F Rudez, PG Lucas cut; C Birch stays on roster
The Orlando Magic made their final roster cuts after their preseason finale Friday night, waiving power forward and point guard Those moves indicate that
a shot-blocking center who played in Europe the past two years, has made the Magic’s regularseason roster. Birch likely will back up and and Birch could spend some time playing for the Magic’s G League team in Lakeland.
The final roster spot came down to a competition between Birch and Rudez.
Rudez, 31, was on the Magic’s roster last season and is a favorite of coach
because Rudez supports his teammates and is a consummate pro.
Birch, 25, went undrafted out of UNLV. He spent the 2014-15 season in the D League, the 2015-16 season playing in Turkey and last season playing in Greece. Magic executives like Birch’s agility, rebounding and shotblocking.
Friday night’s moves leave the Magic roster with 15 players. The Magic also have a player on a two-way contract, power forward
. But as a two-way player, Payne will spend most of the season in the G League.
Vogel dreaded cutdown time. “It’s the worst part of my job, quite frankly,” he said before the Magic concluded their preseason schedule Friday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers. teammates did, as the team sputtered to a 29-53 record.
Asked Friday why the Magic played so poorly last season, Green responded, “Honestly, I haven’t given it any thought at all. Once a season ends for me, I try to erase it and get mentally fresh for the next season. Honestly, I haven’t even thought about why it didn’t work. I just know we didn’t do as well as we thought we [would], and that was it. You know, you move on.”
Green said he and his agent didn’t have any talks with the Magic about returning this season. Instead, he signed a one-year, $2.3 million deal to join the Cavs.
“It’s been amazing,” Green said. “It’s been truly amazing. We’ve got great people in the locker room. Amazing people, guys who have a mindset of winning a championship, and that’s all you can ask for.”
Green spent some time during the early warm-up period catching up with two of his best friends on the Magic, PG and C games with a strained right hamstring.
the 33rd pick in June’s draft, sat out Friday’s game with a righthamstring strain and probably wouldn’t have played even if he’d been healthy.
But Vogel indicated Iwundu has lived up to his billing as a strong defender.
“He’s one of those guys that can really guard,” Vogel said. “His great length fits our style in terms of being able to run and shoot the 3. I think the future is bright for him.”
Thursday night featured the winner-take-all National League Division Series game between the Chicago Cubs and the Washington Nationals. But Vogel instead watched a different sporting event on TV as his beloved Philadelphia Eagles (5-1) beat Carolina 28-23.
“I watched the Eagles win ... again,” Vogel said, raising his volume as he uttered the word “again.”
Vogel grew up in Wildwood Crest, N.J., and rooted for Philly teams as a kid.