Orlando Magic Value Tracker: Comparing cap sheets and seeking value
Compared to the Sixers
Let’s start with the Philadelphia 76ers — ranked sixth in the league in payroll.
They clearly have two all-star players in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons — along with high-priced players in Tobias Harris and Al Horford. Yet they finished sixth in the Eastern Conference, still 10 games ahead of the Magic.
Applying the same formula we used for the Magic — imperfect as it might be, but replicating the process should give us some comparison — here is the 76ers’ table:
| 2020 VORP | 2020 Market Value | 2020 Salary | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Simmons | 2.8 | $25,170,188.62 | $8,113,929 | +$17,056,259.62 |
| Joel Embiid | 2.5 | $22,748,177.66 | $27,504,630 | -$4,756,452.34 |
| Al Horford | 2.2 | $20,326,166.70 | $28,000,000 | -$7,673,833.30 |
| Tobias Harris | 1.8 | $17,096,818.75 | $32,742,000 | -$15,645,181.25 |
| Matisse Thybulle | 0.8 | $9,023,448.89 | $2,582,160 | +$6,441,288.89 |
| Alec Burks | 0.4 | $5,794,100.95 | $2,320,044 | +$3,474,056.95 |
| Kyle O’Quinn | 0.4 | $5,794,100.95 | $2,174,318 | +$3,619,782.95 |
| Furkan Korkmaz | 0.3 | $4,986,763.96 | $1,620,564 | +$3,366,199.96 |
| Shake Milton | 0.2 | $4,179,426.97 | $1,445,697 | +$2,733,729.97 |
| Josh Richardson | 0.1 | $3,372,089.99 | $10,116,576 | -$6,744,486.01 |
| Mike Scott | 0.1 | $3,372,089.99 | $4,767,000 | -$1,394,910.01 |
| Trey Burke | 0.1 | $3,372,089.99 | $2,028,594 | +$1,343,495.99 |
| Raul Neto | 0.0 | $2,564,753.00 | $1,737,145 | +$827,608 |
| Glenn Robinson III | 0.0 | $2,564,753.00 | $1,882,867 | +$681,886 |
| 2020 VORP | 2020 Market Value | 2020 Salary | Difference |
This gets into a lot of the things we have discussed through this series. Star power matters and getting excess value from rookie contracts can be a huge turning point.
Ben Simmons, for instance, is in the final year of his rookie contract. The 76ers have gotten tremendous excess value from him. But his salary bumps up to $29 million next season. Suddenly, what he has given the 76ers has him underperforming to his market value.
Philadelphia 76ers
Even Joel Embiid did not meet his market value this year. But as a star, his value is pretty high and this was an admittedly poor season from him. The Sixers are likely happy with what they got from Embiid.
The simmering tension with Simmons and his limitations have been the story with Philadelphia.
That might explain why the Sixers have hit something of a rut. They are preparing to pay Simmons like a star and he has not quite fully reached that level consistently.
It should be noted too that according to VORP, Nikola Vucevic had a higher market value — and a better season — than Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. This is where it might be more useful to measure market value over multiple seasons and why this specific formula has some limitations.
The other story was how little value the Sixers got compared to their contracts from both Tobias Harris and Al Horford. Those players proved to be albatrosses weighing the team down and preventing the 76ers from reaching their full potential.
But Philadelphia undoubtedly was a better team than Orlando. The Magic’s chart is full of players who have not lived up to their contracts. While the 76ers have players who are weighing down their books like Harris and Horford, they found a lot of gems in role players and lower-level contracts.
Star power covers a lot of problems. That does not take a genius to figure out.
This is a big piece of the puzzles. A part of the puzzle the Magic have not solved.