The Neighborhood Bully 266 Report post Posted August 31, 2016 Article about Hezonja on Bill Simmons' new site https://theringer.co...ss-fd91301d10b0 Love the comparison to Klay Thompson. Now if we could just find a Steph Curry...... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fultz4thewin 2,464 Report post Posted September 1, 2016 here's another good example of the decline of print journalism. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/newsletter/os-orlando-magic-youth-clinic-photo-20160831-story.html "Frank Vogel has never had a team that was so versatile" I click that link because I'm interested in what Vogel says. Instead of a detailed story, we get 290 words, half of which is fluff. here's everything of substance: I've never had a team that's had this type of versatility," said Vogel, who parted ways with the Indiana Pacers after six seasons.Point guard Elfrid Payton, who has struggled with his outside shooting, has the "green light" to shoot this season. "I'm going to take him out if he doesn't take it," Vogel said. Watson, who was limited to 33 games by a calf injury last season, is ready to play. On the other hand, Vogel said there was no timetable on the return of Meeks, who had foot surgery in late July. Fournier could be cast in the role of go-to scorer, but Vogel added, "Our go-to guy is going to be the open man." Center Nikola Vucevic will be given some freedom to shoot 3-pointers on the occasion he plays power forward. "It's something we're going to explore with him," Vogel said. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Neighborhood Bully 266 Report post Posted September 1, 2016 The Magic have clearly had their fill of rebuilding, and they made a major effort this summer to get out of the lottery rut. I'm just not sure they didn't do more damage. Adding Frank Vogel was a big win: He's a better coaching fit for this club than Scott Skiles in virtually every way. After Vogel, things get messier. Ibaka was their big player acquisition over the summer. He's clearly an upgrade for the team at the 4 and provides exactly what they need in a stretch big who can also protect the rim. But the cost was high -- Oladipo and the draft rights to Domantas Sabonis. Furthermore, it's unclear whether Ibaka's time table really meshes with the rest of this young team. Biyombo's deal is remarkable, considering it's based primarily off a strong playoff performance this year, and $15 million for Green and $29 million for Augustin make little sense for players who should be coming off the bench. Furthermore, you begin to wonder how the addition of these veterans will affect the long-term development of players like Aaron Gordon, Mario Hezonja and Elfrid Payton. Given the push for the playoffs, will Vogel be allowed to keep letting them develop at the expense of more costly veterans? Is an eighth seed in the playoffs worth stifling their growth? http://www.espn.com/...tern-conference Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fan for too long 2 535 Report post Posted September 1, 2016 ESPN ugh. They suck to forever and back. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
My 6th Rebuild 6 Report post Posted September 2, 2016 ESPN ugh. They suck to forever and back. They are just telling you how it is...... Magic will be back in the lottery. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fultz4thewin 2,464 Report post Posted September 2, 2016 They are just telling you how it is...... Magic will be back in the lottery. Eh, maybe. But it will be close. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Franchero MVP 391 Report post Posted September 2, 2016 They are just telling you how it is...... Magic will be back in the lottery. I was excited at the beginning but I am slowly accepting that it's very possible -- im excited to see the team though and see how everything fits. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fan for too long 2 535 Report post Posted September 2, 2016 They are just telling you how it is...... Magic will be back in the lottery. They don't know crap. U want to bet on it? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Magicman28 295 Report post Posted September 2, 2016 They are just telling you how it is...... Magic will be back in the lottery. Nah. They're just speaking to the dumbed down audience. ESPN lost their credibility a long time ago. It's like listening to CNN, MNBC or any other big media giant. Could we get into lottery again? Sure. Can we get into the playoffs as an 8-7 seed? It's just as an likely. None of those guys do an thorough research on any thing outside of the big market teams or the top tier teams. They have no idea what becomes of AG in a bigger role. They don't know, neither do we, what Payton's been up to. They don't know what Mario will be. Look at Dipo. Guy wasn't even talked about much until he joined Westbrook. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Neighborhood Bully 266 Report post Posted September 2, 2016 One of the uglier offseason reviews I've seen The Skinny: The Magic are just making it up as they go along through their never-ending rebuild. Despite four straight years of quality draft picks, Orlando’s top young talent (Aaron Gordon) hasn’t yet found his NBA position, its point guard (Elfrid Payton) has yet to inspire much long-term confidence, its promising scoring forward (Tobias Harris) was dealt to the Pistons at the deadline for a pair of players who are no longer with the Magic (Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova), and its 2013 and 2016 lottery picks (Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis) were sent out for a No. 3 option (Serge Ibaka) who is set to enter a contract year. Why? Why?Why? Orlando has lost and lost and lost in recent years, and yet it’s made very little progress in developing its young players into keepers or tradeable assets. Harris, Jennings, Channing Frye, Moe Harkless, Andrew Nicholson, Kyle O’Quinn, and Dewayne Dedmon are among theMagic players that have moved on in recent years with little or no lasting compensation in return. Surely, the Magic’s last two coaching regimes had ahand in these failures and, for that reason, the hiring of coach Frank Vogel looks like the organization’s best move of the summer. Vogel will be forced to play gimmick basketball: hoping for quality defense and praying for sub-mediocre (rather than atrocious) offense. Ibaka’s arrival from Oklahoma City, coupled with thesigning of Bismack Biyombo, gives the Magic a clear identity for once. This squad will attempt to win games defensively from the inside-out, using the two long-armed shot-blockers to massage Nikola Vucevic’s defensive limitations. Re-signing Evan Fournier to a five-year, $85 million contract also stands out as a reasonable decision given his demonstrated improvement as a scorer last season. So many of the Magic’s other moves, though, are hard to rationalize. Paying Jeff Green makes no sense, even on a one-year deal: he will either stand in Gordon’s way or rot on the bench. Committing to DJ Augustin for $29 million over four years makes little sense when Jennings signed for a fraction of that price and other teams managed to find bargain deals on back-up point guards. Even paying big to land Biyombo,who enjoyed a nice breakout season in Toronto, looks slightly questionable given his redundancy with Ibaka and Vucevic’s need for minutes. Parting with Oladipo at age 24 and Sabonis at age 20 for a player in Ibaka who lacks the all-around offensive game to lead a team to real postseason success already feels like a move that will be judged even more harshly in hindsight. In sum, Orlando’s off-season generally feels shortsighted, a little too desperate, and liable to produce an excruciatingly expensive decision on Ibaka next summer. Even if this summer’s additions and Vogel’s arrival can lift the Magic into the bottom of the East’s playoff bracket, it’s hard to see how the key pieces will fit together even one or two years down the line. Then whose turn will it be to flourish elsewhere? —B.G. Grade: D– http://www.si.com/nb...e-dwight-howard Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fultz4thewin 2,464 Report post Posted September 2, 2016 Nah. They're just speaking to the dumbed down audience. ESPN lost their credibility a long time ago. It's like listening to CNN, MNBC or any other big media giant. Could we get into lottery again? Sure. Can we get into the playoffs as an 8-7 seed? It's just as an likely. None of those guys do an thorough research on any thing outside of the big market teams or the top tier teams. They have no idea what becomes of AG in a bigger role. They don't know, neither do we, what Payton's been up to. They don't know what Mario will be. Look at Dipo. Guy wasn't even talked about much until he joined Westbrook. yeah, I mean I don't really have any issues with someone stating we're not going to be in the playoffs. We can be better, win 40+ games, and still be out of the playoffs. what I don't understand is it seems like since we have a bunch of new players we have a bunch of new questions. Those questions could have positive outcomes and negative outcomes. Instead of focusing on the idea that "even if some things go wrong, it wouldn't take a whole lot of things to go right for us to be a significantly better team" it seems like the focus is "if there's 10 things that can go wrong there's 10 things that will go wrong". Payton may or may not improve. but we wont have Shabazz backing him up most of the year. I'm still a big believer in Watson, he's better than what he showed last year. With a healthy offseason I think he should bounce back to being a competent backup when called upon. Also, Augustin was better last year than Brandon Jennings. So if Payton returns as the exact same player, the position as a whole should be an upgrade. Our biggest issue last season was arguably how the defense from our center position impacted the defense as a whole. We gave up points at the rim. When we pulled our forwards in on the weakside to help our paint defense it gave other teams wide open corner threes. when the other team lacked a offensive center to cause damage they put vucevic in the pick and roll to exploit that. Whatever you think about Vucevic and his role on the team going forward, at the very least we have viable options to not only prevent this breakdown this season, but make interior defense a strength. If Gordon can't play 3, we have two other options with Green and Hezonja along with enough supplementary pieces to make a trade if that's the route we want to go. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fultz4thewin 2,464 Report post Posted September 2, 2016 One of the uglier offseason reviews I've seen [/size] http://www.si.com/nb...e-dwight-howard I still don't understand the Jeff Green point. "Paying Jeff Green makes no sense, even on a one-year deal: he will either stand in Gordon’s way or rot on the bench." well, we had to spend money on another forward. The options were either pay Jeff Green 1 year for a significant amount of money or pay biyombo, Fournier, and Augustin and have less than 5 million remaining to shop around. Maybe we pull Terrence Jones. Maybe we don't. but the way salaries were flying around it made more sense to grab Green and be done with it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
