NBA Draft Grades - Positive (Ford and Others)

[LaVar 108]

Orlando Magic

 

First Round: Aaron Gordon (4), Elfrid Payton (10)

 

Second Round: Roy Devyn Marble (56)

 

NBA

Isaiah Austin was diagnosed with Marfan's syndrome.

Video: NBA commissioner Adam Silver selects Baylor's Isaiah Austin in draft

by Ben Golliver

Analysis: Gordon was something of a surprise, particularly with Dante Exum on the board. But the Magic clearly made the calculated risk that they could draft Gordon, a superior defender/rebounder who can jump out of the gym, and still get a point guard later. They did -- via trade with the Sixers -- in Payton, perhaps the draft's fastest riser, who distinguished himself in team workouts. Orlando picked up two pretty good assets for its long rebuilding process.

 

Grade: A-

 

 

http://www.si.com/nba/2014/06/27/nba-draft-2014-team-grades

[Soul Bro 1,422]

ORLANDO SENTINEL:

 

Billy Donovan: The Magic 'hit two home runs' selecting Aaron Gordon and Elfrid Payton

Payton not only made the team, he also became one of only two players to start all nine of the Americans' games during the FIBA Under-19 World Championships in Prague. Gordon, meanwhile, was named the tournament's MVP as the U.S. went undefeated and captured the gold medal….

 

"I think the Magic, in terms of the culture with those two guys, really hit two home runs in the draft, because those two kids are the kind of kids that can change the culture in terms of just their energy, their disposition, their attitude, their work ethic, their competitiveness," Donovan told the Orlando Sentinel.

 

http://ht.ly/yyFrT

[Nyce_1 311]

a lot of positive reviews about our draft in this thread.

[God Hates Otis Smith 153]

the magic had a good draft, they came away with one of the top 3 PF's and top 3 PG's in this draft......a year ago i think most of us would have been really happy with that.

 

exum may very well be better than both, but i think gordon/payton is a better combo than exum/payne

 

i'm not worried about that scoring stuff yet, we're still in the process of finding the foundation. i think we have 3 or 4 keepers, the rest are TBD

[chosen12 75]

Another very nice piece (video) from Jeff Zillgit of USA Today:

Link: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/draft/2014/06/27/grades-analysis-eastern-conference-teams/11448021/

The more I read about these kids, the more I realize how little I knew about them and shamefully doubted the Gordon pick! I stand corrected!