Justin Jaudon

Turner looked like he's spent all summer eating to put weight on. I'm sure the plan is to tone up as well, but I wonder how that will effect his physical development considering all that he needs to do there.

I agree, but I don't really expect even that much from him year-1. I think maybe 8-5 with a block or so on maybe 20 mins a night. Solid middle-of-the-bench guy as a rookie is realistic, so if you consider that impact, sure. But then maybe he's a beast and the steal of the draft. Who knows? I do think he has terrific upside as his career progresses.

If healthy, that's way better than decent. People forget, a truly healthy Wade is still a championship leading caliber player. It's just not likely we see a healthy Wade by the end of the season, unless they sit him for half of it. Even with Wade playing half a season, though, I like Dragic, Deng, and Bosh as a core of a team that can get you into the playoffs in the East, with a bench of core of Birdman, Chalmers, and Winslow. Bring in a healthy Wade for the Post-season, maybe you've got something. Would be must-see-TV if those two teams met in the ECF.

Myles Turner looked really good in SL debut. (in case someone is going to troll me, I fully understand that Turner is at best a year away from being a real impact player; it's called humor)

He's saying that his work on that possession to get to that ball 4 times should not be counted as inefficient because the first three in-traffic tip shots didn't fall. 1-4 is usually three bad possessions to one good one, but that play was really just one great possession by him. It skews the numbers to just look at that play as 1 of 4 shooting.

As much as I liked Hezonja and still think he was the right pick, it irks me to see the two sleeper guys I thought could be really good for us (Johnson and Turner) look so good. Man, I wish there had been some way to grab Turner as well as Hezonja. I think in 2 years we may be saying Indy got the steal of the draft. (or maybe it's summer league and the guy doesn't pan out at all).

I think who guards 2's between Dipo and Elf is always going to be a matter of match-ups and situation, because honestly they are interchangeable against most guys. If Dipo is being asked to score, put him on the lesser of the opponent's guards. Payton is a nasty defender in his own right, so just because he guarded Hardin doesn't mean Oladipo is not a good defender, or better at guarding 1's. It just means that Payton is sometimes the better match-up. Understand that if it is a ball-dominant 2, like Hardin, Payton is more used to guarding the primary ball-handler. Just as 3/4 sometimes is interchangeable on D, so is 1/2 depending on how things are going and what the offense is trying to do. That all said, I have been slightly let down by Dipo being only a good defender, when I think we all expected him to come in and be a lock-down perimeter nightmare type guy off the bat. Maybe we expected too much of him too soon. He's been asked to do a lot on both sides of the ball his first two seasons, including play a completely new position far more than he ever should have had to. I agree with Cat that this is a huge year for him, but not that there's any chance he loses that job to Hezonja. I think this is really the year he will solidify whether he can be a #1 guy on offense. Most people probably don't think he can, and I'm not betting on it either. But I'd love it if he has similar improvement on the offensive end to what we saw last year. Because if that jump-shot becomes consistent he's a nightmare to defend.

To be honest, Aaron Gordon seems about where one could expect of a guy who had no coaching and an injury last year. He showed some improvements in his confidence and moves in that summer league game yesterday. I think that game is about what we're going to see out of him for the season. Not the numbers, not 20+ points a night; but I think he's going to be a guy who comes out and when he's hot he's unstoppable because he's so versatile when that jumper is falling, and his defense will always be stellar. I expect him to be a bench guy most of the year, but it wouldn't shock me if he broke into the starting lineup at any point (even early; it actually has as much to do with Hezonja as with him). But I still see a lot in Gordon. People want to compare him to Draymond Green in terms of impact; well Dray's first year was abysmal. His per 36 numbers compared better with Gordon's per game numbers despite AG only getting 15 a night. Green was a better rebounder as a rookie, but basically he was worse at everything else but FT. And he was 22 years old. Honestly, I think Aaron's going to be a better player than Draymond Green. People want to say he'll never be as good a player as Blake Griffin. But remember, Blake was 21 years old the first time he stepped on an NBA floor. I don't think he's likely to be as dominant a scorer as Blake (though who really knows, if that jumper becomes consistent), but Aaron Gordon is already a very good defender and projects to be one of the best in the league very soon. Taking both sides of the ball into consideration, and the fact that Aaron (at least last year he did) seems to be capable of hitting FT's, I don't think it's that much of a stretch to think they might be similar in terms of overall impact by the time Aaron reaches 22. So what do I think of Aaron Gordon? I think he's still got as much upside as a two way player as anyone I've seen in a while.

So yeah, this. We have no idea what Gordon is at this point, other than that he's pretty assured to be a beast defender. Basically, he's one-and-done rookie age this year with half a year's leg up on those other guys. I think that's how we should look at this year. It's not year one, but more like year 1.5; or even 1.25. Let's see what he does this year, then we can form a better opinion of what he might be.

I don't know about Terrance Jones. He has always struck me as the type of guy you will always be watching and saying to yourself, "why is this guy not doing more with this level of talent?"

Draymond Green sucks... right...

I'm not really that bummed. I didn't think he'd take it once Atlanta basically matched the offer. He used Orlando to get a payday and Orlando used him to make sure Atlanta lost Carroll. My guess is Orlando still signs Harris. Millsap may have been a better fit, but Harris should be close to Millsap level in a couple years. He really just needs to show a marked improvement his defense and continue to grow on offense in the little ways he has since coming to Orlando. All-in-all, I'm not losing any sleep. I still like Harris, even if he's not the long-term answer. He should be a good stretch 4 and he's one of the more versatile offensive players in the game at his age. I just hope Skiles can do something for his defense.

You do realize that Gordon was brought in to help with outside shooting, as well as fill out the roster, right? And he did fairly well considering the overall spacing issues this team had. Rodney Stuckey has been, until this past year, one of the worst outside shooting guards in the league. Unless Hennigan was supposed to magically know that all of a sudden his 3-point % would go up by 10, I think getting Stuckey would have been a bad move, even leaving out the fact that he would have been duplicate talent that would have demanded minutes from Payton and Dipo. Ben Gordon did a solid job doing the only thing Orlando really asked him to do. But sure, you can hate on him all you like.

lol. Ian Malcolm.

But if I'm Henny I still offer that max deal, just in case. That dude would be absolutely perfect for Orlando.

I could see it, just like with Gortat. Especially since Orlando probably does need someone to start at the 3 while Mario develops. I could see starting Fournier there, but not long-term. Harris would still be a good trade chip, but Millsap's minutes will likely diminish Harris' value, which makes a high-paid Harris a little (not a lot) harder to move. Or maybe Orlando sells him on leading the bench unit and voila, instant second-unit domination with a Harris/Gordon team-up with Fournier. But it will be tough to find minutes for all three of those guys. Likely if they match for Harris it is to trade him down the road.

I hate to weigh in on Millsap before the deal goes down, but I will do it out of boredom right now. I like Millsap. He's what Harris should be by the time he's thirty, and he fits better on this team. He's not a rim protector, but he will probably lead this team in blocks by default. He could lead this team in scoring, or he could be 3rd. He's a decent rebounder and defender. He's a good veteran who makes this team better. I said before that Orlando would re-sign Harris unless they were going to immediately sign a big free agent with said money, and here that is. I didn't think we'd get Millsap without paying him this kind of money, and here that is. That said, I didn't think it would actually happen. I didn't see it coming, but I don't know how much I like the contract now that I see the offer. This is definitely a win-now move. Maybe it's the right time for that. Henny surely knows better than I. But $20 mil a year, even in this salary cap situation, is basically tying your team to this guy for the next four years. With no regression at all, that's basically an unmovable contract. But something about this contract reminds me of the one David Lee signed with Golden State. In 3-4 years, AG is ready to take over the 4 spot. Millsap at that point has been the guy that lead them into relevancy while the rest of the team developed around him. Now maybe he stays with Atlanta, and this was a move to shrink some of the offers on Harris (seeing that Orlando is going after someone else, other teams might not see it as necessary to over-pay quite so much). But you don't offer a guy $20 mil without being ready to let Harris go if he accepts it. I don't know if I like the deal, but I really do like the player.

He's a second-round pick. He should reel nothing in. He's lucky to be here, so let him let it fly. So many guys have come out of nowhere as second-round picks to become solid players, why not this guy? Because Orlando hasn't had one of those guys in... ever, maybe? Perhaps they're due. Let's just watch and hope he can shoot like that in the league. 'Cause damn, that's some range!

I gave it an A. Not that I'm sure that Mario will become our star, but that it was time to take this chance. The A is for swinging for the fences when the situation called for it.

I should amend that last statement. There is one reason not to pay him. If Orlando is planning to spend that money immediately on better value. I don't see that value in this FA crop, but that is a reason.

Even if Harris doesn't improve beyond getting smarter and more consistent with his decision making (givens for a smart guy like him), there is nothing wrong with having less than twenty percent of your salary invested in a guy who would be at worst one of the best bench guys in the league. I agree with you that it seems he has not improved much beyond getting stronger and gaining a more consistent corner 3. But he came into Orlando and right away became a guy who averaged 17-7. And I think if you look at how he was playing with more spacing on the floor when Fournier was getting more minutes at the beginning of the season, you'll see that it is possible he improved but the loss of Nelson and Afflalo keeping people honest outside offset that as the season went on. Don't look at the number of dollars, but the percentage of the cap. Even at a cap of say 67 million and a full max contract, Harris is not an albatross at 22% of the cap. He's less desirable at 22% than 17% or 18%, but still valuable and moveable. Why? Because not many guys in the league have his size and skill set. Understand you are paying this guy not just to be your starting 3, but also to help bolster your bench at the 4. He can terrorize small-ball lineups by being able to play the 4 and abuse 3's playing out of position down low. He is a terrific small-ball 4 as well, because he can spread the defense by parking in the corners or handle the p-n-r, and you don't lose much rebounding if any. He's great as a 3 because he can out-muscle other 3's down low and he bolsters your rebounding. His versatility makes him a mismatch for you on offense as soon as he steps on the floor. And again, looking at the statistics, his defense is not that bad. It's below average, but not such a big problem that it takes away from his overall worth. Simply put, there are reasons other teams (including the Pistons and Stan Van Gundy, who is a pretty smart guy) are reported to be interested in paying him near the max. Because that's his value. There is no reason not to pay a valuable young asset what he's worth if you have the cap space to do it.

I agree that Harris' contract could mean, even with the new deal coming through, trouble down the road. But Harris is always going to be moveable. He's not going to be worth any less in two-or-three years than he is now, to Orlando or to other teams. If you can't keep him later, then fine; trade him then. But don't worry about paying a young asset money he's worth because maybe one day you'll need that money. Tobias Harris on a near-max contract is enviable to a lot of teams now. In 2-3 years, people will still want him on that contract. You don't sign veterans who could regress or get old on you to big contracts when future re-signs are looming. But you always re-sign young versatile guys who are still getting better if they are worth the money, so long as it doesn't hurt your team on the floor. Harris is, and he doesn't. Re-signing Harris is like buying gold. It rarely loses value and it will always be moveable.

Honestly, I think it may be a touchy subject with him slotted to play Tobias' position in the future. We as fans tend to forget that these guys aren't focusing on getting better players, but more on being better. And they may worry when new guys are brought in that they will lose a friend because of that turnover. It's a business, but these are people who sweat and work hard together to be the best team they can be. I think Tobias is re-signed; but it would be awkward to lose him because they got Mario while the players try to embrace a new guy while not feeling like they're betraying the ousted guy. So smart players just remain somewhat aloof until the situation is more clear.

I really hope Mario can get over here and into a couple of Summer League games. I absolutely need to see this guy live, not in highlights and picked apart analysis tapes. Even in that lax summer-league environment, I want to get some sense, if just a summer-league sneak peak, of who he really is as a player. I can understand BJ and those guys, to a degree. BJ can't let go of his Kentucky thing. My brother-in-law is a UK fan, and hyperbole is kinda their thing. The problem is they believe their own hyperbole. It's like mom-goggles, the way UK fans tend to look at their guys as prospects. As for the Henny hate, I suppose a lot of people haven't gotten over thinking originally that he'd gotten fleeced in the Dwight trade, then taking Dipo when most here seemed to want McLemore or Noel, then the Gordon pick came out of freaking nowhere. It's hard when your GM has you on the ropes trying to understand what he'll do and even at times what he's doing. With Otis, it seemed you just picked the most obvious move, no matter how flawed, and that was what to expect. Now we as fans actually have to think to keep up with what Henny is doing even a little bit. It's jarring at first, but I'm enjoying having a GM on my favorite team who actually seems to know more about basketball than I do (which is not always saying so much, other than that Otis was a moron who I still feel like knew nothing of how basketball actually works). But the trolls and whiners seem to want Otis, just an Otis who magically gets everything right. Basically they want the NBA to work like NBA 2K. It really just doesn't. I really think Mario can be pretty good pretty quick. Not start-of-the-season quick, but I think by season's end he could be competing for ROY. People forget he has a leg up on most of these guys. He's been playing against mature ball-players for a while now. None of these other guys has ever played in a meaningful game against a team full of guys with high-level talent and the experience and coaching to understand and execute their roles.

I have no idea how close a Croatian accent is to a Ukrainian, but I totally read that in Eugene Hutz's accent from Everything is Illuminated. "All the girls want to be carnal with me, because I'm such a premium dancer." lol