Franchise408

Golden State is the only place Draymond is worth that.

Because if Fultz is healthy, he is a recent #1 pick with superstar potential. DJ is not.

We also can't tank the team that we do have trying to force Bamba into the lineup when he isnt ready for it

?forthewin and I agree. This is a date that shall go down in infamy.

It probably wasnt as much of a shock to NBA war rooms as it was to analysts. GM's are much more in tune with what's actually going on and how players are perceived than the analysts do. While analysts projected him that high, WeltHam probably recognized that NBA draft boards didnt have him that high and took the gamble that they could snag him in UDFA But like ?forthewin, I moreso agree that trading picks simply for cash is dumb. Because at that point you could draft a player and sign your guy in UDFA and have an asset to trade later. But trading it for a future pick to get your guy in UDFA and have an additional pick for a future pick is just smart business.

I disagree with this take. You don't just draft someone because they are there and you want them. If they are a player that is going to go undrafted, you maximize your assets by trading back, getting additional assets, and then getting that player at a lower cost. Just drafting them just because they are there is overpaying for your product.

Whoa, I'm late to the party, but you do know that size isnt dependent upon your NBA status, right? The statements about Okeke's size are facts. He is of similar size to Draymond and Thompson. Nothing is being said to compare his playing ability to theirs, but size isnt dependent upon playing ability and accomplishments.

Nah, at least that has an unpredictability aspect to it

Why? Because it is fleeting. The only reason we "dont know who will win" is because half of Golden State's roster is injured. All the big time free agents concentrated in a couple markets. They are the same markets players have been wanting to go for the last decade or so. New York, LA, SF, Miami, and Boston are about the only markets that have a shot, and the list that I quoted and responded to shows that franchises are completely incapable of keeping their talent, because the talent wants out of their drafted markets ASAP to go play in these more appealing markets. This year will he an outlier.

I hate what this league has become

Honestly, I think this is the reasoning behind getting Vuc back. While I love the idea of having tons of cap space for a big free agent, who is that FA that would actually come to Orlando? Historically, the Magic havent been a huge FA destination. We've mostly gotten big names well past their prime who are in the twilight of their career looking to retire, ala Ewing and Wilkins. We have had a couple exceptions where we have gotten the big FA's, with the T-Mac and Grant Hill combo, and Rashard Lewis, being the notable exceptions. Outside of that, we usually dont get those guys. Now you factor in the current state of the league, with players nearly exclusively wanting big markets, and Orlando is basically out of the running of ever being that destination. I'm not saying Orlando will never sign a big name free agent ever again, but we will never land a Kevin Durant / LeBron James / Kahwi Leonard equivalent. So understanding that reality, the FO has to utilize the resources we have. A franchise like ours is gonna have to build via draft and trades. We have to find alternative means to FA to team building. And in the case of Vuc, hes the closest option we have to a star. Take the star we know we can get, rather than waiting for the star we likely won't get, keep a playoff squad in tact, and hope for further development from BIG, and hope that Fultz pans out and can be a game changer. It's a gamble, but those sorts of things can combine together to turn us into a dangerous team, especially in a weakened east. Of course these things have equal likeliness of blowing up, and Fultz is a "bust" (using that term loosely as he was a very low risk get for us... even if he never played again he didnt cost us anything) and BIG just kinda stagnate. I'm not saying I like the path we chose... but I get it. I understand it. And in a lot of ways I feel it was the right thing to do.

Oh, I know it. I live in the Bay Area, so I get all Warriors all the time lol. But they are a place where people want to come play now. Kevin Durant is obviously the big one. Cousins last year. Plus the Bay Area is a huuuuuge market. There's a lot of reason for players to wanna come here now. And even tho they drafted Curry, Klay, and Draymond, they have been able to keep them. Something we havent been able to do at any point. Something Cleveland couldn't do with LeBron, twice. Or OKC with Durant. Toronto with Leonard. Or countless other markets losing their stars. I'm sure Milwaukee will be next. Golden State has become desirable. The stars drafted want to stay and other stars want to come.

I agree with this. This current climate of stars colluding together to form their own teams in a select few franchises is bad for the league at large outside of fans of the Lakers, Clippers, Warriors, Celtics, Heat, and Nets.

Yea, and at Bamba's stage of development, he's probably NOT gonna be the main option off the bench for 82 games. But theres no need to trade him. Development comes in more forms than just playtime. When Bamba earns his minutes, he can start taking them from Birch. But at this moment, he's a negative when hes on the court. Birch is not.

Not weird. Bamba isn't ready for a huge role yet. Birch and Bamba will have to split the bench minutes