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Morant next in line?? Unlike the Red Sox seems Griz got HUGE haul.
Orlando will be an overlooked tough out next year if everyone stays healthy.Comment -
Grizz are smart to just wait out until the juggernaut that is #ThunderUp starts to stumble.
Grizz will be competitive again... circa 2030.Comment -
I don't think Orlando will sneak up on the astute NBA fans this upcoming season.
Orlando has a rock-solid frontcourt, and the three of them —Wagner, Banchero, and Wendell Carter —are all 25 years old or younger.
The guards are the problem there. Orlando's bench last season was about as deep as a puddle after Jalen Suggs went down for the season.
If Suggs can come back healthy and play 60+ games at 100 percent, then yes, the starting five of Suggs, Bane, Banchero, Wagner, and Carter can play with the best teams in the Eastern Conference, before we give the Magic a Championship Parade though, they need to address the bench depth, especially the guard rotation, and the Bane deal is a great start.
Suggs should run the point, and Bane likely will be the hybrid SG/SF off guard.
The Magic will be a fun team to watch for years to come.
Not for nothing, and this is just talk, but the hot take from the NBA insiders is Orlando may flip Bane to Boston, as they covet Pritchard, D. White, and especially Brown. Those wacky NBA media professionals sure do like to kick around hypotheticals during the off-season.
I'm told the Sacramento Kings made a play for Jrue Holliday, but Sacramento was offering Boston pretty much a box of rocks for Jrue.
Danny Ainge responded, "This isn't our first rodeo, sweeten the deal substantially before you call us again about Holliday.
(Or something to that effect)
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Where do you rank Orlando in the East going into next season? 3rd? 4th?Comment -
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Milwaukee used to be part of a group of four power teams in the Eastern Conference, along with New York, Cleveland, and Boston.
The Bucks are currently unstable, with Giannis reportedly wanting out.
Giannis, a loyalist, prefers to stay put, but has made it clear that if the Bucs management doesn't fix the mess and put together a winning team, he's leaving.
I would slide the Bucks out of the four spot and move Orlando in.
The East is wide open next year.
Cleveland should be strong, but the Knicks are going to enter the season full of question marks.
Who's going to be New York's next HC? Several key players there are not thrilled about the Thibs' firing. How motivated will NY be to play for a new coach? New York needs to solve the center problem. KAT is not a center; he's more of a shooting power forward, and his defense is suspect. Teams are exposing KAT's lack of rim protection defense. New York needs to upgrade their defense.
The Celtics will be vulnerable with Tatum out for the season, and Jalen Brown still isn't 100 percent.
The next time Porzingis plays a season at full strength, it will be the first time he plays a full season healthy.
As of right now, you would think the guard rotation will be Holliday running the point, and D. White as the shooting guard. J. Brown will resume as the team's hybrid SG/SF. But Brown's pretty beat up right now, Pritchard, the best sixth man on the planet, would get even more of a run in 2026.
The big problem in Boston is the frontcourt.
How do you replace Tatum, one of the NBA's top ten players at forward?
I like Luke Kornet coming off the bench for 14 minutes a game, Luke's gritty, he's got heart, likes to get physical down low around the rim on defense, but let's face reality here, Kornet is a nice PF/C coming off the bench, he's not an everyday starting pivot guy that averages 22+ minutes a game. I love everything about Al Horford; he's a class act, the consummate team player. He's quiet as a church mouse, never a distraction with off-court controversy regarding DUIs, drugs, etc. Here's the thing with Horford: he's older than dirt.
The only two constants that remain undefeated since the beginning of time that are undefeated are Mother Nature and Father Time, and Horford is pushing forty. I love Porzingis except for one major problem: that he can't stay off the IR, and now it turns out Porzingis is living with some sort of mystery virus that kept him out of most of the playoffs. Doctors (I don't know this as a fact), from what I'm hearing and reading, are not 100 percent certain about how to treat that virus.
If Porzing can't answer the bell, come game one of the regular season, that leaves Boston with Horford. Luke Kornet and Xavier Tillman. I'd love to see what Jordan Walsh can give Boston off the bench, playing a regular bench role minutes. He's only 21 and unproven as an NBA player, but I remember the few times I saw him with the Arkansas Razorbacks that the kid has game.
To make a long story short, which I am not capable of doing, being brevity has never been my forte, Why not Orlando next season, with all the power teams in the East dealing with all sorts of issues, it would behoove Orlando to strike while the iron is hot.
Orlando should win that crappy division by five games clear, and I think anything short of a second round playoff appearance would be a disappointment.
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