It was sometimes a rough season last year during point guard Cole Anthony’s rookie campaign with the Orlando Magic. He had plenty of offense and that’s what people remember, for the most part, but defensively he struggled at times.
Offensively, Anthony averaged 12.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. That’s a pretty solid rookie season. Defensively, however, Anthony ranked 16th of 17 guards taken in the 2020 NBA Draft first round. Unfortunately for the Magic, Anthony’s teammate R.J. Hampton was No. 17. Anthony’s defensive rating was 116.3 and Hampton’s was 116.7.
As a point defender, Anthony had issues with the multiple-pick offenses of the NBA, keeping up with the quickness of NBA players — an issue for all rookies — and had to get used to no longer being able to over-play his opponents and get away with it, or play off his opponents and still be able to recover.