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2024 Free Agents - Goga Bitadze

Summary
Bitadze showed some steady progression over his first three seasons in Indiana, increasing his production and efficiency along the way. However, he didn't get regular rotation minutes in '22-'23, and was even waived at the trade deadline by the Pacers before getting picked up by Orlando.

Bitadze has nice touch on offense, as he can finish inside as the roll man and occasionally stretch out and shoot threes. He lives mostly off of pick-and-roll and just dump-offs from hanging around near the rim, but has shown some ability to post up. Bitadze also gets a good amount of put-backs and had a very solid offensive rebounding rate. He can also facilitate from the elbows, and has a solid assist rate for a big.

Early in his career, shots just weren't falling for Bitadze, as his 60% two-point shooting and 25% three-point shooting simply isn't good enough. However, his 62% true shooting for the Magic has been solid, and he has benefited from focusing more on being a bully inside instead of operating as a stretch big. His lack of athleticism hurts him, as he's not a lob threat and needs time to load up to dunk when catching underneath, which gives defenses extra time to recover to him. He also is a very poor screen-setter.

Defensively, Bitadze is a little slow-footed, but has moments holding up well on the perimeter when he has to switch out onto guards or wings. He can provide rim protection, and has been in the top 15th percentile or better in block rate for his position each season of his career thus far. Bitadze shows nice verticality at times. He's also big enough to be a solid post defender, although that is becoming less and less important these days.

Bitadze had a great start to the '23-'24 season with Orlando, even starting a bunch of games while Wendell Carter Jr. was injured. He fell out of the rotation later in the season though, and did not play at all in the playoffs. 
 
Cap Considerations
Bitadze will be an unrestricted free agent with a $2.1 million cap hold and Early Bird rights. The Magic could offer Bitadze a starting salary of up to 5% more than the average salary (likely around $13 million) using the Early Bird exception, which should be more than enough should they wish to bring him back.

Other teams will have multiple ways to sign Bitadze as even teams without cap space could possibly use any of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, Taxpayer MLE, or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. It's also possible that he only gets minimum offers.

Potential Teams: Magic, Nets, Bulls, Pelicans, Trailblazers

Predicted Contract: 2-year, $10 million (2nd year non-guaranteed) with the Magic

Actual Contract: 3-year, $25 million with the Magic

Bitadze got a pretty solid contract with Orlando, and I think it's good value even though Bitadze is a third center for the Magic.

Last updated: 7/10/2024

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