Orlando Magic Daily Big Board 3.0: Clarifying the Orlando Magic’s goals

OMD Big Board 3.0: Clarifying the Orlando Magic’s goals

Find Your Role

If the Orlando Magic are looking to fill more immediate needs and ignore some of those upside arguments, then there are plenty of players who fit the bill and that they should target.

It should start with UCF forward Taylor Hendricks. He is the exact kind of rim-protecting power forward the Magic should be seeking as a sometimes pair with Wendell Carter, off the bench or in small-ball lineups with Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner.

Rim protection is one of the bigger weaknesses still on the team. So having a versatile forward who can man the paint and get out on the perimeter. This is a Magic fever dream honestly.

It only adds to it that Hendricks can step out and hit shots from the perimeter. He is not going to be able to do much attacking beyond simple drives to the basket, transition plays and dump-offs to the dunker spot. But Hendricks fits in perfectly as a key role player that gives the Magic maximum versatility.

If Orlando is not enamored with the star potential of those top six guys, Hendricks should be their guy.

The Orlando Magic need shooting badly. But they also have their likes in the drafting process — and plenty of shooters they can target with free agency, so maybe the draft is not where they will put their focus on shooting. The Draft should be about talent.

And so reshifting that focus back to talent over strict need changes things. And the Arkansas guard Anthony Black just screams that he is an Orlando Magic-type player.

He is a great defender who will get after players with his size and physicality. He can attack the lane and finish in mid-range with floaters.

His attraction is his defense and having another big ball-handler fits the Magic’s usual targets.

To the same point, Cason Wallace is not the same defender or does not have the same size as Anthony Black but he is an interesting point guard option too if the Orlando Magic are looking to shore up their guard depth in this draft.

Wallace has good size. But his big attraction is his burst off the dribble. He can explode and get past his man off one dribble, which puts him squarely in the paint. Kentucky has a long history of guards who underperform in college but are very prepared for the NBA. Wallace looks to be of that make.

His success will depend, of course, on his shot-making. But there is a lot to like about Wallace and the foundation he is starting with entering the league.