Depends on when we decide to go with a full-youth movement.Tankathon is in full swing.....wondering if the Kings will win 20 games or not.
4. Grizzlies 14-28
3. Kings 13-30
2. Hawks 12-31
1. Magic 12-31
Depends on when we decide to go with a full-youth movement.
Depends on when we decide to go with a full-youth movement.
I mean, I'm expecting what happened last year. Maybe it started this game. Wouldn't be surprised to see them alternate sitting vets. (Koufos on Wed and Randolph back in maybe?)
I'm not sure we start the youth movement right now, but I hope so. There's so many horrible teams this year. When it comes down to the last 20 games of the season, I would not be surprised at all if the bottom 10 teams started blatantly tanking.I mean, I'm expecting what happened last year. Maybe it started this game. Wouldn't be surprised to see them alternate sitting vets. (Koufos on Wed and Randolph back in maybe?)
I'm not sure we start the youth movement right now, but I hope so. There's so many horrible teams this year. When it comes down to the last 20 games of the season, I would not be surprised at all if the bottom 10 teams started blatantly tanking.
We have confirmation now. Joerger said he's going to sit two vets every night starting now, probably one perimeter player and one big. Tonight it would've been Carter and Zbo. Not exactly the full youth movement, but it's what happened last year except a month earlier.
Last year ended with us winning meaningless games while other teams tanked, but whatever.
Despite all the complaining about not playing the young guys enough, I think this was the plan all along. Build the young guys up, let them get experience without being overwhelmed, and then at some point turn it over to them. Apparently "some point" has arrived. I don't know if it was just strictly a timetable "we will give them the keys after the halfway point" or if it was progress based. I kind of hope it was progress based and that the coaching staff has seen enough progress to feel comfortable turning it over to them. Either way, it looks like they had a plan and stuck to it, which is a good thing. I think Bogs, Willie, for the most part Buddy, and now Fox are showing enough consistency to provide stable play for the coaching staff to feel more comfortable with playing them the majority of the minutes and to allow Skal, Jackson, and Malachi to continue their development playing with them instead of the vets all the time. Maybe even Papa will get more minutes. Fox seems to have made a leap in his development since the injury, maybe sitting out and watching did help him with the mental part. I am also eagerly looking forward to Mason coming back, he showed a lot of promise early, regressed a bit, but hopefully the time sitting out will help him like it did Fox. I still think there will be times when a veteran presence, say a Temple, a Z-B0, or even the much maligned Hill, may be needed on the floor to settle things down and provide some stability, but for the most part it will be up to these guys to work it out.
Yeah, I probably should have made it a couple or 3 paragraphs, but typed in a hurry, at work.I mostly agree and like the thoughts effort you put in your posts, but it will be so much easier to read those posts if they are not presented as "walls of text".
"Enter" is your friend.
OMG it's like there's some kind of method to all this madness. Looking forward to the haters latest take. I guess now is when we should make our playoff push?
To me, what Joerger was doing was showing faith in his own process and system and that he was going to develop the kids to be well rounded complete players and wasn't going to be the coach that basically doesn't coach and hopes that one or two of them breaks out on their own and keeps the coach in his job for an extra season or two. Joerger was saying in effect, this is my show and this is how it's going to operate. It's just my belief that letting high draft picks basically coach themselves and run their own show doesn't work unless they are MJ or Lebron level guys. And even those guys had huge growing pains.I guess you could call me a "hater" but this decision gets a big thumbs up from me. Team is much more exciting to watch with the young guys. They seem to perform just as well without the veterans playing a bunch of minutes and they get their development accelerated as well.
When Joerger changes the offense and starts running a system that works for the kids, I'll stop my "hating" completely. I was happy with what I saw for the most part (other than the 3rd quarter) yesterday but I'm still pulling my hair out anytime I see Koufos at the high post with the ball in his hands, waiting to hand the ball off to someone with the shot clock dwindling down. It's such a pointless, inefficient way to run an offense and I don't understand what the thought process was behind using Koufos to scan the court and attempt to drop dimes to cutters.
I'm not the only one either. I read an article on ESPN the other day about what fantasy players to pick up and even the writer there said that Fox could be a really good fantasy pick up but the offensive system needs to change before he can put numbers up on the board. It's not just grumbling around here. It's getting some national attention to those who are paying attention.
I'm glad to see Joerger come right out and say what he intends to do the rest of the season re: playing the vets.
Elfrid actually misses free throws and shots due to his hair. Mario is still learning to dribble. Evan is actually a decent player.It was like a year ago that Orlando seemed to have a nice young core wtf happened?
It also makes a little more sense to have been playing your vets heavier minutes early on if this was your plan all along. Neat.I think it was a very shrewd move by Joeger and Vlade to come out and tell the public, because it preserves the Vets trade value.
Basically, saying to interested buyers, "The Vets are still good, but we decided to sit them for the youth...... so, what's your best offer."
I'm sure behind the scenes, they probably told the Vets that they will try to trade them to a better situation and try to get something in return for them.
I agree. We could actually get something decent for Randolph, so that's an easy one. Hill to New York might need a cash supplement or a protected 2nd round pick.Atalanta and Orlando are both trying to shop their vets supposedly.
Michael Scotto: Atlanta Hawks are seeking a high second-round draft pick in exchange for either Marco Belinelli or Ersan Ilyasova, league sources told
http://hoopshype.com/rumor/1156080
Rival executives expect Jeff Weltman, Orlando’s new team president, to aggressively hunt for new homes for the likes of Evan Fournier, Elfrid Payton and Mario Hezonja, given that Nikola Vucevic’s broken finger is likely to preclude dealing the center.
http://hoopshype.com/rumor/1156080
http://hoopshype.com/rumor/1156771/
So the tank is on. Question is should we take whatever we can get asap for our vets, or hold on for value. Interesting consideration, may not be able to get anything if we are not aggressive but whatever meager returns we could get by waiting may not be there later.
I say sell now if we can, get something in the hand rather than being cheap & trying to hold on for value.
Elfrid is one of the guys that has been a huge curiosity and I have often times wondered about the hair (Magic game was the one I had courtside seats to vs. Blazers last year).Elfrid actually misses free throws and shots due to his hair. Mario is still learning to dribble. Evan is actually a decent player.
However most importantly, because Pete D'Alessandro is assistant GM for Orlando.![]()
I agree. We could actually get something decent for Randolph, so that's an easy one. Hill to New York might need a cash supplement or a protected 2nd round pick.
Do we trade anyone else though? I'm fine if it's just those two. Actually, I'm fine with just trading Hill... but Randolph has value right now and it will only go down.
I present exhibit A of Elfrid's hair being an issue. https://streamable.com/o7xt2Elfrid is one of the guys that has been a huge curiosity and I have often times wondered about the hair (Magic game was the one I had courtside seats to vs. Blazers last year).
Also - they've had poor coaching consistency and team vision developing these guys - which is one of those things that sure question Joerger, but I think we're all better off for keeping him in place and letting him execute his plan. He clearly has one that is long term goal driven rather than quick results, and I can understand why some don't like it.
Elfrid actually misses free throws and shots due to his hair. Mario is still learning to dribble. Evan is actually a decent player.
However most importantly, because Pete D'Alessandro is assistant GM for Orlando.![]()