Magic GM John Hammond on "In the Zone" with Brandon Kravitz - 3/1/2022
Posted: Tue Mar 1, 2022 11:47 pm
Magic general manager John Hammond joined Brandon Kravitz on "In the Zone" this afternoon. Here's the transcript and a link to the interview.
Kravitz: How did it feel last night watching the return of a player I know you're very fond of in Markelle Fultz?
Hammond: I'm glad you put it that way because that's really what it comes down to, a guy we're all very fond of. If you saw the happiness and celebratory mood of the rest of our players for him, that just tells you about who Markelle Fultz is. He's a very gracious person. He's a very giving person. He's so considerate of those that he works with. You're just happy for a guy like that when good things happen for him, getting back out on the floor, because he is all about the right things as a teammate and player.
Kravitz: Where did you watch the game? What did your evening look like?
Hammond: *Laughs* I gotta be honest with you. I was at the Iowa v. Northwestern game last night. I was watching it from afar and cheering for Markelle from afar. But typical Markelle, look back a couple of days ago, he's on the training table on Saturday and I walked up to him said "I'm kind of heartbroken" and he goes "what's wrong?" and I said "I'm not going to be there on Monday" and he looked up and goes "John, you've seen me play before" and we both started laughing. I always say Markelle is like the GM of common sense. The guy is just a very wise and sage guy. Very wise for his age.
Kravitz: What did you think of the way Fultz played? Was that in line with what you expected of him?
Hammond: Of course. There's a reason the guy was the No. 1 pick in the draft. He's capable of doing a lot of things on the floor and you saw that last night. He's a capable scorer. He's a capable distributor. He's a capable defender. Markelle was obviously tracking and trending the right way for us when he got injured. We've had him for a short little window, but I remember the game against the Lakers in Los Angeles when he came out and got that triple double and you start thinking "oh here it is" and he's starting to take off. Then the pandemic hit and kind of slowed him down a little bit. We have to ease him into this. We're going to monitor his minutes. I'm sure not every game is going to go exactly the way he or we would want it to, but he'll get there. Just give him time.
Kravitz: I'm not a talent evaluator like yourself, but I do watch a lot of basketball. Markelle looked a whole lot better to me. I thought his shot was closer to the form he had back at Washington. You see him a lot in practice. Have you noticed a change in his shot during his rehabilitation process?
Hammond: Ahhh a little bit Brandon. But really if you watch Markelle before the injury, what him made the No. 1 pick was his ability to get the ball to the basket, his ability to get the ball into the paint, and especially his ability to shoot the ball off the dribble from that 15-18 foot range in particular. When you watch him pre-injury and now post-injury, when he takes the ball off the dribble, gathers himself and rises up and shoots the ball off the dribble he has a very clean, smooth release. It's the three point shot that's a little bit of a set shot that turns into a little bit of push shot. That's very capable and he'll get that in due time. If you look around the league, the three point shot is a factor. But you talk about a guy in today's game who is in very serious discussion for the MVP award and that's DeMar DeRozan and that guy's game is totally a midrange game. I look like a guy like Markelle and think why couldn't he be great and be very successful with his midrange game and just continue to extend his three point shooting like a guy like DeRozan has?
Kravitz: How integral has your training staff been throughout this entire process?
Hammond: They've done a great job. You just think about the time they spend together with a player. It's really remarkable. When you talk about our game it's a people person game. You have to be able to connect with people to have success in this business because we're a small group for the most part. Our training staff has not only done a great job of rehabbing him, but also connecting with him. They were committed to him and he felt that. And the great thing is, he was committed to them and they felt that as well.
Kravitz: Are you concerned that you have too many guards and there aren't enough minutes out there over these last 20 games to get a clear picture of what you want to do with this roster heading into the offseason?
Hammond: No, I don't think so. You look at who and what we are today and you hate to use the word "rebuilding", but obviously that's the mode we're in to a certain extent. But all of this is going to work itself out in the wash. We'll figure out who are the right players for us, who fits best for us and who fits best playing together. The most important is that our players continue to improve and their value continues to be where it needs to be. For our ability to evaluate our team, but also for them. They have to be players that other teams will value. That will work itself out. Not concerned whatsoever.
Kravitz: The final piece to the puzzle as far as this season goes is Jonathan Isaac. Is there an expectation that he'll be able to play before the season ends?
Hammond: No expectation either way. We're trying to keep Jonathan ready physically and ready mentally. He's another guy like Markelle working extremely hard, doing everything he can to get himself back at the right time and be playing well when he does come back. He's committed. He's committed to the medical staff and they're committed to him. I think there's a great synergy there. You know Jonathan, high character, high quality, we've never had any questions about his work ethic going through this rehab process. When the time is right, he'll be back. What Jonathan Isaac can do, you can't teach. The great defensive instincts that he has. The ability to rebound the ball and block shots. In these times where players are out for an extended period with injuries, they really get an opportunity to work on their shot. Jonathan is another guy really getting a chance to work on his jump shot and he's feeling more confident about that. Hopefully that will all work out in due time, but we're excited about him coming back and when he does he'll be an excellent player for us.
Kravitz: Should we expect some fireworks this offseason? A top pick and a lot of cap space is on the horizon. How active will you be active?
Hammond: Well I don't know. You talk about fireworks and we're going to proceed with caution as we should to a certain extent. It's not that hard to go from bad to good. That's not the goal. The goal is to go from bad to good and then from good to great. When I say it's not that hard to go from bad to good, sometimes you can go from bad to good and get stuck there if you do it too quickly. We want to make sure we're smart, conservative and that we don't do anything that will harm our future ideas, thoughts and progress. We want to get it right, but get it right long-term.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0303g6C72aQvIPP1H8Rqgw?si=OTIXsWElTNG59k7jmMyATA
Kravitz: How did it feel last night watching the return of a player I know you're very fond of in Markelle Fultz?
Hammond: I'm glad you put it that way because that's really what it comes down to, a guy we're all very fond of. If you saw the happiness and celebratory mood of the rest of our players for him, that just tells you about who Markelle Fultz is. He's a very gracious person. He's a very giving person. He's so considerate of those that he works with. You're just happy for a guy like that when good things happen for him, getting back out on the floor, because he is all about the right things as a teammate and player.
Kravitz: Where did you watch the game? What did your evening look like?
Hammond: *Laughs* I gotta be honest with you. I was at the Iowa v. Northwestern game last night. I was watching it from afar and cheering for Markelle from afar. But typical Markelle, look back a couple of days ago, he's on the training table on Saturday and I walked up to him said "I'm kind of heartbroken" and he goes "what's wrong?" and I said "I'm not going to be there on Monday" and he looked up and goes "John, you've seen me play before" and we both started laughing. I always say Markelle is like the GM of common sense. The guy is just a very wise and sage guy. Very wise for his age.
Kravitz: What did you think of the way Fultz played? Was that in line with what you expected of him?
Hammond: Of course. There's a reason the guy was the No. 1 pick in the draft. He's capable of doing a lot of things on the floor and you saw that last night. He's a capable scorer. He's a capable distributor. He's a capable defender. Markelle was obviously tracking and trending the right way for us when he got injured. We've had him for a short little window, but I remember the game against the Lakers in Los Angeles when he came out and got that triple double and you start thinking "oh here it is" and he's starting to take off. Then the pandemic hit and kind of slowed him down a little bit. We have to ease him into this. We're going to monitor his minutes. I'm sure not every game is going to go exactly the way he or we would want it to, but he'll get there. Just give him time.
Kravitz: I'm not a talent evaluator like yourself, but I do watch a lot of basketball. Markelle looked a whole lot better to me. I thought his shot was closer to the form he had back at Washington. You see him a lot in practice. Have you noticed a change in his shot during his rehabilitation process?
Hammond: Ahhh a little bit Brandon. But really if you watch Markelle before the injury, what him made the No. 1 pick was his ability to get the ball to the basket, his ability to get the ball into the paint, and especially his ability to shoot the ball off the dribble from that 15-18 foot range in particular. When you watch him pre-injury and now post-injury, when he takes the ball off the dribble, gathers himself and rises up and shoots the ball off the dribble he has a very clean, smooth release. It's the three point shot that's a little bit of a set shot that turns into a little bit of push shot. That's very capable and he'll get that in due time. If you look around the league, the three point shot is a factor. But you talk about a guy in today's game who is in very serious discussion for the MVP award and that's DeMar DeRozan and that guy's game is totally a midrange game. I look like a guy like Markelle and think why couldn't he be great and be very successful with his midrange game and just continue to extend his three point shooting like a guy like DeRozan has?
Kravitz: How integral has your training staff been throughout this entire process?
Hammond: They've done a great job. You just think about the time they spend together with a player. It's really remarkable. When you talk about our game it's a people person game. You have to be able to connect with people to have success in this business because we're a small group for the most part. Our training staff has not only done a great job of rehabbing him, but also connecting with him. They were committed to him and he felt that. And the great thing is, he was committed to them and they felt that as well.
Kravitz: Are you concerned that you have too many guards and there aren't enough minutes out there over these last 20 games to get a clear picture of what you want to do with this roster heading into the offseason?
Hammond: No, I don't think so. You look at who and what we are today and you hate to use the word "rebuilding", but obviously that's the mode we're in to a certain extent. But all of this is going to work itself out in the wash. We'll figure out who are the right players for us, who fits best for us and who fits best playing together. The most important is that our players continue to improve and their value continues to be where it needs to be. For our ability to evaluate our team, but also for them. They have to be players that other teams will value. That will work itself out. Not concerned whatsoever.
Kravitz: The final piece to the puzzle as far as this season goes is Jonathan Isaac. Is there an expectation that he'll be able to play before the season ends?
Hammond: No expectation either way. We're trying to keep Jonathan ready physically and ready mentally. He's another guy like Markelle working extremely hard, doing everything he can to get himself back at the right time and be playing well when he does come back. He's committed. He's committed to the medical staff and they're committed to him. I think there's a great synergy there. You know Jonathan, high character, high quality, we've never had any questions about his work ethic going through this rehab process. When the time is right, he'll be back. What Jonathan Isaac can do, you can't teach. The great defensive instincts that he has. The ability to rebound the ball and block shots. In these times where players are out for an extended period with injuries, they really get an opportunity to work on their shot. Jonathan is another guy really getting a chance to work on his jump shot and he's feeling more confident about that. Hopefully that will all work out in due time, but we're excited about him coming back and when he does he'll be an excellent player for us.
Kravitz: Should we expect some fireworks this offseason? A top pick and a lot of cap space is on the horizon. How active will you be active?
Hammond: Well I don't know. You talk about fireworks and we're going to proceed with caution as we should to a certain extent. It's not that hard to go from bad to good. That's not the goal. The goal is to go from bad to good and then from good to great. When I say it's not that hard to go from bad to good, sometimes you can go from bad to good and get stuck there if you do it too quickly. We want to make sure we're smart, conservative and that we don't do anything that will harm our future ideas, thoughts and progress. We want to get it right, but get it right long-term.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0303g6C72aQvIPP1H8Rqgw?si=OTIXsWElTNG59k7jmMyATA