Cole World: Orlando Magic Select Cole Anthony at #15

[Message Boar]

Well, in the short term he looks like a good tank commander (or lieutenant) who at least will be kinda fun to watch at times while we lose games (which, let's face it, we should do a lot of next season).

Long term -if things turn out well- he could maybe become a Lou Williams-type player from the look of things? He's probably not as athletic as a young Lou though. Just from the short research I've done on him so far. At least he seems to have some potential to be able to shoot 3's off the dribble, which is refreshing.

You don't become mvp of all of those high school all-star games without having a modicum of offensive talent, so I'm optimistic that he'll become more efficient fairly early on in his career.

[jonbob17]

It just really makes me very nervous to casually explain away all of a player’s struggles due to the circumstances around him.

Even if all that stuff is 100% accurate and it was the worst UNC team in decades, it was still *North freaking Carolina* hoops.

You would hope to see a player who is that talented actually be able to overcome his obstacles and not be ruined by them.

Exactly. Do you hear Grant Riller complaining about the talent around him at Charleston, or Flynn at SDSU? Trae young at Oklahoma.
These guys were still effecient and scored well, even though everybody could collapse defenses on them.

I don't hate the pick. His NC stats is a small sample size. I think we should weight the prep career too, and I do think he has plenty of upside. There are plenty of concerns. One is his age, he is already 20 and a half, a year older than most of these other freshman. Lack of passing. It does seem like you need a PG that can score the ball in the modern nba. I would have certainly like to see us trade up into the mid lottery, but apparently we don't have the assets (outside future picks) to get that done.

[MagicFrenchie]

What y'all waiting for with the 15 th pick in a meh draft?
Getting the next Lebron? Some of yall gotta chill.

I think that's a good pick , this can turn out to be a hell of a steal , this kid is dying for basketball and is determined to prove all the doubters wrong.We needed scoring/ shooting and a secondary PG , fits perfectly.
And besides that , that could catch some media attention with his basketball pedigree and hype over him over last years which can't be negative for this organisation.

Great pick.

[Knightro]

Like I said, I can see a path where if *everything* goes right on Anthony’s developmental track that he’s exactly what this team was looking for in terms of being a three-level scorer in the backcourt.

I’m just not particularly confident that he’s going to get there.

I guess my hope is that if he doesn’t reach his full potential, that he’s still a useful player with a role and not a total washout.

[Bigmagicfan82]

It just really makes me very nervous to casually explain away all of a player’s struggles due to the circumstances around him.

Even if all that stuff is 100% accurate and it was the worst UNC team in decades, it was still *North freaking Carolina* hoops.

You would hope to see a player who is that talented actually be able to overcome his obstacles and not be ruined by them.

Exactly. Do you hear Grant Riller complaining about the talent around him at Charleston, or Flynn at SDSU? Trae young at Oklahoma.
These guys were still effecient and scored well, even though everybody could collapse defenses on them.

I don't hate the pick. His NC stats is a small sample size. I think we should weight the prep career too, and I do think he has plenty of upside. There are plenty of concerns. One is his age, he is already 20 and a half, a year older than most of these other freshman. Lack of passing. It does seem like you need a PG that can score the ball in the modern nba. I would have certainly like to see us trade up into the mid lottery, but apparently we don't have the assets (outside future picks) to get that done.

If I remember correctly, wasn't one of the complaints against Trae Young that he took inefficient shots and he was a chucker. I remember a lot of people wondered if he would translate to the next level.

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[Blue_and_Whte]

I'm just going full blind homer mode and jumping on.

Hell yeah!

[pepe1991]

Worst case Telfair best case Jordan Clarkson. That range...

[basketballRob]

Anthony was one of the highest PG's in ESPN top 100 rankings. He's also near the identical size as Kyrie.

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[Knightro]

If I remember correctly, wasn't one of the complaints against Trae Young that he took inefficient shots and he was a chucker. I remember a lot of people wondered if he would translate to the next level.

Yes that was a complaint for Young, but there are two things to consider...

1. Despite being a wild chucker, Young was still a lot more efficient than Anthony. Cole had a .501 TS% compared to Trae’s .585 TS%. Massive gap.

2. Young was also an elite playmaker in college, with an AST% of 48.6%. Anthony’s was just 24.1%.

A less efficient Trae Young as a scorer without the elite passing is a dangerous recipe.

[basketballRob]

Clifford's experience with Walker might help. He went from shooting 366 his first year to being an allstar. Cole will be 20 his first year compared to 21 for Walker.

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[Anti Chalmers]

Let’s wait until he gets some run before getting upset over the pick. It’s quite refreshing to see magic go after a scorer.

[Knightro]

Worst case Telfair best case Jordan Clarkson. That range...

This is a little too harsh for me.

I think Anthony’s jumper is better than his percentages indicate.

His percentages were dragged down more by his desire to take low percentage shots, not his ability/inability to make high percentage shots.

If he had a busted form or bad mechanics, I’d be more worried about his potential as a shooter. It feels like more of a “this guy needs to be reigned in” problem then a “this guy can’t shoot” problem.

Finishing in traffic on the other hand, that does feel like it is a legitimate problem.

[tiderulz]

It just really makes me very nervous to casually explain away all of a player’s struggles due to the circumstances around him.

Even if all that stuff is 100% accurate and it was the worst UNC team in decades, it was still *North freaking Carolina* hoops.

You would hope to see a player who is that talented would actually be able to overcome his obstacles and not be ruined by them.

if he could, he would be a top-5 pick. there is a reason he was available at 15.

I look at him to maybe be a Lou Williams type of role. scoring guard off the bench. maybe he can become more maybe not. At least the front office actually took an offensively talented player instead of just a measurables player.

[tiderulz]

It just really makes me very nervous to casually explain away all of a player’s struggles due to the circumstances around him.

Even if all that stuff is 100% accurate and it was the worst UNC team in decades, it was still *North freaking Carolina* hoops.

You would hope to see a player who is that talented actually be able to overcome his obstacles and not be ruined by them.

Exactly. Do you hear Grant Riller complaining about the talent around him at Charleston, or Flynn at SDSU? Trae young at Oklahoma.
These guys were still effecient and scored well, even though everybody could collapse defenses on them.

I don't hate the pick. His NC stats is a small sample size. I think we should weight the prep career too, and I do think he has plenty of upside. There are plenty of concerns. One is his age, he is already 20 and a half, a year older than most of these other freshman. Lack of passing. It does seem like you need a PG that can score the ball in the modern nba. I would have certainly like to see us trade up into the mid lottery, but apparently we don't have the assets (outside future picks) to get that done.

i dont remember Young being efficient at all at Oklahoma. he shot 32% from 3 in conference. volume scorer and very good passer, but not efficient at all.

[tiderulz]

If I remember correctly, wasn't one of the complaints against Trae Young that he took inefficient shots and he was a chucker. I remember a lot of people wondered if he would translate to the next level.

Yes that was a complaint for Young, but there are two things to consider...

1. Despite being a wild chucker, Young was still a lot more efficient than Anthony. Cole had a .501 TS% compared to Trae’s .585 TS%. Massive gap.

2. Young was also an elite playmaker in college, with an AST% of 48.6%. Anthony’s was just 24.1%.

A less efficient Trae Young as a scorer without the elite passing is a dangerous recipe.

but was Young hurt? only takes very small things to throw off a players shot. change the way you jump and move.

Kemba was supposed to be a chucker coming out of college too and Clifford molded him. Will be interesting to watch. i didnt expect a savior at 15, this is actually what i expected, take a chance on a player. Yes, i would have preferred Nesmith too, but isnt Okeke supposed to fit the mold of a 3 & D SF? guess we will have to see.

[Dub_Sax]

I was hoping for nesmith. Once he was gone, I was hoping "not hampton"..
We'll have to see how Cole pans out.
Seems like weham have changed their player type. First it was long, athletic. Now, it seems to be "highly rated but overlooked due to injury".

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[tiderulz]

Worst case Telfair best case Jordan Clarkson. That range...

This is a little too harsh for me.

I think Anthony’s jumper is better than his percentages indicate.

His percentages were dragged down more by his desire to take low percentage shots, not his ability/inability to make high percentage shots.

If he had a busted form or bad mechanics, I’d be more worried about his potential as a shooter. It feels like more of a “this guy needs to be reigned in” problem then a “this guy can’t shoot” problem.

Finishing in traffic on the other hand, that does feel like it is a legitimate problem.

well its Pepe so what did you expect

[Knightro]

Yes, i would have preferred Nesmith too, but isnt Okeke supposed to fit the mold of a 3 & D SF? guess we will have to see.

I don't think he is, no.

Okeke is a PF to me. I think he could be a really good one too, but he's a 4 in my eyes.

[jonbob17]

It just really makes me very nervous to casually explain away all of a player’s struggles due to the circumstances around him.

Even if all that stuff is 100% accurate and it was the worst UNC team in decades, it was still *North freaking Carolina* hoops.

You would hope to see a player who is that talented actually be able to overcome his obstacles and not be ruined by them.

Exactly. Do you hear Grant Riller complaining about the talent around him at Charleston, or Flynn at SDSU? Trae young at Oklahoma.
These guys were still effecient and scored well, even though everybody could collapse defenses on them.

I don't hate the pick. His NC stats is a small sample size. I think we should weight the prep career too, and I do think he has plenty of upside. There are plenty of concerns. One is his age, he is already 20 and a half, a year older than most of these other freshman. Lack of passing. It does seem like you need a PG that can score the ball in the modern nba. I would have certainly like to see us trade up into the mid lottery, but apparently we don't have the assets (outside future picks) to get that done.

i dont remember Young being efficient at all at Oklahoma. he shot 32% from 3 in conference. volume scorer and very good passer, but not efficient at all.

I was talking about the excuse on how defenses play when there isn't talent around you. Defenses don't collapse on 3 point attempts. Trae shot 49% on 9 attempts a game on 2pt attempts. Anthony 40% on 6 attempts.

Trae shot 36% from 3 fwiw, and he has been a 34% 3point shooter as a pro, which is fine

[Blue_and_Whte]

I like the pick. Don’t love it, but the guys I loved for this team all literally got taken 11-14. It always seems like we are always just barely out of position to draft the players we need.

I’m interested in seeing how he can develop though, he has scoring ability but I question the efficiency. But we honestly really need some scoring off the bench, so it can work out. It was the right pick to make with what was available.

I think what I've learned to like about him is his work ethic, fire, competitiveness, passion, and love of the game. Alot of that is stuff you cant teach and it rubs off on teammates.

I didn't like how he played at UNC, but I understand that it may have been a product of the roster and their need for him to be their #1 scoring option. That was evident with their downfall as soon as he went down. The efficiency and finishing at the rim is a concern but we need to wait and see how it all unfolds. The NBA is a completely different animal, he'll have the spacing and much better talent around him.