JJZFL

Please see above. I grabbed a random selection of posts from our draft thread. There were quite a lot of people who were crazy about Bamba (you weren't one of them) and thrilled we got him instead of Trae or even Doncic.

I’ll always remember the joy in these forums when Atlanta took Trae which meant Bamba fell to us.

We had really good luck the previous 10 years. Balances out. Trying to build a team by being bad to get great draft picks is a crapshoot at the very best.

I think this is a really important point, and it's one of the reasons I've been against tanking. +1 from me. Edit: Would have been +1 but I'm out. I'll add it later.

I'm ready. This is one time I'd be thrilled to be wrong and give you full credit for being right.

Why does this remind me if the “young guns” everyone was do excited about 9 or so years ago? I hope our players prove me wrong, but nothing about the end of last season gives me much reason for optimism.

Thank you :)

We had exactly the same chance as Detroit to get the #1 pick. Can’t blame the anti-tank crowd for that. This team lost a huge number of games to end the season, which I as an anti-tanker believe will carry forward to next season.

I thought it was the top 4 that people were excited about.

We got the results that were most likely

That's a very good question. I guess the thought is that he set up the franchise for success going forward. To say that remains to be seen is quite an understatement.

Don't want more reclamation projects who don't shoot. We've had way too many of those IMO.

How about Jeff Green coming back as a player-coach?

Agree. Always thought that was most likely given the short time frame from when Cliff decided to leave. Barely have had time to interview more than a few. And of course if we’re lucky in the draft it could make the post more desirable although that can work both ways if we aren’t lucky.

Agree. The other thing is that we had concerns about his intensity and effort (AKA motor) well before COVID, unfortunately.

Fantastic

True. But a young coaching prospect with no track record as a head coach will be judged harshly for a strongly losing record, even if their talent is inferior. So while someone like Vogel who is a known quantity gets another chance with much better talent, a young prospect with a terrible record after a couple of years of Hezonja and Payton might not.

Maybe. On the other hand, a Vogel can rebound from some bad years with us because he’s an established NBA coach. A coach getting their first coaching job with us may never get another offer if they have a record way below .500 over 2-3 years. People who want to advance in their careers have to consider stuff like that.

Oh, I completely agree that they won't have any trouble filling the job. The question is whether the best prospects are going to want to come here. I think coaches, especially aspiring ones looking to advance and show what they can do, evaluate the opportunities because if they go 60-104 over two years, that is not exactly a steppingstone to further success.

And two of the last three coaches (Skiles, Clifford) have chosen to leave, forsaking millions, which is very unusual. I still think it won’t be easy to convince a good to great coaching prospect to come here. If they fail, which seems very likely, it may hinder them from getting another chance elsewhere.

I could see them packaging some of the picks to move up depending on how the lottery turns out. Too early to tell.

That gives them very little time for such a big decision, though. Barely 2 weeks to interview and hire a coach and his staff. I’m not sure that’s possible. And the other argument is that if by some chance we get a very high pick, it could possibly make the job more appealing, and in my opinion we need all the help we can get along those lines.

I agree again. We may even wait to interview altogether until after our draft positioning is known.

I mostly agree with you. I'm not sure he's as unwilling to work with younger players as is being suggested, but I agree with everything else.

I sincerely hope that you're right. However, the last 5 Magic coaches have not prospered with the Magic, and two subsequently won championships after they left us. I think Cliff dislikes tanking much more than he dislikes younger players, but we can differ on that. We will see what kind of coaches want to come here at some point soon. For a brief period after our trades, on the West Coast trip, this team looked like it had some potential. Then it collapsed. Maybe that was on purpose. Regardless, I just don't see coaches tripping over each other for this job.