jmmagicfan

Part of the reason I have been against both the play-in and the first round going to 7 games instead of best-of-5; sure it is only 2-3 games, but they have just kept adding games, and they all add up. The "solution" has been to shorten both training camp and pre-season in favor of the additional games that have meaning. The problem with that is that so many guys use training camp and pre-season to get in "game shape" for the season. When you shorten those and rush the process, guys get injured.

Markkanen dunk with 0.2 seconds left - wtf kind of a dic- move is that?!

The fat lady isn’t singing yet, but she’s already had tea w/lemon to clear her throat and is finishing her warm-up!

Gradey may not have the lateral speed, and the chase guys around screens ability to classify him as a SG, so we look at him as more of a SF.

I think when it comes to guys that play either SG or SF, a lot of it comes down to the defensive end. If a guy has the size to step outside and contest, but lacks some speed to keep people out of the paint, or chase them around multiple screens they usually get classified as a SF. If they have the speed, but may lack a little height to contest outside, they usually get classed as a SG. That's a little simplistic, but about the best I can come up with. The Thompson twins have the size of your "average" SF, the speed of your average SG, and (Amen anyway) the vision of a PG. The problem with both of them seems to be their outside shooting isn't ideal for a true wing at the moment, so it's hard to classify their positions.

And it got a buzzer?!?

Joel Embiid, Seth Curry

Greg Oden

I think the FO will be looking at moving forward without JI. My thought is you still have him on the roster, and you hope he is back in time for training camp, but you don’t guarantee him until the last possible moment, which would be January 2024. I think if he isn’t back and playing 20+ minutes from the start of the season, you think really seriously about waiving him instead of guaranteeing him.

I think the FO will be looking at moving forward without JI. My thought is you still have him on the roster, and you hope he is back in time for training camp, but you don’t guarantee him until the last possible moment, which would be January 2024. I think if he isn’t back and playing 20+ minutes from the start of the season, you think really seriously about waiving him instead of guaranteeing him.

TMF07, amazing as usual!!

This is for good shooters, not super ugly shooters! LOL!

Dennis Scott played most of his career with the Magic, and the rest all played 4-5 years with us. I would possibly add Pat Garrity who had a sweet shot, and maybe Jeff Turner.

Of course not, Giannis gets all the calls.

Anyone really think that they will overturn this challenge?

Especially love the Brook Lopez/Moe Wagner scream-off!! LOL!!

I don't honestly believe that there is a single GM in this league that would not take Victor Wembanyama as the first pick. Now, would a Philadelphia or a Minnesota look to trade down and collect additional assets? Maybe, but no one is picking someone else unless he gets seriously injured between now and the draft. Even then, it might have to be a "potential" career-ending injury to move the needle. This!!^^ His whole defense seems to be that he didn't know it would be used to shoot someone, and that he never touched the gun. Regardless of whether you believe it or not (the police do seem to, as he has not been charged with anything), the fact that he knew it was in the car when he went to pick up two friends who he knew had been drinking shows a woeful lack of judgement at the very least. For me that is a knock on both his character, and worse, his judgement. Does he have the potential to be the best (or even second-best) player from this draft? That is possible. Would I want to take that chance? It would take a lot of background investigation, in-person interviews, and a ton of convincing before I made that pick - but I do trust that WeltHam would do the same. Even then, I might do a trade-down for a (slightly) lower pick and some additional assets. I do look at the level of competition that draft picks are playing against, and that is part of what makes the draft so difficult to project. Someone playing against France's top professional league (Wembanyama) vs. playing against G-League (Scoot), vs. playing against NCAA Div 1 (Miller) vs. playing against a mixed bag (Thompsons) vs. playing against Australian pros (Rupert). How do you rate the talent they are playing against, and how have previous players from those systems fared when they reach the NBA? I do think that Miller might be the best college player right now, though I'm excited to see Nick Smith, Jr. now that he is off the injured list and playing again. I really wish the Thompson twins had opted for the G-League instead, as I just can't give as much weight to their quality of opponents, so I might be a little lower on them than they deserve, but it's hard to tell since there is no history with prior draft picks.

I have to admit, I don't get the MCW signing at all. The man hasn't played an NBA game in a couple of years, and has been a poor-to-mediocre offensive player every year other than his rookie season. I will be very surprised if his defense is up to his past, because again, hasn't played in a couple of years. I don't see him having much credit in the locker room as a "veteran presence", so I'm just not sure what the point of bringing him back is?!? There had to be better backup PG options available, even some G-League guys on a couple of 10-day contracts. God knows he can't shoot well enough to play Ross' backup SG/SF type minutes.

I would be in complete shock if we draft Miller. I think the DeVos family would have some serious input against that. They’ve been pretty hands off since the whole Martin issues from the last rebuild; but I’m thinking that would get them pretty upset, and might prompt front office change(s). In fact, if Miller continues to rise in the rankings, and we get the third pick in the draft, I think we will listen to trade options. I could see a smaller version of the Hardaway deal, with us trading down a few places for a different player and some future assets.

I tend to agree, though his helter-skelter energy does worry me a little. I think it is what leads to his injuries. I'm hoping that as the game slows down for him, he will be able to maintain the defensive energy with a little more control, so he can stay on the floor, healthy. I think it is beginning to come around a little, it's more a matter of when the game slows down for him. His game should be like G. Harris' pre-injuries. As CT said, a reliable outside shot and he has a legitimate shot at becoming a long-term starting SG for us.

I am not really a LeBron fan either, but having said that, a starting line-up of Fultz/Franz/Lebron/Paolo/Wendell, with Bronny/Suggs/Houstan/Isaac/Moe coming off the bench and Anthony/Okeke and two 2023 1st rounders filling out the team doesn't sound bad to me.

True, but that would have only resulted in one free throw. It also could have been called an offensive foul, since Ivey kicked his legs out quite awkwardly during that shot. I think the refs did well to just let that go as a no-call. If they had called a foul on WCJ I think the Magic would have challenged it, and on the replay it might have been overturned, which would have negated the three and given the Magic the game right there.

I’m not sure if he would have been able to, as he was under the rim.

I really like JI a lot and he’s a fantastic team defender, but he’s still fairly thin, so I am concerned he can get pushed around inside. He’s better off the ball, doubling from the weak side. He can’t really body up with some of the bigger, stronger guys.

I do like Gary Harris, and if he weren't quite so injury-prone I would agree with him being the perfect vet. His injuries are the only reason I would listen to offers for him, or look for trades built around him on our side. As CT noted though, we are (finally) getting to the point where our depth is such that we can't play everyone the minutes they might deserve. Who thought we would have said that even a year ago?!? I think this is the summer where we can trade some of our depth for an all-star talent to take this team to the next level. To me our weakest areas are the backup PG (though I am still hoping on Anthony and Suggs continued development, I still count both as more "combo" guards), and a backup center with some size/rebounding that can help out with some of the bigger guys that give WCJ and Moe Wagner trouble, like Poetl did for the Raptors. I think that is why Bitadze is getting a chance to show us that over the rest of this season. None of our current guys have the size/muscle to match up against the biggest/best guys that even WCJ has trouble with. (In fairness, most don't match up with the likes of KAT, Golbert, Embiid, but Poetl, Williams III, Hartenstein also give us trouble). We need this generation's version of Tony Battie, Zaza Pachulia, Marcin Gortat.