hootie249

I'm trying not to post much until we are in season. It's honestly too early to be talking about acquiring a Jordon Poole or drafting Scoot or Victor. But we all love the Magic and it's fun!! So in my eyes if we are going to talk about non Magicians i want to talk about point guards. If we go the first few months and Fultz continues to be perpetually hurt or struggles it's time. I know this seems negative. What i want is the team to be pro-active and get a veteran point guard if nobody on the team steps up. I know this won't happen, i know it's Fultz,Cole,Hampton,Cannady. Suggs isn't even on my radar as a true point guard, he is a combo guard. So is RJ and Cole is a shooting guard in a point guards body. I hope i am wrong but if i'm not i seriously want to the team to do something about it. Not having a real healthy point guard was the biggest problem in the last rebuild.

It's all lottery balls.The Spurs and Jazz should have the worst records followed by the usual suspects.

Jamal Murray first game after 539 days. Kawhi first game after 476 days. Ben Simmons first game after 470 days. Dame first game after 276 days. Jonathan Isaac did not play after 793 days.

Most exciting season since the the 2018-2019 season. I'm ready! Yes it does kind of suck not having the former easy access to games. I guess i'll have to get used to streaming.

I think that Mitchell will do well on the Cavs. I think the Knicks were right not to trade for him. I think the players gone in the trade are fine for both sides. I think the draft compensation is bad and something has got to give. Ainge started this craziness way back for the original Nets picks. Lot's of great players were traded the last decade for far less and without fully unprotected picks. Trust me, this is bad for the league and will be addressed in the next CBA which is next year.

It's funny, even though we have not had a max contract on the books in awhile, the Magic have been near the cap most of the last decade.

When Mario was out of the league i went back to review some of the hype videos and google his stats from Europe. Honestly i don't know why we ever got excited. The kid was a true coin flip, i didn't really see the reason he was even drafted so high.

I have to quote this, we all talked ourselves into Jabari but only because of the rumors. We honestly had to pick the most NBA ready player. And Paolo was that guy. He had to be the pick. Chet and Smith honestly had more growing to do. In the old days when i was young they would be back to school. So would Paolo but he looked ready all year. Again i feel bad about it but we all knew this was going to happen.

Wow i feel bad. Poor kid, not a good way to start a career. You know he loves basketball too. He isn't just some tall boy who was forced to play. On the other hand thank god the Magic didn't draft him.

Sorry for the size. Now that House of the Dragon is on tv it reminded me of Game of Zones that ran for years on youtube. It was an NBA drama that parodied GOT. It was amazing if you follow the NBA and worth a watch if you get into NBA drama. This clip i posted should start at one of the few Magic moments.

It's a long off season so here is an early article on intriguing players trying to earn a bigger role or payday next season. https://www.theringer.com/nba/2022/8/22/23315530/nba-free-agents-2023-lebron-james

Actually it was a pretty good year and what i like about it is how much he improved. Just like Suggs, he had horrific shooting percentages his first year and a half. Then he lead the league in free throw percentage last year. Yes his other numbers were not crazy good but watching him tells you is he started making catch and shoot,off the dribble and around the rim shots. He expanded his game. Poole gives me hope for Suggs, you don't have to come out of the gate perfect. You work to get better.

I don't think Aaron Gordon ever really had the mindset to be better and i think he will go down as the tweener he was described as in the draft. I was a huge AG fan when we drafted him, but jumped ship halfway through his career. Was he set up for success here? Probably not. But i will say when i actually went to games and i saw him, he just didn't look big and strong enough to be a real power forward. He also didn't have the handle to be a small forward unless we had a more traditional PF. And we tried this, he just never shot well enough or created free throw opportunities enough. It's pretty much that simple. His body language always really telegraphed his mindset. That's what i saw and in the end that is what really separates the good players from plain old starters. Now being and NBA starter means you are one in the best in the world but after 2018 i could tell he never would sniff being an all-star. Maybe on a different team with a HOF point guard like Nash he might have randomly made the team like Shawn Marion. Even then, i don't think so, when the game gets hard for Aaron he just shrinks.

This will be a rumor i think for one reason. The other four rebuilding teams that could have massive cap space have drafted a ton of guards. Rockets,Spurs,Pistons and Pacers are just chock full of recently drafted guards. I don't think that would stop them from bidding if he really looks good this year. Anyhow, it's bull**** just like CT posted. Yes we probably need a shooting guard more then anything else. That is where the rumor is coming from. I do think that Wiggins and Poole will be all the talk next offseason. I expect the Warriors to extend one of them before free agency even hits.

Wiggins will be the prize. I could see the other 3 teams bidding heavily for him. Not us.