5 prospects to know for the Orlando Magic’s second-round pick

5 prospects to know for Orlando Magic’s second-round pick

Tristan Vukcevic, Serbia

This is not a draft full of international prospects. Victor Wembanyama will go first. His Mets 92 teammate Bilal Coulibaly will likely go near the end of the Lottery and Barcelona center James Nnaji is a potential first-round pick.

Other than that, the international prospects are fairly slim. Even later in the draft there are not many.

There is one worth mentioning: Tristan Vukcevic.

Vukcevic is very much still a project at 6-foot-11. But he displays all the early signs of the skills that come from being a European big man these days. He is very versatile and able to hit from the outside as he continues to learn to use his size.

Last year for ZZ Partizan in the Adriatic League he averaged 8.1 points per game and 3.2 rebounds per game while shooting 40.0 percent from three.

At the NBA Draft Combine, he scored 21 points on 8-for-10 shooting in his lone scrimmage game.

Vukcevic is still mostly a jump shooter. He uses his size well against smaller players, but he can still get moved off his spot. His arsenal mostly consists of popping to the three-point line or taking a quick pump fake and getting into his jumper.

That used to be a problem in the NBA. But he should be able to find a fit in the league now with that in his repertoire.

Still, Vukcevic still has a long way to go. He does not quite know how to use his height effectively and he does not have the strength to overpower smaller players. He still mostly tries to work around players and that creates difficult shot angles or missed opportunities to score.

He also is not quick enough to be much of an attacker quite yet. So, for now, he is a 6-foot-11 standstill shooter for the most part. Although the flashes of his ability to attack the basket are plenty there to develop.