- Although there’s no indication that the two teams are discussing such a deal, and he acknowledges that there would be roadblocks, Lowe offers his favorite hypothetical Bledsoe deal, involving the Magic: Lowe’s proposal would see Nikola Vucevic, Mario Hezonja, and Orlando’s 2017 pick go to the Suns in exchange for Bledsoe and Alex Len. Per Lowe, the Magic front office remains “divided” on whether or not Elfrid Payton is the club’s long-term solution at point guard.
[SOURCE LINK]
The 10-day contract Anthony Brown signed with the Magic earlier this month is set to expire tonight, and the team doesn’t intend to re-sign Brown to a second 10-day deal at this time, reports Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel (via Twitter). According to Robbins, Brown is set to return to the D-League’s Erie BayHawks.
Brown, the 34th overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft, spent his rookie season with the Lakers, but was a surprise cut when the team reduced its roster to 15 players this past October. The 6’7″ small forward had a brief stint with the Pelicans earlier this season before joining the Magic this month on a 10-day deal.
[RELATED: Hoops Rumors’ 10-day contract tracker]
During his 10-day stay in Orlando, Brown got the chance to play in a pair of blowout losses against Golden State and Boston. In those two games, he played 16 total minutes, picking up nine points, seven rebounds, and a pair of assists. With the Magic not in action tonight, he won’t get another chance to play for the team unless Orlando decides to bring him back later in the season. Meanwhile, the Magic will open up a spot on their 15-man roster.
Brown’s return to Orlando’s D-League affiliate in Erie will be a welcome one for the BayHawks, who have struggled this season, particularly without their leading scorer (21.6 PPG) in the lineup. Erie is 5-11 with Brown, and just 2-10 without him.
Weighing in on recent Serge Ibaka and Nikola Vucevic rumors, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reports that the majority of trade talks the Magic have been involved in are “very exploratory” in nature. That applies to the Vucevic talks with the Celtics, in particular, with sources telling Kyler that no deal involving Vucevic going to Boston was ever “actively under consideration.”
The Magic have been very active in pursuing potential deals, with GM Rob Hennigan recently vowing to be aggressive as he attempts to improve the roster. But Orlando doesn’t appear ready to make a deal yet, and sources who have talked to the team tell Kyler that the Magic may be overvaluing some of the players on their roster.
JANUARY 31: The Hawks have officially announced in a press release that they’ll take control of a D-League team in Erie for the next two seasons before relocating to College Park for the 2019/20 campaign.
JANUARY 23: The Hawks are in the final stages of an agreement to operate the Erie BayHawks in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons, according to Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This development comes on the heels of a report from NBA.com’s Scott Howard-Cooper during last week’s D-League Showcase in Ontario.
The BayHawks will serve as a placeholder for Atlanta, whose permanent D-League team in College Park, Georgia is expected to begin operations in 2019/20. The Hawks will supplant the Magic as Erie’s NBA affiliate, as Orlando has a deal in place to move its D-League affiliate to Lakeland, Florida.
The Hawks, who currently use the D-League’s flexible assignment system, haven’t been tied to any one particular NBADL team this season, assigning players to the Salt Lake City Stars, Long Island Nets, and Delaware 87ers.
With the Hawks and Timberwolves expected to gain control of current D-League teams while the Grizzlies and Magic move their operations elsewhere, the NBADL should feature at least 24 teams for the 2017/18 season.
The Magic have “picked up their attempts” to trade Serge Ibaka before next month’s deadline, league sources tell Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. According to Deveney, Orlando has experienced some “buyers’ remorse” after trading for Ibaka last summer, and the team is looking to get something for him to avoid the risk of losing him for nothing in free agency.
Although Deveney suggests that there’s pessimism about Ibaka re-signing with the Magic this summer, he adds that people around the NBA aren’t sure what the former Oklahoma City big man will do in free agency, which complicates his trade market. Teams would be unwilling to give up a significant return to rent Ibaka for a few months.
“They’re asking too much,” one front office executive said of the Magic, per Deveney. “(The Magic) would probably like to make a few moves there, but Ibaka is the one they’re really pushing because he is going to leave. But they have had too high a price. They want a young player and a pick, two young players — you know, a package that can get them back some assets. They’re not going to get that. Not for three, maybe four months of Serge Ibaka.”
The Magic surrendered their 2016 lottery pick (Domantas Sabonis) along with Victor Oladipo and Ersan Ilyasova when they acquired Ibaka, signaling that they expected the 27-year-old to be a part of the long-term plan. However, the club has struggled this season and appears to be slipping out of playoff contention, with a 19-30 record, reducing the odds of Ibaka wanting to re-sign with Orlando in July.
General manager Rob Hennigan said last week that he expects to be “aggressive” in pursuing ways to improve Orlando’s roster, and addressing the club’s frontcourt logjam would be a good place to start. With Ibaka and Bismack Biyombo joining a group that already featured Nikola Vucevic and Aaron Gordon, there aren’t enough minutes to go around, and Gordon has spent a lot of time playing out of position.
According to Deveney, there’s “no chance” of a trade involving Biyombo, who signed a four-year, $68MM deal last summer. Gordon is also a key part of the Magic’s long-term plan, which leaves Ibaka and Vucevic as possible trade candidates. We heard last week that the Celtics were among the teams to talk to Orlando about Vucevic.
As for Ibaka, even if he’s no more than a rental piece, there should be several teams with interest in talking to the Magic about a deal. Deveney identifies the Celtics, Rockets, and Raptors as a few potential suitors, though he cites a source who says Toronto isn’t very interested in giving up Terrence Ross in a trade for Ibaka.
- UCLA’s Lonzo Ball would fit nicely in Orlando, Ford opines in the same piece. The Magic currently have Elfrid Payton manning the point guard position and he’s having a nice season. However, if they draft Ball, he’d immediately have the highest ceiling of any player on the team, Ford adds.
The Celtics have talked to the Magic about a potential deal involving Nikola Vucevic, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE reports. Boston GM Danny Ainge is looking for big men who can score and rebound, Blakely writes, which would make Vucevic an ideal fit.
Currently in the second year of a four-year, $53MM contract, Vucevic was connected to the Heat last week in a potential deal involving Goran Dragic. Now 26 years old, Vucevic is averaging 13.8 points with 9.8 rebounds through 44 games in 2016/17. The big man sat out three games in December due to a back injury, but has otherwise returned to form after a slow start to his season, scoring 16.7 points over his last seven games.
Vucevic would be an immediate upgrade in Boston’s frontcourt. Coach Brad Stevens is currently using Al Horford at center and a mix of Jonas Jerebko, Kelly Olynyk, and Amir Johnson at the four. Vucevic, who has been subject to trade rumors throughout much of his six-year career, explained his approach to CSNNE as the trade deadline approaches.
“There’s been a lot (of rumors) about me this season. I haven’t paid attention to it. I don’t read that much. It’s all rumors; you can’t control them. At the end of the day, what happens, happens.”
JANUARY 25: After the Magic conducted a follow-up exam on Meeks’ injury, the team determined that surgery was necessary, according to a press release. GM Rob Hennigan announced that Meeks underwent that procedure on Tuesday and will be sidelined indefinitely — his return will depend on how he responds to rehab, per the team.
JANUARY 19: Magic shooting guard Jodie Meeks will be out an estimated 4-to-6 weeks after an MRI revealed two sprained ligaments in his right thumb, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel tweets. He will not need surgery, Robbins adds.
Meeks suffered the injury in a 118-98 loss to the Pelicans on Wednesday.
This is another injury setback for Meeks, who has been sidelined by a variety of ailments in recent seasons. Signed by the Pistons to a three-year, $18.8MM contract prior to the 2014/15 season, Meeks missed the first 22 games of that campaign because of a back injury. Last season, he fractured his right foot in the second game of the season and wound up making just one appearance the rest of the way.
The Magic acquired Meeks in June for a conditional second-round pick. He underwent foot surgery the following month, delaying his Magic debut until December 2nd.
Meeks, who earned nine starts in recent weeks, is averaging 8.9 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 24 games. He has given Orlando a boost on the perimeter, making 40.4% of his 3-point attempts. Meeks is one of the league’s premier spot-up shooters when healthy, as his 37.5% career average from long range attests.
Orlando’s other top option at shooting guard, Evan Fournier, is dealing with heel and foot issues. Meeks’ injury could lead to additional playing time for 2015 lottery pick Mario Hezonja. C.J. Wilcox could also be in the mix.
The Magic would like to turn the season around and make the playoffs and GM Rob Hennigan said the team would look to be aggressive in its attempts to improve. Hennigan said the front office was disappointed by the team’s play on the defensive end and added that he wouldn’t rule out trading anyone on the roster.
So that leads us to tonight’s topic: How would you fix the Magic if you were sitting in Rob Hennigan’s chair? What moves would you make to improve the team?
Orlando’s defense ranks in the middle of the pack, giving up 105 points per game. That’s an area which could use some help, but it’s the offense that’s in dire need of reinforcements. The Magic are scoring just 99.9 points per game, which is the sixth-worst mark in the league. They have the third-worst shooting percentage from behind the arc and they have the sixth-worst shooting percentage overall. Evan Fournier being sidelined certainly hurts the team, but the problem goes beyond missing the shooting guard’s play-making ability.
The team fell to the Bulls tonight to bring its record to 18-29 on the season. Orlando is 5.5 games behind Chicago for the eighth seed in the conference. However, the team is also just 7.5 games ahead of the Nets for the worst record in the East. The Magic could rally and make a run at the eighth seed, but they could easily fall in the standings and end up with another high-end lottery pick.
Be the GM in tonight’s shootaround. Let us know what moves you would make to get the team into the playoffs in the comment section below. We look forward to what you have to say!
- Magic GM Rob Hennigan is “encouraged and excited” about the play of Elfrid Payton this season, as he tells Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. “I think especially over the last few weeks he appears to be gaining a level of aggressiveness and comfort at the position that I think bodes well for our team,” Hennigan said. “I think, like anyone on our team, our goal is to improve. Our goal is to get better. And we need to explore any means necessary to do that. But certainly with E.P.’s play and his work ethic and our belief in how good he can become he’s certainly an integral part of our team and very, very valuable to us.”
- Hennigan said free agent addition Bismack Biyombo has brought the Magic exactly what they were looking for when they signed the big man, as Robbins passes along in the same piece. “I think Biz has brought to our team exactly what we anticipated: his toughness, his energy, his spirit, his ability to be a paint presence defensively. Like most of our players, we think his best basketball is still ahead of him based on his age and his work ethic,” Hennigan said.