The Orlando Magic are in the beginning stages of a rebuild.
Everyone understands this. There are going to be growing pains in the process especially this year. There is going to be a lot of learning and figuring out what comes next for the franchise and with the team’s development.
There are a lot of young players to sort through and see grow and develop. The biggest need remains: Finding a star to center the whole franchise around.
The Magic got a gift with the fifth overall pick. Or at least, it feels like it since no one expected Jalen Suggs to fall to them.
His play at Summer League only added to the excitement. Plenty of scouts were buzzing about Suggs’ play too. We will get to those.
Franz Wagner too was a player several scouts were excited about. He seemed like the kind of player who catches the eye of NBA scouts especially. The Magic had two top-10 picks and most people believe the team came out of it strong.
Whether the Magic came out of the draft with the foundation they need is another question entirely. That is something that will develop and progress throughout the course of the season. And then well beyond.
Orlando is just getting started, of course.
The Orlando Magic’s two draft picks enter the league with a ton of high expectations that befit their top-10 pick status. Both are expected to be long-term starters.
As we continue to imagine what this team will look like this year and beyond, it starts with the talent level on the roster already and where they progress.
As is often the case around the draft, player comparisons help give people some sense of what to expect. And so we are breaking down the Magic’s young roster based on some of these player comparisons — you can see part one looking at Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz here.
Those young veterans though have some statistical record to make some base comparisons. The rookies are all conjecture and promise.
People who watch the draft typically do not like comparisons. But it is hard not to give in to that temptation and see who players remind them of. If there is some objective way to make a comparison, it is at least a guide.
To continue our series then, we will try to figure out who these young players might resemble and get a sense of the base the Magic are building.
Jalen Suggs
The Ringer: Brandon Roy, Chauncey Billups, Jamal Murray
NBADraft.net: Jason Kidd, De’Aaron Fox
There is palpable excitement about Jalen Suggs.
Orlando Magic fans felt it the moment the Toronto Raptors selected Scottie Barnes and then Jalen Suggs’ name came next for the Magic’s selection.
It only grew with that first Summer League game where Suggs led the team to a come-from-behind victory that included his block to send the game to overtime and set up his own potential heroics.
Suggs continued to double down on that with a solid second outing before injury cut his Summer League short. That has not stopped any of the excitement for him though.
Suggs’ numbers speak for themselves.
He averaged 14.4 points per game, 5.3 rebounds per game and 4.5 assists per game while shooting a 55.8-percent effective field goal percentage. Suggs was a dynamo who stepped up in the rare moments Gonzaga needed him to step up. Suggs’ numbers in college were much lower than they actually were.
The same could be said for his play at Summer League. In three appearances in Las Vegas, Suggs averaged 15.3 points per game, 6.3 rebounds per game and 2.3 assists per game.
Orlando Magic
He could have scored a whole lot more if not for a 12-minute outing in his third game of Summer League. And he had plenty of stellar assists that teammates simply did not cash in on.
If everyone’s eyes were wide, it was as much for these hidden plays his numbers did not show as it was exactly what he did show from looking at the box score.
No player on these lists is going to have as much potential star power as Suggs. Magic fans reacted as if they won the Lottery when Suggs fell to them. He really did.
Obviously, draft player comparisons can be an inexact science. There are no numbers to back this up. It is all feel.
The fact both The Ringer and NBADraft.net seem to compare Suggs to a potentially great point guard with passing and leadership abilities is a good sign.
The most interesting comparison though comes from The Ringer.
Brandon Roy was an elite scorer, topping off at 22.5 points per game and 5.1 assists per game in the 2009 season. He was one of the elite perimeter scorers in the league and clutch to boot. Roy might have been a little taller. But the way Suggs moves and attacks feels very much the same.
It remains to be seen whether Suggs has the same explosive scoring knack that someone like Roy had. That may well define his career and just how far he can go.
But if that is anywhere near his ceiling, Magic fans are going to get their wish.
Franz Wagner
The Ringer: Lamar Odom, Danilo Gallinari, Xavier Tillman
NBADraft.net: Nemanja Bjelica, Mike Dunleavy
Unlike Jalen Suggs who seems to have a clear future and fill a clear need, the Orlando Magic’s other draft pick is a bit more of a mystery.
Franz Wagner was viewed as a solid player who will likely carve out his role in the NBA. But he is far from flashy. And for a team at the beginning of a rebuild with two top-10 picks, it felt like the Magic needed to go for a bigger splash rather than solid.
Wagner may have been a better fit for a team that is more established where he could fill in gaps and not be relied on for creation.
What is abundantly clear is that Wagner does a lot of the things that basketball people love. He sets good screens, he cuts to open space, he hits open shots and he defends well. None of that may stand out to the casual eye. But it stands out to NBA people.
That is how he became a top-10 pick at the end of the day. And nobody really batted an eye at it.
Wagner averaged 12.5 points per game and 6.5 rebounds per game at Michigan last season. He shot 34.3-percent from beyond the arc.
More from Orlando Magic Daily
- 2023 Orlando Magic Playoff Lessons: Philadelphia 76ers can’t seem to avoid conflict
- 5 worst starters of the Orlando Magic’s Shaquille O’Neal era
- Orlando Magic FIBA World Cup: Franz Wagner can be a star if he takes it
- Orlando Magic are going to find out who they are in 2024
- 2024 Orlando Magic Player Outlook: Moe Wagner is the spark off of the bench
During Summer League, Wagner averaged 8.0 points per game and 3.8 rebounds per game. He really struggled to shoot. But throughout the course of the Summer League, he looked more comfortable as a shooter and a cutter. He found his place on the floor.
Wagner certainly still has to prove himself. And the Magic will be hopeful to see more in training camp and the early part of the season.
What is a bit puzzling is figuring out who he resembles. None of the comparisons made above seem to fit at the moment.
He is not as athletic or as strong a playmaker as someone like Lamar Odom. He is not the shooter that Danilo Gallinari is. Xavier Tillman and Nemanja Bjelica seem an odd fit for Franz Wagner’s play style — and an extremely low floor for the consensus Lottery pick, if not top-10 pick.
The Mike Dunleavy comparison is at least interesting. Dunleavy was drafted as a do-everything forward from Duke who developed into a decent 3-point shooter. Dunleavy averaged 19.1 points per game with a 55.0-percent effective field goal percentage in his best season (2008).
This may seem like a fairly low bar. But Dunleavy carved out a 15-year career with 10 years as a full-time starter. A lot of players would love that career.
Should that be what the Magic aspire to draft with the eighth pick? In some respects yes. Getting a 10-year starter at the eighth pick would be a huge boost. But no one would consider Dunleavy anything more than a secondary player — if even that.
Still, the versatility that a player like Dunleavy showed would be exactly what the Magic hope to get out of Wagner. They hope Wagner can defend multiple positions and hit open 3-pointers while filling in gaps offensively as a cutter and shooter.
Wagner showed hints of all that in Summer League. But they were just hints. Nobody is quite sure what will translate to the NBA — much less, how the Magic might use him.
Wagner has a lot of questions to answer as the Magic begin to define his role and as he begins to start his career.