Show me the money.
The Orlando Magic entered free agency with about $44 million in salary cap space. With that amount of money, the Magic were in position to sign several players to help improve the franchise. Their main goal is to get back to the playoffs for the first time in five seasons.
Simply put, the Magic have been busy since teams were allowed to contact free agents and negotiate contracts July 1.
They have re-signed one of their good young players and signed three unrestricted free agents. The contracts add up close to $200 million spent so far in total.
Thanks to a new NBA television deal, the salary cap went from $70 million last season and jumped significantly to $94.1 million. That meant teams would have plenty of money to spend this summer.
In need of a quality backup point guard, the Magic’s first move in free agency was signing journeyman point guard D.J. Augustin to a four-year, $29-million contract.
Augustin averaged 7.5 points and 3.2 assists in 19 minutes per game, having played in 62 games for both the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets last season.
He came into the league with high expectations having been selected with the ninth overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft from the University of Texas. However, the eight-year NBA veteran has bounced around the league and the Magic will be his eighth different team in as many years.
There will be some familiarity for Augustin, as he played for new Magic head coach Frank Vogel for the Pacers during the 2012-13 season, and played with new teammate Serge Ibaka for about half of this past season.
Augustin is still relatively young and although a bit smallish for a guard, he can score off the bench and provides experience to mentor young starting point guard Elfrid Payton.
Next, the Magic decided to commit long term to one of their good young players in restricted free agent Evan Fournier. He re-signed with the team for a reported five years, $85 million.
Fournier will become the new starting shooting guard replacing recently traded Victor Oladipo. They made re-signing Fournier a high priority and took care of business.
Before agreeing to the new deal, Fournier had expressed his interest in staying with the team.
“Obviously, our priority is the Magic. I’ve said it many times: I feel great here,” Evan Fournier told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel late Thursday night on the eve of free agency starting.
He even took a team friendly deal to do so, turning down higher offers from other teams, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Fournier’s contract will pay him $17 million per season on average, has incentives each year potentially adding $1 million to each season, and includes a player option in the fifth and final year of the deal, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
#MOOD pic.twitter.com/HLtwjzXuiG
— Evan Fournier (@EvanFourmizz) July 1, 2016
He is still a relatively young player at only 23 years old, averaging 15.4 points, 2.7 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game last season for the Magic.
The swingman is a natural scorer and can shoot from long range, having shot 40 percent on his 3-pointers this past season. His defense will need to improve, but has the prototypical size and still has time to learn under new defensive-minded Magic coach Frank Vogel.
The surprising move of free agency for the Magic, was the signing of small forward Jeff Green to a one-year, $15-million contract.
That is a lot of cash for a rental. This might be a “prove-it” deal for Green, who has been inconsistent throughout his NBA career and has shown flashes of talent.
His career path is similar to Augustin’s in that he was a top-10 pick, fifth overall in the 2007 NBA Draft, who has not quite lived up to expectations and has traveled around the league playing for four other teams making the Magic is fifth squad.
Green averaged 11.7 points, 1.7 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game, playing in 80 games for both the Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Clippers last season.
The eight-year NBA veteran, provides more experience to the young Magic team and can mentor young, emerging talented forward Aaron Gordon. However, paying him that much money means he could start at small forward over Gordon. There will certainly be pressure to play him, perhaps cutting into Aaron Gordon’s development as much as he instructs him.
On day 2, the Magic were not done spending money as they signed Center Bismack Biyombo to a lucrative long term deal.
Biyombo had a breakout performance in the NBA Playoffs this past season for the Toronto Raptors starting 10 games when their center Jonas Valanciunas got injured, averaging 6.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game helping his team make the Eastern Conference Finals. In game three of that series he grabbed 26 rebounds, a Raptors franchise record.
He follows the theme of players who had high expectations entering the league who have not quite lived up to expectations, having been the seventh overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft.
Last season, he averaged 5.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 22 minutes per game and started in 22 games. In his five-year career, he has averaged 4.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.
Biyombo is only 23 adding to the young core of the Magic. He is an undersized center at 6-foot-9 and 245 pounds, but is known as a rim protector and provides more toughness to their frontcourt.
One of the Magic’s goals in the offseason was to get more rim protectors, bigs who can rebound, bring more toughness to the team and add depth to their frontcourt.
They have accomplished that by trading for Serge Ibaka on draft night and signing Bismack Biyombo. Ibaka finished third in total blocks last season, and Biyombo finished ninth.
Signing Biyombo also gives the Magic some insurance if Ibaka decides to leave as a free agent next summer.
It does present a current problem and intriguing question for the team. Who will start at center for the Magic?
The answer is probably Biyombo since the Magic will be paying him about $18 million per season.
Incumbent starter, and the Magic’s leading scorer last season, Nikola Vucevic, averaging 18.2 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, may be pushed to the bench. Vucevic’s style of game is more on the perimeter as a jump-shooting big instead of around the rim like Biyombo, while Ibaka can do both. However, the Magic can rotate those three players at center and power forward, giving the team options on game nights.
Vucevic is signed for the next three seasons, paying him an average of $12.25 million per year. He could be a trade asset, or just another piece to the puzzle in getting the Magic back to the playoffs, which is something he is focusing on for next season.
The main question Magic fans want the answer to is will these moves make the Magic playoff contenders in the Eastern Conference?
There have been numerous reported deals throughout the league and the conference that could change the team’s outlook.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are the leaders of the East as the defending NBA champions. The Toronto Raptors re-signed their top player DeMar DeRozan. The Miami Heat re-signed free agent Hassan Whiteside. The Hornets re-signed Nicolas Batum. The Pacers have added Jeff Teague and Al Jefferson. The Boston Celtics signed Al Horford. The Atlanta Hawks have signed Dwight Howard. Even the New York Knicks have added Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah.
Basically, all the Eastern Conference teams have either kept their star players or have made moves to get better than last season. Although the Magic have made significant moves to the team so far in free agency, they will have a difficult time competing against other teams in the Eastern Conference to make the playoffs.
The Magic have improved their depth this offseason and will be a better defensive team, but will it be enough to get past other teams in the East?
The Magic hope spending all this money in free agency will pay off by making the playoffs.
