If the Magic get a top draft pick, who should they take?

[JBSouthpaw]

Well,
now with only 1 PG on the roster for next year (Nelson)
and 2.5 SGs (AA, Moore (maybe Jones or Lamb not sure if next year contracts guarnteed for either)
2 SFs (Harkless, Harris) Maybe Turk (buyout)
2 PFs (Davis & Nicholson) Maybe Harrington (buyout)
2 Cs (Vuc & O'Quinn)

I would think we are leaning towards PG in the draft.
I'd like to see us buy another pick (our 2nd rounder goes to CLE, we get GS but should be pretty late) or trade our extra 2nd round next year for a late 1st and get another big maybe Jeff Whitey or Mike Muscala. Some team may not want another guaranteed contract (Utah has 2 picks, so does ATL). OKC gets Toronto's pick as well (currently #8) plus their own.

[Tayswagzzz]

Smart moved up to number 2 on the mock draft, with us selecting him. Interesting. He's gone up like 6 spots

[OrlandoMagician]

According to NBADraft.net the Thunder have the 10th pick?! Where'd they get that from? Any way we can send them an Afflalo or anything and get in on that?

Would make drafting Smart and Oladipo a real possibility.

[Hogified05]

If I had to pick I'd go with Smart, his competitiveness and size are above average for a pg. And we need a pg bad, let him come off the bench next year as meer starts. Then the following allow him to start and keep meer to mentor and be a above average back up pg.

With this being said I hope like all hell we do not get the number 1 pick this year. There isn't a sure fire franchise changer in the draft, maybe one could grow into one. 2014 is the year to have it. Jabari and Wiggins you can fight over and possibly Randle could be in the fight for it. Depending on the draft order and team needs we could get Smart at possible 4 or 3.

Maclemore doesn't really do it for me at the 1 spot. Zeller thou would be interesting at one to me. He would be a good compliment for Vuv as he is more of a scorer and Vuv could make up for Zeller's lack of rebounding. Two skilled 7 footers would be hard to turn down. As far as Noel, I've been through the whole sign them to the team on crutches no thank. cough Grant HIll cough.

[magicman123]

According to NBADraft.net the Thunder have the 10th pick?! Where'd they get that from? Any way we can send them an Afflalo or anything and get in on that?

Would make drafting Smart and Oladipo a real possibility.

Toronto's pick, they traded for Kyle Lowry, and Houston traded that pick during the Harden trade

[SmiteaDwight]

I'am really high on smart now.

[Noonskadoodle]

If we have the #1 pick & we keep it, Smart wins by default for me.

I still have question marks on him though. I know he is a freshman, but most top picks are extremely efficient in college ball.

40% from the field...30% from 3...4 assists to 3 TOs a game is not even close to being efficient. Now his strength is obviously his size & getting to the line, but even in college he seems to get banged up a bit by doing so.

Them boys in the NBA are much much much bigger. Last thing I wanna do is draft a guy #1 & him constantly be injured because the only way he can be effective is by taking contact 24/7.....Not want you want from your PG.

I am just hoping he takes off in the Conference Tourney & NCAA Tourney & shows improvements....I def like the fact that he is not afraid to hit a big shot though & put his teammates in their places.


.......My preference would be to try & trade down though & target Burke while acquiring another asset/assets at the same time.......

I could see a team like the TWolves wanting to trade up & actually target McLemore to play along side Rubio in the future with his shooting ability......maybe we could entice Shved out of them in doing so.

[dsg2021]

For me, I have it in this order for PG's: Smart, MCW, Burke unless the Magic scouting can put aside some shortcomings Burke might have switching to the NBA game. I'd be happy with any three.

Wings-wise my order is: McLemore; We're gonna get lucky and get our first option player next draft or so, whether Wiggins or Parker or whoever, and McLemore will be beast playing off of them with 1 season under the belt already. Next would be Shabazz and Oladipo about tied with each other.

Only bigs that interest me are Noel and any who would defend the paint great, dependent that their health is good. He would cover Nich and Vuc so well. But again, Im worried about having to overpay bigs just because their big down the line.

[silent1900]

I am pretty much all-in on Smart right now. If for some reason we were not in a position to grab him, I wouldn't mind seeing us trade the pick...either down or out all together depending on what we could get back (or get rid of).

None of those other guys do anything for me...McLemore, Shabazz, Noel, Len, etc. I would have some interest in some guys that we could get lower like Porter or Burke, even MCW. The guy I enjoy watching play the most, Bennett, would be fun but a bad fit.

[craig01]

I would vote for trading down and get another pick, player....there really is not a franchise player in this draft

[dsg2021]

I forgot Otto porter too, but he feels a little refundant maybe to Harkless/Harris. I wouldn't care if Magic thought he was BPA.

[bigdogdylan5]

According to NBADraft.net the Thunder have the 10th pick?! Where'd they get that from? Any way we can send them an Afflalo or anything and get in on that?

Would make drafting Smart and Oladipo a real possibility.

I am starting to doubt that Oladipo is getting some much needed noteriety (moved up to 5 on Ford's big board) now and honestly i dont see him slipping past number 7 i would love for the magic to get him sounds like a Henny guy really sacrifices for the team in Indy and has a great motor. I love Smart but unless henny thinks he has star potential i would not mind him taking Oladipo in top 5.
Also Otto Porter i think is really underrated he looks like an all star talent and can do it all. If Henny thinks Harris is more of a 4 i could see him getting him and running 4 man rotation with all our young guys at 3 and 4. Or at worst develop and trade one for an allstar talent wing

[OrlandoMagician]

The central question of this thread is an important one, because whoever we select is the first lottery pick, or high-end 'blue chip' talent, that we have acquired in our rebuild.

So far we've picked up solid-to-good prospects in Harkless, Harris, Nicholson, O'Quinn and Vučevic - but whoever we pick with our (likely) top 5 pick will ideally be the first stud to join our future championship team.

So who's that guy? I like Smart, think his work-rate and leader mentality will ensure he doesn't go bust in the NBA. Pair him with an elite wing scorer from the 2014 draft (Wiggins please!) and we're on our way.

[MJallday59]

I hate the James Harden Comparision for Smart. James Harden without the jumper is Rodney Stuckey.

If we get the top pick I'd trade Afflalo, Cash, Future 1st to Phoenix for #5 & #13

#1. Oladipo
#5. Noel
#13. Burke

Burke/Nelson
Oladipo/Lamb
Wiggins/Harkless
Noel/Nicholson
Vucevic/ O'quinn

[Zmill]

Name the freshmen (one plays in the NBA still one is in college still)

9.8 pts 9.6 rebs 3.8 blocks .9 assists .4 spg 54% FG shooting

10.5 pts 9.5 rebs 4.4 blocks 1.6 assists 2.1 spg 59% FG shooting