Orlando Magic Rookie Comparison: Jett Howard can step into shooting role

The Las Vegas Summer League is nearly a month behind us. And as the dog days of summer bleed into the dog days of the offseason, it is good to look back at Orlando Magic’s 11th overall draft pick, Jett Howard.

Orlando had been getting deserved questioning around using their draft picks this year for players who could be seen as redundant to the roster.Jett Howard has now shown the fans and franchise a highlight reel of what his talents may provide.

In Summer League, Howard showed glimpses of what he can be as he continues with his offseason and prepares for a training camp and rookie season to compete and push the Magic over the top into Playoff contention.

If Anthony Black might end up being a steal, Jett Howard by all of the mock drafts is one of the biggest risk picks in the last few years.

Unlike Cam Whitmore, who fell to No. 20 to the Houston Rockets among murky health reports, Jett Howard was projected to fall not only to that position but to most estimations even past.

Jett Howard was a surprise pick by the Orlando Magic but one who could fill a critical shooting role. Howard certainly can step up and be like other great shooters in the league.

Scouted to be a work in progress and with limitations, the Magic must have seen glimpses during pre-draft workouts that helped him secure a spot nearly 10 picks before many projected. It is also likely to say Orlando felt pressure that if they traded to move down a few spots, Howard might be nabbed by some other team.

So what kind of player are the Magic getting in Howard?

Jett Howard, son of former player Juwan Howard, has had the benefit of having a professional basketball player father to learn from and have access to facilities and trainers at an early age. Jett Howard could follow in the same footsteps of Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and others who had NBA fathers.

A reminder that Thompson was drafted at 11th and Bryant at 13th.

Howard’s most similar comparisons to NBA talent would be that of Doug McDermott, an end-of-career Mike Miller, shades of Desmond Bane and current Magic prospect and Michigan alumni Caleb Houstan.

A premium in the NBA’s current era will be long-range shooting, and Howard is likely the best if not top five when it comes to three-point shooting from last year’s draft. In Big Ten play at Michigan last year, Howard ranked No. 3 in three-point makes, attempts and percentage.

Given the green light to shoot at will, Howard shot more than seven three-point attempts per game. The only player close to him on the team is fellow draftee Kobe Bufkin who went 15th to the Atlanta Hawks. Bufkin shot just fewer than four per game at a similar percentage.

Unlike off-screen shooters like Klay Thompson, Ray Allen and Reggie Miller, Howard’s quick catch-and-shoot game emulates a player who can slide and find spaces that would help create floor spacing and allow for minimally contested shots like a Miami Heat Mike Miller playing off of LeBron James or Desmond Bane off of Ja Morant.

Howard has the IQ and coachability to know he can create dazzling shots from three for himself, along with playing bigger than the role with clutch performances.

Scouts have wished more from him in terms of building a package of mid-range pull-ups and self-creation outside of three-point shooting. Howard may not be forced into needing these tools right away, but like Miami’s Duncan Robinson found out, once the league figures you out, you have to quickly diversify to survive.

Howard in college shot only 36.7 percent on two-point field goals while attempting 212 shots. In Summer League that percentage stayed nearly identical at 36.8 percent. But the contrast is that in college only 35.9 percent of his shots were three while so far in NBA-type games, 51.2 percent were threes.

What will be huge for Howard to do is work on a 3-level scoring approach while also maintaining high efficiency on what can be assumed to be a low diet of opportunities.

Howard does have the ability as most shooters do to have outburst performances. Similar to those few games in Michigan, Howard had a big 22-point outburst against the New York Knicks in Summer League that saw him make four out of eight attempts in the spacing of the pro game he was able to shoot 40 percent from distance.

The biggest drawback to Howard is, by either choice or by skill, he does not contribute much defensively.

He has a knack for being flat-footed which hurts his lateral quickness on fast perimeter players while also falling asleep on plays allowing for cutters and off-ball screens to catch him lacking.

If Howard finds himself in shooting woes it will be up to how much he shows the coaching staff the initiative to fight on defense and retain a high motor throughout games that will keep him off the DNP list. With a logjam on the wings, Howard will need to be able to compete internally for playing time and opportunities.

As it stands currently, we could see multiple lineups throughout the regular season putting players’ feet to the fire and finding who is going to rise and who has already played their cards and shown their hand.