Orlando Magic News for July 14th: Dwight Howard Visits EA Sports, A Look At Player Aging, and More

by erivera7 on Jul 14, 2009 5:48 PM EDT in News

Magic Spend Big on the Bench
Bethlehem Shoals of The Baseline elaborates on Marcin Gortat's return.

The shock waves of this move will reverberate through the league on a number of levels, or at least offer a fascinating look at how a personnel decision can have very different effects on all involved. For one, the Magic are loading up like crazy. Vince Carter is a glamor move; adding Bass, keeping Gortat, and continuing to bring along Howard gives them the size and power to complement their three-point-heavy offense. Not to mention an added dimension to an already impressive Van Gundy family brand defense. [...]

Which brings us back to Gortat. You can insist he be happy because he got paid; you can also see why he'd prefer to get the chance to start. But as anyone who watched the playoffs knows, Gortat does get some chances to shine off the bench. With Hedo gone, who knows what line-ups SVG will opt to play—bigger ones, you'd think. So the man finds himself paid like crazy, on a team that's looking more and more like the favorites in the East. Hardly a bad spot to be in, even if it's not Gortat's ideal.
INTERVIEW AT THE EA SPORTS FALL PREVIEW
Dwight Howard visited the EA Sports offices in Vancouver to preview NBA Live '10 - a game in which he's donning the cover.
Win Shares and Aging
Neil Paine of Basketball-Reference takes a look at the correlation of the changes in a player's Win Shares as he ages. Fantastic analysis.

As you can see, on average guards do disappear sooner than players at other positions, starting at age 32. The conventional wisdom is that smaller players who rely on their speed/quickness tend to lose that ability (and therefore their viability as NBA players) in their early 30s; bigger players, of course, lose it at that point too, but it doesn’t matter as much for them because they were never very fast to begin with. Based on these results, I’d say the conventional wisdom has been confirmed — guards do appear to "lose it" sooner than big men, starting in their early thirties. That makes the recent re-signings of aging PGs Jason Kidd and Mike Bibby particularly risky, and the buyer should certainly beware when it comes to Allen Iverson, who could end up being the poster child for this phenomenon.
Top 10 Free Agents
Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus lists his top 10 free agents.
NBA free agents: The latest chatter on Allen Iverson, Lamar Odom
UPDATE: Marc Stein of ESPN.com shares this tidbit about Brandon Bass.

Brandon Bass' contract in Orlando is a flat $4 million annually for four years with incentive bonuses and a player option for the 2012-13 season.
Homecoming has Vince Carter and Daytona Beach giddy
UPDATE 2: The Orlando Sentinel caught up with Vince Carter in Daytona Beach and asked him a variety of questions. Check it out.

OS: We met Brandon Bass yesterday. Have you talked to him?

VC: No I haven’t talked to him yet. He is in town? I played against him and admired his game. I felt like he was one of those angry rebounders is what I considered him for many years. I've always liked and enjoyed watching him play at the same time was like man, he’s a beast. I've always felt that. So now to have him on your team is just great. He’s a young, energetic guy who can bring a lot to this team as well.

Tweet Comment 29 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Guards deterioate more than big men eh?

Looks like Otis had a plan when he signed 5 talented big men haha.

by thermodynamic on Jul 15, 2009 2:32 AM EDT reply actions

It makes sense, given that they rely more on their athleticism ..

I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.

"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement." - Michael Corleone

by erivera7 on Jul 15, 2009 10:38 AM EDT up reply actions

I hate to say it...

…or maybe I don’t hate to say it. I’m not sure why it’s happening, and I don’t want to sound like one of the uninformed guys who assumes it’s automatically a good idea. But given the return of Gortat, I would not be at all surprised to see Lewis moving back down to SF for most/all of his minutes.

Well, unless we’re not done trading. But at this point, either we’re trading Howard (unthinkable), Lewis (almost as unthinkable), or a guy we just signed/traded for. It would be a pretty low move to trade Bass or Gortat this season, and I just don’t see us getting Anderson’s worth in return for him.

Other than that, though… look at the situation. We have five players who probably deserve 20+ minutes each, including two All-Stars in Howard and Lewis. We have 96 minutes to split up. Remove Lewis from the equation, and it all adds up — 24 minutes apiece for Anderson and Bass at the 4 (altered as necessary), Howard with his 36, and… well, Gortat still gets squeezed, but there you go.

Meanwhile, we need a SF — between the inconsistent play and the injuries, Pietrus profiles much better as a backup SF/SG. Which we can use, because we don’t have a backup SF, and Redick’s not really ideal at the 2.

All I’m saying is, it’s not the best idea, but it’s the best idea for the personnel we have. (Which raises the question of whether getting the personnel we have was really the best idea. But we have them, so here we are.)

Yeah, and we broke your damn shot clock too.

by 3.3seconds on Jul 15, 2009 3:46 AM EDT reply actions

Why would it be a "pretty low move" to trade Gortat?

Let's observe a moment of silence for CLee, Skip to my Lou, Batman, and The Michael Jordan of Turkey...

Welcome Back Polish Hammer and Welcome Brandon Bass!!

by malars on Jul 15, 2009 8:17 AM EDT up reply actions

agreed

this is a business not a hallmark movie

"I'd hate to leave right when the getting is good." -CC

by Matt Bishoff on Jul 15, 2009 9:16 AM EDT up reply actions

LOL .. seriously.

I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.

"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement." - Michael Corleone

by erivera7 on Jul 15, 2009 10:38 AM EDT up reply actions

Gortat, maybe.

I guess he was a restricted free agent, and that’s one thing. We have the right to keep him, we paid him as much as he was going to get anyway, and if he’s not getting the minutes, he’ll probably be happy to move. But can we at least agree that it would look pretty bad for us to trade Bass immediately after actively pursuing and signing him?

Or — you know, not “immediately”. Whenever we can. (Is it 90 days?)

Either way, it would be awfully difficult for us to do that and not hurt our reputation with future free agents.

Yeah, and we broke your damn shot clock too.

by 3.3seconds on Jul 15, 2009 7:12 PM EDT up reply actions

Thing is, the Magic aren't going to trade Bass so it's a moot point ..

I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.

"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement." - Michael Corleone

by erivera7 on Jul 15, 2009 8:00 PM EDT up reply actions

I know...

I’m still a little upset about this whole deal, though, and I am struggling to make sense of it all. We had Lewis, we got a backup who does the same things Lewis does in Anderson, we got a tough guy in Gortat… and now we have ANOTHER tough guy? One who got as many rebounds in 20 minutes as Gortat did in 12 last year? And we’re paying him how much?

I mean, we must have known we were going to match Gortat when we signed Bass. I don’t doubt Otis, but… wait, yes, I actually do doubt Otis. The minutes are simply not there for all these men. The only way I can see this ending is with Gortat getting dealt before/early in the season.

Which actually makes a lot of sense — especially if they can showcase him in the preseason/early in the year a bit, show people a little more of what he’s capable of. There are plenty of teams out there who would trade a lot for an Andris Biedrins-type player, especially at a reasonable salary. And I think Gortat is potentially better than Biedrins — even if he doesn’t develop a more varied offensive game, he’s definitely a smarter defensive guy.

So yeah, I’m going to start acting like this is the plan in the long term. It doesn’t solve our backup center problem, and of course I’m going to miss Gortat (then again, I had been prretty much resigned to seeing him go,) but so be it. It’s going to make me a lot happier to think that this is all some plan.

Yeah, and we broke your damn shot clock too.

by 3.3seconds on Jul 16, 2009 2:21 AM EDT up reply actions

I think Gortat will be here the entire year before the team evaluates trade options for him next summer

Anderson probably won’t play much as Gortat and Bass will gobble up almost all the backup big-man minutes.

Third Quarter Collapse: An Orlando Magic blog at SB Nation | Brandon Bass: "I just play hard."

by Evan Dunlap on Jul 16, 2009 10:50 AM EDT up reply actions

THIS

Is the way it’ll go.

by Dzogi on Jul 16, 2009 11:27 AM EDT up reply actions

Argh, why?

Anderson is the ideal backup PF for this team. He’s got three-point range, and he’s a better rebounder than Bass already. The only question mark for him is defense, and we don’t KNOW he’s a defensive liability or anything.

He's currently two-thirds man, one-third amazing. Which, let's face it, is still a pretty good ratio.

by 3.3seconds on Jul 16, 2009 8:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Don't you feel a bit better about the Magic's chances of competing with big teams, like Boston and L.A., knowing that Bass can come off the bench and bust some heads?

Third Quarter Collapse: An Orlando Magic blog at SB Nation | Brandon Bass: "I just play hard."

by Evan Dunlap on Jul 17, 2009 2:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Once I saw Brandon up close, that's all I needed to see ..

.. to know that he will be able to be a physical presence for the team.

I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.

"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement." - Michael Corleone

by erivera7 on Jul 17, 2009 7:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Personally, I can't believe people are complaining about depth at big men.

I understand the argument, but at the same time, this is exactly what Orlando needs to contend with Boston, Cleveland, and whoever else the team comes across.

I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.

"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement." - Michael Corleone

by erivera7 on Jul 16, 2009 1:00 PM EDT up reply actions

this

Life's too short. Be a fan. Magic, Cards,Rays and "the U"! What a winning combo.

by hevchv on Jul 16, 2009 6:43 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

And to stunt Anderson's growth as a player.

Bass is not the future of this team. He doesn’t shoot the 3, he can’t rebound, and he’s already peaked.

What we need to compete with anybody — ANYBODY — is four three-point shooters and Howard. (Or Gortat for short stretches.) When we could do that, we succeeded. When we couldn’t, we failed. And we had it all set up — we’ve got Nelson back at the point, we got Anderson to shoot the 3 from the 4. And then we ruined it.

He's currently two-thirds man, one-third amazing. Which, let's face it, is still a pretty good ratio.

by 3.3seconds on Jul 16, 2009 8:28 PM EDT up reply actions

The Magic didn't ruin it.

.. the freakin’ season hasn’t even started, yet. Let’s reserve judgment until Orlando, you know, plays an actual game. Good grief.

I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.

"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement." - Michael Corleone

by erivera7 on Jul 16, 2009 9:44 PM EDT up reply actions

This isn't a judgment. This is an opinion.

And my opinion is, Bass was a stupid signing if we weren’t getting Gortat back. He’s an idiotic signing now. And if he takes time away from players who actually need time and suit this team’s needs, which seems like a virtual lock at this point, that just compounds matters. I’d be glad if someone — Otis, Stan, Bass himself — proves me wrong in this equation.

And in the long run, it’s not a massive deal — I get the sense Stan knows what is up, and if I’m right, Bass will get shoved into the background. And if we can win with Battie making $6 million and barely contributing, we can just as easily win with Bass making $4 million and barely contributing. But it’s frustrating waiting that result out.

He's currently two-thirds man, one-third amazing. Which, let's face it, is still a pretty good ratio.

by 3.3seconds on Jul 16, 2009 11:27 PM EDT up reply actions

I still can't believe your rationally complaining about depth.

.. when we all know that one injury or a slump changes everything.

I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.

"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement." - Michael Corleone

by erivera7 on Jul 17, 2009 7:22 PM EDT up reply actions

But we're not paying Bass like he's depth.

We’re paying Bass like he’s a sixth man. Which means we’re going to be playing Bass. Which is going to cut into the minutes of the man who SHOULD be our backup PF, and very well might force Lewis down to the 3 for more minutes than he should be. (Remember, we still don’t have a real SF behind Pietrus… and we all know Pietrus is going to miss games.)

And yeah, it comes down to not liking Bass. It comes down to Bass’ mediocre rebounding, and the fact that he doesn’t shoot the three. But it also comes down to paying out $18 million for a guy who’s our fifth-best big man, when we have real needs to attend to. It’s bafflingly inefficient, and not what I expect from Otis — a guy who has been great at identifying our neeeds and proceeding accordingly in the past.

It also comes down to the fact that the two Magic players with real injury concerns are Pietrus and Nelson, and we’ve done nothing to shore up those positions. Whereas Howard, Gortat, Lewis, and Anderson have all been healthy throughout their careers. So if this is an attempt at depth, it’s a pretty misguided one in that way too.

He's currently two-thirds man, one-third amazing. Which, let's face it, is still a pretty good ratio.

by 3.3seconds on Jul 17, 2009 8:37 PM EDT up reply actions

Nelson isn't injury-proned.

Not yet, at least.

I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.

"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement." - Michael Corleone

by erivera7 on Jul 19, 2009 3:32 PM EDT up reply actions

I hate hate hate hate hate the idea of going conventional with Lewis at the 3, and hope he plays 90% of his minutes at PF this year, even if it means Anderson hardly plays at all

Third Quarter Collapse: An Orlando Magic blog at SB Nation | Brandon Bass: "I just play hard."

by Evan Dunlap on Jul 15, 2009 11:03 AM EDT up reply actions

Ditto.

I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.

"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement." - Michael Corleone

by erivera7 on Jul 15, 2009 5:55 PM EDT up reply actions

I hate it too.

But if they’re going for the alternative, it just doesn’t make sense.

Yeah, and we broke your damn shot clock too.

by 3.3seconds on Jul 15, 2009 7:09 PM EDT up reply actions

Bottom line is Rashard is getting older and can use some rest. I’d be happy with him playing 29-30 mpg. Anderson can be our third string PF for energy minutes and shot making like what JJ was supposed to be 2 years ago. Which makes sense since its his second year. He may be good enough to develop with more minutes, but really lets win now, and if Bass is better let’s play him. Pietrus is fine as the three, and if for some reason he’s really not, shard can take his minutes.

by thomaswhigham on Jul 15, 2009 7:12 AM EDT reply actions