A lot has changed for the Orlando Magic since we last took a look at the NBA Draft prospects.
The team was already in line to need the best player available, hoping to find a future star to tie the whole franchise together. But now the team has decided to implode a bit and start from scratch. The Magic dealt away Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier and now seem to need everything.
Then again, when a team is expecting to pick in the top five picks of the draft, they typically need everything and should not be so picky.
Even after a strong start from the Magic’s young players, it is still not completely certain who the team actually wants to move forward with. Between Jonathan Isaac, Markelle Fultz, Cole Anthony, Wendell Carter, Chuma Okeke and R.J. Hampton, there is some type of core group the team can build with and move forward with.
Still, the Magic need that top-end talent to tie the roster together. Or for one of those players to turn into an All-Star. The Magic are going to be giving a lot of those young players every chance to define themselves the rest of this season.
But the other goal that came from those trade deadline deals might have well been to secure the Magic’s draft position — despite a two-game win streak that has brought the Magic within 2.5 games of the final spot in the play-in tournament — but also to solidify the team’s future draft assets.
With a second first-round pick in tow, the Orlando Magic are studying deep into this draft. With the Final Four this weekend, here is who to watch in our last games of the draft process.
The Orlando Magic are eyeing the pick from the Chicago Bulls which could well come in the top-10. Orlando currently holds the picks with the fourth-best odds and eighth-best odds in the NBA Draft Lottery.
To say the least, the Magic’s focus is not only on the top players in this draft anymore. They were always studying things a bit deeper, but now they have to get serious about who and what they are looking for a bit deeper into the draft.
The season will play out how it will as will the Lottery. But the Draft remains a key part of the team’s plan.
The games fans and scouts have to study the incoming draft prospects will dry up this weekend with the Final Four on Saturday and NCAA Tournament National Championship Game on Monday. The next time we see any of these draft prospects after Monday will be at the NBA Draft Combine in late June.
Most of the top prospects have bowed out of the tournament. Presumptive first overall pick Cade Cunningham bowed out in the second round. USC big man Evan Mobley lost in the Elite Eight. Arkansas forward Moses Moody struggled through NCAA Tournament, but his team also lost in the Elite Eight.
Still, there are plenty of players to watch in Saturday’s games and this weekend. Here is who to keep an eye on from each team in this weekend’s games.
Jalen Suggs, Gonzaga
SG, 6-foot-4, 205 lbs.
A bonus selection since Gonzaga is far and away the best team left in the NCAA Tournament. The undefeated Bulldogs are likely to sweep their way to the title with a deep and talented roster. It is the field vs. Gonzaga.
Jalen Suggs has been a big reason all year long for this. He is averaging just 14.0 points per game and 4.5 assists per game. He is shooting a 55.7-percent effective field goal percentage. He shot just 33.0-percent from beyond the arc for the season.
Suggs was always considered among that group of elite five prospects. But he may have helped himself as much as any player in this draft class through the NCAA Tournament. Although, really on the back of one game.
In the NCAA Tournament, Suggs is averaging 12.3 points per game, 5.5 rebounds per game and 4.8 assists per game. He is shooting a 47.9-percent effective field goal percentage.
He turned in a stellar performance with 18 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in Gonzaga’s Elite Eight win over USC. Suggs made two of his four 3-point shots in that game.
He still has to work on that long-range shot. But Suggs has done well, taking control of this Gonzaga juggernaut. And the stage is his to make a lasting impression.
Corey Kispert, Gonzaga
SF, 6-foot-7, 220 lbs.
The real guy I am watching from Gonzaga during the Final Four is forward Corey Kispert. This guy might well be the best shooter in the Draft. And how teams evaluate him is going to be interesting to watch as he may have the lowest upside of any player but could provide the most immediate impact.
Kispert is averaging 18.9 points per game and shooting 45.3-percent from beyond the arc — he is a career 41.1-percent 3-point shooter.
He has been the beneficiary of all the talent on the Gonzaga roster. But he is certainly good in his own right, able to hit shots coming around screens and on the move. He even has some good feel working with versatile centers. His gravity is just a huge impact on the college game.
And he has stepped up his game in these huge Tournament games.
Kispert is averaging 17.3 points per game and shooting 50.0-percent from beyond the arc (15 for 30). He has a 63.0-percent effective field goal percentage. He has averaged 5.8 rebounds per game on top of that.
Kispert has good size for a forward and should be able to compete on the defensive end even if he lacks some length and athleticism. But his shooting is where he will make his mark and where he will find his value in this draft process.
He may not have the top-end talent to become a leading player. But Kispert will fill in somewhere as a solid shooter if a team can get him the ball and use him as a spacer. This is maybe a low-ceiling, high-floor top of prospect who will fill in a role to support a group.
ESPN has Kispert rated as the No. 10 prospect and Sam Vecenie of The Athletic has him at No. 9. He should be available if the Magic get the Bulls’ pick this year. And this is someone they should look at seriously considering the Magic’s extreme lack of shooting still on the roster.
Davion Mitchell, Baylor
PG, 6-foot-2, 205 lbs.
Baylor and Gonzaga have been on a collision course for the national championship all year long. These two teams have been the best two teams in the nation all year long. They were actually supposed to play each other earlier in the season but health and safety protocols within the Baylor program canceled that game.
Baylor had some hiccups after they came off a nearly month-long hiatus to clear health and safety protocols. But they have picked themselves up during the NCAA Tournament and are playing some stellar basketball.
The Bears are led by an experience three-prong guard attack led by Jared Butler, Davion Mitchell and MaCio Teague. Mitchell is the player getting the biggest draft buzz, ranking No. 12 on ESPN’s best available board and No. 11 on Vecenie’s Big Board.
Mitchell averaged 14.1 points per game and 5.3 assists per game in his second season at Baylor after transferring from Auburn (he was freshman year teammates with Chuma Okeke). That kind of growth even from a player in his junior year has helped him gain some notice.
Mitchell has also turned himself into a lights-out shooter, hitting on 45.0-percent of his 3-pointers this season, a number that has progressed after taking a big leap before his season last year with Baylor.
The Magic though are not really in the market for a point guard. They certainly are not likely to use that second pick from the Chicago Bulls on another lead guard.
With Markelle Fultz, Cole Anthony and R.J. Hampton already on the roster in need of development, the Magic are probably not going to be searching for another young point guard to develop. If anything, they need a veteran to give the group a steady hand and teach them tricks of the trade.
So while Mitchell has a lot of the skills the Magic are likely looking for — and they should still be doing their homework — this probably is not the direction the team will go.
Quentin Grimes, Houston
SG, 6-foot-5, 205 lbs.
Houston has proven an AAC team can compete for a national championship. That is the place to start . . . with that joke. Obviously, basketball is different than football. But I digress.
Quentin Grimes has helped Houston make its first Final Four since Phi Slamma Jamma with Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. It is an incredible accomplishment that has taken the program back into the spotlight.
Coach Kelvin Sampson has proven himself as a college coach. But his sojourn into the NBA after he was dismissed from Indiana for what many have deemed innocuous recruiting violations involving three-way calling. It was never about his basketball acumen.
Nor was it ever really about his recruiting (he was let go the year after bringing Eric Gordon and D.J. White to Indiana).
His Houston team is a strong defensive outfit. They get after teams on that end and it helped them dominate the AAC this year and emerge as one of the top teams in the entire country.
His prize recruit and the ace defender of that bunch is Quentin Grimes.
Grimes is averaging 18.0 points per game in his second year at Houston after transferring from Kansas. That should give some clue to the talent he had in high school. Like NBA players, some guys just need better situations to shine.
Grimes shot 41.3-percent from beyond the arc this season too in addition to his 2.4 defensive win shares and +2.9 defensive box plus-minus, according to Sports-Reference. Grimes adding that offensive game has made him a more valuable player in the draft process.
During the NCAA Tournament, he is averaging 18.0 points per game and posting a 54.3-percent effective field goal percentage. He has stepped up his game to help Houston reach this point.
Grimes still projects as a second-round pick — Vecenie has him No. 48 on his board and ESPN has him No. 56. Maybe this tournament run has helped him turn enough heads as a 3-and-D player to sneak into the first round. He could impress too during the Combine.
Johnny Juzang & Jaime Jaquez, UCLA
UCLA is the true surprise of this NCAA Tournament, going from the First Four to the Final Four in a truly incredible postseason run. Sometimes a team catches lightning in a bottle and is able to ride it through a tournament setting — an easier path by seeding also does not help.
The Bruins have found a good mix though and have been able to press advantages through effort and hard work.
UCLA is not usually thought of as an underdog. But this team is certainly the underdog of this tournament. They do not have many NBA prospects to speak of.
The effort-drivers of Johnny Juzang and Jaime Jaquez rank 60th and 65th in Vecenie’s big board and do not even show up in ESPN’s top-100 prospects. That will surely change with the effort they have put in during this tournament. But both seem more likely to return to school or become grinders in training camp trying to scratch their way onto a roster or into a two-way spot.
Juzang is averaging 15.5 points per game after transferring from Kentucky and struggling to get minutes in the Wildcats’ ecosystem. He shot 34.7-percent from three this year and added 4.0 rebounds per game.
During the NCAA Tournament, he is averaging 21.6 points per game and shooting 35.3-percent from deep. He has stepped up his game to get the Bruins this far.
The 6-foot-6 guard has to prove his efficiency. It seems likely he will return to UCLA.
Jaquez is in a similar situation.
Jaquez is averaging 12.1 points per game and 6.1 rebounds per game this season. He has upped that to 14.2 points per game and 6.6 rebounds per game. He has been a bundle of energy all tournament long and able to defend multiple positions.
But that only gets so far.