Emmanuel Mudiay falling to Magic in NBA Draft creates intrigue
Emmanuel Mudiay is considered one of the top four prospects in the 2015 class, but if he slipped the Orlando Magic would field a unique big backcourt.
The 2015 NBA Draft is one without mass consensus.
Most fully expect Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor to go No. 1 and No. 2 overall (in either order), but beyond that pair of big men, mock drafts are in scarce agreement.
Due to this, the Orlando Magic may be able to snag one of the two point guards penciled in at No. 3 and No. 4 in many mocks. One is Ohio State’s D’Angelo Russell, but the more favorable for Orlando would be Emmanuel Mudiay.
Mudiay offers great size for a point guard at 6-foot-5. He could easily be interjected into the backcourt, and with Victor Oladipo and Elfrid Payton, the trio could form a potent, big backcourt.
Oladipo has the ability to play both guard spots and even listed at 6-foot-4 could at least play small forward offensively. Throwing in Evan Fournier would give the Magic four guards that are capable of playing on a high level and giving just about every team problems, particularly off the dribble in pick and rolls. Fournier would still get minutes as the only great shooter of the four.
Mudiay is slotted No. 4 on both Draft Express and NBADraft.net, expected to go to the New York Knicks. But if New York fell in love with Justise Winslow, the Magic could be drafted with a Best Player Available selection again, even though the Magic seem set at point guard. That BPA will be Mudiay. Perhaps only Kristaps Porzingis offers as much in terms of high upside.
Obtaining Mudiay would be a stroke of luck in some senses, even if Winslow is the fan favorite and fills a position of greatest need. The multitude of reasons Orlando would take Winslow are the same exact ones that would cause Philadelphia or New York to grab the Blue Devil.
As an international prospect, Mudiay is subject to falling, due to an indeterminable upside and unknown competition level.
Last year, Australian guard Dante Exum went No. 5 overall after Orlando decided he was not the guy it wanted at No. 4. That whole “mystery box” thing can really hurt an international guy’s stock sometimes (Fran Vazquez was viewed as a top-five pick before he dropped to the Magic at 11).
With NCAA players we know what we are getting more. The exposure and competition gives domestic products an edge.
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Even still, with Mudiay a team gets a great guard whose court vision will make him a pass-first phenom.
Elfrid Payton is, too, and putting two players on the court with scanning eyes will open up inside looks for Nikola Vucevic and whichever power forward Orlando sets out on the court.
Mudiay would give Orlando another supreme athlete, and putting him on the court with multiple others will help Orlando become the fast break team it easily can become. He is also quick and a great decision maker in transition, and when playing alongside Aaron Gordon and Victor Oladipo the Magic are going to get out and finish.
That is essentially three athletes all capable of winning a dunk contest.
Gordon did show an ability to make great outlet passes, often igniting transitions with kick outs, or sometimes he charged the break himself. If the Magic have four fast-break initiators on the court at once (Payton, Oladipo, Mudiay and Gordon), the team could easily start to string together the massive runs that shift games in a team’s favor.
What gets problematic is Mudiay would perpetuate the Magic’s issue with shooting. He is not consistent, nor does he offer much in mid-range opportunities, which tend to open up in abundance due to the Magic’s frequent pick and rolls with Nikola Vucevic. But Mudiay could often turn the corner on those pick and rolls and get directly to the rim.
His upside is definitely higher than D’Angelo Russell’s, yet at the same time it is much easier to imagine Mudiay struggling due to his jumper.
As we have seen so many times, jumpers are a facet of basketball that can be learned and improved upon. The things that cannot be taught are what is rendering Mudiay a top-five pick: he rebounds well, he is a true point guard and he makes teammates better.
His passing skills keep the ball moving, and if he was put on the court with Payton at the same time, the other three Magic players would have to have their hands ready on every play.
Dedmon and Vucevic both possess good hands, so after adapting to having two top-tier distributors, the tandem would reap the benefits in abundance. The Magic would be a scary team in transition. But in the half court, having two playmakers and Oladipo as a No. 1 option would likely make Orlando a playoff team.
This is still a long-winded approach. The Magic will be dealt with signing Tobias Harris, and that uncertainty at this point leaves things a little open ended.
But Mudiay would be primarily a guard, and he would give the Magic a three-guard set that is nearly unequaled around the league. In fact, in terms of skills and talents alone, it could be all-time great good. But it is hard to get ahead of ourselves after a 25-win season. It almost cannot be done.
Mudiay skipped his offer at SMU to play for Larry Brown, and that certainly would have helped him. There is no need to fully explain what having Brown’s defensive instruction would have done for him, but it would have helped a lot.
He still has the tools and mind to be a great defender, and there are certain things that cannot be taught. His natural basketball gifts and body are two of the highest on that list.
Mudiay possesses a 6-foot-8.5 wingspan, and Payton’s is 6-foot-8 as well. Together the duo would disturb passing lanes and get the steals, the forced turnovers, the fast-break igniting plays Orlando needs to develop to become a better team.
The identity the Magic could develop from having a defensive-minded, quick backcourt could be the first steps in building a defensive culture.
The same concept was discussed in what Winslow would bring — the Magic have options in this draft if they want to become an elite team on the defensive end of the court — at least in the backcourt. It is almost as if to say the team is “two-thirds of the way” to having the pestering backcourt general manager Rob Hennigan has strove for.
Payton and Oladipo would continue to start, but the eventuality could be that the trio becomes very interchangeable. It would not matter who started. Who finished would be of the biggest importance, and whoever coaches the Magic would be blessed with the option of putting his most productive tandem on the court in the waning minutes.
“A hellish defensive backcourt” could become the descriptor for a backcourt whose potential is nearly boundless. While Mudiay is far from certain to fall out of the top-4, at this juncture it is certainly one possibility that is worth envisioning in terms of potential draft scenarios. Even if it means duplicating a position for a while.