Orlando Magic: Marreese Speights personifying their depth
By Luke Duffy
One of the key reasons behind the Orlando Magic’s strong start to the season has been their newfound depth. Veteran Marreese Speights personifies that.
Although they’ve cooled off somewhat, the Orlando Magic have been one of the surprise packages of the still young 2017-18 NBA season.
Back home after a four-game road trip in which they went 2-2, it is clear to those watching the Magic nightly how the depth on their roster has kept them competitive in most games — even more so when you consider the injury issues that have hit the squad already this year.
Point guards Elfrid Payton and D.J. Augustin have both missed games with hamstring injuries. Aaron Gordon has sat out as well, and right now it is the turn of rookie Jonathan Isaac as he rests a tweaked ankle.
In years past, these kind of knocks would have sunk the team well below .500 before they even had a chance to get going. Now, they can absorb losses to their starters and continue building momentum. Offseason acquisition Marreese Speights has come to personify this of late.
Speights, the 30-year-old big man who played his college ball in Florida, was delighted to join the team when he did, something that couldn’t always be said of free agents and the Magic.
He surely would have known he was joining the team to be a veteran presence primarily, and that was his role to start the season. Speights saw little playing time (he’s appeared in 11 of their 15 games so far) and when he did, it was in spot minutes with the second unit or if a big got in foul trouble early.
Not that he looked bothered. In fact, the introduction of Speights into a game was usually accompanied with a cheery smile from the big man.
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Once Isaac went down, it was unclear who would be the main beneficiary. Mario Hezonja could do with the minutes as he looks to cling onto his NBA job. Even Bismack Biyombo, not exactly a straight swap for Isaac, could have received a bump in minutes played as well. Ditto Jonathon Simmons, who has been excellent so far this season.
Yet it was Speights who got the nod, and while some worried that the team might slip on both ends of the court, that has yet to happen.
He’s averaging 11 minutes per game this season, but since the injury to Isaac, that number has crept up to around the 17-minute mark.
Wednesday night against the Portland Trail Blazers was no exception, with Speights scoring all 10 of his points in under 10 minutes. He would register 16 minutes altogether.
He hit a pair of 3-pointers as well, and the 43.2 percent he’s shooting from deep this season is a career high.
Yes, it might be a relatively small sample size compared to years gone by, but that’s kind of the point. The Magic brought Speights in with the idea they wouldn’t have to rely on him.
As it is, they’re probably using him more than they’d like to, but he’s producing in much the same way he always has. That kind of depth has been invaluable to this young team.
That floor-spacing and shooting has shown up in the team’s offensive rating as well. It may have slid down to 11th in the league (106.1), but the play of Speights has added elements Isaac can not. While Isaac himself can shoot from deep, and will only continue to get better as he plays more games, he is only shooting 29.4 percent so far this season.
Speights is about more than distance shooting however, and his effective field goal percentage of 59.8 percent is by far a career high as well.
Marresse Speights: 5-8, 3FG#Pelicans: 7-21
— Christian Boutwell (@byCBoutwell) October 31, 2017
Obviously Speights is only going to give this team so much, and watching him play every night, nothing that he does jumps out of the screen at you except pile up points in a hurry. Yet if we look at the advanced numbers, it is clear he is having a positive influence in a number of areas for the Magic.
His win shares per 48 minutes (league average is .100) is currently sitting at .167, a career high. His Player Efficiency Rating (league average 15) is a really impressive 21.4, yet another career high for the guy.
Speights is playing and influencing this team in the same way he did for the Golden State Warriors (when they won a title) and Los Angeles Clippers.
He was a great role player then, and while guys like that typically play with stars, Speights has taken the form from his previous stops and is using it with his newest team.
That’s really all the Orlando Magic can ask of a guy who, like Arron Afflalo, was brought in primarily to be a positive voice in the locker room.
In this short season already, Marresse Speights has seen everything from DNP’s to an increased role, and no matter how he is being used, he is helping this team in ways it couldn’t have imagined.
Next: 2017-18 Week 5 NBA Power Rankings
How is that for depth for a young team trying to get back to the postseason for the first time in six years?