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2015/16 D-League Usage Report: Magic

May 27th, 2016 at 8:00pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA’s relationship with the D-League continues to grow, and this season a total of 19 NBA teams had one-to-one affiliations with D-League clubs. Those NBA organizations without their own affiliates were required to assign players to D-League clubs associated with other NBA franchises. D-League teams could volunteer to take on the assigned players, and if no volunteers emerged, the players were assigned at random.

This significant change from the 2014/15 season came about after the Pacers purchased the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and turned them into their one-to-one partner for the 2015/16 campaign. Other NBA teams have interest in following suit in the years ahead, and the NBA’s ultimate goal for the D-League is for all 30 NBA franchises to have their own D-League squads. You can view the complete list of D-League affiliates here.

We at Hoops Rumors are recapping the D-League-related activity for the 2015/16 campaign for each team and we’ll continue with the Orlando Magic, whose D-League affiliate is the Erie BayHawks:

The Magic made 3 assignments for the 2015/16 season, sending two players to the D-League for a total of 42 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Orlando for the 2015/16 campaign:

November 30th: Assigned Devyn Marble (1st) — Recalled December 23rd
January 1st: Assigned Devyn Marble (2nd) — Recalled January 17th
March 5th: Assigned Dewayne Dedmon (1st) —Recalled March 7th

Here’s how Orlando’s players performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:

Dewayne Dedmon: In one appearance Dedmon scored 17 points, grabbed 22 rebounds and blocked three shots. He connected on seven of his 13 field goal attempts.
Devyn Marble: In 14 games he averaged 14.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 30.9 minutes per outing. His shooting line was .398/.353/.795.

Magic Set To Delve Into Free Agency

May 26th, 2016 at 1:29pm CST by Luke Adams

The Magic‘s in-season moves in 2015/16 signaled that the team was prepared to be ambitious in free agency this summer, and new head coach Frank Vogel didn’t shy away from that topic in his introductory news conference, writes Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel. “We’ve got cap flexibility to add a key veteran or two or three,” Vogel said.

In the view of Magic CEO Alex Martins, Orlando’s rebuilding process has been leading up to this phase, which will revolve around adding veterans to the club’s young core. “We always believed that this summer and next summer were going to be the two summers of free agency for us that we needed to focus on after developing our young guys,” Martins said. Still, as Robbins details, the Magic won’t be the only NBA team armed with plenty of cap space this summer, and it remains to be seen whether Orlando will be able to attract the sort of veteran free agents it wants to add.

Elfrid Payton Should Benefit From Vogel Hire

May 24th, 2016 at 7:46pm CST by Eddie Scarito

If the Raptors had failed to make it past the Pacers in the first round of the playoffs, coach Dwane Casey would have likely lost his job, league sources told Zach Lowe of ESPN.com. The other notable development in Toronto during the postseason is the stellar play of center Bismack Biyombo, who is likely pricing himself out of a return to the Raptors with the team only holding the big man’s Non-Bird rights, Lowe notes. Some rival executives are wondering if the team will try and trade center Jonas Valanciunas this offseason in order to create the necessary cap room to re-sign Biyombo, the scribe relays.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Magic point guard Elfrid Payton could be one of the players who will benefit most from the arrival of new coach Frank Vogel, and the young playmaker is pleased with the hire, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders relays. “I’m pretty excited,” Payton said of Vogel coaching the Magic. “I trust [GM] Rob [Hennigan], so whatever he’s with, I’m with. … Coach and I spoke briefly. Everybody [on the team] seems pretty excited about the hire.”
The Pistons could benefit by adding depth at point guard via the draft and potential targets for the team include Wade Baldwin (Vanderbilt), Demetrius Jackson (Notre Dame) and Tyler Ulis (Kentucky), David Mayo of MLive opines. The top two point guards, Kris Dunn (Providence) and Jamal Murray (Kentucky), are expected to be off the board when Detroit selects at No. 18 overall. Mayo notes.
Former Wizards coach Randy Wittman relates well to veteran players, gets his roster to buy in defensively and has a career record that compares favorably to Vogel, new Kings coach Dave Joerger and new Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek, J. Michael of CSNMid-Atlantic writes in his look at Wittman’s chances of landing another head coaching slot.

Draft Notes: Sixers, Dunn, Bentil, Briscoe

May 22nd, 2016 at 8:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

Fresh off securing the No. 1 pick in next month’s draft, the Sixers won’t limit their options to LSU’s Ben Simmons and Duke’s Brandon Ingram, writes Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. Philadelphia is planning workouts for California forward Jaylen Brown, Providence point guard Kris Dunn and Kentucky combo guard Jamal Murray, Spears reports. The Sixers may also offer invitations to Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield and Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Dragan Bender. “The media has their darlings and that is perfectly fine,” Brown said of the attention surrounding Simmons and Ingram. “I’m just here to prove that I’m in the conversation with those two, if not better.” Brown also issued a challenge to the projected top two picks, saying, “Do they want to work out [against] me? I think that’s the question.”

There’s more draft-related news as Wednesday’s deadline for underclassmen to return to school approaches:

The results of Tuesday’s lottery may push Dunn out of the top five, according to Derek Bodner of USA Today. Bodner believes the best scenario for Dunn would have been for the Lakers to drop to No. 4 and ship their pick to the Sixers, who need help at point guard. If Simmons and Ingram are the first players selected, the next three teams — the Celtics, Suns and Wolves — all have established point guards on their roster.
Providence power forward Ben Bentil, who announced earlier today that he is staying in the draft, will work out for the Pacers Monday, tweets Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. The sophomore will have a session in Orlando later this week.
Kentucky freshman Isaiah Briscoe has a workout scheduled this week for the Hawks, Zagoria tweets. Briscoe hasn’t decided whether to stay in the draft or return to school.
Briscoe will work out for the Wolves Monday, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). Joining Briscoe will be Wichita State’s Fred VanVleet, BYU’s Kyle Collinsworth, Florida’s Dorian Finney-Smith, Louisiana-Monroe’s Majok Deng and South Carolina’s Michael Carrera.
The Jazz believe in volume when it comes to workouts, writes Jody Genessy of The Deseret News. Utah hosted Oregon’s Tyler Dorsey, Indiana’s Yogi Ferrell, Finney-Smith, Wisconsin’s Nigel Hayes, Xavier’s Jalen Reynolds and Mississippi State’s Gavin Ware on Sunday, and expects to work out dozens more before draft day. “We’re trying to find players, not only possibly for the Jazz but also for the [D-League Salt Lake City] Stars,” said vice president of player personnel Walt Perrin. “Get to know as many people as possible.”

Magic Notes: Vogel On Strategy, Team

May 21st, 2016 at 7:22pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Frank Vogel believes he can turn the Magic into a top-10 defensive team and he will implement “an analytically based offensive approach,” in which the team employs small-ball lineups and emphasizes the 3-pointer, as the coach tells Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. The team only attempted 22.2 3-pointers per game last year, which was the ninth fewest in the league. The Magic shot 35.0% from behind the arc last season, which was tied with Atlanta for 15th in the league, so they could afford to take a few more shots from downtown.

Here’s more from Orlando:

Vogel envisions Nikola Vucevic as the Magic’s defensive enforcer, Robbins writes in the same piece. “It’s really mostly about body position in today’s NBA,” Vogel said. “I feel like I can work with him to improve him. But anybody that’s going to be caught in that center position has got to be the anchor of your defense. We work diligently on teaching the angles, teaching the anticipation, teaching the coverages for when there’s help.”
Scott Skiles may have quit on the Magic, but that doesn’t phase Vogel, and he insists Orlando is the right place for him, as he tells Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel. “I’m not worried about the situation of how [Skiles] left,” Vogel said. “This organization checked off all the boxes. This is the place I felt my family and I would be happy.”
Vogel sees similarities between this Magic team and the young Pacers team of a few seasons ago, Robbins writes in a separate piece. “The team really reminds me of the team I took over here in Indianapolis, with the young Paul George, Lance Stephenson and Roy Hibbert,” Vogel said. “Those guys hadn’t really seen success at the NBA level, and we were able to just bring a positive energy-and-enthusiasm type of approach to the young talent that they had and we watched them grow. It was really special. I see a lot of similarities with the depth of the young talent that we have on this roster.”
Robbins details the Magic’s rapid hiring process of Vogel in that same piece. Vogel and GM Rob Hennigan had a two-hour phone conversation on Sunday. That was followed by face-to-face interviews with Hennigan and CEO Alex Martins, as well as a meeting with the DeVos family, the team’s owners, on Monday. On Friday afternoon, eight days after Skiles resigned, the Magic named Vogel their new head coach.

Magic Hire Frank Vogel

May 20th, 2016 at 4:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Bill Streicher / USA TODAY Sports Images

FRIDAY, 4:15pm: The hiring of Vogel is official, the team announced via press release. “While we were conducting our search, it became very evident that Frank is a terrific fit for our organization,” said Hennigan. “He is a strong, hard-working and experienced leader, who will continue to instill smart, physical, unselfish and defensive-minded basketball in our group. We welcome him into the Magic family, as we move forward in a positive direction.”

5:03pm: Orlando hopes to retain Griffin as the top assistant on Vogel’s staff, Wojnarowski tweets.

4:54pm: Vogel will receive a four-year deal worth approximately $22MM, David Aldridge of NBA.com reports (Twitter link).

THURSDAY, 2:53pm: The Magic have reached an agreement in principal with Frank Vogel that will make him their new head coach, Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel reports (on Twitter). The length and terms of the proposed arrangement are not yet known. Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reported earlier today that the two sides were nearing an agreement.

Orlando was scrambling to recover from former coach Scott Skiles‘ sudden resignation and were said to be targeting a coach with a track record of developing young players and who was a strong defensive coach. “Sort of the fulcrum of what we’re looking for,” GM Rob Hennigan said, “is someone who puts an emphasis on the defensive end of the floor, someone who puts an emphasis on player development and also someone who puts an emphasis on building lasting connections with the players on our roster.” The GM didn’t specifically say that description fit Vogel, but the coach certainly did well developing a young Indiana squad into an Eastern Conference contender during his time with the Pacers.

The Pacers went 250-181 in parts of six seasons under Vogel, who inherited the head coaching job, his first in the NBA, when the Pacers parted ways with Jim O’Brien in January of 2011. That record doesn’t include his postseason mark of 31-30, with Indiana making back-to-back conference finals under Vogel in 2013 and 2014.

Orlando also interviewed former Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff, Trail Blazers assistant David Vanterpool and current Magic assistant Adrian Griffin. Griffin was reportedly Vogel’s stiffest competition for the post, with the assistant speaking formally with team officials on Tuesday. The team is reportedly extremely fond of Griffin, but the front office was intrigued by Vogel’s résumé and the fact that he is an established NBA head coach, a claim that Griffin cannot make. Griffin has been considered a prime head coaching candidate around the NBA for the last few years, reportedly interviewing with the Blazers in 2012, the Pistons and twice with the Sixers in 2013, and the Jazz twice as well as the Cavs in 2014.

Lakers' Pick Scenarios

May 19th, 2016 at 10:46pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Lakers were able to keep their 2016 first-rounder when they landed the No.2 overall pick in Tuesday’s lottery. The team still owes Philadelphia and Orlando a first round pick each and Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders breaks down the possible pick exchanges in a series of tweets. Los Angeles sends its 2017 first-rounder to Philly if it falls outside the top-3. If the Sixers get the 2017 pick, then the Magic receive the Lakers’ unprotected 2019 selection. If it doesn’t convey in 2017, then the Lakers send their 2018 unprotected pick to Philly and they wouldn’t owe Orlando a first-rounder at all. Instead, the Magic would receive a 2017 second-rounder and a 2018 second-rounder. Los Angeles is in this predicament because of its 2012 trade for Dwight Howard and its 2012 trade for Steve Nash.

Community Shootaround: Frank Vogel

May 19th, 2016 at 7:56pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Magic hired Frank Vogel to be their head coach earlier today. Vogel will receive roughly $22MM over the next four seasons and the team is hoping he can develop its young core. The coach will inherit a team that won 35 games and has some nice pieces in place, but the current roster likely won’t yield one All-Star over the next few seasons.

Vogel compiled a record of 250-181 as the head coach of the Pacers. He also made back-to-back conference finals appearances in 2013 and 2014. He was able to interview for the Knicks vacancy before they offered the job to Jeff Hornacek and had he waited until next season to coach, he certainly would have garner interest among teams looking for a new head coach.

So that leads us to tonight’s question: Are the Magic a good fit for Frank Vogel or should he have waited for a better head coaching gig? Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on the topic. We look forward to what you have to say.

Latest On Magic Coaching Search

May 19th, 2016 at 1:37pm CST by Eddie Scarito

1:37pm: Former Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff made a strong impression during an interview on Wednesday, but the team is moving toward making a contract offer to Vogel, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports (on Twitter).

8:51am: The Magic’s search for a new head coach continues, with the team interviewing Trail Blazers assistant David Vanterpool on Wednesday, Jason Quick of CSNNW.com reports. Vanterpool had spent two years working in the Thunder’s front office alongside current Orlando GM Rob Hennigan prior to joining Portland as an assistant in 2012. The 43-year-old was under consideration last year for the Nuggets vacant post, but lost out to Michael Malone, who just completed his first season in Denver. Vanterpool also interviewed for the Sixers head coaching job in 2013 and seemingly became the frontrunner for that position at one point. Before that, he was an assistant coach for CSKA Moscow under European coaching icon and current Spurs assistant Ettore Messina.

Despite Vanterpool’s ties to Hennigan and the glowing endorsements he has received from players on the Blazers, the job appears to be Frank Vogel‘s if he wants it, Marc Stein and Chris Broussard of ESPN.com relay. The Magic believe they have emerged as Vogel’s preferred destination and are positioned to quickly complete a deal with him if their coaching search continues to progress in its current direction, the duo write. Vogel is also considered to be the Grizzlies’ top choice, which means Orlando is feeling pressure to get a deal done quickly, the scribes note.

Vogel’s main competitor in Orlando, according to Stein and Broussard, is Magic assistant coach Adrian Griffin, who interviewed for the post on Tuesday. The team is extremely fond of Griffin, but team management is intrigued by Vogel’s résumé and the fact that he is an established NBA head coach, a claim that Griffin cannot make, Stein and Broussard write. Griffin has been considered a prime head coaching candidate around the NBA for the last few years, reportedly interviewing with the Blazers in 2012, the Pistons and twice with the Sixers in 2013, and the Jazz twice as well as the Cavs in 2014.

Southwest Notes: Grizzlies, Anderson, Terry

May 18th, 2016 at 4:09pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Grizzlies spoke with at least two candidates today as their search for a new coach heats up. Heat assistant David Fizdale came to Memphis for an interview, tweets Marc J. Spears of ESPN.com., as did Portland assistant Nate Tibbetts, according to Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal (Twitter link). Both had been previously named as candidates for the job.

Spurs assistant James Borrego impressed Grizzlies officials during his interview earlier this week, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Memphis has also held interviews with Spurs assistant Ettore Messina, Hornets assistant Patrick Ewing and recently fired Pacers coach Frank Vogel (Twitter link). The Grizzlies have significant interest in Vogel, according to ESPN, but so does Orlando (Twitter link).

There’s more out of the Southwest Division:

Pelicans free agent Ryan Anderson says he was nearly traded to Cleveland at the deadline, relays Brett Dawson of The Advocate. Appearing on “The Vertical Podcast,” Anderson contends the Cavaliers were trying to work out a deal for him before they picked up Channing Frye from Orlando. “There was a very last-minute phone call that I could have gone to Cleveland,” Anderson said. “I would be playing for the Cavs right now.” Anderson said he didn’t ask the Pelicans to trade him because he wants to have the option in free agency of staying in New Orleans. Anderson’s last experience as a free agent came in 2012 when he was restricted and Orlando swung a deal to send him to the Pelicans. This time, he likes the feeling of being in complete control. “I want to enjoy this process and see where New Orleans is at this summer,” Anderson said. “I want to see where, I don’t know, Houston is at or Sacramento or Washington.”
The Spurs could be interested in power forward Thomas Robinson if he opts out of his deal with the Nets, according to Jabari Young of The San Antonio Express-News. Robinson would give up a little more than $980K by opting out, but he stands to make much more on the open market with the expected jump in the salary cap. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has talked about the need to rebuild the bench with younger players, and the 25-year-old Robinson, a former teammate of LaMarcus Aldridge in Portland, could be a possibility.
Rockets point guard Jason Terry thinks Dwight Howard would be a “great fit” with the Mavericks, but only if he adapts to coach Rick Carlisle, according to The Dallas Morning News. “Whatever [Howard’s] role is, he would have to be the one to buy in first, and then you go from there,” Terry said on ESPN Radio’s Cowlishaw and Mosley show. “But he and Dirk [Nowitzki] together? That’s a powerful combination.” The 38-year-old Terry adds that he hopes to play one more season before retiring.