Offseason Ideas The thread title should speak for itself... Ok, now it's time to look to next season...
2 Reasons I believe Emeka Okafor should not be selected by Orlando: REASON 1: Orlando is already two deep at the power foward postion with Juwan Howard and Drew Gooden. Emeka is going to have to play Power Foward at the NBA level because he's not tall enough or wide enough to play Center, that's for sure. So why draft Emeka when you have a prospect like Drew Gooden who you can develop? It would make alot more sense to develop Gooden, a possible 18 point - 10 rebound guy, because he currently has no market value. Orlando sat him on the bench this season, so you can't get anything in return for this guy. Giving up a great prospect for basically NOTHING would be horrible, Orlando doesn't have the resources to be handing out talent when they're trying to dig themselves out of such a terrible season. REASON 2: Injuries. Emeka has struggled with injuries all season long, whether it's been his back, his shoulder, etc. Remember, this was only at the college level where Emeka Okafor is perhaps one of the biggest and toughest guys you'll find. Put this guy against The O'Neals, The Wallace's, and the other big men of the NBA on a nightly basis and his injuries can be ALOT more frequent. Damaged goods? Perhaps, I certainly wouldn't take the chance AGAIN! We all saw what happened with Grant Hill when Orlando took a chance on him. You have Gooden, why not trade the pick for a talented player in a postion that you ACTUALLY need filled?
I think Ben Gordan should be he choice for the Magic.Because he is a deffinant offensive threat,he runs the floor, and he can hit the three thats sounds like what the Magic need.They also need a low presence deffensive player in Emeka though.
I think we gotta wait until at least the NBA workouts to determine if Okafor is the answer. Once we get his OFFICIAL height then we can go for there. If he stands at 6'10 then I see no problem for playing center. Heck, Ratliff is 6'10 and is a shot-blocking maching. There has been plenty of successful 6'10 centers playing in the NBA. I think there's this notion around here that if you're not 7 feet then you can't play center. If he is 6'10 then we have our center right there. Ask any owner in the NBA and they'll tell you to take a legitmate big man over a PG anyday. And I think people are overreacting with his Okfaor's injuries. I mean, did you guys completely block out the Final Four and Championship game out of your memory? Okfaor was clutched and looked like he had no problems. He's gonna get plenty of rest to heal up that back. My 2 cents.
There's already like 3 or more threads like this in this forum. So you can look for we what I think we need to do in one of those.
Honestly, Don't give me that height excuse.. He doesnt need it.. He has the ability and the vision to block.. Nothings stopping him from blocking if he can.. Not even height..
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting King James X3:</div><div class="quote_post">2 Reasons I believe Emeka Okafor should not be selected by Orlando: REASON 1: Orlando is already two deep at the power foward postion with Juwan Howard and Drew Gooden. Emeka is going to have to play Power Foward at the NBA level because he's not tall enough or wide enough to play Center, that's for sure. So why draft Emeka when you have a prospect like Drew Gooden who you can develop? It would make alot more sense to develop Gooden, a possible 18 point - 10 rebound guy, because he currently has no market value. Orlando sat him on the bench this season, so you can't get anything in return for this guy. Giving up a great prospect for basically NOTHING would be horrible, Orlando doesn't have the resources to be handing out talent when they're trying to dig themselves out of such a terrible season. REASON 2: Injuries. Emeka has struggled with injuries all season long, whether it's been his back, his shoulder, etc. Remember, this was only at the college level where Emeka Okafor is perhaps one of the biggest and toughest guys you'll find. Put this guy against The O'Neals, The Wallace's, and the other big men of the NBA on a nightly basis and his injuries can be ALOT more frequent. Damaged goods? Perhaps, I certainly wouldn't take the chance AGAIN! We all saw what happened with Grant Hill when Orlando took a chance on him. You have Gooden, why not trade the pick for a talented player in a postion that you ACTUALLY need filled?</div> Responding to Reason 1: Okafor is a much better prospect than Gooden. Gooden didn't show any defense during this whole season but that's what we need. Also we showed that we are not able to develop Gooden. Look at his numbers, they are all down, that's not what I would call developing and until we have a new coach there won't be a change. And he still has trate value. He is young and he showed what he is able to do during the playoffs against Detroit. Providing him with the right coach and he will develop into a 18-10 PF. Responding to Reason 2: I agree totaly with you. You have to consider his injuries. The NBA is much tougher than the college and he also has to play much more games. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting B-22:</div><div class="quote_post">I think Ben Gordan should be he choice for the Magic.Because he is a deffinant offensive threat,he runs the floor, and he can hit the three thats sounds like what the Magic need.They also need a low presence deffensive player in Emeka though.</div> The need at the C position is much greater than the PG need imho. And from what I heard about Ben Gordan, I don't think he is the right solution at the PG.
Going with #1 Coranar's response. Gooden needs a good coach to really learn the defense of his true position. After reading the paper today, I'm sold that Gooden played his last game as an Orlando Tragic last night. 13 damn mins for the 2nd best player on our team. Declerq, the worst player in the NBA played 20 MORE mins than Gooden last night. Hell, even Britton Johnson played more minutes and Derrick Dial played the same. WTF is wrong with this picture? Gooden will turn into an all-star, and IMO be better than Okafor ever will. (start complaining about how stupid I am for saying that statement) 2 years down the road, we will be sitting here, with Juwan Howard, who has declined and can only give us 12 and 5, while Drew Gooden is somewhere else getting 18 and 12. That's just my 2 cents.
KJ3X...How tall is Ben Wallace? and Ratliff is 6'10? I heard this after a game in Sunshine network , GM said he has never heard of a player playing in bare feet anyways he said Okafor is like 6'9 and a half and he is obviously wide enough to play at the 5. I understand how you guys are scare of Injuries , hell I'm kind of scared too but with the guy's defense I wouldn't care if we at least tried. As I said , we could try trading Juwan and DeClerq or some other players and get another top 10 pick and get Gordon , Nelson (in order) .
I am not scared of his injuries.. I am scared of Dwight's ability though.. You can take Okafor over Dwight.. He won a national championship... He can block shots of 7 footers when hes only 6'9".. And if you want, he can score... More than Delclerq can do... And no one wants to hear me say this but.. More than Hunter and Zaza can do... I am tried of talking about what we should do.. We all know what the Magic have to do.. They have to draft Okafor, get rid of Juwan, and get a Point Guard.. New Coach too? .. And trash Delclerq. We all know thats up to the Management.. And if one of those things don't happen, then this franchise is gone.. The main thing that has to happen is getting a new coach.. If we get a new coach who has an idea of what hes doing.. Then one of these would happen, and everything would fall in place... See we all know what has to happen, but we can't do anything about it..
Did you guys know that you got the #1 draft pick that probaly means OKafor.MY bad,actually they havent gotten the number 1 pick yet but their most likely gonna get it.
I'm kinda scare..remember when I said how could ANY team even if they had 2 hall of famers Centers and 2 hall of famers PF's could pass thru him? Well I hope if we get 2nd or 3rd pick other teams don't pick him , after him I think I'll take ...Ben Gordon? and try to get something via FA or trades?
You guys actually don't got #1 locked. You could be like Denver and end up at #3, and I think it's obvious Howard or Okafor will be gone by #3.
Magic Makeover <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">They have reached the most critical crossroads in club history. Turning around the NBA's worst team by essentially the end of July -- when most free agents are signed -- sounds highly improbable. But it's not impossible. "We are very far away because we had 21 wins, and that automatically means you are far away," Magic General Manager John Weisbrod said.</div> Full Story
I will take Dawght Howard, they needs guys in the block DUNKING not shotting those weak sauce ugly forms shots(Juwan Howard), but i would whethere trade the 1st pick with Juwan to Seatle for Ray Allen and J.James. Or trade to Chicago for Tyson Chandler and Jamal Crawford. Or to the Hawks for cap space and Jason Terry, because the Altanta wants Dawight Howard
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting cArMeLo15:</div><div class="quote_post">You guys actually don't got #1 locked. You could be like Denver and end up at #3, and I think it's obvious Howard or Okafor will be gone by #3.</div> I think Denver is glad that they can have the 3rd pick and not the 4th or 5th, Melo will be gone by then.
That's what scares me the most , we could get 5th pick , Okafor and Dwight are long gone so if that happens I would make a trade with Juwan and Draft pick , for Okafor and some other player or something like that.
No one would do that Tmac_OwnZ. If they draft Okafor, why would they want to trade him for Juwan and a later pick(in a really weak draft)? There really is only 2 or 3 players that are worth getting. We would need to give up a future 1st or the Wizards future 1st that we have. (both would be protected) Neither would be smart because if Tmac leaves, then we will stink and lose a really nice pick. Wizards will likely still be blessed with bad luck, which is unfortunate for them.
