JJZFL

Yeah, very exciting.....

I think those predictions are about right

Is it time for a game thread with the first game of the season being tomorrow night?

OK, that's fair enough. Oladipo has shown he's very solid on defense. Hopefully he won't be out more than a few weeks.

Well Oladipo didn't play in any of the preseason games so it's not like much has changed. A lot of people in this forum sounded excited about what they were seeing on the court the past couple of weeks without him. I haven't been too excited but that's what makes for discussion; we don't all have the same point of view. Anyhow regular season is right around the corner, so very soon we can see how all this translates when it matters.

25 wins or less.

Well, Gordon should be neutralized now, I hope :)

Actually, they aren't mutually exclusive. Teams can become so bad that even the strongest fans, who will never stop rooting for their team over the long run, don't enjoy watching the games during a particular season. That was the case for many with the Magic last year. Your second paragraph is the kind of bratty condescending drivel which unfortunately appears far too often in your posts, and doesn't deserve a response.

We can argue about what "fairweather-ness" means and when it's an appropriate description, but instead, I'll just mention that even many of the die hard fans on this forum have stated in multiple posts that they had trouble bringing themselves to watch the games the past two years. That's not projecting, that's fact.

Good test of the season is if anyone, including the fans on this forum, cares about the games after the first couple of months. If they do, then the season is a success. My guess is that they won't. There is a difference between tanking (intentionally losing games) and trying to win but losing anyway. I don't think we'll tank this season, but we won't win too many games. I hope we'll see some progress to give us encouragement for upcoming seasons. My prediction: 25 or fewer wins.

Similar record to last year. My prediction.

The real question is whether anyone will care about any of the games after the first couple of months. If they do, then this season is a success as far as I'm concerned.

I agree.

I agree that if we see the team develop then I don't really care if they make the playoffs or not. Realistically, I think there's a better chance that we see little if any improvement, and that we wind up with 30 wins or less.

The reactions here are why we need this thread. There is a uniformity of opinion on this forum that just can't seem to tolerate other points of view. Junkie doesn't need to post positive threads, the ten of you or so who just bashed him are very capable of doing that.

Fair enough. Perhaps this belongs in another thread but what benchmarks would you set for the team next season to see if its making progress or not?

Big difference between needing to see multiple stars on a team at all times and being bottom dwellers. There is some room between those two extremes. In any event, I agree that rebuilding is a process. The difference of opinion here is whether the current process will be successful. Just being in a rebuilding mode is no guarantee of future success. Personally, I hope you're right, and that we start to see this team making some strides during the upcoming season.

Are you forgetting that we've already had two terrible years? Some of us don't see a light at the end of that tunnel.

So do you think they'll be in the top 1/2 of the league in defense? That seems like a reasonable goal to me, I just don't think they're going to get there. But I would love to be proved wrong.

I was hopeful that would be the case, but didn't see much improvement in our defense last year, despite being young and athletic.

I have to admit I didn't enjoy watching them much the past two years. And I haven't seen much sign of development, either. I don't expect much better this year, unfortunately. At this point, the team has no character or identity. If , and it's a big if, that starts to change, I'll enjoy watching them more even if there aren't a lot more wins.

No. It's a high-risk, high reward strategy. If it works, he did a good job. If it doesn't, he didn't.

I think you hit it on the head. Obviously Hennigan decided that the best way to rebuild was to basically start from scratch, assemble young talent, and hopefully develop a strong nucleus that can create a foundation for years of success. Judged from that standpoint, his moves were very good ones. However, if the overall concept fails, and the Magic don't develop the young talent into a competitive team in the next 1-2 years, then those individual moves really won't matter, and Hennigan will not be judged a success.

Sorry for the double post, editing error.

Any answer to those questions is subjective. Basically if the Magic don't start to develop as a cohesive team in next 1-2 years, my opinion is that Hennigan won't be judged a success, regardless of the merits of any individual move he's made.