With Jeff Weltman suggesting that the Magic are done making signings in Free Agency, questions have arisen about what the Magic will do with their final roster spot.
When Orlando Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman spoke to the Orlando Sentinel and told them the Magic were done in free agency, fans were not too happy with that answer.
Many Magic fans look at the point guard spot and see it as an obvious weakness on the team. In addition to the discontent at point guard, there were many that noted the Magic do not really have a backup power forward on the team after the team lost Mario Hezonja.
When you combine those concerns with what Orlando’s roster currently looks like, there are some pretty valid concerns. As of the writing of this article, Orlando’s roster consists of three point guards. D.J. Augustin, Jerian Grant and Isaiah Briscoe. Troy Caupain is on a two-way contract. One (Isaiah Briscoe) of which has zero NBA experience. The other two are journeymen at this point in their careers. And the other will spend most of his time in the G-League.
On the wing, you have Terrence Ross, Jonathon Simmons, Evan Fournier, Wesley Iwundu, Melvin Frazier and, arguably, Jonathan Isaac or Aaron Gordon. You feel pretty comfortable there, but you probably do not want to have Melvin Frazier or Wesley Iwundu play much this year unless they show significant development.
Your power forward at this point is Aaron Gordon and you would have to stagger Jonathan Isaac (who is likely the starter at the forward spot opposite of Gordon). One injury could decimate this position.
At center, the Magic currently have five players: Nikola Vucevic, Mohamed Bamba, Khem Birch, Timofey Mozgov and Dakari Johnson. All indications are that the Magic will likely waive Dakari Johnson, but the trade has been official for a few days and the Magic have yet to release him.
I have seen some argue Mohamed Bamba can play power forward, but I do not believe that is the case. Khem Birch played some power forward last year. He can handle the task defensively. But on offense, it created a lot of issues.
Going off the assumption the Magic will indeed waive Johnson, that leaves Orlando with one final roster spot. What will the Magic do with it?
At this point, many are probably wondering why I have not mentioned second-round pick Justin Jackson to this point. Simply put, I do not believe he will be on the main roster this season. Justin Jackson prior to Summer League said he was cleared to play and he felt better than ever. But for reasons unknown to the public, Jackson did not play for the Magic in Summer League.
It is possible the Magic were being overly cautious. They certainly showed that tendency in Summer League after they sat Isaac and Bamba for the final two Summer League games.
I believe the Magic are saving their second two-way contract for Jackson. The Magic do not want to tie themselves to a player that is financially a wild card. The good news is that Jackson could conceivably fill Orlando’s hole at the backup power forward spot. But if he was on a two-way contract he would most certainly end up using all of his NBA days and have to be converted to a normal NBA contract.
My best guess on Jackson is that he ends up playing with the Lakeland Magic for the majority of this season.
The next possibility, which I find the most likely option is the Magic are keeping an extra roster spot open to complete some sort of trade.
As previously noted, Orlando’s roster is not balanced. Having four guys who realistically can and should only play center in today’s NBA is essentially roster malpractice. The NBA keeps going further away from playing traditional big men and guys like Jonathan Isaac or Aaron Gordon can effectively play center for small doses. That is certainly a lineup fans will want to see as the Magic employ their version of the “death lineup.”
So why in the world would the Magic carry four centers? I do not think in an ideal world they would.
I believe the Magic are probably shopping Nikola Vucevic and Timofey Mozgov with the hope they find a deal they like before the season starts. Obviously, the return for either of these players will not be something that Magic fans will be excited about. Mozgov will only return another bad contract. But hopefully at a position that is not center (Maybe Luol Deng?).
Vucevic on the other hand probably would bring back slightly more. Maybe two mid-level contracts, one potentially being a rotation player. But when you look at who needs a center around the NBA, there are not many teams.
The LA Clippers currently have Marcin Gortat as their projected starting center and they also have a surplus of point guards. Maybe the Magic try to swap Nikola Vucevic for Wesley Johnson and Milos Teodosic. Conveniently that would put the Magic at exactly 15 roster spots.
The Los Angeles Lakers stand out. But unless the Magic want to take back Luol Deng and package Jonathon Simmons or D.J. Augustin along with Nikola Vucevic a trade based around Vucevic and the Lakers does not make sense currently. The Lakers probably are not willing to take back long-term salary either as they make another play in free agency next summer.
Vucevic may somehow slink his way into Orlando’s opening day starting lineup again.
The dark horse here for trades is the Magic may be leaving that roster spot open to take on players who would otherwise be cut prior to the season beginning. Orlando already has used a roster spot to help the Oklahoma City Thunder cut down on their tax bill.
Instead of being subject to the waiver wire, the Magic may attempt to offer cash to deep teams such as the Boston Celtics or Philadelphia 76ers who may need to cut a guaranteed money player to reach 15 roster spots.
The last real possibility with the 15th roster spot is the Magic just let players duke it out in training camp.
So far we know of Braian Angola-Rodas as one of Orlando’s training camp players. The Magic can have up to 20 players in training camp. So far the Magic are at around 17 if you include Troy Caupain and Justin Jackson as your two-way players. So there are three more training camp invites to go out. That could be where the Magic determine their final roster spot.
In any case, the plan seems clear for the 15th roster spot in a sense.
Orlando wants to be patient and flexible with it. Whether they keep it open for trades or just sign one of their training camp guys to a non-guaranteed deal. The Magic want to take it slow in order to secure the best value for that spot.