stringertom
Bionic Poster
They got a nice large slice of humble cupcake, no?Warriors got serve a nice humble slice of cupcake last night.
They got a nice large slice of humble cupcake, no?Warriors got serve a nice humble slice of cupcake last night.
Magic GM Hennigan is cementing his plaque in the Bonehead HOF. Hard to say who's worse, Hennigan or Phil???Charles Oakley lifetime msg ban is over
Raptors trade 2017 first and ross for ibaka. Good trade for them ibaka fits perfectly in that lineup and ross is useless with Powell Carroll and derozan there. First is also a mid to late 20s so no real loss. Can see ibaka resigning there this offseason too. Magic now add another 3 lol idk wtf they're doing.
They got a nice large slice of humble cupcake, no?
Magic GM Hennigan is cementing his plaque in the Bonehead HOF. Hard to say who's worse, Hennigan or Phil???
It was totally obvious Hennigan and Magic prez Alex Martins were FUBAR experts from the get go in 2012. Let's review their exploits:Phil calls out and puts all the blame on his star player instead of supporting him. He also dumps the roster and restarts from scratch every year so no chemistry or stability can be built. He likes to overpay guys that play hard or resemble players from his playing and coaching days and thinks melo is enough offense for one team. His coaching hires (except for horny but phil still made him use phils assistants) are yes men that worship the triangle.
Hennigan thinks real life NBA teams can be built like NBA 2k video game teams. Grab a bunch of nice players without thinking about how they're going to fit together. His coaching hires haven't been bad he just gives his coaches a roster full of players that don't fit together.
Idk I think I'd rather have hennigan since he gives me good players. Both suck at building teams
It' an art, to put a game together, not a science.
And art often fails.
It was totally obvious Hennigan and Magic prez Alex Martins were FUBAR experts from the get go in 2012. Let's review their exploits:
1. Martins lost control of THE PROCESS prior to kicking SVG and GM Otis Smith to the curb at DH12's behest.
2. The list of GM candidates at the time it was decided both SVG and Smith were to be remote controlled knifed by Superdiva Howard included:
Jeff Bower (GM) who would have fit with SVG on the bench. They do OK in Detroit together now.
Steve Kerr (GM or coach), former Magic player and Suns GM/prez of BB ops for several years. You might agree he has a bit of success since 2012. Imagine that success in pinstripes.
David Morway, longtime assistant and GM under Legend Larry at Indiana.
Martins instead chose to fire both SVG and Smith, instead of maybe retaining the franchise's best ever GM and standing up to Superdiva and saying "Hell no, Otis don't go!" In his place, he chose Hennigan based on, I guess, the OKC/Orlando parallel of success in small market basketball only towns. It wasn't based on superior experience over any of the other candidates...he became and remains the youngest GM in the league and has assistants with much more track record of NBA success.
On to Hennigan's curious choice of Jacque Vaughn as his first HC:
The short list for the vacant HC spot had two assistants at SAS that Hennigan had experience with: Vaughn as a player when Hennigan was hired as an intern; Mike Budenholzer, lead assistant coach three rungs above Hennigan during young Rob's entire tenure at SAS. He had left to OKC long before Vaughn was brought in by Pops as a two-year assistant under Bud. Two years vs a decade under Pops!!! Why Vaughn over Bud???
The short list also included:
Michael Malone, a great assistant with GSW at the time and son of ex-Magic HC Brendan Malone. He's now doing wonders in Denver with a very young team after dealing with Boogie Nightmares in Sacto for a couple of years.
Experienced HCs Maurice Cheeks and Nate McMillan and veteran assistant Brian Shaw. Cheeks would have ushered his OKC front office protégé from a position of experience instead of pure parallel greenness that Vaughn represented.
Ham handed hire at best. A convenient built-in excuse to blame when things didn't work out at worst.
I didn't like the Hennigan hire in 2012... @Power Player ripped me at the time for not giving him the benefit of the doubt. Almost five years on now, I like it far less. And yet he got a contract extension through '17/'18 despite all this failure in trades, draft picks, coaches (Skiles doing a one and done!!!), and lack of ability to lure the big FA signing (that was the rumor in '12...he'll get a KD! LOL) despite the built in no-tax/great weather Florida advantage.
The guy needed never to have been hired, should have been axed at least two years ago and definitely needs to go NOW!!!
OK, let's focus just on the draft...You want to call me out for this? Just curious who Rob should have drafted in the drafts we have had so far? Who he should have traded for?
Skiles was not a Hennigan hire.
Hennigan has not been great, but go look at our cap space. Reality is that until you land a star in the NBA draft, you probably will not have a good team. Just how it is.
Not sure what trade failures we have really made. We could still have Oladipo (who wanted a max extension to stay in Orlando) and Harris (who is now coming off the bench for DET) and have won 35 games this year and gotten a middle draft pick. Terrance Ross is not a superstar, but he is on a great contract and can shoot. So we quickly were able to pivot from the big, old school concept and go back to small ball, letting Gordon play the 4 again.
Reality of the NBA - you have suck and draft until you draft a star. If that takes 3 years, cool. If it takes 7, oh well. That's how it works. Hennigan knows this, which is why he was so pissed he could not get Porzingis in 2015. He did not love Mario, but he had to swing for the fences at that point and go for ceiling. Really the only guy you could say he missed was Miles Turner, and that guy is not a star, but he is real good. Pick #11 in 2016 was void of stardom so he traded it.
Not a great 5 years, but I know how the NBA works, so I don't really flip out about it. I look at teams like Golden State who sucked forever until landing Curry in their draft and then Thompson..etc and I laugh at Magic fans who complain. We have had it real good. Dwight. Penny, Shaq..etc. People here are spoiled. Go to Denver. Utah, New York..etc and complain to them.
I'm not a Hennigan fan or non fan. But I do know what his thinking is. Cap flexibility and tanking until you draft a star. Unfortunately some of that process is simply down to luck and ping pong balls. If you want to be upset, be upset about the NBA's process. This is the best way to get star players currently.
Also - never been a huge Martins fan. Who has?
OK, let's focus just on the draft...
2012...Andrew Nicholson at #19. The astute front office at GSW found this guy named Draymond Green 16 picks later. Probably some trade value in sliding down there.
2013...we may not have been at #2 with a decent coach. Let's say we were #10 and we could have had C.J McCollum for the backcourt need or we could have gambled on the international youth movement a year or two early and taken The Greek Freak, drafted by Milwaukee five spots later.
2014...I like Aaron Gordon, Hennigan's best pick so far. However, Elfrid Payton at #10??? How about Zach LaVine, three picks later? If we needed the PG bcoz the front court was stocked with Green and TGF, take Exum or Smart in place of Gordon.
2015...I guarantee we would have had a playoff ticket punched with a good coach and "my picks" so let's let the Kristaps vs Mario debate be moot. I'll focus on the #17 pick range or above...front court help from Dekker, Hollis-Jefferson or even much later, Hernangomez who we dealt to Philadelphia and now gets a ton more PT than Mario.
2016...again, a playoff ticket punched so we don't panic and trade what was a lottery pick AND a #11 for a star we rented for half a season, we pick at the playoff cusp and maybe make it a family affair with Juan and Willy Hernangomez reunited. Maybe we're really astute and see a ROY candidate at the end of the 1R and help Exum/Smart at PG with Malcolm Brogdon.
The point is other GMs are not stuck in neutral and accepting a five-year cycle of mediocrity. Other teams down near the cellar in '12-'13 and '13-'14 have rebounded...Charlotte made the playoffs in ''13-'14 after being just one game better in '12-'13 and made the playoffs again in '15-''16; both Boston and Utah were only two games better the next season and look where they are this year.
Mediocrity need not be accepted and certainly not rewarded.
Magic ownership doesn't really care to rebuild? Sell the team to someone who cares or move the f**k to Grand Rapids where the DeVos name gets you a free pass. Their act here is wearing thin.
If I were paid a full time salary to be a front office executive, I guarantee I could have guessed better than Hennigan has and it wouldn't be hindsight picking. But the highest paying job in the world should be earned selling that "contend or bottom feed, then carry a lucky rabbit's foot" line to season ticket holders. Are there that many fools that shell out big money to watch this dreck Hennigan pushes on us? If so, I need to sell them some waterfront property.See this is my point. I knew you would complain about Dramon Green. Guess who else passed on him? THE SPURS! They are pretty good. You are out of your mind if you think Hennigan was supposed to have grabbed Draymon in the first round.
Greek Freak - another guy people complain we didn't get. Neither did 10 other teams. He was a major wildcard pick. Where was he on your list that year? Let's be honest with ourselves here, this is massive fan hindsight drafting. Show me a post anywhere that provides evidence of you wanting Giannis in that draft.
You guarantee a playoff with your picks? Those weren't even your picks. They are picks you are making now when anyone can do it. The funny thing is that it's still not even a playoff roster. The bucks did not make the playoffs yet.They probably will this year finally. This is after getting Giannis and STILL sucking so bad that they got Jabari Parker.
Exum got hurt, and has no jumper. He has never started for Utah. I watched him in person- he is bad and has been far less productive than Elfrid has.
It's easy to sit back and complain and say guys we should have drafted. I guarantee you had no clue about these same guys when the actual drafts occurred. So what are you upset about? Nothing, really, besides bad luck. The reality is the team needs to a draft a star player to build around. That's it. You can stomp your feet and have revisionist history all day long and it still does not change the fact that in the NBA you either want to be a top tier contender or a bottom feeder with another shot at a star in the lottery.
Trust me, if we were a 6-8 seed treadmill team you would be just as upset. There is no way out of that cycle (besides massive luck) compared to tanking until you draft a star (luck still needed but not as much).
If I were paid a full time salary to be a front office executive, I guarantee I could have guessed better than Hennigan has and it wouldn't be hindsight picking. But the highest paying job in the world should be earned selling that "contend or bottom feed, then carry a lucky rabbit's foot" line to season ticket holders. Are there that many fools that shell out big money to watch this dreck Hennigan pushes on us? If so, I need to sell them some waterfront property.
East: Cavs (assuming Love returns intact)
West: GS or SA
all others = pretenders
East: Cavs (assuming Love returns intact)
West: GS or SA
all others = pretenders
The hottest of hot takes
I"m pretty sure Picasso painted plenty of what was considered JUNK at his time, by his peers. Those just didn't last as long, weren't bought, stored and revered either.
But to keep on track, some say a winning coach is always smarter than a losing coach. Smart, and luckier.
I appreciate the love for SA. But assuming all teams stay healthy GS wins the title with ease.
See this is my point. I knew you would complain about Dramon Green. Guess who else passed on him? THE SPURS! They are pretty good. You are out of your mind if you think Hennigan was supposed to have grabbed Draymon in the first round.
Greek Freak - another guy people complain we didn't get. Neither did 10 other teams. He was a major wildcard pick. Where was he on your list that year? Let's be honest with ourselves here, this is massive fan hindsight drafting. Show me a post anywhere that provides evidence of you wanting Giannis in that draft.
You guarantee a playoff with your picks? Those weren't even your picks. They are picks you are making now when anyone can do it. The funny thing is that it's still not even a playoff roster. The bucks did not make the playoffs yet.They probably will this year finally. This is after getting Giannis and STILL sucking so bad that they got Jabari Parker.
Exum got hurt, and has no jumper. He has never started for Utah. I watched him in person- he is bad and has been far less productive than Elfrid has.
It's easy to sit back and complain and say guys we should have drafted. I guarantee you had no clue about these same guys when the actual drafts occurred. So what are you upset about? Nothing, really, besides bad luck. The reality is the team needs to a draft a star player to build around. That's it. You can stomp your feet and have revisionist history all day long and it still does not change the fact that in the NBA you either want to be a top tier contender or a bottom feeder with another shot at a star in the lottery.
Trust me, if we were a 6-8 seed treadmill team you would be just as upset. There is no way out of that cycle (besides massive luck) compared to tanking until you draft a star (luck still needed but not as much).
Real fans don't want a perpetual bottom feeder either. If they're buying court side seats just to be seen and see their peers, they're not really fans. Sadly, that's what the DeVos' family perpetuates here in Orlando...extract millions of public dollars to build their playground and trot out dreck for half a decade and counting. Care for some Amway junk???I don't think any team really "wants" to be a bottom feeder. As if they go out and say, "Hey guys let's miss every shot and turn the ball over 25 times tonight, so we can up our standings in the lottery." Players playing on bad teams that clearly aren't going anywhere, still have some sense of pride, and it's also about playing for next season and perhaps an audition for another team. I also think that teams understand that rebuilding is a necessary process in order to become a better team in the future. And FYI - not all first round picks really pan out either. So you look at a team like the Portland Trailblazers and the Greg Oden pick as a prime example of a team that just got dealt a really ****ty hand.
I don't think any team really "wants" to be a bottom feeder. As if they go out and say, "Hey guys let's miss every shot and turn the ball over 25 times tonight, so we can up our standings in the lottery." Players playing on bad teams that clearly aren't going anywhere, still have some sense of pride, and it's also about playing for next season and perhaps an audition for another team. I also think that teams understand that rebuilding is a necessary process in order to become a better team in the future. And FYI - not all first round picks really pan out either. So you look at a team like the Portland Trailblazers and the Greg Oden pick as a prime example of a team that just got dealt a really ****ty hand.
Hardly any team has gotten less out of No.1 picks than the old Warriors.
Todd Fuller, Joe Smith, Mike Dunleavy can surround the top group of any team's No.1 picks for failure.
Yep, but many Magic fans are spoiled and don't want to hear about a team who had DECADES of futility before now.
Good to read you're back.
I read all the predictions before the season started, couldn't believe the Magic were predicted to be in the playoffs, and further couldn't believe how well their season started. Now I can't believe they got rid of Ibaka.
Real fans don't want a perpetual bottom feeder either. If they're buying court side seats just to be seen and see their peers, they're not really fans. Sadly, that's what the DeVos' family perpetuates here in Orlando...extract millions of public dollars to build their playground and trot out dreck for half a decade and counting. Care for some Amway junk???
They were almost as good the next year but Boston took us out in the ECF. Made the playoffs but were out 1R, the second year when Superdiva blew out both the team and his back.They were good that one year they made the NBA finals with Dwight Howard, but that was back in 2009 I think. Definitely been a while since they were last really competitive.
1. I'm still waiting to see if the tanking and hitching your wagon to what you hope will be a transcendent draft pick strategy is going to work (I'm looking at you, Sacramento!). For now, I'm putting it in the "mobile/running QB's are the future of the NFL" category that the experts have told me about the last 20 years...wake me up when it happens.
2. Over the last 25-30 years, you had 3 transcendent talents dominating the league...Jordan, Kobe (with Shaq's help) and Lebron. Everyone thought Jordan would be a great, great player but not many thought he would be the greatest of all-time leading up to the draft. The Lakers pulled off the heist of the century to get the rights to Kobe but again, he was the 13th pick (unreal) and hardly anyone declared him a sure thing. Lebron was a no-brainer. Jordan became a force of nature. Kobe needed that trade for Shaq. The Heat signed Shaq and traded for Antoine Walker and other pieces to get a title. Later Heat titles came from trades/free agents, (Lebron, Bosh, Miller) not the draft. Same goes for the Pistons and in large part, the Mavericks. They got Dirk and Pat Garrity for Tractor Traylor, for the love of Pete! There's not a human on planet Earth that though Klay and Curry would be this good, so that's true luck of the draft. The Spurs, of course, are the Patriots of the NBA. Teams like Sacto have to bank on draft picks because free agents don't want to sign with them. Long, drawn out point being, free agent signings and trades bring titles, unless you draft an all-time great (which is rare).
3. LeeD, I challenge the futility of GSW #1 picks vs the Sacto Kings...worth a Google.
At least they got KLove for one of them. Still think they should have kept Wiggins.Noticed the Cavs and their perrenial top draft pick go without mention.
Sunday's game will give a great example why ball hogs get slaughtered.Could Cav's have kept Wiggins and gotten LeBron? Both play the same SF/SG/PG positions and both want the ball every possession.
Kinda like if Anthony and Love played with LeBron, it just won't work. Kinda the reason Denver got rid of one "I want ball" centers.
They were good that one year they made the NBA finals with Dwight Howard, but that was back in 2009 I think. Definitely been a while since they were last really competitive.
Nelson came off the bench in the Finals with Alston remaining in the starting lineup. The move took away minutes from Anthony Johnson and probably hurt the rhythm the team had developed in Nelson's absence.It was an arena year, it got voted down a few times in the past. Making the finals got it passed. The strange thing is turk and lewis both tested positive for ped's (in the cleveland series) but were allowed to play. It didnt get announced until after the arena was finalized and served their suspension at the start of the season.
The real reason we lost is because a suit demanded jameer be the pt guard for the finals when allston had us looking like the spurs.
They got their arena then went cheap since the building and atmosphere is why people are there, not the basketball.
I think its pat williams (only consistent piece). No matter who we get at gm its the same bad decision. When john gabirel (old gm) was getting a lot of heat, he let it slip out that he doesnt make the call.
The real reason we lost...Courtney Lee's blown tip in in Game 2 at the end of regulation and Dwight "The Bricklayer" Howard's missed FTs near the end of regulation in Game 4 that allowed a trey by Derek Fisher to tie the game.
With today's replay rules, the Magic could indeed have gotten that call. Still, it all came down to the fundamental that DH12 could never master in Game 4. The saying is a series doesn't begin until a home team loses. 2-2 going back to LA and they would have had a shot.This is untrue. Pau bent the rim down on that shot, it was goal tending, obvious in replay but no call.
I dont miss dwight at all. It was funny, i was at otc and the random people on paramore were yelling "garbage man" instead of superman.
Rafer???
Yes, PG duties fall back to 6' Ish Smith. Pistons were just a .500 team with him. Should see how many different starting line-ups the Piston had this year. And they move to a new arena Downtown next year. And they are still in the 8th spot in the EC!Skip 2 My Lou
Edit: magic and Pistons discussing dj Augustine and Jeff green for Reggie Jackson. Just lmao if Detroit does this trade