Magician1378
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Nice job trying to spin it, but this decision sucked. Hennigan screwed up already. The Nicholson pick never made complete sense, as we had Anderson, Davis, Harper, & Clark on the team, but I guess Hennigan knew back at the draft he was not going to match any contract that was offered to Anderson. This was a stupid decision. Anderson absolutely was worth 9 mil a year. He is a young, hard worker that has developed every year. Plus, he would still be a tradable asset in future years because he would be valuable to several teams at that price, even if we decided we didn't want to continue paying him that much. I guess our plan is to completely & horribly tank the next several years. I was fine with rebuilding, but this team is going to be MISERABLE next year. I guess we are going for the #1 pick again.
Good article. Definitely not many plausible trade options out there, but something has to happen.
@Vitrylo Wow I actually like that trade. I started laughing when I first clicked the link and saw a Thunder trade, but it would actually make sense for both teams. Dwight may not want to be in a small market, but that Thunder team would definitely win championships. And I would love to have Harden. Plus, all those other players would be great role players, and if we didn't want them, they would be valuable trade assets.
Jumping the gun a little bit, I think this is one of the best possibilities:
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=7tp2wr4
Since a trade seems inevitable at this point, are you going to post a possible trade scenarios article soon?
I am interested to see if you have any ideas for a good trade scenario between us and the Nets, Lakers, Mavericks, Hawks, or Rockets.
Also, in regards to the argument that Anderson's "per 36 mins" numbers didn't improve much, I think there is a huge difference in being able to put up those numbers against starters & better quality players throughout the game than as a bench player for short periods of time.
@jtshoopsblog Lin may have had a bigger impact on a per game basis, but he only played in 35 games this year & started in 25 (26.9 mins/game). Anderson played & started in 61 games (32.2 mins/game). I just think it would be hard to give a MIP award to someone who only played about half the games in a season.
Not to mention now that with Turk & Dwight out, instead of rested players for the playoffs, we are going to have super fatigued players. Plus there is a very real chance of slipping to the 7 or 8 seed and getting dominated in the 1st round.
@MattBostian Well unfortunately Dwight's trade value just plummeted. Instead of an invincible, never injured superstar, he is now going to be plagued the rest of his career with this herniated disk problem. If he doesn't play this post-season & play fairly well (not to mention the whole wanting to fire his coach thing), his trade value will be markedly diminished. Herniated disks don't just go away. You can rehab them & they seem fine for a while, but they ALWAYS come back. Dwight now has a true kryptonite.
Any reason why Wafer didn't play with the team so fatigued? I missed the whole 1st half of the game.
Also, why did Duhon not play? I saw Ish was playing great, but was it because of the suspension, injury, or just Ish beating him out for who Van Gundy thought should play in the game?
@jjmagic That last comment was meant to be a response to you jjmagic, but I posted it in the wrong place.
Anyways, I do agree with you about Otis. He should be gone.
Are you really using Shaq as a source? He loves to stir trouble, AND he HATES Van Gundy. From the Miami days, to the media battles about flopping and Stan being the "Master of Panic," etc. But like I said before, I do think Stan has grown as a coach since his Miami days. He definitely has toned it down during games. And if you listen to every Stan post-game like I do, you'd realize that yes, he is EXTREMELY critical. However, things he says are accurate, and don't forget that he always defends his players & makes a strong effort to point out what they did good. I mean just look at what he had to say about how courageous Dwight was in the Philly game, and that was a day after the whole media storm about firing.
So yes, Van Gundy is very critical, but at least from my end he always mixes it with positives, and he definitely brings out the best in players that listen to him (see Ryan Anderson, JJ Redick, etc.).
No argument about Dwight being by far the best center in the league. But he is not a leader, he is immature & self-centered, and he is ultimately not good for team chemistry. He has proven that throughout this whole year. Unless he and Stan can thoroughly mend their relationship (& not a quick patch job just to get through the season), I do not want Howard permanently on this team. He has way to much power right now. Trust me, if I think Howard matures or grows at all as a person, then I will forgive him and gladly except the best center in the league back on my team. But until then, I'd rather start rebuilding, and I think Stan is the perfect guy for that. Stan has toned it down a lot this year, which shows his willingness to adapt & do what is best for the team. Howard plays hard, but he is not willing to make personal sacrifices for the good of the team.
To conclude, it is simple, I don't want an immature player essentially running the team as a pseudo-GM. Sometimes it is time to cut your losses, & I'd rather lose Howard, because if we don't, and he doesn't mature, then problems like this are going to keep happening. Not to mention, and probably most importantly, Howard is going to bolt anyways if we can't bring in another superstar soon, so I don't like putting all my eggs in the Howard basket. Especially if it makes one of the best coaches in the league expendable.
Also, to express my more emotionally charged opinion, I'd love to start rebuilding at the end of this season with Van Gundy, JJ Redick, Ryan Anderson, Liggins, possibly Nelson, & a few others. Hard-working, fairly young players (except Nelson) who respect their coach and can respond to criticism. Pre-deadline I was overjoyed that we kept Howard. Well not anymore. He is a cancer on this team. We may put the best team on the court with Howard, but we won't win a championship with him, so why not send him to his big market this offseason & get a few draft picks & a young player or two out of it. Dwight is not a leader. He does not have any leadership qualities, we have known this for a while, and have just sat & hoped he would develop them. Now we know he is incapable of that. He is indecisive, emotionally volatile, self-centered, doesn't respect leadership, two-faced, etc. The Magic should just give it all we have for the rest of this season, and then move on from this era of Magic basketball.
@philrsquared @JAYoung I absolutely agree that the problem is a poorly built roster.
As far as the young players, you cannot win a championship with 2nd round rookies being thrown consistently into the line-up during a shortened season & a season with very limited practice time between games. If players like Turk & Jameer do not perform, there is NO chance of us winning the championship, or even going deep in the playoffs. No, I do not like the fact that our playoff aspirations depend on someone like Turk, but it is the reality of the situation. That is the roster we have. That is the problem with the team, not the coach. I love Liggins & think he has a lot of potential, but he is not capable of being a key player in championship run during his 1st season, particularly a lock-out season. The focus needs to be on getting Turkoglu, Jameer, & J-Rich to start playing at levels at least a little closer to how they played a few years ago.
Also, a random thought I had at the end of this. Name 1 player who Van Gundy started coaching before they were ~26 years old lets say, who did not develop significantly under Van Gundy, given that Van Gundy coached them for at least 2 years (i.e. Ryan Anderson, Brandon Bass, Marcin Gortat, Howard, Turkoglu the 1st time we had him, Courtney Lee even if for just a year, etc). Also, Orton doesn't count because he was injured all last year.
Trade Howard in the offseason! Keep Van Gundy. Howard shouldn't be the team's GM. (Also I would be in favor of firing Otis Smith.)
@philrsquared Ok cool, thanks for the explanation.
@philrsquared So are the only free agents we have coming up this summer Anderson, Liggins, & Orton? I assume anyone that has a player option, like Jameer, will exercise it. Also, I assume we will re-sign Liggins, since he is a perfect player to sign to a minimum deal just to fill out the roster.
How would you "stretch the remaining deal on J-Rich &/or Glen Davis"? I don't know exactly what that means. Thanks.
So I assume it is financially impossible to sign Deron Williams this summer?Even if the team is willing to go deep into the luxury tax? I don't know why, but I thought when Arenas' contract was gone, we would be able to. There is no one we can buy-out or decline an option on or something that would free up enough money? Could it work if the Nets did some sort of sign-n-trade in the summer (although I can't think of a situation where they would make that trade, even if he told them for sure he was gone)?
I feel sorry for Redick out there sometimes. When its him, Baby, Clark, Q, & Duhon, he really has to carry the team offensively. You see him taking a lot of shots he wouldn't normally take, possibly because he feels it is on his shoulders to get something going. On the bright side, he is learning more and more how to create his own shot, which can only help us in the long run (if we keep him, which I am starting to fear we won't).
Also, I love how after Anderson played an amazing offensive game, Van Gundy still called him out for his 2 rebounds lol. Luckily, I think Anderson really understands where Van Gundy is coming from, and realizes Van Gundy wouldn't be so hard on him if he didn't see tremendous potential. I really really hope we keep Anderson, because I think he is the type of person that can handle Van Gundy's criticism in a positive way and it will help him develop into the best player he can be.
We played a pretty good game. I still cringe every time Big Baby shoots though. Most of them aren't even close when he shoots jumpers. And when he is close to the basket, he always looks so awkward going up, as if he is always trying to draw the foul rather than taking a good shot. I'd rather have Clark playing and developing than Big Baby, even if Baby was here for free, let alone what he is actually getting paid. I can't criticize how he hustles most games, but I feel I can criticize just about everything else. I guess occasionally he plays good defense (but so does Clark and has more room for growth).