The New Magic Big Man - Wendell Carter Jr.
By: Ramin Baiat
We’ve already begun to see why the former 7th overall pick went high in the draft and why the magic considered him a pick early a 6. After 2.5 years of Chicagos’ inept development and utilization plan for the 21-year-old, coach Steve Clifford took all of a few days to get Carter to play his best ball. In Chicago WCJ's biggest issues had nothing to do with talent, instead, there were long stretches of poor play seemingly from getting too down on himself after a mistake. Most people put the blame on the overbearing and overly-punishing former Bulls coach Jim Boylen, who even at one point benched the high feel big for “introspection.” We’re still too early in the process to know if these stretches will come with Wendell in Orlando but we do know Cliff has a strong track record of building young players’ confidence. WCJ is in good developmental hands.
Wendell is super useful on offense. His Horford+ like offensive package won’t ever see him lead the team in scoring but he’ll likely be a key cog in tons of actions & a big reason why they work. He sets big screens, rolls hard, can elevate fairly well for lobs, has legit touch in the mid-range, reads defenses at high levels & has a bit of post-game. Most of his value comes from either pick and roll or direct hand-offs where his screens create good advantages for the ball handlers & his skill set makes him a capable scorer on the short or hard roll. All that should be music to the ears of Kelle, Cole, RJ, and any other ball handler we draft. His passing also comes out big time on the short roll or posts, hitting guys on the perimeter as the defense rotates. Open shooters are going to get hit early and often when Wendell has the ball. He also has a bit of handle to take it all the way to the hoop if defenses cheat off. In all, WCJ can do a bit of everything already, with a bit of projection, and does so in ways that create advantages for teammates. The projection comes in 3pt shooting, which will probably have a fairly big impact on what his ceiling is. While he hasn’t produced in the league Wendell has good mid-range form and touch, good ft shooting, and good 3pt shooting at Duke. All the ingredients are there, not too dissimilar to former Magic center Nikola Vucevic. His shooting development plan should be the same as Vucs, albeit about 5 years earlier in his career - instruct WCJ to take every open 3 and deal with the growing pains to accelerate WCJ range development. The sooner he does this the sooner we can start punishing teams with pick and pop sets the way the recent Vuc was doin. However long it takes to develop WC, he’ll still be a plus offensive player and make the lives of everyone on the team easier.
Defense is where Wendell is at his best. My favorite part about him is his ability to run multiple pick and roll coverages at legit good levels. One of the things Boylen did right was he took advantage of WCJ plus lateral speed and put him in hedge coverage where he can smother ball handlers and recover back to his man with his good foot speed. He also can play drop, usually reserved for taller longer centers. But WCJ instincts, wingspan/pop, and ++ technique help him protect the rim. There will likely be some really athletic centers and/or ball handlers who could take advantage of this. But that's the beauty of being able to run multiple coverages, it gives you the ability to both play to your strengths in any given situation and/or keep high-end pick and roll operators guessing and out of rhythm. This should fit great with JI, Chuma, Kelle & Cole as all of them are smart and adaptable defenders. Wendell is also a legit plus weak side rotator, who often takes away driving lanes essentially before the slasher has even made it fully past his man. His pop and wingspan again come in hand here for some weak-side blocks. He's a beast on the boards, super active, and gets his body on guys often. He does need to add lower body strength to deal with the low post bruiser but at 21 (almost 22) years old, it’s not really a concern. Overall Wendell raises our defensive versatility and ceiling going forward. It’s where he shines and we’ve already seen it in the early stages which should only grow with his development and acclimation to our higher-end players.
In sum, WCJ does a ton on both sides of the ball with his ++iq, technique, and motor. He does the dirty work, the things that make everyone's job easier, while actually bringing some scoring, playmaking, and ceiling shifting defensive ability to the Magic.
Thank you for reading this article. Please follow us on Twitter @TheCloseUpMagic. Thank you Ramin for the contribution. Please follow him on Twitter.