Official Draft Thread 3.0

[DestroidMengars 22]

Is anyone else wondering if this is the worst draft since we drafted Mike Miller?

[jmmagicfan 301]

I think that what happens with the Bledsoe/Afflalo trade and if we can get Dallas' #13 pick, will have a lot to do with who we pick with #2 - and vice versa.

 

Assuming that the Magic use the Early Termination Options on both Hedo and Al Harrington, don't resign Beno Udrih, and make the qualifying offer to DeQuan Jones, that leaves you with the following under contract.

 

PG Jameer Nelson

E'Twaun Moore

 

SG Arron Afflalo

Doron Lamb

 

SF Maurice Harkless

DeQuan Jones

 

PF Tobias Harris

Glen Davis

Andrew Nicholson

 

C Nikola Vucevic

Kyle O'Quinn

 

If we can manage to get Dallas' pick, I think we can add a decent rotation player. Let's look at each move individually. Most of the mock drafts have at least two of the following available at the 13th pick - Michael Carter-Williams, Shane Larkin, Dennis Schroeder; so if you don't get Bledsoe, but you do have #13 to pick up one of those point guards, I say go out of the box and pick Otto Porter. My hope for #13 would be Carter-Williams, so you would have

 

PG Jameer Nelson

Michael Carter-Williams

E'Twaun Moore

 

SG Arron Afflalo

Doron Lamb

 

SF Otto Porter

Maurice Harkless

DeQuan Jones

 

Especially if you can get Carter-Williams, his size lets you swing Meer to play some off-the-ball/SG as well.

 

Obviously, if you do make the trade, you have to go with a SG, and either McLemore or Oladipo should do - I actually prefer Oladipo for his defense and Mac did occasionally play too passive in college. Assuming you don't get #13, that gives you

 

PG Eric Bledsoe

Jameer Nelson

E'Twaun Moore

 

SG Victor Oladipo

Doron Lamb

 

SF Maurice Harkless

Caron Butler (incl w/Bledsoe - expiring makes numbers work)

DeQuan Jones

 

Again, you can swing Meer or Bledsoe to play som off-the-ball/SG if needed; but you can also swing Butler over to SG some as well.

 

If you manage both the trade and to pick up #13, then if he is still there I think you still go Carter-Williams, if he isn't there you go with the best available SG/SF. Someone might drop, like Kentavius Caldwell-Pope, Shabazz Muhammed, or even Trey Burke or CJ McCollum. If none of them are left you should still have Hardaway, Crabbe, Bullock, Karasev, Franklin, or Rice.

 

PG Eric Bledsoe

Jameer Nelson

Michael Carter-Williams (if available @ #13)

 

SG Victor Oladipo

Doron Lamb

Crabbe/Franklin (if MCW not available @ #13)

 

SF Maurice Harkless

Caron Butler

DeQuan Jones

Bullock/Karasev (if MCW not available @ #13)

[jmmagicfan 301]

I'd now kinda leaning towards trying to get Noel at 2, and Ledo later in the first round if we can buy a pick.

 

Reasons for not picking Noel

 

Sam Bowie

Greg Oden

 

Big men with multiple feet/leg issues don't generally recover well. This is the 2nd repair for the same problem, and he currently only weighs 215. We all know he needs to add 30-40 pounds of muscle to effectively play PF/C in the NBA - what will that additional weight do, add more strain to his twice repaired leg. No thanks!

[Soul Bro 1,419]

I believe it's between Oladipo, McLemore and Porter. I'd be please with any of them at this point.

[jmmagicfan 301]

Is anyone else wondering if this is the worst draft since we drafted Mike Miller?

 

It's actually not a bad draft from the standpoint of how many servicable players that could end up with 8-10 year careers. There are probably a few more of those than usual, there just doesn't appear to be any consistent, multiple-year all stars in it. Usually you have 2-3 all-star players and then a moderate drop-off to the next 4-5, and then a couple surprises that no one really expected to last. You don't have that 1st tier, but you might have 12-15 players that become serviceable bench/role players.

[30Assists 342]

I believe it's between Oladipo, McLemore and Porter. I'd be please with any of them at this point.

I'll be happy with anyone, but I'll be really excited if we take Oladipo or McLemore (in that order). I agree that Noel's health issues, given his size, is worrisome. Pass.

[MagicFanInNevada 51]

I believe it's between Oladipo, McLemore and Porter. I'd be please with any of them at this point.

 

Replace Porter with Bennett and I'd be happy with any of the 3.

[Chill24 0]

I think we are drafting Oladipo as part of a trade down. If the Bledsoe deal happens we would have a small backcourt with little to no shooting ability and while we'd be a tough team to score on who would score for us? Fight for 60 every night with Bledsoe and Dipo

[MagicFanInNevada 51]

I think we are drafting Oladipo as part of a trade down. If the Bledsoe deal happens we would have a small backcourt with little to no shooting ability and while we'd be a tough team to score on who would score for us? Fight for 60 every night with Bledsoe and Dipo

 

Vucevic, Harris, Nelson, and Harkless would be our scoring threats

[O_SteveO 102]

Vucevic, Harris, Nelson, and Harkless would be our scoring threats

Nelson and Harris can sort of create for themselves. We'll still be fairly offensively limited with a Dipo/Bledsoe backcourt.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

I think we are drafting Oladipo as part of a trade down. If the Bledsoe deal happens we would have a small backcourt with little to no shooting ability and while we'd be a tough team to score on who would score for us? Fight for 60 every night with Bledsoe and Dipo

 

Oladipo has a 6'9 wingspan. Not worried about a "small" backcourt

[Bauncey Chillups 288]

Oladipo is 6'4" with shoes and is a hyper athlete with a 6'9" wingspan, he should be able to handle every 2 in the league on defense and could even guard some 3s.