JudeMorrigan

Yes, we do. That's ... kind of the joke.

Should I strap in? I'm strapping in.

No, you had said 23. But beyond that, fair enough!

Personally, I'm completely ok with the idea that Wiggins is better than Gordon. But the idea that he's arguably the best player under 23 in the league just seems crazy to me. His defense is atrocious and I think one has to take efficiency into account when looking at offense. Sure, his ppg is gaudy. The advanced stats are somewhat less eye-popping.

I hope the folks that are worried about Isaac's college demeanor translating directly to the team would have been equally concerned with DSJ's "I'm going to quit on my team because they're terrible" demeanor translating as well if he had wound up in the situation he would have on this team.

So .... Doncic as a target? Or do they think that may Isaac is a 5 in the long run and Porter, Gordon and Isaac can all play together? (Yes, I know. We'll lose all the games and then not get a top pick. :P)

I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Heck, I can even understand arguing against that. What I struggle to understand is someone getting salty and supercilious about others' taking a more analytical approach to things.

Maybe not a superstar, but signing Horace Grant was a big deal at the time.

The first one is the TMac trade.

That's fair. :D

So ... Vuc and stuff for Butler and sign Horford? Maybe? No? Crap. Not super-excited.

I meant our replacing Goukas with a better coach than Brian Hill. Hopefully someone who, combined with not lowballing him, could inspire Shaq to resign in addition to avoiding the player mutiny, etc. I also seriously considered going with our keeping Webber rather than trading for Penny. As great as Penny could have been had he stayed healthy, that could have made for an interesting team.

Do a [better] coaching search in '93. It was frankly too long ago for me to recall what realistic options there were, but there has to have been someone who would have worked out better than Hill.

Keep in mind that the quote is from back in mid-January, so "now" was probably unduly influenced by the first few months of Payton's rookie season and early expectations. (Not that Smart was exactly tearing things up at that point either.) It's funny, because I can totally imagine someone posting the quote to demonstrate how much Pelton is shooting in the dark.

Come now. I have over 0.04 posts per day. How could you not recognize me? :-p

No, it doesn't. And it would be lovely if you could actually offer some reasoned arguments as to why you think it isn't. So far, your posts on the subject have been remarkably lacking in any such thing. (Note: I'm not saying my *own* post was much more than snark. Just that there's some genuinely good discussion by other posters that you pretty much completely ignored.)

It's odd - I'm more or less still pulling for Winslow. But I think that if the team drafted Mario, I'd actually be more excited than if they drafted Winslow. I trust their scouting a whole lot more than I trust mine, and if Mario works out, he could be pretty remarkably good for the team.

(Plus he actually plays respectable defense. He's certainly not Stein, but who is? Suggestions that he's soft though assume facts not in evidence.)

I'm not an ESPN insider, but did Pelton give an alternative suggestion for what he things the Magic should have done that they wouldn't regret? Was it something along the lines of hiring another Vaughn and praying he works out?

If we assume that Thibs and Brooks aren't interested in the job, who should the team be looking at beyond Skiles? This is an honest question here. To me, he looks like the best likely available option. From my point of view, Skiles should be able to at least give us a couple of good years. If the team has to look again after that point, well, that's hardly unusual in this league. But I freely admit that I was a huge fan of Skiles back in the day, and that may be coloring my thinking.

I think the best evidence is that we were vastly overestimating how much trade value AA actually had.

I can't read the Bianchi article as it seems to be Sentinal premium content, but would he have preferred the team draft a 19-year old PG with no college experience and a European who won't come over for another couple of years? I mean, it's entirely possible that that will turn out better in the long run than the route the team took (although I certainly hope that it won't), but it doesn't exactly scream "win now" to me.

In fairness you said: So there was at least some smoke-screening still going on, unless you had added the "Randle or Vonleh" part in based on your own assumptions.

ORLANDO MAGIC | GRADE: A- Round 1: Aaron Gordon (4), Elfrid Payton (10) Round 2: Roy Devyn Marble (56) Analysis: Well, I guess we know that GM Rob Hennigan likes -- for the second year in a row he drafted super-athletic, defensive-minded players. Adding Gordon and Payton with Oladipo gives the Magic three versatile defenders who can lock up anyone. I love the potential of both players. If Gordon ever develops a jump shot he could be a superstar. Ditto for Payton. They do just about everything else well (though they both could get stronger). But where is the offense coming from? With Arron Afflalo gone and Jameer Nelson likely to be bought out they're left with Tobias Harris and Nikola Vucevic. But the Magic don't have to have everything figured out now. They are being patient. I personally think that Dante Exum was a better choice at 4. But getting Payton at 10 lessens my objection. I understand why the Magic felt they needed to add a forward first and Payton was my sleeper in the draft. Marble is a no-nonsense forward who does everything well and nothing great. Sort of like their second rounder last year. http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2014/story/_/id/11139035/2014-nba-draft-grades-every-team