jmmagicfan

I’m not seeing this reported on ESPN or updated on Spotrac; where did you see it?

I am not a Cole fan, as I think he plays too much “me” ball. However, I think he’s better than the 11th best. I think he’s a good 6-9 man depending on the team depth.

He was not as good last season, his 3p% was way down and he was subpar in the playoffs. I don’t have any objection to Franz getting a new contract, or the length, but I am concerned about paying him a full max after a down year.

I will admit, I am going to miss the slow, Moe/Joe pick-n-roll/pop. Everyone knew it was coming, and yet it was still effective.

Well, that pretty much clears all of our cap room. I don’t think we can do much more than a vet minimum, if we are going to fill a 15th roster spot. Edit: Depending on the order we sign things, we might have the mid-level

I would still like us to sign Saddiq Bey. I think we could, we would just have to do the contract before Moe’s or Goya’s, as they are eligible for Bird and Early Bird exceptions. I still think Tyus Jones might be a possibility as well. I wouldn’t be surprised to see us pick up one of the two. Then offer Ingles a job on the bench as an assistant coach.

Never underestimate the importance of good Mac and Cheese!! LOL! Seriously, I am wondering if there is a trade brewing that involves WCJ and/or Cole, so we loaded up on our SG and C positions ahead of time.

Someone mentioned amending Isaac’s contract and said why would we give him more money, but didn’t mention that maybe we would give him less. I’m not sure if this year’s salary changes, but the five year contract average is $16,8M, which is less. As someone mentioned, I’m interested in what injury allowances there are. With the Moe and G Harris contracts and the da Silva projected full 120% of the rookie minimum for pick 18, I think we have about $5M under the cap.

Someone mentioned amending Isaac’s contract and said why would we give him more money, but didn’t mention that maybe we would give him less. I’m not sure what our options are, since his contract is not yet guaranteed, but if we amend it to something like 3/$44M, with the third year being a team option, $15M/14.67M/14.33M, guaranteed this year and a partial guarantee on the second based on games played this year, it might be something he could go for. Currently if he is injured again before the guarantee, we could cut him then and there.

Exactly this!

I'm not really as concerned with who is at 4 or 5 with JI and Moe. They tend to swap back and forth when they are on together. I am not keen on Cole as the PG, he gets too focused on his own game when he handles too much. I think AB needs more work on playing PG, which is why I think a Cam Payne or Marcus Morris might be a good, short-term fill for the backup PG, for the next year (or two?). Do I think Black will make either of them redundant? Yes, eventually, but I'm just not sure how long it will take. I really liked Saddiq Bey when he came out, so if we can pick him up relatively cheap, I think he would be an interesting addition, and would give us a different (faster) look. A line-up of Suggs/Franz/Bey/Banchero/JI could be really difficult for other teams to match up with. The speed and switching on both ends could be interesting to watch. Edit: I am also not sure how ready Jett and TDS are to play up in the NBA. Jett spent all year in the G-League, and from reports did really well working on what the team wanted from him. Hopefully he is ready to go. Will TDS be ready, or will he need G-League time for reps and the transition. If so, how much. I think Bey helps fill that Ingles gap too.

I think Markennan is currently the better offensive player, and he is in/entering his prime; however, he has only played at least 65 games twice in 6-7 years, and never over 70 games. I think Franz is as good or better defensively, and he has the potential to be as good on the offense, or better. He has played 79, 80, and 72 games in his three seasons. I think Franz is better next to Banchero, as he can play SG/SF/PF next to Banchero playing PF/C. I'm not sure Markennan can effectively play anything except PF - I think C is too physical for him and contributes to his injury issues. As we have seen with Fultz and JI, availability is a big part of being a productive team player.

I'm not sure that the "3-all star" super-team model actually works - it has been kind of hit or miss over the years. The "2-all star" with a couple of high-caliber role players seems to do as well or better. When I say that, I mean multi-year all-stars - the guys that make it consistently, year after year; the guys you expect to see there barring injury. If you have a couple of other guys who have just missed, or made it once or twice in 5-6 years, that would be what I mean by high-caliber role players. For example, with the Celtics you expect Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to make it every year; you aren't shocked if Holiday, Porzingas, or White make one, but you don't expect it - partly because of injury history, or how they have adapted their game to a more supporting role. I'm not sure Embiid, Maxey, and George have that chemistry and/or that one of them is willing to play a more supporting role. I'm not sure that NYK or MIL have two other guys that I "expect" to make the all-star team regularly. Giannis and Dame, yes, but I think their other guys are more of the "occasional" all-star, supporting types. We will see. I like the Orlando team chemistry, and I am hoping that changing out 2-3 guys (maybe 4?) on the regular roster won't negatively impact that. I doubt that Fultz and JIngles will be back, and I will miss the Ingles/M Wagner pick and roll/pick and pop; I think it was one of our more productive offensive plays. Hopefully the upgrade from G Harris to KCP will help offset any other changes as well. I think Trae would be a negative chemistry guy, I just don't think his defense would fit, and I doubt that he is sufficiently team-oriented. (orientated for you, CT) I would be okay with Mitchell, depending on what we had to give up to get him. I think Markennan and Simons would be detrimental to our defense as well.

With CT's clarification, we do have 4 roster spots open, so we could retain Goga, Moe, and Joe and still have a spot for another PG. I wouldn't mind seeing Saddiq Bey in one of those spots (maybe instead of Joe). We have Bird Rights to Moe, Early Bird rights to Goga (greater of 175% of prior contract, or League Average Player Salary), so we could make Jones a good offer (say $18.5M), and get Bey, Moe, and Goga using various exceptions. It would put us over the Cap, but I think we would still be under the Luxury tax apron(s) this year. But - that would make the F Wagner, Suggs, and Banchero future contracts a little bit trickier. I think it more likely the Front Office takes a run at a lesser PG option (Morris, Payne, or possibly Fultz). I think if we see Fultz back, he would be a bench player with a strict minute restriction (like JI last year), and it would be closer to a vet minimum contract. 1) Suggs/Payne/Black 2) KCP/Anthony/Howard 3) F Wagner/da Silva/Houstan 4) Banchero/M Wagner/Bey 5) Carter Jr/Isaac/Bitadze I can't say I'm wildly enthusiastic, but I think this would be another step forward from where we were this year. In essence, we would be replacing G Harris/J Ingles/C Okeke/M Fultz with a rotation that includes KCP/da Silva/Bey/Payne. I think it is a net upgrade based largely on availability.

I thought by making him a qualifying offer that if he "opts in" that it is for a roster spot. I didn't realize that it worked that much differently for a 2-way. So basically, he is guaranteed a 2-way spot if he opts in. Thanks for the clarification.