5 best NBA Draft fits for the Orlando Magic

The Orlando Magic had a lot of high hopes Tuesday night for the NBA Draft Lottery. “Dumb luck,” as president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman, did not go the Magic’s way.

The team will hold the fifth and eighth selections. So while there is a palpable disappointment from the fan base, and perhaps implicit disappointment from Weltman’s reaction on the broadcast, the team still is in a solid spot with plenty of options with two picks in the top 10.

Regardless of whether the Magic would accomplish their goal of securing a star prospect, they still need to add quality players to the roster. The Magic still need talent above all — and potential star talent at that.

That might be more difficult to grab at the fifth pick even in a draft that feels as loaded as this one at the top.

The Magic should put a priority on talent above all, especially with the fifth pick. But Weltman acknowledged that roster fit has to be a consideration too. The team needs to foster growth with young players.

And while adding the best players they can is important, there has to be some consideration to how all the pieces fit together. After all, trees competing for sunlight end up blocking each other out — unless one clearly beats them all.

So what do the Magic need?

The obvious answer is talent. The team needs to add talent and elite talent if it can. That is why there was always some frustration and disappointment in how the Lottery turned out.

But the Magic need a lot of things too. They need more shooting first and foremost. Orlando also needs a primary scorer and creator. And they generally need to solidify their team with more creators, scorers and defenders.

An easy way to say everything.

Orlando though has some young players to grow and develop. Seemingly adding another player with rangy defensive skills and little outside shooting at the forward spot — on top of Jonathan Isaac and Chuma Okeke — would make little sense. So while Jonathan Kuminga is the popular (and probably correct) choice at No. 5, that does not make him a great fit.

The team is also loaded at point guard with Cole Anthony, Markelle Fultz and R.J. Hampton alongside veteran Michael Carter-Williams and so the team is not likely to be super interested in a pure point guard. A combo guard that can play alongside those players probably makes more sense.

There will be more mock drafts and more big boards to come as we sort through the draft in the next month. And we will be jumping in with more player profiles as the process continues. But for now, these are the five players who fit the Magic best and are possibly available when the Magic pick with the fifth and eighth picks as the draft process hits this critical phase.