TrueBlueDrew

Well...how we feeling about it so far?

Okay...so from what I've been reading. There is trouble brewing in Minnesota. The players, particularly KAT, are not happy with Rosas being fired yesterday. Do you think KAT could be a good fit for our team? I'm obviously playing the imaginary scenario where we commit to him over WCJ or Mo. If he is traded, I don't see him going to another small market unless it's like a 4 team trade. I would laugh if Philly traded Ben Simmons to Minn and then we jumped in to get KAT and DRuss went to Philly.

I'm just saying...there was a lot of nay-sayers about the FO in the past few months. Those comments seem to be quieter now. To quote the legendary Joel Embiid... "trust the process"

Resign Wagner? What about filler fowards with potential like Jarred Vanderbilt or Niang? Would Paul Millsap be willing to come to a rebuild if no contenders offer him? PG - Fultz, Anthony, MCW SG - Harris, Hampton, Suggs, Ross, SF - F. Wagner, Okeke PF - Isaac, Bacon C - WCJ, Bamba, Lopez If I was a betting man, I would think with the signing of Lopez, the Magic will make a trade at some point and either offload some combination of Bamba, Bacon, Harris, MCW or Ross. They would aim for someone in the SF/PF range that could potentially build into a core. Then with the development of our young guys...maybe next offseason land that big name to push us into contenders.

The fast action today has been kinda crazy. Almost every website that I've been to predicting free agent targets for Orlando have us going after Duncan Robinson and Kelly Oubre. Saw another site that referenced Malik Monk. Any thoughts on any of that? Duncan has already been signed. I'm just not even sure who our targets would be? Probably someone in the SF/PF range?

You’d have RJ over Chuma? id have those switched. I also will be really interested to see what we do with Cole. He grew so much last year having to play because of injuries. He’s kinda become the vocal leader of the team. I wonder how short a leash Fultz will have with Cole’s development

The Terrance Clarke memorial was neat. As the resident Kentucky fan…this guy would’ve been special. Maybe similar stock to SGA or Quickley.

How dare you talk bad about Cal :) But really, I agree he's just using the media hype to get him some more love in Memphis. I mean, they didn't have a bad season...won the NIT. So, maybe it was smart.

I agree with this. Didn't he also say that "in a few years, he'd love to go to the NBA but it isn't now." Doesn't that just tell the people at Memphis...you're just a stepping stone? lol I'm super glad he's staying.

Yup. I’m all about this. I’m glad Penny passed. You want to see current NBA players talk highly about a potential coach. Can we get a solid coaching staff around him too?

Yup. I think the moves we have made since then have been great. And the C on Bamba is only because he hasn’t been able to reach the potential he has. If the Magic fully commit to Bamba/WCJ as their centers and fill the rest of the roster with 1-4. That would be smart given the NBAs current drift to small ball

The main thing that I am worried about is picking another combo guard for our team. We need more balance for our team. PG - Fultz, Anthony, Randle (TW) SG - Harris, Bacon, Ross, Hampton, MCW, Thornwell (TW) SF - Ennis, Brazdeikis PF - Isaac, Porter, Okeke, C - Bamba, WCJ, Wagner I think we desperately need a SF who can score. I'm nervous about reaching on another relatively unknown (Kuminga) but I guess a lot of the draft picks this year are unknown just because of Covid but I've read that Kuminga struggles offensively and had to miss games because of knee soreness. I'm worried this is Isaac 2.0. I like Scottie Barnes, I like Corey Kispert and maybe even Moses Moody and Franz Wagner (Wagner duo!!!)

2020 - B+ -- I think Cole is the energetic spark we need and seems to have a little bit of a clutch gene in him. I'm hoping that is contagious for the rest of the team. The only player drafted relatively close after him that I would be interested in watching is Maxey. Also, not sure about long-term fit alongside Anthony and Fultz...but we also pulled Hampton who was drafted 9 spots after Cole. Overall, solid picks for this draft. 2019 - A -- I don't think there is anyone else drafted after Chuma who is anywhere close to his ceiling and he already seems to be putting up bigger numbers than the other guys (partly because of how we needed him to play after trading everyone) 2018 - C -- I'm interested to see where this team goes with Bamba now that we have WCJ. Having both #6 + #7 from this draft could be good but they could also stifle each others growth. WCJ seemed to be more offensively efficient last season. Overall, I'm disappointed with Bamba's development but he's been behind an All-Star and now alongside another 3rd year top-10 pick player at the same position. I would be surprised if both Bamba and WCJ are on the team after the deadline this upcoming year. 2017 - A -- I think this was an excellent draft for us... IFFFF... everyone from this draft can stay healthy. Isaac, when healthy, has a defensive player of the year capabilities, and Fultz, when healthy, can be a dynamic slashing PG with incredible vision. Looking at the picks after Isaac, obviously, Donovan Mitchell would be nice. I don't think Bam Adebayo would have flourished like he has anywhere other than Miami. Before we landed Fultz, I would've really liked to pursue Fox and still this Fox is a stud who is wasting a lot of his prime years in a bad place. But I'm still happy with this draft. 2016 - F -- This was a horrible trade and I think we got absolutely shafted by another GM who took advantage of Henny not knowing what the crap he was gonna do. Dipo and Sabonis both benefited from this trade and became betters players because of it but still. It would've been nice to at least stay in this trade and get someone like LaVert at #20. 2015 - F -- This was a reach. Looking back at it now, I think the hype around Luka is very similar to the same hype that Hezonja had. "He's so young...killing it overseas...scores with ease..." Hezonja has pretty much been a bust and literally any other pick from #6 (Mudiay) to #16 (Rozier) would have been a better pick. The obvious miss of the draft was Booker at #13. 2014 - C -- I love Gordon, just wish I could've seen him, Dipo, and Harris play together more. I think that would have eventually become a very fun trio to build around. I think they reached with Payton and Zach LaVine would have been a better pick. Imagine PG - Dipo, SG - LaVine, SF - Harris, PF - Gordon, C - Vucevic? All in all, I think we are hit and miss with top 10 picks. Other than obvious misses like Booker in 2015. I don't think we've done a bad job...just unfortunate with development and injuries.

This is a solid rebuttal. I agree with it. I think some fans tend to drift toward pessimism and others drift toward optimism so that will be the way they see the team and the decisions they make. In my opinion, I think the current FO has made a lot of good moves to get us to be more athletic (which matches the style of play in the NBA) and out of financial trouble. My one critique would be that we have focused a little too much on defense and need some offensive firepower. I think we held on just a little too long for Fournier and Vuc but Vuc was in the middle of an All-Star run so it was hard to convince yourself to cut ties.

Does anyone have thoughts on Terry Stotts? Is he able to bring us out of the depths or would we just maintain where we are?