Why Did Orlando Select Aaron Gordon over Julius Randle?

[Flight]

A year later I still don't get it. I know Gordon likes to view himself as a 3 but now with Hezonja drafted he'll play at the 4 and as a 4 prospect I don't see how anyone would think Gordon is a better prospect as a 4 than Randle outside of him being a better athlete than Julius?

 

[thenatural]

Potential is a muthafukka.

 

[Rigby.]

Hindsight is a muthafukka.

 

[PTBG]

One thing I see is that they didn't think a Randle/Vucci would work and the Gordon could play the 3/4 and he killed it during workouts and moved up the board near the lead up to the draft. He is athletic, but he really doesn't have much skills yet and Arizona's defense still was great without him the season after, which was Gordon's calling card. Gordon got hurt and didn't get much PT, but I still don't know how Randle was able to slide to number 7, who as a freshmen carried Kentucky with nothing but freshmen's to the title game and considered the best player in all of college ball, especially with Exum & Smart going ahead of him.

 

[ALonelyDad]

Because he looks like Blake Griffin

 

[IGSaint12]

Orlando fans hope he turns into a matrix. I have no idea why the magic took him over Randle.

 

[Hammer]

Randle broke his leg in the first game of the season and the Lakers are interested in every PF and C that are free agents, also his name was thrown around in the Cousins trade talks

something tells me they aren't that high on him....for a reason

 

[Swagnificent]

almost no moves the magic have made in the last 3-4 years makes any sense.

 

[Swagnificent]

Randle broke his leg in the first game of the season and the Lakers are interested in every PF and C that are free agents, also his name was thrown around in the Cousins trade talks

something tells me they aren't that high on him....for a reason

mitch doesn't consider Randle a traditional 4. he compared him to lamar odom last week when talking about his workouts this summer. Randle will be a versatile 3/4 in the league once he improves his outside jumper.

 

[Hammer]

mitch doesn't consider Randle a traditional 4. he's stated he views him as a lamar odom type. can play the 3 and 4.

Mitch is also retarded. Randle def. can not play the 4 in my opinion. can he even hit a 3 or pass it well?

 

[Swagnificent]

Mitch is also retarded. Randle def. can not play the 4 in my opinion. can he even hit a 3 or pass it well?

randle is a GREAT passer. here he is playing some point-power forward in summer league. check out the commentary from Grant Hill. very high praise.

 

[Drones]

There were pre-draft concerns about Randle's foot and if he'd need surgery on it or not. That was supposed to have scared some teams off because if you recall, Randle was the pre-season number 3 ranked player in that class before the rise of Embiid.

The silver lining of him breaking his leg was that he was able to also get the screw removed from his foot while he was out of commission.

What really surprises me is that Boston took Marcus Smart over him, it remains to be seen if that wasn't a blunder on their part.

 

[Draje]

Randle's stock dropped a little with his injury concerns and the fact that GMs were worried about his lack of length and the fear that he wouldn't be strong enough to bully NBA 4s consistently.

He's among the more skilled players in the draft though.

 

[Regular_P]

Because Orlando likes to make sure talented bigs find their way to LA one way or another.

 

[thenatural]

Because Orlando likes to make sure talented bigs find their way to LA one way or another.

DAP + Repped