Channing Frye has agreed to a four-year, $32 million deal with the Magic

[Silent Storm]

Woah, that's Avery Bradley money. Preposterous!

[Who]

Orlando is clearly trying to add shooters with this signing and the Ben Gordon signing... Still, I'm not quite sure what they're doing. They drafted Aaron Gordon even though they have Tobias Harris. And then they sign Channing. That's a lot of PF's needing minutes. Unless they see Channing as a 5 and in that case, can we steal Vucevic from them?

I consider Tobias Harris a SF who can play some PF.

[Birdman]

 

[Who]

PG: Elfrid Payton,
SG: Victor Oladipo, Ben Gordon
SF: Moe Harkless, Tobias Harris
PF: Channing Frye, Aaron Gordon
 C: Nikola Vucevic, Kyle O'Quinn

At least it'll be a more exciting group than Orlando's team for last 2 seasons.

Need a veteran PG who can shoot to help backcourt out. To help ease Payton along. Surprised they didn't keep Jameer Nelson around for that.

[RJ87]

Orlando is clearly trying to add shooters with this signing and the Ben Gordon signing... Still, I'm not quite sure what they're doing. They drafted Aaron Gordon even though they have Tobias Harris. And then they sign Channing. That's a lot of PF's needing minutes. Unless they see Channing as a 5 and in that case, can we steal Vucevic from them?

I consider Tobias Harris a SF who can play some PF.

Still... I wonder how they view Gordon? Is he a 3 or 4 to them. If he's a 3, then he's behind Harris. If he's a 4, then they just invested a lot of money into a player who plays the same position. Again, I'm wondering if Vucevic is the odd man out. Just seems like a bad move paying Frye that much just so he can play back up to Gordon and Vucevic.

Payton/Oladipo/Harris/Gordon/Vucevic with Frye and B.Gordon off the bench? That's a weird basketball squad. Payton/Oladipo/Harris/Gordon/Frye makes a little more sense because at least Frye can shoot. Idk. I guess I'm not supposed to get it.

[nickagneta]

Haven't looked at their payroll but are these moves by Orlando being done just to get the team up to the minimum amount a team has to pay because they have a load of youth on their rookie contracts and seemingly no vets before adding Gordon and Frye.

For less years, or if the last couple years aren't 100% guaranteed, I could see where a great team gut like Frye could be worth $8 million a year, but I will never understand paying Gordon what they did. I was sure he was due for a vet min contract on some contending team.

[LooseCannon]

The Cavs were rumored to be interested in splitting their cap space on Frye and Ariza.  Does this mean Cleveland has other uses for its money?

I wonder if Houston would have been willing to give him a similar deal if they had missed on their free agents.  There's a pretty good chance that Orlando is going to be able to flip Frye for something decent in a couple of years.

[Lucky17]

Haven't looked at their payroll but are these moves by Orlando being done just to get the team up to the minimum amount a team has to pay because they have a load of youth on their rookie contracts and seemingly no vets before adding Gordon and Frye.

For less years, or if the last couple years aren't 100% guaranteed, I could see where a great team gut like Frye could be worth $8 million a year, but I will never understand paying Gordon what they did. I was sure he was due for a vet min contract on some contending team.

Orlando needed some vets, but also they needed some shooters. Frye can play both frontcourt positions. Good soldier, class act. Still I doubt they needed to pay him $8 mil a year to get him.

[Endless Paradise]

I'm thinking the Magic view Gordon as a small forward due to his height and short wingspan, so they're probably not going to run him at power forward.  That leaves Frye, Nicholson, O'Quinn, and Harris.  O'Quinn can play center and they'll look to give him the bulk of his minutes at that position as a backup.  Harris is a tweener who will probably share time at both forward spots as he's done since being traded to the Magic.  Nicholson is probably the odd-man out and will likely be traded or waived.

It probably seems weird that they'd run Gordon as a small forward since he can't shoot, but he does have some handle (for driving) and shooting can always be taught over time.  Plus, that's less of an issue when they have Frye around to operate as the spacing forward.

[BudweiserCeltic]

So... anyone interested in the bargain that is now Gerald Wallace?

[Quetzalcoatl]

League Pass is going to be bananas this year.  Some real weird/interesting line ups, like:
 
Payton/Olidipo/Gordon/Frye/Vucevic
Irving/Wiggins/Waiters/?/Varejo
Thomas/Stauskas/Gay/Landry/Cousins with 6th man Jason Terry (huh?)
Holiday/Gordon/Evans/Brow/Asik

Then potentially we have:

Beverly (seriously though, who is their PG?)/Harden/Parsons/Bosh/Howard
Rose/Butler/Anthony/Gibson/Noah in Chicago or Napier/Wade/Melo/BronBron/McRoberts in Miami

Anyways, lots of new styles of basketball are being unleashed this season, it should be a good one.  The Heat collapsing and an aging title holder are creating a real power vacuum.

[cometboy]

I think we all underestimated the impact of a rising cap. AB is starting to look like a real bargain.

CB

[RJ87]

I'm thinking the Magic view Gordon as a small forward due to his height and short wingspan.

6'9" with a nearly 7'0" wingspan. He really can play either forward position.

[D.o.s.]

I'm thinking the Magic view Gordon as a small forward due to his height and short wingspan.

6'9" with a nearly 7'0" wingspan. He really can play either forward position.

Imagine if he could shoot!

[Cman]

Orlando is clearly trying to add shooters with this signing and the Ben Gordon signing... Still, I'm not quite sure what they're doing. They drafted Aaron Gordon even though they have Tobias Harris. And then they sign Channing. That's a lot of PF's needing minutes. Unless they see Channing as a 5 and in that case, can we steal Vucevic from them?

Yes please