Report: Orlando Magic to sign Greg Stiemsma
The Orlando Magic are reportedly set to extend a training camp invite to veteran center Greg Stiemsma, bolstering a front line in need of rim protection.
The Orlando Magic have another player coming to training camp. This one is a veteran who might be able to fill a need as a rim protector.
Darren Wolfson of KSTP in Minneapolis reports the Magic are close to a non-guaranteed deal with veteran center Greg Stiemsma. That would bring the list of potential Magic training camp invites to 17.
Hear former #Twolves center & @Wellefast workout warrior Greg Stiemsma is close to a deal w/ the #Magic. Would be non-guaranteed. #badgers
— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) September 9, 2015
Stiemsma has largely been a player who fills a roster space and plays solid defense without contributing too much on the other end. He last played with the Raptors last year, appearing in 17 games, grabbing 15 rebounds and scoring 14 points.
Considering his career averages are 3.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per game in 15.0 minutes per game, those kind of totals are relatively normal for a player like Stiemsma.
Throughout his short NBA career, he has been more of a guy who does the little things. He is not a stat sheet stuffer at all.
Stiemsma though is a bit different than a typical training camp invitee. While he did not get much of an opportunity last year, Stiemsma has had a lot of success on the defensive end. According to Basketball-Reference, Stiemsma posted a defensive box plus/minus of 2.9. That means Stiemsma’s presence on the court was 2.9 points per 100 possessions better than the average player on defense.
In his limited minutes last year with Toronto, he had a -0.6 defensive box plus/minus. Throughout his career then (he has a career 4.3 defensive box plus/minus), Stiemsma has been a positive defender.
He has averaged 2.7 blocks per 36 minutes throughout his career. That is something the Magic will surely like to hear — Nikola Vucevic has averaged only 0.9 blocks per 36 minutes and Dewayne Dedmon clocks in at 2.1 blocks per 36 minutes.
Stiemsma is not overly athletic and has good timing and positioning on the defensive end. He just will not add much offensively.
Unlike some other training camp signees, Stiemsma has to be considered to have some chance to make the roster, even with the Magic already pretty crowded in the front court and with free agent signee Jason Smith also new to the team.
It also leads to a bit of a numbers crunch too. Orlando has 13 guaranteed contracts already on the team’s books. Melvin Ejim, Devyn Marble are already on non-guaranteed deals. Keith Appling also reportedly agreed to a non-guaranteed deal, although nothing has been announced or updated since the Magic acquired Shabazz Napier. And the Magic could still sign second round pick Tyler Harvey.
That is well more than the 15 guys the Magic can legally carry.
Stiemsma is a veteran and what he can do is already pretty well established. That should give him a leg up. Training camp might be more of an audition to see if he fits (or if the team can swing a deal to free up the roster space).
In any case, Stiemsma is a quality veteran to have on the team at least for training camp.