Courtney Lee May or May Not Have Wanted the Orlando Magic to Draft Him

by Evan Dunlap on Jul 8, 2008 5:15 AM EDT in News

Courtney Lee of the Orlando Magic stands with his hands on his hips during a break in summer-leage play.

Courtney Lee made his Orlando Magic debut yesterday.

Photo by Fernando Medina, NBAE/Getty Images

A few nights ago, I noticed that one person found this site by Googling "Courtney Lee didn't want to play in Orlando." I didn't pay much attention to it, though. If there were published reports that Lee didn't like the idea of playing for the Magic, certainly we would have heard about it by now.

Browsing NBA.com today, I found this draft recap feature, originally published on June 28th, written by Marty Blake, the NBA's Director of Scouting. Here's what he wrote about Lee:

Courtney Lee - We watched for him the last few years. Courtney did not work out for a lot of teams, and he didn't want to play in Orlando. He has an all-around game. Very good basketball player. Knows how to play the game. He has a chance to start right away.

Um, what? Did the Magic draft a guy who didn't want to play for them? I'm as confused as you are.

It's possible. But the more I read the feature, the more I realized Blake might have meant Lee didn't want to attend the NBA's Pre-Draft Camp, which took place at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando. See these excerpts from Hill's write-ups of other players:

George Hill - [....] We invited him to Orlando, and he played very well [....]

Kyle Weaver - I think he made a mistake not playing Orlando [....]

Sean Singletary - He came to Orlando in 2007 and didn't play all that well, and made a smart decision to go back to school [....]

Shan Foster - [....] Had a very strong senior season. He had a tough week in Orlando [....]

Mike Taylor - [....] He played very well in Orlando [....]

Deron Washington - [....] He didn't play well in Orlando, but he was impressive in Portsmouth.

I'm inclined to believe that Blake's statement is unintentionally ambiguous. For locker-room stability's sake, let's hope that is the case.

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Comments

Regardless of where he wanted to play, he’s here now and he’ll learn to like it. I can understand if he wanted to go to a bigger market but he’ll come around eventually if that is the case. No big deal in my opinion either way

by magic fanatic on Jul 8, 2008 11:26 AM EDT reply actions

That’s a simple case of taking 1+1 and coming out with 3. Lee didn’t want to play in the pre-draft camp. Many drafts picks don’t like paricipating in camps because it may affect their draft position. It had nothing to do with the Magic.

by Double on Jul 8, 2008 2:49 PM EDT reply actions