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How the Orlando Magic missed on Kristaps Porzingis twice

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Dec 21, 2015; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks power forward Kristaps Porzingis (6) dribbles the ball as Orlando Magic point guard Elfrid Payton (4) defends during the first quarter at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 21, 2015; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks power forward Kristaps Porzingis (6) dribbles the ball as Orlando Magic point guard Elfrid Payton (4) defends during the first quarter at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Orlando Magic did their homework and were ready to take Kristaps Porzingis in 2014 and 2015. The stars did not align and Porzingis escaped from them.

The NBA Draft is the biggest futures game in the league.

Teams who spend every waking moment running numbers and doing everything to know the future rely on luck and happenstance to get draft position and then engage in the inexact science of figuring out which 19 year old is going to be the next superstar.

So much of the Orlando Magic’s rebuild since the Dwight Howard trade has been about building through the draft and building organically. They needed some luck with their draft picks and shrewd scouting and picking.

Their haul in three years has been Victor Oladipo (No. 2 overall in 2013), Aaron Gordon (No. 4 overall in 2014), Elfrid Payton (No. 10 overall in 2014) and Mario Hezonja (No. 5 overall in 2015). The Magic had all the high picks and, by all accounts, made the right picks. It has not coalesced into a competitive team yet. The future is still unwritten.

The past though is full of near misses, as every team can contest.

The biggest near miss might be how the Magic nearly landed one of the front runners for this year’s Rookie of the Year award, Kristaps Porzingis.

Porzingis originally entered the 2014 NBA Draft with the idea of entering his name and withdrawing. He wanted to get his name in front of NBA executives, Porzingis told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. The Magic were taken with Porzingis and presented a development plan to try to persuade him to stay in the Draft.

The Magic even promised to take him with the 12th overall pick in the 2014 Draft, the pick they would end up trading to acquire Payton.

"As an organization, the Magic became enamored with the long-term possibilities of Porzingis and became aggressive in persuading him to remain in the 2014 draft. So aggressive, in fact, Miller worked a guarantee out of Hennigan that Orlando would choose Porzingis with the No. 12 pick in 2014. Orlando owned two picks, including No. 4. If Porzingis preferred to play one more year with Sevilla in the Spanish ACB before coming to the NBA, the Magic would support him.“Rob had a thorough, comprehensive plan,” [Porzingis’ agent Andy] Miller told The Vertical. “He had invested as much, or more time, into Kristaps as anyone in the league. He really studied him. They had a plan for supplemental training, development. It wasn’t just, ‘Let’s just draft him and see what happens.’ This was a plan. Kristaps knew the plan and just wasn’t ready.”"

Porzingis ended up sticking with his plan. He felt he needed another year playing in Spain before coming to the United States to play in the NBA.

As Wojnarowski writes, the Magic were not going to let Porzingis slip past them at No. 5. But by the time Hennigan and Magic staffers walked out of his open workout at Impact in Las Vegas, they knew he was probably not going to last to them.

It was still possible, of course. The Knicks did consider trading their pick for a veteran. But they were sold on Porzingis after his individual workout with them and interview with them. He did not last to pick No. 5, although that was his clear floor if he did not get to New York. The Knicks were Porzingis’ clear preference too. His agent did a good job fulfilling his client’s wishes.

The Magic were in the running though should the Knicks have passed on him.

What Wojnarowski also details is how Miller ensured Porzingis did not end up with Philadelphia, the team that picked No. 3. The Sixers did not get a workout or a one-on-one interview with Porzingis. Miller did not even send Porzingis’ physical to Philadelphia.

Orlando did get all that and did all their homework. The Magic were ready to pick him.

At the end, the team just had no chance. The Knicks slid ahead of them at No. 4 and got Porzingis — and his 13.9 points per game, 7.7 rebounds per game and 47.2 percent effective field goal percentage to go with the boundless potential of a 7-foot-3 player with perimeter skills.

Next: Mario Hezonja makes his breakthrough

The stars just did not align for the Magic this time despite the process being sound with all the research and scouting that comes in play.

It may just come down to one of those stories of missed opportunities or near misses that happens every NBA Draft. And it certainly should not hang over the Magic’s ultimate selection in Mario Hezonja.