I won't play the 'I told you so' game, it's kinda annoying, But guys... Cole Anthony is F-O-R R-E-A-L !!!
We got ourselves a very potent dynamic guard with a bright future. I think it's safe to congratulate the FO for the pick (and I am not a WeHam supporter at all).
We were only a handful of guys hoping for Cole Anthony to be available when half of the posters here doubted him big time, and about 25-30% of the regular posters straight forward hated on the guy without valid reasoning behind it. Later on draft night they were all doom & gloom in regards to the 2020 Draft and our 15th pick.
As I have already pointed out, Cole A. might end up being the best player from the last draft, but he's definitely going to end up the best value pick considering how late he was drafted and based on his net positive impact on the Magic.
Cole already proved many of his doubters and the haters wrong:
He's not so turnover-prone - actually takes good care of the ball.
He's not primarily looking for his shot - without being passive by any means on offense.
He is not going after empty stats.
Cole is not a shoot-first guard only - he brings a lot to the table.
His high motor was not overstated - we saw him play in 7 games including the pre-season and he is relentless.
He's not a liability on defense - actually, I'm pretty impressed, he's shown he is capable of disrupting the opposing guards, misses some assignments but that will be fixed by itself when he gets a few games under his belt, not worried at all. Also, he was robbed by a few steals already by the stats guys, remember the play in the later 3rd when he jumped on the floor and was able to snatch the ball away with his pure hustle - well, 0 steals in the boxscore.
Cole manages to keep all his teammates in the 2nd unit engaged - Ross is thriving because we see a lot less triple-teaming against him, defenses respect Cole's shot and they absolutely should, logically Ross' 3pt% went straight up and Cole is piling up assists.
Cole is not a senseless chucker and does not take bad shots - all of his offense is in rhythm and I haven't seen him taking shots he couldn't make on a regular basis. If we exclude some late shotclock shots situations from deep 3, his FG% is not bad at all.
He might be undersized - he might not. He shows tremendous toughness early in his rookie career and so far I haven't seen any troublesome signs regarding his height or weight, or size in general. Cole holds his ground both on O & D.
He is coachable and willing to listen and develop his game every single day - he was already praised by the veterans and coaching staff. And we know coach Cliff does not throw empty compliments around, he doesn't like to waste his words, especially when he praises someone for the job well done.
Cole has a positive impact from the moment he steps in on the floor, which cannot be said for all of our recent draft picks.
He is a good and capable playmaker - currently leads the team in assists as a rookie with 3 games of experience, no offseason to prepare mentally and physically, no summer league or training camp.
He looks like a natural leader. He is vocal and active in all aspects of the game, both on and off the court. He will become one of our team leaders as soon as he earns the respect of the veterans, perhaps after his rookie season.
Cole absolutely CAN be a part of a winning culture and successful team, despite his atrocious college team - look at our record so far in the early season, the standings are not so bad.
And perhaps the most important argument - Cole's playing style fits perfectly on our team and he looks like the huge missing piece of the puzzle we were finally able to fit in the right place at the right time considering our stage of development.
And yes, he looks more than ready for the challenge in the NBA - has a solid NBA background as I said before. Guy has a big heart and is super motivated to succeed. Something we cannot say for Bamba or Mario or ...
All of the arguments listed above were questioned here in this thread during the Draft, after the Draft and up to this day. I think most of them need to be put to rest.
Cole Da Predator is a baller and I truly believe he might end up as the best draft pick in 2020 considering we used the 15th on him.
Now, just think about that - I know it is still early...small sample size...not enough data, blah, blah, blah...
But still, take a look at the other rookies! Who would you rather have after we've seen their skills and performance so far?
Edwards does not look like anything special yet. He's lacking polish and some basic basketball skills, he's a project and the guy will need a lot of work to live up to the top pick expectations. Good/excellent athlete that might have made a mistake when choosing his professional sport.
Okoro hasn't shown anything yet.
Lamelo Ball has skills but no reliable shot. Good playmaker, resourceful and inventive with the ball but looks too much like Lonzo, no positive impact yet.
We already saw Deni Avdija, I like the boy, he has NBA future but is too green and far away from a solid contributor.
Vassell looked good in the preseason, not so much in real games. The jury is still out on him.
Kira Lewis seems to be injured.
Kilian Hayes is nowhere special, at least yet. Not impressed by him so far, he was advertised as a pure playmaker that can handle both guard slots.
Wiseman is good, but we were in the market for a guard and not a C.
Tyrese Haliburton looks solid, but I still prefer Cole as I believe he has a way higher ceiling.
Who else??? Aaron Nesmith does not seem ready yet, Aleksej Pokuševski is not a contributor yet.
Want more examples??? Hmm, let's see - Desmond Bane used to have a lot of crying supporters around here before the draft, not so many left after. No surprise he was picked so late, most NBA GMs are not total morons.
They are not so impressive so far, huh? And there was a lot of high lottery picks used on them.
I think we did more than fine in this draft and got the steal in the draft for a change after the not so good previous picks we made (Bamba, Hezonja, Iwundu, Fraizer, trading Sabonis on draft night, trading for Payton, etc.).
Jeff Weltman, asked about his 2020 draft pick ColePredator:
It's good to see tables are turning and Cole starts to get some love and recognition from the Magic fanbase.
, some people were actually seriously concerned whether he will bring some outside hate from other fanbases with him in Orlando. There were some serious concerns expressed here and a lot of debates.
