jmmagicfan

That's why I said I wasn't sure if we should consider - I am not pushing for Simmons at all. I can see him going either way from this point on. He has never really shown much concern for improving his free throw/outside shooting in the past, as he has made a couple of All-Star appearances without doing so. The question becomes, does he now start working on shooting improvement as a result of his playoff issues; or does he "double down" on not needing to. If he has a new commitment to improve his shooting, then I probably would consider something like I listed (thinking that's what Philly would demand). Without that focus to improve his shooting, I am not interested, as he strikes me as a regular-season star who won't lead you to a 'ship.

I would be surprised if it is us, but you never know. I can't see anything built around Fultz for obvious reasons, so what would they want? Probably two of Suggs, Anthony, Hampton, Isaac, plus multiple first round picks, and Harris or Ross to make the numbers work. Probably something like this (we can trade both '22 and '23 first round because we have the Chicago first round) G Harris, Hampton, Suggs, 2022 1st (Top 5 protected), 2023 1st (Top 5 protected) for Simmons and Isaiah Joe. Not sure if they can do better, not sure if we should consider. It would leave us financially tied up for a long time with Simmons, Fultz, and Isaac's contracts, WCJ/Bamba both up for new contracts next year, and Anthony/Okeke due soon after.

I think we have to be moving another guard out. More likely Harris with the big expiring.

We do? Isaac, Okeke, F Wagner are really the only true forwards on the team. Ross is really a SG, and M Wagner is more a C. Iggy is a 2WP.

Because he brings you so much more during the regular season when it is harder to prepare specifically for him? And the thought that he is still fairly young and may be able to improve both the FT and 3PT shooting to continue expanding his game? He is a multiple time All-Star for a reason, even with his flaw(s).

Agree - if it doesn't convey the first year due to protections, then those protections should be less or removed completely in subsequent years. So if it is lottery-protected in '22, it should be nor more than top-4 in '23, top-1 in '24, unprotected in '25. The problem is, there is a limit on how far out you can trade a first-round pick.

Maybe he had anxiety about playing in Toronto/Canada? Nothing against the Raptors, but they are the only team that was unable to play on their home court last year due to Canada's restrictions for COVID. It left them playing in Tampa, FL for the season, and may have contributed to discomfort for players/free agents; since there isn't any guarantee they might be having to temporarily relocate again as the delta variant is increasing cases. If so, it probably won't be here in Florida.

I think that is a pretty fair comparison for WCJ, maybe a little strong for what Bamba has shown so far; but who knows what will happen this season. The fact that Bamba was one of the first to go work with the new coach, and travelled to Vegas to continue working with the summer league team, even though he wasn't playing, says a lot about how seriously he is taking this summer, this season, and the chance to "re-boot" his career with the team.

So, out of 15 guys we currently have (13 on the roster, 1 pending, 1 on 2WP) we only have 4 guys over 25. Lopez - 33, Ross - 30, MCW - 29, Harris - 26. M Wagner is 24 (25 on 4/26), and nobody else will be 25 this season. We have three guys who aren't legally old enough to drink - F Wagner - 19 (20 on 8/27), Suggs - 20 (21 on 6/3), and Hampton - 20 (21 on 2/7). I'm not saying we are young and need some time/experience, but damn! I was pleased with Janis Timma on our summer league team, and if we don't re-sign Ennis, I think Timma would be a good second choice. Even though Timma would be a rookie, his years of experience playing professionally in Europe offsets that to a large extent. I'm not sure that we are going to sign another player to fill that 15th roster spot, but I doubt Timma would accept a 2WP contract - he can probably make more going back to Europe. If we don't sign a 15th player, I can see us using the second 2WP contract on DJ Hogg; if we do sign another forward to the roster, I think we might give the spot to Hassani Gravett. We will have to wait and see.

Happy belated birthday to Chuma Okeke - 23 a/o yesterday!

There are still a few of us!

Pretty funny, because it really doesn't take into account just how many player games we lost to injuries - more than any other team in the league last year. Yes, a lot of them were Fultz (64) and Isaac (72) being out most/all of the season, but Anthony (24), Okeke (27), Bamba (16), Ennis (31), Carter-Williams (40), and Ross (16) all missed a lot of time as well (not including them sitting Ross for about 10 at the end of the season). Throw in the 17 games Gordon and Fournier each missed prior to being traded (call it 15 if they were held out pending the trades), the Aminu (27) games and that is a massive adverse effect on your offense especially. That's also not including the games missed by Porter, Harris, or Carter, Jr after the trades. I can see our offense making a massive improvement from the addition of Suggs, and better health/continuity. I don't expect us to jump into the top 50% in the league right away, but I think penciling us in for last is just wrong.

I think Suggs has a better BBIQ than Super Mario! So hopefully, that will translate to a much better career as well!

Also on NBA TV HD (spectrum 1140)

I'm torn with this - on one hand I agree that it took way to long for them to choose the rebuild path we are now on. On the other hand, they may have been forced to let it ride in order to get any kind of value out of the Vucevic, Fournier, Gordon trio in trades; and I would have to say the return on Fournier was pathetic. I can't actually believe that we couldn't have done better trading him directly to the Knicks at the deadline, considering how much they apparently value him now! I have been pleasantly surprised at the growth of Hampton, and WCJ after the trade, and am pleased with the F. Wagner pick. We are still in a bit of a cap crunch, but with the not-so-big three's and Porter's salaries gone, we're in better shape than we would have been from the financial standpoint as well. Before the trades, I would have given them a "D-", afterwards it moved up to a "C" based on the returns and the M. Wagner, I. Brazdeikas, and even the Randle signing. I don't rank Randle real high, but having to find a third replacement PG due to injury that late in the season, I think they did reasonably well. (I really was hoping for Jeremy Lin.) Now, I am leaning more towards a "B-" or possibly a "B".