During the last season, our Orlando Magic did what I always do with The Railroad in Fallout 4, and chose the nuclear option blowing up the roster. Vucevic, Aaron Gordon, and Evan Fournier were all traded away for a slew of picks and some interesting young talent. Finally after years of existing in a mediocre basketball wasteland, the Magic set themselves up pretty to choose in at the top of a draft that features four potential all-stars. Alas, the basketball gods hate me and the city beautiful, and despite having a 52% chance of drafting in a vaunted top 4, the Magic dropped to number five overall in the upcoming draft in July. Now Orlando is coachless, starless, and on the outside looking in of a top heavy draft. With just over a month until to go, Orlando has more questions to answer this offseason.

What do we do about the draft in July?

As of right now, less than 24 hours after the draft lottery, most reputable mocks have the Magic taking G-League star Jonathan Kuminga at number 5. At pick 8 there are many variants, so we’ll just have to take a look at these five players.

The Prospects:

Jalen Green (G) G-League Ignite

At 6’5 Jalen Green is considered to be the 3rd best prospect in this draft, has one of the highest ceilings of any guard in this draft. Think of Green as a Bradley Beal clone. He can score at every level, and has everything the Magic have lacked from their backcourt since Jameer Nelson. By the way Green is also roughly 6 inches taller than Nelson so that’s nice. The problem here is that Green is a near lock to go in the top four, just outside of the Magic’s grasp. There is however a distinct possibility of Orlando trading up with Cleveland and snagging Green. This is one of my favorite scenarios, but it would more than likely cost 5 and 8 if not more picks in the future, which Orlando may not want to risk at the beginning of their newest iteration of their neverending rebuild.

Jalen Suggs (G) Gonzaga

At 6’4 Jalen Suggs is considered to be the 4th best prospect in this draft, and a lot of what I said about Green applies to him as a guard. He’s more of a streaky shooter than Green, but he seems to be a better playmaker. Suggs has some Jamal Murray in his game, and it might be sprinkled with some of the magic Brandon Roy clutch powder. It is within the realm of possibility that Suggs drops to number 5 for Orlando if, and this is a big if, Cleveland takes either Kuminga (more on him later) or a more versatile wing on the rise like Scottie Barnes at the third pick. As mentioned previously Cleveland could look to trade out at number 3 because they have their backcourt set, but if they stay they more than likely will draft a wing, allowing the Raptors to more than likely take Green at 4, and Suggs will be heading to the city beautiful.

Jonathan Kuminga (F) G-League Ignite

At 6’8 Jonathan Kuminga is the 5th best prospect in this draft, and seems exactly like the type of player the Orlando Magic front office would draft in a heartbeat. He’s a combo-forward. His mix of athleticism and his 7′ wingspan offer defensively switchability. He’s raw, but has showed plenty of potential. Most Magically of all, Kuminga is not a threat to shoot from deep. He shot under 25% from 3 during his season in the G-League, and while there’s hope that can improve, the Magic are currently waiting for the day when Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz are more than theoretical threats from beyond the arc. Kuminga is the type of wing that playoff teams all want to have, but the Magic probably won’t sniff the playoffs in 2022, so I’d hope we have other options with the 5th pick. If he is our best player available, he looks to project as a Luol Deng type of player moving forward.

Davion Mitchell (G) Baylor

At a questionable 6’2 Davion Mitchell is anywhere between the 6th and 10th ranked prospect in this draft. My best friend Erik was in on Mitchell while watching the NCAA tournament. Here are some quotes, “this Mitchell kid from Baylor reminds me of a better Marcus Smart,” and “if we pick midfirst I like this Mitchell kid from Baylor.” Are this ringing endorsements? No. Is he the worst pick to make at 5? No. Would I much rather have him at 8? Absolutely. Now he gets a lot of comparisons to his namesake Donovan Mitchell, but he seems a lot closer to a poor man’s Jrue Holiday than anything else. He and Anthony could be an interesting pair of guards, but they’d be so small together. If his 45% shooting from three is more than an outlier, he was 31% over the previous two seasons, he could be a great player in the league.

Corey Kispert (F) Gonzaga

At 6’7 Corey Kispert is looked at as a top ten prospect, somewhere close to the ten range. Kispert was an absolute sniper during Gonzaga’s run to the championship game. Kispert is very much of the Joe Harris mold as he’s a 3 and D wing who can fit into any modern NBA system. He’s a solid defender, but not much playmaker off the dribble. My ideal draft scenario would have Suggs dropping to us at 5, and then we take Kispert at 8. It fills two glaring needs for Orlando, while injecting instant chemistry to the roster as these two players fit so well with each other at Gonzaga. In just 32 games, Kispert sank 91 of 207 threes, a solid 44% and a greater total than any other player on the Magic besides Nikola Vucevic who made 117 threes over 44 games. Now I understand that things are easier in college than in the NBA, but the fact is that the Orlando Magic have no pure shooters on their roster. Kispert could instantly strange the floor due to his threat from the outside, opening lanes for Cole, RJ, hopefully Suggs, and maybe even a healthy Fultz and Isaac to do some damage.

Others to watch: Scottie Barnes from FSU is the exact type of player our front office loves to draft and watch on the bench. James Bouknight from UConn wowed scouts at the combine with his shooting despite being sub 30% the previous season from deep.

Who do we hire to coach us?

After 3 seasons and two playoff appearances, Steve Clifford parted ways with the Orlando Magic. He’s a coach who gets the most out of his players, not one that is made for a drawn out rebuild. We were lucky to have him here in O-Town and I hope he has nothing but success in the future. This is how you write about a coach…not this backhanded bullshit…

Now let’s dive headfirst into speculative nonsense, and half-assed internet research. With Rick Carlisle, Jason Kidd, Chauncey Billups, and Ime Udoka all hired over the last few days, let’s take a look at who’s left in the coaches pool.

The Candidates:

Kenny Atkinson

Atkinson went 118-190 in 4 seasons with the Brooklyn Nets with one playoff appearance. Now I’m sure the 6 of you still reading at this point had a Shania Twain like reaction to that record, but let’s talk this out. He was hired for the 2016-17 season, which was the year the Nets fully imploded after their Garnett, Pierce, and Deron Williams acquisitions didn’t work out. Atkinson inherited a team in shambles. They had no prospects, few first rounders, and little to no hope. By the third season, Kenny Atkinson was able to blend a roster of undesirable contracts, youth, and low expectations into the 6th seed in the East and a playoff berth. His reward? Cap space and tradeable prospects led to the acquisition of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, who then pushed for Steve Nash to be their head coach. The point is, if Atkinson can get a 6th seed out of DLo, Allen Crabbe, Spencer Dinwiddie, DeMarre Carroll, and more names like that, imagine what he could do with Jonathan Isaac, Markelle Fultz, Chuma Okeke, Cole Anthony, and the rest of the Magic roster moving forward.

Becky Hammon

Becky Hammon has been a Spurs assistant for the last 7 seasons, including the head coach of the Spurs summer league rosters. Here’s a list of Spurs assistants to get NBA jobs after their experience in the Alamo. She’s supremely qualified and is hopefully more than a candidate for PR purposes.

Penny Hardaway

As a fan this is my choice. Penny is one of the reasons I love basketball. I wish we lived in a universe where his knee held up and he never left Orlando. We don’t so I want to manifest that he’d come here to coach us years later. He is an excellent recruiter, and will give the Orlando Magic something it hasn’t had in years. Excitement, buzz, and dare I say it…hope. The biggest knock on him would be experience. My counter is that the Orlando Magic have hired plenty of coaches with experience: Vogel, Skiles, Clifford, and even Jacque Vaughn as a Popovich disciple all had experience. Penny has a star quality, the same thing that got Nash to the Nets and Kidd to the Mavs. Please hire Penny.

Final Thoughts

All of these issues combine to define the direction of the Magic for the next 5 years. The fact that the draft and coaching search are simultaneous make for an exciting time to be a fan of your Orlando Magic, and I can’t wait to see where we go from here.