96.9 Morning Interview Jeff Weltman "Have a Finger on the Pulse of the team"

[Xatticus]

Another enlightening part of this interview is something Weltman did not say: "Porter". That name was not mentioned once.

Weltman was clear that Fourier, Gordon, and Vučević were traded for two FRPs, Hampton and Carter. No mention of the SRPs and no mention of Porter. None. Very little mention of Harris as well.

He actually did talk about Porter and Harris.

[MagicFan101]

Another enlightening part of this interview is something Weltman did not say: "Porter". That name was not mentioned once.

Weltman was clear that Fourier, Gordon, and Vučević were traded for two FRPs, Hampton and Carter. No mention of the SRPs and no mention of Porter. None. Very little mention of Harris as well.

lol, during the 26:00 minute mark he enthusiastically dives into a question on the vets we acquired and discussed “Otto Porter” by name as well as Gary Harris.

He goes out of his way to thank the person for asking the question as he doesn’t want these two to be forgotten in the deals. He sounds high on both of them.

Again, never trust a GM. Their job when talking to the media is to spin hype. Still, what you’re saying the opposite of what he did and said.

[OrlandoSaban]

I call bull****.

team as it was always going to be limited in their success. even if we ended up a homecourt playoff team this season as he claims, that's completely independant of how we'd be positioned for the following seasons. they always needed to make changes, trades if this team was going to be any better. you can't use the temporary injuries in a season as an excuse for the failures of your long term strategy. either you have a vision for how to get better or you don't. and he's cluelessly still using the same buzzwords. what "continuity" are you talking about man? keeping birch? this is just complete 180 of everything you've been preaching. just own it.

I have zero confidence on him being able succesfully carry out this rebuild. hennigan had warts and bad choices but most of his greatest failures were pushed on him by the ownership forcing him to deviate from his vision. these guys have no vision. they just throw **** at the wall and see what sticks. for this reset to have any chance of succeeding, we need to get rid of them asap.

What else could he have done? I would like to hear what your game plan was/is - I have a feeling I will hear crickets with your non response.

[JF5]

I call bull****.

team as it was always going to be limited in their success. even if we ended up a homecourt playoff team this season as he claims, that's completely independant of how we'd be positioned for the following seasons. they always needed to make changes, trades if this team was going to be any better. you can't use the temporary injuries in a season as an excuse for the failures of your long term strategy. either you have a vision for how to get better or you don't. and he's cluelessly still using the same buzzwords. what "continuity" are you talking about man? keeping birch? this is just complete 180 of everything you've been preaching. just own it.

I have zero confidence on him being able succesfully carry out this rebuild. hennigan had warts and bad choices but most of his greatest failures were pushed on him by the ownership forcing him to deviate from his vision. these guys have no vision. they just throw **** at the wall and see what sticks. for this reset to have any chance of succeeding, we need to get rid of them asap.

I think fans have a narrow view as to how they saw this team. There were clearly multiple paths and like he mentioned seeing how everything was going it just shows they were very aware as to what was going on.

From what I was seeing... I think they saw that they could potentially rebuild via (winning culture and continuity). The plan to me from the beginning was that this team was going to transition from Gordon/Fournier/Vucevic to Issac/Fultz/Okeke and the balancing of the the roster would occur as they'd go. (I believe they were going to move AG last year for a wing but Issac going down changed plans). Then with remainder of team going down with injuries mounting, losing (dropping the Free-agency/trading interest for potential star players to come), and vets signaling they wanted out asap the transition phase became dead in the water.

Now being in contention for a top pick in a deep draft with no other paths with the continuity plan (with players wanting out and with players trade values depressing as time moved forward as they mentioned). This blow-up stage was the only path available.

Also, they achieved a very crucial objective with the core young guys too. Being an a environment of playoff experience and being in a semi winning situation and experiencing that going forward. That in itself is very valuable as it teaches the young guys what it takes to win. Now the base of your franchise isn't in an odd situation which happened in the previous regime where young players felt like they were playing against each other rather than for each other (as Oladipo mentioned a few years ago).

Also, the fact that these guys eventually did right by the vets and put them on teams that are trending up or are contending is very good look for the Organization going forward. Somebody put up a thread that this team was "dysfunctional" but seeing how everything has played out for EVERYONE in the last few days shows that they know what they're doing.

Again, this narrative that this front office is garbage is way off base. The fact they don't share what happens internally too often combined with the fans frustrations has gotten us to this place.

yeah dude, the last 4 years was worth it because we got isaac to play in one play off series for the first time. that was the goal all along. you solved this thing. that was just the right amount of culture this team needed to get us going.

They made the playoffs twice after not making it since the Dwight years. Also, like they mentioned in the interview and it was probably part of their Job quota that they had to show some progress. Being a vet front office and dealing with a business guy like Alex Martins wanting results, I'm pretty sure there was a bit of pressure for some playoff appearances, and to rely on young guys to completely save your job is not necessarily the best route.

There was an episode of Open Court a few years ago when guys like Isiah Thomas/Steve Kerr (Who were GM's and Executives of Organizations) all had the same sentiment.

They tried it one way with the continuity option which didn't work all the way (but they found success with the playoff appearances) and they gave themselves some breathing room/extra time to use the rebuild option. We'll see how this goes but I'm happy about the talent allocation and assets they have going forward

[OrlandoMagic]

I actually think and hope this might be the beginning of the end of Alex Martins. You can say what you want about WeHam but they can only do so much with Martins calling the shots. Maybe finally they have separated Martins away from the basketball aspect of it and are keeping him for the business side only. Of course this is all wishful thinking.

[thelead]

I actually think and hope this might be the beginning of the end of Alex Martins. You can say what you want about WeHam but they can only do so much with Martins calling the shots. Maybe finally they have separated Martins away from the basketball aspect of it and are keeping him for the business side only. Of course this is all wishful thinking.

We’ve all been hoping for that since before Hennigan. Even SVG called Martins out on the way out.

[drsd]

Another enlightening part of this interview is something Weltman did not say: "Porter". That name was not mentioned once.

Weltman was clear that Fourier, Gordon, and Vučević were traded for two FRPs, Hampton and Carter. No mention of the SRPs and no mention of Porter. None. Very little mention of Harris as well.

He actually did talk about Porter and Harris.

In the longer interview there was extensive conversations that i "they are both exited to be here', ii) they are high character guys, and iii) these are they types if vets a team wants to have.

I guess that means Porter will play this year, and that when Harris gets healthy, he will start.

[drsd]

Another enlightening part of this interview is something Weltman did not say: "Porter". That name was not mentioned once.

Weltman was clear that Fourier, Gordon, and Vučević were traded for two FRPs, Hampton and Carter. No mention of the SRPs and no mention of Porter. None. Very little mention of Harris as well.

lol, during the 26:00 minute mark he enthusiastically dives into a question on the vets we acquired and discussed “Otto Porter” by name as well as Gary Harris.

He goes out of his way to thank the person for asking the question as he doesn’t want these two to be forgotten in the deals. He sounds high on both of them.

Again, never trust a GM. Their job when talking to the media is to spin hype. Still, what you’re saying the opposite of what he did and said.

Again this is the longer 30 minute interview. I was discussing the first, shorter 6-minute interview.

..

[MagicFan101]

By far the most interesting comments of this to me are related to Isaac.

When asked about Fultz and Isaac, he points out that Isaac missed a year and then barely played a year and now missed another year ... and that had to be factored into the math of how much he is our future.

Very interesting. Surprisingly transparent.

[nymets1]

The Magic were excited about Bamba when they drafted him but nowadays I guess not. Wendell Carter might be good here but it's not a guarantee at all that he turns into a Dwight Howard or Vuc.

[Knightro]

By far the most interesting comments of this to me are related to Isaac.

When asked about Fultz and Isaac, he points out that Isaac missed a year and then barely played a year and now missed another year ... and that had to be factored into the math of how much he is our future.

Very interesting. Surprisingly transparent.

Is it really though?

Because Weltman had all of that injury information at his disposal and still happily gave Isaac a 4 year extension worth $70-80M depending on the incentives.

Like regardless of whether or not the injuries have changed Weltman's perception of Isaac's future trajectory, he still paid him like he's going to be a big part of it.

[MagicFan101]

By far the most interesting comments of this to me are related to Isaac.

When asked about Fultz and Isaac, he points out that Isaac missed a year and then barely played a year and now missed another year ... and that had to be factored into the math of how much he is our future.

Very interesting. Surprisingly transparent.

Is it really though?

Because Weltman had all of that injury information at his disposal and still happily gave Isaac a 4 year extension worth $70-80M depending on the incentives.

Like regardless of whether or not the injuries have changed Weltman's perception of Isaac's future trajectory, he still paid him like he's going to be a big part of it.

All of which is why I would expect him to have spoken glowingly of the future of Isaac in Orlando. I was just surprised to hear those words spoken by him.