Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
Kyle O’Quinn needs to have the best summer of basketball of his entire life. If he does, he still might have a bright NBA future.
The Orlando Magic will be patient with a lot of players this season, including O’Quinn, but he’s not going to have a free pass in his endeavors to make it in the league. He showed signs of outstanding potential in his first season with the Magic.
But Orlando, with another top draft pick, will have another outstanding rookie coming in and the Magic will probably want to bring in some veterans to even things out.
Exactly what will O’Quinn’s role be with the team? That will depend on who the Magic take in the draft and keep on the roster.
They need him to mix it up big time inside and to be as effective as he possibly can be. He averaged 4.1 points per game and 3.7 rebounds per game last season. He faltered late in the season, but still held his own at various times.
But he needs to produce more next season or else the Magic will need someone else to fill his spot, especially someone who is going to develop into a strong NBA player. That might be O’Quinn, but he’ll have to show it with better numbers next year. He averaged 11.2 minutes per game, which needs to go up. His 51.3 percent shooting from the floor was OK, but that could be better. Better numbers will make O’Quinn a much better player next year. And a better O’Quinn will mean a better Magic team.
