Magic Select Andrew Nicholson with 19th Pick

[gaspar]

Take a look where Ed Weiland (the guy who predicted Linsanity) had Nicholson on his big board: Link

[Logicjbr]

What a great pick, its exactly what we needed......a 3rd Stretch 4!!!


so basically we are gonna convince dwight that things are going to change by not changing anything scheme wise and downgrade at PF (once Anderson leaves), and even worse if dwight leaves we have another useless PF who wont do anything without dwights help

Was really hoping we didnt trade out of the 1st round completely, but after this pick, i wish we had

I believe this guy can get his shot off a lot easier, more consistently, and a lot prettier than Dwight. Its on D that Dwight will help Nicholson look good.

[Last Guardian]

Good news is we are shaping up to have a lot of length and athleticism on this team. Lets just hope we play and develop these guys.

[SolidSnake008]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L66QmiB0xj4&feature=relmfu[/youtube]
For those who haven't seen it this is Nicholson in his Junior year....but you can see the wide array of things he can do.....he can still get better too....i'm ok with this pick now....as long as he sees the floor that is....

[Reverse_Angle]

anybody can post what chad ford has to say at ESPN insider?

[timgator]

anybody can post what chad ford has to say at ESPN insider?

I really like Nicholson, one of the more underrated players in the draft. He's a good low-post player and he can really stretch the floor as the best-shooting big man in the draft. He needs to add muscle and he's not a great athlete, but he could be a little like David West. -- Chad Ford

[Tim Horton]

yeah. we live in the same city Mississauga. we're rootin' for ya!

[Just Plain Mark]

I don't think Nicholson and Anderson's game is identical at all. Nicholson has much more variety in his offense, both in the post and in limited penetration.

[jernigan]

I don't think Nicholson and Anderson's game is identical at all. Nicholson has much more variety in his offense, both in the post and in limited penetration.

Nicholson is LIGHT YEARS ahead of Anderson with his post game. This guy just has a real knack for getting to the rim in creative ways down low.

[KingRobb02]

I don't think Nicholson and Anderson's game is identical at all. Nicholson has much more variety in his offense, both in the post and in limited penetration.

Nicholson is LIGHT YEARS ahead of Anderson with his post game. This guy just has a real knack for getting to the rim in creative ways down low.

No one seems to remember how good Ryan was in the post at Cal.

[Logicjbr]

I don't think Nicholson and Anderson's game is identical at all. Nicholson has much more variety in his offense, both in the post and in limited penetration.

Nicholson is LIGHT YEARS ahead of Anderson with his post game. This guy just has a real knack for getting to the rim in creative ways down low.

No one seems to remember how good Ryan was in the post at Cal.

He was hustle in the post. Wasn't as fluid as Nicholson is.

[Nyce_1]

Nicholson DUNKS the ball!!!!! No more blocked layups or pussy attempts around the rim.

[Just Plain Mark]

This is what DX said about Anderson's post game coming out of Cal

When Anderson catches the ball in post, he is a little less reliable. He has good footwork, a soft touch, and good intelligence on the offensive end, but he too often finds himself trapped under the basket or turns into a double or triple team. While he is a very good passer out of the paint and has shown very nice awareness in the high post and on the perimeter, he frequently finds himself out of position on the low blocks and then is pressured into a bad shot or decision. This is a trend against big defenders such as Luke Nevill of Utah and Kevin Love of UCLA. While he does a very nice job of establishing position and posting up, once the ball gets into his hands, the results are not always as good.

This is what DX said about Nicholson:

Offensively, Nicholson relies heavily on a very refined post game that's tough to defend at this level, particularly when paired with the improving perimeter game he showed last year. With good footwork, counter moves, and an ability to finish with either hand, Nicholson has plenty of moves in the low post. According to Synergy Sports Technology, Nicholson is shooting 54% in post-up situations, while doing a solid job of drawing contact and getting to the line.

Also note that DX has Nicholson as one of the most effecient scorers (top 5 overall) among this draft's big man crop, including being in the top 5 in efficiency in post ups, jumpers, and isolation.

I don't think that DX is the end all be all of player evaluation, I just think it demonstrates that if Ryan is going to ask for a decent salary and if Nicholson could be better at PF then the Magic can use Ryan as an asset to improve the PG or SF position and improve the PF position at the same time.

[Force9024]

I loved this pick... basically we got a hybrid of brandon bass and rashard lewis in my opinion with nocholsons improved outside game but can bang inside.. personally with the rigjt coaching staff he could be a 12-14ppg 8-10 rebound guy if he wins starting spot eventually
.. and quite frankly id take that..

[TheMagicOne]

You won't believe this, but a friend of mine who is a long time college referee/official for the SEC was sold on Nicholson at the end the basketball season. He told me about him and his team is the Sixers. He was with me last night when the Sixers picked and he is just hoping and hoping Nicholson fall to them. When they passed him up, I thought he was the most miserable man I have ever seen. What made it worse is they chose a SF when he is one of those delusional Sixers fans that thinks they ware keeping Iguodala long term.

Anyway, from the start of the draft until the time the Sixers picked he was calling off stats he knew about Nicholson. Said he was just as good as any big man in the draft and went as far as to say that Nicholson is going to surprise some people that did not have him ranked high because he has the best post moves in the draft and with his height he is the most NBA ready player. He was pointing out how this kid did not play basketball hardly at all until college and was going to St. Bonaventure for Physics. He was talking about how you can see the guy thinking while he is on the floor and as an official you can see he was by far an away smarter on the floor than any of his opponents. So I trying to dog him out was saying how he came from a small school and how he should be smarter than most, etc, etc. Then he started telling me he was the next Tim Duncan (best Senior to come out of the draft in a long time in his words since Tim Duncan).

I started saying that with his height he should have had big stats in a small school regardless. His come back was that he was the sole focus of every school's defense in trying to stop him. He was not on a stacked team like Kentucky where every player had to be guarded. He was going on and on about the double and triple teams Nicholsonson would see and how he would deal with them. How he would get hacked and pulled at and then he turned a corner near mid season where he used his footwork, size and instincts to get the ball up to the rim quicker and knew what to do against his opponents BEFORE he caught the ball.

So I am actually laughing at him when the Sixers went small saying that Nicholson would be nothing in the league. That no one knew him before the draft and no one will know him after. You can imagine my surprise when the Magic chose him.

Now my buddy starts talking about how smart Hennigan is for taking him. Saying how we would be looking like the smartest team in a couple years for taking him. It did not sell me until I got home and started reading up on this guy. How some of the experts that know the game had him ranked in the top 10 in the draft and some ranked his skills among the best of the big men. I think due to his age he was not looked at as having a high ceiling. However, taking in to consideration that he was a baseball player until a Junior in High School speaks to the fact he may have a higher ceiling than most players who have been playing their entire life. For players that have been playing their entire life they do not make the strides that a player make who have never played. When you are older and can make those huge leaps because of hard work and can see the huge leaps, those players end up working harder than most because they did not grow up feeling they were entitled.

Anyway, I thought I would pass it along. I do not want to give out the name of my buddy, but he is very knowledgeable and has most of the time been dead on correct about NBA potential. For example, in 2007 he was telling me Durant would be better than LeBron James when their careers were done and that Portland made a major mistake. He also told me back when Corey Brewer was drafted that he would not be more than a flash in the pan in the NBA that he was a beneficiary of the twin towers of Horford and Noah. He had Horford and Noah ranked in the top 5 in that draft. However, he spent a couple years officiating the Gators so he has a real good knowledge of the SEC.

BTW he thinks Davis is going to be good, but he thinks he will take some time to refine himself to the NBA, that his body has a long way to go. His thoughts on Davis is that because Kentucky was so stacked with talent that you could not double on Davis and because of the lack of big men in college that Davis could score without much defense around him. But there is a reason he did not have big offensive stats, because he does not have an offensive game. He thinks he is going to develop along the lings of Dwight Howard and will have to work very hard to become an offensive force in the NBA. Defensively he thinks he will be just like Howard and change a ton of shots. He said Howard was a much better prospect than Davis. So I guess in a couple years I am hoping he is right on the money with Nicholson.

It was still pretty funny when his team passed on his guy then my team got him. my friend is in total love with Hennigan. He also really liked our second round pick. But we did not talk much about him as he had this man crush on Nicholson.

[Force9024]

MagicOne no disrespect but believe your mistaking Richardson with Nicholson... but if its true still mayne itll put more magic fans at ease.. i still love this pick this kids gonna br good

[bigmoe1952]

Take a look where Ed Weiland (the guy who predicted Linsanity) had Nicholson on his big board: Link

He also had O'Quinn at #34.

[TheMagicOne]

MagicOne no disrespect but believe your mistaking Richardson with Nicholson... but if its true still mayne itll put more magic fans at ease.. i still love this pick this kids gonna br good

Yep my bad. lol not sure why I was typing Richardson when I meant Nicholson. that is what i get for typing so fast and not reading my post. Thanks for pointing that out for me. I am still hung over from last night. Have to love NBA draft night. I always take Friday off after the draft and get tanked watching the draft. Almost like a National Holiday for me. I say you guys should try it. Love having the day off of work after the draft.

[AdamTheGreek]

He's a great prospect. I just think we could've done better. Now if you flip Baby or Ryno for a winger or a point guard...then we reassess.

Remember, Ryno posted up a lot back in college. Currently he's the product of SVG's system. He may go back to posting up under our new coach (or his next destination).

I definitely think that of Ryno, West, Al Jefferson, Nicholson is much more similar to David West.

[D12VCMagic]

Lets not go overboard calling Nicholson better than Anderson. He could be, but Ryan has been productive in the NBA, Nicholson is a question mark. I wouldn't go too far comparing how they played in college either. Ryan played in a big conference and had some battles with Kevin Love in his day, Nicholson played for St. Bonaventure and didn't play against NBA caliber talent very often, if at all.

We'll see, the dude obviously has some upside, but I still don't get the point in going PF when we needed help everywhere else.