The Orlando Magic have a bunch of big decisions to make Thursday night in the NBA Draft.
Two Lottery picks will do that. It gives the team the power and the leverage to try to move around the draft or to continue to add young talent to their roster.
Rightly, a lot of our focus has been on the two Lottery picks. Those picks represent some real opportunity to add quality players to the team.
And there is legitimate intrigue over who the team will take.
It is very uncertain which direction the team will go — whether they will take the best player available to them or take the player that best fits their current roster. And there are indeed a lot of players to choose from as there always are the deeper you get into the draft.
The Magic though have one other pick to consider. And we have been very neglectful of it.
The Orlando Magic will also hold the 36th pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. It is another opportunity to add some key role players and talent to this young roster.
Orlando will also make the 36th selection in the draft in the second round. And while the Magic have had a spotty record of keeping their second-round pick under Jeff Weltman — he has traded six of the nine second-round picks he has held entering draft day including trades of Jarred Vanderbilt and Talen Horton-Tucker.
Orlando probably does not need to add three rookies to an already-loaded and young roster. Still, talent is talent. And the Magic should always be looking for ways to add key players to the roster wherever they can.
At the risk of this pick getting traded before publishing once again — last year, the Orlando Magic traded a second-round pick to the Los Angeles Lakers (used to draft Max Christie) in the hours before the draft began — there are still plenty of players for the Magic to consider and pursue in the second round.
Nobody should sleep on a high-second-round pick. At least, not completely.
Where the Magic are focusing a lot on the best player available, the second-round pick probably should be focused more closely on skills that will directly translate and support the roster and current team.
The Magic are going to be spending time on development projects throughout the roster, the second-round pick probably should be a bit more ready-made.
There are always upperclassmen or skill specialists who sneak through. So there is a lot of opportunity still left in the second round.
With a lot of our prep work done on the first-round prospects, here are some second-round prospects to keep an eye on for the Magic.
5 prospects to know for Orlando Magic’s second-round pick
Ben Sheppard, Belmont
You are going to notice a theme very quickly in the players that I have selected to focus on with the second-round pick.
Shooting.
Undoubtedly this is the Orlando Magic’s biggest need and something that everyone is intently focused on for them to fill. One way or another the Magic have to come away with more shooting from their perimeter players if they want to take the next step. It is truly a swing skill for the team’s development.
It is why so many have the Magic taking Gradey Dick with the 11th pick. And why that has been a big focus in free agency — there was little relief that Gary Trent Jr. opted to stay with the Toronto Raptors.
So if Dick is considered the best shooter in this draft? Who is the next best shooter?
There are a few options for that ranging from UConn’s Jordan Hawkins to Santa Clara guard Brandin Podziemski. Or it just might be Belmont guard Ben Sheppard.
Sheppard averaged 18.8 points per game while shooting 41.5 percent from beyond the arc. The senior progressively got better each year at Belmont. For a senior that is important to see that he got better every year. The progression is a good thing.
Additionally, he was named to the Missouri Valley Conference’s all-defensive team last year. At 6-foot-5 with a 6-foot-7 wingspan, Sheppard makes the most of what he has. But he is not seen as an imposing or impending defensive force.
Thus he is a second-round prospect.
Further, the downside with him is that he shot only 68.4 percent from the foul line last year and only 69.6 percent from the foul line for his career. He also did not play any games against power conference teams last year. So it is hard to get a sense of how he would fair against better competition.
Then again, he scored 25 points in 20 minutes in his second scrimmage game at the NBA Draft Combine. He made three 3-pointers in the game. So perhaps he can hold his own.
He is an excellent catch-and-shoot option. So if he can grow to the NBA 3-point line, that simple role will take him a very long way. Especially if the defense translates.
The point with Sheppard is that if one believes enough in his shot, it is easy to see a role for him. And that makes him a high-level second-round option.
5 prospects to know for Orlando Magic’s second-round pick
Andre Jackson, UConn
Championships have to mean something, right?
Whether a player can contribute to a winning team has to be a factor in things. Teams should want to see how players perform in pressure situations. And winning is a habit as much as anything.
It is one of the reasons Jordan Hawkins climbed boards so much faster after UConn won the NCAA Tournament. These things matter.
The other players from UConn’s national championship team getting draft consideration are big man Adama Sonoga, a defensive-minded big who plays with energy but probably does not have NBA skills, and Andre Jackson.
Jackson averaged just 6.7 points per game on rough shooting splits of 43.2/28.1/64.6. He does not seem like he would be a great option for a team like the Orlando Magic.
Where Jackson will make his mark is with his size — 6-foot-5.5 without shoes with a 6-foot-9.75 wingspan — and his defense and athleticism. He seems like a player perfectly suited to translate to the NBA with his size and determination on that end.
He may not be a great shooter or have all the skills put together, but he can make plays off the dribble, he averaged 4.7 assists per game too.
He is an upperclassman and perhaps he should be further along to make it to the NBA. But there are a lot of tools to work with if teams want to continue investing in his development.
The athleticism is a great place to start which he already deploys well on defense and as a cutter along the baseline. That just might be where his role is limited for now.
Still, a lot of the little things that he does work for a championship team. He knows how to find his way to impact the game.
The ring has to mean something. Players who are winners have to have some value around the league.
Jackson still has a long way to go and develop as a shooter to ensure a place in the NBA. But he has the tools to get there if he keeps working. And there is no reason to believe he would not.
5 prospects to know for Orlando Magic’s second-round pick
Marcus Sasser, Houston
There has been a lot of hand-wringing of late about the Orlando Magic and the point guard position.
Both Cole Anthony and Markelle Fultz are extension eligible this summer and potentially free agents next summer. There are still plenty of questions about both although both have probably earned the opportunity to prove themselves again.
Jalen Suggs is also very much in the mix at point guard too when needed. And the Magic are a team that does not mind going non-traditional at the guard spot. They do not mind going non-traditional at any spot, valuing versatility and playmaking at every position.
The rumors that Orlando could take Arkansas guard Anthony Black with the sixth pick have only raised the questions about the Magic’s future at point guard further.
Still, the team could use a third point guard on the roster. It certainly would have come in handy early in the season when they played for a few weeks without any natural ball handlers.
So if the Magic do not go for a point guard early in the draft, using it on a senior second-round pick to man that third point guard spot makes a bit more sense as insurance.
Getting someone as good as Marcus Sasser would be a bonus.
At this point, Sasser, a 6-foot-1.25 point guard with a 6-foot-7 wing span, knows exactly what he is. He is a defensive disruptor and a good leader who led Houston’s revival these past two years.
In his senior season last year with the Cougars, he averaged 16.8 points per game and 3.1 assists per game with shooting splits of 43.8/38.4/84.8. Those bode well for his future in the NBA.
Sasser projects as a solid spot-up shooter and someone capable of working in pick and rolls and working in pull-up games. He is a smart player who understands how to control the pace of a game and find the right pockets to score.
His lack of size is his biggest drawback. He is not a great finisher nor is he a fantastic playmaker off the dribble.
But Sasser has everything else a team could want from a point guard. And he is a high-level prospect to go in the second round.
5 prospects to know for Orlando Magic’s second-round pick
Maxwell Lewis, Pepperdine
If a player stays in school for any length of time, the big thing NBA scouts want to see is progression. A lot of freshmen are drafted purely on their potential. So when players stay for an extra year, scouts want to see them progress.
If they get better, they are doing the right thing. Or at least they are on the right track.
Pepperdine’s Maxwell Lewis certainly made that growth. He improved from 11.0 points per game to 17.1 points per game in his sophomore year. He shot 34.8 percent, a slight decrease from his freshman year. But he still held his own on higher usage.
Lewis should return to his averages from his freshman year as he slots into a role rather than being the team’s star.
Lewis though should be able to expand his game a bit. He has some scoring ability off the dribble in addition to his catch-and-shoot prowess.
That latter skill is what will get him and keep him in the NBA. He is a shooter pure and simple. That skill goes a long way.
Still, he has a lot to improve on. He will not be much of a driver other than straight-line drives at the hoop for now. And he still needs to work on his defensive consistency.
The Wave asked him to be a scorer last year and that heavy usage probably prevented him from unlocking his defensive potential. But that is someplace he has to get better at to see the floor.
Still, Lewis has all the tools to be an excellent player. He can shoot and that is always a start. He also displays his athleticism plenty. Lewis would be a clean fit for the Magic in many ways as a second-round option.
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.