2020-2021 Official Magic Season Thread

[s1n1st3r12 27]

Just read we signed Mo Wagner to the rest of the season. I thought he still played for the Wizards, I assume he is here for his shooting. 

[TrueMagicFan07 663]

1 hour ago, JJZFL said:

Thank you TMF

Thank you, JZL, for the kind remark.    

[Jay Magic 1,233]

Says a lot

[CTMagicUK 1,476]

Josh Robbins has a piece in the Athletic this morning basically titled "Should the Magic tank?" The upshot is that he watched the core of Harris, Oladipo, Fournier, Vuc, AG develop a bunch of bad habits and become accustomed to losing over an extended period which he thinks was bad for them and the team but that in these last 10 or so games the Magic should absolutely tank to give themselves the best shot at a top draft pick in this draft. 

That's kind of where I am also now. I don't think tanking works as a long term strategy, especially not with the reformed odds, but I do think there's nothing to gain from winning any more games now. Next season with a little more health and hopefully an injection of talent I'm more than happy for us to try and win every single game but winning any of these last few games hardly means anything positive. 

With that being said I'd hold all the vets out with injuries. Ennis is difficult because he's an expiring guy who wants to ensure he's in the league next year but I'd probably just call his agent and say "we've got a 2 year 8 mil deal for him in free agency but we could do with him being injured the rest of the way". 

Okeke is probably one of the young guys who impacts winning the most and I'll be surprised if he plays again this season honestly with his ankle sprain. 

I'd possibly even consider 'being careful' with WCJ's sore ankle. 

Gary Harris is a weird one. He's been super injury prone in his career so the fact that we're playing him a lot now maybe suggests we're hoping he increases his trade value for the summer? Or that we think he just needs to be playing basketball consistently to get back to his best for next year I guess. 

I can't wait for this season to be over...

[South_Aussie_Magic 90]

Unless he's updated it somewhere down the line, that article was actually dated 20/1 before all the trades. Suppose the point is a tad bit moot by now lol

[CTMagicUK 1,476]

1 minute ago, South_Aussie_Magic said:

Unless he's updated it somewhere down the line, that article was actually dated 20/1 before all the trades. Suppose the point is a tad bit moot by now lol

It was posted 5 hours ago? 

[South_Aussie_Magic 90]

3 minutes ago, CTMagicUK said:

It was posted 5 hours ago? 

Kinda hilarious, google his name and the article title and both articles (which are different) come up

I just googled the title originally and the new one did not come up at all

[South_Aussie_Magic 90]

[CTMagicUK 1,476]

33 minutes ago, South_Aussie_Magic said:

Yea I think he just used the same title twice haha

[CTMagicUK 1,476]

 

 

[Luke_FfS 247]

4 hours ago, CTMagicUK said:

I can't wait for this season to be over...

+1 on all the post, we disagree in the past on some details, but that's exactly what I feel right now, and I wrote something similar a few days ago, even if less detailed... Tank those few games, give the minutes to players that need them, test some youngsters, and then go back at the competitive way next season.

I actually think, if everyone is back healthy and ready to go, that we'll be better than a lot of us could envision now.

[JJZFL 618]

5 hours ago, CTMagicUK said:

Josh Robbins has a piece in the Athletic this morning basically titled "Should the Magic tank?" The upshot is that he watched the core of Harris, Oladipo, Fournier, Vuc, AG develop a bunch of bad habits and become accustomed to losing over an extended period which he thinks was bad for them and the team but that in these last 10 or so games the Magic should absolutely tank to give themselves the best shot at a top draft pick in this draft. 

That's kind of where I am also now. I don't think tanking works as a long term strategy, especially not with the reformed odds, but I do think there's nothing to gain from winning any more games now. Next season with a little more health and hopefully an injection of talent I'm more than happy for us to try and win every single game but winning any of these last few games hardly means anything positive. 

With that being said I'd hold all the vets out with injuries. Ennis is difficult because he's an expiring guy who wants to ensure he's in the league next year but I'd probably just call his agent and say "we've got a 2 year 8 mil deal for him in free agency but we could do with him being injured the rest of the way". 

Okeke is probably one of the young guys who impacts winning the most and I'll be surprised if he plays again this season honestly with his ankle sprain. 

I'd possibly even consider 'being careful' with WCJ's sore ankle. 

Gary Harris is a weird one. He's been super injury prone in his career so the fact that we're playing him a lot now maybe suggests we're hoping he increases his trade value for the summer? Or that we think he just needs to be playing basketball consistently to get back to his best for next year I guess. 

I can't wait for this season to be over...

I certainly agree about the last sentence.  I also understand the logic behind the argument that you’re making.  Robbins points about tanking are the same ones I’ve made on this board for the past 10 years or so.  
 

While I agree with your conclusions in the abstract, my concern is that I don’t believe it’s as easy to turn tanking on and off as this assumes.  I think that once you implicitly tell your players that we’re not trying to win, that attitude becomes very hard to reverse.  A small part of them going forward always feels that everything is fine no matter what happens, because if we’re not winning we’re tanking.  This is especially true for young players.  And so I’m afraid that the decision to tank now will stick around and affect our play in the future, even though we want to “turn it off”.  
 

I freely acknowledge that this could be overstated and that maybe we can get away with it for the next ten games without it carrying over.  From my standpoint, the risk is too high but I completely understand that mine is a minority opinion.   As always time will tell.