Cole World: Orlando Magic Select Cole Anthony at #15

[KillMonger]

year 1....in a covid season with no pre-season practices no real in-season practices....coming off college injury...all that combined with all the stuff rooks have to learn already but specifically him being thrust into a situation where he probably shouldn't be starting so early in his career...With all that i think he's done what he's supposed to do this season, show flashes....With a full off-season of working on his game and on his body to better absorb contact, i think he has potential to surpass his "bench microwave scorer" ceiling....could be a starter-level player in this league

[Knightro]

except he wasnt low on so many draft boards. Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, SB Nation, USA Today all had him at #14.

But context is key here. Anthony coming out of high school was one of the top high school prospects in the country. Pretty much a consensus top 3 prospect.

So Anthony benefited massively from *starting* the process in the top 5. But his season at North Carolina was so bad that obviously he couldn’t go top 5 anymore.

So what ended up happening is that draft folks started looking for reasons and justifications WHY it went wrong because top prospects just don’t typically flame out like that.

But if you look at the scouting reports, there’s not much “Anthony proved at UNC why he’s worth a lotto pick and that’s why we slotted him here” stuff. There’s a lot more “we’ve slotted him here because his pedigree was so good and we’re willing to write off his bad season.”

It’s not dissimilar to Cam Reddish the year before. Guy had a rotten year and nothing about his statistical profile from his one year of college would suggest he should have gone top 10.

Both Anthony and Reddish benefited significantly from the fact they both started out as top 3 prospects. Had either guy come into college as like the 25th best prospect in his class, there’s virtually no chance either guy goes in the first round based on how they produced in college.

[Bergmaniac]

He'd need to become a really good scorer to be a starter in this league on a non-tanking team since his PG skills are almost non-existent and he doesn't have the tools to be more than average defender for his position.

[tiderulz]

except he wasnt low on so many draft boards. Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, SB Nation, USA Today all had him at #14.

But context is key here. Anthony coming out of high school was one of the top high school prospects in the country. Pretty much a consensus top 3 prospect.

So Anthony benefited massively from *starting* the process in the top 5. But his season at North Carolina was so bad that obviously he couldn’t go too 5 anymore.

So what ended up happening is that draft folks started looking for reasons and justifications WHY it went wrong because top prospects just don’t typically flame out like that.

But if you look at the scouting reports, there’s not much “Anthony proved at UNC why he’s worth a lotto pick and that’s why we slotted him here” stuff. There’s a lot more “we’ve slotted him here because his pedigree was so good and we’re willing to write off his bad season.”

It’s not dissimilar to Cam Reddish the year before. Guy had a rotten year and nothing about his statistical profile from his one year of college would suggest he should have gone top 10.

Both Anthony and Reddish benefited significantly from the fact they both started out as top 3 prospects. Had either guy come into college as like the 25th best prospect in his class, there’s virtually no chance either guy goes in the first round based on how they produced in college.

ok, but dont change your argument. You said he was low on draft boards when he actually wasnt low on them. he was drafted around where he was projected by multiple boards

[tiderulz]

He'd need to become a really good scorer to be a starter in this league on a non-tanking team since his PG skills are almost non-existent and he doesn't have the tools to be more than average defender for his position.

and there is a role for that. Jordan Clarkson, Louis Williams, Terrence Ross, etc. scoring option off the bench. but he needs to get more efficient. he just cant be a complete flamethrower

[Knightro]

ok, but dont change your argument. You said he was low on draft boards when he actually wasnt low on them. he was drafted around where he was projected by multiple boards

When I said "You’re seeing why Anthony was low on so many draft boards." I should have added compared to his original projections. My mistake on not clarifying that in my original remarks.

Hoopshype publishes a Mock Draft aggregator every few months where they take a ton of mock drafts and then average a prospect's overall ranking across all the mock drafts.

Anthony fell 15 spots in the rankings in 9 months. The biggest drop by any prospect in the entire draft. The further back you go, the worse the drop is.

October 2020 – 19
August 2020 – 15
July 2020 – 11
April 2020 – 10
January 2020 – 4
December 2019 – 4
October 2019 – 3
July 2019 – 2

The only two guys in the draft who had even comparable drops during 2020 were RJ Hampton (7th to 15th) and Jaden McDaniels (9th to 22nd).

So yes, Anthony was drafted at 15 which is in the range most mocks and big boards had him. But my point was that he ended up being one of the few prospects in the entire draft to get picked much lower than where he started and the fact that he started so high is the only reason he didn't drop even more than he did.

[MoMM]

Discussing about his draft drop is useless.

If he improves his shooting he has a place in this league, otherwise he won't be better than MCW.

[pepe1991]

60 pages about Cole is way too much.

Man i got roasted when i posted on draft night that he is low efficiency, low BBIQ chucker

[Knightro]

Discussing about his draft drop is useless.

If he improves his shooting he has a place in this league, otherwise he won't be better than MCW.

I don't think it's useless necessarily. The case could be made that Anthony really wasn't anywhere close to the 15th best prospect in his draft like the draft boards suggested he was and really should have been judged more harshly on his actual season of college production rather than trying to come up with justifications why that season didn't go well.

He got more slack than was justified because of where he began the process. He wouldn't have been a first rounder if he wasn't a 5 star HS prospect obviously.

Now all that said...

If he can develop his three ball to a reasonable clip (and he was at 45% from 3 in the last 13 games before he got injured) and not turn the ball over, he should be able to provide some minutes off the bench as a scoring combo guard. Not sure there's much more going to happen from a developmental standpoint than that though.

He's not going to get any bigger or longer, so mostly he is what he is defensively in terms of only really being able to guard one position. It doesn't seem like he's going to magically develop point guard feel after years and years of being scoring focused. He *could* maybe develop as a finisher, but it's so bad right now that even significant development in that area would still leave him well below average.

Seems like his best path for success is finding his 3PT shot.

[thelead]

Discussing about his draft drop is useless.

If he improves his shooting he has a place in this league, otherwise he won't be better than MCW.

I don't think it's useless necessarily. The case could be made that Anthony really wasn't anywhere close to the 15th best prospect in his draft like the draft boards suggested he was and really should have been judged more harshly on his actual season of college production rather than trying to come up with justifications why that season didn't go well.

He got more slack than was justified because of where he began the process. He wouldn't have been a first rounder if he wasn't a 5 star HS prospect obviously.

Now all that said...

If he can develop his three ball to a reasonable clip (and he was at 45% from 3 in the last 13 games before he got injured) and not turn the ball over, he should be able to provide some minutes off the bench as a scoring combo guard. Not sure there's much more going to happen from a developmental standpoint than that though.

He's not going to get any bigger or longer, so mostly he is what he is defensively in terms of only really being able to guard one position. It doesn't seem like he's going to magically develop point guard feel after years and years of being scoring focused. He *could* maybe develop as a finisher, but it's so bad right now that even significant development in that area would still leave him well below average.

Seems like his best path for success is finding his 3PT shot.

That's exactly why I wouldn't mind drafting a guy like Jaden Springer with the bulls pick. High efficiency freshman with Marcus Smart as a comp... I'll take that over Cole all day... and if Cole develops, even better for us.

[pepe1991]

ok, but dont change your argument. You said he was low on draft boards when he actually wasnt low on them. he was drafted around where he was projected by multiple boards

When I said "You’re seeing why Anthony was low on so many draft boards." I should have added compared to his original projections. My mistake on not clarifying that in my original remarks.

Hoopshype publishes a Mock Draft aggregator every few months where they take a ton of mock drafts and then average a prospect's overall ranking across all the mock drafts.

Anthony fell 15 spots in the rankings in 9 months. The biggest drop by any prospect in the entire draft. The further back you go, the worse the drop is.

October 2020 – 19
August 2020 – 15
July 2020 – 11
April 2020 – 10
January 2020 – 4
December 2019 – 4
October 2019 – 3
July 2019 – 2

The only two guys in the draft who had even comparable drops during 2020 were RJ Hampton (7th to 15th) and Jaden McDaniels (9th to 22nd).

So yes, Anthony was drafted at 15 which is in the range most mocks and big boards had him. But my point was that he ended up being one of the few prospects in the entire draft to get picked much lower than where he started and the fact that he started so high is the only reason he didn't drop even more than he did.

99,99% of prospects don't have nba daddy who has connections with nba.com and espn to have interview about him commiting to NC.
99,99% of prospects don't have their own ESPN segment based on FIRST game at college.

99,99% of prospects don't have Jalen and Jacoby segment on their talkshow.

99,99% of prospects don't get hype video where Steph Curry is force fed into making Steph-comparisons to another player. In same camp that Steph runs, and it's mix gender basketball so our buddy Cole is beating some girl off dribble.

99,99% of prospects don't have a chance to record self- hype video with Kevin Durant.

Jumping from one highschool to another, just to land at Oak Hill ( because it worked for Melo and Durant and Rondo) to go to NC, college that gave MJ, Vince, Stack... It's clear that guy was pretty much basketball project.

Issue,however, is that he never grew up from 6'0 ( if that ) and he never really become elite shooter and since , in order to create hype you have to put cartoonish numbers, it''s clear he never learned how to be playmaker. Because who gives a damn about how many assists you got , if you are dropping 25 points a game ...

[basketballRob]

Cole will be good. Just prior to getting injured he found a rythm, then the injury prohibited him from shooting for 2 months.

By the way, I think some of Bamba's offensive success is, because of Cole. I could see Cliff moving Cole into the SL and leaving Bamba with MCW, as early as tonight.

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

[Skin]

Sometimes I forget where he was drafted and expect more, but actually he was a non-lottery pick. If he can be a stable bench guy/spot starter, that's all I ask for. I think he's been super fortunate to have gotten way more minutes than he normally would have because of Markelle's injury. Too bad for him, he still missed a ton of games, but now getting back to 25+ min per night plus a starting role, he's got to be feeling good. Problem is he's still learning and we're watching him be the same bad decision maker that he was in college. If he has a good head on his shoulders and realizes that he should try to master a few things at a time instead of everything at once, then I think he has a good chance at being a player we all like. He's just trying to do too much at this point, imo and it's leaving a bad taste in people's minds.

[MoMM]

Sometimes I forget where he was drafted and expect more, but actually he was a non-lottery pick. If he can be a stable bench guy/spot starter, that's all I ask for. I think he's been super fortunate to have gotten way more minutes than he normally would have because of Markelle's injury. Too bad for him, he still missed a ton of games, but now getting back to 25+ min per night plus a starting role, he's got to be feeling good. Problem is he's still learning and we're watching him be the same bad decision maker that he was in college. If he has a good head on his shoulders and realizes that he should try to master a few things at a time instead of everything at once, then I think he has a good chance at being a player we all like. He's just trying to do too much at this point, imo and it's leaving a bad taste in people's minds.

I just question his BBIQ and how he can improve that, he should be better about it considering the father he has.

[RookieStar]

Sometimes I forget where he was drafted and expect more, but actually he was a non-lottery pick. If he can be a stable bench guy/spot starter, that's all I ask for. I think he's been super fortunate to have gotten way more minutes than he normally would have because of Markelle's injury. Too bad for him, he still missed a ton of games, but now getting back to 25+ min per night plus a starting role, he's got to be feeling good. Problem is he's still learning and we're watching him be the same bad decision maker that he was in college. If he has a good head on his shoulders and realizes that he should try to master a few things at a time instead of everything at once, then I think he has a good chance at being a player we all like. He's just trying to do too much at this point, imo and it's leaving a bad taste in people's minds.

I just question his BBIQ and how he can improve that, he should be better about it considering the father he has.

I'm with you. IS there anyway to improve your BBIQ? I mean his teammates were all open and waiting for the pass or the set-play but Cole just drove right in for a wild shot. Seriously? I get where Cliff came from that that kind of player does not deserve minuted even on blw-outs.

[PrimeThyme]

I have hope that Cole's long-term role on this team can be a Patty Mills microwave scorer off the bench type for us. He's still got a bit to go in the shooting department to even be considered that, however.

The success of this new rebuild hinges on a top 3 pick this year imo. We need desperately to come away with a Cade/Suggs/Green.

[Skin]

Sometimes I forget where he was drafted and expect more, but actually he was a non-lottery pick. If he can be a stable bench guy/spot starter, that's all I ask for. I think he's been super fortunate to have gotten way more minutes than he normally would have because of Markelle's injury. Too bad for him, he still missed a ton of games, but now getting back to 25+ min per night plus a starting role, he's got to be feeling good. Problem is he's still learning and we're watching him be the same bad decision maker that he was in college. If he has a good head on his shoulders and realizes that he should try to master a few things at a time instead of everything at once, then I think he has a good chance at being a player we all like. He's just trying to do too much at this point, imo and it's leaving a bad taste in people's minds.

I just question his BBIQ and how he can improve that, he should be better about it considering the father he has.

I think his BBIQ is great. It's high level. His dad has not done a bad job and you can tell in the way Cole speaks that he knows what's what ... and he's very confident about his opinions.

His problem is his self perception. He has been treated like a Golden Child all his life. He has a self absorbed attitude. He acts like he's already a star when he simply isn't. So naturally, when he's on the court, he thinks he's the man or supposed to be the man... or worse, wants to be the man (when he simply isn't). He might know the right play or the smart play, so his BBIQ is fine, but that doesn't mean more to him because he feels like he's the next big thing and needs to get his.

[Skin]

I have hope that Cole's long-term role on this team can be a Patty Mills microwave scorer off the bench type for us. He's still got a bit to go in the shooting department to even be considered that, however.

The success of this new rebuild hinges on a top 3 pick this year imo. We need desperately to come away with a Cade/Suggs/Green.

I think he'll want a starting job and could become a distraction.

[RookieStar]

I have hope that Cole's long-term role on this team can be a Patty Mills microwave scorer off the bench type for us. He's still got a bit to go in the shooting department to even be considered that, however.

The success of this new rebuild hinges on a top 3 pick this year imo. We need desperately to come away with a Cade/Suggs/Green.

I think he'll want a starting job and could become a distraction.

I have no problems with a player wanting to be a starter. However, that player must EARN it. If cole stops the one-man show he is doing and becomes an effective combo-guard, then I dont mind him being the starting SG to go along with Fultz. Only IF he earns it.

[drsd]

99,99% of prospects don't have nba daddy who has connections with nba.com and espn to have interview about him commiting to NC.

Well, 99.99% is one in 10,000. As there has been less than 5000 NBA players in history, even Anthony alone makes this statement incorrect.

I count 93 NBA players whose father played in the NBA or ABA.

In conclusion: about 98% of NBA players "don't have nba daddy".


....


p.s. There are also 8 NBA players whose grandfather played in the NBA.