South_Aussie_Magic

Even though Golden State didn't throw it all in the river for one god-awful year, they were still mired in one of the longest droughts of losing seasons in the NBA's history at that time. I don't think anyone in 2009 or the year they got Klay would have said "this is the makings of a championship team". But god yes did they ever suck. Cleveland sucked forever without Lebron - before and after. The lack of a championship the first time around isn't on Lebron, it is totally on poor Cleveland management - he was a championship caliber player and saying he wasn't is ridiculous. It wouldn't have been such a big deal that we belted the Cavs in 2009 if he was just an ordinary player. Dallas may not have tanked but they were one of the worst teams in the league for how long before Dirk came along? Each of those three teams had multiple chances to do better and finally got it right enough after many, many chances. Miami is an interesting case though as if they didn't bottom out after the Mourning / Hardaway seasons, they'd have never had Dwyane Wade and their track record as a team that will pay for quality free agents that aren't right at the top of the rung is pretty much undisturbed. I don't think Shaq's value could have been any lower when he got traded. For him anyway. Shaq always says that Wade was the catalyst of that championship team and not him. So for me the tanking narrative is a mixed bag of sorts really. The Lakers, Celtics and Spurs kind of dominate the narrative on perpetual success but there are so many other drivers toward those reasons and we have seen that nothing lasts forever. Same goes for the flip side, no bad franchise is bad forever but it still doesn't negate that acquiring lottery picks is not the most common building block for success.

Oh I know, I just envy that from the eyes of this Magic fandom particularly, where pretty much every great player we've ever had has struggled with injury and endurance. I know he's one of a kind, but it'd be nice to have our best players be a little less fragile!

No I am saying that it is incredible that him and the Warriors key players played all of those extra games for like 5 straight years and all Lebron got out of it was a bit of a down year and about 25 games off. His endurance is just really enviable.

No kidding, and it's just incredible that Lebron has managed to see it through just by having a "crap" year by his standards last year and it's like he can shrug it off and move forward now.

It really pains me to have to say it about one of our own... but god he just does not have the mamba talent... and I love the guy

The Knicks may be the one franchise where this isn't a completely ridiculous proposition

So the game plan is to let the Jazz get tired from staying in front of us then move in for the kill? lol

who needs to create turnovers when you have a +15 rebounding advantage!

I get that it's just the 3 point shooting is just rubbish across the board tonight

well cliff is not the one shooting 3 for 23 from downtown

Apparently when noone else can

It's really bad that a passer THAT good only just got his first assist of the game in the last few minutes

I get what you're saying but if we just had one surefire top 15 player in the starting line up we would be up when the bench comes in, instead of hanging tight from behind. Heaps of teams have numbers drop off a cliff when their best player sits. I just don't think it would look so terrible if we had a starting lineup that elevated us that bit higher. Hopefully that changes for us soon. Still waiting on one of these prospects to just show out. Don't know about you but I feel like I see all the other teams have guys break out and stay broken out, while we... well, you know.

I'd be more inclined to say it's our lack of top tier talent, seeing as we are still playing strong teams and are away. Not the ideal conditions when we lack an active star player.

Feels like a curse, we hire a decent role player, they drop off a cliff while they're here. Then they come back to haunt us after they leave. It's happened so often it seems a little... unnatural

Looks like a bit of a sluggish start. That Jingles shot at the buzzer sucks but I just can't be mad at a fellow Adelaide boy..

And here they are, still 10th in the East

I can't see this game but is JI just one-man-armying a comeback?

Downvoted by ancient aliens using sacred geometry computers connected to an arcane and esoteric internet

I think we should have tiers, with one of those tiers meaning winning a Stuff plushy

oops wrong game, i'm thinking about tonight

Displaying signs of a pulse in the 4th

That's kind of what I've been hanging on. I could be wrong but it seems like teams relatively regularly swap out non-core players because you tinker when you aren't "winning". I like where we are at to a degree but wondering if cleaning out stale pieces for a couple of new looks couldn't hurt.

Hey look, I know! It's the best thing that's happened to this franchise for so long. Just was hoping for a minor piece shake up. Maybe I'm just bored :(

Bracing myself for Lonnie Walker trade scenarios cropping up on fb *groooooooooooan* As for our team, I don't know whether to start getting slightly impatient or not. I guess when we hired a GM nicknamed "Trader John" I was excited for some big unexpected surprises...