Smart Thoughts of the Week: Sept. 11 – 18

Throughout the week some of you drop some brilliant or at least somewhat thoughtful comments and so this is a try at highlighting some of them. Disclaimer: It’s not that I necessarily agree with all of them, but they were interesting and for the most part, well put. Consider everything sic’d.

Tell us how you really feel. (Todd): Concerning Jordon’s acceptance speech, let’s just say if and when Kevin Durant or anyone else from the Thunder enters the Hall of Fame, I hope they do it with a little more class than Jordan did. Maybe he tried to “beat down” every opponent as a player, but I didn’t see any opponent up there on the stage with him the other night. No one trying to steal his moment or stop him somehow. It was just Jordon, taking one final shot

at everyone whom he ever thought slightest him in the least. He could have tried to be a little gracious, but apparently it was too much to ask. Apparently he’s not content unless he’s rubbing someone else’s face in the dirt, even as he’s being given his sport’s highest honor.

I’ve never had a “Jordan moment” myself as I never really warmed up to him all that much, but I had started to come around a little. Till this. Now, this will be my own “Jordan moment.” The one thing I’ll remember about him the most. At what should have been the crowning moment of his professional career, he basically stuck his tongue out at us and said, “screw you.” He may be one of the greatest players of all time, but as a person, I think he’s a jackass.

On the goals for Livingston and Krispy. (Keith): Asking for Livingston to be a major contributor is far too much. There are only going to be 10-15 minutes available each night at PG, almost nothing at SG (both Thabo and Harden being there), and KD plays almost the entire game at SF. And let’s face it, Livingston has always been a pass-first, middling offense kind of PG. I think him staying healthy is a legitimate goal, but 25 minutes and pre-injury form (even better as it has been pointed out) is too much.

Livingston is a prime example of my quandry. We know he’s still young and that he has talent, but improvement at this point is probably just back to a baseline. He’s only been so good when healthy, and he’s been in the league for a while now. I don’t think he has it in him to be much better than we’ve already seen.

On Krstic, I don’t think he should look to play some in the post, I think he should be given a mandate to play a great deal more in the post. Here’s the thing. As a spot up shooter, Krstic does very little for the offense. He doesn’t hit threes, and doesn’t really hit at a very high percentage in the first place. If we are passing out on drives it should always be to Durant or Harden (or Green if he’s beyond the arc). Also, Krstic simply isn’t quick enough to do anything with the ball away from the basket other than shoot. As such, he simply has to play close to the basket where he can serve a useful purpose in our offense.

Magic-Lite sounds like some kind of nasty artificial sweetner. (Walter): Count me as someone who thinks Green is not a 4 in this league. I’ll qualify that by saying that he can be a 4 on this team though, in the same way that Ra Lewis was a power forward playing beside Dwight Howard. Except sadly, we don’t have a Superman.

I guess Presti envisions our frontline becoming 2008-9 Orlando-lite, with Durant and Green as similarly skilled forwards with a natural inclination to shoot from mid-long range. I agree in a sense with Mitch that being a grunty power forward is unlikely to be in Green’s makeup if it hasn’t come through already.

Also, if the Orlando-lite model is to be followed, the worst centre to be paired with on our current roster is Krstic.

I’m in favour of starting Green with a (healthy) Thomas/Collison, and have Thomas/Collison and Krstic to come off the bench together. Yin-yang. Offence-defence pairings. Green-Krstic offers pretty minimal d and rebounding and too much replication of favourite shooting spots – that is, not from 8 feet. It is imbalanced IMO.

Clap, clap. Two times. (Vince): Orlando’s not going to have any interest in Collison or Thomas. Everyone says the Magic have to trade Gortat because he puts them so far into the luxury tax. So why would they take on Collison, who has the same size deal for this year and next? Particularly when after Collison’s deal expires is when they would have room for Gortat’s money, with Vince Carter off the books. That makes no sense.
In Thomas’ case, why would you match the Dallas offer then trade for an expiring contract? You might as well just let him go. If you’re talking Weaver and Thomas, then they’re spending $16M (counting the tax) for Weaver’s rights and a season of 1/3 Gortat and 2/3 Thomas (substitute the #34 pick for Weaver and it’s just as asinine). Even David Kahn isn’t that stupid.

That’s the problem with all these ideas of a Gortat trade in December. The only possible way for the Magic to get value for Gortat is with a team under the cap. That is basically us. If we trade, say the #34 pick for Gortat, then the Magic spent $2M+ for 25 games of Gortat and a 2nd-round pick. That doesn’t make much sense, either particularly when you’ve got a short window to win and a new arena and an energized fan base and given that high 2nd round picks are worth probably $1.5M.

The only possible scenario I see with a December/January trade would be the #34 and Weaver (which would be fine with me). But I think these rumors make far less sense from a financial standpoint than they appear to at first glance.