Orlando Magic Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Bucks, Dedmon, Gooden, Pelicans

March 19th, 2014 at 3:58pm CST by Chuck Myron

A source tells Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Bucks owner Herb Kohl is receiving considerable nationwide interest from investors who’d like to buy at least a minority share of the team, and many of them are in close proximity to Milwaukee. Kohl is reportedly close to selling a majority stake in the franchise, but Walker hears that no deal is imminent. Sports business experts say the team would be more valuable in another market, Walker writes, but Kohl has been insistent that the team stay in Milwaukee. Here’s more from around the league:

Dewayne Dedmon‘s latest contract with the Magic gives him the chance to make the team’s roster next season, writes Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, so presumably that means the deal covers 2014/15 with a non-guaranteed salary.
The Wizards didn’t bring Drew Gooden aboard until last month, but they’d been monitoring him since December, tweets J. Michael of CSNWashington.com. Gooden followed a pair of 10-day contracts with a deal Tuesday for the rest of the season.
The Pelicans have more than $54MM in commitments for next season, and GM Dell Demps acknowledged that it’s unlikely the team will be a major player on the free agent market, as John Reid of The Times-Picayune observes. Demps also said he doesn’t regret last summer’s Jrue Holiday trade, even though there’s a strong chance it could cost them another lottery pick this year.
The Bulls may have to make a few creative cap maneuvers to entice Nikola Mirotic to sign this summer, depending on the dollars-to-euros exchange rate and Real Madrid’s willingness to negotiate the amount of Mirotic’s buyout. Nate Duncan of Basketball Insiders has the details.
Twelve-year NBA veteran Ricky Davis had been attempting a comeback with the D-League affiliate of the Knicks, but the Erie BayHawks announced that they have cut him loose.

Magic Re-Sign Dewayne Dedmon For Season

March 17th, 2014 at 2:05pm CST by Zachary Links

2:05pm: The Magic have officially re-signed Dedmon, the team announced.

10:20am: Dedmon’s deal also includes team options for the next two seasons, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports.

8:41am: The Magic will sign rookie center Dewayne Dedmon for the remainder of this season, according to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. The big man’s second 10-day contract expired at 11:59 ET (10:59 CT) Sunday night.

Dedmon gives the Magic frontcourt depth, something they’ve needed since waiving Solomon Jones in January and buying out Glen Davis’ contract in February. Dedmon’s signing is expected to be made official today and Robbins writes that he will travel with the team for its four-game road trip to the West Coast.

While 24-year-old former USC Trojan’s skills are raw, he runs the floor well and he has shown the ability to improve during his time in Orlando. While they’re keeping Dedmon for the remainder of the season, they won’t be keeping rookie swingman Adonis Thomas, we learned over the weekend. With Dedmon staying put and Thomas headed elsewhere, the Magic have 13 men on their roster.

Draft Rumors: Gordon, Parker, Wiggins

March 17th, 2014 at 1:49pm CST by Chuck Myron

Chad Ford of ESPN.com has used his insider-only “Tank Rank” column to pass along rumors connected the plans that teams have for this season, but this week’s edition is all about how clubs view the top prospects for the draft. We’ll pass along the highlights from Ford here:

The Celtics and Jazz are high on Arizona power forward Aaron Gordon, according to Ford.
Ford consistently hears that the Pistons would draft Jabari Parker No. 1 overall if they scored the No. 1 overall pick. That seems to assume that Joe Dumars would still be in charge of the team’s basketball operations, which isn’t a given.
The Pelicans believe Parker would be the “perfect fit” for them, Ford writes.
The Cavs envision using Andrew Wiggins, a small forward, as a shooting guard next to Kyrie Irving if they’re able to land the Kansas star, Ford suggests.
If the Magic wind up with the No. 1 overall pick, they’d probably use it on Wiggins, Ford writes, identifying Dante Exum and Marcus Smart as others the team will likely target.
The Lakers appear to have Joel Embiid, Wiggins, and Exum as their top three prospects, according to Ford, who pegs Parker fourth and Julius Randle fifth on L.A.’s board.

And-Ones: Lottery, Jeter, Nash

March 16th, 2014 at 8:48am CST by Eddie Scarito

With teams starting to be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, more and more focus will be given to the talk about franchises “tanking” for a better lottery pick. Commissioner Adam Silver has denied that teams are losing on purpose, but that hasn’t quieted the chatter. There has been some talk of changing how the league determines draft order to combat this, but Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post doesn’t think the current system needs to be altered. Dempsey cites the fact that the team with the worst overall record rarely gets the top pick. In fact, since the lottery system began in 1985 only four teams have secured the first-overall pick, and none since 2004 when the Magic won the lottery and selected Dwight Howard. Dempsey also opines that losing now to try to secure a brighter future is a smart move, not one to be condemned.

Magic Won’t Re-Sign Adonis Thomas

March 15th, 2014 at 6:08pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Magic won’t re-sign Adonis Thomas for the season when his second 10-day contract ends at 11:59p.m. Sunday night, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reports. The team also has to make a decision on Dewayne Dedmon, whose second 10-day contract expires then as well. According to Robbins, the team has not yet decided Dedmon’s fate. The Magic currently have 14 players on the roster including Thomas and Dedmon.

Thomas has appeared in four games for the Magic and has averaged 1.8 PPG, 0.8 RPG, and 0.5 APG in 6.0 MPG. His slash line is .333/.000/1.000.

Prior to joining the Magic, Thomas played in 26 games for Springfield in the NBA D-League where he averaged 16.2 PPG, 4.2 RPG, and 1.3 APG in 35.1 MPG.

Eastern Notes: Noel, Maxiell, Bird

March 12th, 2014 at 8:22pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Jason Maxiell hasn’t played in the Magic’s last nine games and has only one appearance since January 29th, but he’s trying to maintain a positive outlook, writes Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. Maxiell stated, “I’m respecting that this is a year for the young guys to develop and improve for next year. With the coaching staff and [general manager] Rob [Hennigan] and [assistant general manager] Scott Perry, I think more of the bigger picture is moving forward for next year and having a mixture of experienced young guys mixed in with some vets.” Robbins mentions that the lack of playing time could hurt Maxiell in the long run because of his contract. He signed a free-agent contract with the Magic during the offseason, and his salary of $2.5MM for next year is non-guaranteed and he won’t be owed anything if the team waives him before mid-July.

D-League To Expand, Knicks To Own New Team

March 10th, 2014 at 11:27am CST by Chuck Myron

The Knicks officially announced today that they’re going to own a D-League team in White Plains, New York starting next season. The expansion squad will be the D-League’s 18th franchise. The Knicks on Friday confirmed a report from late last month that they were ending their relationship with the Erie BayHawks and planning to set up a team in Westchester County, where White Plains is located.

The Magic may replace the Knicks in Erie, as Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel suggests, noting that the Magic are seeking a one-to-one affiliation in which they would run the basketball operations of a D-League club but leave the business side to local ownership (Twitter links). Orlando is sharing the Fort Wayne Mad Ants with five other NBA teams this year.

The Knicks become the seventh NBA team to own a D-League affiliate outright, while several others have the sort of “hybrid” partnerships the Magic want to arrange for next season. The Timberwolves are investigating the possibility of buying a D-League team, too, notes Andy Greder of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (Twitter link).

Knicks assistant GM Allan Houston will serve as the White Plains D-League club’s GM, so it appears he’ll remain with the organization regardless of whether Phil Jackson joins the Knicks as an executive.

The new affiliate of the Knicks will play at the Westchester County Center, about 30 miles north of New York City. The Knicks also have their training and practice facility in Westchester County, so it appears the Knicks plan to make heavy use of D-League assignments in the future. This year, they’ve only made five, as our D-League assignment/recall log shows.

Eastern Notes: Sixers, Price, Free Agency

March 7th, 2014 at 7:23pm CST by Cray Allred

Mike Sielski of The Philadelphia Inquirer spoke with the Sixers marketing firm that has been tasked with selling Philly fans optimism in the midst of a miserable season. The “Together We Build” campaign has tried to convince fans that enduring short term on-the-court sacrifices will make future, more competitive Sixers rosters even more sweet. The message hasn’t landed with many fans, as attendance has dropped by more than 3,000 per game compared to last year. Here’s more from around the East:

Sixers coach Brett Brown said his gut feeling is that Jason Richardson will not play this year, he tells Christopher A. Vito of The Delaware County Daily Times (via Twitter). Richardson has been out all season while recovering from knee surgery, and owns a player option for next year at $6.6MM.
Magic point guard Ronnie Price has embraced his role as a veteran mentor to younger players in Orlando, he tells John Denton on the team’s site. “I think it is part of my responsibility and part of my respecting the game and respecting the people who mentored me when I was a rookie and a young guy in this league. I would be selfish to not try to mentor some of these guys and share what I’ve learned in this league.” The 30-year-old has another $1.3MM non-guaranteed year left on his contract, but is aware that his playing career could be over soon. “I like my role right now as a player and I still think of myself as a player. What I do as far as talking to guys on and off the court, that just comes naturally to me. I don’t consider myself a player-coach or anything like that; I love the game of basketball so I know that I will always be around the game.”
In a 5-on-5 post for ESPN, J.A. Adande, Chris Broussard, Israel Gutierrez, Marc Stein, and Ethan Sherwood Strauss weigh in on whether stars for the Heat and Knicks will become free agents this off-season. Their consensus is that LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade will opt out of their player options this off-season.

Magic Re-Sign Dewayne Dedmon To 10-Day Deal

March 7th, 2014 at 8:34am CST by Chuck Myron

FRIDAY, 8:34am: The signing is official, according to a press release from the team.

TUESDAY, 12:24pm: The team will indeed sign Dedmon to a second 10-day deal, according to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). His first contract will expire at the end of Thursday.

MONDAY, 7:55am: The Magic are expected to re-sign center Dewayne Dedmon to a second 10-day deal, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports amid his weekly power rankings. The undrafted rookie has played in just one game for a total of three minutes so far for Orlando after inking with the team nearly a week ago, but it appears the Magic are confident they can find more time for him. It’s unclear if the Magic have similar plans with Adonis Thomas, who signed a 10-day contract with the team at the same time Dedmon did.

The 24-year-old former USC Trojan is already on his third NBA team after stints with the Warriors and Sixers earlier this season. A second 10-day contract would be Dedmon’s fourth overall this year, as our 10-Day Tracker shows. He’s averaged 2.6 points in 9.9 minutes over 16 NBA appearances in 2013/14. The 7-footer has been impressive so far on the boards, notching 11.5 rebounds per 36 minutes.

Dedmon, a client of Michael Silverman, has also spent 15 games in the D-League this year, posting averages of 15.2 PPG and 13.6 RPG in 33.7 MPG. The Magic have just 12 guaranteed contracts, affording them plenty of flexibility to keep him for the season if they choose to do so once Dedmon’s second 10-day pact runs out.

Magic Re-Sign Adonis Thomas To 10-Day Pact

March 7th, 2014 at 8:32am CST by Chuck Myron

FRIDAY, 8:32am: The team has officially announced the deal, via press release.

TUESDAY, 12:26pm: The Magic will re-sign Adonis Thomas to a second 10-day contract, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (on Twitter). The first 10-day pact Thomas signed with the team expires at the end of Thursday. The team brought Thomas and Dewayne Dedmon aboard shortly after waiving Glen Davis.

The 20-year-old small forward has played a total of just 13 minutes over two games in his stint with the Magic so far, but it appears he did enough in the D-League this season to convince Orlando to hold on to him for a while longer. The former Memphis Tiger took 3.1 three-pointers per game and made 46.9% of them in 26 contests with the Springfield Armor, the affiliate of the Nets. Brooklyn retained his D-League rights after he spent a brief time with the big club in the preseason, but Thomas was free to sign with any NBA team after the Nets cut him from their NBA roster before opening night.

Dedmon is set to receive a second 10-day pact, too. Orlando is only carrying 12 guaranteed contracts, so unless the team wants to continue cycling through players on 10-day deals, either Dedmon or Thomas, and maybe both, are in line to receive contracts for the rest of the season once their second 10 days are up.