Could Hassan Martin Make the 2017-2018 Orlando Magic Roster?
On June 23, 2017, it was announced that Hassan Martin will be playing with the Orlando Magic during Summer League.
Now is the time to evaluate the possibility of Martin being on the Orlando Magic for the 2017-2018 season.
According to NBA.com, the official website of the NBA, this is the Magic's projected roster for the next season:
No matter how much one likes Hassan Martin, he is not as talented right now as the likes of Evan Fournier, Elfrid Payton, Aaron Gordon, Jeff Green, Bismack Biyombo, and Nikola Vucevic. Terrence Ross is not going anywhere after they traded Serge Ibaka for him (and a first-round draft pick). Obviously, the Magic will not be moving their top 2017 draft picks, Jonathan Isaac or Wesley Iwundu out of the picture any time soon (nor should they). Moreover, Orlando will likely not move Stephen Zimmerman, their lone 2016 draft pick, in the near future.
With that said, you can look at roughly half of this Orlando roster and make the argument for Martin to warrant a roster spot over those respective players. After all, Orlando finished 29-53 overall last season, which was only good for 13th in the weak Eastern conference. Veterans like D.J. Augustin, C.J. Watson, and Jodie Meeks bring leadership to the locker room but they are highly expendable due to their diminishing skills. Among the remaining players that I have not mentioned yet, Patricio Garino, Marcus Georges-Hunt, Mario Hezonja, and Damjan Rudez are all marginal NBA talent that Martin can easily replace.
The biggest fact to keep in mind during this process is that with the changes that occurred on July 2017 to the NBA's collective bargaining agreement, teams can have two players in the D-League on two-way contracts (can be on a team's active or inactive list for up to 45 days during the NBA regular season). Consequently, the maximum roster size was expanded to 17 players (up to 15 "normal" players and 2 "two-way" players). I find it hard to believe that a player of Martin's caliber is not deserving of one of those 17 spots with the Orlando Magic.
The answer to this question in the title of the article is that yes, Hassan Martin should make the Magic's final roster or any one of the 30 NBA teams' rosters. At this juncture, we can only wait and see if it comes to fruition.
