated guy all year and he fell simply because he wasn't some freak of nature jump out of the gym athlete.

Exactly. Lets focus on Simons. His contract is in the twenties and fits the timeline. He is not a star, in fact he has had just the one season with high usage or volume. However, unlike our guys he has already put up the numbers and his metrics show he is getting better. He is the shooter you all talk about so much. He's just not a star, never will be.

Ok then i see it's mostly about reaching the salary floor. Still dumb but good on them for at least making it a team option.

Kelle or Cole will both probably be extended this year. I think they are playing it a little safe considering what happened last time(Fultz and Isaac both were injured). That Vanvleet contract is just dumb. Who else was going to pay that much? I get that Houston wanted to reach the salary floor but it's still dumb and i will laugh when they are paying the luxury tax 3 years from now because Fred is taking up 30% of their cap.

It's not just that, he is not really a basketball player. He only needed to hang around the basket swat balls and pull down rebounds for ten minutes a game. That is all the lakers needed and he couldn't even do that.

Not even that.

Yeah it's hard to imagine something big happening. It would seem for a really big splash we would have to waive Bol and Gary. However, that seems unlikely since Gary is cheap,on a one year deal and our best 3 point shooter. So i'm with everyone else, expect small moves. I still say they take a shot at acquiring Hartenstein from the Knicks, they wanted him last summer.

The most obvious thing happening is we keep everyone and do almost nothing. I see we could have the fourth most cap space at 24 million. Not sure this figures in the two rookies at about 13 million and obviously we are going to waive about 3 guys. Most likely offering Mo and Goga a contract but who knows. I think cheap back-up center and /or forward is all you can expect this week.