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So in a hypothetical world where both Kelle and Cole are healthy next year, would it be feasible to start both? Cole is improving extremely fast. We could use them kind of like how the Raptors use VanVleet and that chubby bastard who I won’t say his name because he’s my most hated player in the NBA

To clarify, I understand that there might be pain at the end of this rebuild, but not trying to make moves would have been a million times worse as a fan.

Team and coach deserve a ton of credit for this one... if it was the last game in OTown for Evan and Aaron, I appreciate them going out playing hard until the end. Fun game and good win

If someone feels led to make individual game threads, fantastic. In the meantime, I’m going to make and pin this thread for game interactions. Go Magic!

Haha! You guys have been wondering what happened to Payton4thewin. I dumped him on Cleveland.

Sunday, February 21st @ 7:00 P.M. Amway Center - Orlando, FL TV: Fox Sports Florida 8-21, 5th in Central Division | 12-18, 4th in Southeast Division LET'S GO MAGIC!!!!!!

This would be solved quickly by getting a new young coach with a 21st century basketball mind. Cliffords methods are old and dated.

Wouldn’t mind Zach Lavine

Just showing Terrence Ross some appreciation. The guy is legitimately one of the best shooters in the league

CTMagicUK, as you know we're not on the same page, I'm not going to repeat my usual arguments again, but I have to say: it's a pleasure to discuss with you and read your points (will give a +1), even if I don't agree with a few of them. I obviously ALWAYS hope that all of you guys that are happy with the direction of the franchise are right, and that I'm completely wrong.

Is anybody else really sad about the possibility of trading AG or should I just sit alone in my feelings?

Isnt that the Magic in general :D

This will be a quick rebuild...this Front Office is different from past ones. They know what they are doing !!! RJ, Cole, Wendell and Bamba all 5 stars recruits. Chuma, 4 stars .Karim Mane, 5 stars. Plus 2 high lottery picks this year. Hopefully with the first overall....Cade. His comparable is none other than Grant Hill. Plus 3 more firsts, the following 2 years. Except for the Shaq / Penny era we have NOT seen something like this. We are in for a lot of thrills and wins. We might very well be one of the best teams of this decade. Two championships (at least) between 2025-2029?

Fournier might be the worst playoff player in Magic history. He wilts against physical defenders and also plays hero ball to the detriment of the team. One of the keys to establishing a new identity and create shots for others is to close the chapter on Fournier’s Magic tenure.

I have prepared a game thread for tonight's game, March 19th, against the Nets. . .if interested. The game is at the Amway Center and starts at 8 pm.

This is an incredibly unfair take. You are basically writing off any good Vuch does because of the situation he is in. Then in the event he is on a better team and his numbers go down you can point back and say “see I told you so”. You seem to completely write off the possibility that he has just, yknow, gotten better

Not only that but the writer thinks we would trade TRoss and/or one of our young players for him!?! So, would you trade Ross, Fultz, Anthony, Okeke, Isaac, or Bamba straight up for EP? Can I get a “Hell No”?!?

I agree that we don't need to tank (and they won't anyway..) but waiting until we're healthy, thinking that's the only problem we have, it's the same illusion we create to ourselves every offseason, failing every time. IMO, a lot more than health is needed to transform this team in a serious contender.

Hi Guys! First time in the forum! Sadly, I also believe that the time of the tanking has arrived. I don't know if some players would happily agree to it, and I don't know either if we have the right coaching staff for the development process, but every week feels like hell trying to compete with all the injuries. I'm not sure about trading Vuc, at least until the end of the season. I wouldn't rush that decision. But I do think that Fournier should be traded while he still has some market value... Greetings from Argentina!

I rather just tank and see what we can get in trades, this season is weird as it is already.

I want to tip my hat to Vuc tonight for actually playing defense. He finished with 3 blocks and I saw him leave the ground a handful of times which is very uncommon. Great overall team win!

So here is my take on the pre-season and how it impacts going forward. I think Cole Anthony had a really good pre-season considering 1) he hasn't played since March, and 2) none of the rookies had much of a camp. I think he immediately slides into the backup PG role, and helps bring the energy that they have sometimes lacked. His offensive ability and mindset should take some of the pressure off of TRoss, hopefully allowing him to become more efficient and effective - possibly also allowing TRoss to expend a little more effort on the defensive end as well. Hopefully, the return of Ennis will move Bacon back to the second unit and that should also contribute to the offensive punch of that second unit. I expect Bacon to be better against backups than he was starting. I do still have some hope for Bamba, and I think playing with Anthony and a more up-tempo second unit will either make or break him. Hopefully it will force him to get in the shape necessary to keep up, and play with the energy he frequently lacks. Anthony is the type of push-the-pace guard that will get Bamba easy transition buckets and good position/mis-matches if he steps up. I truly hope he does, otherwise I think he will be off this team next year. I find it interesting that what should be a position of strength for us (PF) is currently probably our weakest spot due to injuries. With Isaac out for the year, Aminu still in recovery mode (and not very good last year before the injury), Clark being really inconsistent as a bench player, and Okeke being a rookie/coming off an injury/not having played in a year and a half, it is the position of concern in the short-term. I did see some positives from Okeke, and I think he will be given time to recover/grow into the backup PF role, and maybe even some backup SF. I think we will see the same conservative, low-pressure approach for him that we saw them take with Fultz. I wouldn't even be surprised to see him spend a little time with Lakeland to get him more court time with less pressure. I know we haven't really seen it yet, but if Birch did add a three-point shot he may grab some of the backup PF minutes. I don't like the Vuc/Birch front court, but Clifford seems to. So here is where I see our rotation going once we get some guys healthy: Fultz/Anthony/MCW Fournier/MCW/Bacon Ennis/TRoss/Okeke Gordon/Okeke/Aminu/Clark Vucevic/Bamba/Birch I think we see a lot of 3-guard lineups for the second unit with Anthony/MCW/Bacon/TRoss all getting regular minutes. I think Clark may start out getting most of the PF backup minutes to start the season, but dropping to the end of the bench as Okeke gets into shape/the swing of the season and whenever Aminu comes back. I don't expect to see Isaac this season at all. Once we get to the trade deadline, I think we may see some guys gone for whatever we can get. Fournier might be of interest for a contending team as a 3rd/4th option or even as a 6th man/scorer from the bench. With his expiring contract I wouldn't expect us to get much back, but who knows. A contending team might pay more, but I wouldn't expect much more than a mid-first, or a young guy and a late-first to be offered. I think Aminu or Clark will probably be headed out at the deadline as well. I think that will greatly depend on Okeke's development and AG's health whether either or both remains with the team. Frankly, I don't think Ennis and Clark both would have been re-signed if Aminu and/or Okeke had been closer to playing, and if Isaac and AG hadn't gone down. I think Clark got a contract strictly based on his play in the bubble, and the number of front-court injuries. I think we might have brought Ennis back, but I think Clark would have been gone - he is a cheap insurance/fill in while guys are recovering. This front-office does seem to be giving us a clear indication that they are going to try to improve via internal growth, and/or "reclamation" projects. We have a lot of guys on our team who it can be argued have "under-performed" in their careers/in the draft so far due to injury. Both Okeke and Anthony were projected to be top-10 (top-5?), but fell in the draft. Fultz, Isaac, and Bamba have all had sub-par careers to date. All five of these have had injury issues. Bacon had a pretty good first year in Charlotte, but fell off in the second year; and MCW was a former rookie of the year who was completely out of the league at one point. Ennis only cost us a second-round pick, and Clark was a waiver-wire pick up. Again, four more guys other teams had given up on. That is nine guys out of the fifteen on the regular roster. That is a lot of "reclamation" projects on one team, and yet we have still managed to make the playoffs the last two years with this strategy. I'm not sure whether to be impressed or appalled at the fact 60% of our current team consists of this category of player. Having guys who have something to prove/a chip on their shoulders seems to be a point of emphasis for them. We'll see how it works out. It could be a very interesting season.

Here's the thing with the whole "running it back" debate for me. I think it hinges entirely on whether you believe Markelle Fultz can be a star. Let's just say you really believe Markelle Fultz is going to be a star and you were trying to build an ideal roster around him. You're likely to want: A SG whos a very good shooter and can also run some pick and roll and act as a secondary ball handler. (Fournier) A C who is a consistent pick and pop threat. (Vuc and also maybe Bamba?) A high volume scoring option (Also Vuc although I think in an ideal world down the line you'd want this to be a wing) A second PG who can play either on or off ball and hit open jumpers. (Cole we hope, previously DJ) Guys who can shoot (Ross, Clark, hopefully Okeke) Guys who can guard smaller guards on ball and let Fultz get in the passing lanes and be disruptive off ball (Cole Anthony hopefully and MCW) And you obviously want all of that without compromising your identity as a long disruptive defensive team which has made you a top 10 defense and is the reason for your improvements pre Fultz. And when you list it all out like that... This roster isnt that bad for getting the best out of Fultz as constructed. Yes, obviously in an ideal world you'd want some really high volume, high efficiency 3 point shooting 6'6+ guys on the wing instead of James Ennis, Aminu and Dwayne Bacon and maybe AG (although AG is a different case in my opinion because he offers a lot inspite of average shooting) but high volume, high efficiency guys that are 6'6+ don't really grow on trees (bracing myself for someone to bring up Duncan Robinson) and they often command a lot of money in free agency (see Joe Harris and Davis Bertans new contracts). And the thing about Ennis and AG (Bacon is an interesting one actually because he's had a 40+% 3 point season so if he gets back to that he actually belongs in the TRoss, Clark group) is even though they're not great shooters they're willing shooters and oftentimes that's enough to provide gravity and create some space (see Robert Covington for the most extreme example of this I can think of). Now I understand wanting to see change, I also would like to trade Fournier since if we don't we either lose him for nothing with no cap space to replace him or he re-signs which limits us for 3+ more years. But it has to be considered that there aren't many better SG's suited to playing with Fultz than Fournier. The ones that are probably aren't available. You could hope for addition by subtraction but you'd still be looking for a guard who can shoot and be a secondary ball handler there I think. Obviously if you don't think Fultz can be a star I can completey understand wanting to make a bunch of moves because in your mind this team has no higher ceiling than its current construction. I've got a feeling though that Weltman does think Fultz will take a leap. And sure it's pretty uninspiring signing the same guys who's limitations you already know Vs new guys who you haven't seen as much and are shiny and new but I do think all our free agent signings were shrewd and smart moves with low risk. I'm also going to say that it might end up looking bad that we let Iwundu go because Dallas is going to be a really great place for him to develop. With Doncic doing all the creating the game's going to be really simplified for him. The important thing to remember with that is if that does happen it probably wouldn't have happened here.

I don’t hate this move in itself, it’s just extremely frustrating to continue to watch us do the bare minimum from a team building standpoint.