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Orlando Magic Redraft: Where does Cole Anthony Rank among his draft class

By Coby Leibowitz

Cole Anthony and R.J. Hampton made several clutch plays to give the Orlando Magic a win over the Utah Jazz. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Cole Anthony and R.J. Hampton made several clutch plays to give the Orlando Magic a win over the Utah Jazz. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
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Cole Anthony, Orlando Magic
Apr 1, 2022; Orlando, Florida, USA; Orlando Magic guard Cole Anthony (50) shoots the ball over Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet (23) in the fourth quarter at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports /

Redrafting the 2020 NBA Draft

Why Cole Anthony Ranks 6th — Positives

Those negatives were why Cole Anthony is ranked sixth. But do not overlook that he is the sixth-best player in his draft class that has very good players and had sixty people in it.

In just his second year, he led his team in scoring and assists. Most players who do that are future stars in the league for a while.

Leading his team in assists on a team that has a lot of talented guards shows his versatility. He was 19th in the league in assists per game with 5.7. He also has four career game with 10 or more assists and eight more games with nine assists.

He has done a great job handling his role as a primary scorer. He already has four 30-point games and a career-high of 37, albeit in a final game of the season. He also has 23 20-plus-point games. That is almost 21% percent of the games he has played in.

He also made a major jump from his rookie season to his sophomore season, which is exactly what you want to see from a promising young guard.

Aside from scoring the ball and playmaking, he was actually a great rebounder. As mentioned before he was third on the team in rebounds and sixth in the league in rebounds per game for point guards with 5.4. That is extremely impressive at his 6-foot-3 height.

He has had five games with ten or more rebounds including one game with sixteen.

A big sign of good things to come is that the big moment brings out the best in Anthony. He was fifth in the league in field goal percentage and already has two game-winners in his young career. He was also number one In clutch time free throw percentage, and 5th in clutch time plus minus.

Lastly are the flashes of elite defense he has shown that are very promising. Being able to count on your starting point guard to play solid defense is important. Although he is not the best defender he has shown flashes of all NBA defensive talent.

Hopefully he will become more consistent with his defense and will be a the trustable defensive guard the Magic can have out there in the future.