Orlando Magic Daily Mock Draft 3.0: Our final predictions
Orlando Magic Daily Mock Draft: Final Prediction
The Magic’s pick
Orlando Magic. Scottie Barnes. 5. player. 38. . F
The conventional wisdom around the league is the Orlando Magic will take Scottie Barnes at No. 5 if the top four goes as everyone expects. For the first time in a while, there seems like a consensus for the Magic’s pick. Which is even more puzzling considering there is no consensus over who the fifth-best player in this draft is.
That points to Barnes being the pick. So, it would be hard right now not to project that is how things will go.
The Jonathan Kuminga-Scottie Barnes debate has consumed these pages for a long while now.
A lot of have leaned on the fact Kuminga projects as a better scorer and potential star. He certainly has the confidence in himself to be that good of a player. Kuminga physically checks all the boxes the team likes. And if he is willing to work and improve, he could be the star the Magic need.
If Orlando needs to take a star swing on someone at No. 5, Kuminga is probably the pick.
But that only tells half the story. He had a really disappointing season in the G-League Ignite. He finished the year with a knee injury — he said during his media availability it was tendinitis — and there were moments where scouts believed he was disinterested.
His game is so raw at this point that if a team does not believe he can reach his potential, it is hard to pinpoint what else he would do. This is the ultimate boom-or-bust pick.
All the signs pointing toward Barnes suggest the Magic do not believe Kuminga can hit that star potential.
That should not take away from Barnes and how good he can be.
He is a great defender already and is a superb ball-handler and playmaker for a 6-foot-9 forward. That kind of versatility checks off a lot of boxes for the Magic. They like players like Barnes. And maybe that is why he has universally become the Magic’s pick.
I am not sold Barnes’ offense will come around. His game looked clunky at Florida State and the Seminoles used him more as a change of pace chaos-maker off the bench. That is all good. And Barnes can play that role.
Barnes projects more as a glue guy rather than a central figure. And that is my trepidation of picking Barnes. Even if Orlando takes Barnes at five, I would be open for trading the pick and moving down to net some other asset and the player that really could fill that star role.
But Barnes is my pick for now.