So I've been going over this again and again and looking at the stats. What i'm struggling with is I'm confident AG will put in the work to be the best possible but can he ever get to elite status as a SF? I'm not sure. If I was the GM I'm willing to wait if i'm sure Serge is sticking with us. If not then I need to make a change while I still have the capital of Serge.
I want to stress that too often the Magic jump before giving things time to develop so if everyone is on the same page then they need to stay the course, resign Serge and do an extension for AG.
If there is an inkling that Serge might leave and I was GM these are the trades I would make:
Because Serge is in the last year of his contract he looses a ton of value unless it's a team where he has familiarity and wants to stay. I would say Houston is as close a your gonna get. He's seen that night in and out he can't the man on a team with a ton of holes. He is ready to step up and be someone's #2. Houston just waved Donatas Motiejunas. Anderson plays no defense and Dwight left. We could trade Jeff Green, Serge Ibaka, and CJ Watson for Anderson and Ariza and their 2nd round pick coming from Denver.
They would hate to lose Ariza but they are getting back pieces that work better for them. Plus we get to shed some salary with the Watson move. Then we can turn around and trade to Boston:
Anderson, Herzonja, Our 2017 1st and 2nd round Pick plus the Lakers pick, for Amir Johnson, Marcus Smart and Kellly Olynyk and the better first round pick between Brooklyn and Boston. They get a reliable 3pt power forward on a long term contract and a young and talented SG (which they need depth at) that with them will get some playing time and a chance to develop. Johnson and Olynyk is 15 million off the books to go with the 30mill from the Houston trade.
I would be very interested to see what Vogel could do with Smart as our back up SG. Then in Free agency we absolutely roll out the red carpet (I'm talking banners, limos etc. they way we did for Duncan back in the day) for Gordon Hayward for a max deal.
Then with likely the Nets pick we could draft the best player available. I'm thinking Markelle Fultz a PG big enough to play a little SG if needed. He would have a year to get his feet set before we really needed him but our line up would be deep and impressive. Then in the 2nd round someone with potential that might need a little time like Allonzo Trier.
Our line up for 2018:
PG - Elfrid / Augustin / Fultz / Smart
SG - Fournier / Smart / Jodie
SF - Hayward / Gordon / Jodie
PF - Gordon / Onuaku / Vucevic
C - Biyombo / Vucevic / Zimmerman
I would expect Fultz to possibly be starting by the end of the year.
What about the OPP? Do you think AG can be that SF or would you make some moves?
