Nelson sits out Kings game
Jameer Nelson sat out his fourth consecutive game when the Orlando Magic hosted the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night.
Nelson suffered a left knee contusion last week and hasn’t played since.
His injury isn’t considered serious, and he could be back onthe court as soon as Friday night’s game against the Houston Rockets
Nelson has played in 43 of the Magic’s 58 games so far this season.
MJ’s money
Michael Jordan’s Charlotte Bobcats have a reputation as being one of the cheapest franchises in the NBA.
But if the Magic ink 10-day contracts with players before the end of the season, those contracts essentially will be paid for by the Bobcats.
Last Thursday’s trade that sent Josh McRoberts to Charlotte for Hakim Warrick also brought the Magic an undisclosed amount of cash.
That money makes up for the difference in Warrick’s and McRoberts’ prorated salaries: Warrick is earning $4 million this season, while McRoberts is being paid about $3.1 million.
But the Bobcats also kicked in some extra money: money that the Magic can use to fill their open roster spot by signing players to 10-day contracts.
The Magic don’t have any immediate plans to fill their open roster spot. But that’s an option if the team is hit by an injury or wants to take a closer look at an available player.
Orlando traded away McRoberts because he wasn’t getting much playing time and because he wanted an opportunity to play. And when he did play, he took minutes away from the team’s young big men, Andrew Nicholson and Kyle O’Quinn.
The goal of giving Nicholson and O’Quinn — as well as new acquisition Tobias Harris — more playing time was a reason why the Magic waived Warrick. At 30 years old, Warrick didn’t fit into Orlando’s long-term plans.
NewYork pair
One of the questions that emerged from the Magic’s trade-deadline moves was whether Harris, a 6-foot-8 combo forward, was redundant to Maurice Harkless, a 6-foot-8 swingman.
On the night of the trade, General Manager Rob Hennigan said he regards Harris and Harkless as complementary players. Hennigan said Harris can guard opposing power forwards and small forwards, while Harkless can guard opposing small forwards and shooting guards.
“I think the main overlap is they’re both from New York,” Hennigan said then. “We see them as different players. We see them doing different things. And, in fact, I think they can complement each other fairly well, and our scouting staff felt the same way.”
So far, the Magic indeed have played Harris and Harkless simultaneously.
Harris and Harkless played 15 minutes together in the Magic’s loss Saturday to the Cleveland Cavaliers and 14 minutes together in the Magic’s win Tuesday over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Coach Jacque Vaughn said he likes Harris’ and Harkless’ versatility and added that having them on the floor together make the Magic “quicker.”
“[With Tobias] you’ve seen him frequently grab a rebound and be able to push the ball up the floor himself,” Vaughn said. “And Maurice can do the same thing. So, for us to increase our pace and get the ball up the floor, that’s an advantage. So I think it’s been good on both ends of the floor.”
Layups
E’Twaun Moore made each of the three 3-point attempts he took in the game’s first 3minutes, 3seconds.
Magic point guard Beno Udrih played four seasons for the Kings from 2007-08 through 2010-11.