YouTube Gold: Banchero’s Big Night

It’s still early and he has stuff to work on, but former Blue Devil Paolo Banchero is off to an impressive start: he’s scored at least 20 points in his first five games with the Orlando Magic and has made some highly impressive plays.

On the downside, he hasn’t always shot well. In games 2-5 he shot 6-18, 6-19 and 6-13.

But Wednesday against Cleveland, Banchero hit 10-19, grabbed eight boards and passed out four assists.

That’s partly a rookie figuring things out, People always say the game eventually slows down for newbies and we expect that will happen for him too. But even so, he’s showing some great signs as you’ll see in these highlights from the Cleveland game.

Incidentally, and this is really cool, until Wednesday night’s game, Banchero has encountered a fellow member of the Brotherhood every time out. Game 1, Detroit: Marvin Begley (injured). Game 2: Atlanta, AJ Griffith. Game 3, Boston: Jayson Tatum. Game 4, New York: RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish. On Friday, he’ll see former Duke teammate Mark Williams as an opponent for the first time.

Back to the downside: the Magic is bound to be happy with Banchero’s play thus far. However, the team is 0-5, and for a Duke guy, that can’t be easy.