Some analysis of the franchise

[SmackDaddy 30]

quote:

Originally posted by MrHopper:

As I read these posts they all make sense. I have had this debate before, and I have come to the realization that in professional sports you cant look to the future. Sports have a lot to do with luck. Think about it, there are so many ways to loose but there is only one way to win, have more points at the end of the game. We could build this great dynasty, and a significant injury to one player(we all know who that is) and our season is gone. This is our team for the next few years. I think this team, can't and won't win a championship the way its been made. I cant remember a "jump shooting" team winning a title in the last, well ever. If you have 2 pgs, you have none. If you have 2 small forwards you have no power forward. Changes need to be made, but sadly i dont see them happening anytime soon. This is our team, so lets get on the board and ride the waves... GO MAGIC

 

And look at how many people have said for the last three years that they didn't want to be like the Heat and mortgage their entire franchise for one championship banner. Those same people are probably amazed at how quickly the Heat can rebuild right now. They have 14 million in expiring contracts that they can either trade for another disgruntled star, let the contracts expire and target a big name free agent, and they'll have a top 3 draft pick.

 

As a Magic fan, I would take that plus a championship banner already hanging in the rafters.

[Live or Die Magic 383]

quote:

Originally posted by SmackDaddy:

And look at how many people have said for the last three years that they didn't want to be like the Heat and mortgage their entire franchise for one championship banner. Those same people are probably amazed at how quickly the Heat can rebuild right now. They have 14 million in expiring contracts that they can either trade for another disgruntled star, let the contracts expire and target a big name free agent, and they'll have a top 3 draft pick.

 

As a Magic fan, I would take that plus a championship banner already hanging in the rafters.

 

This makes me hate the Heat all the more! In fact, I am probably just as upset by Shaq being traded from the Heat as I was when Shaq was traded to the Heat. Now, Shaq gets another shot at a ring and the Heat get out of salary-cap purgatory! The rich keep getting richer!

[Marc Acres 3:16 418]

quote:

Originally posted by Live or Die Magic:

quote:

Originally posted by SmackDaddy:

And look at how many people have said for the last three years that they didn't want to be like the Heat and mortgage their entire franchise for one championship banner. Those same people are probably amazed at how quickly the Heat can rebuild right now. They have 14 million in expiring contracts that they can either trade for another disgruntled star, let the contracts expire and target a big name free agent, and they'll have a top 3 draft pick.

 

As a Magic fan, I would take that plus a championship banner already hanging in the rafters.

 

This makes me hate the Heat all the more! In fact, I am probably just as upset by Shaq being traded from the Heat as I was when Shaq was traded to the Heat. Now, Shaq gets another shot at a ring and the Heat get out of salary-cap purgatory! The rich keep getting richer!

 

They take the big risk's and get the big rewards. It's just like any other type of gambling, if you bet big you can either win big or lose big, you bet small and the payoffs and losses are small. I guess the hope is that if you keep winning on small bets it adds up but at some point I think we need to take a risk or 2.

[magic berto 0]

quote:

Originally posted by Live or Die Magic:

quote:

Originally posted by SmackDaddy:

And look at how many people have said for the last three years that they didn't want to be like the Heat and mortgage their entire franchise for one championship banner. Those same people are probably amazed at how quickly the Heat can rebuild right now. They have 14 million in expiring contracts that they can either trade for another disgruntled star, let the contracts expire and target a big name free agent, and they'll have a top 3 draft pick.

 

As a Magic fan, I would take that plus a championship banner already hanging in the rafters.

 

This makes me hate the Heat all the more! In fact, I am probably just as upset by Shaq being traded from the Heat as I was when Shaq was traded to the Heat. Now, Shaq gets another shot at a ring and the Heat get out of salary-cap purgatory! The rich keep getting richer!

 

Yeah, it helped that somebody was actually crazy enough to take on Shaq and his contract. If Steve Kerr actually waited for a better offer, Miami would be in a deep hole for the next couple of years. As it is, it looks like they'll bounce up right away next season.

[SmackDaddy 30]

quote:

Originally posted by Live or Die Magic:

This makes me hate the Heat all the more! In fact, I am probably just as upset by Shaq being traded from the Heat as I was when Shaq was traded to the Heat. Now, Shaq gets another shot at a ring and the Heat get out of salary-cap purgatory! The rich keep getting richer!

 

It's more like the bold keep contending. Being conservative and just waiting for a team to develop over the long term rarely has extremely positive results. There will always be teams like Miami, Boston, and now the Lakers that are bold enough to make a move that puts them in the spotlight immediately. You deal with the consequences down the road, and then do it all over again exactly like the Heat are in position to do now.

 

You guys have been listening to me rant about this for 2 years now. I've always beeen a proponent of proactive, aggressive management. For those members that think we are in a position to win championships next year, or the following year...what's to keep the other teams from making major moves to leapfrog us instantly while we take the slow and steady course of action?

[Budweiser5587 0]

quote:

Originally posted by Kramer:

Where we were- Last season we barely got into the playoffs with the eigth spot and a sub-500 record and we were swept by the Pistons. We fired our Head Coach Brian Hill and we almost get Billy Dononvan. Yes, we were going to let a college coach with no experiance in the pros coach one of the most talented teams in the East.

 

What we have- We got a real Head Coach in SVG who has enough job security to call out our super star and tell him to work harder defensively. We have 2 really good small fowards in Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis, even though he is being labeled as a bust, his 11,000 points bring him credability that if he played small foward, he would be very effective. We have a front office competent enough to resign our best player and his best friend. We are in first in a very weak divison but we are in first so that is an accomplishment. We would, if the playoffs began today, be in the third spot in the East which is a huge improvement over last season.

 

What we need- Some defensive intensity but do you know where that comes from? The answer is stability at the Head Coach position. NBA Coast to Coast said something I found interesing during West Coast Bias when they commented on how maybe SVG is calling out Dwight because he has more security in his job than Brian Hill...That's good. A power foward is a necessity this season and many more to come but we don't really need a talented one, just an athletic one who prides themself on hustle and defense. We are lucky in that we will need basically NO offense so we could even use our lower 20s draft selection on a power foward.

 

What we need more than anything is patience. Dynasties don't happen over night and we are where we are with Dwight Howard only being 22.

 

Am I the only one who sees it this way? Or am I being a huge homer?

 

No my friend, we think likewise. Patient is a virtue. If our veteran power forward hadn't been injured, this wouldn't have been a problem.

[Kramer 0]

quote:

Originally posted by SmackDaddy:

quote:

Originally posted by Live or Die Magic:

This makes me hate the Heat all the more! In fact, I am probably just as upset by Shaq being traded from the Heat as I was when Shaq was traded to the Heat. Now, Shaq gets another shot at a ring and the Heat get out of salary-cap purgatory! The rich keep getting richer!

 

It's more like the bold keep contending. Being conservative and just waiting for a team to develop over the long term rarely has extremely positive results. There will always be teams like Miami, Boston, and now the Lakers that are bold enough to make a move that puts them in the spotlight immediately. You deal with the consequences down the road, and then do it all over again exactly like the Heat are in position to do now.

 

You guys have been listening to me rant about this for 2 years now. I've always beeen a proponent of proactive, aggressive management. For those members that think we are in a position to win championships next year, or the following year...what's to keep the other teams from making major moves to leapfrog us instantly while we take the slow and steady course of action?

 

Oh yeah like when we went out and got Grant Hill...

[EnFuego 1]

quote:

Originally posted by SmackDaddy:

Patience is fine when you are making recognizable progress.

 

Last year, we began the season 13-4 and then proceeded to lose 22 of our next 35 games to get to this very same point in the season.

 

This year, we began the season 16-4 and have lost 17 of our last 32 games.

 

So both years we have started off hot and then settled into a below .500 pattern up until the All-Star break.

 

 

I see it a little bit different. In an 82 game season, a quarter of the regular season is 20 to 21 games. The first querter of the season, we did indeed start out incredibly at 16 - 4 for an .800 winning percentage. Then, in similar fashion to last year, we stunk up the second quarter of the season going 8 and 13 for a dismal .380 winning percentage. Since then we are 9 - 4 which amounts to a .692 winning percentage.

 

Comparative to last year, by the time we got it together enough to go 9 - 4 at any stretch after our initial streak, we were already 32 - 38 and fighting for the eight spot in the conference.

 

This year we've won 6 of the last 10 playing some good teams at home. 6 - 4 over the last ten games is still good enough for fourth best record in the eastern conference. We're not fading away this year.

 

We're 33 - 21 at the 54 game mark, holding on to the third best record in the conference. Say what you want about the eastern conference, but this time last year the conference was about as weak as it is now and by the time we finished our 54th game, we we're officially a .500 team at 27 - 27 holding up the 7th spot on the conference.

 

This team is markedly improved from last year. The upgrade a coach is enough to explain the difference, but Howard has upped his game and Hedo has improved considerably. I think it's remarkable that we are playing the way we are playing without a true power forward, a true point guard, and journeymen playing our shooting guard position.

 

Maybe in just seeing the glass half-full, but what you want from a team is to improve, and this team has improved significantly over last year.

[MilitaryMagic 0]

This is my kind of thread. Admission of .500 basketball since the 16-4 start is a good place to begin.

 

Realizing that our team is a lot closer to the .500 team than the 16-4 team is another step in the right direction.

 

If we were in the west, we'd be on the outside looking in. Just because we play in the east doesn't mean our ultimate competition doesn't come from the west. We've got a lot of mountains to climb... hopefully Otis is willing to be a climber instead of a... well... whatever it is that he's been doing.

[jack l j 0]

we are much better because of the coach upgrade, the emprovement of howard, the unexpected good play of hedo, and the addition of lewis. however we have no pg. the guards of evans, bogans, and dooling played over 60 monutes between them shot something like 6 for 24, scored maybe 12 points. dooling is the only real defender. if it were not for howard being more motivated, the good play of lewis and hedo, this team would be in serious trouble. if howard were to get hurt then forget it. we are in great need of a pg period. they just over dribble and then make a poor decision. i say trade jj, a guard, and expirings for a pg. when battie comes back the pf/defense will be somewhat better. i had rather live with evans, bogans, and dooling than not having a pg.jacklj