CTMagicUK 1,480 Report post Posted July 4, 2014 Good point but if he was such a good character guy it'd be weird that he got in such a mess at Charlotte. Yea I know... It's confusing. He got a lot of bad press for clashing with a coach that got fired after one season, obviously it's not great he clashes with his coach but feel like he just wasn't a very good coach. But I get the impression he never really wanted to be in Charlotte anyway. He's obviously got questionable character but we'll see whether that will be a problem since he chose to sign here presumably with the understanding that he's not going to be a featured player. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CTMagicUK 1,480 Report post Posted July 4, 2014 But the Magic signed Gordon to a partially guaranteed two-year, $9 million deal for reasons that are unclear but probably pretty simple. The Magic aren’t in a rush to be good, and they need to fill cap space to meet the league’s mandated minimum salary floor without binoculars. They need shooting on a defense-first roster bereft of it, and Gordon can still knock down shots if he can run himself into open spaces — something that has proven harder for him with age. His new salary is a perfect matching ingredient in trades, and if he rehabs himself, the Magic could flip Gordon for a second-round pick down the line. In the meantime, teams trying to re-sign their own shooters are kvetching about how Orlando has nudged the marketplace in the wrong direction. My link Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ball junkie 277 Report post Posted July 4, 2014 Why adding Ben Gordon doesn't make sense Gordon's exile from Charlotte--he made only three appearances after January 1st, and the team made sure he wouldn't play in the postseason by waiving him a day after the deadline for playoff eligibility passed--raises questions about his professionalism. It's telling that Charlotte, making a run at the playoffs under coach Steve Clifford and with free-agent signee Al Jefferson anchoring the post, had no use for Gordon, preferring instead to play the likes of Gerald Henderson, Chris Douglas-Roberts, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist on the wings. And a year earlier, in Gordon's first Bobcats season, coach Mike Dunlap reportedly booted him from a practice for being "beyond disrespectful" during a shootaround. To another point, for all the good his outside shooting might do Orlando if he rediscovers his stroke, he offers the Magic no real long-term upside. If Orlando wanted to add shooting via free agency, it might have found a younger, arguably more talented player for cheaper. On the same day the Magic reportedly agreed to terms with Gordon, the Indiana Pacers inked Croatian shooting specialist Damjan Rudež, for example. A year earlier, the Detroit Pistons turned heads by signing Italian free agent Luigi Datome to fill a similar role. Later that offseason, undrafted rookie Ian Clark parlayed strong performances in the Orlando Pro and Las Vegas Summer Leagues into a contract with the Utah Jazz. Outside shooting is both a valuable skill and one that's in ready supply in the free-agent bargain bin. Why Orlando chose a chance to resurrect Gordon's flagging career over a potentially more rewarding option remains unclear. Also, Drunk on Mystery, don't know if you'll see this or not but I'd be interested in your thoughts on this signing...... http://www.orlandopinstripedpost.com/2014/7/3/5866635/2014-nba-free-agents-ben-gordon-orlando-magic Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Janders 102 Report post Posted July 4, 2014 Chris Kaman signed with Portland for 9.8 mil over 2 years with just 1 mil guaranteed in the second year. Kevin Pelton @kpelton · 10hSince the Blazers' payroll is low, don't think Kaman's 2014-15 salary is an issue. They might regret guaranteeing $1M in 2015-16. Hey Junkie, why is your buddy Pelton ok with this contract because the Blazers' payroll is low, but blasts the Magic for the Gordon contract even though our payroll is so much lower? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soul Bro 1,419 Report post Posted July 4, 2014 Chris Kaman signed with Portland for 9.8 mil over 2 years with just 1 mil guaranteed in the second year. Hey Junkie, why is your buddy Pelton ok with this contract because the Blazers' payroll is low, but blasts the Magic for the Gordon contract even though our payroll is so much lower? You nailed it. Full blown hypocrisy by Pelton. Lol Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Catman 380 Report post Posted July 4, 2014 Junkie if you are going to be this bad at misrepresenting things, why even post? The article by the dungeon master is not named that. Its called Making Sense of the orlando magics ben gordon signing and it goes over the pros and cons of the deal. He then lists a bunch of bench fodder as alternatives to gordon. Guys who have never done anything in the league. Last time i checked ben gordon has done some things, has vet experience and the talent to potentially regain his old form. Finally he fails to acknowledge that the magic are pursuing a starting caliber pf. So they cut jameer, traded afflao and waived guys. They freed up more cap space, upgraded their bench and have a guy essentially on a one year deal who potentially could surprise a lot of people and be damn good like he used to. In addition, they are able to pursue patterson and offer him more than toronto is willing to match. That article covers none of those things. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Miller4Prez66 545 Report post Posted July 4, 2014 Last year's numbers for Gordon look ugly, but he only played 19 games at 14 mpg and had a fallout with the Bobcats organization. The year before he shot 38% from three while averaging 11 ppg in 20 mpg. I'm not saying he's a great player, but I think he can still come in and hit some threes in a limited role. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nCoolness 79 Report post Posted July 4, 2014 DoM is losing credibility now. what is going on nowadays in TBN? :hijacked: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ball junkie 277 Report post Posted July 4, 2014 Here is Pelton's latest with some help from an ESPN buddy.... What's been the biggest surprise of this offseason thus far? Pelton: Ben Gordon getting more than the minimum. Granted, Gordon was released too late to be eligible for a playoff roster, but nobody even bothered picking him up when Charlotte waived him in March. For him to get nearly mid-level money, even if not fully guaranteed and entirely non-guaranteed beyond this season, was shocking. Strauss: The big surprise is Gordon getting a contract with the Magic. He could theoretically make sense as a piece on a stable, veteran team. But on a rebuilding squad? Why bother? http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/5-on-5-140704/best-worst-deals-offseason-far Lastly, to Soul Bro and Janders....I'm not going to try and answer your points above because I'm not Pelton and I don't understand and am not as interested in the business of GM'ing as some of the rest of you are. What I will tell you is if you write down and phrase a question for Mr. Pelton I will do my best to get it answered for you....Yesterday he went nearly 3 hours and seemingly answered every question he got.....I sent mine at very end of his chat and he still answered it.... Jim (Orlando) Hennnigan, on track or not ??? Kevin Pelton (3:02 PM) To borrow a soccer phrase, he's lost the plot lately. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Emory889 353 Report post Posted July 4, 2014 Can you at least admit that his responses to the Kaman signing and the Gordon signing lack consistency? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Secretly Space Jesus 670 Report post Posted July 4, 2014 Also, Drunk on Mystery, don't know if you'll see this or not but I'd be interested in your thoughts on this signing...... http://www.orlandopi...n-orlando-magic I don't mind it. I think they probably could have signed Ben Gordon for 3 million, but ultimately that's a largely irrelevant point; Orlando is miles under the salary floor and likely will be for most of the season, so the only real decision is "Do we pay Ben Gordon 4.5m or do we sign someone for the veteran's minimum and then distribute the remaining 3.4m or whatever it wound up being(it would depend on how long whomever they wound up signing instead had been in the league) amongst the 15 guys on the roster at the end of the year. And while I"m sure Vic and Vooch would both love an additional 225k or so added to their salaries at the end of the year, the team is still VERY under the CAP floor, so it's not like they won't be getting a bunch of money AND this in no way hinders Orlando's ability to tell teams at the deadline that we'll eat the CAP hit of non-contributing players in exchange for a draft pick to get teams under the luxury tax, since the luxury tax only applies to end of year salary. For instance, OKC will jump into the luxury tax if they sign basically anyone who is going to contribute in a meaningful way(assuming a Luxury tax in the 75m range), since they're currently at 69m with only 10 players on their roster. But if a team like Orlando were to agree to eat Kendrick Perkins's CAP hit, that would shave 9m off the Thunder's salary CAP and then they'd have a lot more room to maneuver to avoid the repeater luxury tax penalty, which I believe kicks in this year(and is kind of amazing). Other teams are in similar situations, and the way Orlando seems to be playing this mirrors closely the way that the old Sonics played it after Allen and Rashard left, using their mountainous CAP space as an asset they could "trade" teams in exchange for picks and taking bad, but short, contracts. As for signing Gordon as a player specifically, I look at it as being told by a casino that you can have 100 dollars in house money, but you have to bet it on a long shot to win. You're not likely to get anything out of it, but there's not really any downside either. I don't really expect Gordon to contribute to the Magic in any meaningful way, but in the 25% chance that he re-finds his shooting stroke and we can flip him, he creates new assets for the team in a trade. I wouldn't expect we'd ever get more than a late 1st/early 2nd no matter what he does, but there's a better than decent chance we'd also get a 4.5m TPE out of it to hold onto for the following year(which is why it's more valuable than just raw CAP space, Pelton). Furthermore, this doesn't negatively affect Orlando's long term plan in any way whatsoever, so there's not really any downside. There is simply no scenario I can think of where Ben Gordon is still on the team in 12 months, and the team's long term plans leading to the 2016 off-season aren't changed or threatened in any way(sidenote: their plans couldn't be any more obvious if they renamed the arena the KD Center and started sending thousand dollar a night call-girls to Kevin Durant's house). Right now based on my quick math that someone else can check if they want, I have Orlando at $39,903,522 in salary after the Gordon signing with 11 players on roster(I'm not including Dedmon. He'd be #12). Given that last year's salary floor was 52.8m and will likely rise between 3-5m this year, there's just no real reason to care about Orlando signing ANYONE for a short contract less than three years, really regardless of what the salary number winds up being. The Magic will likely be 10-15m below the salary floor when the season starts. They'll have plenty of space to take on just THE WORST contracts in exchange for assets if they want. TL;DR version: They paid him more than they needed to, but they had to spend the money on something, and if he gets his shot back then he becomes an asset. If he doesn't, they cut him and nothing ever comes of it. So it's a perfectly reasonable signing. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KandiKane 136 Report post Posted July 5, 2014 You nailed it. Full blown hypocrisy by Pelton. Lol This is the icing on the cake for me and my stance on Pelton. He is a terrible terrible analyist (Yes I spelt it that way on purpose). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
