TrueBlueDrew

So for the sake of argument...lets say that 1-3 happens just like Chad Ford predicts. Then the #4 picks Porzingis instead of Russell and we are at #5. Who would you rather have? Winslow or Russell?

The difference between that situation and our situation would be the fact that Jackson would be an assistant coach and under the wisdom of Doug Collins and what I assume is strong leadership of Thibs. He wouldn't be calling the shots, but mainly there to learn to be a head coach, while providing Orlando with a coaching staff that can relate to players in 2015 and give us a little swagger. It may sound dumb, but that is important to have in today's game.

We should just change the topic title to "Official Magic Head Coach Thread" I'm hoping for Thibs. Do you think Mark Jackson would be willing to come on as an assistant? I'm just imagining Thibs, Doug Collins and Mark Jackson. We would have the defensive minded, development minded, and culturally relevant staff that we would want.

1999-2000 -- 29-8 (5-seed, lost in Championship game to Michigan State) 2000-2001 -- 24-7 (3-seed, lost in 2nd round to Temple) 2001-2002 -- 22-9 (5-seed, lost in 1st round to Creighton) 2002-2003 -- 25-8 (2-seed, lost in 2nd round to Michigan State) 2003-2004 -- 20-11 (5-seed, lost in the 1st round to Manhattan) 2004-2005 -- 24-8 (4-seed, lost in the 2nd round to Villanova) 2005-2006 -- 33-6 (1-seed, National Champs) 2006-2007 -- 35-5 (1-seed, National Champs) 2007-2008 -- 24-12 (2-seed NIT, lost in semi-final to UMass) 2008-2009 -- 25-11 (1-seed NIT, lost in quarterfinals to Penn State) 2009-2010 -- 21-13 (10-seed, lost in 1st round to BYU) 2010-2011 -- 29-8 (2-seed, lost in Elite Eight to Butler) 2011-2012 -- 26-11 (7-seed, lost in the Elite Eight to Louisville) 2012-2013 -- 29-8 (3-seed, lost in the Elite Eight to Michigan) 2013-2014 -- 36-3 (1-seed, lost in the Final Four to UConn) 2014-2015 -- 16-17 (No post-season play) There is what Billy Donavon has done since 2000. I really respect Billy and if he stays at UF, I hope he brings them back to a team of prominence again like he did in 04-07. I'm concerned that he won't be able to make the jump. I think my reasoning for questioning the move (outside of the obvious lack of NBA experience) is that it seems like he is unable to make any type of impact unless he has a solid starting 5. Unless he has a core group of 4-5 guys, then they struggle. Someone else said the reason they like a coach from a non-power conference school is because they have to be self-motivated and are able to coach Xs + Os because they're not bringing in elite talent. I agree with that. So, I think Billy is a worthy candidate for an NBA coaching position (heard today that the Thunder would be interested in him if they split with Brooks) but I don't think he should be leading any lists.

Go to this link and see if you see anything you like...

Ive also heard people say it looks like Yagermeister

I'll ask this since I don't watch Florida basketball enough to really give a good opinion. Do people really think Donovan is a good enough coach to make the jump to the NBA? He doesn't seem to be great at Xs and Os or mid-game adjustments like a Gregg Marshall has appeared to be on several occasions. I think Donovan had a great run with great players for 4 years but after that he hasn't been able to keep it up. I personally wouldn't put him much higher than JV. He's a great guy, but probably not head coach material on an NBA team for his first experience in the NBA. I'd also be worried about his ability to garner pro-players respect. Those are just some of my thoughts? Am I way off base from what you see?

Good start to the season so far! Probably won't last. NL East is always a beast.

I would take it on the condition that we make some other deal where we get a late first round pick this year. I think this class is too deep to walk away with nothing draft night. Cousins has been arguably the best Center this season not named Anthony Davis (who is more of a power forward but plays a lot of center). I think the key for that though would be to make sure we get a respectable head coach who can bring in Cousins when he gets emotional, in an uplifting way not a degrading way. However, all of that being said, I think it is too difficult of a scenario to actually happen. I think it is smarter to just get a defensive PF, draft a slasher (Winslow) and hire an excellent coach (Thibs/Bennett with Collins as an Asst.)

I don't know what the opinions of @magical on Twitter are...but he had a few interesting tweets recently and I thought I'd share and see what people thought “@MagicalNBA: Have to credit Aaron Gordon as well for working hard and grabbing boards. That stuff is infectious. The Magic drafted 2 fighters this summer” “@MagicalNBA: At pick 5, Magic think they will be looking at Winslow and Hezonja from what I heard last night. That being said, you never know with Rob.” “@MagicalNBA: Winslow checks all the boxes Rob looks for in a draft pick. Hezonja is a wildcard, w/ an attitude but has incredible talent.” “@MagicalNBA: Coaching - Magic like Gentry, and are looking in college ranks as well. D Collins could be an Asst in that scenario.Very thorough search” “@MagicalNBA: Magic looking to upgrade the bench this summer. A few pieces - T12 (if $ is right), Fournier. They like Amir Johnson & Donal Sloan + more.” Thought the Gentry/Collins coaching sounds interesting. He even said earlier that he thinks Collins might come anyway as an assistant if they keep JB. I'd still like Bennett/Collins but Gentry is growing on me

So, I am unashamedly a biased vote but I wanted to see what the forum thought. Here are a few facts about Kentucky's team you may not know. They have 9 McDonalds All-American's on the team (Charlotte Hornets have 9 currently, the average for most NBA teams is 4.9) 10 players on their roster are over 6'6 Last night Kentucky held the #5 team in the nation to 11 field goals...and they had 11 blocks too. They have solid depth at every position and size enough to handle NBA bodies and even though MCW is good...he's not THAT good. Thoughts?

Personally I wouldn't. I like Vuc as a stretch 5 if we can get a heavy defensive 4 along side of him. For instance, if we had the #1 draft pick, I wouldn't want Okafor because I don't think he fits a need that we have. He'd be great offensively, but a liability on the defensive end. However, if we had Towns, then we could let Vuc score, Towns could get a few buckets but primarily focus on the defensive side of the ball and help-side when Vuc gets beat. This link is a side by side comparison of Vuc vs Favors. They're pretty similar across the board except for blocks. If we were to explore that trade, then I think now you'd want to draft for an offensive big (like Okafor) but keeping Vuc means we need to draft defensive.

I didn't think it was THAT close to the end of the season haha It seems when we are supposed to get high picks, we never get where we should. Maybe this year, we'll be one of those teams that jump up where we shouldn't be.

What are the odds that we could grab the #1 pick? If the Knicks can win a few more games, we could have the worst records in the league. Especially if playoff teams rest their players down the stretch.

http://cavsnation.com/inside-look-what-nba-teams-would-look-like-if-players-went-to-play-for-home-team/ Pretty cool idea to give teams a starting 5 based on where they grew up. The Chicago team is stacked if they all stay healthy haha Just for fun, anybody have any idea what the Magic's roster would look like if that happened?

We'd also have to differentiate between those near Miami and those near Orlando. So Tim Hardaway Jr., Brandon Knight, Trevor Ariza, and James Jones would be on the Heat. Someone with a better knowledge of the counties in Florida should make a starting 5 (of players currently in the NBA) Here is a link of players from Florida

I agree. From what I've seen of him. He would be a long-term project. I would guess like 5+ years. When I look at him, I honestly think he needs a few more years in college, which is why the 2-thru rule needs to happen quickly. Players generally are not ready after one year. Outside of elite talent, most just make the jump because they think they can make it on a team, make an NBA paycheck, and then possibly do enough to stick around. I think Harrell will be a better "day-1" pro than Turner will, but even Harrell is undersized, but athleticism and hustle makes up for a lot.

Winslow jumped up a lot for me in this game. I'll be very interested to watch the Valentine/Winslow match up if that is what happens. Valentine did a very good job today on Blackshear for Louisville.

Hey...just wanted to let you know...just in case you missed it. I like Kentucky. Sincerely, Me

I agree. He has a limited amount of post moves. But he was clutch against a very good post man in Auguste. The next game will be very interesting. I think Karl and WCS will take turns guarding Kaminsky. Frank has good offense but isn't great at defense. It should be a good match up. I was nervous but love my cats! BTW -- Andrew Harrison improving every single game...If he is available in the 2nd round. I don't think that would be an awful selection.

So I was looking at the NBA standings and gaging how well the Magic have done since the All-Star break. We were 17-39 at the all star break and have gone 5-11 since then. After I looked at that, I started to look at the standings in the conferences and every year it seems like 3-4 teams in the West who are battling for the last playoff spot could safely be in the playoffs in the east. So that made me ask this question: Will the NBA conferences ever be even? East Standings: 1. Atlanta 2. Cleveland 3. Toronto 4. Chicago 5. Washington 6. Milwaukee 7. Miami 8. Charlotte 9, Boston 10. Indiana 11. Brooklyn 12. Detroit 13. Orlando 14. Philadelphia 15. New York West Standings 1. Golden State 2. Memphis 3. Houston 4. Portland 5. L.A. Clippers 6. San Antonio 7. Dallas 8. Oklahoma City 9. Phoenix 10. New Orleans 11. Utah 12. Denver 13. Sacramento 14. L.A. Lakers 15. Minnesota However, if we were to take the top 16 teams based on records this is what it would look like 1. Golden State 2. Atlanta 3. Memphis 4. Houston 5. Cleveland 6. Portland 7. L.A. Clippers 8. San Antonio 9. Dallas 10. Toronto 11. Chicago 12. Oklahoma City 13. Washington 14. Phoenix 15. New Orleans 16. Milwaukee Crazy to think that you can go 10 deep in the West and 6 deep in the East... Will that ever change? Is that purely a market/money thing? Or is it bad organizations drafting/signing poorly?

If this isn't a Kentucky forum then don't make remarks about their coach instead of the players in a draft thread.

Yes they were? Ron Artest was 2009 Amare was 2010 Melo was 2011 Johnson was 2012

Interesting. Good article. Is that enough to disqualify him in your mind?

I was just going off of the mock drafts I looked at NBADraft.nethas Bobby Portis going undrafted and Trey Lyles going 8th Draft Express has Bobby Portis going 17th and Trey Lyles going 18th I looked at NBADraft.net when I was making that list and I agree. I think Bobby Portis is worth a 1st round pick. Maybe not a lottery pick, but he's good. I'm a little worried about his games against KY for the same reason Myles Turner struggled against NBA height and length. But offensively, Portis has a good collection of post moves.