The 2020 NBA Draft class has the potential to be a great draft class.
That is something incredible considering how poor everyone thought the draft would be on draft night. It was not considered a particularly strong draft at the top. And the delay of the draft by several months because of the pandemic only dimmed the expectations for this draft class.
It was a difficult rookie year for all the players in the draft class. But several players quickly emerged. And just two years into their careers, this draft class has already exceeded expectations.
It already has an All-Star in LaMelo Ball and multiple players who can be an All-Star in the future — especially top overall pick Anthony Edwards after helping the Minnesota Timberwolves reach the playoffs last season.
The Orlando Magic had one pick but seemingly made the best of it.
The 2020 NBA Draft class has already seemingly exceeded expectations as several players seem on the verge of stardom. The Orlando Magic have to be happy with Cole Anthony at No. 15 as we look to redraft the class.
Having pick No. 15, you would think most of the best talent would be gone. But the Magic seem to have a future star in Cole Anthony. He led the Magic in scoring and assists last year and was third in rebounds, showing plenty of burst especially early in the season as he routinely took over games and generated some early All-Star buzz.
Every team wants to have the best draft every year and wants to think they nailed the draft, or even got the best player. So where does Cole Anthony rank among his fellow 2020 draftees?
It is never too early to assess Anthony against his fellow draftmates.
The Top 10
These are how I would Rank the top 10 players of the draft class. We will get to the explanation here in a moment:
- Anthony Edwards
- Lamelo Ball
- Tyrese Maxey
- Tyrese Haliburton
- Desmond Bane
- Cole Anthony
- Saddiq Bey
- Immanuel Quickley
- James Wiseman
- Patrick Williams
Redrafting the 2020 NBA Draft
Why Cole Anthony Ranks 6th — Negatives
I have Cole Anthony as the sixth-best player in the class. Now this means the Orlando Magic did pretty well considering they had the 15th pick in the draft.
Even if you want to argue with some of the players around him, the Magic certainly got a quality player at a pick you would not expect to get one. Certainly not of his quality.
Anthony’s ranking is not entirely his fault.
He was not necessarily put in the best position to win with him taking over for Markelle Fultz less than 10 games into his career and then dealing with a long-term injury midway through his rookie year.
Anthony has had to be the primary scorer on a young, rebuilding team. That is not something you can say about anyone else on the list. The Magic had very little around Anthony and then completely flipped the roster around him.
After the trades in March 2021 that changed the franchise’s history, Anthony has been running with a rookie in Franz Wagner and a young veteran in Wendell Carter. Carter is certainly a good player but not an ideal secondary option on a team.
Anthony has lower shooting splits — career splits of 39.3/33.7/84.6 — than you would want, but he is taking the most shots on a losing team.
His being the primary scorer also means teams are gameplanning for him in a different way. That became especially clear as his torrid start to the season slowed down.
Someone like Anthony Edwards is a fantastic player, but teams playing the Minnesota Timberwolves put their main defensive focus on Karl-Anthony Towns, while also having to plan for a former All-Star in D’Angelo Russell.
Edwards has shined and will earn that top player status soon. But he has been able to grow with attention elsewhere defensively.
Even LaMelo Ball is a pass first player and had Miles Bridges, Gordon Hayward and Terry Rozier doing most of the scoring. Ball became an enhancer to those players while still being very good in his own right.
Anthony is certainly not the player Edwards and Ball are at this point. They may have had these advantages, but they still shined in a way Anthony has shown glimpses of but nothing approaching consistency.
Still, Anthony is really doing the best he can in the position that he is in. If all the Magic have learned in the last two years is that Anthony is not a top option, that is still valuable as they still try to figure out his role.
His poor shooting is not totally because of the team though. He needs to become a more consistent three-point shooter and a better finisher. For an athletic guard who is known for taking it to the rim he only shot 54.9 percent at the rim. That is another area for improvement.
Besides low shooting percentages, he needs to improve his defense.
He is not a bad defender but often struggles against top tier guards. That could be said about a lot of young guards. But with his defensive potential and his athleticism, you would like to see a little more out of your starting point guard who is the potential future star of the team.
If the Magic want Anthony to be a future All-Star, or even superstar than they are going to need to see more consistency out of him on both sides of the ball.
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.
Redrafting the 2020 NBA Draft
What Anthony can do to improve his rank:
This class has only played two years in the league so these ranks are nowhere near final.
None of these players are in their prime. This list could be completely different in three to five years. Cole Anthony has plenty of time to make jumps and get better and potentially be a top three player in the class.
There are a few things he could do to improve.
Offensively he needs to become a more consistent finisher and shooter. Hopefully with some new help with Paolo Banchero being drafted, and Franz Wagner as well as Jalen Suggs looking to make a jump this year, this will take some of the offensive load and pressure off of him.
If teams are not primarily focused on him he can let the offense come to him rather then having to force it. This should automatically make his numbers jump. This has been the main focus of Anthony’s offseason work, at least with what he has shared on social media. It is a key to his ultimate growth in whatever role the Orlando Magic carve for him.
Defensively he needs to be a better defender, especially against the premier guards. His defensive rating was slightly below average so if he can pick that up then he will be a very well rounded player. His defensive field goal percentage from three and two were not great so he needs to really lock in on defense.
He has the athletic abilities and the IQ to do this he just needs to put it together on the court.
Some other things that can put him up in the rankings would be some accolades and things that are not exactly in his control.
If he can make an All-Star game or multiple, then that would definitely help his case.
This class already has an All-Star in LaMelo Ball. And Anthony Edwards looks like he will be one in the next coming years. This would be a big accolade for him to help. Further, Saddiq Bey has a 50-point game under his belt (against the Magic no less). The 2020 Draft class has exceeded its expectations for sure.
Winning would help his ranking out as well. Although it is not totally his fault for not being in a position to win, with the young Magic core getting better and more experienced, as well as the addition of what looks to be like a future superstar in Paolo Banchero, he should be a part of more victories.
With Anthony improving as well as the team improving he should also see some more meaningful games. If this team can make a push for a play in game or even a playoff spot in years to come, then he should get more recognition league-wide and should be making himself more of a household name.
With all this said Anthony has a big chance to up his rankings in his draft class and to become an overall better player. He the athleticism, skill set and IQ of a future star in the ranking. I predict that he could be a top three player in this class and be one of the league’s best players.
Magic fans have a lot to be excited about with Anthony’s improvement. He made a big jump from his rookie season to his second year and hopefully we will see another jump in his third year.
The Magic, and the NBA, should make way as it looks like a future star in the works and is coming soon to a court near you.