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2020-2021 Official Magic Season Thread

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36 minutes ago, Babir_9 said:

No mate...for several years we have been winning extra games by playing vets and getting 4th, 5th, 6th picks in the draft and missing on great talent...

I want a top 3 pick...at least better chances for it...let’s play rookies and young players only...plus they will get valuable experience...there is no point to play Birch at all, we have two young centres/PFs and we must understand what is their ceiling...Ross should get as much rest as possible...

 

         Can't say it any better. The rest of this year is time to lose and play rookies. That's it and the 4 teams with worse records then us are doing it. However, forget about this week. I have no doubt that Weltham is in full control now. After our road trip i am 100% positive Clifford will play rotations he is "suggested" to play by management. They aren't messing around this year. If he doesn't expect a mutual parting of ways. I don't expect anything like that. Just saying. 

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36 minutes ago, hootie249 said:

 

         Can't say it any better. The rest of this year is time to lose and play rookies. That's it and the 4 teams with worse records then us are doing it. However, forget about this week. I have no doubt that Weltham is in full control now. After our road trip i am 100% positive Clifford will play rotations he is "suggested" to play by management. They aren't messing around this year. If he doesn't expect a mutual parting of ways. I don't expect anything like that. Just saying. 

There is only one flaw with this plan, there is a near 50-50 chance of one of the teams with top four lottery odds falling outside the top five. We currently sit fourth and we have a 51.91 chance of falling to 5-8. By odds alone our most likely pick is 6th (25.74%), followed by 7th (16.74%). 

Now I’m not suggesting don’t tank, or play the youth and see what they’ve got. However, this isn’t the NFL where you can tank for guaranteed picks. The NBA’s draft lottery is designed to try and prevent that and does mean we have to be prepared for the possibility of being unlucky just as much as we do for being lucky. 

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On 3/26/2021 at 3:09 PM, CTMagicUK said:

They saw our lineup and thought 'nah let's rest Dame we don't need him'

We all want player development. The question is how to best accomplish that.  Throwing the young players out to be obliterated actually retards their development in my opinion. Playing a competitive game like last night while giving everyone some minutes is a much better approach. 

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15 minutes ago, JJZFL said:

We all want player development. The question is how to best accomplish that.  Throwing the young players out to be obliterated actually retards their development in my opinion. Playing a competitive game like last night while giving everyone some minutes is a much better approach. 

I agree.

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3 hours ago, CTMagicUK said:

Have we not learned from our last rebuild that just throwing out a bunch of young guys with no vets and no structure doesn't do anybody any good? 

I can understand this but Bacon, Randle and Birch aren’t vets to learn off, and they are almost assuredly not going to be here next year onwards so this in conjunction with being in a prime position to get a top5 draft pick, I see absolutely no point in giving these guys minutes for rest of season. We have Ross, Otto and Harris who can be both on and off about veterans we need. 

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9 minutes ago, harley said:

I can understand this but Bacon, Randle and Birch aren’t vets to learn off, and they are almost assuredly not going to be here next year onwards so this in conjunction with being in a prime position to get a top5 draft pick, I see absolutely no point in giving these guys minutes for rest of season. We have Ross, Otto and Harris who can be both on and off about veterans we need. 

Birch is exactly the type of vet to learn off. Dude went undrafted out of college and through sheer hard work and effort made himself an NBA player (and he could be here next year). 

Randle isn't going to play much when we get guys back, he barely played when we had MCW and AG healthy a couple games ago. 

Bacon isn't really a vet (and could also be here next year).

 

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1 hour ago, CTMagicUK said:

Birch is exactly the type of vet to learn off. Dude went undrafted out of college and through sheer hard work and effort made himself an NBA player (and he could be here next year). 

Randle isn't going to play much when we get guys back, he barely played when we had MCW and AG healthy a couple games ago. 

Bacon isn't really a vet (and could also be here next year).

 

Agree with all of that.  Would also add that a decent point guard can make everyone else play better and the reverse is also true.   It’s not so much about giving Randle PT as much as it is optimizing opportunity for the other four on the floor.  Randle has done a steady job of playing point.  Not flashy but actually better than I expected. 

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I also was surprised with Cliffs take on the point guard play.  I thought Randle and Mane both played reasonably well. And let’s look objectively at what MCW did before he left in Q2.  Recall that we were like 1 for 15 in the first 8 minutes of that quarter, most of which MCW was playing for.  Starting with about 9 minutes or so left in the quarter, MCW:

Missed a 7 foot shot.

Missed a 6 foot shot  

Turned it over

Missed a 4 foot layup 

Missed a three pointer 

 

Now these were all during a three minute stretch, so not only was MCW missing everything, he was hogging the ball and not getting anyone else involved. We didn’t start to score until he left.   So again don’t understand Cliffs post game comments about our point guard play being all over the place and not very good after MCW left   

 

 

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2 hours ago, CTMagicUK said:

Birch is exactly the type of vet to learn off. Dude went undrafted out of college and through sheer hard work and effort made himself an NBA player (and he could be here next year). 

Randle isn't going to play much when we get guys back, he barely played when we had MCW and AG healthy a couple games ago. 

Bacon isn't really a vet (and could also be here next year).

 

I agree about Birch, and I would add similar comments about Ennis - these are guys who have worked hard to get/stay in the league and are extremely professional in their approach. As both are free agents at the end of the season, I am doubtful that either will be back, but depending on who else is available, I would not be mad to see either or both of them back. I think Ennis especially is really underrated and undervalued by most of us. I don't get why his PER is only 13.53, but I think it doesn't account for his defense and hustle. He's getting 8ppg, 4rpg in 22mpg, shooting 44% from three, 79% at the line, and really never forces anything, without plays being run for him. 

Randle is an end-of-the bench 3rd/4th PG who was signed late as an emergency fill-in. I think we have definitely gotten our money's worth, but I don't expect him to be back. We currently have Fultz/Anthony/Hampton/MCW all under contract for next year. Once we get a couple of them healthy (or in Hampton's case, some practice with the team), there will be less need for Randle. 

Bacon has an unguaranteed contract for next year. Again, I think he has gotten a lot more playing time than anyone anticipated due to injuries and players being out. I think he is a good 13th-15th player who does bring offensive attack. He is one of our most aggressive drivers. I don't know if he will be back or not, but I think he has done okay as a deep-bench player forced to contribute due to injury situation. 

 

 

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7 hours ago, JJZFL said:

I also was surprised with Cliffs take on the point guard play.  I thought Randle and Mane both played reasonably well. And let’s look objectively at what MCW did before he left in Q2.  Recall that we were like 1 for 15 in the first 8 minutes of that quarter, most of which MCW was playing for.  Starting with about 9 minutes or so left in the quarter, MCW:

Missed a 7 foot shot.

Missed a 6 foot shot  

Turned it over

Missed a 4 foot layup 

Missed a three pointer 

 

Now these were all during a three minute stretch, so not only was MCW missing everything, he was hogging the ball and not getting anyone else involved. We didn’t start to score until he left.   So again don’t understand Cliffs post game comments about our point guard play being all over the place and not very good after MCW left   

 

 

If Michael Carter-Williams was still trying to be a point guard, he wouldn’t be in the nba anymore. He’s only playing point for us out of necessity, he’s much more of a 2/3. It’s how he remade himself in to a player you actually want on your team.

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9 hours ago, CTMagicUK said:

Birch is exactly the type of vet to learn off. Dude went undrafted out of college and through sheer hard work and effort made himself an NBA player (and he could be here next year). 

Randle isn't going to play much when we get guys back, he barely played when we had MCW and AG healthy a couple games ago. 

Bacon isn't really a vet (and could also be here next year).

 

I’m curious how the rotation will look if/when Ross and Harris get back. I’d assume a 10 man of Anthony/Ross/Porter/Okeke/Carter

MCW/Harris/Ennis/Birch/Bamba

with garbage time minutes to RJ/Bacon/Randle/Mane

Even though I’d rather see RJ get minutes over MCW or Ennis, I just can’t see Clifford doing it

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