Biyombo will miss opener
The Orlando Magic coveted Bismack Biyombo in free agency because of his ability to rebound, block shots, defend multiple positions, set bone-crunching screens and be a leader. Team officials regard him so highly that they signed him to a four-year contract worth $68 million.
They’ll just have to wait one game for Biyombo to take the court.
Biyombo will miss the Magic’s season opener tonight against the Miami Heat while he serves a onegame NBA suspension for accumulating too many flagrant fouls during the 2016 playoffs as a member of the Toronto Raptors.
The Magic would benefit from having Biyombo against the Heat, who have
Hassan Whiteside as their starting center. Nikola Vucevic and Serge Ibaka will play the bulk of the minutes at center in Biyombo’s absence, but coach Frank Vogel and Magic players acknowledged the obvious: They’ll miss Biyombo.
“Biz is a monster,” shooting guard Evan Fournier said. “He’s our best screener, probably our best offensive rebounder. He’s just a guy with tons of energy. He plays super hard. He’s big for us, man.”
The league levied the suspension because Biyombo accumulated two Flagrant 1 fouls and one Flagrant 2 foul during the postseason. Biyombo committed his final flagrant foul in the same game that the Cleveland Cavaliers eliminated the Raptors. If the Raptors had won that game to force a Game 7, Biyombo would’ve served the onegame suspension in Game 7.
“You could definitely use him against Whiteside,” Vogel said. “But we’ll throw Serge and Vooch in there at the center spot, and they’ll be able to man the ship, too. Next man up.”
Orlando lost three of its four games against Miami last season, and Whiteside contributed to the Heat’s success. In 30.8 minutes per game against the Magic, he averaged 16.0 points, 12.3 rebounds and 3.5 blocks.
Biyombo helped the Raptors eliminate the Heat in seven games in the playoffs’ second round. In 25.8 minutes per game, Biyombo averaged 6.7 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks, although it should be noted that an injury forced Whiteside to miss four of the series’ games.
As recently as late last week, Biyombo held out hope that the NBA would take a fresh look at his flagrant fouls and reclassify at least one of them to a less serious infraction.
“It’s disappointing,” Biyombo said then. “But it is what it is. There’s nothing I can do about it. What’s done is done. What’s said is said. And now I’ve just got to move on.”
Exercising their options
On Tuesday, the Magic exercised their 2017-18 team options on forward Aaron Gordon, swingman Mario
Hezonja and point guard Elfrid Payton.
The final day for teams to exercise their third- and fourth-year options on former first-round picks for 2017-18 is Oct. 31.
That deadline still applies to shooting guard C.J.
Wilcox, whom the Magic acquired from the Los Angeles Clippers in an offseason trade. Orlando holds a fourth-year team option on Wilcox for 2017-18. So far, however, the team has not exercised its option.
International flair
The Magic will open the season with six international players: Biyombo (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Fournier (France), Mario Hezonja (Croatia), Ibaka (Congo), Damjan Rudez (Croatia) and Vucevic (Montenegro).
The Utah Jazz lead the NBA with seven international players. The Magic are tied for second place with the Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Philadelphia 76ers, San Antonio Spurs and Raptors.