The NBA Draft Lottery brought with it a major surprise in the Atlanta Hawks defying the odds and winning the top pick.
That seemed to be the perfect way to start off the week at the NBA Draft Combine, as every team is trying to sort through this draft class and find some undiscovered diamond in the rough.
This draft as a whole is all about that process. There is no clear-cut number one player and a lot of draft prospects could just as easily end up in the Lottery as they could end up available when the Magic pick at No. 18. Or perhaps even at No. 47.
And that does not get into the bevy of reporting that everyone is trying to trade their pick.
The Magic have not been reported in that group, but after both Anthony Black and Jett Howard struggled to crack the rotation as rookies as Lottery picks last year, it would not be surprising if the Magic are indeed shopping their pick too.
Everything though starts with the prospects. It starts with the Draft and trying to find the best player the team can when their name is called—or to find the player they are determined to go get wherever that might be.
But the NBA Draft Combine is important because it is mostly the first contact between teams and the players directly. This is where the teams begin to start filling in the personal profiles of the players they are looking at and figuring out if they are people they want to bring into the fold.
Jeff Weltman has often talked about bringing in high-character guys. In addition to doing background work that includes talking to coaches and being around players on the road during the season, this is as important part of the process.
The only players who were not at the NBA Draft Combine are players who are still playing their seasons—top prospects Zaccharie Risascher and Nikola Topic along with mid-draft players like Tidjane Salaun. But there was a lot to learn from the NBA Draft Combine.
Knowing what the Magic typically like to Draft and their needs ahead of this draft, it is time to look at five takeaways from the Draft Combine to help prepare for the Draft on June 26-27.
5 takeaways for the Orlando Magic from the NBA Draft Combine
5. Wingspan Warriors
After one of Jeff Weltman's first drafts as president of basketball operations for the Orlando Magic, Weltman sauntered into the media room at the Kia Center and joked: "Long night, long players."
It seems the Magic are also in on the joke that the Magic tend to look at the list of players with the longest wingspans and pick the biggest one. Or the player with the biggest differential between their height and their wingspan.
Just go through the list of Jeff Weltman picks: Jonathan Isaac, Mo Bamba, Wesley Iwundu, Melvin Frazier (the longest wingspan among guards in his draft class), Chuma Okeke, Franz Wagner and Caleb Houstan.
Orlando's whole philosophy has been built on getting players who can play bigger than their height and to use length and versatility to build one of the top defenses in the league.
Wingspan is not everything. But the old adage of, "You can't teach size," rings true with the Magic draft philosophy.
And so there is an annual pilgrimmage to the wingspan page on the Draft Combine list to figure out who the Magic might be drafting.
A lot of fans have put some focus on Zach Edey.
The nearly 7-foot-4 center is a two-time Naismith College Player of the Year Award winner and put up gaudy stat lines at Purdue the last two years. He is every bit of his height, measuring with a Combine-best 7-foot-10.75 wingspan along with an impressive 9-foot-7 standing reach.
Edey may still have questions about how he fits with mobility and as a scorer in a league that demands more versatility from its centers (Edey hit 60.0 percent of his shots off the dribble in one drill). But he measured out exactly how everyone expected.
Indiana center Kel'el Ware measured out with a 7-foot-4.5 wingspan and 9-foot-4.5 standing reach at a height of 6-foot-11.75 without shoes. Ware has been among the center prospects the Magic should be looking at (he beat out Yves Missi who measured at a 7-foot-2 wingspan and a height of 6-foot-10.75 without shoes).
Colorado's Cody Williams was the top wing in wingspan, measuring at a 7-foot-1 wingspan with a 6-foot-6.5 height without shoes. Williams is a likely Lottery pick and would not be available when the Magic select without a trade.
Favored Magic first-round pick and fellow Colorado forward Tristan Da Silva measured with a 6-foot-10.25 wingspan and 6-foot-8.25 height without shoes. That is not typically the difference the Magic go for in their draft picks.
The top guard who is projected in the Magic's range in wingspan was Baylor guard Ja'Kobe Walter, He measured at 6-foot-4.25 without shoes with a 6-foot-10 wingspan.
That is not the be-all, end-all for the Magic obviously. But this is always something everyone is watching when it comes to the Magic and the kind of players they typically target.
4. Shooters are going to shoot
The Orlando Magic's biggest need this offseason is undoubtedly their shooting. They need to find a way to space the floor to create driving lanes for Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner and boost their offense.
Orlando was 24th in the league in 3-point field goal percentage and 29th in 3-point attempts per game. One way the Magic can improve their offense is by simply taking more threes. They would feel a lot more comfortable with that if they had better 3-point shooters.
That is why a lot of the offseason focus is on free agents like Malik Monk, Klay Thompson and Paul George. It is why there is some focus on trades on shooters like Anfernee Simons and plenty others. Everything this offseason is focused on shooting.
The NBA Draft Combine provides at least some hint at shooting potential. There are a lot of shooting drills against no defense, so take all of that with a grain of salt.
Some of the expected names were at the top of the shooting numbers at the Combine so far:
Tennessee forward and likely Lottery pick Dalton Knecht hit 84.0 percent of his college 3-pointers. Duke guard Jared McCain impressed with his shooting, making 76.0 percent of his college threes. McCain could still be available when the Magic pick at No. 18, but he is expected to be gone just before.
The names to watch for the Magic from the shooting drills are there though. There were players who were more impressive than expected from the outside.
We should start with Pitt guard Carlton Carrington. Carrington averaged 13.8 points per game, 5.2 rebounds per game and 4.2 assists per game last year. He shot just 32.2 percent from beyond the arc and 78.5 percent from the foul line (on low volume).
Carrington though hit 80.0 percent of his college 3-pointers in the Combine shooting drills. That is a sign that he could be improved as a shooter. The reputation on him is that he is a jumbo-sized guard who can do things outside of his position and that he is a better shooter than his percentages in college suggest.
Carrington should be on the Magic's list.
So too should be Johnny Furphy. The Kansas forward hit 72.0 percent of his college 3-pointers at the NBA Draft Combine after hitting only 35.2 percent last season. Furphy is a dynamic, athletic forward that can run lanes in transition.
Dayton center DaRon Holmes also had an impressive shooting showing. Holmes hit 72.0 percent of his college threes at the Combine. He has grown as a shooter in his three years at Dayton, topping off at 38.5 percent last year.
Holmes is a bit of an undersized center. But he is a great rebounder (8.5 rebounds per game last year) and plays bigger than his position.
Take all the shooting stats with some grain of salt since it is against no defense. But it is at least a sign of some good shooting gains for questionable shooters the Magic could target.
3. The Leapers
The other part of the NBA Draft Combine is we get to see clearer measurements of pure athleticism. We get the wingspans and the measurements. But we also get to see them in drills that test agility and athleticism.
It is at least a hint of the raw canvas on which teams can draw in terms of athleticism. That is a skill that is difficult to teach. Although translating it directly into something teams can use is another challenge.
Still the players who stood out in athleticism matter. They are at least names to put on the radar.
It starts with Providence guard Devin Carter, who had the top vertical leap at 42.0 inches and the top standing vertical leap at 35.0 inches. Carter was also third with a 10.63-second run through the lane agility drill and a 2.90-second run through the shuttle drill. He had the fastest three-quarter court sprint at 2.87 seconds.
The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 19.7 points per game and 8.7 rebounds per game last year. That shows he uses his athleticism to play bigger in the paint. He shot 37.7 percent from three last year and was a career 72.3 percent free throw shooter.
His biggest question is his shooting. But he is clearly an athlete who knows how to use his ability to ping around.
Tristan Da Silva, as mentioned before, is one of the favored targets for the Magic among media members. He had a 10.81-second run through the lane agility drill, trailing only G-League Ignite prospect Tyler Smith among power forwards.
Of note on this front is who did not perform well.
Jared McCain had a vertical leap of only 25.5 inches. That was the same as Kansas forward Johnny Furphy. His 32.0-inch standing vertical leap ranked among the lowest in the Combine. He was joined at that mark by Miami forward Kyshawn George.
2. Bronny's progress
Fair or not, there is a lot of attention put on Bronny James in this draft class.
The USC forward recovered from a cardiac arrest and a congenital heart defect to play this season. He was not all that impressive. But he got the all-clear to play in the NBA, a credit to his work. Now he had to go about the business of rebuilding his draft potential.
James averaged only 4.8 points per game in 19.3 minutes per game in his lone season at USC. He shot just 36.6 percent from the floor and 26.7 percent from three. That does not scream NBA prospect, especially considering his health issues earlier in the year.
But all eyes are on James because of his name. That creates media interest and his father, LeBron James (if you did not know), has hinted he wants to play his final seasons alongside his son.
James was very clear in interviews with the media in Chicago that he is aiming to prove he is not just his father's name. That is a credit to him. And he is a good enough player when healthy to make that case.
It probably did not help that his father, LeBron James, pulled up for the Draft Combine scrimmages on Wednesday. That reminder is always going to be there.
But James made his case in the scrimmages at the Draft Combine.
He scored 13 points on 4-for-10 shooting in Wednesday's scrimmage game, bouncing back from a tough showing in Tuesday's scrimmage. This all followed a solid showing in the skills testing.
Bronny James still projects as a second-round pick at best—thoughts that he could go in the first-round as an enticement to LeBron James should go out the window. But he is starting to rebuild his profile moving forward.
1. Other scrimmage standouts
Most of the top prospects forego the scrimmages. They will get plenty of time on the court in individual workouts. The league's collective bargaining agreement required more participation than in previous years to get measurements and medicals, standardizing that process throughout the league some more.
Still, the players in the second round, fighting to secure their spot or climb into the first round, took advantage of their time on the court, playing in some loosely organized games before they begin the cross-country journey that is the pre-draft process.
There were definitely a few standouts just from looking at the box scores.
Colorado guard K.J. Simpson recorded 16 points and three assists in Tuesday's scrimmage and followed it up with 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists in Wednesday's game.
Simpson is an undersized point guard (he measured at 6-foot without shoes and is listed at 6-foot-2. He averaged 19.7 points per game, 5.8 rebounds per game and 4.9 assists per game last year. He shot 43.4 percent from three and 87.6 percent from the line (the junior's second straight year shooting 80-plus percent from the line).
Simpson is an interesting pick because he plays bigger than he is. But his height is a detriment for a team like the Magic.
The other big standout was center Ulrich Chomche. The NBA Africa Academy prospect is still weighing his future. But he had some solid showings of his potential as a floor-stretching big.
Chomche scored seven points and grabbed 10 rebounds in Wednesday's scrimmage. He is still very raw, as evidenced by his four turnovers. He is still trying to figure out where his skills fit on an NBA court. But the potential is tantalizing for a team that has the patience to wait on him.