NBA Draft luck didn’t go Magic’s way
The Final Four closes out the college basketball season, giving us a final look at the few stars left in the tournament, such as Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield.
As someone suggested to me, the Magic’s battle cry should be “Be Cruddy for Buddy!”
That’s cute, except the Magic don’t tank for draft picks anymore. (No, really, they don’t. Sometimes this season, it just looked like it.)
Remember “Chill for Jahlil” ( Jahlil Okafor)? Ah, those were the days. The Magic are sort of stuck in gear, having won too few games to make the playoffs and too many games to land a top pick.
Now they will have to rely on trades and/or free agency to improve their team. The major part of GM
Rob Hennigan’s rebuilding plan centered on the draft. It takes a lot of losing and a lot of luck. As it turned out, the Magic didn’t have quite enough of either.
They weren’t going to score big like Hennigan’s former team did when Oklahoma City landed Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. That was like winning a series of Powerballs. Absurd. All Orlando wanted was at least ONE player of that ilk. Just one.
Unfortunately, Hennigan came up snake eyes despite the past three seasons of just 20, 23 and 25 wins.
And that’s largely why the Magic are where they are today – desperate to acquire a star. To review:
2012: The Magic made the playoffs so they weren’t in line for a decent pick. At No. 19, Hennigan selected forward Andrew Nich
olson out of St. Bonaventure. Nicholson has had his moments, but he wasn’t expected to be a differencemaker. Jared Sullinger (Boston) at No. 21 and Festus Ezeli (Golden State) at No. 30 were taken after Nicholson. Sullinger had a bad back (and ultimately, had surgery). Can’t blame Hennigan here, although Ezeli turned into a quality bigman defender.
Where Hennigan and other GMs get secondguessed is in the second round.
Going 35th to the Warriors: Undersized F Dray--
mond Green, now an AllStar. Green might have dramatically changed the Magic, although he wouldn’t have been surrounded by Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. Hennigan still would have looked like a genius to take Green at 19.
Also picked later in the second: sharp-shooter Khris Middleton and versatile Will Barton. Hennigan didn’t pick until No. 49, taking Kyle O’Quinn.
2013: Ugh, just a vanilla draft void of superstars. Terrible timing for the Magic, who won just 20 games and drew the No. 2 pick (their highest so far in the Dwight Howard rebuild).
With the No. 1 pick, Cleveland shockingly selected Anthony Bennett, who became a colossal bust. Hennigan chose SG
Victor Oladipo, and you can’t fault him for picking safely at this altitude.
Oladipo was healthier than Nerlens Noel (No. 6 to New Orleans) at the time. Noel might be what they need now playing with Nik Vucevic, but Noel’s blown-out knee presented too big a risk in the Howard aftermath.
Now there were some nice finds much later in the first: SG C. J. McCollum (Portland) at No. 10, PG-SF Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee) at No. 15, PG Dennis Schroder (Atlanta) at No. 17 and PF-C Rudy Gobert (Denver) at No. 27. You can argue that those blossoming players offer what Orlando now needs: McCollum’s shooting, Antetokounmpo’s freakish versatility, Schroder’s penetration, Gobert’s shotblocking. Oladipo was the more proven commodity.
2014: This draft haunts Orlando. The Magic won 23 games, but tumbled to No. 4 when the ping-pong balls stopped bouncing, thanks to the Cavs upsetting the field to win the lottery despite 33 victories. The Cavs took Andrew Wiggins (later trading him to Minnesota for Kevin Love); Milwaukee picked Jabari Parker at No. 2; and league-worst Philadelphia selected Joel Embiid at No. 3.
That left the Magic to take Aaron Gordon over Dante Exum, Marcus Smart and Julius Randle. Gordon has tantalizing talent and could become a star, but the Magic had their sights set on Wiggins, Parker or Embiid as cornerstones. Embiid was a risk and is still recovering from a broken foot. Parker is coming around brilliantly after tearing an ACL as a rookie.
Randle can cause second-guessing. He has a different body type and game than Gordon — a beast in the Zach Randolph mold. While he’s more dependable offensively now, Randle can’t match Gordon’s versatility, especially on defense.
Hennigan boldly moved up to pick PG Elfrid Payton at No. 10. Payton showed promise as a rookie despite his shooting woes. But things changed under coach Scott Skiles, who demanded Payton play with more discipline. Still a liability on offense, his slippage defensively might lead to Hennigan admitting that acquiring a fully developed point guard is a must this summer.
2015: Again, another top-heavy draft that got away. Similar to 2014, the Magic’s 25-win season went for naught. They missed out on PF KarlAnthony Towns (No. 1 to Minnesota), PG D’Angelo Russell (No. 2 to the Lakers), Okafor (No. 3 to Philadelphia) and Kristaps Porzingis (No. 4 to New York).
At No. 5, the Magic chose sweet-shooting SG Mario Hezonja. He might become a nice piece to the puzzle but not a difference-maker like Porzingis.
Hennigan took Hezonja over defensive-minded SG Justise Winslow ( No. 10 to Miami) and promising power forward Myles
Turner (No. 11 to Indiana). Turner, especially, might have been a nice sidekick to Vucevic.
SG Devin Booker (No. 13 to Phoenix) has been the most surprising rookie. He has outplayed Hezonja, who is on a shorter leash.
2016: The Magic had won 32 games heading into Milwaukee on Friday. Unless they beat the lottery odds, they will pick around 10. Hield probably won’t be there — and, yes, it’s too late to “Yield for Hield.”
Critics say the Magic don’t need to draft more kids, but what do you expect to find these days in the basketball bassinet? Their salaries are too franchise-friendly to deal them except in a blockbuster.
The Magic could trade down and grab an older player such as senior shooting guard Denzel Valentine of Michigan State. Before the season starts, Valentine will turn 23, which is 43 in basketball dog years for a rookie.
Once thought to be a lifeline in the rebuild, the draft is just a supplement now for the Magic. All the attention is on landing free agents to shepherd the accumulated picks or trading any of these assets in a deal for a veteran.