Victor Oladipo may be the face of the Orlando Magic, but Kyle O’Quinn is certainly the beard. O’Quinn first came to the forefront at the 2012 NCAA tournament where he led tiny 15-seed Norfolk State to one of the upsets of the tournament over highly favored 2-seed Missouri; O’Quinn famously stated “We even messed up my bracket.” O’Quinn massively contributed to his team’s win by posting an awesome 26 points and 14 rebounds. From then on, Kyle O’Quinn’s life was changed forever. He went on to win MVP at the Portsmouth Invitational (a tournament for college Seniors who are looking to get drafted) and became a lock for the second round of the 2012 NBA draft. You can see the effect the NCAA tournament and his performance at Portsmouth (note to all Seniors: GO TO PORTSMOUTH) had on his draft stock in the diagram below.
O’Quinn had an “eventful” Summer League in 2012, as he made a name for himself being one of the biggest trash talkers out there. In one of the games against Dallas, he was seen speaking to Fab Melo as he was taking free throws. After the game, Alex Kennedy asked him “Were you trash talking?” and O’Quinn replied “All game”. In another Summer League game after holding Andre Drummond to 3 points and 3 rebounds in 21 minutes, he spoke to the press after the game:
“You have to come in with [a chip on your shoulder], you know what kind of swagger those major college guys walk into the gym with. Us Norfolk State guys, we don’t have that,” O’Quinn said. “Nine or 49, it doesn’t matter to me,” O’Quinn said talking about his draft position. He didn’t pull those numbers out of the air. Drummond was picked ninth, he was picked 49th. You have to come in with [a chip on your shoulder], you know what kind of swagger those major college guys walk into the gym with. Us Norfolk State guys, we don’t have that,” O’Quinn said. “Anything we want we’ve got to take. That’s the mentality I’ve had for the last four years and I’ve rolled it over into summer league. … I’m not a guy who came out after one year or two years and had everything given to him. I know it sounds redundant but I worked for everything, I appreciate everything.”
This is the type of hungry, determined attitude which led to O’Quinn eventually earning a spot on the Magic’s roster.
Since joining the league, O’Quinn’s chances have been limited. As with most second round picks, he has had to work very hard just to make the roster and earn playing time in meaningless blow outs. Last season, O’Quinn only played in 57 games, averaging 4.1 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and 0.5 BPG in 11.2 minutes. These are not by any means great numbers (they seem fairly standard for an NBA big man playing off the bench), but for those who have watched O’Quinn play, you can see his true value. O’Quinn is the definition of a “grit guy”; he does all the dirty things that other guys don’t want to do. He puts everything on the line when he plays and doesn’t let bigger, stronger and more talented players intimidate him. This is the type of guy who sticks around in the league for a number of years, making a name for themselves as a very valuable rotation guy. Look for O’Quinn’s future to be similar to that of Reggie Evans of the Nets, one of those guys you love to have on your team, but would HATE to play against. And I am sure that O’Quinn would be quite happy to be viewed like that.
O’Quinn has put up strong numbers this preseason and looks to have earned himself a good amount of playing time behind Vucevic. Obviously it is sometimes difficult to interpret preseason stats as the number of minutes are not always accurate compared to the regular season, and the opposing teams sparsely play their best players. However, in the weeks leading up to the NBA season, these games are all we have. O’Quinn has been playing around 24 minutes a game while averaging 7.1 PPG, 6 RPG, 2.0 APG, and 1.5 BPG. It’s nothing flashy, but those are very solid stats and as previously mentioned, not everything O’Quinn does always shows up in the box score. If O’Quinn can keep this strong play up and take the momentum into the regular season, then the Magic will have received a great value from the 49th pick in the 2012 draft. No, he will not turn around this talent-deprived Magic roster, but in the future when the Magic have a more talented roster, don’t be surprised to see O’Quinn being one of the few names still around from the “dark old days”.
By James Plowright
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