FanPost

The 'other' Solution to the Magic's Frontcourt Rotation

I really like Cory's front page post, Can You Solve Orlando’s Frontcourt Rotation?

First off, it's a pressing concern for the Magic, and for the team's fans. The crazy off-season left us with waaaaaay too many front court players, no true SFs, and some wonky spacing issues (granted, the latter two issues were there before this off-season). In Cory's post, he asks the fans to try and make sense of it all by assigning minutes to the existing roster. He gives a great minutes breakdown to how happy/unhappy a player might be with their role given a specific set of minutes, then we get to mix and match.

It's a fun thought experiement and I'd bet that we'll see something similar to one of the posts/comments in there. It even got me a little more excited (it's a Magic-news desert these days) for the upcoming season and seeing how these peices might fit together.

That said...the one solution to the Magic's front court log-jam is not addressed in his post, and that's the one that was obvious the moment the Magic signed Biyombo: Trade Vucevic.

Now, I didn't want to toss out this idea in Cory's post because I feel the spirit of the game is a good one. I don't think the Magic will trade Vucevic before the season starts, and so the game still has strong relevance. Also, I didn't want to hijack the game and turn the comments section into to a trade-machine fest.

So let's do that here!

Premise: Solve the Magic's Front Court Rotation, via trading Vucevic, then spell out the minutes breakdown.

I've found that moving Vucevic might actually be a bit tougher than it seems. There was a lot of movement this off-season with regards to Centers, so many teams you might think would be options I found just invested big money into another True Center. Maybe they still take Vucevic, but it does hinder his trade value for those teams.

His contract is still sweet as candied bacon, and while flawed defensively, he's still a top offensive talent due to his versitility. He'd probably be the best backup Center in the league if he was coming off the bench, and considering he's making bench-big money, that opens up possibilities with teams that have an embedded starter. So he's still got real value.

Option 1:

Magic-Kings Trade... Nikola Vucevic ::for:: Kosta Koufos + Ben McLemore + 2nd Rd Pick

Kings Rational: Ben McLemore has the tools, but simply hasn't lived up to the hype. He's barely been a rotation-worthy player in Sacramento, and the fact that they signed Afflalo (SG), Garrett Temple (G), Matt Barnes (SF), and rookie Malachi Richardson (SG) tells us that they don't really have tons of investment in McLemore going forward. Koufos is on a good deal, but has fallen off since leaving Memphis. He clearly doesn't fit, so much so that they are likely looking at starting WCS over him. Instead, they can turn those two under-performing assets into a net positive with Vucevic. They run with a 3-man big-rotation of Cousins, Vucevic, and WCS, with Cousins floating between PF/C. That's pretty nasty, and don't give up any major peices or long-term assets to get Vucevic.

Magic Rational: The Magic need to free up minutes in the front court, and that means one of their bigs needs to see a largely reduced role. While Koufos is clearly not as talented as Vucevic is, he did put up solid numbers in Memphis, he makes $4M less, and he's used to coming off the bench. If you're going to have to reduce the role of one of your bigs, Koufos is cheaper option than Vucevic without any potential disharmony issues. McLemore has been a near-bust in Sacramento, but he's still young, athletic, and can shoot. You have 1 year to test him out and see what Vogel can get out of him, even if it's behind Fournier/Hezonja on the depth chart. It's possible (just like Koufos) that the dysfunctional Kings were hindering his development, so you hope that getting him into a new situation would help him grow. If he starts to shape up, the Magic have his rights to keep him around. The 2nd Rd Pick is just a kicker, though I'd probably still do this deal without it, as Koufos' savings & fit, along with McLemore's potential & rights I think balance well.

'Base' Minutes breakdown for Option 1...

PG: Payton (30), Augustin (18)

SG: Hezonja (24), McLemore (24)

SF: Fournier (32), Gordon (10), Green (6)

PF: Ibaka (26), Gordon (22)

Cn: Biyombo (32), Ibaka (10), Koufos (6)

Option 2:

Magic-Grizzlies Trade: Nikola Vucevic + CJ Watson ::for:: Tony Allen + Brandon Wright + Wade Baldwin

Grizzlies Rational: The Grizzlies like playing big, so having one of the best Centers along with probably the best backup Center in the league would be right up their alley. They only have 1 more year of Randolph and new draft pick Deyonta Davis will take a couple seasons to get up to speed, so Vucevic fills that timeline gap perfectly. Allen is beloved by Memphis, but he's aging, on his final year of his contract, and they have several other SGs on the roster to fill the spot. Their core of Conley-Parsons-Gasol now becomes Conley-Parsons-Gasol-Vucevic, which is pretty intimidating. Plus, Gasol would be a great mentor for Vucevic to get better defensively, and someone who Vucevic could challenge himself against, which he hasn't had before. CJ Watson provides some backup PG minutes to help cover the loss of rookie Baldwin, and Wright isn't much since he's been often injured (as well). I'm sure they won't love losing Baldwin, but they still have Davis and they are built to contend now anyways. This helps that.

Magic Rational: The Magic free up minutes at the front court. Even though Wright has been fighting injuries the last few seasons, the advantanced stats look solid when he plays and he wouldn't be playing much as 4th in the depth chart at either front court spot. Allen provides some defensive toughness on the wings without a long term committment, and fits the Magic's intended identity well -- can you imagine a "Defense" lineup of Payton, Allen, Gordon, Ibaka, Biyombo when the Magic need a stop? Woof. Baldwin is the main prize here and like all draft picks is a gamble, but he's long and seems like a George Hill-type Guard that should fit Vogel's system well. With Payton and Augustin on the roster, he'll get a couple season to grow before he'll be thrust into any major role anyways.

Base' Minutes breakdown for Option 2...

PG: Payton (30), Augustin (18)

SG: Allen (24), Hezonja (24)

SF: Fournier (32), Green (10), Gordon (6)

PF: Ibaka (16), Gordon (26), Green (6)

Cn: Biyombo (32), Ibaka (16)

Thoughts?

This FanPost was made by a member of the Orlando Pinstriped Post community, and is to be treated as the opinions and views of its author, not that of the blogger or blog community as a whole.