Soul Bro 1,422 Report post Posted December 24, 2013 Given what we've seen so far from the Magic this year, here are my general questions: 1. What's the Plan??? Is our plan to tank? Is our plan to develop the young guys? Is our plan to advertise the vets? Honestly, as a fan, I'm confused. I thought our plan was to develop our young guys and tank. Hmmm. In my opinion, we're playing the vets like Baby far too much ... which is inhibiting the growth of Nicholson, Vooch and others. 2. Who's a Keeper??? At this point, I'm not sure which players are building blocks. This includes Vooch (vs. a defensive draft pick like Embiid). Victor, meanwhile, looks rough and like he's regressing or discouraged. Ditto with Moe. We need to figure out who's a keeper by the trade deadline. 3. Who's the Target??? Both in terms of trade targets and draft targets, I'm curious to see who we want who is yet on this team. For me, the two early draft targets are Parker and Embiid. Thoughts? Go Magic!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
magicblue 315 Report post Posted December 24, 2013 Good post. I agree on all fronts. Good news (I guess) is we're losing even with the vets playing and AA has certainly improved his stock, if he's a guy we're thinking of moving. I agree that it is really blurry when it comes to who's a keeper and who's not. I assumed coming in that Harris, Vuc, and Oladipo were, but I think its fair to say anyone on this team could be traded for the right piece. As for the plan, who we're targeting in FA, and the draft I think we need to just keep believing in Henny as we really haven't even exited Phase 1 of the rebuild (I think the next trade will lead us to Phase 2 and certainly the draft will). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fultz4thewin 2,464 Report post Posted December 24, 2013 Given what we've seen so far from the Magic this year, here are my general questions: 1. What's the Plan??? Is our plan to tank? Is our plan to develop the young guys? Is our plan to advertise the vets? Honestly, as a fan, I'm confused. I thought our plan was to develop our young guys and tank. Hmmm. In my opinion, we're playing the vets like Baby far too much ... which is inhibiting the growth of Nicholson, Vooch and others. 2. Who's a Keeper??? At this point, I'm not sure which players are building blocks. This includes Vooch (vs. a defensive draft pick like Embiid). Victor, meanwhile, looks rough and like he's regressing or discouraged. Ditto with Moe. We need to figure out who's a keeper by the trade deadline. 3. Who's the Target??? Both in terms of trade targets and draft targets, I'm curious to see who we want who is yet on this team. For me, the two early draft targets are Parker and Embiid. Thoughts? Go Magic!!! 1. Same thing happened last year. Harkless barely played but ended up averaging 35.7 minutes per game post all star break. Our plan is all three but you also have to manage the locker room. Playing our "best" players low minutes is going to piss them off and mess with the locker room. Plus the league might investigate us for blatantly throwing games. 2. Nobody is really a keeper but oladipo, Harris, and Vuc have at least shown they can be productive players. Harkless and Nicholson have been productive but inconsistent. We are in a position of flexibility. We might draft a stud this offseason, package our young players and picks for two all stars and sign filler players this upcoming offseason. Unlikely, but we have that flexibility if we want to do that. We have to find out what players are keepers by the trade deadline...... Of 2016. That's before they become restricted free agents. We have a crazy amount of time to evaluate these guys. Victor isn't regressing. He hit the rookie wall. His game is prone to wild swings right now. He starts games shooting 1-7 but finishes at 6-14. He plays well in stretches. He's playing much better than advertised. The statement about every rookie in this draft was "none of them are NBA ready but if you have to bet on one guy to become an all-star it's oladipo". He's not ready. But he's shown enough that I'm confident in his ability to be a starting shooting guard on a good team in time. MCW, the current leader for rookie of the year, shot 38% from the field and 64% from FT with 3.6 TOs per game for the month of November. Guys struggle for stretches. Oladipo has played in 28 games in 56 days. Last year he played 36 games in 5 months. That's a huge culture change. In the 7 games this season where we've played the second night of a back to back he's shot 18.6% from 3. In the 7 games he's gotten 2+ days of rest in between games he's shot 39% from three. Just give him time to adjust. Remember harkless is still younger than oladipo. Harkless is playing better than Batum or Ariza played in their second seasons. Development takes time. 3. Still wiggins. He plays fantastic defense and looked like Durant for the last 5 minutes against Florida. You don't draft players based on what they are. You draft them on what they could be. See Dwight vs okafor. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fultz4thewin 2,464 Report post Posted December 24, 2013 Also. We live with this team daily so it's easy to get lost in this. It seems like 6 months ago but oladipo had a triple double with 26/10/10 not even a month ago and a game with 26 point 5 rebounds 4 assists 4 steals 3 blocks 2 turnovers on 69/75/100 shooting just 12 days ago. Man that is a crazy line for a rookie. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bhnole 153 Report post Posted December 24, 2013 Dipo's numbers are very close to Westbrook's rookie year. I don't have any doubts that he will progress in a similier manner since his work ethic is by all accounts off the charts. This season is tough to watch since it is so apparent we are push our vets trade value and tank at the same time. We need a scorer badly and this draft is loaded with them after that we have enough pieces to fit a team together with what we already and via trade. Just going to be a long season.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fultz4thewin 2,464 Report post Posted December 24, 2013 Dipo's numbers are very close to Westbrook's rookie year. I don't have any doubts that he will progress in a similier manner since his work ethic is by all accounts off the charts. This season is tough to watch since it is so apparent we are push our vets trade value and tank at the same time. We need a scorer badly and this draft is loaded with them after that we have enough pieces to fit a team together with what we already and via trade. Just going to be a long season.... I think the main thing we need to remember is we shouldn't expect him to be Westbrook. That's unfair to him. 75% of Westbrook is what he should be and that's still good return in a bad draft. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mauro Pedrosa 1,033 Report post Posted December 24, 2013 I'm happy with how things are going. I think they're better than what I expected before the season started I thought we wouldn't be able to lose that many games, I thought we'd be around the 5th-7th pick but it looks like we're going for top 3 and that is awesome. Afflalo is playing like an all-star and we could get something good from him. Nicholson developed a 3 pt shot Harkless isn't looking great but he has time. Almost everything is going according to plan and that is great, I know it's tough to see us lose but that's what we need to do for a while. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soul Bro 1,422 Report post Posted December 24, 2013 Great posts! ?4thewin, good stuff. Regarding the deadline, I do believe Vooch is an interesting person to consider. Can't he be extended this summer? I suppose there's no rush ... except in my own soul! A few other thoughts: One thing that's been difficult for me is the force-feeding of Oladipo at PG, while other young guys have ridden the pine. Furthermore, while AA has generally excelled, it seems everyone else has been pretty inconsistent. Looking back to last year, I don't think it can be overstated how well JJ brought chemistry and ball movement to this team. Last but not least, while I love Jameer, I can't wait to move on to a new PG. It's time ... and I don't think it's Oladipo. I'd be delighted to trade for Jackson or Lowry or draft young pup. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
~O~ 565 Report post Posted December 24, 2013 Looking at our schedule and statistics, the Magic have been doing great at this tanking. In the past 10 games, the Magic had only gotten blown out once. It was against a Knicks team that only beat us by forcing threes. Then you could look back about 2 months and remember the Miami game and of course San Antonio demolishing us.] Everything is steady and moving at a steady pace. If you can't handle the losses, stop watching for a while. We'll understand your mental instability. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A Better DJ & Photographer 461 Report post Posted December 25, 2013 The majority of our losses are at least entertaining and fun to watch. I agree we are showcasing and tanking at the same time and I don't think we'll see 20 wins as we stand. If we trade AA we probably won't hit 15. IMO nobody currently on the roster is untouchable for the right deal but there are some guys I'd like to keep and see how they develop. AA has tremendous value in a trade but the team that needs him the most supposedly won't part with Reggie Jackson and doesn't have much to offer to make salaries match. I love Jameer but we need to start seriously start thinking PG of the future. If we can't get good value for him I say we keep him as mentor/backup PG and let him retire in Orlando. We have to have a certain amount of larger contracts just to hit the minimum. We should take BPA in the draft and I'd love to see us somehow end up with 2 top 5 picks. We also need a very defensive 4/5 that can protect the rim... I'd love to get a 5, move Vuc to the 4, play Harris at the 3, Vic at 2, and a hot PG to lead the team. Then bring Nelson, FA, Hark, Drew, and FA off the bench. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LaVar 108 Report post Posted December 29, 2013 1. What's the Plan??? Tank and add assets. trade up in the 2014 draft. Start winning in 2015. 2. Who's a Keeper??? Nick, harris and Victor are keepers. If we continue to lose with AA. I think we will keep him. We could trade him during the draft or keep him. I dont think he is as old as people are making him. He does not play above the rim so he will last longer. 3. Who's the Target??? We need a playmarker. Parker, exum, and/or smart are the tagets. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
