- Serge Ibaka gives the Magic a much better defensive option against Eastern Conference counterparts LeBron James, Al Horford, Chris Bosh and Paul Millsap, as Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel breaks down in his latest column. Ibaka, who was acquired from the Thunder in a draft-night deal, provides the club with its first legitimate power forward in 15 years, Schmitz declares.
4:09pm: According to Brian Schmitz of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link), Rudez was invited to training camp but was not offered a contract.
12:41pm: Free agent Crotian forward Damjan Rudez appears set to join the Magic, according to Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops.com, who reports that Rudez and the Magic have agreed to terms on a contract. Terms of the deal aren’t known, but Varlas suggests that an official announcement should happen soon.
Rudez, 30, saw a decent amount of playing time in Indiana during his first NBA season in 2014/15, averaging 15.4 minutes in 68 regular-season contests for the Pacers. However, he was traded to the Timberwolves last July in a deal for Chase Budinger, and never carved out a consistent role in Minnesota last season. The Wolves declined their team option on his contract in June.
A three-time Croatian League All-Star, Rudez spent the first part of his basketball career playing overseas, and according to Varlas, several European clubs expressed interest in him this offseason. Assuming the Magic make things official though, it looks like the veteran forward will remain in the NBA for now.
Orlando doesn’t have a ton of outside shooting on its roster, particularly with Jodie Meeks‘ health in question, so Rudez should help provide some range, if he makes the regular-season roster. He has shot 39.1% from beyond the arc in his 101 NBA games.
Taking into account their cap limitations, the Magic could sign Rudez to a minimum-salary deal or to a contract using some or all of their $2.898MM room exception.
- A report in June indicated that the Magic were prepared to make Chauncey Billups one of the NBA’s highest-paid assistant coaches, but the former guard turned down the offer to join Frank Vogel‘s staff. Appearing on The Vertical’s podcast recently, Billups explained that he declined the job primarily for family reasons. “My second daughter has a couple more years of high school, so I didn’t really want to move away,” Billups said, per Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press. “It became more of a personal thing than just a coaching job. But it was a great opportunity.”
Over the next several days, we’ll be breaking down 2016 NBA free agent spending by division, examining which teams – and divisions – were the most active this July.
These divisional breakdowns won’t present a full picture of teams’ offseason spending. Some notable free agents, including LeBron James, remain unsigned, so there’s still money out there to be spent. Our lists also don’t include money spent on this year’s first- and second-round picks or draft-and-stash signings. There are a few free agent names missing in some instances as well, since those deals aren’t yet official or terms haven’t been reported.
Still, these closer looks at divisional spending should generally reveal how teams invested their money in free agency this summer, identifying which clubs went all-out and which ones played it safe.
With the help of our Free Agent Tracker and contract info from Basketball Insiders, we’ll focus today on the Southeast division. Let’s dive in…
1. Washington Wizards
- Total money committed: $239,223,166
- Guaranteed money committed (including player options): $234,026,744
- Largest expenditure: Bradley Beal (five years, $127,171,313)
- Other notable signings:
- Ian Mahinmi (four years, $64,000,000)
- Andrew Nicholson (four years, $26,000,000)
- Jason Smith (three years, $15,675,000)
- Notes:
- Marcus Thornton will earn $1,315,448 on a minimum-salary contract, but the Wizards will only pay $980,431 of that salary, with the NBA footing the rest of the bill.
2. Charlotte Hornets
- Total money committed: $197,549,753
- Guaranteed money committed (including player options): $187,517,567
- Largest expenditure: Nicolas Batum (five years, $120,000,000)
- Other notable signings:
- Marvin Williams (four years, $54,512,500)
- Ramon Sessions (two years, $12,270,000)
- Roy Hibbert (one year, $5,000,000)
- Notes:
- Brian Roberts will earn $1,050,961 on a minimum-salary contract, but the Hornets will only pay $980,431 of that salary, with the NBA footing the rest of the bill.
- Sessions’ deal contributes significantly to the gap between the Hornets’ total money and guaranteed money committed, since his second year ($6.27MM) is a team option.
3. Orlando Magic
- Total money committed: $197,000,000
- Guaranteed money committed (including player options): $197,000,000
- Largest expenditure: Evan Fournier (five years, $85,000,000)
- Other notable signings:
- Bismack Biyombo (four years, $68,000,000)
- D.J. Augustin (four years, $29,000,000)
- Jeff Green (one year, $15,000,000)
- Notes:
- The Magic have yet to add any camp invitees or players on partially-guaranteed deals, so the four players listed above make up the team’s entire free agent haul so far.
4. Miami Heat
- Total money committed: $186,713,810
- Guaranteed money committed (including player options): $175,347,388
- Largest expenditure: Hassan Whiteside (four years, $98,419,537)
- Other notable signings:
- Tyler Johnson (four years, $50,000,000)
- Wayne Ellington (two years, $12,270,000)
- Dion Waiters (two years, $5,926,410)
- Derrick Williams (one year, $4,598,000)
- Udonis Haslem (one year, $4,000,000)
- James Johnson (one year, $4,000,000)
- Notes:
- Like Sessions for the Hornets, Ellington’s second-year salary of $6.27MM is not guaranteed, which contributes to the gap between the Heat’s total money and guaranteed money committed.
5. Atlanta Hawks
- Total money committed: $151,929,151
- Guaranteed money committed (including player options): $150,530,431
- Largest expenditure: Dwight Howard (three years, $70,500,000)
- Other notable signings:
- Kent Bazemore (four years, $70,000,000)
- Malcolm Delaney (two years, $5,000,000)
- Kris Humphries (one year, $4,000,000)
- Notes:
- Jarrett Jack will earn $1,551,659 on a minimum-salary contract, but the Hawks will only pay $980,431 of that salary, with the NBA footing the rest of the bill.
Previously:
Southwest
- Developing chemistry is the next challenge in Orlando after this summer’s huge turnover, writes Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel. The changes started with the hiring of coach Frank Vogel and continued through a revamped roster that has just six players back from the end of last season. The most notable additions for the Magic were Serge Ibaka, who was acquired in a draft night trade, and Bismack Biyombo and Jeff Green, who signed as free agents. “To me, chemistry and togetherness is something you earn, something you achieve and something you work towards by creating this culture where people like to come to work and people are playing for each other,” Vogel said. “You talk about selflessness and a team-first mentality. Whether we’ve been together for five years or are brand new to each other, every year you’ve got to work to achieve chemistry.”
In Zach Lowe’s latest column for ESPN.com, he examines the Magic‘s offseason moves, attempting to make sense of some of the club’s unusual decisions. After investing huge money into Bismack Biyombo and sending a significant trade package to the Thunder for Serge Ibaka, Orlando has a roster that appears a little heavy on frontcourt talent, and one that lacks offensive playmakers.
As Lowe details, the Magic may attempt to roll out a lineup that features Biyombo at center, Ibaka at power forward, and Aaron Gordon at the three in a Paul George-type role, per new head coach Frank Vogel. That would give the team impressive length, athleticism, and rim protection in the frontcourt, but it remains to be seen whether it would be effective against NBA teams that are increasingly reliant on three-pointers and perimeter talent.
Lowe’s piece also includes a handful of interesting tidbits of information he has gleaned from league sources, so let’s round those up…
- Despite the logjam up front, the Magic are in no rush to trade Nikola Vucevic, writes Lowe. Given the team’s lack of pure scorers, but Orlando might want to keep Vucevic around to take advantage of his offensive prowess and his ability to pass in the post.
- Vucevic believes he should be the starting center, but hasn’t been promised anything yet, and acknowledges that the newly-signed Biyombo is making a few million dollars more per year than him. “Do I wish I were a free agent now?” Vucevic said, referring to new contracts signed by Biyombo and others. “Yes. But I can’t do anything about it. I’m happy guys are getting paid, and in the normal world, it’s still a lot of money. I mean, I’ll never spend all that money.”
- Victor Oladipo, traded by Orlando to the Thunder in the Ibaka deal, is seeking a maximum-salary contract extension for now, sources tell Lowe. That asking price likely played a role in the Magic‘s decision to move him, if the club was unwilling to go that high to lock him up.
- Before signing Biyombo, the Magic were “sniffing around” the possibility of signing Joakim Noah at around the same price, according to Lowe. The two veteran bigs ultimately received similar deals, and will both count for $17MM against the cap in year one.
- As an aside in his story on the Magic, Lowe also provides an update on the Sixers, reporting that most of Sam Hinkie‘s old regime – including his “handpicked analytics crew” – is expected to be gone from Philadelphia by the end of August.
- Tyler Harvey, a 2015 second-rounder whose NBA rights are held by the Magic, announced on Instagram that he has signed with Italian team Auxilium Pallacanestro Torino for the upcoming season. Harvey spent last season playing for the Erie BayHawks, Orlando’s D-League affiliate, but it seems the Magic won’t be able to keep as close an eye on the 23-year-old guard in 2016/17.
- Newly acquired Magic shooting guard Jodie Meeks is out indefinitely after undergoing foot surgery Tuesday, writes Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel. Meeks needed the procedure to stabilize the fifth metatarsal in his right foot, which he fractured early last season. Doctors offered little clue as to when Meeks might be able to play again. Orlando acquired him in a June 29th trade, sending a second-round pick to the Pistons in return.
- Former Magic guard Devyn Marble is getting interest from teams in Europe and China, according to Orazio Cauchi of Sportando. Marble, who spent two years in Orlando, was traded to the Clippers last week and subsequently waived in a cost-cutting move.
- Bismack Biyombo‘s four-year, $72MM contract with the Magic actually has annual $17MM cap hits, rather than $18MM. Biyombo’s pact features $1MM in annual unlikely incentives.
- The Magic signed second-round pick Stephen Zimmerman using cap room, which means the team was able to lock him up to a three-year deal. The first year is guaranteed for $950K, while the next two years are currently non-guaranteed.
Life in the NBA hasn’t been what Jahlil Okafor expected, but he tells Bob Cooney of The Philadelphia Inquirer that he wants to change that, and he hopes to do it with the Sixers. Okafor’s rookie season was plagued by off-court incidents and injuries that limited him to 53 games. He has spent the offseason listening to trade rumors, along with talk that his style of play doesn’t fit the modern NBA game. “[The trade talk] is definitely all stupid with a lot of speculation,” Okafor said. “I see where people will write what I’m feeling and I haven’t even spoken to them. A lot of stuff is made up and it’s annoying. But for the most part, it’s fine. For me, at a certain point, I got upset when another story came out that said we were upset with the team and that just wasn’t the case. But I’m just looking forward to the season now.” Okafor is still rehabbing from surgery in February to repair a torn meniscus, but he hopes to be cleared for five-on-five play soon.
There’s more news out of the Eastern Conference:
- After getting his first taste of the NBA during summer league, Ben Simmons plans to work on “everything” before training camp, relays Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. The No. 1 pick played six summer league games, averaging 10.8 points, 7.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists. But there were concerns about his turnover rate — 3.8 per game — and a habit of standing around when he didn’t have the ball. “It’s just everyday education,” said Sixers summer league coach Lloyd Pierce. “It’s just learning the NBA, basic timing, position, execution. I can throw out every basketball term in the book. He’s just got to learn the game.”
- The Magic should take another shot at Hawks power forward Paul Millsap next summer, writes Brian Schmitz of The Orlando Sentinel. Orlando talked to Millsap in 2015 before he decided to re-sign with Atlanta, and with a player option for 2017/18, he might be a free agent again in 12 months. Millsap tops a list of potential 2017 free agent targets Schmitz listed for the Magic. Others mentioned are Gordon Hayward, J.J. Redick, Jeff Teague and Kyle Lowry.
- Whispers about James Young‘s commitment to the game continue to haunt him as he battles for a roster spot with the Celtics, according to Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald. Young came into the league with people doubting his work ethic, and now there are concerns that he hasn’t developed as much as he should. “I’ve seen that for 35 years in the NBA,” said president of basketball operations Danny Ainge, who wasn’t specifically talking about Young. “They don’t understand the urgency. They feel like they’ve made it, and they don’t understand that staying in the NBA should be their objective and not just making it here.”