Orlando Magic Daily Pre-NBA Draft Lottery Big Board
The rest of the Lottery
The Orlando Magic can fall only to eighth in the Lottery. But you never know what can happen with trades. And you got to know the draft well enough.
For now, we will fill out the rest of the Lottery with our big board with some brief comments.
An intriguing 6-foot-6 combo guard who quietly was the best player for the Kentucky Wildcats all year. His strong finish to the year will only add to the intrigue.
Robert Williams often got overlooked, but his solid 10.4 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game are plenty to get excited about. His numbers stayed pretty flat from his freshman to his sophomore year. Still, this is an athletic big man worth consideration.
A big part of the Texas Tech Red Raiders’ surge this year into national prominence. Zhaire Smith is a guard known more for his defense, but showed some real offensive promise in averaging 11.3 points per game and shooting 58.8 percent effective field goal percentage. He is not a volume 3-point shooter yet though.
Kevin Knox is a versatile forward full of talent. He averaged 15.6 points per game last year with some solid games. But he has to improve his 3-point shooting.
Two athletic forwards who do not quite have a position. Lonnie Walker is a combo perimeter player coming off a serious injury that ended his season. Miles Bridges is a tweener between the forward positions. Athletic enough to finish around the basket, but without the shot to play on the perimeter for long. Ketia Bates-Diop also falls on that category. Although he is more technique than athleticism.
Three guards with some vastly different skills here.
Khyri Thomas averaged 15.1 points per game and shot better than 40 percent from beyond the arc. He could easily fit in as a shooter off the bench for just about any team.
Anfernee Simons is one of the more intriguing prospects in the entire draft. He is one of the younger prospects coming through high school. He grew up in the Orlando area — yes, he was named after that Anfernee — but should be an interesting prospect in his own right as an athletic combo guard.
Jalen Brunson was a rock for Villanova in the team’s NCAA Tournament run. It is hard to dislike the guy. While he may lack supreme upside, he should be an extremely solid backup point guard at the very least.
Aaron Holiday is an intriguing point guard — from a good point guarding family. He had a good year with the UCLA Bruins, but he often tried to do too much. He will have to reign in his turnovers to find success in the NBA.
Here is the rest of my top 30:
Next: Differentiating assistant coaches a difficult task
On to the NBA Draft Lottery. Once the draft order is set, not only will the Magic know where they will pick, but we will have a better idea of how things will shake out after Tuesday.