Official 2015 Offseason Thread

[Air Gordon 156]

Gilbert Arenas says hello :D/>

Except Gilbert was an amnesty and we were able to cut him and pay him with his salary not counting toward the cap. Not a good example.

[jec 427]

 

 

The point of bringing it up wasn't to debate over a clear team weakness that will likely improve, it was to point out that you said some guy was wrong when he wasn't necessarily, and chose to go about it in a DOM way. Your interest, or lack thereof, in caring how you treat other people is your hell to live in. If it makes you feel good to be insulting on a message board, by all means, just be more correct than the person you are trying to insult and this conversation won't happen. I am certain that your internet persona directly drove people away from this board at a critical time-specifically a few years ago around the board change. So, while you are correct that you don't need to care how terrible you can be to others, you should care anyway. It's not a good look for you, plus it reflected poorly on OMMB when you were more active. I am pretty sure I don't speak for just myself when I say that I would much rather converse with people who aren't 100% right in their opinions but are largely respectful than a curmudgeon who isn't exactly right all the time either-if for no other reason than to increase the traffic here. Feel free to justify the nature of your approach to those you deem wrong if you wish.

 

If someone says something slightly mean and not at all personal to you on an anonymous message board, and this is the type of response you have, heaven forbid someone call you a jerk for cutting them off in traffic. If anything, this board had more insightful posts and interesting arguments when DoM was more active. He is the type of guy who calls people out on their bull****. He knows what he is talking about and backs his claims and refutes others' claims with facts. Is he right all of the time? No, but it's silly I should even have to say that. It's like you've built him up to be some kind of NBA cyber bully with a complex. Maybe he's just a guy who likes to post things on a basketball forum and make jokes. I promise those people he "chased off" don't have PTSD or summat, either.

[God Hates Otis Smith 153]

Hennigan. Not this year though.

 

I'll bet you $100 he doesn't get fired during the 15-16 season

I believe the team will show enough improvement that it's not an issue.

but IF this turns into another 25ish win season, he won't survive

 

third i am not going to gamble money on my position, then i'd be wanting them to be bad

[CTMagicUK 1,476]

Seems like EP has been spending some time with CP3 this summer which is cool.

[The Neighborhood Bully 266]

As for Elfrid Payton, he’s most comfortable with working around that off-ball screen, working his way into the teeth of the defense and then facilitate it to a teammate. That ability is evident by Payton averaging 14.9 assist opportunities per game (according to SportsVu), which is a higher average than Damian Lillard, Brandon Jennings and Kyle Lowry. Another additional benefit to Payton’s facilitating abilities pertains to how the team’s perimeter shooting improved once Payton was on the court. When Payton was on the court, Orlando shot 36 percent from beyond the arc, compared to 33 percent when he was sitting on the sidelines.

 

While the possibilities surrounding Orlando’s offense is definitely intriguing, it’s their potential on the defensive end that’s even more fascinating. The combination of Skiles’ excellent track record and the team’s athletic, defensive-minded core creates a lot of great possibilities.

 

As we’ve seen in the past with how Skiles ran both Chicago and Milwaukee, he has a very unique defensive mindset that revolves around three different factors: high ball pressure, switching and having their guards funnel the opposing guards to the paint where they’re met by a rim protector.

 

Those first two factors shouldn’t be a problem for this Magic squad, primarily with players like Oladipo, Payton and Gordon. Oladipo and Payton have shown that they can be tenacious on-ball defenders that stick on their opponents like velcro. Both players have an innate ability to be able to quickly switch off when it’s needed. Gordon has a knack to either go out to the perimeter and defend wings or stay down low against power forwards. His ability to guard multiple positions should allow Gordon to be Skiles “swiss army knife” on the defensive end.

 

Skiles biggest hindrance to duplicating the defensive success he had with Chicago and Milwaukee pertains to the team’s lack of rim protection. According to NBA’s Stats Database, opponents shot 61 percent from inside the restricted area against the Magic, which was only topped by Minnesota and Sacramento.The Magic were also the only team in the NBA that didn’t have a player average at least one block per game.

http://bballbreakdow...o-their-future/

[Catman 380]

Nice article that leads me down the path to Dedmon potentially developing rapidly under Skiles.

 

I know I bring up the Vuc trade thing and it is not a fun thing to think about. But he is an incredibly valuable trade piece with that contract.

 

Be interested in seeing how the Magic's philosophy develops with regards to the 5 spot this season. Heck maybe Nik improves a little on D. He just doesn't have that quick, high jump that many great rim protectors have.

 

When Dedmon comes into the game as the 5 and is surrounded by Harris/Gordon/Mario/Fournier - I will be paying close attention to see how that works for us. While Dedmon is probably not a starting 5, he is a potentially good backup defensive anchor. The question will be if the Magic will miss Nik's offense on the other end, or if they now have the pieces in place where that doesn't matter as much.

 

If Nik can anchor the D in Skiles scheme, that would be absolutely huge for us. I think we could be looking at 40 wins if that happens.

[SiMON2g 5]

Nice article that leads me down the path to Dedmon potentially developing rapidly under Skiles.

 

I know I bring up the Vuc trade thing and it is not a fun thing to think about. But he is an incredibly valuable trade piece with that contract.

 

Be interested in seeing how the Magic's philosophy develops with regards to the 5 spot this season. Heck maybe Nik improves a little on D. He just doesn't have that quick, high jump that many great rim protectors have.

 

 

Neither Marc Gasol, but he is one of the best at reading and reacting/being in the right spaces to clog the lane. I think thats mainly due to Memphis scheme, so given the same scenario... a great defensive scheme (which we expect Skiles to bring) could help Vuc in that sense. It may take 2 or 3 seasons to see it fully present but it's definitely a possibility.

[Franchero MVP 391]

I believe the team will show enough improvement that it's not an issue.

but IF this turns into another 25ish win season, he won't survive

 

third i am not going to gamble money on my position, then i'd be wanting them to be bad

 

Even though I think Henny has done a fantastic job so far, I agree that if we have another 25ish season, it won't look good for him. I, however, am under the assumption that we will make great strides this year and it will be proven that we made all the right moves over the summer.

 

But if it is another 25ish win season, I would have to take my homer glasses off and realize that the team wasn't as good as I thought and I would even be supporitive of changing directions. But I don't anticipate that happening.

[the notorious S.A.C. 89]

Except Gilbert was an amnesty and we were able to cut him and pay him with his salary not counting toward the cap. Not a good example.

 

Im sure Devos didn't care either...what the hell its just another $20 million... NBA cap wise sure...it didn't matter much but Devos is a business owner and didn't get where he is lighting 20 million on fire. I can't see him stroking that check or any other checks related to Otis' contracts with a smile on his face.

[Secretly Space Jesus 670]

Im sure Devos didn't care either...what the hell its just another $20 million... NBA cap wise sure...it didn't matter much but Devos is a business owner and didn't get where he is lighting 20 million on fire. I can't see him stroking that check or any other checks related to Otis' contracts with a smile on his face.

 

Well, he would have had to pay that money anyway, so I'm guessing he was just glad to be saving money on the luxury tax.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

Well, he would have had to pay that money anyway, so I'm guessing he was just glad to be saving money on the luxury tax.

 

And that's the deal that got otis fired.

[Franchero MVP 391]

And that's the deal that got otis fired.

 

Yup. Otis lost him money, and he got fired for it. Seems like standard business.