[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

With Dwight out with injury for the rest of the regular season and Glen Davis nursing a hyper-extended knee, will Daniel Orton start?  He played big minutes last night in Cleveland and put up a decent stat-line of 11 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 blocks, and 5 steals in 29 minutes. 

Now for my questions, what exactly can we expect from Daniel Orton as his career pans out?  What can we expect from him two years from now when he’s a bit more solidified in the league and Dwight Howard may walk?  Will he ever be a starter, or perhaps a quality starter?  What can we expect from him tonight against the 76ers?

[capecodderParticipant]

 He was not very good during his one year at Kentucky….at least he’s got a couple of years of first round money

[JoeWolf1]

 I think he can be a good shot blocker in the league and a guy who can take contact on the block.  I always felt that was his biggest strength as projecting to a pro.  I don’t see him as a starter, but he’s spent so little time on an NBA court (74 minutes in 2 years) I’m not going to pretend I’m an expert on him right now.

I suspect he’ll see more minutes down the stretch, as most teams do with their rookies and 2nd year players in April, but I don’t think he’s a future starter or anything special based off what I do know about him.

[M-EazyParticipant]

In my honest opinion Orton should be getting ready for his senior season at UK.  Dude is just tall and nothing special.  Still a joke that he was drafted in the 1st round after that one season at UK.

 

I see him as a career back up center.  I can see him taking Dwight’s spot once he leaves only to have it taken by an unknown European

[MeteorunnerParticipant]

 He left way to early to the NBA. He should have stayed for 3-4 years. He would be a Senior in college next year so he still has lots of room to grow. I think his ceiling is a 14ppg 7rpg 1bpg player. He needs to continue to develop his offensive game though to hit that ceiling. He also gets lost on defensive assignments as well and commits dumb fouls. I think he will stick in the NBA, but whether he becomes a starter remains to be seen.

[JoeWolf1]

 Pryzbilla came to my mind too, it took him a good 3 years and a new team to get going, but when he did he was a valuable defender.  

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

I think he can actually be a productive back-up in the league.  A bit like what Joel Pryzbilla was to Marcus Camby or what Mareese Speights was in Philly and what he’ll be to Zach Randolph.

[scott3210Participant]

I am a huge Kentucky fan and always supportive of Kentucky players, but I do not consider him a UK basketball player. He made our program look bad by not finishing out his classes and transfering after basketball season ended. Players on our team that year such as John Wall had a 3.0 GPA and Patrick Patterson was able to graduate in three years.

But to answer the question, he has the build and athletic ability to be a quality backup or solid starter, but the questions are will he get in shape, is he mature (mentally) enough, and will he be dedicated?

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

Yeah, I think Orton can be a valuable piece as the Magic move forward, with or without Howard.  If he backs-up Howard, he can play a similar role that Gortat played in couple of year ago.  (Although Gortat is a much better player).

[Memphis MadnessParticipant]

He didn’t show me much at Kentucky.  He seemed more like a backup big man, and I think that is what he will still be.  Although with his size and strength he could turn into a Kendrick Perkins type who defends his territory, rebounds, and bangs. 

That might be his optimistic trajectory as far as his career goes.  He should work on being an on-ball defender as opposed to a high flying shot blocker. 

He’s somewhat similar to Dexter Pittman, but Pittman showed, to me at least, more potential in college.

I think that the next two years will be key for Daniel Orton.  If he can improve then he can play a long time in the league (10 to 12 years) while getting paid pretty well.  If he doesn’t turn it on a little bit then he might be out of the league in two years…

[Cosbysweater7Participant]

Star? Didnt he only average 3 ppg?

[Raef LaFrentzParticipant]

I see Erick Dampier as his cieling. I also like the Joel Przybilla comparison.

[juves4783Participant]

i would agree that he should of stayed in school, but i would argue that practicing against the best center in the league for 2 years is probably more beneficial than playing 2 years of college basketball.  he probably would of put up decent numbers, mainly due to his outsizing the competition and kentucky’s ability to recruit good guards.  you can’t go up against a dwight howard in college though.  i bet orton has learned a lot more offensive moves and rebounding techniques learning from the best. 

[BasterdInABasketParticipant]

Orton would be Elroy Vargas for UK next year lol.. instead hes making millions.

[sheltwon3Participant]

It looks like he will be more of a defensive player but I am like most people, I really have not seen him do much.  Also Orlando should have sent him to the D league to get some game experience.

[MalcolmxParticipant]

 To all you people saying stay. You have to think like this. Would you stay broke if you had a chance at millions.Or wait and see if the millions will still be there.I think all of us would jump at the chance to make millions on the first swing.

[aamir543Participant]

Saw the game today, 24 mintues, 6 and 6 while going 3-3 from the floor, a +/- of +2, although everyone had pretty nice +/- numbers on the Magic since they won by 13, great defensively, albeit it was against Spencer Hawes, I see him carving out a nice long career in a Perkins or a PJ Brown sort of guy.

And I watched a good portion of the game, and I still have no clue what is wrong with the Sixers. They make the right rotations, they play team ball, they get decent shots, they don’t turn the ball over(only 8 times today), they don’t foul, they get to the line an ok number of times, but there is just somthing missing. The difference between a team like Indiana and them is that Indiana has Danny Granger, who can get his own shot and score very well, even if he’s fallen in love with being a 3-point specialist. Igoudala is just not that guy. He’s not the same player he was a couple years ago. In the end, I realized that Doug Collins had them WAY overachieveing at the begining of the year, and now their underachieveing, and the end result is a late playoff seed, their actual value. They’re just not as good as we though they were.

[PabloFiascoParticipant]

he’ll be a back up for his career

[ChrisCrossParticipant]

 He obviously left wayyyyyy toooooo early, and that’s why he’s sucked early on his first 2 years. Now he’s slowly coming along, learning to actually play, he’s still a project.

[Counting StarsParticipant]

Personally, I don’t have a great deal of faith in Orton and I think the Magic shoul bring in a 10-day contract guy to get a look at center. Best case scenario, you find an unknown who flourishes when given a chance, like Jeremy Lin.

[TruettParticipant]

But with the way Kentucky reloads every year… It has to be worrisome when you are a bench player… He came in behind DeMarcus Cousins and then had Kanter Coming in the next year… How could he know that Kanter was going to be declared inelligible? He could transfer, but who knows if the team he transferred to would get any publicity? With full hindsight it seems obvious that he should have Stayed another year because he would have been a starter due to Kanter’s inelligibility… but when faced with the prospect of coming in off the bench as a sophmore and maybe never starting until his senior year… taking the garunteed 1st round money was the safe choice.  

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

Yeah, I wasn’t really saying he was seriously a star.  He was nowhere near the level of Wall, Cousins, Patterson or Bledsoe.  I was pointing moreso to the fact that he was part of that great recruiting class.

[Bill Walton’s KneesParticipant]

If he had simply gone to Kansas like he was originally supposed to, he could’ve actually played and learned under the best big man coach in the game (Manning).  Rumor has it he strongly considered flipping to KU when Calipari came in.  He should’ve; could have joined AAU teammate X Henry on the ‘Hawks……and lose to Northern Illinois and Ali F****ing Faroukmanish

[Bill Walton’s KneesParticipant]

Northern Iowa-

[JoeWolf1]

If I remember correctly, Orton had a stage Dad too.  Family members going to the media is never a good thing for a young player.  Orton’s dad annouced he was going pro when Orton himself said he wasn’t sure yet and then proceeded to make other comments to the media about Orton’s playing time and him going top 5.  Even if Orton really wanted to return, it seems his dad had made the decision already and already trashed Coach Cal for not playing his son more.  He couldn’t have come back if he really wanted.

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

He is playing to stay in the league. His third year option was not picked up, which is the big problem in taking guys who aren’t ready to see an NBA floor in the draft. A team’s front office has to be willing to double down after a year of nothing, and not everyone is willing to do so particularly when the upside isn’t that high.  

[imahustla1Participant]

 Daniel Orton should have stayed at KU another year or two but he couldnt. He showed flashes of being a good player when he came in for Boogie. He and Calipari knew he was going to be a first round pick becouse he is a 7 footer highly recruited to UK and had hype in high school and could "walk and chew gum at the same time" thats basically all you need to be able to do to be a 7ft center in the nba. But like what another person said he had to bolt to the NBA with Kanter coming in and most likely would have started over Orton Calipari probley forced Orton out so there wouldnt be any drama but orton or know one else knew that kanter was going to be ineliegible so thats a huge risk. if orton was content to have the same role as he frosh year he would have had to go though it again this year with davis.He is 1 of the those guysin college that is good and could be a starter but that keeps getting over recruited for someone that my or may not be better. so im pretty sure he is happy with his decision.He should be in the NBA fro awhile if he dosnt get injured.

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