Magic GM John Hammond on "In the Zone" with Brandon Kravitz - 5/18/2022

[Knightro]

Orlando Magic general manager John Hammond was a guest on "In the Zone" with Brandon Kravitz. This interview took place Wednesday afternoon.

Kravitz: What was the prevailing emotion for you as we got closer and closer to the No. 1 overall reveal?

Hammond: It's so funny because they break it up a little bit and make you wait. But you know, it went in order 14, 13, 12, 11 and on down. They get to the last four teams and then they take that commercial break and make you wait it out. I gotta be honest with you, when we got to 4, we felt good. We said "hey whatever happens now, we're in a good position and we feel good about it." It continued to wind down and went down to 2 and then us getting 1 was just a great thing for all of us.

Kravitz: Does Jamahl Mosley get a raise after all of this? He clearly got the job done last night.

Hammond: He gets two extra pats on the back. We'll start with that. *Laughs* Nah, he took the bullet and went up there and did his job and got us the No. 1 pick. Congrats Jamahl. Way to go.

Kravitz: If you had to make a decision today, could you make the call today?

Hammond: Oh yeah. Yes. We could make a decision based on the information we have at this point. But we have more work to do. There's more evaluation. Most importantly, a chance to actually spend time with them. To bring them to Orlando, have a chance to visit with them, get to know them. Run them through a battery of tests. Find out everything we can. We've talked about this before. It's kind of like the dating process, you don't know who that person is until you actually live with them. That's when you've made the full commitment. We have to get to know them the best we can and then we live with them and find out exactly who they are. But going into that you try and know everything you possibly can like any relationship.

Kravitz: When you bring these prospects in to visit, are you able to gauge how much they love the game?

Hammond: You sure try the best you can. The more information you have the easier that is to do. I know what you're referring to. It's those guys, there's just something inside of them that makes them tick a little different than others. It's amazing work ethic. I've had a chance to be in the NBA for quite a while now and I've had a chance to be a part of coaching staffs and front offices that have had Hall of Fame players and that's it. Their work ethic and desire and need to be great. It's whatever it takes. You go through this and you hope you can find one of those guys. If you have one of those guys, things really start to flow for you.

Kravitz: Does positional fit have anything to do with your overall assessment?

Hammond: You hate to be cliche and say "we're going to go with the best player on the board", but when you get to this level of the draft, the very top of it, you do live by that. We can't sacrifice a lesser player just because we have a need. I don't know if any need could be that great. And you look at our roster right now, we're still a team in the rebuilding process. We don't have a team that would make us be locked in to position A, B or C.

Kravitz: Does landing the No. 1 pick change how you approach free agency and how you approach expectations for next season?

Hammond: It can. It can make you refocus on some other options. The one thing you can't do it speed up the process too significantly. Can the process speed itself up? Yes it can. But I don't think we can force that, nor do we want to try to force that. But look I'll say this, if the opportunity presents itself, if the right player presents itself, we're a team with cap room and we have some flexibility to do some things. If the right opportunity is there for us, we won't turn our back on it. But we want to be very smart and patient and not try and rush something that's not there. We have to be patient.

Kravitz: Do you expect to get trade calls for the No. 1 pick?

Hammond: Of course. I think for sure we'll get calls on this. No doubt whatsoever. You expect that. When you're at the top level of the draft, 1-2-3-4-5, people always have interest in moving up in the draft. Particularly in the top of the draft.

Kravitz: The consensus top 3 in the draft is Paolo Banchero, Jabari Smith and Chet Holmgren - a Duke guy, an Auburn guy and a Gonzaga guy. You have Wendell Carter, Chuma Okeke and Jalen Suggs on the roster all from those schools. Will they be consulted during this process since they have some inside info on those programs?

Hammond: Ehhh you talk to them about it, but I doubt Wendell, he probably knows Paolo from the Duke connection. And I don't know if Chuma has a strong relationship with Jabari either. But the interesting one, Jalen Suggs and Chet are close. They played AAU basketball together and have been friends from a very young age. If we are going to consult one, that would be it.

Kravitz: Do you want to reveal who you're taking?

Hammond: Probably not today. Maybe someday soon, but not quite yet.

https://969thegame.iheart.com/featured/in-the-zone/content/2022-05-18-exclusive-magic-general-manager-john-hammond-talks-getting-the-1-pick/

[basketballRob]

Thanks. I wish he would've asked if he had a favorite player yet for the first pick.

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[thelead]

Thanks. I wish he would've asked if he had a favorite player yet for the first pick.

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That's the last question just worded differently

[Skybox]

Thanks. I wish he would've asked if he had a favorite player yet for the first pick.

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I think you can guess the Non-answer

[RookieStar]

Interesting.. so our FO already has someone they like right now. However it can easily change once the process of due diligence starts...

[drsd]

Kravitz: If you had to make a decision today, could you make the call today?

Hammond: Oh yeah. Yes. We could make a decision based on the information we have at this point.

That is a blunt statement that the GM has one player above all other players.

Kravitz: Do you want to reveal who you're taking?

Hammond: Probably not today. Maybe someday soon, but not quite yet.

If this happens, then we know Orlando will NOT trade the pick. That he even said this means that management sees one and only one 1A player in this draft. This is like hen Cleveland drafted James. They projected on the draft, because, why not.

Let's say Hammond is dead-set on drafting Smith. Then why not get in front of the PR? Get Smith excited about being a Magician.

After all, effectively Orlando is already on the draft clock, right now.


..

[Xatticus]

Kravitz: If you had to make a decision today, could you make the call today?

Hammond: Oh yeah. Yes. We could make a decision based on the information we have at this point.

That is a blunt statement that the GM has one player above all other players.

Kravitz: Do you want to reveal who you're taking?

Hammond: Probably not today. Maybe someday soon, but not quite yet.

If this happens, then we know Orlando will NOT trade the pick. That he even said this means that management sees one and only one 1A player in this draft. This is like hen Cleveland drafted James. They projected on the draft, because, why not.

Let's say Hammond is dead-set on drafting Smith. Then why not get in front of the PR? Get Smith excited about being a Magician.

After all, effectively Orlando is already on the draft clock, right now.


..

Because you want to take advantage of the situation. There is much information you can learn about these prospects and the teams that call about moving up. You can learn a lot about how other teams value assets by taking calls. You shut all of that down when you hold up the jersey of your preferred pick.

This interview has me believing that the choice is Chet. There are clear indications that they don’t intend to trade back. Chet is the prize in this draft. If you want Banchero, there isn’t a valid reason not to get some additional value and to save a bit of cap space. Houston isn’t going to move up to draft Banchero. He was also dismissive of the idea of soliciting input from WCJ and Okeke even though he acknowledged that WCJ might have some familiarity with Banchero. It was completely different regarding Suggs/Holmgren.

I’m not overly confident about those tea leaves, but that would be my interpretation if I was forced to reveal one.

[zaymon]

Kravitz: If you had to make a decision today, could you make the call today?

Hammond: Oh yeah. Yes. We could make a decision based on the information we have at this point.

That is a blunt statement that the GM has one player above all other players.

Kravitz: Do you want to reveal who you're taking?

Hammond: Probably not today. Maybe someday soon, but not quite yet.

If this happens, then we know Orlando will NOT trade the pick. That he even said this means that management sees one and only one 1A player in this draft. This is like hen Cleveland drafted James. They projected on the draft, because, why not.

Let's say Hammond is dead-set on drafting Smith. Then why not get in front of the PR? Get Smith excited about being a Magician.

After all, effectively Orlando is already on the draft clock, right now.


..

Suggesting one player is above the rest is smart on our part. If top 3 is on similar level there is no need to overpay for number 1 pick. We dont disclose the name becouse every team can have different player on top. Thinking this way our first "leaks" should be fake to increase the value of players we dont want to pick.

[basketballRob]

Kravitz: If you had to make a decision today, could you make the call today?

Hammond: Oh yeah. Yes. We could make a decision based on the information we have at this point.

That is a blunt statement that the GM has one player above all other players.

Kravitz: Do you want to reveal who you're taking?

Hammond: Probably not today. Maybe someday soon, but not quite yet.

If this happens, then we know Orlando will NOT trade the pick. That he even said this means that management sees one and only one 1A player in this draft. This is like hen Cleveland drafted James. They projected on the draft, because, why not.

Let's say Hammond is dead-set on drafting Smith. Then why not get in front of the PR? Get Smith excited about being a Magician.

After all, effectively Orlando is already on the draft clock, right now.


..

Because you want to take advantage of the situation. There is much information you can learn about these prospects and the teams that call about moving up. You can learn a lot about how other teams value assets by taking calls. You shut all of that down when you hold up the jersey of your preferred pick.

This interview has me believing that the choice is Chet. There are clear indications that they don’t intend to trade back. Chet is the prize in this draft. If you want Banchero, there isn’t a valid reason not to get some additional value and to save a bit of cap space. Houston isn’t going to move up to draft Banchero. He was also dismissive of the idea of soliciting input from WCJ and Okeke even though he acknowledged that WCJ might have some familiarity with Banchero. It was completely different regarding Suggs/Holmgren.

I’m not overly confident about those tea leaves, but that would be my interpretation if I was forced to reveal one.

You might be reading too much into what Hammond said. He'll probably consult Suggs because he was teammates with Chet for several years. Chuma and WCJ more than likely have no intel on Banchero or Smith.

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