Jonathon Simmons

Dan Savage

ORLANDO – The Orlando Magic’s NBA G League affiliate, the Lakeland Magic, will be under the direction of a couple of names quite familiar to basketball fans all throughout Central Florida.

Anthony Parker, a former Magic player and a scout for the organization for the past five seasons, has been named as Lakeland’s General Manager. Meanwhile, Stan Heath, the men’s basketball head coach at the University of South Florida from 2007-14, was named as Lakeland’s inaugural head coach.

The Magic purchased the Erie (Pa.) Bayhawks in December and announced plans to move the franchise to Lakeland and it will begin play there in November. The Magic are the 17th NBA team to own and operate their own NBA G League franchise. Having it in close proximity to Orlando should allow the Magic to better maximize its utilization of the Lakeland franchise.

``With Anthony and Stan, we have established solid basketball leadership for our G League team in Lakeland,’’ Magic President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman said. ``Having our G League team closely aligned and in unison with the parent club is vital to our success. Bringing Anthony and Stan on board to guide those operations and lead that group will be of great value to us.’’

The Lakeland Magic will play their 24 home games at the RP Funding Center. The NBA G League season is made up of a 50-game regular season, plus a postseason, and the season runs from November to April. Season ticket deposits for the 2017-18 season are now being accepted by calling 863-825-3258 or by logging onto LakelandMagic.com.

Parker, 42, has worked for the Magic for the past five seasons as a scout both domestically and abroad. Prior to that, Parker played in 494 NBA games over nine seasons with Philadelphia, Orlando, Toronto and Cleveland. The older brother of WNBA superstar Candace Parker, Anthony averaged 9.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists and shot 40.4 percent from 3-point range in his NBA career. Additionally, he spent six seasons playing professionally in Europe where he won two EuroLeague MVP awards, two EuroLeague championships and five Israeli National Cups.

Heath, 52, was a successful collegiate head coach for years, leading Kent State, Arkansas and USF to NCAA Tournament bids. His greatest success came in 2002 when he guided an upstart Kent State program to 30 wins and a spot in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA tourney.

From there, Heath was the head coach at Arkansas from 2002-07 and guided the Razorbacks to two 20-win seasons and two trips to the NCAA Tournament.

Heath then made the move to Central Florida’s Gulf Coast and Tampa where he coached USF from 2007-14. His Bulls won at least 20 games in the 2009-10 and 2011-12 seasons. They made it to the NCAA Tournament in 2011-12 (winning two games) and to the NIT in 2009-10.

Heath, who won a National Championship in 2000 as an assistant coach for Michigan State, has worked the past two seasons as an assistant coach at Boston College.

Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors.

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Lakeland Magic Name Anthony Parker GM; Stan Heath Head Coach

Josh Cohen

ORLANDO -- Jonathon Simmons plays with incredible hustle, energy, passion and determination. He has a really high motor and is relentless on both ends of the floor. You don’t get a three-year NBA contract after having to try out for a G League team just a few years earlier unless you give 110 percent all the time.

On the offensive side, Simmons is a pretty good scorer in isolation. He’s comfortable isolating a defender above the arc and operating off the dribble. He’s somewhat unpredictable – has a good stop-start game and uses an effective hesitation dribble to outwork his opponent – and he’s fairly crafty when he drives to the rim.

Simmons isolated his defender 133 times in the regular season and postseason combined this past year and in 84 of those instances he attempted a shot. This tells us that Simmons is ultra-aggressive, fearless and undaunted no matter who the defender is in front of him.

While sometimes it looks like he’s going to crash into straight-on traffic, Simmons veers and shifts his body well when he attacks the paint. He has a bulldog mentality and his strength, durability and resistance helps him get quality shots off inside. He has nifty footwork, also, which includes a good step-through and a respectable Eurostep.

Most of the time when he drives the lane, Simmons gets a shot off near the basket. Of his 184 drives that resulted in a shot attempt (regular season and playoffs), 163 of them were taken near the hoop (89 percent). Only 21 of his drives led to a pull-up jumper (11 percent).

Simmons has a pretty good touch, too. He shot nearly 54 percent less than five feet out during the regular season and 46 percent between five and nine feet away.

Simmons is a tenacious on-the-ball wing defender. He’s pesky, insistent and has good lateral quickness. Similar to a player like Lance Stephenson (who is probably Simmons’ best NBA comparison), he’s one of those defenders that is ultra-bothersome because of his persistence and toughness.

Here are some impressive numbers that show the field goal percentages opponents shot when Simmons was the closest defender (regular season/playoffs combined):

James Harden: 38.1 percent (21 shot attempts)
Trevor Ariza: 28.6 percent (7 shot attempts)
Russell Westbrook: 25 percent (4 shot attempts)
Devin Booker: 0 percent (3 shot attempts)

Simmons is also excellent defensively in transition. He had a few jaw-dropping chase-down blocks this past season. This accentuates his athleticism and agility as well.

Let’s take a look at Simmons in action, which help illustrate his strengths and abilities:

SIMMONS ATTACKS LANE & SWERVES AWAY FROM SHOT BLOCKER

SIMMONS CALLS OFF BALL SCREEN, DRIVES & HITS FLOATER

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Film Room: Examining Jonathon Simmons' Abilities and Strengths

ORLANDO – Jonathon Simmons’ story, once called the greatest example of perseverance and overcoming the odds in all the NBA by a Western Conference coach, is adding another triumphant chapter.

Simmons, who survived the rough streets of his Houston neighborhood, battled his way through basketball’s back channels and made it to the NBA via a $150 G League tryout, officially signed a free-agent contract with the Orlando Magic on Saturday.

Simmons, 27, was a surprising star of the playoffs, filling in superbly for injured San Antonio superstar Kawhi Leonard, and he was rewarded for it by landing a three-year contract from the Magic.

The Spurs shocking renounced their rights to the restricted free agent on Thursday and the Magic sprang into action to pursue a 6-foot-6, 195-pounder who is considered to be a NBA talent on the rise.

``Jonathon (Simmons) is an elite wing defender that will provide toughness and athleticism to our team,’’ Magic President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman said in a release.  ``His tremendous work ethic has helped him continually grow as a player and we are very excited to add him to the Magic.’’

Weltman, who was hired in late May along with new GM John Hammond, promised that the Magic would be proactive in acquiring talent as it became available and he followed through on that by landing the two-year NBA veteran. The small forward/shooting guard averaged 15.4 points in San Antonio’s last seven playoff games against Houston and Golden State and repeatedly came up big for the Spurs after Leonard went down with a couple of ankle injuries.

Simmons showed his toughness and readiness to expand his game with two stellar showings in the postseason. In a clinching Game 6 against the Rockets – fittingly in his hometown of Houston – Simmons scored 18 points and locked down superstar guard James Harden (two of 11 shooting, 10 points) with suffocating defense. In Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals – a game after Leonard suffered a season-ending ankle injury – Simmons came up big again by making eight of 17 shots, drilling two 3-pointers and scoring 22 points.

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Simmons showed toughness and grit in the face of adversity considering the rocky road he traveled to get to the NBA. He often refers to himself as ``a 1-percenter’’ for avoiding the mean streets of his Houston neighborhood and finding success.

He attended Paris (Texas) Junior College and Midland (Texas) College before ending up at the University of Houston. He left the Cougars after his junior season, but wasn’t selected in the 2013 NBA Draft, leaving him on basketball’s fringes. A stint in the American Basketball League ended when the league had financial troubles and he was left to play in Pro-Am games around Houston to stay sharp.

Pushed not to give up on his basketball dream by members of his family, Simmons began working out three times a day to ready himself for a tryout for the Spurs’ G League team, the Austin Toros, in 2013. Simmons paid the $150 fee for the tryout, battled hundreds of others in the session and caught the eyes of scouts who ultimately extended him an invite to the G League team.

``I’m part of the one percent in my area,’’ Simmons told Yahoo’s The Vertical recently. ``We were in a rough part of town. I’m the only one who’s played at this high of a level. I never thought this would be possible, wearing this (NBA) jersey. But it’s possible.’’

After two G League seasons and a successful stint in the Orlando Pro Summer League with the Brooklyn Nets, Simmons landed a NBA contract with the Spurs. Phoenix Suns head coach Earl Watson, who once worked with Simmons in Austin, called him the greatest story in the NBA because of his against-all-odds rise to basketball’s highest level.

Also, there was this from Spurs’ coach Gregg Popovich, who played Simmons 55 games as a NBA rookie in 2015-16 and 78 games this past season: ``He’s one of those guys that you have to be thrilled for. Not many of us paid $100 and ended up kind of like in a miracle like he has. To see the progress that he’s made is thrilling and we’re really happy for him because he’s going to have a future in the NBA.’’

In Orlando, Simmons’ future will be as a wing who is expected to guard the other team’s best player on a nightly basis. Pairing him with power forward Aaron Gordon and rookie Jonathan Issac gives the Magic three players capable of guarding multiple positions and fitting today’s ``position-less’’ NBA style of play.

Like Simmons, Terrance Ross and Evan Fournier can play either the shooting guard or small forward positions, but the long-armed and explosive Simmons might have an edge in the battle for minutes because of his hard-nosed defense.

Simmons’ shot is still very much a work in progress as he connected on just 29.4 percent of his 3-point tries this past season while playing mostly in a reserve role for the Spurs. Still, there were so many signs that Simmons is ready for a more prominent role – his 20 points in the season-opener in Golden State; his 16 games with double figures in scoring; his 19-point effort in the Rising Stars Challenge game during NBA All-Star Weekend; and producing double-digit scoring efforts in five of San Antonio’s last six playoff games.

Now, Simmons’ unlikely and inspiring story continues with the Magic, and he hopes there will be plenty of more unfilled chapters to add.

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Magic Sign Free Agent Jonathon Simmons

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Due to Tropical Storm Nicole, the NBA has announced that the Dallas Mavericks at Orlando Magic game on Wednesday, November 9 will tip-off at 5:30 PM. Amway Center doors open at 4:30 PM.