Just ask Biyombo, Vucevic and Ibaka:
Magic’s battle among big men will test egos
They’ll tell you the Magic’s internal competiton will be fiercest at the center position.
The Orlando Magic held a team meeting Monday night, the kind of meeting that teams have the night before their first training-camp practices.
New coach Frank Vogel discussed his expectations for the season ahead. The team, Vogel told his players, will have significant competition at several spots. The objective, he said, is for players to push their teammates but also pull for those same teammates at the same time.
The goal is noble in theory, but it could be difficult to achieve in reality. Players are human beings, after all. And human beings are imperfect. They have egos.
The Magic’s internal competition will be fiercest at the center position. Bismack Biyombo, the most significant free-agent signee, will challenge incumbent starter Nikola Vucevic for playing time. Power forward Serge Ibaka, acquired in a blockbuster offseason trade, could shift to center when the Magic use a small lineup and could cut into Biyombo’s and Vucevic’s minutes.
Everyone is saying the right things — so far.
“We all got to help each other to get better,” Biyombo said. “But for me, the most important thing is to win a ballgame. Whatever I can do, whatever we can do, to
win a game, then we’re going to go for it.”
Vucevic said: “We have to accept the challenge and go against each other in a healthy way. It will only make our team better and each of us as players better.”
How well Vucevic, Biyombo and Ibaka embrace the competition will have team-wide ramifications, because each of them figures to assume leadership roles this season.
Aside from being the Magic’s leading scorer and leading rebounder last season, Vucevic is the team’s longest-tenured player, its only holdover from the 2012-13 season. Biyombo reached the Eastern Conference finals last season. And Ibaka, a threetime NBA All-Defensive team player, helped the Oklahoma City Thunder reach the 2012 NBA Finals.
“They’re going to be leaders in a lot of different ways,” Vogel said. “But everybody on our team has to be selfless when it comes to position battles and minutes and all that stuff. Our guys are selfless. We talk about that, but it’s really about pushing each other and pulling for each other. At the end of the day, we’re all on the same team. We’re pushing in the same direction.”
When the Magic signed Biyombo to a four-year deal worth $17 million per season, many pundits assumed the team would not sign someone at such a high salary to come off the bench.
But the situation is not that simple. Biyombo became a free agent just as the salary cap ballooned from $70 million to $94 million, so his salary reflects that spike. Vucevic, who agreed to a contract extension in 2014, will earn a relatively modest $11.8 million this season; if Vucevic had been a free agent this past summer, his salary likely would exceed Biyombo’s.
The Magic also could need Vucevic’s scoring ability to balance a starting five that likely will include subpar shooters Elfrid Payton and Aaron Gordon.
Still, it’s possible to envision scenarios in which Biyombo receives more minutes than Vucevic. Vogel and general manager Rob Hennigan have said playing time will be allotted on merit. Biyombo is considered a far better defender than Vucevic, although Vogel said Vucevic can, and will, improve on that end of the floor.
Several days ago, Vucevic was asked whether it matters to him who starts at center.
He paused for a moment, then flashed a sheepish smile.
“It does,” he said. “You obviously want to start, and I believe that I have the quality to be a starting center in this league, and I’ve shown that over the past couple of seasons where if the team wasn’t losing, I would have been an AllStar. I believe I’m a starter in this league, and so we’ll see what they decide to do.”