Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Pretend, for a moment, that the Orlando Magic coaches and administrators, plus their fans, are watching the June 27th NBA draft and the announcement is that the Cleveland Cavaliers picked up Ben McLemore, the 6-foot-5 freshman shooting guard from Kansas.
How devastated will the Magic be if McLemore is gone?
Because they want a shooting guard like McLemore very badly, the Magic are hoping the Cavaliers pick Nerlens Noel instead.
Initial thoughts were that McLemore would be No. 2 behind Noel, but that was before Noel sustained a knee injury. Now he isn’t expected to be ready to start working out until October or November, and that would disrupt his rookie season.
But there are many more reasons why the Magic would prefer to take McLemore.
The main reason is that he’s considered the purest jump shooter in the draft. He will give the Magic plenty of tools on the basketball court that the they presently don’t have. Scouting reports on McLemore point out that he’s an explosive leaper, is a very good rebounder for his size and has a very good release with his jumper. One trouble spot could be the attitude that he’s not all that effective shooting the ball off the dribble.
But the talk is that with some work, he’ll eventually become as dangerous of a shooter as there is in the NBA. If that’s the case, the Orlando Magic are dearly hoping he’ll be on their side. But it all depends on what the Cavaliers do.
