- Magic coach Frank Vogel made his first non-injury related change to the starting lineup Monday, inserting swingman Jonathon Simmons in place of Terrence Ross, John Denton of the Magic’s website reports. Vogel wants to give Simmons more playing time and Ross has spent most of his career coming off the bench, Denton notes. “Terrence and I have been in conversations about him maybe being more involved when coming off the bench and with Simmons, we’d like to see what we look like with him having a bigger role,’’ Vogel said.
- Magic rookie power forward Jonathan Isaac could return as early as Wednesday from the ankle sprain he suffered on November 11th, Denton notes in a separate story. The lottery pick missed his eighth consecutive game on Monday. “It’s definitely taken longer than I thought it would,” Isaac told Denton.
The Magic have fallen on tough times after an 8-4 start, but they are just two and a half games out of a playoff spot and still qualify as one of this year’s early-season surprises. Coach Frank Vogel tells Nick Friedell of ESPN the team made a mistake at the start of last season by going against the small-ball trend, adding that things began to turn around with the trade of Serge Ibaka to Toronto for Terrence Ross. That created an opening for Aaron Gordon at power forward and Evan Fournier at small forward.
“I think last year we were trying to go big when the whole league was going small and it wasn’t really working,” agreed center Nikola Vucevic. “A lot of guys were out of their comfort zone, a lot of guys were out of position. It just wasn’t working, it wasn’t clicking. I think this year players’ roles are more clear.”
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- New GM John Hammond is confident that Gordon, a restricted free agent, will agree to a long-term contract next summer, Friedell relays in the same story. Orlando wasn’t able to work out an extension with Gordon before last month’s deadline, but Hammond believes his future will be with the Magic. “You look at a guy like that and say, ‘He’s one of those guys as you move forward with, that you got to have,'” Hammond said. “And we feel that way.” Gordon is off to the best start of his career, averaging 17.6 points and 8.1 rebounds in 17 games.
- Early-season technical fouls are piling up for Hornets center Dwight Howard, notes Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer. The NBA announced today that Howard was fined $35K for an obscene gesture in Friday’s game at Cleveland. That’s his second fine this season and sixth technical in 18 games. There will be an automatic one-game suspension if he reaches 16, and the league could impose a separate suspension if the obscene gestures continue.
- Nicolas Batum isn’t worried about any long-term effects from his latest elbow injury, Bonnell tweets. Batum was able to return to the Hornets‘ lineup tonight after sitting out Friday. He left Wednesday’s game with a contusion on his left elbow, the same one that caused him to miss the first 12 games of the season.
- Despite their best efforts, the Magic didn’t find a taker for Mario Hezonja prior to October 31, Zach Lowe of ESPN writes. That date is significant because the team was forced to decide whether or not to extend the swingman through 2018/19. When no trade materialized, the club declined the option. Now, Lowe writes, a team should buy low on the project and see if they can develop him into a serviceable rotation player. Despite going fifth overall in the 2015 NBA Draft, the 22-year-old has averaged just 5.3 points through his first three seasons.
- The Magic have fallen back down to earth after a 6-2 start but that doesn’t mean their apparent progress was a mirage. As John Denton of the team’s official site writes, the club is simply going through necessary growing pains.
There are 25 players around the NBA playing on 2017/18 salaries that aren’t yet fully guaranteed. While having those salaries guaranteed will be a mere formality for some players, others may be at risk of losing their roster spot with decision day nearing. If teams keep non-guaranteed players under contract beyond January 7, their salaries will become guaranteed for the season on January 10, so clubs still have more than a month to decide whether to lock in these players’ full-season salaries.
Listed below is the team-by-team breakdown of the players who are still on non-guaranteed salaries or partially guaranteed salaries. Unless otherwise indicated, each of these players is set to earn the minimum. Partial guarantees are noted if they exceed a player’s prorated salary to date. Any teams not listed below are only carrying players with fully guaranteed salaries.
Atlanta Hawks
- Luke Babbitt: Partial guarantee of $987,080.
- Isaiah Taylor
Brooklyn Nets
Charlotte Hornets
Chicago Bulls
- Kay Felder: Partial guarantee of $456,529.
- David Nwaba
Dallas Mavericks
- Dorian Finney-Smith
- Devin Harris: Partial guarantee of $1,339,662.
- Full salary: $4,402,546
- Jeff Withey: Partial guarantee of $350,000.
Detroit Pistons
- Eric Moreland: Partial guarantee of $1,000,000.
- Full salary: $1,739,333
Houston Rockets
Indiana Pacers
Los Angeles Lakers
Milwaukee Bucks
Minnesota Timberwolves
- Marcus Georges-Hunt: Partial guarantee of $275,000.
New York Knicks
Oklahoma City Thunder
Orlando Magic
- Khem Birch: Partial guarantee of $407,808.
Philadelphia 76ers
Phoenix Suns
San Antonio Spurs
Toronto Raptors
Utah Jazz
Washington Wizards
- Sheldon Mac
- Note: Mac is recovering from a torn Achilles and will continue to be paid his full-season salary until he’s cleared to return.
To keep tabs on these 25 players over the next several weeks, be sure to check back on our regularly-updated lists of salary guarantee dates and of non-guaranteed contracts.
Photos courtesy of Getty Images and USA Today Sports Images. Information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post.
Magic forward Jonathan Isaac is missing his fifth straight game tonight with a sprained ankle, but the team hopes to have him back by the end of its current road trip, writes Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel. The sixth player take in this year’s draft, Isaac has averaged 6.1 points and 4.4 rebounds in his first 12 NBA games. At 6’10”, he is tall and versatile enough to defend several positions.
“You hate to say you’re missing a 20-year-old rookie, but we are,” Magic coach Frank Vogel said. “He’s a dynamic player, especially on the defensive end, and he’s missed. But every single team in the league has got guys out.” Orlando is starting a four-game road trip tonight that will run through Monday.
- Rookies Khem Birch and Wesley Iwundu continue to yo-yo-back and forth between the NBA and the G League, having been assigned to Lakeland again today by the Magic (Twitter link).
- The Knicks have recalled rookie shooting guard Damyean Dotson from the G League, according to the team (via Twitter). Dotson, assigned to the Westchester Knicks for Sunday’s game, scored 23 points in the team’s victory over the Lakeland Magic.
- Magic rookies Khem Birch and Wesley Iwundu, who were on the other side of Sunday’s Lakeland/Westchester matchup, were recalled to the NBA today, the team announced (via Twitter). Birch and Iwundu both had double-doubles on Sunday, combining for 34 points and 23 rebounds for Orlando’s G League affiliate.
- After being one of the league’s early-season surprises, the Magic already face a crossroads to their season after Saturday’s 40-point loss to the Jazz, writes Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel. Orlando came out of the gate at 6-2, but is back at .500 after dropping four straight games. Coach Frank Vogel hinted that changes might be on the way and called last night’s performance “unacceptable,” a sentiment shared by many of the players. “I think we lost what made us good at the beginning of the season: playing together, having fun out there, enjoying the game,” Nikola Vucevic said. “Over-dribbling, over-trying to get stuff instead of just playing simple basketball, like we did earlier in the year, it just affects us little by little. It just takes away from our energy. It’s like it’s taking little bites [out of us]. By the end of the game, there was no energy left.”
- The Magic got some good news Saturday with the return of veteran guard D.J. Augustin. An important part of Orlando’s surprising early-season success, Augustin missed seven games with a hamstring injury. He was held scoreless in 17 minutes yesterday, but was averaging 8.3 points and 5.1 assists through his first eight games and shooting 39% from 3-point range.
The Magic won’t host their summer league in 2018, according to Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel. Instead, Orlando will join most of the rest of the league with an entry in the Las Vegas Summer League.
The Orlando Pro Summer League was virtually an annual event, being held 14 times since 2002. It provided the first showcase of young talent in early July, followed by leagues in Utah and Las Vegas later in the month. The Orlando league was always closed to the public, Robbins notes, so the move won’t impact Central Florida basketball fans.
The Magic brought in a new management team earlier this year with Jeff Weltman as president of basketball operations and John Hammond as GM, and they decided to go in a different direction.
“The pendulum is swinging towards teams playing in Vegas,” Weltman said. “It’s a level of competition and a level of exposure when more or less every team in the league is there and you’re playing in front of 20,000 people as opposed to playing in a gym with a few hundred people. So it better prepares you for what NBA life is really about with the crowds, the pressure, the travel — a lot of what you’re going to have to confront. Obviously, it’s not a true test of an NBA season, but it’s a little taste.”
The Orlando league had only eight teams this year with the Hornets, Mavericks, Pistons, Pacers, Heat, Knicks and Thunder joining the host Magic. Twenty-four teams were in Las Vegas, with three preliminary games followed by a single-elimination playoff to determine a champion, and the NBA hopes to eventually get all 30 teams involved.
“We want to do what’s right for the team, for our players,” Weltman said. “But that being said, when the large portion of the league is there [in Las Vegas], it does kind of create an environment where you want your young guys to be a part of what the league is about.”