5 Orlando Magic NBA Draft options for late first or early second round

Orlando Magic Second Round Targets

Chris Duarte, Oregon

The Orlando Magic’s biggest skill-based need is shooting. The team has ranked in the top half of the league in 3-point field goal percentage just once since Dwight Howard left in 2012 and were 29th in the league in 3-point field goal percentage last season.

In a league that has become increasingly reliant on three-point shooting to space the floor, the Magic have had an appalling lack of shooting for a long time.

The discomfort a lot of Magic fans have with the two favorites to go at No. 5 — Jonathan Kuminga and Scottie Barnes — stems from their overall poor shooting numbers. Finding a shooter and putting a premium of shooting should definitely be on the menu for the Magic.

It is not clear then where Oregon guard Chris Duarte will fall in the draft. But everyone seems to recognize he is one of the best shooters available. That should give him a first-round grade.

In his sophomore year with the Ducks last year, Duarte averaged 17.1 points per game and shot 42.4-percent from beyond the arc, improving from a 33.6-percent mark last year. That came in roughly the same attempts at around 5.0 per game.

At 6-foot-6, Duarte has good size to play shooting guard although he lacks some of the raw physical gifts to be a great defender on that end.

The reason he has fallen it seems to the end of the first round is his age. At 24 years old, he is one of the older players in the draft class. That leaves him with little upside.

At this point, Duarte projects as a mere 3-point specialist. Every team could use that for sure. But there is not much else to project upward with him.

Orlando, in need of shooting, could certainly use that. And grabbing him in the latter part of the draft with that third pick would give them a player who could theoretically help stabilize the team’s young roster.