Who do you want draft day 2013?

[Mauro Pedrosa 1,031]

I'm confused

[magicblue 315]

I did mean russell. I think he is a combo between the two. Payton's defense and leadership, but not his passing. He has russell's aggression to the bucket and ability to get to the line but not his explosiveness.

 

Exciting to think Smart may be the worst case scenario next year.

[TreyMachine 395]

Exciting to think Smart may be the worst case scenario next year.

 

I don't know how I'm going to feel if we actually do better next season and are a fringe playoff team (and therefore wouldn't even get Smart). I'm kinda hoping for at least bottom 10 finish. Major growth can happen in two years, just not next year.

[OrlandoFeds 34]

I did mean russell. I think he is a combo between the two. Payton's defense and leadership, but not his passing. He has russell's aggression to the bucket and ability to get to the line but not his explosiveness.

 

Payton's defense? Geez, talk about optimism.

[LaVar 108]

Payton's defense? Geez, talk about optimism.

 

 

They both have that tensity, anticipation, and quick hands. The difference will be the era. Payton played in the hand check era.

[LaVar 108]

I don't know how I'm going to feel if we actually do better next season and are a fringe playoff team (and therefore wouldn't even get Smart). I'm kinda hoping for at least bottom 10 finish. Major growth can happen in two years, just not next year.

 

if we trade vets, we will lose. If we keep, baby, aa, and nelson. We will win. Its as simple as that to me. (fringe playoff team)

[A Better DJ & Photographer 456]

if we trade vets, we will lose. If we keep, baby, aa, and nelson. We will win. Its as simple as that to me. (fringe playoff team)

 

We have to keep SOME vets in order to reach the minimum salary... doesn't mean we have to play them much :D

[CTMagicUK 1,480]

We have to keep SOME vets in order to reach the minimum salary... doesn't mean we have to play them much :D/>

 

If the minimum salary was an issue I'd just keep Turk and trade away AA/Baby. That way we have Turk getting us over the minimum while still providing no on court value whatsoever.

[Mike1989 68]

If the minimum salary was an issue I'd just keep Turk and trade away AA/Baby. That way we have Turk getting us over the minimum while still providing no on court value whatsoever.

 

We've also go Harrington as well. Keep hold of Harrington and Turk and keep them on the bench, don't even have to play them.

 

If we do trade away AA, Baby and Nelson I think it would be very likely that we would have a top five pick again without too much trouble. I'm interested to see what we could get in return, in an ideal world another top ten first round pick to go along with ours would be great. But equally if we can land more young talented players with upside then that could be a good swap to.

[TreyMachine 395]

We've also go Harrington as well. Keep hold of Harrington and Turk and keep them on the bench, don't even have to play them.

 

If we do trade away AA, Baby and Nelson I think it would be very likely that we would have a top five pick again without too much trouble. I'm interested to see what we could get in return, in an ideal world another top ten first round pick to go along with ours would be great. But equally if we can land more young talented players with upside then that could be a good swap to.

 

1. I don't think we're trading Jameer. He's a Magic lifer, so unless HE says he wants out, I think that he will be happy to stay here working as a mentor and leader to the younger players in the transition process. I can't say AA/Baby are going to have the patience for it though.

 

2. We're not getting another top 10 pick outside of ours. We get the least favorable pick out of Denver/NY. Both I'm positive will be playoff teams next year.

 

3. From a competitor/human perspective, while they are getting paid millions of dollars to do nothing, does anyone feel bad for guys like Turk or Harrington if we were to keep them on just for salary minimum's sake and "not play"? My assumption is that we WILL keep AA/Big Baby/Nelson and that should get us over the hump financially, but should this not be the case, would anyone really feel bad for a stand-up professional like Al Harrington who would go out with such a whimper as to be healthy and not get an opportunity to compete?

[Mike1989 68]

1. I don't think we're trading Jameer. He's a Magic lifer, so unless HE says he wants out, I think that he will be happy to stay here working as a mentor and leader to the younger players in the transition process. I can't say AA/Baby are going to have the patience for it though.

 

I agree with you that Nelson seems to have the patience to be a mentor to this young team, and to be honest he looks to have thrived in that role. Like you, I hope that Jameer is a Magic lifer, but there is a big question mark over his long term role on this team. He's 31 now, so sooner or later this team will look to draft or sign his long term replacement, and if that happens this year with Trey Burke, then it wouldn't surprise me to see Henny trade Nelson while he still has decent value.

 

Like you, I'd rather him stay on this team because he will be useful as a leader for the next two seasons on starting money ($8.6 million next season, and $8 million the following season), and by his next contract he could be retained as a valuable role player. Now I'd love if that scenario happened because he is one of my favorite players, but Henny has already shown by trading away JJ that he is not the type of GM that will keep hold of expensive role players, and at $8 million a season that is starting money, not bench money if we take Burke. Plus, Henny seems to be the type of GM that would rather make a move than lose a player with value for nothing, and Nelson still has value.

 

That being said, I hope Nelson remains on our roster.

 

2. We're not getting another top 10 pick outside of ours. We get the least favorable pick out of Denver/NY. Both I'm positive will be playoff teams next year.

 

In a trade for Big Baby and AA, or one of them and another player could see us land a mid first round pick, or at worst a pick in the 20-30 range. A top ten would be unlikely, but if a trade happen early on then we could strike it lucky if a team really really underachieved (for example, the T-Wolves were tipped for the play offs, but after injuries throughout the season they never fielded their strongest team and missed out by quite a distance).

 

3. From a competitor/human perspective, while they are getting paid millions of dollars to do nothing, does anyone feel bad for guys like Turk or Harrington if we were to keep them on just for salary minimum's sake and "not play"? My assumption is that we WILL keep AA/Big Baby/Nelson and that should get us over the hump financially, but should this not be the case, would anyone really feel bad for a stand-up professional like Al Harrington who would go out with such a whimper as to be healthy and not get an opportunity to compete?

 

From a competitor perspective it might be a hard hit to take, but I'm sure they wouldn't complain about the money they would be earning. Plus, Harrington as a stand-up pro could take a vocal leadership role in the team, and heck if they could get Turk into shape he could still play a minor/useful role off the bench (though that is very unlikely).

[Jagsfreak27 44]

If we pass on Noel, we have to pick Burke. I think he's easily the best guard in the draft and he flashed an uncanny ability to take over games last year, which is something we haven't had since the T-Mac days. You don't see many guys like him who can shoot the lights out and create off of the dribble. Sure, you woulfd like for him to finish a little better at the hoop, but that is something that can be worked on.