NBA Mock Draft 2.0: Narrowing down the picks after lottery, combine

The Orlando Magic have added a plethora of young bigs of late, but using the best-player-available model for this mock leaves the Magic adding versatile-but-smallish 4 P.J. Washington at No. 16.

Washington went through the combine in 2018 before returning to Kentucky for his sophomore year and it was a decision that paid off, as he’s a first-rounder on virtually every board.

He was an iffy prospect a year ago, but after putting up 15.2 points and 7.5 boards in 29.3 minutes per game while shooting a solid 52.2 percent overall and increasing his 3-point percentage from 23.8 to 42.3 on 2.2 attempts per game as a sophomore, he’s going to get a guaranteed deal.

Washington, however, lacks prototype size for a 4 and doesn’t have the athleticism to make up for that, so his stretch game will have to continue to evolve.

But he has good offensive instincts and combines big shoulders and solid base with agility and fluidity not always seen in bulkier players.

His ceiling is probably as a rotational big, but at the middle of the first round, that’s sort of what teams are hoping to find.