By John Denton July 2, 2016
ORLANDO – Not long after stepping into the Amway Center on Saturday morning Jodie Meeks was flooded with memories of the best game of his NBA career.
It was Dec. 30, 2014, and Meeks was playing with the Detroit Pistons. Months earlier, Orlando heavily pursued Meeks in free agency and hoped to add his 3-point stroke to their roster.
Meeks instead chose Detroit, and he reminded the Magic of what they missed out on that December night two years ago by drilling nine 3-pointers and scoring 34 points.
“Those are friendly rims and I’m excited to have them as my home rims now,” Meeks said with a big smile. “That was one of my better games and it was off the bench so there wasn’t a lot of time that I was out there. It was kind of one of those out-of-body experiences. Hopefully I can do that a lot here.”
Meeks, who will turn 29 in August, will get that opportunity after the Magic acquired him in a trade with the Pistons earlier this week. Shuffled out of the regular rotation in Detroit after a season in which he played just three games because of a fractured bone in his foot, Meeks asked for a trade and said he couldn’t be more excited about getting the chance to play in Orlando.
“I’m very excited because it’s a fresh start so to say, a new coaching staff, new teammates and I’m happy to be here and happy to get started,” said Meeks, who was in Orlando for his physical with the Magic and to take in some of the first-day action of the Orlando Pro Summer League.
Meeks, an eight-year veteran who has played for the Bucks, Sixers, Lakers and Pistons, should help address Orlando’s lack of 3-point shooting with his career 37.3 percent stroke from beyond the arc. Six times in his career he’s shot better than 35 percent from 3-point range, including 2013-14 with the Lakers when he averaged 15.7 points per game while connecting on 40.1 percent of this threes.
“Shooting, obviously I bring that to the table,” Meeks said. “And leadership because I’m a veteran now. I used to be one of the young guys and now I’m getting older. We have a lot of young guys on this team and they can use my leadership. But also I’m here to try and win. We’re a team that is trying to make the playoffs and we have a lot of young guys who are trying to get to that position. I’ve been there and a couple of other people have been there, so hopefully we can do that.”
Coming off a season in which they improved by 10 victories and won 35 games, the Magic have been especially aggressive this offseason. Orlando traded for shot-swatting power forward Serge Ibaka on draft night and acquired Meeks less than a week later. The free-agent courting period opened on July 1, and the Magic hope to finalize other additions on July 7 when teams and players can officially sign contracts.
Meeks like the mix that the Magic have with a young core of Nikola Vucevic, Evan Fournier (a restricted free agent), Aaron Gordon, Elfrid Payton and Mario Hezona and veterans such as Ibaka, C.J. Watson and Jason Smith (an unrestricted free agent).
“Serge has a lot of experience and I’ve met him through my eight years and we’re both looking forward to a fresh start,” Meeks said. “I want to lead by my voice. It’s not going to be an overnight process and there will be some growing pains as a young team, but I’m looking forward to it.”
Meeks fractured a bone in his right foot in the second game of last season, causing him to miss 79 games with the Pistons. He returned in time to play the regular-season finale, something that set him up for an offseason of work on his conditioning and his 3-point stroke.
“It was tough (missing most of last season) because I’ve never been hurt except for the last season and a half,” Meeks said. “It was tough watching and rehabbing all year. But that’s over and it’s behind me.
“The foot is fine,” Meeks added later. “I got cleared in March to start back playing. I’ve been getting in shape the last three-or-four months, and there’s still half the summer left to keep doing that. So I’ll be ready by training camp.”
Meeks’ value to the Magic is enhanced by the fact that the NBA has gone more and more to “small ball” lineups filled with 3-point marksmen. Meeks figures to greatly help a Magic team that ranked 16th in the NBA in 3-point percentage last season and 22nd in 3-pointers attempted.
“It’s kind of a copycat league and Golden State set the bar with that,” Meeks said of the Warriors thriving in “small-ball” sets. “I hope it stays like that because that’s what I do. I think, as a whole, we have a lot of god players, a great coaching staff and a great front office. So hopefully we can build on that and win.”
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