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Orlando Magic Training Camp: End of bench battles

By David Iwanowski

Apr 7, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Connecticut Huskies guard Shabazz Napier waves to the crowd after cutting down a piece of the net following the championship game of the Final Four in the 2014 NCAA Mens Division I Championship tournament against the Kentucky Wildcats at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 7, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Connecticut Huskies guard Shabazz Napier waves to the crowd after cutting down a piece of the net following the championship game of the Final Four in the 2014 NCAA Mens Division I Championship tournament against the Kentucky Wildcats at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports /
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With Orlando Magic training camp starting, several players on the roster are fighting for their basketball lives trying to make the roster. Many have a shot

As training camp begins, the Magic roster appears mostly set.

Teams keep 12 active players on the roster, and can carry 15 players on their roster in total. It appears the Magic have 11 roster spots set already, and that group of players would be: Elfrid Payton, C.J. Watson, Victor Oladipo, Evan Fournier, Mario Hezonja, Tobias Harris, Channing Frye, Aaron Gordon, Jason Smith, Dewayne Dedmon and Nikola Vucevic.

There are only, at most, four roster spots remaining, and it will be interesting to see who gets them.

Keith Appling and Jordan Sibert will also be competing for the guard spot, but they are both also likely headed to Erie for the year.

Appling impressed the organization at Summer League, and Sibert was a strong shooter and overall scorer for Ohio State and Dayton in his four years of college.

It appears newly acquired Shabazz Napier will win one of those spots, especially with the news the team has decided to assign 2015 second round draft pick Tyler Harvey to Erie.

The Magic traded a second round pick to Miami for former first round pick Shabazz Napier.

The former Connecticut standout is in his second season and hopes to provide a more significant impact this year than he did his rookie year. He shot 38.2 percent from the field last season, and his offensive rating of 99.9 points per possession was slightly lower than Miami’s average of 101.5.

He did, however, shoot 36.4 percent from three, and can provide the Magic with a boost there.

The Heat’s defensive rating with Napier on the floor was 101.3, 2.5 points per 100 possessions, better than Miami’€™s average.

It is very possible one of those spots will go to a front court player, as the Magic do not have a lot of front court depth right now.

Andrew Nicholson, Melvin Ejim, Devyn Marble, Nnanna Egwu, and Greg Stiemsma will compete for the final spots.

Nicholson appears to be a front-runner for a spot, as he was the team’s first round pick in 2012 and has experience on the team. However, he has yet to reach the potential the team expected for him, so there is a chance the team will give up on him and move on to developing other prospects.

Mar 8, 2015; Orlando, FL, USA; Orlando Magic forward Andrew Nicholson (44) dunks in front of Boston Celtics center Tyler Zeller (44) during the second quarter at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 8, 2015; Orlando, FL, USA; Orlando Magic forward Andrew Nicholson (44) dunks in front of Boston Celtics center Tyler Zeller (44) during the second quarter at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /

Devyn Marble is also a prospect to watch. The 56th pick in the 2014 draft played in 16 games last season, starting seven of them, and averaged 13 minutes per game.

Marble has to improve a lot on offense, as he shot less than 32 percent from the field and the free throw line last season. However, the team was somewhat productive with him on the court, albeit often against other teams’ bench units, as the team’s net rating (net points per 100 possessions) with Marble on the floor was -1.8, which was higher than all players on the team except Dedmon.

Marble still has a lot to grow, but he has a shot at making the team this season.

Melvin Ejim went undrafted in 2014 and played last season for Virtus Roma in Italy. He averaged 7.7 points and 6.3 rebounds in league games and 8.1 points and 4.3 rebounds in cup games last season.

Now, the former Big 12 Player of the Year is looking to make the Magic roster.

He performed well in Summer League this year, averaging 9.2 points and 6.8 rebounds in about 30 minutes per game. And played especially well this summer for Team Canada in the Pan Am Games and FIBA Americas Championship.

Egwu and Stiemsma are recent additions to the training camp roster.

Egwu was undrafted this summer coming out of Illinois, and would provide the Magic with interior toughness and athleticism. However, he appears to be a project heading for the D-League.

Stiemsma is a 30-year-old center who played less than four minutes per game last season with the Toronto Raptors. Despite his experience, he does not appear to be a front-runner for a roster spot.

As of now, I would predict Nicholson would make the team out of this group, with Ejim, Marble and Egwu off to Erie for the start of the season. One of those three will likely stay with the Magic but could bounce between Orlando and Erie.

However, if one of those guys stands out during the next month, they could definitely take a spot.

I believe Nicholson will ultimately end up as the 13th man on the team, with Napier dressing for games at the start of the season. Obviously, things change during the course of a season, and we may be seeing some of these other players in a Magic uniform at some point.

The Magic rotation feels relatively set with all the returning players and promising players the Magic want to develop and watch. However, there are certainly some interesting roster battles at the end of the bench that should provide some competitive fire for the rest of the roster.

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