The Orlando Magic have some clear skill needs to address. But there are a few off-the-radar players and needs they could look at for the draft.
The Orlando Magic are in a tricky spot when it comes to the NBA Draft.
They already have a very young team and a desire to advance further than their first-round cameos in the playoffs. That probably means they would prefer to add more proven veterans to support and boost the young players they see developing. Adding too many young players trying to make their way could be a difficult way to use their resources.
And resources should become very important right now with the salary cap expected to take a pretty sizable drop following the league’s troubles with China in October and now the hiatus from the coronavirus taking a sizable bight into league revenues.
Teams might value the draft even more for its cost-controlled players and so getting this asset right — either in a trade or by using the pick — is vital for a team trying to continue growing.
This year’s draft process will be a strange one too.
Right now, nobody knows whether players will be available for individual or group workouts, there probably will not be a Combine and interviews are probably going to have to be done via teleconference or phone. It will be a very strange process.
But everyone is still preparing.
And the Magic know whatever they do they have to get it right. They have several needs to fill and not a lot of ways to fill them while keeping the team competitive and advancing forward.
This year’s draft is not considered to be a particularly strong class. There are interesting players at the top of the draft, but it does not seem like there are many players near the top of the draft the Magic would be willing to push assets in to acquire.
There are plenty of shooters and long 3-and-D players the Magic could pursue where they are slated to pick at No. 15.
But this Magic team has never been afraid to go off the wall a bit with their picks. Last year’s draft pick, Chuma Okeke, seemed to come out of nowhere for this team considering its needs and roster construction. But it was still a player a lot of draft reporters liked. The Magic are certainly eager to see him play next year when he returns from his ACL injury.
The Magic will be going deep into this draft. They also hold a second-round pick in this year’s draft (No. 45 as the standings sit right now). There are plenty of prospects they can go find to help the team.
To complete our first look at the NBA Draft, here are five players that are a bit off-board the Magic could pursue.
Markus Howard, Marquette
Inevitably every year, there is a player who just clicks in college. He puts up prodigious statistics and becomes something of a legend among the college cohort. But NBA scouts just are not sure.
There are still peculiarities about the college game — the pace being first and foremost and the ability to play straight zones without worrying about defensive three-second violations — that make some players work in college and not in the pros.
There is a long list of players who were prolific college scorers that just never got a real look at the NBA for various reasons — think about former Orlando Magic draft pick Tyler Harvey, who led the nation in scoring before the Magic took him.
For every Stephen Curry who sheds the small-school, big-scorer doubts there is a Jimmer Fredette, Justin Wright-Forman, Marcus Keane or Kay Felder who never really found a way to translate that scoring to the next level. Most of the time these players find themselves playing off the ball and unable to make that transition.
Still, the Magic are a team that has struggled to score most of the year and they should be looking for guys who can create a basket wherever they can find them.
So they have to at least study leading scorer Markus Howard of the Marquette Golden Eagles.
Howard averaged 27.8 points per game last year for Marquette on an impressive 52.6-percent effective field goal percentage with 19.3 field goal attempts per game. He has averaged more than 20 points per game in three consecutive seasons and shot better than 40 percent in each of his four seasons in college.
It would be one thing to do this in the Big Sky or Northeast Conference. He was doing this in the Big East. Maybe not consistently the strongest conference but still no pushover.
Howard has some prolific scoring games. His season-high this year was 51 points against the USC Trojans. There are only 16 games where a player scored 15 points since the 2011 season. Howard has two of them.
There is no ignoring that kind of scoring ability. He can work his way off the dribble into his shot. He can run off screens to get his shot off.
So why is he not high on any draft boards? Howard is No. 67 over and No. 21 among point guards in ESPN.com’s rankings. He is No. 41 in NBADraft.net’s top-100 big board.
Howard is 5-foot-11 and is not a strong point guard option. He averaged only 3.3 assists per game last year — and 3.9 the year before. He is not a particularly long player and did not operate off the ball much. He posted a 39.3-percent usage rate.
Marquette was absolutely right to give him the ball and let him try to score. It generated a ton of success for that team. There is no denying that had some success.
Will it translate to the NBA? That is probably not the case. And Howard, despite his ability to get buckets, is probably not a player that is on the Magic’s radar or wish list because of his physical attributes.
He just is not a player the Magic usually have an eye for.
Theo Maledon, France
The Orlando Magic have not really ever drafted on need. They have put their focus on finding the best players available and finding the players that fit their organizational culture and preferences. Yes, the Magic want long players who are willing to defend, believing they can teach shooting.
But at some point, the Magic have to consider themselves a playoff team and address their needs. Especially with the cap preparing to decrease. The draft will be a space they have to find players who fit their eye and can fill a need and play a role for a growing and promising young team.
Not to mention the Magic need to rebuild young assets to replace players they may one day trade or use to acquire a key player.
A look at the Magic’s depth chart reveals two glaring needs — aside from skill-based shooting. The Magic need to boost their depth at shooting guard with the uncertainty surrounding Evan Fournier. So most of our focus in these draft previews have focused on that.
The other need might be at point guard. The team has Markelle Fultz firmly entrenched as the starting point guard for the near future. Michael Carter-Williams has proven a reliable option off the bench. But his history of injury should mean the Magic need a security blanket.
D.J. Augustin is a free agent this offseason. And even he admitted in a piece with The Players Tribune his future is a bit uncertain.
Orlando Magic
There is the chance to get a decent quality backup after the lottery to fill the need. And this ends up being a pretty decently rich class of point guards. Of course, quantity does not equal quality.
If you are looking for a player who fits the Magic’s style at point guard, then look no further than Theo Maledon of France.
The 6-foot-3 (or 6-foot-5, depending on which Web site you follow) point guard averaged 7.0 points and 2.5 assists per game in 16.7 minutes per game across 42 games for ASVEL in France’s Ligue 1 and EuroLeague. Like most young players in Europe, he is still coming off the bench a lot.
Maledon looks a little bit like Michael Carter-Williams when he is on the floor. He has long arms and uses it well defensively. He is adept at creating space in transition and has great vision on the run.
The one area where they differ is Maledon’s lack of explosiveness. He is not a great leaper or does more than quick bursts. He uses his positioning to score a lot.
That might work in Europe and in FIBA play, but not as much in the more athletic-based NBA. He will have to find his place within a role no matter where he ends up.
The Magic likely will love his length. But they will see a player who still needs some work with his technique defensively. And they will have to judge whether his physical limitations are something they can work with.
Nico Mannion, Arizona Wildcats
The Arizona Wildcats had one of the best offenses in the nation this season. They had one of the most dynamic groups of players in the nation. They could hit from the outside and inside and run up and down the floor. It was actually a pretty modern NBA roster.
Nico Mannion was the point guard running the show for the Wildcats this year.
The 6-foot-3 freshman was dynamic off the dribble, able to score in a variety of ways. He could attack both on the ball and off the ball, in the half-court and in transition. Mannion is one of the really interesting and special prospects in the draft.
He averaged 14.0 points per game and 5.3 assists per game in his lone year at Arizona, posting a 46.5-percent effective field goal percentage. Among those were some real highlight-reel moments. He is a dynamic athlete who knows how to use space and creat angles.
His size is a big benefit for him and will get him plenty of looks when the draft comes around.
But the biggest thing plaguing Mannion throughout his freshman season was consistency. He just might not be ready to lead a NBA team quite yet. And Arizona struggled to find much traction despite all the various weapons and offensive explosion they had.
The Wildcats were just 21-11 and 10-8 in the Pac-12. With the talent on that roster, they expected a lot better. Even if they were all very young.
Mannion’s ability to run the point consistently was at least a part of that. He turned the ball over 2.6 times per game. And he shot just 32.7 percent from deep. Mannion, despite all his scoring ability, shot worse than 40 percent from the floor.
A lot of the tools for Mannion are all there. The talent is clearly there. And he is an energetic player.
Put him on the ball and he can create his own shot and create opportunities for himself. When he is in the open floor, he is a brilliant playmaker.
But his consistency is seemingly more than just his youth at the moment. He has to become a better spot-up shooter and improve his overall decisionmaking. As well as his attention to detail defensively. But that is something every young player has to work on.
Jordan Nwora, Louisville Cardinals
Jordan Nwora’s freshman year for the Louisville Cardinals in 2017 was nothing special. He was a freshman who played some meaningful minutes off the bench. But perhaps that was nothing special.
Then he burst onto the scene as a sophomore, averaging 17.0 points and 7.6 rebounds per game on 44.6-percent shooting. He managed to match that and increase his efficiency as a junior — averaging 18.0 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. He shot 40.2 percent from beyond the arc and a 52.8-percent effective field goal percentage.
There were plenty of games where Nwora simply took over and dominated for Louisville.
The 6-foot-7 forward was good at using his large frame to overpower smaller defenders. For someone his size, he showed adeptness at finishing around the basket.
On top of that, Nwora shows good timing and anticipation on defense. He never really gives up big plays and he has the size and skill to chase down blocks and challenge players at the rim.
Being a junior, his body is fairly mature and it showed in how he could attack defenses at the collegiate level. He could move players around and wedge himself into defenses.
But he is not particularly quick on that front. He is not going to blow by anybody and get all the way to the basket. He has to use his positioning and driving moves to get past others.
That lack of speed and burst is ultimately what has him struggling to get into the draft picture. The way he scores at the college level is based on brute force. And he is not enough of a physical specimen to get away with that in the NBA.
That lack of speed also holds him back defensively. He can size up players coming at him, but he is not going to keep speedier players in front of him. Nwora likely remains a change-of-pace small forward or more of a stretch-4.
His shooting ability is likely his saving grace. He is a really gifted shooter. Whether that gift extends to NBA range is another question, of course.
The Magic absolutely need shooting and so Nwora should be on their radar, especially in the second round. He fits a lot of things they like too if he can keep his strength coming off the bench.
Tyrese Maxey, Kentucky Wildcats
John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats teams have started to take on a similar trait as Steve Clifford’s Orlando Magic teams. His teams are young and thrown into the fire early in the season and watch them slowly grow until they are ready to win in March.
Kentucky’s teams always seem to underwhelm despite their young talent level through difficult games early in the season and then overperform when the pressure is on in March.
Kentucky went 25-6 this year, going 9-1 in their final 10 to win the SEC. The Wildcats were going to be a very dangerous team in the NCAA Tournament.
A big part of that turnaround this year came from the development of point guard Tyrese Maxey.
Maxey averaged 14.0 points and 3.2 assists per game for the season, shooting 42.7 percent from the floor. However, in his last 12 games, he averaged 15.5 points per game and 3.5 assists per game, shooting 42.9 percent from the floor.
He stepped up his game in a big way. As a point guard that goes well beyond his statistics.
Maxey does a good job getting in the lane and attacking the basket. He is smart at wedging his way into the lane and finding space. He has deceptive speed that enables him to burst past players or stop and get his shot off.
It is still very much a work in progress though. Much of his game is. Maxey had flashes of brilliance, but he still has a lot of work to do to be a better point guard.
His passing numbers leave a lot to be desired. He averaged only 3.2 assists per game. Maxey was looking for his own points a lot and trying to crash the lane to get there. When it worked, it was brilliant. But it did not work consistently enough to make him rise to the top on a talented Kentucky team.
His shooting consistency needs even more work. He shot worse than 30 percent from beyond the arc. While he can stop and pop from mid-range, his ability to create that shot and make it are inconsistent. There are still some things he needs to iron out on that front.
From there, he will need to make better shot decisions. He often dribbled himself into traps and holes that were increasingly difficult for him to get out of.
Maxey probably tops off as a replacement-level starter or better suited to run backup units unless he can straighten a lot of this out. The potential in college never fully crystallized for him.