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Why Orlando’s Paolo Banchero Is Not Your Average NBA Rookie

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The Orlando Magic continue to try and add pieces to their franchise that will elevate them to new levels. In the 2022 NBA draft they had the first overall pick and took PF Paolo Banchero from Duke. Banchero was a dominant athlete for the Blue Devils in his one collegiate season. He and the Magic have won six of their last ten games and are thirteenth in the Eastern Conference. The six-foot ten 20 year old still has so much unlocked potential ahead of him. 

It was clear in college that Bacnhero was different from everyone else. They way he handles the ball for his size and his soft shooting touch are all apart of why he’s not just your average NBA rookie. He grew up around some former NBA talent who helped shape his career.

NBA betting sites have the Magic at (+50000) to win the Finals this season.

Growing up in Seattle helped shape Banchero to be an elite player

The Seattle Supersonics left Washington when Banchero was five years old and they became the Oklahoma City Thunder. He was lucky enough to be able to learn from former NBA talent that were from Seattle and wanted to help the basketball scene still growing in Seattle.

Twenty-year NBA veteran Jamal Crawford is from Seattle and said he saw something special in Banchero when he was 14 years old. At the time, Crawford was finishing up his final season with the Clippers and loved helping the young Seattle athletes who played basketball. He met Paolo for the first time when he was a six-foot five, 200 pound eighth grader. Crawford had this to say about his first impressions of him.

“Because he was really tall, most guys that size rely on their athleticism and being bigger and stronger,”… “But I saw the fundamental foundation that he had coming from his parents and the workouts. You could tell he put a lot of time in this game, and being big was an extra. I’m like, ‘Whoa, if he’s developing that game, you’re already ahead of the curve.” – Jamal Crawford

He joined an Orlando team that only had two players on the team who’ve played more than five seasons in the NBA. The Magic are a young team and have that foundation to build upon. Paolo Banchero is certainly at the center of that.





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