Orlando Magic Daily
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NBA Draft: adding perspective to Kristaps Porzingis workout hype

By Brett David Roberts

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Off hand, there is likely very little difference between what each brought to the table as a 19-year-old.

Milicic never failed due to a lack of talent necessarily, but largely due to a lack of development and poor career circumstances. In flashes, Milicic always showed he had skill, whether it be hitting soft hooks or blocking a few shots. He ran the court exceptionally well, could shoot and was tough. He showed much of this when he finally got a chance playing alongside and behind Dwight Howard in Orlando.

And he became one of the most talked about draft busts ever.

What needs to be highlighted is Milicic lingered on the Detroit Pistons bench during critical years of career development — and his progress stagnated. He became disinterested in basketball, just counting the days until the season ended. Milicic was very apathetic (and he eventually chose wisely to take care of his mother in Europe as opposed to continue a career that had ultimately proved disappointing).

At this early juncture, Porzingis at least appears far more focused than that. There is an energy and drive in his eyes that is associated with being interested, competitive, driven. He shows all the tools of being a perfectly suited stretch-4 and an offensive talent that could help change the Orlando Magic.

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    • For as enamored as Magic general manager Rob Hennigan has been in the past with defensive talents, the team is just not good enough offensively to pass on a guy who may be able to play both ends of the ball extremely well. Because in the highlight tapes, we see Andrei Kirilenko-like length coming across to swat shots from the weak-side. He is doing things Channing Frye has not dreamed of.

    So, the Magic would be getting a talent. It is really just a matter of how well that talent and that person adapts to the NBA.

    There is no sense pretending that a large part of the NBA is not mental toughness. If Porzingis can endure the fatigue of not getting calls his rookie year, of being abused by thicker and stronger forwards, then he will come out of the other end as a very good NBA player.

    Next: A more apt comparison