Apr 14, 2014; Chicago, IL, USA; Orlando Magic head coach Jacque Vaughn during the second half at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
With the Orlando Magic officially signing Luke Ridnour last week, it would seem the roster is all but set for the 2014-2015 season. The addition of Channing Frye suggests that Orlando seems to be heading towards contention, rather than playing it safe for a draft pick this season. While a playoff birth isn’t assured, the Magic seem ready to allow their current roster to push them into the next stage of their rebuilding process. In short: No more tanking.
One part of being a successful team is proper lineup construction. Having the ability to send out multiple successful lineups is part of winning basketball games and making a playoff push. While Orlando’s lineups are still developing, figuring out who works well with who is a step in the right direction. The Magic’s current roster is intriguing- littered with players who can play multiple positions. However, each player provides different abilities, and because of that, they can play together. I’m curious to see how Jacque Vaughn deploys his lineups, especially with Frye on the roster.
Last season, the Magic had a handful of five-man lineups that worked for them. The one that played the most minutes together was Jameer Nelson, Arron Afflalo, Victor Oladipo, Glen Davis and Nikola Vucevic, and that mustered up a +/- of .7 in 141 minutes of play via NBA.com’s media stats tool. There were some interesting ones, like the lineup of E’Twan Moore, Oladipo, Maurice Harkless, Tobias Harris, and Kyle O’Quinn that produced a 23.3 over 68 minutes, but in general, the Magic didn’t have very many successful lineups last season.
Here are some of my potential lineups for the Magic this season.