RealGM

Some bomb-shell quotes here:
O-Sen LINK

A must read for tanker's and anti-tankers alike.

OS: Was it a mistake to keep the team’s nucleus intact heading into the season?

Weltman: The goal coming into this season was to understand what we have: how our players play together, who we felt were more dominant personalities, dominant players, where people were on their different curves because every guy is at a different point in his career and understand the journey of each one of our players and understand how that all fits together. So I don’t think it’s a strategy to say “keep our team together.” It’s just we enter when we do and we try to understand what we have.

This reads as if there is no-way-in-heck the roster stays the same. There is no nucleus per se. This is basically a season long training camp.

Weltman: I don’t know if there are things that you don’t see before. It’s just a matter of getting to know people. For example, I know we interviewed Elfrid and we came away thinking “that’s a really neat kid.” It so happens that he ends up on another team and now I’m a part of that team. But I remember thinking “that’s a really neat kid.”

Sounds like Payton is staying.


For the anti-tankers:

OS: There’s almost a perverse reasoning when it comes to evaluating an NBA team’s rebuilding path. It’s said the worst thing an NBA team can be is mediocre, because it’s on a so-called hamster wheel. The way this season has transpired, with the injuries, could it be that this team is actually better off having higher lottery odds than scrapping and clawing to finish ninth or 10th in the East?

Weltman: The implication being that then you’re going to try to say, “OK, let’s not try to compete the rest of the way?” I don’t believe in that. I believe that you never stop competing.

And for the pro-tankers:

OS: Judging by that answer, I assume the word “tank” is a dirty word to you.

Weltman: I’d never say “dirty word.” I just feel when you enter into any long-range plan, you have to have an exit strategy in how you come out of that. Oftentimes I think when you adopt a strategy like that, you’re kind of entering into a very perilous state where you’re not exactly sure always how you’re going to come out, when you’re going to come out, if you’re going to come out. Look, there’s never a strategy that you can’t say, “This didn’t work somewhere.” And you just have to calculate those odds and figure out how much medicine you want to take. But one truth is that whatever medicine a team needs to take has to be taken.

A great, honest interview.


..

Weltman: The goal coming into this season was to understand what we have ....

.

So the goal was not to win a title. Hmph.


..

drsd wrote:Some bomb-shell quotes here:
O-Sen LINK

A must read for tanker's and anti-tankers alike.

OS: Was it a mistake to keep the team’s nucleus intact heading into the season?

Weltman: The goal coming into this season was to understand what we have: how our players play together, who we felt were more dominant personalities, dominant players, where people were on their different curves because every guy is at a different point in his career and understand the journey of each one of our players and understand how that all fits together. So I don’t think it’s a strategy to say “keep our team together.” It’s just we enter when we do and we try to understand what we have.

This reads as if there is no-way-in-heck the roster stays the same. There is no nucleus per se. This is basically a season long training camp.

Weltman: I don’t know if there are things that you don’t see before. It’s just a matter of getting to know people. For example, I know we interviewed Elfrid and we came away thinking “that’s a really neat kid.” It so happens that he ends up on another team and now I’m a part of that team. But I remember thinking “that’s a really neat kid.”

Sounds like Payton is staying.


For the anti-tankers:

OS: There’s almost a perverse reasoning when it comes to evaluating an NBA team’s rebuilding path. It’s said the worst thing an NBA team can be is mediocre, because it’s on a so-called hamster wheel. The way this season has transpired, with the injuries, could it be that this team is actually better off having higher lottery odds than scrapping and clawing to finish ninth or 10th in the East?

Weltman: The implication being that then you’re going to try to say, “OK, let’s not try to compete the rest of the way?” I don’t believe in that. I believe that you never stop competing.

And for the pro-tankers:

OS: Judging by that answer, I assume the word “tank” is a dirty word to you.

Weltman: I’d never say “dirty word.” I just feel when you enter into any long-range plan, you have to have an exit strategy in how you come out of that. Oftentimes I think when you adopt a strategy like that, you’re kind of entering into a very perilous state where you’re not exactly sure always how you’re going to come out, when you’re going to come out, if you’re going to come out. Look, there’s never a strategy that you can’t say, “This didn’t work somewhere.” And you just have to calculate those odds and figure out how much medicine you want to take. But one truth is that whatever medicine a team needs to take has to be taken.

A great, honest interview.


..

I wouldn’t say calling him a “neat kid” means Elfrid is staying. It reads more like “You’re a neat kid, *pats on head* I wish you Success on your new team.”

Being neat doesn’t make a good PG. We need a vocal leader on the floor, a dominant personality, someone that demands his guys execute the plan. The fact that he still thinks of him as a kid is really concerning actually.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

Weltman would be a good politician.

In any event I like his measured approach. I like what he and Hammond have done so far to improve the 'mechanics' of the franchise and the background hires that they have made (David Tenney, Becky Bonner et al) whilst evaluating all of the playing pieces we have and not making any snap decisions. It means that when he gets the players in that he wants they will have the system in place to succeed, and those terrible panicked decisions that have hamstrung us currently are a thing of the past.

I also think that him and Hammond have enough clout and experience to be allowed to bring their vision, once formulated, to fruition without the meddling of executives that shall remain nameless, and certain moves they have made so far give the impression that they are classy people who others are going to want to work for (Marcus Georges-Hunt, Mario).

All of the above are very good things for the long term direction of the team, especially turning Orlando back into a desirable FA destination.

Although the team isn't great currently, I'm very optimistic about what these two will bring long term.

I have a different perspective on the concepts of "bombshells" and "must reads" and "honest" and "great." The only transparent statement Weltman made related to Vogel staying and that statement has the effect of trying to stifle locker room dissatisfaction. So even if Weltman really likes Vogel as a coach, he's also intentionally or unintentionally trying to prevent the team from imploding off the court.

The rest of the interview struck me as similar to Hennigan in content (i.e. no real content) with just a stylistic difference. Weltman's response to the tanking question was absolutely standard front office avoidance of the issue - "we're not intentionally losing because that's bad" as if unintentionally losing (like the Magic are doing by the bucketfuls right now) is somehow more noble.

I don't feel like I learned anything about the Weltman's ideas for the team based on the half-season's worth of information.

Right now, Weltman and Hammond are far and away my favorite guys on the team. I have come to realize that I am a bigger fan of front office team-building than actual games (weird). Why else would I spend such an insane amount of time here, arguing with other knuckleheads who know nothing more than I do (said with love) and second-guessing professionals' every move.

My dream is Weltman wins executive of the year for 2018...more so than what any individual player could do at this point. HOPE!

Almost as good as a Hennigan interview.

Only thing you can really take from this is Vogel will be back next year. He called Elfrid neat, doesn’t mean anything lol.

Come to agree with above comments, not much different than Hennigan type of interview.

Vogel is staying, AG represents 'what our DNA should be about' and Elfrid is ' a neat kid'. I've fired fair share of 'neat kids' that haven't a) performed and b) didn't improve after consecutive appraisals and company provided all trainings they need.

Weltman is tanking this season. It is obvious.

Agree on Elfrid. Being called a "neat kid" is almost ominous. If I am an NBA player, that's not really the way I want to be described by a talent assessor.

As much as it pains some, him singling out Elfrid like that doesn't mean nothing. Not that he's safe, but he doesn't have to compliment him like that. But whatever, carry on.

drsd wrote:

Weltman: The goal coming into this season was to understand what we have ....

.

So the goal was not to win a title. Hmph.


..

Yeah.

He did actually say that even before the season that this season will be spent evaluating things.

When he called Elf a neat kid he clearly didn't mean his hair!

PennytoShaq wrote:Weltman is tanking this season. It is obvious.

Frankly word-for-word this is all I took from the interview.

The comments above that Weltman's words were nondescript, I do not agree.
What I read was "I am soon going to direct my GM to blow up the team".

The "evaluation phase" might be over Magic fans.



..

I think it has been obvious all year that we will shed salary. This team is too expensive for the win/loss ratio they put out.

This is why I have been saying all season that I think Evan and Vuc could go for picks or light contracts of young guys.

I'm not sure if Biz is tradable yet, but if he keeps playing effectively as a starter, that's fine. He will become tradable down the road or we just use him as the starter and develop Birch behind him.

PennytoShaq wrote:Weltman is tanking this season. It is obvious.

Agree on Elfrid. Being called a "neat kid" is almost ominous. If I am an NBA player, that's not really the way I want to be described by a talent assessor.

wouldn't you tank when every starter has been injured for multiple weeks leading up to ASB.. Make some minor trades to try and grab a 2nd 1st rounder.

Goals for post ASB should be:
See what Birch can do? Would he be a serviceable backup C getting 10-12 minutes a night next year?
Continue to feed Iwundu minutes and get him to feel comfortable shooting when open.
Play small ball at times with AG at 5.
Stay top 3 for 2018 Lotto.

j-ragg wrote:Almost as good as a Hennigan interview.

Only thing you can really take from this is Vogel will be back next year. He called Elfrid neat, doesn’t mean anything lol.

I wonder if its because Elfrid looks neat with the shape of his hair.

PennytoShaq wrote:I think it has been obvious all year that we will shed salary. This team is too expensive for the win/loss ratio they put out.

The new CBA mandates something very close to a 100% salary cost (maybe 90%???).

In the new NBA era of its CBA, what really matters is having guys expire at the right time. This is why Redick got a 1-year deal worth well north of 20M. That Philly is also winning is a cherry on top. His inking was about burning salary, not hitting threes.


..

I drank Hennigan's koolaid, not gonna happen again.

Weltman blames our record on injuries, in no uncertain terms, and thats cheap.

darthcheech2000 wrote:I drank Hennigan's koolaid, not gonna happen again.

Weltman blames our record on injuries, in no uncertain terms, and thats cheap.

Eh, I think he is just defending Frank since he wants to keep him around for another season.

He knows the team is not that well built. That's what he is here to fix. Give Vogel a well built team and then see how he does with it.

In case there is any doubt, no Magician is safe:

Weltman: There’s no corner of our house that we can’t get better.