TreyMachine

Would you all rather be Houston? Just curious as they obviously have some good young pieces but it feels like they're speeding up their timeline and making some questionable signing decisions in the process (like this one). I also see a lack of culture with that team and these personalities. I'm interested to know if many of you would rather be in Houston's shoes than our shoes.

I think Portland is about to realize that $50M / year for an aging great doesn't have the market that they think it has, especially if Dame has limited the field of whom he'll allow himself to be traded to. 2 Firsts, a young player or two with "potential", and matching contracts regardless of talent should be the best the market has to offer.

I thought the same. We're taking care of Mo as a feel-good effort for Franz to continue to think well of Orlando and our management.

Not terrible value for Reeves. I thought someone would give up a lot more for him in light of the numbers being thrown around.

I'm getting on the train of thinking you don't have anything positive to say about this team, Jon. How long have you been a fan and why are you a fan? Lol

We're standing Pat, y'all. We refuse to take bad contracts. We're not getting Herro or Simons.

How do the Lakers have the cap room to sign all these guys lol

I'm still convinced that Grant Williams would be perfect, but I just don't know if we're going to want to shell out the money to pay him.

If this is the rest of our summer, I would consider it to be a successful off-season. Ingles / Williams / Wagner as a second unit brings tons of energy and high BBIQ, which is what you want in a second unit. Plus locking up Fultz and Anthony at non-outrageous pricing for the future as growth happens would surely be a success. But with how money has been thrown around this off-season, I just don't see either settling as one more season of growth and the Magic making the playoffs could boost their stock.

I have very low expectations for this summer. I think we'll sign guys that make our team better but will save cap space for the big contracts coming up for our younger guys.

My responses: Name: Austin Current Location: Orlando Industry You Work In: Commercial Real Estate The Origin of Your User Name: I shot a lot of 3's in high school lol How You Became a Fan: I moved to Orlando in 1995 from NJ and let's just say the entire area was on fire for the Magic. Favorite All-Time Magic Player: Jameer Nelson Favorite Magic Memory: Watching in person the Hedo-to-Dwight Ally-Oop at the buzzer against the Spurs. Most Visceral Magic Memory: Courtney Lee's Missed Layup in Game 1 of 2009 NBA Finals Worst Personal Magic Take: We would regret drafting Paolo over Jabari Smith Other Interesting Facts: - Have 2 young kids - and so excited to turn both of them into big Magic fans - My wife and I have been on 3 TV Game Shows. Wild times those were.

Our front office is super shrewd and highly analytical. I would be shocked if we weren't one of the first 5-10 pioneers.

I think if we can get him for a decent amount of money for a shorter term contract, I'm all for it. Something that does align with our team is he's seemingly a really good, down to earth guy. I remember seeing a story where he had The Eastern conference championship trophy and took it around to all the workers / non-players and media members on the plane home to ensure that everyone got a picture with the trophy, of which he offered to take the pictures. A few other stories like that out there on him. Always thinking of other people, which is the kind of player you like having in a locker room.

That's a really good compliment. WCJ is indeed vastly underrated, even by many on this board.

So here's my problem: his form. Tracy McGrady shot a basketball pushing his left thumb with the snap of his right hand. He obviously was a great scorer, but was inconsistent from long range for most of his career. I copied his form growing up until the shooting coach showed me the proper form (left hand guiding and not helping push the ball) and my shot got a lot more consistent, even if my range wasn't as (significantly) long for a pre-teen. Anthony Black has the same left thumb snap that Tracy McGrady had. I'm not going to say that it's a significant problem, as there are plenty of cases of guys with unconventional forms becoming decently good shooters, but more times than not, it leads to inconsistency and streakiness. just an observation from watching that video.

I think people are just putting out that thought because we need shooting and everyone knows it. I take everything with a grain of salt as there are so many pundits and only a handful of them actually have insider sources that are credible. Max Straus is going to want to be paid and want to get minutes. Our team shouldn't be long-term investing into him on either.

Cheap way to fill a roster spot with adequate talent. We'll be there one day!

I think culture and the type of person a player is (high character, selfless, long, capable of guarding multiple positions, etc.) matters over general athleticism and talent to the management and ownership. For that reason, it can be hard to evaluate a player when traded - especially if that player is going to be one of your focal points in the offense and of your culture (team and community). For that reason, we'll never bring in guys like Draymond Green, Dillon Brooks, or others, or even guys who are just looking to score a lot without playing significant defense or team oriented ball like Zach Lavine.

Here's a two scenarios that are fun to conjecture on: - If Cam Whitmore is taken #5, do we still take Black or do we take Ausar Thompson? - If Coulibaly is still there at #11, so we take him or are we still taking Jett? I'm of the opinion I still think we take Black (and anger tons of guys on this board even more), but would have taken Coulibaly had he been available, even if the fit with Jett might be better.

With that said, I like Black as a glue guy for us, similar to what Aaron Gordon became for the Denver Nuggets. Every team needs those guys who play hard every play and are okay not chucking 15 shots / night. Related, did you all know that Black had a 39 inch vertical at the combine? Wild.

I'd like to point out that Bilal went 7th; so your comment that Bilal wasn't the 6th best prospect and wouldn't go top 10 in reference to my calling the Magic take him at #6... I'd just like to highlight this comment for when y'all doubt me next time. Lol

Agreed. Mo is a serviceable backup who will be on a friendly contract. If WCJ goes down, we'll adjust but shouldn't sign a high profile center to a big contact "just in case" WCJ gets hurt. There are better ways to use cap space...

I admittedly have not watched game tape of him outside of the highlights, so I'll take your word for it, CT. What happens in a game matters a lot more than just what the stats are at the end of the day - case in point, the guys who argue that Cole Anthony is a better starting point guard than Markelle Fultz. I again have been proven wrong two years in a row with the pics we have made, so this management has my trust until proven otherwise.

EP was a great one on one defender as he routinely averaged 1.5+ steals per game and about half a block per game. Payton also had a great BBIQ, so not sure where that's coming from. There's a reason he averaged almost 7 assists per game with us and was named All-Rookie 1st Team. He to this day still has the most Triple Doubles in Magic history with 8. Hardaway and McGrady only ever had two each. I'll give you this: EP averaged an abysmal sub 60% FT shooting for most of his career, starting. Anthony Black in his one season in college averaged 70% on the line. Other than that, shoot % on 2% and 3% were relatively the same during college for both of them. So maybe with the FT% there's a glimmer of hope he'll maybe get better.

Come on, CT. You and I both know the similarities are there, and it's not just the hair. High BBIQ, really good defender, great motor, great vision, good finisher, big and long for a PG... and can't shoot and there are red flags if he will ever be able to fix it... If he had normal hair, I'd still have concerns. It just happens that the hair comparisons could be the same which throws the comparison to an even eerily higher degree.