By. Harrison Leone
Editor-In-Chief
Remember Andrew Nicholson? You probably do.
He is one of the five best men’s basketball players in school history, the linchpin of the Bonnies only Atlantic 10 title, a first-round pick and is solely responsible for the strange concentration of Orlando Magic jerseys in Cattaraugus County. He is a Bonaventure legend and is only the second Bonnie in the 21st century to see the court in the NBA. As the season ended on Wednesday, it seemed appropriate to check in on how our legend has done during his brief time in the pros.
The short answer is: not great. He showed promise during his rookie year, after he arrived as the 19th pick in the 2012 draft, when he started 28 games and played in 75.
That promise has been mitigated this season. Nicholson is stuck on the fifth-worst team in the league, a team that has gone 68-177 since he arrived. Even on such a horrid team, Nicholson has struggled to earn playing time: his minutes per game have declined every year bottoming out at 12 this season. For a full month this season, he went through an impossible stretch of 16 games where he didn’t see a single minute on the court. With no injury made public, it is hard to explain why Nicholson played in less than half of the Magic’s games this year.
The personnel decisions of the Orlando front office have not worked in Nicholson’s favor, as the Magic have invested high draft picks and cap space on players who overlap with Nicholson’s position. Nicholson has been buried on Orlando’s depth chart, stuck behind 2014 lottery pick Aaron Gordon and major free agent signing Channing Frye. The first three seasons of Nicholson’s career have been a disappointment to anyone who is not fond of seeing “Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision” in box scores.
What is the upside to a 25-year-old, third-year player who can’t get playing time on a tanking lottery team, and who has not been able to build on any of the experience he’s seen in the pros? It could start with the coaching. The Magic saddled themselves with a historically bad coach in Jacques Vaughn, and finally grew tired of his ineptitude (Vaughn had a .269 winning percentage in three seasons) on Feb. 5, replacing him with interim coach James Borrego.
Judging by his performance, Vaughn wasn’t qualified to mop up court sweat, never mind develop young talent. Borrego has posted a less-embarrassing 10-20. Since the regime change, Nicholson has seen increased playing time and has been effective when he’s been able peel himself off the bench, averaging a serviceable eight points per game in March.
This recent spurt of semi-productivity speaks to a pattern throughout Nicholson’s career: he has been at least moderately effective if he gets the minutes. The Magic have seen enough in their young power forward to pick up his team option for the 2015-16 season, so at a minimum, Nicholson will have a NBA home next year.
Nicholson closed the season on Wednesday with one of his best games of the year, scoring 18 points and falling one rebound short of a double-double. He also committed five fouls and had a negative four plus/minus in a Magic loss. This game is an appropriate example of what Nicholson could be in Orlando.
It’s tough to complain about an NBA career, regardless of the weak statistical output. It’s the pinnacle of the profession, and whether Nicholson flames out in spectacular fashion or is able to cobble together a long, lucrative tenure, he will have the support of the SBU community, a spot on the pantheon of Bonaventure athletes and a place in the memory of all who watched him play.
