With the 22nd pick in the first round, the Magic select...
SG Courtney Lee (6'5", 200 pounds) of Western Kentucky, who averaged 20.4 PPG on 47.7% FG shooting, including 39.7% on 3 PT FGs this past season. He scored 20 pts or more in 19 of the 36 games he played in, including 3 games of 30 pts or more with a season-high of 33 pts.
Here is a scouting report on Lee from Yahoo.com:
Lee has dominated the Sun Belt for the last few years with his efficient and versatile style of play. He is able to score a number of ways from the outside, whether it be via his silky-smooth three-point shot or pull-up jumper off the bounce. He has a high basketball IQ and rarely forces the issue, letting the game come to him while keeping a calm demeanor at all times on the floor. He rebounds the ball well for a shooting guard and has shown nice court vision when creating for others. Defensively he has established himself as one of the top shooting guards in this draft, and does a very nice job of getting in the passing lanes for deflections.
Lee is not an incredibly explosive athlete, and is not very creative off the dribble, leading one to question whether or not he will able to create his own shot in the NBA. Lee has shown the tendency to get somewhat passive at times, and has somewhat small hands and average height and length.
Lee might be the most versatile shooting guard the draft has to offer and projects as an outstanding complementary player in the NBA.
Here is a scouting report on Lee from Yahoo.com:
Lee has dominated the Sun Belt for the last few years with his efficient and versatile style of play. He is able to score a number of ways from the outside, whether it be via his silky-smooth three-point shot or pull-up jumper off the bounce. He has a high basketball IQ and rarely forces the issue, letting the game come to him while keeping a calm demeanor at all times on the floor. He rebounds the ball well for a shooting guard and has shown nice court vision when creating for others. Defensively he has established himself as one of the top shooting guards in this draft, and does a very nice job of getting in the passing lanes for deflections.
Lee is not an incredibly explosive athlete, and is not very creative off the dribble, leading one to question whether or not he will able to create his own shot in the NBA. Lee has shown the tendency to get somewhat passive at times, and has somewhat small hands and average height and length.
Lee might be the most versatile shooting guard the draft has to offer and projects as an outstanding complementary player in the NBA.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 12:56 AM
8 Comments:
At 7:53 AM,
WeRDevos said…
Magic love drafting SG's who either can't shoot, or are not athletic enough to create a shot.
#11 pick JJ Redick must be thrilled to have another shooting specialist who can't get open sit next to him on the bench.
At 9:49 AM,
Matt said…
Stupid move. This idea of picking the best player available at the time of the pick is flawed if one is not able to get any trade opportunity for the a player at the position which needs most attention. With TOR's trade we will need to fortify C/PF position more than ever. What was the status of C/PFs available at the time of the pick?
At 2:03 PM,
Big Figure said…
Well,the status of PF/C's left on the board at the time of #22 pick really werent rated very high,and we didnt have a second round pick so we couldnt go big first guard later. I truely beleive we got the best player available at #22,lee should be able to compete from day one for a starting position. Earlier in the week i was watching an espn draft preview where espn's jay bilus was asked who he thought was a sleeper in this draft,he says "i think courtney lee will be a very good nba player,people are underating his talent. He does everything well and is a fierce competitor". I was thinking there's no way he'd still be on the board when we picked,i'm not sure if you guys have seen his highlight package but let me tell you,the kid can create his own shot that scouting report is hogwash i watched him beat his defender left and right to the basket for lay-ups,dunks in transition,plus he can shoot it from anywhere,he's actually what you would have if you put bogans and evans together. Good pick at that spot,nobody else could have been drafted that high,the bigs available were undersized college PF's and european un-proven C's.
At 3:39 PM,
WeRDevos said…
Bogans looked really good in college too.
I would have preferred we take a chance on Arthur who fell all the way to 27. I believe we'll be regretting the Lee selection for years to come.
But we're used to that feeling.
At 4:25 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Yeah, a lot of Magic fans wanted Arthur.
He averaged 12.8 ppg and 6.2 rebounds last season, and scored 20 points to lead Kansas in the championship game, and has considerable upside.
However, he has a lot of weaknesses that come into play, according to the Yahoo.com scouting report...
"Arthur tends to lose focus when it comes to boxing out and often finds himself outfought by a smaller player for a rebound. Defensively, he tends to pick up fouls quickly and often gets caught napping on help-side rotations. He has had less than a stellar showing during the regular season, battling serious bouts of inconsistency throughout, especially considering his lofty expectations entering the season. There are question marks about his intangibles and overall drive and whether he has the willingness to reach his considerable upside."
Also, he only played two years of college. I doubt if he would have been able to help the Magic much this season; maybe several years down the road he will fulfill his potential.
There's no question Lee is much more ready to play in the NBA; according to the Yahoo.com scouting report, Lee "might be the most versatile shooting guard the draft has to offer and projects as an outstanding complementary player in the NBA."
I don't agree with the gloom and doom of some who think the Magic made a mistake drafting Lee. Let's give him a chance to see how he does before criticizing the pick. I think it will work out well, despite the Magic's poor draft picks in the past.
At 4:04 AM,
OVERWADED said…
I think Courtney Lee was a good selection for the Magic.
My only complaint was that they choose not to buy a second-round pick. The prices were very minimal, but when asked about why they didn't try to get a second-rounder, Orlando responded by saying "the cost was too high".
By the way:
Teams wanted $200,000 to buy into the top half of the second round and $150,000 for a late second-round selection.
That's all?
I just think it would have been worth the cost to possibly land a guy like #33 Dorsey, #34 Chalmers, #35 Jordan, #36 Asik, and #40 CDR.
But we still have a long off-season to go. Hopefully Otis decides to do something, rather than play his typical sit and wait-play it safe routine.
At 5:30 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Valid point, OVERWADED. Any one of those guys you mentioned would have been worth a second round pick.
It'll be interesting to see who the Magic can sign with the MLE later this summer.
Also, how many of their free agents are they going to attempt to re-sign (Arroyo, Dooling, Evans).
At 4:17 PM,
Big Figure said…
Yeah i agree,i was a little angry watching the draft just knowing that at some point we'd move/trade into the second round and it never came. As far as our free-agents go,we just made an offer to james,and they've already told keyon they want him back. Who's left? Mo,carlos,pat and adonyl. We'll probably wait and see if mo evans gets blown out of the water with a deal before we tip our hand,otis has already said that he'd be welcomed back at the right price. Adonyl pretty much the same thing,and also he may leave for playing time which he got none in the play-offs basically. Carlos and pat are probably done here.
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