Posted by: @thedeeptwo

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This is an excerpt from my article on thedeeptwo.com which can be found here.

Eyeing off a payday

These guys know that the Magic have enough cap space to buy a small island and they’re going to want to use that knowledge to leverage their own franchises, or others.

Donovan Mitchell

The big name on every Magic fan’s lips at some point in the past 12 months, Donovan Mitchell, was so close to joining the New York Knicks. The mum’s basement fans had already sketched up Spida Mitchell looking over New York in a Spider-Man costume. Alas, it wasn’t to be.

But what’s that… are there murmurs that he’s unhappy with the Cleveland Cavaliers?

No, my Spidey Senses must be off. He just played a crucial role on one of the nicer stories in the league, stepping up with Jarrett Allen to keep an injury-riddled Cavs team in the top three of the Eastern Conference. 

Oh, and they beat the Boston Celtics the other day. 

Things are looking excellent in Cleveland and the Mitchell noise has quietened down.

Klay Thompson

This fucker. Why would anyone want poor man’s Brandin Podziemski? Put Klay Thompson on the bench and he thinks he’s Manu Ginobili… My brother in Christ, you’re on the bench for shooting too much off the dribble, don’t do it more!

But in all seriousness, Klay can still shoot the ball, just not at a league-leading level that he has been in his heyday. The Orlando Magic are 27th in three-point percentage and 29th in three-point attempts. It doesn’t matter how much you’re bucking trends or zigging while others are zagging, three is bigger than two and you need those shots to go in: Klay helps in that department.

Before the trade deadline, Marc Stein reported that the Magic are “increasingly mentioned” as a free agency destination for Klay Thompson. After eating bucket-loads of crow since watching the second coming of Nico Mannion take his spot next to Stephen Curry in the starting lineup, Klay told Kendra Andrews, ESPN that he’s open to a short-term deal with the Golden State Warriors.

Orlando might start a bidding war with the Warriors but they’re going to lose.

Worth throwing some cash at

I don’t expect the Orlando Magic to successfully sign any of these three players but it’d be a best-case scenario given the lack of talent on the market.

Immanuel Quickley

I thought about writing this article a few months ago and it was going to be titled something along the lines of “Orlando Magic… target… Quickley”. The fit just seemed too perfect.

Better yet, don’t trade for him mid-season, save your precious assets and throw some cash at the New York Knicks’ free agent in the offseason when their eye wanders towards the bigger names and they forget their home-grown scoring guard.

Well, the reason you trade for a guy mid-season is to stop this from happening. The Toronto Raptors also needed a scoring guard to lead them to the fucking lottery so they traded for him. Now, when Quickley enters the 2024-25 season, he’ll be watching Paolo and Franz play with [free agent scoring guard] while watching them have fun like Squidward in that one meme.

The answer(s)

Malik Monk

Malik Monk (or God of Dunk and Lik according to Basketball Reference) is an excellent player having a career year. On the season, Monk is averaging 15.8 points on 45-37-82 shooting splits but he’s the de facto backup point guard for this Sacramento Kings team and he’s averaging 5.3 assists a night.

His assist numbers are greater than just a bigger number in the column, Monk is setting his teammates up efficiently. The God of Dunk’s 1.10 assist-to-usage ratio is one of the higher marks for wings and he’s sitting just below LaMelo Ball (1.11) and LeBron James (1.12) in that stat per Cleaning the Glass.

One cause for concern is that Monk has only taken 29 unassisted three-point shots this season and compared to his 112 unassisted via NBA.com’s Advanced Stats. For reference, Quickley has taken 46 such shots with a 106 unassisted. IQ is also shooting 43.4 percent on above the break threes while Monk is shooting 36.2 percent on those shots. The Magic need shooting from everywhere but for this big free agency splash, they should be targeting versatile shooters.

That could be a result of the two different ecosystems, IQ is asked to handle the ball a lot more and bail out a poor team offence while the Kings are one of the better offences in the league and have two defined stars in De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis.

The 26-year-old (yes, Monk is that young despite being drafted in 2017) is just what the Orlando Magic need, ball handling and scoring off the catch. There’s reason to believe that his off-the-dribble game could improve on a new team and his combination of shooting and penetration would open up more room for Franz and Paolo.

The unrestricted free agent is going to be a hot commodity this free agency. The Kings might crater without his bench creation (maybe they’re looking at one of the names on this list as replacements) so if the Magic are serious about pursuing him, it could get expensive.

D’Angelo Russell

D’Angelo Russell, despite LA Lakers fans making fun of him on Twitter, might be a better option than Malik Monk. 

The counting stats are much better as Russell is averaging 18 points a night with 6.2 assists (1.07 assist-to-usage ratio) but, and I double-checked this, he’s shooting 42 percent on 6.7 three-point attempts a night. D’Lo is also shooting the ball more efficiently in general with a smaller slice of the pie (120.5 points per 100 shot attempts, 24.7 usage percentage. Monk has 115.6 PSA on 26.9 usage).

One lazy knock on his game is: “Oh, but he’s playing with LeBron James and Anthony Davis!” But in all honesty, if the Magic want to go anywhere, they need to hope that their scoring forward and pass-first wing are similar to those two.

DLo is happy shooting off the dribble or off the catch and he has proven he can live in a similar offensive ecosystem.

In D’Angelo’s lone All-Star season, the 2018-19 season with the Brooklyn Nets, the problem with his game was that he was the only offensive engine on a bad offence. When he was on the court that season, the Nets were 2.5 points worse per 100 possessions. Last season after being traded to the LA Lakers, he was a plus-9.6 per 100 possessions and this year he’s a plus-3.5 according to Cleaning the Glass. He was the only scorer in Brooklyn and struggling to do so at a high level, that’s not the case in LA.

When I started listing players for the Magic to target, I had Russell as a second target behind Monk but after digging deeper, maybe Orlando should be happy with either… maybe they should target D’Angelo Russell first? Holy shit, is D’Angelo Russell the answer!

Read the full article here: https://thedeeptwo.com/2024/03/14/how-can-the-orlando-magic-take-the-next-step/

 

I think the best fit is Murray, a backcourt suggs-murray would be crazy good defensively 

I have faith in AB as a backup PG and Jett as backup SG , so I would like to not include them in trade packages

So maybe a package Cole+ orl 2024 Frp+ orl 2025 Frp+ den 2025 frp

Then opt out on moe (then offer him part of mle) then opt out on Ingles (then offer him a cheap 1+1 deal)

Offer goga and harris cheap contracts 

Murray, AB

Suggs, Jett , harris 

Franz , Houstan, Ingles 

Paolo , Moe, ji

Wcj - JI -goga

OR if we sign Claxton 

Trade Wcj+ orl 2024 Frp+ orl 2025 Srp+ den 2025 frp for Murray 

Murray, AB , Cole 

Suggs, Jett , harris 

Franz , Houstan, Ingles 

Paolo , Moe, ji

Claxton- JI -goga

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