Orlando Magic Daily’s Final NBA Draft Big Board
Tier 6
Depending on how you define Jarred Vanderbilt’s position, this range of 16 players has 13 or 14 wings, one point guard and one or two big men. That illustrates how deep this draft’s wing class is, and how shallow it is in this range at the other positions.
At the top is Kevin Huerter, arguably the best shooter in the draft at 6-foot-7 with enough defensive instincts to have a good chance at being passable in the NBA. Gary Clark and Josh Okogie follow behind — a smart team defender with a 3-point shot and excellent defensive rate stats and a prototypical 3-and-D wing lacking in height and off-ball instincts but compensating with length, strength and on-ball stopper potential.
Bruce Brown has very poor shooting indicators, a death knell for many non-bigs. But as a super-athletic, instinctual wing with size and passing acumen, it is hard to ignore him at the back of the first.
After that point, virtually every player in this tier is a wing ranked for some varying intersection of jumper versatility, defensive versatility, IQ, feel and instincts.
Lonnie Walker IV is ranked notably lower here than he is on many boards because of skepticism surrounding his upside and the fact his defensive value and offensive decision-making is more likely to approximate J.R. Smith than it is Danny Green, Robert Covington or the NBA’s best 3-and-D wings.
Then there is Jalen Brunson, who will be looking to follow Fred VanVleet‘s pathway to NBA success. Which would be a nice selection but certainly not irreplaceable via free agency. Simply put, there is more value to having a modern wing on a rookie scale contract than there is a limited second-string initiator especially for a rebuilding team.
21
Kevin Huerter Wing
Scouting Report
22
Gary Clark Big
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23
Josh Okogie Wing
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24
Bruce Brown Wing
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25
Keita Bates-Diop Wing
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26
Jarred Vanderbilt Big
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27
Chandler Hutchison Wing
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28
Kenrich Williams Wing
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29
Troy Brown Wing
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30
Lonnie Walker Wing
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31
Landry Shamet Wing
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32
Vince Edwards Wing
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33
Melvin Frazier Wing
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34
Jerome Robinson Wing
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35
Jalen Brunson PG
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36
Shake Milton Wing
Scouting Report
The overarching theme with this range (and the next) is that two-way wings who can shoot, dribble, defend on the ball and defend off the ball are the league’s most valuable commodity. Meanwhile, backup point guards and most big man archetypes are easy to find overseas or on cheap deals.
Jalen Brunson may be a better prospect in a vacuum than Melvin Frazier, for example. But Frazier theoretically plays a more important and scarcer role.
Gary Clark and Jarred Vanderbilt are the only bigs here as they have potential to fill unique and versatile roles on both ends of the court at the NBA’s highest levels of play.