March Madness: Orlando Magic 5 NCAA Prospects, March 19 Edition
March 19 offers three games that should be of particular interest to Orlando Magic fans as the team looks to the NCAA tournament.
There are three games on Thursday during the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament that are worth giving special attention to as we start looking for help the Magic could obtain in the 2015 NBA Draft. The lottery pick is being given the most attention, and at this point the methodology could still be “best player available.” The Magic are currently slated to have the fifth best Lottery odds.
To that end, that best player is Arizona’s Stanley Johnson, of the prospects entailed in these three games. The Magic could look for frontcourt help, but Johnson is a small forward who could be just what the team needs.
2:10 p.m.: Arizona vs. Texas Southern, TV: TNT
Arizona boasts small forward Stanley Johnson who many are looking at as a real talent that could help the Magic at the 3-spot. His athleticism makes him a defensive beast, and NBADraft.net compares him to Metta World Peace. He is a freshman, but most certainly a lottery pick, and he is just a legitimate basketball player.
He is going to be very good and should get Arizona cooking early against Texas Southern. He is likely going to be there if the Magic select No. 5 overall as currently slotted, given the lottery odds. He will not be there much later than that if the Magic pass on him.
3:10 p.m. UCLA vs. SMU, TV: truTV
Kevon Looney is a guy the Magic will need to give heavy consideration too.
He is a freshman from UCLA that the Magic would either have to trade down for, or acquire a late lottery pick from another team. NBADraft.net slots him, to go 11th overall at this point, but this is early and things are still subject to massive change.
Looney is a combo forward, but he has the length, speed and athleticism to rebound from the 4-spot. He is still pretty lanky, but he can add strength in the same manner that Dewayne Dedmon already has.
Everyone is still saying “tweener,” but it seems more like the case of a power forward who is just needing some time in the weight room. He’d be an interesting fit with Vucevic from the 4-spot and he has a 7-foot-1 wingspan.
2:45 p.m.: Texas vs Butler, TV: CBS
Texas boasts a pair of bigs that could help the Magic in Myles Turner and Jonathan Holmes.
Turner is seeing 22.4 minutes per night for the Longhorns and averaging 10.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, but impressively is blocking 2.7 shots, which per-36 would work out to about five per game.
Holmes is posting similar numbers sans the impressive block totals (just one per game while playing 25.8 minutes a night), but Holmes is an interesting undersized forward capable of hitting the three.
Turner is by far the more interesting of this pair, and he is currently slotted to go in the mid-teens in NBA mocks. The Magic will be picking far too high to take him with the team’s lottery pick, but a trade for Turner seems to make some sense if the team could swing a deal with one of the borderline playoff teams that possesses the pick.