Championship/Veteran Experience
So if Marreese Speights is not going to get a ton of playing time, then what is his primary role with the Magic? Why would the Magic spend a roster spot on him instead of going after a young guy — drafting him or not — or relying on a young’ish player like Khem Birch?
The answer is that always elusive intangible — veteran presence.
The Magic have seemingly been searching for veteran presence ever since Arron Afflalo and Jameer Nelson left the team in 2014. The team has always wanted to push its young players to the forefront and give them their chance to play and shine.
That is a natural thing to do in a rebuild. But every young player needs a veteran showing him the way. So in came players like Ronnie Price, Willie Green and Channing Frye to try to provide that locker room leadership on and off the court. Really they were all role players on the court and they were meant to be examples of how to work and handle the NBA life.
They succeeded to varying degrees — probably more off the court — but it certainly did not equal anything on the court. Whether it was a bad combination of coaching with the veterans or the fact the veterans were not able to make the impact the team intended on the court, it did not work.
But the idea that a young team needs some veterans in the locker room persists. Jeff Weltman is not abandoning that idea with his two signings in Marreese Speights and Arron Afflalo.
This feels a bit different. For the first time in a long time, the Magic have a player with championship experience in Speights. Speights won a title with the Golden State Warriors in 2015 coming off the bench. He at least has the background of coming from a championship organization — and other successful organizations.
Is this the one that will finally work? And will Speights still buy into the homecoming narrative and the team if he is not getting his playing time? That is the big question for him this year.
For now, Speights is pushing getting teammates together and growing those bonds on road trips and wherever else they can. He was reportedly the one who pushed for a group outing to Los Angeles to work out together and play some pickup games as a group, building the bonds the team will need in the regular season.
The Magic have missed having those semi-organized team events since Jameer Nelson stopped doing his Building Magic program when he was with the team.
Every player needs a guy like Speights who can keep everyone together and build chemistry. The Magic appear to have found one in him. At least in the offseason.
Maybe they finally answered the veteran question.