Magic want more shooting depth
The Orlando Magic aren’t done adding to their roster.
Jeff Weltman, the team’s president of basketball operations, said Tuesday he’d like to infuse the team with more shooting.
“I know that an element that every team would like to add is shooting,” Weltman said. “So you can never have enough shooting in the NBA. We’ll continue to seek out ways to add that as we kind of round things out.”
The Magic currently have about $2.6 million in cap space remaining and also have the $4.3 million midlevel exception for room teams at their disposal.
The team hasn’t yet signed second-round pick Wesley Iwundu and also needs to add a third center to back up Nikola Vucevic and Bismack Biyombo.
Eleven of the 13 players currently under contract have guaranteed salaries for 2017-18. Patricio Garino and Marcus GeorgesHunt, both swingmen, have non-guaranteed salaries.
Point guard Shelvin Mack, signed to a two-year deal on July 9, arrived in Orlando on Monday and visited Amway Center on Tuesday.
“I like Coach [Frank] Vogel,” Mack told reporters Tuesday. “I played him a few times in the playoffs and understand their system and style of play. It’s a great opportunity for me to come in and play.”
Weltman said: “Shelvin is an overachiever. Everywhere Shelvin’s been, he seems to surprise people: how good of a player he is, how good of a teammate he is. And he enters into situations and turns them into Shelvin Mack opportunities. I think that those people that continually do that are unique and they help teams win.”
Jonathon Simmons, the Magic’s other free-agent signee so far, also visited Amway Center on Tuesday.
A reporter asked him if the $150 he spent on an NBA Development League tryout in 2013 was the best $150 he ever spent.
“No,” Simmons answered. “I think the best 150 I spent was maybe on some Jordans.”