Orlando Magic 2016-17 Season Outlook: Returning To The Playoffs
The Bigs
Not only did the Orlando Magic trade for Ibaka, they also signed Bismack “Earned 72 Million Dollars Because Of Two Games” Biyombo to a very auspicious deal. While paying that kind of money for an offensive almost-non factor is relatively suspect in my opinion, Biyombo and Ibaka project to function as a very defensively dynamic front court duo.
On paper, they would be ridiculously versatile defensively (both players fit the currently trendy bill of being rim protectors with concurrent abilities to survive while guarding guards in screen and switch actions) while also boasting complementary outside shooting from the proven floor spacer Ibaka.
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Mildly reminiscent of Philadelphia, Orlando has a surplus of talented bigs. They have Ibaka, Biyombo, and Nikola Vucevic. And just like in Philadelphia, this is a problem. They either just paid Biyombo like a star to come off the bench, or a relatively established player who quietly averaged around 18 points and nine rebounds last year is getting demoted in favor of a player who has to this point mostly functioned as a defensive specialist.
Unfortunately for Vucevic, the latter situation is probable and Biyombo is likely to start, if not at first than by the middle of the season. While Biyombo is questionable at best at offense, Vucevic is almost equally as questionable defensively. And as I wrote in my debut article about the positional value of defense, big man defense is very important.
And sadly for Vucevic, he leans more towards Mirotic than Jokic on the scale of “European Big Men Who Are Skilled Offensively And Who Have Nikola As Their First Name”: he is not a strong rim protector and he is very vulnerable to being burned in screen and switch actions. While Vucevic’s one way game may be more aesthetically pleasing than Biyombo’s, the nature of today’s NBA turns players like Biyombo into very rich men, and players like Vucevic, Al Jefferson, and Greg Monroe into relative dinosaurs.
Ideally for the team, Vucevic will probably end up as a massively overqualified sixth man this season. Expect him to receive Sixth Man Of The Year Votes if the Magic end up in the playoff race. Also expect very loud rumors of Vucevic’s unhappiness. When a player notably states with confidence that he is starting and that the team he plays for is “his”, it is unlikely that he will be happy being benched.
All of this is discounting UNLV alum Stephen Zimmerman, a 7-foot, 240 pound center prospect who the Magic drafted with the 41st overall pick in the 2016 draft. His immediate playing prospects are probably not of immediate concern for the Magic, but he was regarded as an intriguing prospect coming out of UNLV, and a potential successful stint in the D-League would only expedite the awkwardness of Orlando’s front court situation.