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JI being back healthy is absolutely the best thing that could happen to Paolo. Everyday in practice he is going against one of the best defenders in the NBA. That will make him that much more effective on offense and should jump start the effort on defense. No one wants to be shown up in practice. I don't see a log jam. Carter, JI, Okeke and Paolo are a pretty solid 4 man rotation assuming you can pencil JI in as part of it. A decision needs to be made on Bamba, but Bol and Wagner make pretty good 5 men for cheap. Since JI and Okeke can also give minutes at the 3, keeping Bamba doesn't really screw up the four man rotation.

I guess until the season is well underway this stuff will be debated. Here is one of my final takes on this draft. Chet was always a no go for me. We already have two seven foot phenoms on the roster. If Chet becomes a true two way player someday who can spend 35+ minutes on the floor and be at worst, the second best offensive player on a team, color me wrong. I'll eat my words if that happens. More then likely he becomes a super important role player and he is better suited for that in OKC. Good for him. Jabari is a tough one for me i like him a lot and also loved his fit on the Magic. However, like a lot of people have said, i have a hard time seeing him as a one, meaning number one guy. Everyone acts like the 3 is the be all end all of everything. It's not and even when it is it doesn't always come from stars. A lot of non stars turn into pumpkins when the shot doesn't fall. Go check BB reference on players like Jokic,Embiid,Luka,Gianiss. They all had to spend years to get a 3 ball and none are considered good at it. Players can get better at it and some years they can lose it too. Even Curry had a down year shooting the 3 for him. Mavs reached the WC finals because they shot the 3 well, but Luka didn't. He got all the other guys good looks. Guys none of you would have wanted if asked 3 years ago. Bullock,Finney-Smith,Hardaway Jr,Kleber. They get good looks because of Luka. So finally my whole point of this post. We needed Banchero. We need a star and he was the most likely to be one. It's just that simple. Get a guy who becomes a force and then surround him with wings who can defend and some 3 point shooters. Have to get the Star first. Others will step up and some won't and they will be gone, but we got our star. Now lets see who can shoot this year and who can't.

there was significant suspicion amongst rival executives that Holmgren’s camp preferred he land in Oklahoma City and not Orlando. While rumors had been flying around the league for a couple weeks about what was going on, most of them unfounded and overly speculative, as I understand things, at least one concrete maneuver was taken to steer Holmgren away from the Magic: according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation, Holmgren bailed early on the last day of his Orlando visit, conducting a brief on-court shooting workout that he cut short. While I don’t know whether that impacted anything with the Magic’s decision at No. 1, objectively, it’s very hard to use a high-stakes draft pick on a player that doesn’t truly want to be part of your team. https://www.si.com/.amp/nba/2022/06/24/nba-draft-paolo-banchero-chet-holmgren-jabari-smith-final-thoughts So I posted a few days ago about the booing going on with Chet at the Magic draft party …looks like the feeling was mutual …and patting myself on the back I’ve been saying this about Chet and his disinterest in the Magic …way back 100 pages or so ago …as soon as I saw that TMZ video to me it was clear …and I said so .

Fabulous. Let’s throw away another season and screw up the young player development some more for a 15% chance of landing the first pick. Tanking really is like an addiction. Edit: Sorry. 14% chance. Bonus: Demoralize further your fan base which had gotten a little excited about who we just drafted.