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Orlando Magic Daily Roundtable: Draft strategy and dreaming

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Feb 1, 2017; Orlando, FL, USA; Orlando Magic head coach Frank Vogel huddles with forward Aaron Gordon (00), center Nikola Vucevic (9) and guard Elfrid Payton (4) against the Indiana Pacers during the second quarter at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 1, 2017; Orlando, FL, USA; Orlando Magic head coach Frank Vogel huddles with forward Aaron Gordon (00), center Nikola Vucevic (9) and guard Elfrid Payton (4) against the Indiana Pacers during the second quarter at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
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Kevin Durant, Golden State Warriors
Jun 12, 2017; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant (35) celebrates with the Larry O’Brien Trophy after beating the Cleveland Cavaliers in game five of the 2017 NBA Finals at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /

What are your overall impressions of the NBA Finals? What does this series mean for the NBA?

Scricca: The unprecedented dominance of the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers (and I mean unprecedented — this was the first “threematch” in league history) has to have a lot of teams thinking they should wait a few years until they take an earnest shot at the title. Teams on the precipice of championship contention might hesitate to spend if they do not think it will make them better than the Warriors or Cavs, which is borderline impossible. Others could see it is a perfect tanking window, to accumulate assets for a few years so when the Cavs or Warriors fall off they will be poised to strike. Of course, some will still take their shots anyways. Overall, I see the league’s parity issues growing before new superteams start to emerge and look to become the league’s next dynasties. In the meantime let’s just enjoy how incredible these two teams are.

Johnson: The NBA Finals has everyone re-evaluating. The talk all season was about the collision course between Cleveland and Golden State. But after the Finals, Cleveland is in the same boat as the rest of the NBA, trying to catch up. That is going to make for an interesting offseason. Will Chris Paul sign with the San Antonio Spurs? What will happen with Carmelo Anthony? What move will Cleveland make? Players will have to decide between winning and money because if Golden State keeps their team intact, no one is good enough to beat them.

Rossman-Reich: The big takeaway from the NBA Finals is that there is a wide gap between the Warriors and everyone else. It may be a while before any one team catches up. Everyone will be chasing the champs again. To see the Warriors dominate the best player in the NBA, LeBron James, playing at his absolute best was somewhat harrowing. The league does not have a problem, its rules limiting player movement helped create this monster. But the Warriors have no sign of slowing down. And they play such a beautiful brand of basketball, I do not mind seeing this dominance one more time.

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Palmer: While the Finals were boring to me and a lot of invested NBA fans, it seemed to appeal to the casual NBA audience. I believe it was the most watched NBA Finals ever (eds. note: it was the most-watched NBA Finals since 1998) even though it only went five games. As far as what it means for the game itself, I am not sure. What the Warriors have done is impossible to replicate. It took a perfect storm of cap hikes and bargain contracts for the Warriors to get to where they are. On top of all that, unless the Warriors players take huge pay cuts then they cannot keep that entire core together. There is no chance Warriors owner Joe Lacob is willing to pay nearly $1 billion per year in luxury tax. So while the Warriors may dominate for the next year or two the playing field will level out soon enough.