Who do you want us to take at #1?

[RookieStar]

*sigh* it's too early guys. Instead of "flavor of the month" we probably have "flavor of the hour"

How much you wanna bet,once we see a "leaked" video of Jabari athletically dunking from the FT line, or Paolo firing up 15 straight 3s in an open gym or Chet eating a 5lb hamburger our opinion and crazy hot takes will immediately shift.

Just enjoy the moment and wait for more info. Remember that saying " A wise man can change opinion with new facts" or something. Well, we don't even have one of them in our gym yet.

[VFX]

How much you wanna bet,once we see a "leaked" video of Jabari athletically dunking from the FT line, or Paolo firing up 15 straight 3s in an open gym or Chet eating a 5lb hamburger our opinion and crazy hot takes will immediately shift.

It's inevitable.

Everyone has their favorite. The FO probably already know who they are taking. Half of fans will be pissed with whoever they take.

[RookieStar]

How much you wanna bet,once we see a "leaked" video of Jabari athletically dunking from the FT line, or Paolo firing up 15 straight 3s in an open gym or Chet eating a 5lb hamburger our opinion and crazy hot takes will immediately shift.

It's inevitable.

Everyone has their favorite. The FO probably already know who they are taking. Half of fans will be pissed with whoever they take.

I think same as this board. A lot of posters already know who they want, they are just waiting for more info to validate their decision.
Which is sad.... we should be ready and willing to change minds quickly with new info. However, you are right, whoever we pick will have half of the board pissed at him. lol

[ORL_on_FIRE]

It's been about 2 years since the last time I posted, I do lurk from time to time though. It's nice to see the same core of Magic fans still here grinding this thing out. I hope all is well. I find myself in the endless cycle of watching tape on the top 3 prospects over and over as if I'm going to see something different that sways me into making a decision. Yet here I am after countless hours with zero idea.

I will be okay with whatever option they take and I am extremely excited about the future of our team!

[cedric76]

Just for funsies... here's a stat comparison between two players:

Paolo Banchero (per 40):
Points: 20.9 (53% from 2, 34% from 3)
Rebounds: 9.5
Assists: 3.9 (Turnovers: 2.9)
Steals: 1.3
Blocks: 1.1

Cade Cunningham @ OSU (per 40):
Points: 22.8 (46% from 2, 40% from 3)
Rebounds: 7
Assists: 3.9 (Turnovers: 4.6)
Steals: 1.8
Blocks: .9

If Cade was a consensus #1 last year, and most of us wanted him pre-lotto last year, why isn't Paolo an easy #1 this year? Paolo is 4-5 inches taller than Cade and is just as much of a playmaker as Cade - with fewer turnovers. Sure, Paolo doesn't shoot the 3 as good as Cade (though Cade only shot 31% his rookie year), but 34% is still respectable and he can get easier buckets in the paint when shots aren't falling because of his size.

What about comparing Jabari and Paolo?

https://www.tankathon.com/players/compare?players=paolo-banchero--jabari-smith


JABARI SMITH PAOLO BANCHERO
PROFILE Profile Profile
MOCK #2 to OKC #3 to HOU
BIG BOARD #2 #3
POSITION PF PF
TEAM Auburn Duke
YEAR Freshman Freshman
HEIGHT 6'10" 6'10"
WEIGHT 210 lbs 250 lbs
DRAFT AGE 19.10 yrs 19.60 yrs
GAMES 34 39
MINUTES 28.8 33.0
JABARI SMITH PAOLO BANCHERO
STATS BELOW ARE PER-36-MINUTES
POINTS 21.2 18.8
REBOUNDS 9.3 8.5
ASSISTS 2.5 3.5
BLOCKS 1.3 1.0
STEALS 1.4 1.1
TURNOVERS 2.3 2.6
FOULS 2.6 2.1
JABARI SMITH PAOLO BANCHERO
FG 6.7-15.7 6.9-14.4
FG% .429 .478
3P 2.9-6.9 1.2-3.6
3P% .420 .338
FT 4.8-6.0 3.8-5.3
FT% .799 .729
JABARI SMITH PAOLO BANCHERO
TS% .570 .557
EFG% .521 .520
3PA RATE .440 .253
FTA RATE .384 .366
PROJ NBA3 .382 .343
JABARI SMITH PAOLO BANCHERO
USG% 27.6 27.5
PER 25.1 24.2
OWS/40 .131 .124
DWS/40 .094 .068
WS/40 .229 .190
ORTG 116.5 113.8
DRTG 90.7 98.1
OBPM 7.4 5.4
DBPM 3.8 2.3
BPM 11.1 7.7

[basketballRob]

Jabari just posted on Instagram a mock draft of him going to the Magic.

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

[DiplomaticMagic]

early word among rival executives and league personnel at this week’s NBA Draft Combine suggests a strong possibility Orlando will favor Gonzaga 7-footer Chet Holmgren.

Finally some Chet Magic hype! Jake fischer was the one reoorting that Raptors were leaning Barnes over Suggs.

really? a strong possibility we will favor him? he is one of the top-3 prospects, of course there is a possibility of that .

not meant to be mean to you DM.

Its okay.

I forgot to post the link to that story

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10036369-nba-draft-buzz-insiders-explain-why-chet-holmgren-makes-sense-at-no-1

[RookieStar]

Jabari just posted on Instagram a mock draft of him going to the Magic.

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

Any top 5... heck any draftee would post something where they are #1

[basketballRob]

The typical Magic fan right now.

Watch on YouTube

[ogmagicfan]

The push yall are making for Banchero is having me see him in a better light.

I'm still going for Jabari Smith however. His dribbling is not as bad as people are making it seem, and if anything is very efficient and tight when dribbling into his shot which it seems he did a majority of the time when hitting jumpers at Auburn when watching film. Reducing him to a catch & shoot shooter is just dishonest. He has a foundation of dribbling that he can absolutely grow into.

Other weaknesses of his is finishing at the rim, and rim protection. I'm not too worried about his rim protection and I believe he'll become an exceptional help side defender.

Finishing at the rim is something he'll have to buckle down and work on heavily in the offseason. His percentage at the rim isn't bad at all and is frankly average (around 61.5-64% from numbers I've seen), 2 pt shot percentage is lower than any other top 5 player because he's such a jump shot heavy player. He'll need to work on balancing his game more and I believe adding weight will help him when it comes to rim protection & finishing at the rim.

One thing that's underrated is his ability to get to the FT line even as a jump shot dominant player. Once he starts attacking the rim more once he joins the league he should be going to the FT line at Superstar levels. Which is something that has been missing from the Magic since the Dwight years. Pretty sure we've been bottom 10 in the league in FT attempts since Dwight left.

With Jabari's great work ethic, I see no reason why he can't improve on those weaknesses, and why I think he should be the #1 pick.

[fateis007]

The typical Magic fan right now.

Watch on YouTube

lol that was good

[basketballRob]

The typical Magic fan right now.

Watch on YouTube

lol that was good

He could be half of the people that post here.

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

[swarlesbarkley]

Just for funsies... here's a stat comparison between two players:

Paolo Banchero (per 40):
Points: 20.9 (53% from 2, 34% from 3)
Rebounds: 9.5
Assists: 3.9 (Turnovers: 2.9)
Steals: 1.3
Blocks: 1.1

Cade Cunningham @ OSU (per 40):
Points: 22.8 (46% from 2, 40% from 3)
Rebounds: 7
Assists: 3.9 (Turnovers: 4.6)
Steals: 1.8
Blocks: .9

If Cade was a consensus #1 last year, and most of us wanted him pre-lotto last year, why isn't Paolo an easy #1 this year? Paolo is 4-5 inches taller than Cade and is just as much of a playmaker as Cade - with fewer turnovers. Sure, Paolo doesn't shoot the 3 as good as Cade (though Cade only shot 31% his rookie year), but 34% is still respectable and he can get easier buckets in the paint when shots aren't falling because of his size.

What about comparing Jabari and Paolo?

https://www.tankathon.com/players/compare?players=paolo-banchero--jabari-smith

Really hard to read that Ced. I think we all know the comparison between Jabari and Paolo - my point was that everyone was gushing over Cade last year while Paolo could be a very similar player in an a more imposing body if a team decides to let him be the primary playmaker.

[davey_wavy]

I’d let the Italian Dream Banchero fall to 3, then trade down to grab him & young stud.

[thelead]

I'm still leaning Jabari... so that next year we can land Victor Wembanyama

[penny_nz]

So from my reading one of the biggest weakness with Paolo is his J, what's people's thoughts about how "broken" it is. I am thoroughly worn out by drafting people and developing their shot, but the rest of Paolo's game does sound excellent.

Was their also a observation about his motor? Definitely want us to keep building that core of attitudes / motor like Suggs and Franz.

[Howard Mass]

The more and more I think about it, the more and more I am sold on Jabari Smith.

[Hogified05]

Thats why i am on crusade right now, its unbelieveble !!! I love Holmgren but come on, Banchero is obvious number one pick for us. Everybody is crying for 10 years that only thing we need is to hit on oversized playmaker. When the luck is on our side and we have opportunity to draft a prospect whose stats are comparable or better than last years "phenom" or "young wonder" Tatum we just overhype 6'10 shooter who cant dribble, pass or finish at the rim. I dont understand it.

When I watch Banchero all I see is a poor man's Carmelo. He is not going be some remarkable player maker in the pros. His size won't mean as much in the NBA as it did at Duke imo. Plus I don't want him to be a play maker for our team that's for Fultz and Franz. I just don't see him aging well either. He lumbers at times to me like he is too heavy now. I can talk myself into him but i'd be the least excited for him. I think he is clearly 3 behind Jabari and Chet. Jabari just feels like the most appropriate fit for this team. He doesn't need to be this all world ball handler with Fultz and Franz he just needs to score. Then Chet to me is just hoping he becomes all world and top 5 player in the NBA once he gets weight on him, big if right now.

I'd expect to be good quicker with Jabari. I'd have more patience and higher hopes with Chet. I'd just expect Paulo to maybe make an all-star game or two and not really effect much winning like Melo expect less so.

[bigdogdylan5]

How much you wanna bet,once we see a "leaked" video of Jabari athletically dunking from the FT line, or Paolo firing up 15 straight 3s in an open gym or Chet eating a 5lb hamburger our opinion and crazy hot takes will immediately shift.

It's inevitable.

Everyone has their favorite. The FO probably already know who they are taking. Half of fans will be pissed with whoever they take.

Extremely inevitable. 90% of fans were rioting at the Franz pick while Suggs pick had everyone was happy. Maybe they might know what they are doing? Over someone who watched a ten minute YouTube video?

[RookieStar]

How much you wanna bet,once we see a "leaked" video of Jabari athletically dunking from the FT line, or Paolo firing up 15 straight 3s in an open gym or Chet eating a 5lb hamburger our opinion and crazy hot takes will immediately shift.

It's inevitable.

Everyone has their favorite. The FO probably already know who they are taking. Half of fans will be pissed with whoever they take.

Extremely inevitable. 90% of fans were rioting at the Franz pick while Suggs pick had everyone was happy. Maybe they might know what they are doing? Over someone who watched a ten minute YouTube video?

But why?
Without the haters and crazy hot takes, is this even the Magic board anymore?