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Magic Pick Up Options On Napier, Three Others

October 25th, 2015 at 1:58pm CST by Chuck Myron

SUNDAY, 1:58pm: The team announced it has exercised the options on each of the players, Robbins tweets.

TUESDAY, 11:24am: Shabazz Napier‘s strong preseason performance has won over the Magic, who plan to pick up their $1,350,120 team option for 2016/17 on his rookie scale contract, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. The team is also planning to exercise its rookie scale options on Aaron Gordon, Victor Oladipo and Elfrid Payton, according to Robbins, but unlike those three, the team wasn’t quite convinced about the option for Napier heading into camp, Robbins indicates.

The deadline for all four options is Monday, November 2nd, and Orlando is expected to make the moves official soon after its last preseason game on Friday, Robbins writes. The options add up to precisely $14.868MM, lifting the Magic’s payroll for 2016/17 to more than $60.5MM against a projected $89MM cap.

Napier, 24, is fifth on the team in preseason points per game, with 10.2, and is putting up that number in just 17.0 minutes per contest. The point guard whom the Magic acquired for virtually nothing in a trade with the Heat this summer has posted 2.2 assists and 1.2 turnovers per game in his five preseason appearances. That’s slightly better than the 2.2-to-1.6 assists-to-turnover ratio he put up in his rookie season with Miami last year, and he’s scoring at about double the rate he did with the Heat.

The 2014 Final Four Most Outstanding Player went 24th overall in the 2014 draft on the same night the Magic came away with Gordon and Payton, who were top-10 picks. Payton finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting while injury limited Gordon’s impact. Oladipo was the second pick in the 2013 draft and finished second in Rookie of the Year voting in 2014.

I regarded the option pickup for Napier as generally likely, while the same move for Gordon, Payton and Oladipo seemed highly likely. The options for Napier, Gordon and Payton are for the third seasons of their respective rookie scale contracts, which cover four years. The option for Oladipo is for his fourth season, and he’ll be eligible for a rookie scale extension next summer.

Do you agree with the Magic’s plan to pick up Napier’s option? Leave a comment to let us know.

Southeast Notes: Richardson, Heat, Napier

September 24th, 2015 at 10:19pm CST by Eddie Scarito

It was concerns regarding his long-term health that led Jason Richardson to call it a career and retire, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports writes. “I didn’t want to limp the rest of my life,” Richardson told Spears. “I still have my whole life in front of me, God willing. I sat alone at a park in Atlanta thinking and no one said anything to me because they didn’t recognize me since I just got there. I talked to my wife for an hour on the phone and then I sat for five hours thinking while listening to music before deciding that retiring was the right thing to do.” The 34-year-old had signed a one-year, non-guaranteed deal with the Hawks for the league minimum back in August. “I worked hard and had love and passion for the game,” Richardson added. “But I didn’t want to be that guy who was just there collecting a paycheck.”

Here’s more out of the Southeast Division:

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is excited about the team’s offseason additions of Amar’e Stoudemire and Gerald Green, Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald relays. “If you had told me a year ago we would have an opportunity to sign both those players, I would have said that’s not realistic,” Spoelstra said. “We recruited Amar’e in 2010 and were fans of his game back then. His game has evolved and he has found a niche and a role the last couple of years we definitely can take advantage of. Gerald Green is an explosive player. Those type of game changing players are tough to find in this league. He has been very committed to get to know us and also be in a great shape. To be part of a championship culture and a team with high expectations. I told him you put on this jersey, there are different expectations. He loves the challenge of that.”
Point guard Shabazz Napier, whom the Magic acquired from Miami back in July, is expected to be the team’s third point guard behind Elfrid Payton and C.J. Watson, but the hope is that he can be developed into a future asset, Brian Schmitz of The Orlando Sentinel writes.
The Magic are pleased with the progress they have seen from Payton, who is entering his second season in the league, Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel relays. When asked about the young guard’s outside shooting, coach Scott Skiles said, “It’s better. He’s put in a lot of time. He’s dedicated himself to it. Obviously, it doesn’t stop just because the season starts. Elfrid’s a talented guy. He’s still a young player. It’s a tough position to learn. Generally, guys aren’t totally polished at that in their second year in the NBA. But as I said before, ‘progress, not perfection.’ We just want him to continue to make progress, and we’re really high on him.“

Southeast Notes: Washburn, Hawks, Watson

September 17th, 2015 at 10:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Hornets training camp signee Jason Washburn could not continue to play overseas because the political unrest in Ukraine made it unsafe to do so, Jessica Camerato of Basketball Insiders writes in her profile of the 25-year-old center. “They [his team] said we can’t pay you anymore – this has really destroyed our economy – and we can’t guarantee your safety,” Washburn said. “We think you should leave.”

Washburn understands that it will be difficult to make Charlotte’s regular season roster, with the team already possessing 14 players with fully guaranteed deals, Camerato adds. “I don’t know the odds [of making the team] and to be honest, I don’t care,” Washburn continued. “I’m going to come in here, soak up what I can, play as hard as I can, if I get my opportunity, try to take as best advantage of it as I can and let the chips fall where they may.”

Here’s more from the Southeast Division:

The Hawks‘ success in 2015/16 will depend on how well newcomers Tim Hardaway Jr. and Justin Holiday perform in replacement of DeMarre Carroll, who signed a free agent deal with Toronto this offseason, Tim Bontemps of The New York Post (Facebook link) writes in his season preview.
The Magic will look for C.J. Watson to act as a mentor to second-year point guard Elfrid Payton, which was one of the motivating factors for the club in signing Watson to a three-year, $15MM deal this summer, writes Brian Schmitz of The Orlando Sentinel.
The addition of Justise Winslow through the draft was the Heat‘s best long-term addition this offseason, but signing Gerald Green to a one-year, minimum salary deal will have the bigger impact in 2015/16, the staff at Basketball Insiders opine in their season preview for the franchise.

Fallout From Pete D’Alessandro’s Kings Depature

June 10th, 2015 at 4:19pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported earlier today that Pete D’Alessandro is leaving the Kings to accept a front office post with the Nuggets. He’ll be working in a supporting role under team president Josh Kroenke with both the Nuggets and the National Hockey League’s Colorado Avalanche. D’Alessandro’s impending departure from Sacramento will end a tumultuous tenure that began with high hopes when new Kings principal owner Vivek Ranadive brought him aboard back in June 2013, writes Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. In the article, Jones relays a number of details regarding D’Alessandro’s tenure with the Kings. Jones’ meticulously reported piece is worth a full read, especially for Kings fans, but we’ll pass along some highlights here:

D’Alessandro fought for the firing of coach Michael Malone last December, Jones writes. Parting ways with Malone sent the team into a tailspin and angered a number of the players on the roster, as Jones details. Ranadive said it was D’Alessandro and former Kings adviser Chris Mullin, who is now head coach at St. John’s University, who insisted that firing Malone was best for the team. This conflicts with Wojnarowski’s report, which indicated that Ranadive forced D’Alessandro into firing Malone.
The GM alienated some Kings players when he publicly relayed that Malone would have been fired even if the team had a winning record, according to Jones. The players viewed the termination of Malone as a personal vendetta that D’Alessandro acted on regardless of the effect it would have on the team, the Bee scribe adds.
D’Alessandro told center DeMarcus Cousins that he was against the hiring of George Karl as coach, multiple sources told Jones. Cousins later became upset when reports surfaced indicating that he was the one who was against Karl being named coach because of his loyalty to Malone.
D’Alessandro was the primary reason that former director player pro personnel Shareef Abdur-Rahim left the team before this past season, Jones reports. Abdur-Rahim disagreed with the GM’s decision to select Nik Stauskas in the 2014 draft, and he believed that Elfrid Payton would have been a better fit for the team, Jones relays.
Ranadive hired Vlade Divac, against D’Alessandro’s wishes, in order to add a basketball voice whom the owner believed wouldn’t allow personal feelings to impact his professional decisions, Jones adds.

Wiggins, Mirotic, Noel Lead All-Rookie Teams

May 18th, 2015 at 1:11pm CST by Chuck Myron

Andrew Wiggins was a unanimous All-Rookie First-Team selection, the league announced as it revealed the media voting results for the honors. Nikola Mirotic was the second-leading vote-getter, followed by Nerlens Noel, Elfrid Payton and Jordan Clarkson, all of whom comprise the first team. Marcus Smart, Zach LaVine, Bojan Bogdanovic, Jusuf Nurkic and Langston Galloway make up the second team.

Wiggins far outpaced all other contenders for Rookie of the Year honors after averaging 16.9 points in 36.2 minutes per game this season for the Timberwolves, who acquired the 2014 No. 1 overall pick in the Kevin Love trade. Minnesota, which finished with the league’s worst record this season and has a 25% chance to win the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, is the only team to place two players on the All-Rookie teams, with LaVine on the second team despite having garnered 22 first-team votes. Every member of the second team received at least three first-team votes.

Payton, the 10th overall selection, is the only first-round pick from 2014 to appear on the first team. Mirotic was a draft-and-stash selection from 2011, Noel was the sixth overall pick in 2013 but qualified as a rookie this season because he sat out all of 2013/14 with injury, and Clarkson was the 46th pick last year, having gone overlooked through all of the first round and half of the second.

Galloway made the second team despite having gone undrafted and not having made his debut until January 7th, after he had signed a 10-day contract with the Knicks. New York followed up with another 10-day deal and finally a multiyear pact for the surprisingly effective point guard.

Southeast Notes: O’Quinn, Beasley, Payton

March 26th, 2015 at 5:00pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Kyle O’Quinn‘s future is up in the air as his minutes continue to decrease with the Magic, Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel writes. The big man has spent his entire three year career in Orlando, so he doesn’t know what the free agent process will hold for him, Robbins adds. “It’s my first free agency, so I really don’t know what to expect, to be honest,” O’Quinn said. “My agent [Andy Miller], obviously, he’s been through free agency before with other players. He can give me his analysis and his assumption and his prediction as much as he wants, but I’m the one that has to go to bed at night not knowing where I’ll be next year.” O’Quinn will become an unrestricted free agent this summer if the Magic don’t make him a $1.2MM qualifying offer, or a restricted free agent if the Magic extend the qualifying offer.

Here’s more from the Southeast Division:

Both Michael Beasley‘s and Henry Walker‘s deals with the Heat are two year, minimum salary arrangements, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter links). Beasley’s contract includes a team option for 2015/16 that needs to be decided on before July, Pincus notes.
Walker’s deal includes partial guarantees of $100K if he is still on the Heat‘s roster after August 1st, $300K after November 3rd, and another $500K if Walker is still with Miami after December 1st, Pincus tweets.
Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders looked at Elfrid Payton‘s rookie season with the Magic and the point guard’s case to win the Rookie of the Year award. The 21-year-old Payton has appeared in 73 games this season, including 54 as a starter. He is averaging 8.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 6.2 assists in 29.5 minutes per contest.

Eastern Notes: Davies, Payton, Heat, D-League

December 13th, 2014 at 12:43pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Brandon Davies was asked about the perception that his former team, the Sixers, were tanking in a deliberate effort to land the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. Davies denied that was the case amongst the players, and said, “One thing I can tell you in the locker room, we were set on winning. We were just going away. I think the games we played in showed that. We lost some close games against some really good teams.”

Here’s more from the East:

Nets coach Lionel Hollins was disappointed that the Sixers waived Jorge Gutierrez, whom they had acquired along with Andrei Kirilenko on Wednesday, Pompey tweets.
When the Magic drafted Elfrid Payton with the No. 10 pick in this year’s draft it appeared the plan was to play him and Victor Oladipo alongside each other, which hasn’t occured much this season, Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com writes. But according to coach Jacque Vaughn, things can change as Payton continues to develop, notes Howard-Cooper. “I think overall we’ll see how this combination finds its way,” said Vaughn. “The great thing is I have my eyes, which I always listen to, and I also have stats these days, which I can look at and see how that pairing is doing. A lot of detail will go into it. But there’s no rush from the standpoint of ‘This has to happen now.’“
The Heat‘s two young big men, Justin Hamilton and Hassan Whiteside, are beginning to impress coach Erik Spoelstra, Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel writes. “They both do some nice things and they both do it in a different way,” Spoelstra said. “Justin is a very intelligent, in-the-right-place type of weak-side defender. He does a lot of things that don’t show up in a box score. He reminds me a little bit of a Shane Battier, does a lot of those intangible things. Whiteside is big and he has that great gift of blocking shots, so you know somebody is in there.”
The Heat have assigned Whiteside and Shabazz Napier to the Sioux Falls Skyforce, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be the first trek of the season to the D-League for both players.
With both the Lakers and the Knicks struggling mightily this season, and both franchises’ future prospects looking equally bleak, Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony should find a way to become teammates, Paul Newberry of The Associated Press opines. Newberry does acknowledge that the players’ respective contracts would make this a difficult proposition.

Magic Sign Aaron Gordon, Elfrid Payton

July 2nd, 2014 at 10:01am CST by Chuck Myron

10:01am: Their contracts are indeed for 120% of the rookie scale, as Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel tweets.

9:44am: The Magic have signed No. 4 overall pick Aaron Gordon and Elfrid Payton, the 10th overall pick, the team announced via press release. Official signings with first-round picks are one of the few maneuvers allowed during the July moratorium. They’re both presumably getting the standard 120% of the rookie scale, so Gordon will likely make slightly more than $3.992MM this season while Payton will probably draw nearly $2.398MM, as our table of salaries for first-round picks shows.

Orlando pulled a surprise with its choice of Gordon, a power forward from Arizona, while Dante Exum and Marcus Smart were still on the board, but the team filled its need for a point guard not long after, swinging a trade to acquire Payton. Orlando gave up No. 12 pick Dario Saric, a 2017 first-rounder and a 2015 second-rounder to the Sixers in exchange for the point guard from Louisiana-Lafayette.

Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors gave the Magic an A for their draft, one in which they also netted No. 56 overall pick Devyn Marble. Still, he pointed to the risk involved with Gordon when he examined him as part of our Prospect Profile Series.

Eastern Notes: Kidd, Celtics, Heat

June 29th, 2014 at 4:12pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Jason Kidd might look like the “bad guy” right now for trying to leave the Nets, but it might be the smartest thing for him to do, opines Mike Lupica of The New York Daily News. Lupica cites the Nets’ declining roster, absentee owner, and a franchise that seemingly prizes headlines over wins as reasons Kidd might be trying to leave Brooklyn.

Sixers, Magic Swap Elfrid Payton, Dario Saric

June 26th, 2014 at 9:35pm CST by Chuck Myron

9:35pm: The trade is official, the Magic announce via press release. The Magic get Payton, and the Sixers get Saric, a 2015 second-round pick, and the 2017 first-round pick that Philadelphia sent to the Magic in the Howard/Bynum trade.

8:10pm: The Sixers are getting back the 2017 first-rounder they sent to the Magic in the four-team Dwight Howard/Andrew Bynum trade, Wojnarowski tweets. Presumably, that’s the 2017 first-rounder Berger was referring to.

7:55pm: The Sixers are sending 10th overall pick Elfrid Payton to the Magic for Dario Saric, the No. 12 selection, tweets Chad Ford of ESPN.com. Orlando is sending its 2017 first-rounder, top-11 protected, to the Sixers, and that protection goes to top-eight for 2018, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (Twitter link). The Magic will also give up a 2015 second-round pick, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter).