Orlando Magic get down to details as NBA Draft Combine passes

The Orlando Magic did not generate much buzz at the NBA Draft Combine. But they are surely getting down to detail before the June 20 NBA Draft.

Every team in the NBA gathered in Chicago last week for the NBA Draft Combine.

It is not the beginning of the draft process for these teams. They have been doing their research on the players entering the draft for months and even years. This is really the beginning of the end.

The Combine gives them the chance to get official measurements and speak to a few of them in quick, informal interviews. They can begin coordinating with players and their representatives for individual workouts.

The Orlando Magic like to be quiet at this time of the year. They are not ones to float their business publicly either through rumors or unnamed sources. Jeff Weltman and John Hammond tend to keep their workouts and who they are looking at fairly quiet.

The Magic were there, but they were busy doing their work. And getting to know the prospects they could as they made their last preparations and finalized their database of information.

Usually, with so many NBA luminaries hanging around each other, some rumors trickle out. The prospects at least usually reveal who they interviewed with and what their general impressions were of their first contact with NBA teams in an official capacity.

There was a lot to do still as the Magic completed some of their draft profiles and prepared for the final weeks before the June 20 NBA Draft.

Thinking big with interviews

The Orlando Magic were at least willing to reach big with one of the few interviews they had.

The NBA sets up interviews with prospects at the Draft Combine by taking lists from each of the teams and assigning players to teams. Not every team gets everyone they want and teams have to be strategic. They will leave off players they know they will interview individually later to preserve their time and resources.

Among the players the Magic held one of their official interviews with was Texas Tech Red Raiders forward Jarrett Culver at the NBA Draft Combine, according to Duane Ranking of The Arizona Republic.

Culver will be long gone by the time the Magic pick at No. 16. He is projected to go within the first six picks after averaging 18.5 points per game on 52.6 percent shooting (just 30.4 percent from beyond the arc) for the national runners-up. Culver was one of the best defensive players in the nation and is considered one of the best prospects in this draft.

As Bobby Marks noted on ESPN’s coverage of the NBA Draft Combine, teams often will use the Combine interviews as a way to make contact with players they may not be able to get to otherwise. This helps them build their file and have some familiarity with the player as a person to supplement the information they gathered about him as a player from scouting.

Culver likely would not entertain interviewing or working out with the Magic otherwise. He would be long gone in the draft when the Magic pick.

So Orlando used the opportunity to interview him and add him to their files. Think of how former general manager Rob Hennigan said he used information from working out and interviewing Tobias Harris while Hennigan was with the Oklahoma City Thunder to help him make the decision to pursue him for the Orlando Magic.

President of basketball operations Jeff Weltman is surely doing the same in getting in front of Jarrett Culver. The Magic now have information they would not have otherwise in case he comes across in a trade in the near future.

Measuring Up

Of course, Orlando was certainly at the Combine also focused on their picks — the 16th and 46th picks in the draft. They were likely examining several players to make sure their measurements matched up, scouting prospects playing in the scrimmages who might be available for their second-round pick, Summer Leauge team or the Lakeland Magic and interviewing prospects they may take in the first round.

As has become the joke with Magic fans, the team has an obsession with drafting length.

Mohamed Bamba set the NBA Draft Combine record with a 7-foot-10 wingspan last year (UCF Knights center Tacko Fall has since broken it this year). The Magic’s other two draft picks last year — Melvin Frazier and Justin Jackson — had two of the longest wingspans within their position groups.

So it bears to reason the Magic should have an eye on this character trait.

It feels unlikely the Magic would draft a center but lottery prospect Bol Bol finished behind only the 7-foot-6 Tacko Fall with a 7-foot-7 wingspan.

Villanova Wildcats forward Eric Paschall, who averaged 16.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game last year, measured with the longest wingspan among forwards at 6-foot-11.75. Paschall is No. 31 in ESPN’s top 100 board.

Stanford Cardinal forward KZ Okpala, a raw forward who has good driving sense, and Iowa State Cyclones guard Talen Horton-Tucker both measured in at 7-foot-1.25-inch wingspans. They both could get plenty of interest at No. 16.

A fan made this interestingly handy chart of players and their difference between actual height and wingspan length. The Magic will certainly want to take a closer look at all these players to see if their physical attributes match their skills.

A name worth noting on here would be North Carolina Tar Heels and Orlando Christian Prep forward Nassir Little. Little struggled with consistency throughout his lone college season.

But he shot better than expected and has high lottery talent. He could fall to No. 16 and give the Magic a forward who can attack off the dribble and hit an open 3-pointer while providing some tough defense.

Setting up workouts

Now comes one of the last pieces to the draft puzzle. Getting players in the Amway Center for individual workouts and the “job interview” with the staff. Orlando has probably already started bringing prospects in for this process.

They just are not one to publicize what they are doing.

But they are doing that work, even if they do not get out to the public. And they are likely to have some of their main prospects in town.

The Orlando Magic are reportedly set to work out Washington Huskies, as reported by Michael Scotto of The Athletic last week:

Nowell scored 22 points on 8-for-20 shooting, making two of his eight 3-pointers in a pair of scrimmages at the NBA Draft Combine. With the Huskies last year, he averaged 16.2 points per game, shooting 44.0 percent from beyond the arc and winning the Pac-12 Player of the Year.

Then again, the Magic did not hold private workouts for their last two picks — Jonathan Isaac and Mohamed Bamba. Orlando executives met with both of those players on their turf.

But that was also at the No. 6 pick. Players higher in the lottery tend to have a little bit more power over who they talk to and how they interact with teams before the draft. Players lower in the pecking order do not have that same leverage. Orlando will likely get to workout their preferred player — and perhaps see him in more group settings.

That is the advantage of picking at No. 16. They get to see players who have something to prove. Think of how several teams saw Donovan Mitchell in more competitive atmospheres.

That had a lot to do with where he was picked. If he was considered a top prospect, he probably would have stayed away from playing against other players. But the Utah Jazz getting to see Mitchell workout with other players saw exactly what kind of competitor he was and traded up to select him at No. 13.

Orlando likely will get to see more prospects in three on three settings and with larger groups. They probably will not get as many players in for individual workouts. They can learn a lot more anyway if players are willing to workout with others.

In management’s hands

The league itself uses the NBA Draft Combine as something of an offseason preview. Their NBA Draft Combine coverage featured a lot of interviews with executives and coaches recapping their seasons, previewing their offseason and discussing their approach to making their teams better.

Coach Steve Clifford joined the dais on Thursday to discuss the Orlando Magic.

As he said at exit interviews, he does not get much involved in the draft process. He said he lets management and the scouting department, which works all year to parse through the prospects and build their file.

Clifford said he will take a look at prospects the team is serious about on management’s request to provide some of his thoughts. But he said he does not say much unless there is something that concerns him with the tape they give him.

But Clifford largely leaves things to the management that has done most of the work already on these prospects. Workouts have their place to add information, but a lot of the work for the draft is already done.

It is now about collecting this information, deciphering it and making the decision when it is your turn.

The Draft Combine is the first public step for the draft. It gets everyone thinking about the prospects and how teams round out their profiles for each prospect.

The Magic did not make a ton of noise or create much buzz at the Draft Combine. That is just how they operate.

Their draft process is well underway.