Of all the teams that needed a future All-Star, from this draft, it was the Orlando Magic. Their greatest ever players Shaquile O’Neal, more known for his time with the Lakers, and Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway, who had his career severely hampered by injuries, last played for the Magic over 30-years ago.
It has been a long while since a true star has been seen in Orlando.
Now, some may say Dwight Howard has been the team’s most recent superstar, though that would be overstating his efference in Orlando (in my opinion). His defensive stats were always great, though his offensive production could never compare to Shaq’s during the Hall of Famers’ time with the Magic.
Sure, he led the Magic to a few 1st place finishes in the old Southeast Division, but the Magic under Howard never reached the NBA Finals as they did with Penney Hardaway and Shaq in the 1993. Howard was never the offensive phenome that Shaq was, and never had the assist machine that was Penny Hardaway.
Yet, Paolo Banchero might just become Orlando’s new Shaq.
By drafting a pure scorer in Paolo Banchero, the Magic are obviously trying to recreate the success they had in the 1990’s with Penny and Shaq.
The 6-foot-10 forward was a monster at Duke, putting up a career average of 17.2 PPG, 7.8 Rebounds, and 3.2 Assists in a Blue Devils’ jersey. Also, he was “the guy” in his last season at college, leading Duke to a Final Four berth of the NCAA tournament last year. Clearly, Banchero is not only a natural scorer, but also a guy who can lead his teams to success.
And the Magic desperately need success. Since 2010, Orlando has only reached the playoffs FIVE times out of a possible TWELEVE attempts. And three of those came from 2010-2012. So, in the past ten years (2012-2022), they have only reached the playoffs three times (2012, 2019, 2020).
That is obviously not good enough, and Magic fans have had every right to complain and bemoan the woes of their most recent teams.
Nevertheless, it seems Magic upper management has heard the fans as they are nearing completion on the rebuild. Adding Paolo Banchero really should be the final piece of the ever-complex Magic puzzle (though, it’s been more like a jigsaw). Already having drafted Franz Wagner (SF: 15.2 PPG, 4.5 Reb, 2.9 Ast), Cole Anthony (PG: 14.9 PPG, 5.4 Reb, 5.7 Ast), and Jalen Suggs (SG: 11.8 PPG, 3.6 Reb, 4.4 Ast), the Magic just needed one more scoring forward to complete their rebuild.
And now they have that.
If Banchero can strike gold in the NBA this upcoming season, I don’t see why the Magic can end their two-year playoff drought and be competing for the NBA championship next year.
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