With it looming soon, only a handful of games away from the post-season I am really starting to think hard about what we want from this team in the off-season. That is who stays who goes and who do we want to bring in, rather what do we NEED to bring in. Firstly - Doug Christie - He is now out until the end of the season. Now next season will be his 13th season, and I cant see him providing all that much more than say a Stacy Augmon role. I think we can get a decent trade for him, in the sense there are more desperate teams that us for vetern players. Deshawn Stevenson - He has now been given the minutes, and in the past few games were we are missing our #6 and #7 (for effective purpose hill is the #6 and DC #7 if you see my meaning) and we need a bench player to step up and score, Deshawn = SG, you would think he would take this as his chance. But no he gave no real meaningful minutes. Stacy Augmon - He is a good role player, but as seen since we have no #6 and #7 in 20mins he gave us very little when we needed alot DC to me is a great bench player really for us, and if he is happy to come in and do that, I think he is possibly a great role player for that job, but if he wants minutes, I think we need to dish him out, and we can get a decent trade in replacement I feel. Deshawn, I did like, but his wasting minutes resently has annoyed me. Some teams might see him as a decent back up SG, we might be able, if we pair him with someone, be able to get a decent 1 for 2 trade. Stacy I think we should not keep, DC if he stays should be doing his job, and doing it more effectivly ---- What we NEED? - I am looking to PF and SF here. Center we have covered. We have Cato, who is injury prone, with Battie and Kasun as a back up I think that role is covered. PF we have Dwight of course, with PG as a sorta backup, but I think we need a more out and out PF, a guy who we can go to in the paint for some nice moves and make little things happen in 10-15mins. Not a shooter, maybe mid-range. SF i say since hedo is a SF-SG and is used in that way. We need a althelitic SF i really think, someone who can do things on both ends. In both cases I aint talking about picking up tim duncan and shawn marion, but a player who follows that sorta mould, and good bench players. ---- Rookie draft looks deep but I dont know how we are going to play the rookies this season. I cant see us doing a Chicago-esque rookie thing and play a young team. We need bench, simple as that. Whats others thoughts. Also I think the coaching situation is a big thing for people I'd like to know what others think about this! !!
Yes we need to get rid of DC he isnt fit for this club and looks better on a slow pased team like the kings or even 76ers. PG needs to go he is wasting minutes and with his shot never to be on hes just bad for us. Augmen showed during the t'wolfs game he can steal and bother shots but hes old he cant keep his footwork with young players. Declerq needs to go Kusun is much better than him and hes injury prone. Hunter he is 50/50 he might need minutes to do something but we keep giving him the ball and he misses it close up. Stevenson is a good bench player a locker room presence for us and can explode and make good run and kicks and is a decent defender. Nelson and Howard there better be no talk of trading these two they should play very well together. Stevio i like at Sg and if we sign Mobley which I hope we do Mobley will come off the bench and we saw vrs the Knicks that he scored 30+ when he did come off. Battie and Kato are keepers and so with Turk they provide spark for us but Kato and Battie need to get there Defense and Offense together. GHill he is staying here and going to retire as a Magic hes our glue and i hope the GM doesnt make a dumb mistake by trading him he my favorite player and is a key to our success. We need to sign a free agent with a Ring someone with experence in playing in a Championship game and coming up winning. For some reason the good teams do well when someone has a ring look at the Heat/Spurs-Oneal and Duncun have rings there team is willing to get back to the Finals and win.A Pf with some game and defense. #1 Sign Mobley #2 Sign Penny Hardaway he can retire here and we will all foregive him I have #3 Hire another Coach maybe someone who is EXPERIENCED in coaching #4 sign someone with a ring to have everyone willing to work for it #5 Win a Nba Title to Orlando. The line up would be Pg-Nelson/Stevenson/Stevio Sg-Stevio/Cat/Stevenson Sf-GHill/Turk/Hardaway Pf-Big Dwight/Some1 with Ring? C-Cato/Battie/Kusun Head Coach-Anybody but JD
I like your thinking - But that "someone with a ring" could just as easily be a vetern / experienced playoff player - maybe seen a couple of finals. Hardaway in a magic jeresy would make me SO happy. I would willingly take a Hardaway for DC trade from NewYork ANY DAY. They get back a former player, so do we. Stevenson HAS potential, but I aint sure what hes doing atm, because he is not fufilling it. Brandon is a great player waiting to happen. THe forwards on magic love him, and he is a block shot waiting to happen. His missed shots are more to do with a lack of confidence rather than ability. Kasun is going to be a awsome back up - and I think he can be a PF aswell. But it does mean we have 3 excellent C's, as I have said we prob, with the exception of the Heat, have one of the best Center presense's for 48mins a night. Dwight and Jameer will only get better !! We just need to get another versatile bench player, a guy who can get 7-8pts a night and maybe a couple of boards and maybe some good D in there 2. Looking more at a SF/SG here though. Mobley I would and wouldnt like. Would as he is so leathal, and we could justify him on the bench. Bad as when hes paired with Stevie he might have a "friend first" attitude rather than team first.
Do the Magic have a first-round pick this year? Would the pick be forwarded to Denver via the Nelson trade?
I think it is. I dont think we overly need to much youth - it would be nice, but we have 2 awsome rookies, its not the worst situation to be in.
I know the pick is protected, I'm just not sure what the protection is. It might be top 20 or something this year, so I think as of now, we will have the pick. I could be wrong though. I just went to nbadraft.net and they have us having the pick. I think we need a little more youth at SG, but I don't really like Kennedy Winston much. I think he's one of the most overrated players in the nation playing for one of the most overrated teams in the nation. (I'm biased though, cause my Gators beat them in 2 games by a combined 37 pts, when we were ranked lower both times) We have good youth at PG and SG and a little at SF, but SG and C we don't really have youth, just veterans.
Ok... Here is what i think we need and our lineups... Our Lineup: Nelson Francis-DC-Stevenson-Augmon Hill-Turkoglu- Howard-Garrity-Hunter Cato-Battie-Kasun-DQ OK....FIRST sign a veteran backup PG. Then try to find a trade with DC for either a strong backup SG(upgrade of stevenson) or try and pull in a good backup PF like NeNe or something from Denver. That is what i think we NEED to do.... Waive augmon maybe... Also i think we should try and get a better Center then Cato...Cato is just a little turnover prone and is a little inconsistent. Here is what if all my trades go how i would like them look at our roster.... Nelson-??Veteran PG?? Francis-Stevenson-??Augmon?? Hill-Turkoglu Howard-NeNe-Garrity-Hunter Magloire-Battie-Kasun-DQ That is a deep team and for once we actually have a strong PF backup... For the SG i think we should try and go for an outside shooter.
Francis would have to be gone in order to get Magloire and Denver won't give away a good young big man for an aging vet who can't really play well anymore in Christie. Honestly I like the lineup we have now, we have a good mix of youth and leadership. We just need a better coach, IMO. Dwight has proved he can score with touches, but he goes from 0-1 shooting to 14-17 shooting, why don't we give him the ball more instead of only shot. He should get double digit shots a night. I hope our new coach will be able to get Francis to relax and hold on to the ball more. Cato when healthy is a good player, we don't really need many points from him as long as he gets boards and changes some shots around. I think in the draft we need to get a better SG and PF from the bench.
I like the main part of our team as it is, but there are certain elements I want to unload: This is what I think we should keep: PG - Jameer (Strong PG, bright future, will do double digit pts, and get 6 assists with a decent coach who has good plays and can use this real floor general) SG - Stevie (He is just uptight atm, he has the flu, but a new coach will want to use Stevie, as he is really a all-star, so let him be one) SF - Hill - Hedo (A great mix hear, Hill a true captain, and we all know his ability. Hedo awsome offense, and picks up respectable stats, a great 6th man) PF - Dwight, Garrity, Hunter (Dwight WILL get the pts now I am sure, he will be a key scorer from now on. Garrity I think just needs to find a grove, he is a great shot and can still give us some nice plays. Hunter is a bright prospect from my mind. He can be used in many ways, just needs some confidence) C - Cato, Battie, Kasun (I like this center pairing as Battie is almost exactly the same level as Cato, Cato can give 10pts 10rebs, but will consistently give 8 and 8. He is on a career best season this year ne way. Battie if he starts does the same. He also has a nice shot, so offers a nice option off the bench. He is also a great leader. Kasun could be a monster, hes big, he has a great dunk and can rebound well. He is TO prone, with travelling, but can offer nice minutes) This leaves what I dont like: Stevenson - At the beginning of the season up to mid season I though he could do something if he was given the minutes. These past few games he has been given those minutes, and we needed him to step up, but he didnt, he didnt even register at all in those minutes. Augmon - He had like 3 good games in the 13-5 run, thats about it. He is a "role player" but he cant come in and play good D for 5mins a night. At 14yrs vet we dont need him Christie - Hes a younger more versatile Augmon, but I am sure some team will want a player like Christie, Hell do Sacto want him? Decleq - I will personally pay a team to take him. That leaves those to be traded, I would take Kasun and Garrity for a decent trade aswell, I wouldnt mind if those 2 went, but I would like them to stay on the Roster.
gators im thinking unrealistically...im just saying thats what type of team would be awesome... why would francis have to go if magloire came? Here is what we should get... Backup PG(hopefully Vet.) Backup SG(or keep stevenson...try to upgrade though) Backup PF or Center... If we get a backup Center we can put Battie as a PF behind Howard for a 4-5 big man rotation between Cato-Howard-Battie-????-Kasun or something...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting OrlandoMagicFan:</div><div class="quote_post">gators im thinking unrealistically...im just saying thats what type of team would be awesome... why would francis have to go if magloire came? Here is what we should get... Backup PG(hopefully Vet.) Backup SG(or keep stevenson...try to upgrade though) Backup PF or Center... If we get a backup Center we can put Battie as a PF behind Howard for a 4-5 big man rotation between Cato-Howard-Battie-????-Kasun or something...</div> All-Star for All-star. We know for sure that Hill isn't going to be traded and Francis is our only All-star left..... What type of deal are you proposing? Stevenson, DQ, and Garrity for him? That would be a joke. I honestly don't think we need a backup PG that much. Jameer and Francis are good enough to run the point for the entire game. Hedo can come in at SG and I personally think we will draft a SG. I think I'm the only person who thinks this, but I don't really think we need a backup PF or C. We are already solid in those positions. I would just like to see a little better rotation though. PF-Dwight, Kasun, Garrity(in shooting situations), C-Cato, Battie, Bradley. I think we are deep enough and I think Kasun and Bradley could be good given PT.
