FanPost

What to do about Bismack Biyombo?

The Orlando Magic acquired Bismack Biyombo in the Summer of 2016 on a 4-year $72m contract when, then-GM Rob Hennigan, went on a front-court bender and overstocked a barrage of mismatching big-men for first-year Coach Frank Vogel to figure out. It was a total disaster? In fact, last season was the first season of regression in the Post-Howard Era. Since the 20-win and 62-loss season in 2012, the Orlando Magic have continually improved their overall team record and even competed late in the 2015-16 season against the Detroit Pistons for the 8th playoff seed. However, last season the Magic finished with a 29-53, good enough for 13th place in the Eastern Conference.

How did the front office envision this working out?

The Magic's opening day roster featured (PF)-Serge Ibaka, (C)-Niko Vucevic, and (PF) Aaron Gordon experimenting at the wing position. Opting to go without a true wing player, $15m free-agent acquisition (PF)-Jeff Green came off the bench and split time with Ibaka and Gordon. Leaving the team's highest paid player, (PF/C)-Bismack Biyombo to collect the leftovers and averaging just 22 minutes a game. The unbalanced roster had a domino effect on the team.

Without a true wing player at SF, Gordon / Green combined for (1.8-6.1) .295 3P%. Factor in the element of the poor deep-shooting of (PG)-Elfrid Payton (0.5-1.8) .274 3P% and now you can observe a deepening hole on the offensive side of the ball. As a result, the burden of stretching floor fell on (SG)-Evan Fournier who posted a career-high with 5.3 3-pointers attempted each game, resulting in a career-low .356 3P% on the season. Surprisingly, Serge Ibaka lead the team with .388 3P%.

(SG/SF)-Mario Hezonja? The 2015 fifth overall pick regressed in every statistical category from his rookie season and factored in only 14.8 MPG.

How did Bismack Biyombo perform? He did exactly as he has performed every season of his career; 20ish MPG, 6PPG on a few high-percentage shots, 7-8RPG, 50ish FT%, some blocks, etc... You get the picture. Not exactly max-contract statistics.

So how does the roster look going into 2017 offseason?

2017 Draft Picks: (6), (25), (33), and (35)

PG: Payton / Augustin / Watson

SG: Fournier / Hezonja

SF: Ross / Hezonja

PF: Gordon / Biyumbo

C: Vucevic / Biyombo

Cap Holds: Jeff Green / Jodie Meeks / Damjan Rudez

Cap Space: $12.7m
Luxury Cap Space: $32.7m

So where do we go from here?

  1. Did trading Ibaka for Ross solve our offensive woes?
  2. Are we forced to choose between Vucevic and Biyombo?
  3. With 3 seasons left on Biyombo's contract, is it even transferable?
  4. What can we expect from Biyombo? How high is his potential ceiling?
  5. With our roster lacking perimeter shooting, is drafting Tatum or Monk our only option?

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.