Orlando Magic Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Rumors: Granger, Raptors, Osby

October 28th, 2013 at 10:35pm CST by Chuck Myron

After missing nearly the entire 2012/13 season, Danny Granger is off to an ominous start this season as well. Entering the final year of his contract, Granger will be sidelined for the next three weeks as he recovers from a calf injury, the Pacers announced today. Indiana held off on trading Granger this summer, optimistic that he’d bounce back from an injury-plagued season and help the team overcome the Heat on the way to a title. As we wonder whether that optimism remains for team president Larry Bird and company, here’s the latest out of the East:

Sources tell Bruce Arthur of the National Post that Raptors GM Masai Ujiri has talked about trading Rudy Gay, though it’s unclear whether those discussions were within the organization or involved other teams. Arthur also passes along thoughts from Ujiri about setting the Raptors on the right course toward contention.
HoopsWorld’s Eric Pincus confirms to Hoops Rumors that the Magic are paying Romero Osby $100K this year, despite his earlier report that Osby’s partial guarantee would only kick in if he made the opening-night roster. The team waived Osby on Friday. Pincus lists the $100K on the Magic’s updated salary page at HoopsWorld.
Khalif Wyatt, whom the Sixers released last week, has signed a one-year deal with the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association, reports Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News speculates that Thaddeus Young would most likely be the centerpiece of any trade the Sixers make this year. Part of Cooney’s suspicion that an early-season trade might be in the works was based on the team’s roster standing at 14 players, but the Sixers got back up to the 15-man limit when they signed Brandon Davies today.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Southeast Links: Wizards, LeBron, Hawks

October 28th, 2013 at 11:09am CST by Luke Adams

A pair of Southeast teams are set to participate in the NBA’s first two games of the regular season tomorrow night, with the Magic scheduled to tip off first in Indiana, followed by the Heat playing host to Chicago. As we look forward to the NBA’s opening night, let’s round up a few of today’s items out of the Southeast….

The acquisition of Marcin Gortat didn’t have an effect on the Wizards‘ long-term cap outlook, since all the players involved in the deal were on expiring contracts. As GM Ernie Grunfeld tells J. Michael of CSNWashington.com, the team should have some flexibility going forward to decide whether to keep some of their own players or pursue an outside trade or free agent.
The regular season may be around the corner, but Matt Moore, Royce Young, and Zach Harper of CBSSports.com already have an eye toward next July, providing an early primer for LeBron James‘ Decision 2.0. The Eye on Basketball trio discusses what the Heat, Lakers, and Cavs can offer the reigning MVP next summer, and debate the odds of LeBron actually leaving Miami.
In his weekly column at NBA.com, TNT’s David Aldridge avoids free agency talk in a Q&A with LeBron, and takes an extended look at the Hawks, including conversations with star big man Al Horford and head coach Mike Budenholzer.
Two Southeast players, Jameer Nelson of the Magic and Ben Gordon of the Bobcats, cracked Steve Kyler’s list of strong trade candidates at HoopsWorld. While they may not be going anywhere yet, expect rumors to heat up as the trade deadline nears, says Kyler. Evan Turner, Iman Shumpert, and Goran Dragic rounded out his list of candidates to be moved.

Magic Exercise 2014/15 Options On Four

October 26th, 2013 at 1:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

SATURDAY, 1:59pm: The Magic have officially announced the moves.

FRIDAY, 10:12pm: Having just made their camp cuts this evening, the Magic will pick up their rookie-scale options on four players tomorrow, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. The team is set to guarantee the 2014/15 salaries of Maurice Harkless, Tobias Harris, Andrew Nicholson and Nikola Vucevic.

Robbins first reported that the team had decided on the option pickups back in July, well ahead of the October 31st deadline and long before most teams make these kinds of moves. Together the exercised options will add $8,565,534 to the team’s 2014/15 commitments, bringing the total to about $33.4MM — the 11th lowest amount of guaranteed salary in the league when I ran the numbers and projected next summer’s cap space for every team earlier this month.

Vucevic and Harris, who’ll be playing their fourth NBA seasons in 2014/15, will receive about $2.75MM and $2.4MM, respectively, while Harkless and Nicholson, who’ll be third-year guys that season, are set to make around $1.9MM and $1.5MM. Check out our tracker for details on 2014/15 rookie contract options for each team as the October 31st deadline to exercise them draws near.

Magic Cut Gladness, Harris, Joseph, Osby

October 25th, 2013 at 9:26pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Magic have waived Mickell Gladness, Manny Harris, Kris Joseph and Romero Osby, the team announced via press release. That means camp invitee Solomon Jones appears to have made the team, since the moves pare Orlando’s roster down to 15 players. The move is also fortuitous news for Kyle O’Quinn, who has a non-guaranteed deal just like Jones and the four who got cut.

Osby may be the most notable subtraction, since he was the team’s second-round pick this past June. His deal called for him to make $682,180 this season, more than every other second-rounder from this year except one, despite the fact he was drafted 51st overall, closer to the end of the second-round than the beginning. It was fully non-guaranteed, but it would have become guaranteed for $100K had he made it to opening night. He appeared to have been battling Jones for a roster spot, and the seven-year veteran’s dependability and experience gave him the edge, according to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link).

Gladness, Harris and Joseph all have NBA experience, too, though the three of them put together have less than half as many NBA games under their belts as Jones does. All four of the players cut will become free agents once they clear waivers.

Odds & Ends: Hayward, Kobe, Nelson

October 24th, 2013 at 8:17pm CST by Ryan Raroque

As we inch closer to the start of the regular season, here are some miscellaneous news and notes to pass along tonight:

Gordon Hayward would love to remain on the Jazz for the rest of his career, reports Yannis Koutroupis of Hoopsworld.
Kobe Bryant says that he’s scaled back on his activities in order to allow his injured left achilles tendon to heal from the added pressure he felt last week. The Lakers’ superstar had been doing some light jogging and shooting drills last week while the team was in China for exhibition games (Mark Medina of InsideSoCal.com)
While discussing how much he enjoys his leadership role on the Magic as the team’s most seasoned veteran, Jameer Nelson knows that with a major rebuilding process underway, he’s still a prime candidate to be traded (Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel).
Gordon Monson of the Salt Lake Tribune makes a strong case for why the Jazz should trade for Kings guard Jimmer Fredette, who he believes would not only contribute with his shooting ability, but also help tickets sales by drawing the innumerable ‘Jimmermania’ fanatics that followed him at BYU.
Mike D’Antoni admitted that last year’s Lakers roster made it difficult to define roles, especially when “everybody thinks they’re the 1 or 2 guy” (Bill Oram of the OC Register via Twitter).
Pelicans coach Monty Williams admittedly didn’t find the type of production he was looking for from the center position during the pre-season, writes John Reid of NOLA.com.

Southeast Notes: Arenas, LeBron, Heat, Magic

October 23rd, 2013 at 4:57pm CST by Luke Adams

As we noted earlier today, Gilbert Arenas will be paid through 2016 by the Magic, despite the fact that his amnestied contract was set to expire after the 2013/14 season. NBA sources confirmed the arrangement to Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel, who says the Magic used the stretch provision to extend Arenas’ payment schedule. I’m not sure that’s accurate, since that specific provision only applies to deals signed under the new CBA. But in any case, Schmitz reports that the revised payment plan shouldn’t affect any free agent plans the team has.

Here are a few more notes from out of Southeast Division:

LeBron James will earn more than $19MM in 2013/14, but he could still be the NBA’s most underpaid player, as Larry Coon details in an Insider-only piece for ESPN.com.
Speaking to reporters, including Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Pat Riley referred to the Heat as a “development team” and called the Sioux Falls Skyforce (Miami’s D-League affiliate) a perfect fit for the Heat. A handful of Miami’s camp invitees are expected to end up in Sioux Falls next month.
In a pair of columns for the Orlando Sentinel, Josh Robbins examines the fight to earn a roster spot for two Magic camp invitees, Romero Osby and Solomon Jones. Assuming Orlando doesn’t release or buy out Hedo Turkoglu within the next few days, Osby and Jones could be battling against each other and against the team’s other invitees for a single roster spot.

NBA Teams Still Paying Amnestied Players

October 23rd, 2013 at 10:30am CST by Luke Adams

In an interview with TMZ.com, Gilbert Arenas revealed that while his amnestied contract would have come to an end next summer, the Magic will continue to pay him through 2016, having agreed to spread out his $111MM salary across two additional years. Arenas’ admission is interesting not only because that type of information isn’t typically reported, but also because paying him an eight-figure salary through 2016 could affect how much Orlando spends elsewhere.

Arenas is one of several amnestied players still being paid through the 2013/14 season, and his arrangement with the Magic shows that we don’t know exactly what agreements were made between teams and players when clubs used their amnesty clauses. For instance, when the Sixers released Elton Brand via amnesty in 2012, he only had one year remaining on his contract, meaning Philadelphia is likely no longer on the hook for his salary. However, if the club agreed to spread out his payments, like the Magic did with Arenas, it’s possible that the Sixers’ debt to Brand hasn’t been entirely extinguished.

What we do know is that many amnestied players had contracts at least through the 2013/14 season, so their former teams are almost certainly still paying their salaries. Here’s a breakdown of the amnestied players, besides Arenas, who are still being paid by old teams this season. The year the player’s amnestied contract ends is noted in parentheses:

Bobcats: Tyrus Thomas (through 2015)
Bucks: Drew Gooden (through 2015)
Heat: Mike Miller (through 2015)
Lakers: Metta World Peace (through 2014)
Mavericks: Brendan Haywood (through 2016)
Nets: Travis Outlaw (through 2015)
Nuggets: Chris Andersen (through 2014)
Raptors: Linas Kleiza (through 2014)
Rockets: Luis Scola (through 2015)
Suns: Josh Childress (through 2015)
Timberwolves: Darko Milicic (through 2014)
Trail Blazers: Brandon Roy (through 2015)
Wizards: Andray Blatche (through 2015)

The following amnestied players’ contracts have expired, so presumably their teams are no longer paying them, unless they agreed to stretched-out payments like Arenas did:

76ers: Elton Brand (expired in 2013)
Cavaliers: Baron Davis (expired in 2013)
Clippers: Ryan Gomes (expired in 2013)
Knicks: Chauncey Billups (expired in 2012)
Pacers: James Posey (expired in 2012)
Warriors: Charlie Bell (expired in 2012)

Hoops Rumors’ Amnesty Tracker was used in the creation of this post.

Odds & Ends: Heat, Smith, Kidd, Wiggins

October 22nd, 2013 at 12:39pm CST by Zachary Links

The Heat were picked as the clear favorite to win the 2013/14 title in this year’s GM survey, writes John Schuhmann of NBA.com. There were a few dissenters with the Spurs and Pacers receiving 6.9% of the vote and the Bulls, Clippers, and Thunder also getting nods. LeBron James was the overwhelming pick to win the MVP trophy and Pelicans big man Anthony Davis was pegged as the breakout player of the year. Magic guard Victor Oladipo was picked to win the Rookie of the Year award and GMs feel that he’ll be the best player out of this class five years from now. Here’s more from around the Association..

Pistons forward Josh Smith spoke to Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld about his decision to leave the Hawks this summer. “It wasn’t as hard as other people saw it,” Smith said. “It was time for me to experience a different thing in my life, a new situation, new opportunity and I’m happy where I’m at.” It also didn’t hurt that Detroit gave him a four-year, $54MM deal.
David Aldridge of NBA.com sat down with new Nets head coach Jason Kidd for a Q&A. The discussion covered his learning curve and former coaches that the point guard has apologized to now that he has discovered the difficulty of the job.
Andrew Wiggins, Julius Randle, Dante Exum, Jabari Parker, and Aaron Gordon are all candidates to go No. 1 overall in next June’s draft, in Kyler’s view (Twitter link). Not everyone would agree with that assessment as Wiggins has long been viewed as the top talent in the 2014 class.

Southeast Notes: Heat, Magic, Oden, Jones

October 21st, 2013 at 7:20pm CST by Zachary Links

The Heat announced today that they have parted ways with three players on non-guaranteed contracts: Jarvis Varnado, Larry Drew II, and Charlie Westbrook. Varnado, a shot-blocking specialist, was set to receive a partial guarantee of $250K if he remained on the roster until opening night, but Roger Mason and Michael Beasley appear to be ahead of him on the pecking order. Here’s more out of the Southeast Division..

Now a member of the Heat, center Greg Oden is working towards forgetting his painful past, writes HoopsWorld’s Moke Hamilton. “Just being on the team, being at practice every day, being able to go to the gym, that is the greatest thing,” Oden said. “It’s everything to me.” Meanwhile, neither the center nor coach Erik Spoelstra are willing to put a timetable on his return.
Meanwhile, David Aldridge of NBA.com is skeptical that Greg Oden can make a sizable impact on the Heat this season given his injury woes. Despite his skepticism, Aldridge says that he can’t help but root for the former No.1 overall pick to find success in Miami.
Solomon Jones seemed like a longshot to hook on with the Magic but it’s starting to look more probable, writes Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel. The USF product, who has been with five teams since 2006-07, can offer Orlando some big-man depth behind Nikola Vucevic and Kyle O’Quinn.

Eastern Notes: Webster, Heat, Magic, Allen

October 21st, 2013 at 10:07am CST by Luke Adams

As the final week of the preseason gets underway, let’s round up a few items from around the Eastern Conference….

Martell Webster signed a lucrative four-year deal with the Wizards this summer, but a sense of entitlement didn’t come along with that contract, says Michael Lee of the Washington Post. Webster had been in the mix for a starting spot, but will come off the bench instead, and tells Lee that’s fine with him.
In his latest mailbag for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Ira Winderman wonders if the Heat would part ways with Rashard Lewis in order to clear a spot on the roster for Eric Griffin.
Solomon Jones spoke to Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld about the opportunity the Magic are giving him to play during the preseason and potentially earn a regular-season roster spot.
As someone who had already been criticized for a perceived lack of effort, Lavoy Allen didn’t do himself any favors when he missed a recent Sixers practice due to “oversleeping.” However, he tells Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer that it’s not something he believes will hinder his NBA future.