Orlando Magic NBA Draft Preview: Few options at the top for Magic’s needs

Teams are looking at the NBA Draft as the season’s hiatus continues. The Orlando Magic have plenty to consider including looking at the players at the top.

Thursday at noon passed without any fanfare. There were no squeaking of sneakers and the initial ruffling of brackets, everyone checking to make sure the results matched what they predicted.

For NBA teams like the Orlando Magic, there were no players to review and watch one final time. No final data points to tick off before teams really started to formulate their draft plans.

Even though the league is closing team practice and training facilities for the time being in response to the coronavirus pandemic, teams are still formulating their draft plans. The calendar does not stop. And while it is not certain the draft will even take place in June as scheduled, the draft will take place at some point.

According to ESPN, teams are indeed continuing their draft preparation. They may not have a Draft Combine to conduct final interviews or workouts to get that last bit of face time. Not in the near future at least. But they are still planning as if the draft will take place.

The Magic have a small benefit on this front.

Their “rookie” for next season is already within the program, so to speak. Chuma Okeke has been rehabbing with the Lakeland Magic all season. President of basketball operations Jeff Weltman has frequently updated his status and talked about the team’s excitement for him to join the squad next year.

But Orlando still has another draft pick to prepare for. With the team’s cap situation a bit in flux and its need to make some kind of change to the team. That is what the draft will do.

With so much of the draft — let alone the salary cap — in flux, it is hard to get a handle on the draft and how teams will approach it. This will be a time for front offices to trust their process and preparation to make a valuable selection with limited information.

The Magic are going to be stuck in a cap hole for a little while, especially considering the cap is likely going to decrease because of the suspension of the season and loss of revenue from China refusing to air NBA games.

Undoubtedly though, the Magic have needs they need to fill. And while trades can and must help the team improve, they will still need to supplement the team in some way. The draft is an easy way for the team to do this.

Weltman’s draft philosophy has always been to add a player that fits his vision. He has not really drafted based on need. But that may become a necessity this time around.

The Magic could also view another draft pick, especially with Okeke waiting in the wings, as a negative. The team is already pretty young as it is. The team might want to use the pick to add a veteran role player to help boost their playoff chances.

Either way, draft night will be important for a number of reasons. It is certainly a night the Magic have to get right.

Seeking Needs

For whatever it is worth, this NBA Draft is not considered a particularly strong draft.

As there is with every other class, there will be gems and players who make it. There will be players who become All-Stars. It is rare to find a draft that is completely bereft of talent. There are only drafts that do not seem to have top-end talent right off the bat.

There is no clear-cut top overall pick. Every player has flaws. But there are plenty of solid players with Lottery-level talent who can come in and fill a role.

For a team like the Orlando Magic likely picking in the middle of the first round, they should be able to get a player of some value still. They should be able to find a player who can contribute down the road at the very least.

That does not mean they are guaranteed anything.

It is easy to figure out what the Magic need. They have a lot of core pieces they are trying to grow and build around between Aaron Gordon and Jonathan Isaac at the forward spots, Mohamed Bamba at center and Markelle Fultz at point guard.

That really leaves only the shooting guard spot in the starting lineup to bolster and boost.

That is overly simplistic, of course. The Magic are always looking to get better. But they already have a bevy of young forwards to grow.

Orlando Magic

And with essentially two playoff berths in a row, the Magic have to start building off their playoff team.

From a skills standpoint, the Magic need to find shooting. That is undoubtedly the team’s biggest weakness. Finding players who can spread the floor and force defenses to think about their shooting is vital.

Orlando has its preference in the draft, of course. Jeff Weltman’s joke after the 2018 Draft of “long night, long players” still stands. The Magic have spent their entire draft process with Weltman at the helm drafting players with prodigious wingspans.

So the team has a type. There is no doubt about that.

And the draft philosophy always seems to have been to find players that fit that type more than find a player who can make an immediate contribution.

It feels like this year that might need to stop. It feels like the Magic are in danger of becoming too young. And that creates the very real possibility the Magic trade this pick.

But that is still a long way down the road. For now, the Magic have to do their homework on everybody.

Weighing the Options

The story of this draft is that it is a lackluster one. Making things worse, many of the top players have not played a lot of high-level basketball this year. Both stateside and internationally.

There does not appear to be a runaway top pick nor is there a group of players that clearly are heads and shoulders above everyone. It seems like the story of this draft is parity.

That increases the chances to find a player of value even at No. 15 where the Magic should be drafting. But it also increases the chances that you could leave this draft without that quality you need.

That leaves three options for the Magic. They could keep their own pick, adding another young player to the group. They could look to trade out of the pick, hoping to add a veteran in a draft that could be middle-heavy with potential contributors. Or they could look to trade up and grab one of the players at the top of this draft.

Whichever option they chose, the Magic really need to get this draft right because of their cap situation. If they want to add quality players on the cheap, the draft is the way to do it.

There is the chance here with a weak top of the draft for the Magic to be aggressive. Both to acquire a player at the top of the draft and possibly even to grab a veteran to boost the roster.

Today, we can explore the chances of moving up.

With so few players that could pique interest around the league, Orlando could possibly look to move one of their veterans to move up and grab a higher pick to bolster an already young roster. The Magic are fairly young as it is, but the team could look to get younger.

The Guys at the Top

There are some intriguing players at the top of this draft that could help anyone.

Georgia Bulldogs guard Anthony Edwards is widely considered to be the top player in this draft. He averaged a little more than 19 points per game in college as a dynamic attacker and scorer. He can hit from the outside, but he is not a knock-down shooter.

He worked mostly this season on the ball. And the question is whether he can be a dominant scorer at the NBA level. He certainly has the athleticism and craftiness to get to the basket to do so.

This draft is full of a lot of centers and power forwards too. A spot the Magic seem to be pretty full of.

Dayton Flyers forward Obi Toppin helped the Atlantic-10 school jump into the top four. He would have been in store for a big tournament after averaging 20.0 points per game and 7.5 rebounds per game.

Toppin is extremely athletic, breaking out tricks on several breakaway dunks throughout the year. He is a hard roller to the rim and has shown a willingness to take 3-pointers and step outside the lane.

His athleticism stands out. But his lack of size and still-improving jumper makes it hard to see him as a center in the league, but he is not quite a modern 4 either.

Players like LaMelo Ball and James Wiseman have incomplete profiles. The NCAA declared Wiseman ineligible after playing only a few games with the Memphis Tigers. And Ball withdrew from his team in Australia in mid-January after playing only 12 games.

So there is a lot of incomplete and flawed players even at the top. That could create some opportunity if there are players the Magic specifically want to target.

Among the top guys, Ball is interesting as a bigger point guard. But his poor shooting — 24.7 percent for the Illawarra Hawks in Australia — makes him less than ideal for the Magic.

They could look at someone like Israel’s Deni Avdija. The 6-foot-8 forward continues to improve as a shooter, getting better especially in spot-up situations. His primary skill is as a scorer but he still has a lot of refining to go in his game to make good on his varied potential.

But he is one of the most well-rounded players in this draft. And unlike many others, he is excelling for one of the top teams in the world in Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Auburn Tigers forward Isaac Okoro could also be a good option in this spot.

Isaac Okoro stepping in to take Chuma Okeke’s spot last year, averaging 12.9 points per game. He has ideal size and is known more for his defense. But, yes, he shoots worse than 30-percent on 3-pointers. He would be another project at the forward spot to work on to become even just a 3-and-D defender.

That is kind of the story of this draft. Throw in an unusually large group of power forwards and centers, and this draft is not the most appetizing for a team like the Magic at the very top.

However, there are some good options for the team in the middle of the first round that they could look to acquire.

There is little difference it seems between many of the top picks and not a hard line between the guys at the time and the guys the Magic could pick at No. 15. Certainly not if the goal is for them to come in and fill a role early on in their careers.

The Magic have to pick which way they will go with their team. And they have plenty to consider as the draft draws closer.