The Orlando Magic have had a month to sit and think about their season now.
The confetti (no confetti was actually released) from Paolo Banchero’s Rookie of the Year award ceremony has died down. Players have had their chance for rest and relaxation and have already started sneaking training videos onto their social media.
It is truly the offseason.
That month since the end of the season has also given the team some time to reflect and think about the year that was. All with an eye on planning ahead. Because now the work of the offseason is getting set to begin.
NBA Draft season officially tips off this weekend with the G-League camp at the NBA Draft Combine and the NBA Draft Lottery this week. We compile the Orlando Magic’s big board as they prepare for the final push of draft prep.
Teams are already starting to work out draft prospects — most of the workouts announced publicly across the league have involved players expected to go in the second round if at all and, of course, the Magic have not announced or leaked any of their draft plans so far.
Next week is, of course, the NBA Draft Lottery. A big piece of the Orlando Magic’s offseason falls into place once they know where they pick as they hold the sixth-best odds to win the Lottery and the Chicago Bulls’ pick if the Bulls do not jump into the top four.
In conjunction with the Draft Lottery this week is the NBA Draft Combine. That will give teams their first real interaction with players as they will conduct interviews get official measurements on most of the top prospects and set up future workouts with the top prospects not participating in any of the week’s drills.
It is a busy week that officially kicks off the final stage of the draft process.
With the Lottery done, everything starts to come into focus for teams and how their offseasons will play out. And so we are gathering together to do our preparation for the draft.
We last did a mock draft a few weeks ago to look at how the draft might shake out without consideration for Lottery results. Now with the Combine ahead, we are going to focus on the Big Board.
This Big Board is a ranking of the prospects and how they fit with the Magic. This is not a look at the draft order or who will get picked where. This is about the Magic and their needs. And the descriptions in this Big Board will take special focus on how these players would fit in with the Magic.
Orlando Magic Daily 2023 NBA Draft Big Board 2.0
Tier 1: The Best of the Best
There are some players who you need to find a fit within your team and your system. And there are some players you fit your team around.
Paolo Banchero certainly falls into the latter category. That is ultimately why they took him in that hotly debated draft. He is someone the team can orbit around. It does not matter who else is on the team. You have time to find those pieces.
Victor Wembanyama is probably the only player in this draft who fits that category. There are just not many players at his size — 7-foot-3, in case you did not know — who move as fluidly as he can both on the interior and on the perimeter.
Wembanyama is that dude. And there is not much he cannot do that does not feel unique to a player of his size.
Like with Banchero, do not overthink this.
After Victor Wembanyama? That is where this draft gets interesting. There is definitely a clear group of three at the top. And there is plenty of debate about who will go second. That might come down to what the team that lands in second needs.
And that is why I still have Scoot Henderson second on my board.
Henderson is a dynamic athlete who is able to get to the basket and set up his own shot off the dribble. His 3-point shooting and outside shooting could still use some work — he made only 27.5 percent of his 3-pointers for G-League Ignite while shooting 76.4 percent from the foul line.
But he was still a solid scorer at 16.5 points per game and 6.5 assists per game.
The Magic need a boost at guard. And Henderson can play both on and off the ball. But he might ultimately take over as the point guard for the team in the long term. That fits better than trying to fit him in with the Magic’s two big forwards.
If Orlando takes a big swing on a potential star in this draft, it would likely come at the guard position with him or one of the Thompson twins.
Still, for a lot of teams, Brandon Miller is going to be pretty high on their draft boards. He might be second on most other big boards over Scoot Henderson.
Miller is an impressive forward who is fluid and can do all the things modern forwards have to do in the league. And even a team like the Orlando Magic might consider taking the 6-foot-9 forward.
His greatest attribute over Henderson is his shooting. He made 38.4 percent of his 3-pointers and 85.9 percent of his free throws. That should allow him to step onto an NBA floor and contribute.
But if the Magic land in a spot where they could take Miller, they will have to ask themselves whether he projects to be better than Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero. The team can probably live with that question for a year — Wagner did play some 2-guard early in the season to some success — but it would certainly impede everyone’s development to be too loaded with key players at the same position.
That does not mean the Magic should avoid the question. If Miller is the best player on the board, it is often better to draft talent and ask questions later. But that is a big question to ask. And Henderson is a talented player himself.
Orlando Magic Daily 2023 NBA Draft Big Board 2.0
Tier 2: Potential Stars
It is probably cliche to say there is very little separating Amen and Ausar Thompson. They both have a lot of the same questions about their transition to the NBA just as they both have a lot of the same skills and potential to make it in the NBA.
One of the most challenging parts of this draft is trying to figure out whether these two players and make the big leap up from Overtime Elite to the NBA.
In both Amen and Ausar Thompson, teams are going to get very athletic wings who can attack off the dribble and get to the basket. They have clear NBA bodies already and once they get the speed of the game down, they should be able to make an impact when they get downhill.
For both players, the questions with them lie in their jump shots. Both really struggle with consistency from the outside. They have always been able to trade on their athleticism to get by. That has been more than enough for them to dominate at every level.
That is not going to work in the NBA. Their potential path to stardom runs through their ability to develop as jump shooters.
That is why have Ausar ahead of his brother even if most mock drafts and big boards will have Amen as the better player. In essence, Ausar Thompson showed more progress as a shooter last year, particularly in the team’s championship series. That gives him an edge for a Magic team that should take shooting at a premium.
But Orlando is not in a position to turn down either of these really talented players over shooting concerns. That is something they can develop and grow into. Even if it is not immediate.
Orlando Magic Daily 2023 NBA Draft Big Board 2.0
Tier 3: Filling Out
At the end of the day, the most important thing to get out of the Draft is talent.
This is not the part of the offseason to focus solely on a team’s needs. This is the part to add talent. They may start off in a smaller role within your team construct to begin with — and to be sure there must be this runway for them to succeed — but ultimately you want them to be able to grow beyond it.
This is the most difficult challenge for a team like the Orlando Magic with clear postseason intentions. If they are drafting near the top of this draft, they should be thinking about who can fill a role immediately and who can grow into something more.
At a certain point, the draft runs out of clear-cut stars and teams are asking who among players who were likely high-usage players can play a role on a team as they learn and develop.
That point is going to come at around the point the Magic are picking, and they are going to have to find a player who can fit in.
It should be no surprise then that UCF forward Taylor Hendricks seems to fit the bill and would clearly fill a need for the Magic.
Hendricks is a 6-foot-9 forward who averaged 15.1 points per game and 7.0 rebounds per game with 1.7 blocks per game. He had shooting splits of 47.8/39.4/78.2. That all bodes well for him.
Hendricks is a bit of a straight-line driver. But he can step out and hit from the perimeter effectively and he is really good in the dunker spot and around the rim. His defense was outstanding for the Knights too.
The Magic have a bit of a logjam at forward. They are obviously set with both starters. But depending on Jonathan Isaac’s situation, they could use another forward to bolster their depth. Especially another rim protector. Hendricks fits that bill.
Obviously, the biggest need for the Orlando Magic is their shooting. We have talked about it ad nauseum. And so to some extent, the simplest solution is sometimes the best one. If the Magic are really determined to come away from Draft night with a shooter, as I think they should, then taking the best shooter in the Draft is not a bad pick.
That is most likely Gradey Dick. As a shooting specialist, there are few players in this Draft who just have the shooting chops and ability that Dick does. He seems like the surest thing to be a guy who spaces the floor above anyone else in this draft class.
Dick is a great shooter and that is what will keep him in the league. But he is also a smart player who is not going to do much more beyond himself. Knowing that is a skill in itself too.
Dick would fit perfectly with the Magic and should certainly be a top priority for the Magic’s first pick if they want to solve their shooting need.
Since we are focused on shooting and shooters. It is probably smart to just move on to the next shooter. Especially since so many of the other highly rated prospects in this draft class have so many questions about them.
Jordan Hawkins is not going to go eighth in this draft, at least not likely. He should be available if the Orlando Magic get the Chicago Bulls’ pick. And he should be a good get. He should be a good get for whatever team drafts him.
Hawkins’ numbers in helping UConn win the national championship are pretty strong. He scored 16.2 points per game with shooting splits of 40.9/38.8/88.7. Those 3-point and free throw numbers are especially promisings considering he took 7.6 3-point attempts per game.
Hawkins could very easily develop into the kind of volume 3-point shooter the Magic are missing and desperately need. they need someone who is a constant threat from deep. And Hawkins is intriguing because UConn used him on the move a lot and he took a lot of the kind of shots NBA teams need their wings to take.
It is hard not to look at Hawkins — at 6-foot-5, 185 pounds, he has good size to develop into a solid defender too — and not see a player who easily fits what the Magic need.
Orlando Magic Daily 2023 NBA Draft Big Board 2.0
Tier 4: Tough Sells
I will admit that I am very uneasy with Cam Whitmore’s game.
On one hand, he checks a lot of boxes. He averaged 12.5 points per game on just 9.8 field goal attempts per game. He was not a great shooter — 47.8 percent overall and 34.3 percent from deep — but some of that was because he had to be on the ball a lot.
On the other hand, he was not a volume shooter in college and that seems to be his biggest attraction — his driving and finishing ability. He also was a poor free throw shooter at 70.3 percent from the line. That does not bode well for his shooting ability.
Whitmore to me feels like the guy who is high on everyone’s board as a potential star because he starred in college who does not live up to the billing and struggles to find his place in the league. I honestly cannot talk myself into him yet.
His highlight tape certainly does suggest he can get there. But the body of work is not quite there yet.
Jarace Walker is one of the smartest players in this NBA Draft class. He makes the right play seemingly at every turn, whether it is sticking his nose in defensively or digging out a rebound on either end or setting a screen. He is the kind of hard worker every team needs to be successful.
Where does that put him in the Draft? A lot of mock drafts have him as a clear-cut top-10 pick and one of the best forwards in this draft. But I struggle to see his fit with the Orlando Magic.
Even though he has a knack for making the right play and being a good cog in the wheel that makes others better, his lack of shooting just makes him a tough sell for me. Orlando needs shooting very badly. Walker just does not have that as part of his game and there are not signs that is going to be part of his game.
On one hand, Anthony Black is a specialist who should enter the league with an already-defined skill. One that surely every team could use. He was an elite defender at the college level. The kind of energy and effort he puts in on that end usually translates to the NBA.
On the other hand, Black is a guard who struggles at the one thing that is almost essential in today’s NBA — and certainly essential for an Orlando Magic guard room that does not have a lot of shooting.
The sore thumb in Black’s profile is his 30.1 percent 3-point shooting and 70.5 percent free throw shooter. While he is effective at getting to the rim and drawing contact, averaging more than five free throw attempts per game, he is not going to space the floor much.
That makes him a tough sell for a shooting-starved team even though he certainly would be able to fill a role for this team.
Orlando Magic Daily 2023 NBA Draft Big Board 2.0
Tier 5: Need to See a Little More
The Orlando Magic could always use more players who can create off the dribble. As much as they need shooting, finding dynamic shooters is just as important. A team always needs versatility and players who can do multiple things. The NBA is not just about stand-still shooting anymore.
That is why the team should be looking at a player like Ohio State — and Lake Highland alum — forward Brice Sensabaugh.
Sensabaugh was a very dynamic scorer at Ohio State, averaging 16.3 points per game and 5.3 rebounds per game. He shot 48.0 percent from the floor and 40.5 percent from deep and 83.0 percent from the line. All the numbers check out for him.
Sensabaugh has a good body to absorb contact too. He was able to work his way through the lane at the college level in addition to hitting a variety of step-backs and set shots.
He still has to improve his defensive attention and awareness, but he has the physical tools to be a solid defender. Sensabaugh could be a nice addition with the Magic’s second pick. He would give the team some much-needed wing depth while filling in some skill needs this team has, even though he was not primarily a shooter in college.
Nick Smith Jr. did not have the year everyone thought he would. A knee injury early in the season slowed him down and kept him from taking a bigger leap. If there is a potential star player the Orlando Magic could draft with the Chicago Bulls’ pick, though, it is Smith.
That would be one big swing though.
Smith has the athleticism to get to the basket and a lot of the tools to be a top scorer. We just have not seen it very much at the collegiate level because the injury was clearly still slowing him down.
Smith finished the season averaging 12.5 points per game with unimpressive shooting splits of 37.6/33.8/74.0. But mixed in with his bad games were some truly impressive performances — a 26-point game against Georgia followed by a 24-point game against Alabama.
There were too many moments he disappeared. But the talent and potential are all there. Especially now that he has had a chance to get healthy again.
Keyonte George is a hard player to figure out.
He started the season out on a blistering pace and looked like a fairly complete package. No one should have relied on him as a primary score, but he could shoot threes off the dribble and spread the floor while also showing some advanced moves to get to the basket and finish. In January, you would have been perfectly sane to say he was a top-10 prospect in this draft class and Orlando Magic fans were pining for him.
The rest of his season was a huge struggle. And he flamed out in the NCAA Tournament. That was a consistent knock on him was that he struggled to show up in the biggest games.
In the end, George averaged 15.3 points per game with 37.6/33.8/79.3 shooting splits. His draftability will come down to whether he can succeed as an off-ball shooter. If a team believes he can be that shooter, he could be a great pick. Right now, it is unproven.
Cason Wallace is probably a player who ranks higher in the mock draft than he would on the Orlando Magic’s big board. Point guard just is not a position of need, especially a point guard who struggles to shoot.
Wallace though is a player who should fit the Magic’s eye if they are looking to add some point guard depth in this draft. He is a tough-minded, physical defender and uses that physicality well when attacking the basket. He can get downhill and finish a bit too.
But the shooting questions persist and that is too important for the Magic to ignore.
Orlando Magic Daily 2023 NBA Draft Big Board 2.0
Tier 6: Filling Out The Board
The Orlando Magic feel pretty set at point guard with Markelle Fultz and Cole Anthony. But the team has to at least be thinking a little bit about what happens if they cannot retain Anthony with an extension this summer or in restricted free agency next summer. A third point guard is not the worst idea.
Kobe Bufkin is a good fit for this team. Although he may not possess the higher defensive skills of Cason Wallace, Kobe Bufkin can hold his own there. On top of this, he shot 35.5 percent from three and 84.9 percent from the line, showing significant improvements on both ends.
A look at GG Jackson’s statistical profile will give the impression that he is an energy wing, someone who is not going to contribute a ton offensively but be a springboard and multi-position defender on the other end.
That is an incomplete picture. Jackson is a good ball handler for a player his size — 6-foot-9 — but it is just about learning shot selection. Some of his poor shooting and shots are a product of having to be the best player on his team at the collegiate level. Seeing him in a more fitted role will help. Even if he may still struggle to shoot.
It would not be an Orlando Magic draft article without talking about wingspans. Rayan Rupert missed two months this season with a wrist fracture. But his 7-foot-3 wingspan for a 6-foot-7 guard is something that will surely have the Magic paying attention.
He played in the NBL last year. But he is still an extremely raw prospect. But wingspan, so you know.
There are not a lot of centers available in this draft. That is a sure sign the Orlando Magic are going to be hunting in free agency for a backup center. A veteran backup center is probably the right choice — even if that means bringing back both Moe Wagner and Goga Bitdze (I do not think that will get the job done for what this team needs to do).
The Magic should absolutely do their homework on Dereck Lively, the top traditional center on this draft board. He is a tough rebounder and a fairly athletic big who was able to pair with fellow center Kyle Filipowski for Duke. He was one of the top prospects in his high school class and just struggled to find his footing in the ACC. But he still had enough big games to warrant a look.
Jalen Hood-Schofinio is good at a lot of things. But he is not great at any one thing. And that might be part of his undoing. He is just not fantastic enough to have a clear role. Is he a point guard? Those skills are not well enough developed to believe he can be a starter. Is he an off-guard? Not quite. His shooting is not impressive enough to get there.
The talent is there to develop. But he is going to be a project.
Jett Howard is one of the best shooters in this class. But his numbers with Michigan were very up and down. There are questions about his efficiency and whether the shot will translate to the NBA.
We will be back with a fresh mock draft shortly after the NBA Draft Lottery on Tuesday. We may update this Big Board after the NBA publishes its Combine measurements because, well, wingspan.