Orlando Magic Daily
Fansided

Orlando Magic 2024 fantasy studs and duds (and question marks)

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Paolo Banchero has helped begin to redefine the Orlando Magic's offensive identity. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
Paolo Banchero has helped begin to redefine the Orlando Magic's offensive identity. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
5 of 6
Next
Anthony Black, Orlando Magic
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – JULY 08: Anthony Black #0 of Orlando Magic dribbles the ball against the Detroit Pistonsduring the first quarter of a 2023 NBA Summer League game at the Thomas & Mack Center on July 08, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Candice Ward/Getty Images) /

Orlando Magic 2024 Fantasy Basketball Studs and Duds

Dud: Anthony Black

The universal truth about fantasy sports is: Rookies are always bad.

There will always be some temptation to draft a rookie in fantasy sports, and it is usually a bad idea (unless it is a keeper league, then that becomes an investment).

Even Paolo Banchero was bad during his rookie year. He was good with a historic season for a rookie. But everyone recognized he still had a long way to go with his efficiency to reach his full potential. Banchero had a great season, but not a strong fantasy season.

This is typically how things go with rookie players. They might be good in one category — Banchero was a scorer with raw point totals — but they will likely be poor in all of the others as they learn the league. It takes them a while to be at their absolute best. Even for their rookie seasons.

So, there should be a fair amount of caution with drafting any rookie.

Anthony Black projects to be a player who can make an impact in his rookie year. It is just not necessarily going to be in a way that stands out on the stat sheet all the time.

Black will get his share of assists, he is certainly going to rebound really well and he is going to defend so there are the chance for him to pick up his share of steals.

But Black will struggle as a shooter. That was his big weakness coming into the draft and it still looks like a weakness based off his Summer League play.

It would not be surprising if his rookie season is, at least statistically, fairly underwhelming. That is part of the growing and learning process for a young player.

Even Jett Howard is probably not going to be a great fantasy investment in his rookie year. He can shoot. But even great shooters struggle with the NBA line in their first year. And so rookies are just generally the players you avoid in your fantasy leagues.