Orlando Magic Daily 2023 NBA Mock Draft 2.0
The Rest of the First Round
Lake Highland Prep alum Brice Sensabaugh is an intriguing player. He is a scorer first and foremost and is able to hit shots off the dribble and use his size to get to the basket. The rest of his game is the question. He is not attentive defensively and his work off the ball is going to be the big question for him.
There are not a lot of centers available in this Draft. It is possible a team reaches on a center and gets Dereck Lively. His stats were a bit depressed playing alongside Kyle Filipowski. They were not a perfect fit together. Lively is a solid rim protector and someone who can defend the paint. He should be able to translate some to the NBA. Although he did not have an overall impressive year at Duke.
Jett Howard is one of the better shooters in this draft. He is a bit undersized but he runs off screens and hits his spot-ups well. Howard though does not have a lot else to his game. And there are some questions about his work ethic and how he fit in with the Michigan squad last year.
G.G. Jackson is one of the big mystery boxes of this draft. He is an athletic forward who plays with a ton of energy. He rebounds and flies to the basket. He just has very few defined NBA skills. He is not much of an offensive force — he tried to take over games at South Carolina to poor effect. A good culture and role are a must for his success.
James Nnaji is, like most young players in Europe, fighting for scraps in the rotation for an opportunity. There is a ton of talent and potential though with Nnaji. He is 6-foot-10 with a 7-foot-5 wingspan which suggests he has all the defensive potential you would want. His offensive game is limited to putbacks though and he is still exceptionally raw as a prospect.
Marcus Sasser is not getting a lot of buzz perhaps because he is an older player. But there were not many better defenders in the nation at the collegiate level. Sasser should be able to get at it defensively, while his shooting will need continued development.
Dariq Whitehead entered the season as one of the top-10 prospects in the draft class. A really poor season at Duke, where he showed his athleticism but struggled to finish at the rim and where he was struggling with injuries, has caused him to draft. The talent is there though. The only problem is a foot injury will knock him out of all pre-draft workouts although he is likely to be ready for the season ahead.
Rayan Rupert is completely in the eye of the beholder. He measured impressively at the NBA Draft Combine — 6-foot-6 without shoes with a 7-foot-2 wingspan. But he also had one of the worth athletic showings in the entire Combine. Rupert is still underdeveloped as a player. But the physical attributes are hard to ignore.
Tristan Vukcevic is the international prospect starting to get a little buzz. He works well around the basket where he grabs rebounds effectively and he scores a lot, especially for a young player. He can play big on the interior but also step out and hit threes. It is just proving it at an NBA level that matters. In some of his bigger games in Euroleague, Vukcevic very much looked like the young player he is.
Colby Jones averaged 15.0 points per game and 4.4 assists per game last year at Xavier, continuing a solid rise for the young player. The Musketeers used him as their point guard and as a defensive stopper. He can be decent at that. A poor free throw shooting percentage will give pause despite an improvement from beyond the arc this year.
We will be back with an updated mock draft before the draft and as news happens. Plus we will plan another big board as we get closer to the Draft!