Orlando Magic: Shane Larkin A High-Reward Recruit?

Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been taking a look at players the Orlando Magic could look into signing this offseason. While many feel it will be the summer of 2016 when they make a big move, this team still have the cap space and young core to make moves this offseason of they want to.

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Now, already we’ve looked at potential moves that varied from the plausible and possible, to the long shot and downright mad. New York Knicks point guard Shane Larkin then, would surely be on the lower end of that scale should Orlando look into acquiring him.

You may be wondering why Larkin, who will be entering his third year in the league, is even being considered here. There’s a couple of reasons really, the key one being that Orlando still have to be somewhat creative with the players they sign because they are still a rebuilding team.

This is still not a destination for top level players, and so it’s about attracting potential uncut diamonds, and trying to nurture them into better players. In no way am I saying Larkin has the potential to be a star, I just think he’s been overlooked since entering the league.

Money is another issue, and it’s safe to say Larkin could be brought in for a reasonable amount. General manager Rob Hennigan now has a reputation who gives out deals that are not only financially appealing to the franchise, they are usually constructed in a clever way as well. One such example of this is Ben Gordon, who was signed to a two-year, $9 million deal last summer.

Gordon’s reputation and play was not what it once was, and so the second year of Gordon’s deal was non-guaranteed. This gave the Magic the ability to get out after a season if they wanted to.

It’s those low-risk, high-reward moves (Gordon can shoot the ball and is a veteran piece, those are two skills teams need, especially at such a low price) that Hennigan is great at spotting and where Larkin could fit in here.

Orlando’s backcourt tandem of Victor Oladipo and Elfrid Payton looks set to stay together for years (unless Orlando spring a surprise and drafts a guard in the upcoming draft) and so they really only need backups in this department.

Mo Williams is one such backup point guard I also admire a lot, and who I would like to see play in Orlando. We’ll return to him again soon. But as it stands, Luke Ridnour is the backup to Payton, and really he wasn’t very good this year. Worse case scenario, Larkin can be no worse than Ridnour.

Both don’t exactly do much defending, but I’ve seen enough of Larkin’s offensive game to believe he could provide a scoring punch off the bench.

To date, I think he’s been unlucky with injuries and timing in terms of the teams he’s played on. Drafted by the Atlanta Hawks and traded to the Dallas Mavericks with the 18th pick in the 2013 draft, he broke his ankle before he could even lace up his shoes and play on their summer league roster.

From there it was surgery and three months out of the game, before coming back and having to play catch up.

Yes, he struggled mightily to begin with, but he did end up playing in 48 games off the bench that season. He averaged just more than 10 minutes per contest and even tasted brief playoff action, appearing in two postseason games that season.

At that point I didn’t think he was about to explode into a star, but I saw him solidifying his role in Dallas, picking up some extra minutes and becoming a more dependable backup in year two.

His move to the New York Knicks in the Tyson Chandler trade threw me a little bit, but it wasn’t overly surprising given the players involved. Without Carmelo Anthony for much of the season, the Knicks were pretty terrible. So bad in fact, that Larkin even managed to start 22 games for the team, although he had niggling injuries in New York as well.

Obviously I believe in Larkin if I want him to land in Orlando at the right price, but even I know your team has problems if you’re starting Larkin for more than a quarter of your season.

But I just think Larkin has something and would be able to show it if he was given some stability and a defined role on a team.

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Obviously his numbers do little to back that opinion up, and I am not an NBA scout (although I do love telling anybody who will listen how I called it on both Kawhi Leonard and Jeff Teague. That being said, I also felt MarShon Brooks had All-Star potential, so what do I know?)

He’s got to be worth a look as a backup though, doesn’t he? Especially when you consider Orlando’s backcourt isn’t exactly brimming with bench players of great talent. Larkin also shot a sneaky-good 43 percent from three-point range during the season, and you better believe that’s something Payton won’t be bringing to this team for years, if ever.

He’s a more traditional point guard, and his shooting alone would have its uses on what is a funky backcourt rotation.

Ultimately he could stay in New York the next two years, they have a team option on his contract that they could yet exercise. My guess is there’ll be big changes with the Knicks this summer, especially involving their role players. They even have their own draft pick so you know times are changing there.

So I feel Larkin will be let go, and find himself with minimum interest around the league. That could work to Orlando’s gain however, and I’d love to see him coming off the bench and playing between 15-20 minutes a game for the team next season. Couldn’t hurt, could it?

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