2021-2022 Orlando Magic Season Thread… Let’s Goo!!!

[crisby pancakes 126]

7 hours ago, Jason Funderburker said:

But we don’t even have one

Yep, it's comical to say we don't need a PF. We have just 2 bigs guaranteed to be here for next season. Isaac who hasnt played for 2 years and counting and WCJ on backup money and no one remotely close to being a superstar in that position. FO will draft who they think is best pick NOT best fit. You dont draft for best fit when you're the worst team in the league with a load of middling talent. You draft who you think is the best player then trade what you have for more assets to balance the team.

[JJZFL 619]

11 hours ago, Murphy13 said:

Both statements can be true at the same time.

The main problem with this team over the past 10 years has been management.  That is no longer the case and can sense a we’re getting close.

Fair point

[JJZFL 619]

5 hours ago, crisby pancakes said:

Yep, it's comical to say we don't need a PF. We have just 2 bigs guaranteed to be here for next season. Isaac who hasnt played for 2 years and counting and WCJ on backup money and no one remotely close to being a superstar in that position. FO will draft who they think is best pick NOT best fit. You dont draft for best fit when you're the worst team in the league with a load of middling talent. You draft who you think is the best player then trade what you have for more assets to balance the team.

Agree.  Several others have made the point that we can’t rely on Isaac for anything at this point, and I completely agree.  

[jmmagicfan 302]

3 hours ago, crisby pancakes said:

Yep, it's comical to say we don't need a PF. We have just 2 bigs guaranteed to be here for next season. Isaac who hasnt played for 2 years and counting and WCJ on backup money and no one remotely close to being a superstar in that position. FO will draft who they think is best pick NOT best fit. You dont draft for best fit when you're the worst team in the league with a load of middling talent. You draft who you think is the best player then trade what you have for more assets to balance the team.

Actually, we do have 3 "bigs" guaranteed, Okeke (technically a PF), Isaac, WCJ; and a 4th who is currently under contract but not yet guaranteed for next year in M Wagner. I agree that WCJ and M Wagner are both Centers who play quite a bit of PF, and Okeke does spend time at the SF; so the point you're making that it is comical to say we don't need a PF is otherwise correct. I tend to agree, PF/SF may well be a position of need for us. Our "under contract" for next year looks like this:

1) Anthony/Fultz

2) Suggs/Hampton

3) F Wagner/Ross

4) Okeke/Isaac

5) WCJ/M Wagner (currently not guaranteed, but we should)

That gives us 10 players, and about $83M in salaries. With the cap hold for our first round pick (#1?!?) we will be somewhere around $91M, leaving us about $28M in cap space; assuming we don't re-sign any of our free agents, but waive our (Bird) rights to them (includes not making qualifying offer to Bamba). That's all assuming we don't make any trades in the next week and/or use any of our expiring trade exemptions from Fournier, Aminu, and Clark. 

Harris, MCW, Lopez, Moore are all free agents, Bamba, Brazdeikis, and Schofield are all restricted free agents if we make qualifying offer(s). Frankly, I'm not sure that Bamba is worth the Q.O.; though he has been better of late. Don't know if it is health, contract, or both. Probably both.  If we do make a Q.O. to Bamba, we would have about $18M under the cap.

 

[JJZFL 619]

4 hours ago, jmmagicfan said:

Actually, we do have 3 "bigs" guaranteed, Okeke (technically a PF), Isaac, WCJ; and a 4th who is currently under contract but not yet guaranteed for next year in M Wagner. I agree that WCJ and M Wagner are both Centers who play quite a bit of PF, and Okeke does spend time at the SF; so the point you're making that it is comical to say we don't need a PF is otherwise correct. I tend to agree, PF/SF may well be a position of need for us. Our "under contract" for next year looks like this:

1) Anthony/Fultz

2) Suggs/Hampton

3) F Wagner/Ross

4) Okeke/Isaac

5) WCJ/M Wagner (currently not guaranteed, but we should)

That gives us 10 players, and about $83M in salaries. With the cap hold for our first round pick (#1?!?) we will be somewhere around $91M, leaving us about $28M in cap space; assuming we don't re-sign any of our free agents, but waive our (Bird) rights to them (includes not making qualifying offer to Bamba). That's all assuming we don't make any trades in the next week and/or use any of our expiring trade exemptions from Fournier, Aminu, and Clark. 

Harris, MCW, Lopez, Moore are all free agents, Bamba, Brazdeikis, and Schofield are all restricted free agents if we make qualifying offer(s). Frankly, I'm not sure that Bamba is worth the Q.O.; though he has been better of late. Don't know if it is health, contract, or both. Probably both.  If we do make a Q.O. to Bamba, we would have about $18M under the cap.

 

Good post.  Thank you for the information 

[crisby pancakes 126]

15 hours ago, jmmagicfan said:

Actually, we do have 3 "bigs" guaranteed, Okeke (technically a PF), Isaac, WCJ; and a 4th who is currently under contract but not yet guaranteed for next year in M Wagner. I agree that WCJ and M Wagner are both Centers who play quite a bit of PF, and Okeke does spend time at the SF; so the point you're making that it is comical to say we don't need a PF is otherwise correct. I tend to agree, PF/SF may well be a position of need for us. Our "under contract" for next year looks like this:

1) Anthony/Fultz

2) Suggs/Hampton

3) F Wagner/Ross

4) Okeke/Isaac

5) WCJ/M Wagner (currently not guaranteed, but we should)

That gives us 10 players, and about $83M in salaries. With the cap hold for our first round pick (#1?!?) we will be somewhere around $91M, leaving us about $28M in cap space; assuming we don't re-sign any of our free agents, but waive our (Bird) rights to them (includes not making qualifying offer to Bamba). That's all assuming we don't make any trades in the next week and/or use any of our expiring trade exemptions from Fournier, Aminu, and Clark. 

Harris, MCW, Lopez, Moore are all free agents, Bamba, Brazdeikis, and Schofield are all restricted free agents if we make qualifying offer(s). Frankly, I'm not sure that Bamba is worth the Q.O.; though he has been better of late. Don't know if it is health, contract, or both. Probably both.  If we do make a Q.O. to Bamba, we would have about $18M under the cap.

 

Okeke wasn't included as he's a tweener not a big. It's also been debatable on whether he's even been an NBA caliber player this season aside from a couple of recent games. FO isn't going to go hang on, let's not draft Chet, Banchero or Jabari because we have Okeke (or any other big we have that remains for next season) They're all an upgrade on what we have.

Thankfully Franz has been amazing and Suggs has shown he is looking elite on defence (lot of work offensively needed though) so we actually have some talent to work with next year. Hopefully whomever we pick in the draft is a hit like Franz has been as we need talent in all positions.

[Soul Bro 1,419]

Bad habits… While I love that our team is learning how to win, I still hope we extinguish bad habits. Both Cole and Jalen desperately need to learn how to take and make good shots, as right now their shooting percentages are awful. Yes, be aggressive, but play efficient, smart basketball.

[Natesroom 197]

I would love to see a Bamba/Ross trade for something worthwhile

[jmmagicfan 302]

3 hours ago, crisby pancakes said:

Okeke wasn't included as he's a tweener not a big. It's also been debatable on whether he's even been an NBA caliber player this season aside from a couple of recent games. FO isn't going to go hang on, let's not draft Chet, Banchero or Jabari because we have Okeke (or any other big we have that remains for next season) They're all an upgrade on what we have.

Thankfully Franz has been amazing and Suggs has shown he is looking elite on defence (lot of work offensively needed though) so we actually have some talent to work with next year. Hopefully whomever we pick in the draft is a hit like Franz has been as we need talent in all positions.

I did say that his count of bigs was wrong, but that I agreed that none of what we have should prevent us from drafting a big. If you look at who he’s usually on the floor with, Okeke does spend more time at the PF than the SF; that’s why I counted him as a big.

[crisby pancakes 126]

1 hour ago, jmmagicfan said:

I did say that his count of bigs was wrong, but that I agreed that none of what we have should prevent us from drafting a big. If you look at who he’s usually on the floor with, Okeke does spend more time at the PF than the SF; that’s why I counted him as a big.

Oh yeah, I knew you were agreeing. And yes, no one should be off the table in the draft!

[TreyMachine 398]

I view it as a great problem to have if we can get Chet / Jabri and Franz / Isaac both come back and fulfill their expectations while staying healthy. That is a GREAT problem to have. 

To draft a Guard because we "need a guard more" when clearly the top tier are Forwards is dumb. The only thing to maybe change that is we get a HAUL for one of them as the #1 pick, similar to how we gave up #1 Pick Chris Webber for Penny and THREE 1st Round draft picks. That's something I can get behind. haha 

[Luke_FfS 248]

5 hours ago, Soul Bro said:

Bad habits… While I love that our team is learning how to win, I still hope we extinguish bad habits. Both Cole and Jalen desperately need to learn how to take and make good shots, as right now their shooting percentages are awful. Yes, be aggressive, but play efficient, smart basketball.

Absolutely, +1, and same problem for me in the defensive end. I mean, a lot of our players were considered defensive minded ones, and the final product should better than this on that end.