TallGreg

I know that it's only summer league but why wasn't Oladipo covering Lamb on the final possession? I would have loved to see him put to the test in that type of situation. Lamb made Harkless look terrible but it's a lesson learned, I suppose.

Talent matters but this draft was also about instilling/solidifying a culture in Orlando. Nice job, Henny. p.s. It's nice to see players wearing tailored suits instead of circus tents to the draft.

Olllllyyyy sh*t! Wish we snagged Noel though.

I guess we're getting our shot blocker to go alongside Vuc!

If the Bledsoe trade goes through then the Minny swap (for Zeller) makes a lot of sense. Bledsoe's talent is commensurate with a top-5 pick in this draft and I think Nicholson will be moved in that trade. Like everyone else I fear that the combo of vuc and zeller would be terrible defensively but Zeller has the lateral quickness and jumping ability to at least turn into a solid defender in time.

It will be awesome once the draft is over and we can move on to a new conversation. Plus the Dante and Gallante summer league broadcasts are pretty epic.

I would be very surprised if TRob doesn't end up a Bobcat. They strongly considered picking him at #2 last season, they're under the cap and he's now available for essentially pennies on the dollar. I'd certainly like to see Robinson on the Magic in the sense that he is low-risk, high-reward. Positives: Elite athlete: strong, fast and tough, good, potentially great rebounder- 10.7 rebounds per 36 minutes in his first season in the NBA, solid defensive potential despite being slightly undersized Negatives: Limited shooting range, poor shooting percentage for a big man (43% fg), gets his shot blocked at the rim way too much, has a long way to go offensively. Potential malcontent if the minutes aren't there

Steven Adams is another guy to consider if we pick up another mid-first rounder.

I think if you look at the models that have succeeded over the past several years they break down as follows: - Superstar driven (Miami, OKC, Boston) - Team full of excellent shooters that swing the ball well (Golden State 2013, Dallas 2011) - Passable offense but top-ranked defense: (Memphis, Indiana, Chicago) ... and San Antonio who is a bit of all three (though, so is Miami and formerly Boston for that matter) Anyhow, the point I am trying to make is that the 3rd model seems to be the best route for small-market teams. With our current core we have a lot of promise but we are piss-poor defensively. How do you start to remedy that? Hope Noel falls or see if it's possible to swap picks with Cleveland at a reasonable price.Take Oladipo at 2 or swap picks with CHA and grab him at the #4 spot. Then I agree with everyone here that if the Dallas pick is up for grabs we need to take it. Schroeder seems like a great choice there. He reminds me a lot of Conley on defense and offensively.

Like the others I think Henny will make the right pick. I have the feeling that Oladipo will be the pick when all is said and done. Sure he isn't exactly what you'd ideally want from a #2 overall guy but there's also very little chance that he isn't at least a quality starter and top-flight defensive stopper in the league for years to come.

At this point Noel seems like the clear top choice for us. Hennigan has given zero reason to believe that he doesn't have an excellent eye for talent so I'll be pretty comfortable with whoever we choose.

I'd go with a young Shawn Marion comp. Both guys have an incredibly quick 2nd jump that allow them to do a lot of the intangibles that really help a team. Harkless is a genetic freak with a solid mental make up and defensive mentality. I'll take that on my team any day. I am not worried about his shooting. His corner 3s are already a reliable source of offense.

Quiet board tonight. My two cents on the game so far: Atlanta has really active hands defensively and Josh Smith is a shut down defender. I thought there was a chance the game was going to get away from us but I'm happy with the resilience. I love seeing Vooch out there again using his length to get rebounds and put backs offensively (not so much on defense). What do we need to do in the second half to get the win?

It's only a matter of time until Harkless is a sought-after commodity around the league. This has been a fun game to watch.

Flipping the channel from a Gator collapse to a Magic collapse is a bad combo...

The more I see Harkless, the more that I'm impressed with his versatility. His improved shooting speaks for itself. He was a good rebounder in high school and college but I figured that would stop once he got to the NBA because of his slight frame but nope... still doing his thing.

Annnd tonight.... Dwight 5-9 fg, 10 pts. Kobe 11-33 fg. No need whatsoever to employ a hack-a-Dwight when he has Kobe stealing all of his shots.

I agree that the notion that it's our right as a paying fan to say whatever we want to the players is ridiculous. It's still stupid of Dwight to engage but I get it. I definitely see Nicholson as a back up. I am right there with you on Harris. I try not to get too carried away with my expectations when he does tantalizing things on the court!

A couple thoughts from the game tonight: 1.) JV showed his inexperience as a coach, but he'll be okay. The Hack-a-Dwight was employed way too early and often, especially when Dwight's OWN team negates him as a major force a lot of the time. We really should have let the game develop a bit and shown some trust in our guys' ability to get it done. We disrupted our own flow and rhythm more than anything else. 2.) We are painfully inept in the paint defensively and it's embarrassing as a fan that we need to rely on gimmick play to compensate (even while in rebuilding mode). I REALLY want Vuc to be our guy at the 5 for many years to come but if he doesn't make major strides defensively then we'll have to eventually look elsewhere. But he's young and I suppose if we picked up a stellar help-side defender at the 4, it could help a bit. 3.) I thought Jameer was terrible. He consistently made poor decisions. I think it had a lot to do with him trying to prove something to Dwight but I expect better play from our veteran leader. JV should have turned the reins over to Beno and insisted that the offense be worked through a keyed-in Tobias. I am excited about our future. I just find Dwight to be unbearable and was disappointed that he was essentially given the opportunity to put forth a dominant performance on a silver platter.

That video is going to spread like wildfire.

The game plan is unsustainable because we are going to run out of players but it's been a heck of a lot of fun seeing this dog fight. Are the people who complained about the "scrubs" we got in the JJ trade still flapping their jaws?

The league just isn't the same without Ron Jeremy's doppleganger screaming up and down the sidelines.

My wife and I are trying to see a game in the new arena. Is it possible to find seats for less than $60 bucks a pop?

It seems like the Grizzlies are a pretty good franchise to model our rebuilding effort after in terms of team philosophy, though it remains to be seen whether this group of core players will get anywhere close to where they need to be defensively to compete in this league. p.s. I hope we at least get a half quarter of defensive effort and execution of the offense. p.p.s. Bayless needs to grow his hair back.

I agree with the above posters about the major defensive woes. We need to give heavy minutes to our core guys for the rest of the season and focus heavily on learning to play defense at the NBA level. Until Nelson comes back: PG: Udrih SG: Afflalo SF: Harkless PF: Harris C: Vucevic 6th: Nicholson 7th: Moore 8th: O'Quinn 9th: Jones 10: Harrington 11: Lamb