Assessing Value on the Orlando Magic Roster: Class Warfare

The Orlando Magic gave out two big contracts this summer to players coming off rookie contracts. Did they get good value? A new metric evaluates it.

We are taking a bit of a break on this edition of the Orlando Magic value assessment from our study of salaries and PER and the comparison analysis we have been doing.

The crude measure we have been using is just trying to scratch surface at linking value with salary and figuring out where everyone falls on the scale. Again, it does not have much of a predictive value yet.

There is work being done to determine “market value” or try to put production in terms of dollars and cents. Remember unlocking this makes being a general manager a whole lot easier as you can properly assess value based on production. That would be the dream right?

Again, we will continue our series assessing value soon with a look at Evan Fournier and the rest of the starters. We have already done the role players and the newcomers.

Peter Nygaard of Nylon Calculus created a formula using Value Over Replacement Player to determine a “market value.” From there, Nygaard believes you can subtract the players actual salary to get “Value to Contract.” You can get more details on the formula from Nygaard in his post.

In essence though, what does this mean?

As Nygaard goes on to say, it really only tells us value in certain subsets of players — minimum contract players, rookie contract players, lower middle class (all players from minimum to the mid-level exception of $5,305,000) and upper middle class (all players above $5,305,000 to the max level).

In Nygaard’s conclusion, he notes that there is no perfect way to build a contender. The Cavaliers, Warriors, Spurs and Hawks are built almost completely differently.

What we want to do is look closer at what this means for the Magic and their current salary makeup.

Next: Rookie Contracts