The Orlando Magic have long sought veteran leadership in their locker room through this rebuild. Maybe they needed to bring Marreese Speights home to get it.
There is always a bit of public relations talk that goes into every introductory press conference or media availability. Every player is happy to be in his new home and excited for what the future brings. They are the ones who signed on the dotted line. They had to like something about where they were headed.
What happens beyond that introduction is always the uncertain part. That is always the part that determines whether a team’s relationship with a player is a good one. It is the part that shows how invested in a team a player really is.
As Marreese Speights walked through the Amway Center as a member of the Orlando Magic for the first time, it was clear he was pretty invested. If it was not clear then, he has made it clear on social media since. The amount of Magic-inspired “Mo Buckets” gear already available.
Orlando Magic
There was genuine joy in joining a 29-win team from the former NBA champion who had been to the Playoffs the last four years and six of the last seven. He was going to a rebuilding team that still seems to lack direction.
But Speights knew the direction he was going — home. This would be a lot different than playing the Orlando Magic in the first round of the Playoffs like he did his rookie season with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Of course, Speights is a much different player today than he was then. He developed a 3-point shot and became a bit more of a veteran.
It was reportedly Speights who helped organize the team’s get together in Los Angeles for pickup games and group workouts. Even without the promise of playing time — Marreese Speights at center is playing behind veterans Nikola Vucevic and Bismack Biyombo — Speights seems like he is determined to make a major contribution to this team and to the franchise he grew up cheering for. Even if it is not something we can measure statistically.
Speights, at his heart, is a spark plug. Able to get points up in a hurry with his shooting ability, something rare for a center even in this shot-happy NBA, Speights can still contribute and still score. Albeit in limited and short spurts. That is what the Magic appeared to sign him to do. Where he fits and when the Magic might call on him seems uncertain.
But Speights is exactly where he wants to be.
What To Look For
Marreese Speights is beginning to tail off in his career. His role with the Orlando Magic is likely going to be as the third center, meaning there will not be much of a role at all. With Nikola Vucevic and Bismack Biyombo on the roster, the Magic probably do not have the room to give him consistent minutes.
Essentially, Speights is there to change the pace and add extra depth. His role is to build relationships in the locker room and be a veteran leader. As nebulous and difficult as that is to quantify or comprehend.
Last year with the LA Clippers, Speights averaged 8.7 points per game and 4.5 rebounds per game on a stellar 53.9 percent effective field goal percentage. Speights hit on 37.2 percent of his 3-pointers, further cementing his role as a stretch-5 as he took 3.4 3-point attempts per game. He had never taken more than one 3-point attempt per game in his career prior. All this in 15.7 minutes per game.
If the Magic needed Speights to play meaningful minutes, it certainly seems like he could. And still be fairly productive.
Maybe there is a stretch during the season where the Magic use Speights. Or in moments when Orlando needs an offensive spark or some shooting, Speights is there as an asset to use.
That is a luxury to have. A luxury the Magic have not had in recent years.
Of course, there is a reason Speights went unsigned and ended up with a minimum contract in Orlando. Perhaps Speights’ desire to play for his hometown team got the Magic a discount. Speights reportedly negotiated with several teams before signing with the Magic.
That reason is likely his defense. Speights struggles to do much else besides score. That has been his reputation throughout his career. And so he is a fairly one-dimensional player.
The Magic know what they are getting in Speights though. They certainly need the 3-point threat and so it seems likely that is the role they want him to fill. How they fit him into the picture is the big question for the team.
What Could Go Wrong
Marreese Speights has a pretty well-defined skill — his 3-point shooting and general offensive game. The good news with him is he knows exactly what he is and rarely goes beyond his role — other than a penchant to look for his own shot. The Magic accepted that in him when they signed him.
And with the Magic’s roster situated as it is, Speights might find some difficulty getting minutes. So any impact Speights has might be limited or dulled if things go wrong.
As noted before, Speights is not much of a defender. If Biyombo is a center who only plays defense without any semblance of an offensive game, Speights is an offensive player without any semblance of a defensive game. That is why it seems likely Speights would only get spot minutes.
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But there are certainly ways Speights’ play could become concerning.
The first is that nobody really knows if Speights’ shooting last year is something sustainable. He certainly will not have the spacing the Clippers created last year as he plays in Orlando. So much of his shooting last year was an outlier.
He had never taken more than 1.0 3-point attempts per game, let alone 3.4 per game. And that accounted for more than half of his attempts. Essentially, Speights was a spot-up 3-point shooter last year, eschewing the post game that had been the bulk of his play earlier.
The question with Speights is whether his evolution into a stretch-5 is fully complete or if there is still a bit of development to go. Or whether, at age 29, Speights is starting his decline. And for bench players, their decline tends to come a bit quicker.
Speights is a bit of a wild card for this team. He is one of the few players that seems to fill that shooting need without fitting the versatility and defensive mindset the team is building.
Any talk of playing him at power forward should be put to bed. He simply does not have the mobility to play that position anymore. That makes finding his time difficult with the players the Magic have. And even then, it is hard to see how he fits cleanly into the team — especially if his shooting numbers decrease.
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.
Overall Outlook
Marreese Speights may not have an easy path to minutes with the Magic, playing behind Nikola Vucevic and Bismack Biyombo. That made his signing with the Magic all the more surprising. The veteran has contributed around the league and still seems to have something to contribute, even if his decline is on the way.
But he wanted to be in Orlando. This was his home. And the chance to play in front of friends and family from (relatively) nearby St. Petersburg was not something to pass up.
It seems the Magic are happy to have him, taking the excess and the luxury of depth that comes along with it.
Speights has proven himself as a solid shooter who grew into a stretch-5 last season, specifically. For a team in need of shooting, that is a big boost. Speights might be one of the better shooters on the team now.
The issue is finding him minutes. Speights contributed plenty last year in a reserve role with the Clippers. And it still seems he has something to contribute to the team. There will be moments where Orlando will want him in the game just to give an offensive spark. Maybe the team will insert him in there.
But his role is likely to be sporadic. He does not fit that versatile, defensive-minded aesthetic.
What Speights does on the court is probably not exactly what Orlando signed him for. It is part of it, but not the whole thing. The team was looking for him to provide some veteran presence and be a leader. What he does in practice and in the locker room will likely matter as much as what he does on the floor.
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So far, Speights seems like he is stepping up to the challenge. But things are always so easy in the offseason when everyone can be optimistic and believe the best is going to happen.