jmmagicfan

I agree with you on both of these, but as I'm looking at our roster going forward it does strike me that after a couple of years being heavy on forwards/centers we may now have swung too far in the opposite direction. Of the 10 guys guaranteed for next season, we have five pg/sg, one sg/sf, two pf/sf, and two centers. There isn't a "true" small forward on the roster yet for next season. Then I look at the draft, and there aren't a lot of small forwards in the projected lottery there either. Kuminga, Kispert, F. Wagner, and (maybe) J. Johnson being arguably the best of the bunch. I'm thinking that if we end up with Cunningham, Suggs, Green, Mitchell, Giddey, Moody, Springer or K. Johnson we will need to make some other moves to balance out this roster. I don't believe in "reaching", I think we should take the BPA pretty much always. If the new guy is better at the position, you either move the current guy to the bench or trade him. PG/SG - Fultz, Anthony, Hampton, Carter-Williams, Harris SG/SF - Ross SF/PF - Okeke PF/SF - Isaac C - Carter, Bamba This is part of the reason I think we might retain Mo Wagner and one of Porter/Ennis/Brazdeikis.

So we currently have 10 under contract for next season (11 if we guarantee Bacon on/before August). Fultz/Anthony Harris/Hampton/Carter-Williams Ross Isaac/Okeke Carter/Bamba If we decide to offer veteran-minimum contracts to Brazdeikis and Wagner, that still leaves us three roster spots to fill. Assuming we fill two with our 1st and Chicago's 1st, and don't keep Bacon, we would still have one spot to fill. Do we try to keep Otto Porter, Jr? James Ennis III? Bacon? Both Porter and Ennis have had injury issues this year. Bacon has actually been healthy all year, but he has been Dwayne Bacon! Do we try to bring in a different vet? Do we leave a space open, so we can pick up someone in case of injury? Pesonally, I like Wagner, and I think he has earned a roster spot, playing with energy and shooting as a backup PF/C and even starting some for us. I'm on the fence about Brazdeikis and Ennis. I like Ennis a lot, just concerned about his injury history this year. Did he come back too quickly because we were short-handed and end up re-injuring himself? Will the summer off let him heal properly? I haven't seen enough of Porter or Brazdeikis to really be comfortable with either of them, and Porter will probably get offers for more than we would want to pay him; but who knows how his injury history will affect that? If Porter is healthy and we can keep him somewhere in the $13-16M range, it is probably a good move; but if he isn't? For our 2-way contracts do we keep Randle? Thornwell? Do we try to bring back Cannady? What about our 2nd-round pick? Could that pick end up being our final roster spot, or one of our 2-way spots?

Hard hit in the 1st quarter, really rang his bell.

Sizzling Bacon!

That would definitely be aggravating.

I might be okay with either of them at #7 and Josh Giddey at #8, but no to both Barnes and J Johnson.

Thanks TMF! Just tuning in, looks like no Okeke tonight?

Sounds promising.

He's definitely going to be seeing that unless there are some wholesale changes to our roster. Assuming we get both ours and Chicago's picks, then next years roster will have at least: 2 rookies (maybe 3 w/our 2nd round pick) 3 second-year players (Anthony, Okeke, Hampton) 2 fourth-year players (Carter, Bamba) 2 fifth-year players (Isaac, Fultz) And a number of them have missed significant amounts of playing time due to injuries, so are less game experienced than other guys in their draft class. That is 9 (or 10) of your 15 regular roster spots right there. I actually think Clifford is a pretty good developmental coach, as he does tend to hold guys accountable - but he probably will have to be more patient with missed rotations and dumb decisions than he is accustomed to in the short term.

Yes, that is actually amazing - more of an AAU team than a regular High School team. I just wonder how much internal competition there was, and how that impacted the Cade/Moses dynamic, if it did at all. Certainly something to research if we end up with #1 and Chicago's pick this year. Familiarity/friendship vs. rivalry/clashing - which was it, and how does it impact considering Moses (or Barnes) if available with the Chicago pick.

I don't know that we even need to try "tanking" - our rotations and lineups are all out of whack with players being out/injured, new guys coming in and limited practice. We have a lot of young guys still making young guy mistakes - but Clifford/Ty are letting them play through it a lot more right now, partly because there aren't many other options, with Ross, Carter-Williams, Porter, and (until the other night) Ennis being out. I think Ennis will be under a minutes restriction for a few more games, and I expect that if Chuma and Wendell play, they will also get a few less minutes to aid recovery. I think we will see quite a bit more of Donta Hall, Mo Wagner, Gary Harris and RJ Hampton; as we are still evaluating them. I love seeing our guys play hard and trying to win, my biggest concern isn't so much them developing bad habits, as it is them losing heart. It's a fine line, and one we've had difficulty with before.

I didn't realize that Cade and Moses played together in HS, good find! If we get the #1 pick, and we are considering Moody, I might actually ask Cade about him. They might be friends, but they also might not have gotten along or been rivals for the spotlight that don't get along at all - doesn't hurt to find out ahead of time.

Shaw has some very interesting takes on Daishen Nix and Isaiah Todd as well. Takes some reading between the lines, but very interesting.

I believe that they split the ping pong balls, with the winner of a random drawing getting the extra, odd ball (if there is one) and the better slot. The loser of the random draw gets the better second round slot; so if we split 3/4 with Detroit, the winner of the drawing gets to be #3 and second round pick #34, the loser of the draw gets #4 and second round pick #33; with the lottery proceeding as usual.

I tend to agree with you about not trying to win - but at the same time, let me play devil's advocate. Ennis, Carter-Williams, and Ross have all missed time earlier in the year with the same issues, Porter had missed a lot of time prior to coming to us - again for the same issue. We already know that we have been cautious bringing people back earlier in the year, so I'm not sure that we are "wink and a nod" keeping players out to avoid winning. Are we really doing anything that is inconsistent with the philosophy we displayed earlier in the year?