For a team like the Orlando Magic, building their young and promising roster is achieved in a couple of ways. The most obvious of course, is through the NBA Draft. This is something that has been exploited with success already, landing the team the backcourt tandem of Victor Oladipo and Elfrid Payton. The other way of improving the roster is through free agency.
This method has also yielded some success, with Channing Frye signed this past summer to a four-year, $32 million deal. He’s had his ups and downs on the court so far, but if you ask me, I’d rather have him around this team than not have him at all.
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As it stands, with the team coming to the end of a rebuild, attracting stars is something this team can only really dream of. Kevin Durant is a free agent in 2016, LaMarcus Aldridge this summer, but Orlando has no chance of getting either. They need to grow as a team first and make the playoffs before the best players in the league will consider joining them.
So it’s about hitting that sweet spot of young players with considerable talent who will make the team better over time, but who will also consider joining the team as well. If it sounds like a complicated group to nail, that’s because it is. But remember, this team has already had a lot of success in doing this.
Two of their top four players, Tobias Harris and Nikola Vucevic, were acquired while young. They might have been through trades, and in Vucevic’s case at the expense of losing a then-superstar in Dwight Howard. But the point is, this organization seems to be able to earmark talent. That is why it makes a ton of sense to go after Khris Middleton of the Milwaukee Bucks.
If you don’t know, Middleton is somewhat in vogue in the NBA right now. Not a moment too soon for the guy either, as he’s a restricted free agent this summer. A former second-round pick earning less than $1 million this year, he landed in Milwaukee as a sweetener in the Brandon Knight–Brandon Jennings sign-and-trade in 2013.
Now Middleton was on people’s radar before his buzzer beater Tuesday night against the Miami Heat to win the game for his team, but a little extra exposure never hurt anybody. Right now the forward, who can also play a little bit of shooting guard in the right lineup, is shooting up the free agency class of this summer.
It also helps that he comes across as a guy focused on playing basketball and nothing else right now.
But let’s slow up here, why do the Magic of all teams feel they’ve got a chance to snag this guy? Plus, doesn’t he have a lot of similarities with Frye, another big who can shoot the three ball? Both are excellent points, but Middleton is of course much younger, and already is a defensive stud.
Those points alone are reason to go after the guy. Both Oladipo and to a lesser extend Payton are two way players, they defend really well but both can score quite a lot as well (the scoring doesn’t quite apply to Payton yet, but as I wrote on Tuesday, he’s already started to break out).
Middleton plays the same and is only trending upwards, can you imagine having three two-way players as good as this in the team’s starting five?
Bucks’ Khris Middleton has 30 pts twice in last 3 games, incl. vs Magic on Wednesday, after never scoring 30 in any of previous 167 games
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) March 12, 2015
It’s not that easy though. Like Orlando, the Bucks are arguably the most intriguing young team in the league. They appear a step ahead of the Magic in their redevelopment. In Jason Kidd, they have a head coach who is quickly making a name for himself as one of the better in the league.
This club is still in the hunt for a playoff spot as well, and in Jabari Parker and Giannis Antetokounmpo they possess two young players with arguably better potential than that of Oladipo and Payton. So why exactly would Middleton want to leave that? It’s the obvious question here, and what makes it even harder is the fact the Bucks aren’t exactly short on cash themselves.
One small clue into how Middleton feels about the Bucks though (And we’re probably reading too much into this) is his apparent feelings on the team trading Brandon Knight away for Michael Carter-Williams before the trade deadline.
It’s set the team back some, at least in the short term, and in an interview with Zach Lowe over at Grantland recently he didn’t seem overly thrilled by it. At least at that point anyway.
While the Magic could throw a huge, even over-priced, offer sheet at Middleton–something I hope happens–Milwaukee wouldn’t have to think too long and hard at matching it. Consider the numbers below.
| Salary | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 |
| O.J. Mayo | $8,000,000 | $8,000,000 | ||
| Ersan Ilyasova | $7,900,000 | $7,900,000 | $8,400,000 | |
| Zaza Pachulia | $5,200,000 | $5,200,000 | ||
| Jabari Parker | $4,930,560 | $5,152,440 | $5,374,320 | $6,782,392 |
| Jared Dudley | $4,250,000 | $4,250,000 | ||
| Jerryd Bayless | $3,000,000 | $3,000,000 | ||
| Michael Carter-Williams | $2,300,040 | $2,399,040 | $3,183,526 | |
| John Henson | $1,987,320 | $2,943,221 | ||
| Giannis Antetokounmpo | $1,873,200 | $1,953,960 | $2,995,421 | |
| Miles Plumlee | $1,169,880 | $2,109,294 | ||
| Khris Middleton | $915,243 | |||
| Damien Inglis | $820,000 | $855,000 | $980,431 | |
| Johnny O’Bryant | $600,000 | $845,059 | $980,431 | |
| Chris Johnson | $107,674 | |||
| Larry Sanders | $11,000,000 | $2,170,000 | $2,170,000 | $2,170,000 |
| Drew Gooden | $6,680,000 | |||
| Tyler Ennis | $1,590,720 | $1,662,360 | $1,733,880 | $2,666,707 |
| Nate Wolters | $816,482 | |||
| Kenyon Martin | $414,551 | |||
| Jorge Gutierrez | $59,686 | |||
| Team Totals | $63,615,356 | $48,440,374 | $25,818,009 | $11,619,099 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Yes the Bucks are on the hook for a number of players as far as three years down the line, but with the imminent influx of money as a result of the new broadcasting rights deal, what looks expensive today will look almost team friendly in a couple of years. It’s the main reason Orlando currently has no contracts on their books.
They cleared deck years ago so they could be in this position right now.
It’s exciting for this team, but ultimately it probably won’t result in being able to acquire Middleton. The stars just haven’t aligned in the right way for this to become more probable than possible. Consider this though.
Should the Magic lose Harris (a restricted free agent himself who is sure to get admiring looks from around the league) then they should do whatever it takes to bring Middleton in and soften the blow.
There are some similarities to their games, and losing Harris and having nothing to show for it in return would represent a step backwards for this team. Khris Middleton is the ideal player to help this team grow into the playoff team it looks on the road to becoming. It’s a shame it will take a mixture of a lot of money, too much in fact, and more than a bit of luck to make it happen.
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