Orlando Magic: The need to re-sign Terrence Ross

With an important summer looming, the Orlando Magic need to make sure they re-sign Terrence Ross for what he can do for them on, and off, the court.

The summer of 2019 is going to be an important one for so many organizations because of the free agents available, but for the first time in a long time the Orlando Magic are now a part of the equation as well.

Their surprising success in making the playoffs, combined with their young core in place, making them players in some trade or free-agent signing scenarios that may develop.

There is one guy who makes total sense to break the bank for, but that plan relies on other chips falling in their favor as well.

NBA Finals injuries to Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, two guys who figured to get a lot of attention from every other team, muddies the waters even more.

Less high-level talent on the move will make it harder for organizations like the Magic to try and convince guys to come down to Orlando to play.

There’s no doubt that they need to look at bringing in established and talented players to take the next step, but equally important is protecting what they have already built. As important as any on-court progress that was made this season was the cultivating of an identity.

This starts with their aforementioned young core, but it also has to include Terrence Ross.

In his first full campaign with the organization, Ross quickly became a fan favorite, because of his willingness to slide into the sixth man role and his talent in executing off the bench offensively on most nights for the team.

He finished the season having made 217 3-pointers, becoming the became the first player ever with 200 3-pointers in a season without starting a game.

His 38.3 percent from deep trailed only D.J. Augustin (42.1 percent), who had a career year.

You have to go back to his second year in the league, when he was with the Toronto Raptors, to find a time when Ross shot it better from deep (39.5 percent), but he was taking two fewer shots from distance back then as well.

The Magic had been a poor 3-point shooting outfit in the last number of seasons (usually lingering around the bottom seven in this category), but with the help of Ross jumped up to 11th during the regular season (35.6 percent).

Other guys like Augustin, Nikola Vucevic and Aaron Gordon chipped in, but nobody could get hotter as quickly as Ross, and he was doing it without starting.

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Defensively he was also a factor, with the organization striving to become elite on that end, they actually had a better rating (104.7) when Ross was on the court than they did over the course of the whole year (107.5, eighth in the NBA).

Ross doesn’t come to mind in the same way Thompson does when talking about true 3-and-D players in the league, but his numbers show that he was exactly that for the Magic throughout the season.

Given that they are filling out their roster with flexible and interchangeable big men like Jonathan Isaac and Mohamed Bamba, the role of Ross is an important one.

It wasn’t just what he was able to do on the court though, as his desire to want to be in Orlando and the fact he repped their colors off the court hard helped to restore some pride in the pinstriped blue. A look at his Instagram profile or story even since their season ended showing Ross in Magic colors often.

https://www.instagram.com/p/ByjmGcgH4Kj/

As an unrestricted free agent, Ross has no obligation to do this. If anything, still appearing to be a Magic player at heart despite technically not having re-signed with them is likely to put other teams off. He seems really keen to stay with the Magic and they should want to keep him.

Should they re-sign both he and Vucevic, they will be over the salary cap heading into next season, assuming they don’t make any other moves. But because Orlando holds the Bird rights to both players, the Magic can use their cap space on other moves before re-signing Ross and/or Vucevic.

This figures to be a crazy offseason, though, and with a couple of aforementioned heavy hitters heading into the summer facing a lengthly spell on the sidelines, Vucevic looks like the kind of guy who will get maxed out by a franchise looking to make a splash.

This is where bringing back Ross is key however, as he is one of the veterans on the team who helped take it to where it went this season.

He can be a leader on and off the court and his role is clearly defined. You know what you are getting from him and at 28 he only looks to be entering his prime now.

What you are getting is a guy who moves extremely well without the ball, can pile up points from deep and is underrated in his ability to create his own shot.

As the Magic continue trying to climb in the East, that is the kind of player, and person that they need. Already he looks like he could do a job for a contending team, which is the final reason they should bring him back.

The contract to do so wouldn’t be outrageous and having somebody like Ross on a long-term deal is attractive to organizations that are further along their development and would give up something of worth to get him.

Not that that’s the way the Orlando Magic should be looking at Terrence Ross this summer.

They’ve got a known commodity who fits their style and system well and who actively wants to return and play for them long-term. That has not been the case for any player throughout most of this decade.

The team is still not at a point where they can get meetings with the top guys, but Ross can be a part of the bridge that gets them back to that point. He did enough last season alone in that regard. The Magic have to re-sign him, before others realize just how valuable he is.