The Orlando Magic’s third point guard question
The Orlando Magic are likely in need of a third point guard. They had two pretty good ones at Summer League they should be familiar with.
The Orlando Magic are more or less done with free agency, according to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. There just is not a ton of wiggle room on the roster, to be frank.
With the addition of C.J. Watson, the upcoming signing of Jason Smith and the signing of rookie Mario Hezonja, the Magic now have 11 players under contract, room for just four more. Dewayne Dedmon is sure to get his contract guaranteed. Devyn Marble could take the next spot.
Orlando’s roster does not have much room left on it.
The team’s needs are getting kind of short — a rim protector and a potential starting power forward remain obvious ones. The last one, the one the team is more likely to fill above all else, is the one at the end of the bench — a third point guard.
Most teams like to carry three point guards. It is such a specialized position in today’s NBA that it warrants some extra protection. Elfrid Payton is clearly the starter and the Magic signed C.J. Watson to back him up. What happens when one goes down? That is why teams carry third point guards.
This is not a guy who is going to play much, but is a guy that could be critical to the season. It would be easy to see the Magic going with a young player to fill this role, growing and learning behind those already on the roster. Plus, considering Watson can play some shooting guard, the versatility gives the Magic plenty of options.
There were certainly plenty of options coming off the Magic’s own camp and already on their D-League roster.
Both Peyton Siva and Keith Appling were already in the Magic system last year with the Erie BayHawks. They were both fairly successful.
Siva averaged 13.5 points per game and 6.7 assists per game, starting all 38 games he played in for the BayHawks. He has the NBA experience with a cup of coffee with the Pistons a few years ago.
Appling came to Erie in the middle of the season, but made a pretty significant impact. Appling averaged 17.5 points per game and 4.7 assists per game on 50.9 percent shooting in 17 games after Siva went down with an injury late in the season.
Both had their opportunity in Orlando to showcase themselves in front of Magic brass, who obviously believes in both of them having signed them to play at Erie.
“I’m just trying to go out there and show I can do the little things for a team,” Siva said. “I haven’t been shooting that well from the field, but I think I have been doing a great job of running the team, playing defense, getting steals and getting everyone involved. That’s what they asked me to do and that’s my job. A lot of people look at the box scores and look at the points and everything. The coaches tell me to run the team and get the hockey assist. It’s about the little things. In this league, you’ve just got to find a niche and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Siva did fine from that game management standpoint as the Magic’s point guard for the Blue team. He finished the week averaging 5.0 points per game, shooting 30.0 percent from the floor and just 1 for 10 from beyond the arc. From an offensive standpoint, it was not a great week at all.
He did accumulate a team-high 18 assists in the four games. Generally, he did a good job running the team and initiating offense.
Siva made his case for a second straight training camp invite.
“I definitely feel like I can bring that energy off the bench,” Siva said. “Push Elfrid every day in practice or push whoever. The coach will know what he’s going to get out of me when he puts me in the game. Picking up full court, running a team, finding the open man, just doing the little things.”
Appling was much more an instigator for the Magic White team, particularly on defense.
He finished the week averaging a team-high 15.6 points per game and 15 assists in five games. He was aggressive defensively, partially by design. He committed plenty of fouls with 27 in the five games (more than five per game).
The White Team’s success though made plenty of people notice the point guard who was putting up tons of points and running the team.
Appling made his case for a training camp invite.
“I hope so,” Appling said. “I don’t really try to get too much into that. I try to control what I can control on the basketball court. Hopefully someone takes notice of it. I will get an invite somewhere. I am just going out there playing for my teammates and playing for myself and trying to get wins. Everything else will fall into place.”
The two present an interesting challenge for the Magic as they determine how they decide which direction to go in to fill this need.
They, of course, could go in a completely different direction too, opting for a veteran to fill the need or some other young player they saw in Summer League.
Both Siva and Appling have a familiarity about them though. They both were in the Magic’s system through the Erie BayHawks last year and played well under the Magic’s coaching direction during Summer League. The chance remains for them to get their shot with the big team this year.
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