jmmagicfan

TMF, you rock!!

There already is an evil Danny Ainge, his name is - Danny Ainge!

Breaking news - Mo Bamba got on the floor for a loose ball!

I don’t think KD would want to play here right now and we’d probably have to gut our team to get him. I think our front court is in pretty good shape (backup center is a need), but our backcourt is still a work in progress. SG and backup PG are still inconsistent. I would like to see a smaller move or two to address those concerns. I like KD, but he doesn’t fill our needs and would require changes built around a 34 year old player.

I'm a little concerned with all of the chatter surrounding the Bulls at the trade deadline. If they decide to do a reset it could give them a better shot at a top-4 pick in the draft, which would end up screwing us out of an extra lottery pick this year. I want the Bulls to be bad enough to be in the lottery, but not so bad they increase their chances of getting lucky! I'm kind of rooting for them to make the play-in just because of the lottery implications, but I want us to make the play-in too. I want a top-4 pick with our pick AND one of the shooters projected to go in the 9-13 range with theirs! Okay, maybe that is a little greedy; but we've been waiting 10 years for a good team, so I want ALL the options potentially available to us!

Both playing.

So, just to update my previous post on a couple of our players: Moe Wagner - he is becoming the player every fan hates if he's not on your team. He always comes with in-your-face energy and attitude and always seems to get under somebody's skin on the opponents' teams. He seems to be getting better at playing with the same energy, but not out-of-control. As long as he plays this way, and as long as he is a positive influence with Franz, he is nearly untradeable. There are times he reminds me of how D Armstrong used to play. Jalen Suggs - not to put too much emphasis on a couple of games, but I am seeing signs that the game is beginning to slow down for him. Especially last night vs. Philly, he seemed to play with energy and determination, but in-control. His defense was impressive, especially in the 4th in the zone. He was everywhere at once. Bol Bol - I do like this kid, and as someone noted, it is practically his rookie season. I wouldn't mind keeping him as the 15th guy, or on a 2-way. Mo Bamba - If he consistently brought Moe Wagner's energy he would be a force to be reckoned with. We only see it in flashes, usually when he has sat for a game or two, or if coach used another big instead of him - then he comes in with attitude. Sell high on his untapped potential and hope he doesn't come back to bite us. He's exactly the kind of guy who would play us for vengeance.

Might be a bit of both

I do think he has begun to hit the "rookie wall" - the question becomes can he work through it? I think he probably can and will, but it definitely seems to be affecting him.

And Bol, please sell high!

Looking forward to seeing JI block Vuc.

I am disappointed with Okeke so far, but more from an injury and aggressiveness standpoint. I just remember him being so solid and the center of his college team, and we haven’t seen the full extent of his game yet. Maybe it’s the injuries that have made him more passive, maybe it’s been playing without a true point guard, I just feel like he’s a player that would come back and bite us if we let him go.

I'm not sure there is such a thing as a player who is unavailable for ANY trade, but here's my listing of what it would take: Franz, Paolo, Markelle, Wendell - if you want one of them you better be including a multi-time all-star under 30y.o. to even start the discussion. Isaac is about the same if he stays healthy the rest of the season. These next guys I would like to keep, but the right package of players in the 22-25y.o. range and/or draft picks could sway me. I really like Harris, but again, he needs to stay healthy the rest of the season. Moe Wagner is tough, because I think he is more valuable to us than to anyone else. I would like to give Okeke, Suggs, & Houstan more time to get healthy and/or develop, but they are negotiable. Now we are getting down to guys that I would be okay with trading, individually or in some kind of package deal. Cole is probably our most valuable, tradeable asset in terms of potential value. Unfortunately because of his rookie contract the best offers for him would have to be in conjunction with other (expiring?) players. If we could get more of the team concept into his head, he'd be worth keeping, but his strong tendency to descend into "hero ball" is concerning. It blows up into disaster as often as it results in a win. I do love his energy and enthusiasm, though. Bol is an interesting player with a lot of good things on the offensive side, but he's detrimental on defense. He doesn't have the heft to play defense (right now?). Could that change? Maybe, but he has to stay healthy and put on some weight. He has a similar body type to his father, who never really could put on weight. Same value problem as Cole, his contract is cheap, so getting equal value would probably require a multi-player trade. Bamba is one of those guys who looks so much better on paper than he does in actual games. How a guy his size can be so poor on defense and rebounding astounds me. He does enough well on the offensive end that someone might take a chance of him developing a more complete game. I hope we can turn him into other assets. Ross is my most disappointing player this year. His offense has been even more inconsistent, and he seems to be falling out of the rotation. The torch lightings have been few and far between, and we don't seem to ride them when they do happen. He expires at the end of the season, so get whatever you can get now. Maybe package him with Cole or Bol to help offset salaries on a multi-layer deal. RJ Hampton had a miserable pre-season, but I think he has actually played well when given the opportunity. I just don't have a good handle on what value to place on him. He is an expiring rookie contract - so again you would have to package him with other players to get decent value, or settle for picks. I think he would be more valuable to other teams than he is to us, but I'm not sure that anyone has seen enough to give us a decent offer. He's kind of been the lost guy this year.

The team options are actually on Harris, Bamba, and Bol, so we have some great control. The guarantee on Bol is for only $2.2M for next season.

Bamba for Seth Curry straight up? Yes please!!