TRANSCRIPT: John Hammond on "The Mark Moses Show" - 6/28/22
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 3:49 am
Orlando Magic general manager John Hammond joined The Mark Moses Show on Tuesday, June 28. I skipped a bunch of questions on Giannis to start out.
Moses: Why did you pick Paolo No. 1 overall?
Hammond: I truly believe he has a chance to be a very good player in this league. It’s going to come down to how badly he wants it. Does he want to become great? You want to draft someone who has the tools and the opportunity to be that. He has those kind of tools. We just hope there’s that burning desire inside of him to want to be great because if that’s the case, he has the chance to be.
Moses: When did you decide on Banchero? Was it when you won the draft lottery? Or was it even earlier than that?
Hammond: Oh no. As we’re going through the season, you don’t know exactly where you’re going to end up. Every team starts the year thinking if we can stay healthy and get some breaks, maybe we can be competitive and get into the playoffs. Maybe have a surprising season according to NBA standards. But that didn’t happen for us. We did have a lot of injuries. We ended up in the lottery and we got the good fortune of landing the No. 1 pick which was a real good pick me up for a lot of people within our organization. Some of our fan support and from a media standpoint, it was a really positive thing. As we’re going through the season, we’re constantly ranking players, college players and international players. Trying to, I don’t want to say tier them that early, but having some kind of overall rankings. In this draft, there was a top 3. Not saying the 4th pick or the 8th pick or the 15th pick won’t turn out to be the best player in this draft, time will tell. But in this draft there was a top 3 as the season progressed. Paolo was one of those guys and for a large part of the year was at the top of that list. I think probably coming into this year he was at the top of that list. I think we were very thorough on this decision and hopefully we drafted the very best player in this draft.
Moses: What do you like about Banchero’s game?
Hammond: The part that you can see with your own eyes. This guy was a freshman and he’s 6’10” 250. Massive guy. But along with that he’s got very good skills. Probably his greatest skill is his passing. Great vision with the basketball. You don’t want to say point guard vision, but has the ability to make players better on the floor when he’s out there. I think the more players you can put on the floor that make each other better, the better chance your team has to be very successful.
Moses: Do you feel the pressure of playing during Coach K’s final season and going to the Final Four was a positive?
Hammond: Yeah. You talk about all the factors that make him NBA ready, there’s one right there. Look at the pressure he played under. I can’t imagine the young guys in the program playing for Coach K in his last season. The media behind that. All the things they had to face on top of the pressure of trying to win. Can you imagine winning the last game for Coach K? That had to be remarkable for those guys to go through that. Those things made him even more NBA ready.
Moses: Is Paolo a 3, 4 or 5?
Hammond: We like Franz as a 3, but at 6’10” he can play some power forward. If you slot Paolo in at the other forward position at 6’10”, we have two forwards with very good size. Two forwards that can handle the ball, that can pass the ball. I think Paolo’s going to be able to shoot the ball like Franz. Then you put Wendell Carter inside at 6’10”/6’11”, it just gives us nice size. Nice athleticism. A good overall skill set. And all very young guys who we can hopefully move forward with.
Moses: When you drafted Giannis, it took him a couple of years in the NBA to develop, do you see a similar path for Paolo?
Hammond: With Giannis, he came in extremely thin and now he’s one of the strongest players in the NBA which is a credit to him and his work ethic. Paolo’s different in that regard. Physically he’s ready to play. When we talk about a ready NBA player, we talked about the things he went through a Duke, but we also talk about how he’s physically ready. As far as his overall game, there is a transition period. It’s gonna take a little time for Paolo to get comfortable. To get used to the speed of the game, the amount of games. The nuances of learning the NBA game on both sides of the floor. Understanding defensively who you’re guarding. Understanding team concepts of your defense. Offensively understanding the speed of the game and the decisions that have to be made.
Moses: Is the current state of the NBA where everybody needs to be able to shoot the 3?
Hammond: Yeah I think it is. Right now the three point shot is such a major factor in the game. Everybody shoots it. If you’re not a stretch player, a guard or a big, it’s difficult to be one of the special players in the league if you can’t stretch the floor. Now you don’t *have* to make threes, you look at a guy like DeMar DeRozan of Chicago, an all-star and one of the best players in the NBA and for the most part he’s a midrange game player. We have a guy on our roster, Markelle Fultz, who I think at the end of the day his true strength is going to be as a midrange game player. Some guys can do that. But in today’s game, the more guys you have that can stretch the floor, the better it is because the three point shot is such a major factor.
Moses: What do you like about Caleb Houstan?
Hammond: Shooting. Three point shooting. You look at a guy like Caleb and you hope for a 3&D guy. Can he find a way to defend in this league? He’s a very smart player on both ends of the floor. Can he figure out the nuances of NBA defense, have the quick enough feet to keep people in front of him and contest shots? Offensively spot himself up for the corner three and shoot the ball consistently. He has an understanding for the game. He understands what to do and what not to do. Right now what he does best is get to the corners, wait for the ball to be swung to him and make the three.
Moses: What did you think of Suggs and Wagner’s rookie seasons?
Hammond: Well… Jalen didn’t play enough. His injuries set him back. That was difficult. He missed almost half the season. But when he played he was really good, particularly defensively. He’s got good size, good strength, good feet. He’s tough. Great instincts defensively. Had a chance to be a very good defensive player. Offensively, making the move from one year of college to the pros. I think a guy like Jalen has a year under his belt now and is going to be better offensively. We need him. We need him to be a good player moving forward. Franz Wagner was even better than we thought. If we can say that about Wendell Carter, about Paolo Banchero, about Jalen Suggs, when you have numerous guys like that on your team, pretty soon your saying “our team is even better than we thought”. Guys have to play above what you think their potential is. A guy like Paolo, the No. 1 pick, he needs to be an all-star. You hope. Fingers crossed he can be something like that.
Moses: Where does Cole Anthony fit into this team?
Hammond: Another guy. He’s gonna be another guy. I didn’t mention his name, but I should mention his name. Cole has to continue to work. Adjust to playing in the NBA. People have value that can score the ball. Cole Anthony can score. He had some injury issues, another player that’s had that concern. Get himself healthy and no reason he can’t be a very good player in this league and be a long-term player for us. Like the guy. He’s a hard worker and he wants to be good, wants to be great. So hopefully that can all work for him.
Moses: What are you expectations for next season?
Hammond: To be a team night in and night out, and look a lot of this because of the injury woes to a certain extent. We knew going in what this was potentially going to be for us. We knew it was going to be a tough year. We thought maybe we could overachieve. We weren’t capable of overachieving because of injuries in particular. But expectations would be, we need Markelle Fultz to play 70-75 games. We need Jalen Suggs to do the same. We need to stay healthy. If we stay healthy there’s no reason we can’t be competitive night in and night out. And be a team at the end of the season you say “they’re even better than I thought” that’s the hope and expectation. Wherever that takes us. I don’t know how many wins that’s going to get us. But just to be one of those teams that every night we take the floor that we have a chance to win.
Moses: What did you think of Mosley’s first season?
Hammond: A great connector. A guy that I think has the ability to communicate with players. He has a good understanding of the game and how he wants the game to be played in his eyes. There’s no reason he can’t be a very good coach in this league and maybe even a great coach. But you know how it goes, usually good coaches have good players. And great coaches have great players. So it’s our responsibility to help make him a good coach and a great coach.
Moses: When you guys got the first pick, did you fist pump? High five?
Hammond: Jamahl was on the stage and Jeff and I were sitting in the audience. I don’t think we hugged, but I think we gave each other a double fist bump. It was a great time for us.
Moses: How hard is it to get the No. 1 pick in the draft?
Hammond: It’s not hard if you’ve got luck on your side.
Moses: Where do we go from here? Summer League?
Hammond: Next thing for us is trying to put our roster together. Somewhat complete our roster, maybe not in full completion. We’re working on that right now. In a few days here we’ll have a mini camp here in Orlando with our summer league team. We’ll fly to Vegas and play the NBA Summer League. Guys are in the gym. Nowadays guys are basically in the gym all year. They’ll take little breaks here and there, but it’s a big business, a tough business. Guys know they have to work year round to compete and keep a job.
Moses: You and like five other people knew Banchero was the 1st pick, no one else had any idea - you know this right?
Hammond: The reason why is because Jeff Weltman is really thorough. We’re gonna talk about it again and again and again. You asked when that decision was made, it was made late in the process. But we gathered all the information we needed and once we had the information we said that’s the right guy for us.
Moses: Magic fans are excited, do you feel that buzz as well?
Hammond: Yeah there is. No question whatsoever. When we won the lottery, that kind of kickstarted everything. We felt that way. We hope we can put a very good competitive team on the floor. A team that plays hard every night. If we play hard every night and stay healthy, we’ll have good things happen. There’s no reason this thing can’t continue to grow with our young players and we’ll keep adding to that as we move forward.
Moses: Do you get a vacation anytime this summer?
Hammond: If there’s a quiet time on the NBA calendar, it’s usually August. June is the draft. July is Summer League and free agency. If there’s a little window of quiet, it’s August. But this isn’t a “got to” job, it’s a “get to” job. We get to do this and we’re so lucky to get to do this that we never get tired of it.
https://markmosesshow.podbean.com/e/john-hammond-orlando-magic-interview-62822/
Moses: Why did you pick Paolo No. 1 overall?
Hammond: I truly believe he has a chance to be a very good player in this league. It’s going to come down to how badly he wants it. Does he want to become great? You want to draft someone who has the tools and the opportunity to be that. He has those kind of tools. We just hope there’s that burning desire inside of him to want to be great because if that’s the case, he has the chance to be.
Moses: When did you decide on Banchero? Was it when you won the draft lottery? Or was it even earlier than that?
Hammond: Oh no. As we’re going through the season, you don’t know exactly where you’re going to end up. Every team starts the year thinking if we can stay healthy and get some breaks, maybe we can be competitive and get into the playoffs. Maybe have a surprising season according to NBA standards. But that didn’t happen for us. We did have a lot of injuries. We ended up in the lottery and we got the good fortune of landing the No. 1 pick which was a real good pick me up for a lot of people within our organization. Some of our fan support and from a media standpoint, it was a really positive thing. As we’re going through the season, we’re constantly ranking players, college players and international players. Trying to, I don’t want to say tier them that early, but having some kind of overall rankings. In this draft, there was a top 3. Not saying the 4th pick or the 8th pick or the 15th pick won’t turn out to be the best player in this draft, time will tell. But in this draft there was a top 3 as the season progressed. Paolo was one of those guys and for a large part of the year was at the top of that list. I think probably coming into this year he was at the top of that list. I think we were very thorough on this decision and hopefully we drafted the very best player in this draft.
Moses: What do you like about Banchero’s game?
Hammond: The part that you can see with your own eyes. This guy was a freshman and he’s 6’10” 250. Massive guy. But along with that he’s got very good skills. Probably his greatest skill is his passing. Great vision with the basketball. You don’t want to say point guard vision, but has the ability to make players better on the floor when he’s out there. I think the more players you can put on the floor that make each other better, the better chance your team has to be very successful.
Moses: Do you feel the pressure of playing during Coach K’s final season and going to the Final Four was a positive?
Hammond: Yeah. You talk about all the factors that make him NBA ready, there’s one right there. Look at the pressure he played under. I can’t imagine the young guys in the program playing for Coach K in his last season. The media behind that. All the things they had to face on top of the pressure of trying to win. Can you imagine winning the last game for Coach K? That had to be remarkable for those guys to go through that. Those things made him even more NBA ready.
Moses: Is Paolo a 3, 4 or 5?
Hammond: We like Franz as a 3, but at 6’10” he can play some power forward. If you slot Paolo in at the other forward position at 6’10”, we have two forwards with very good size. Two forwards that can handle the ball, that can pass the ball. I think Paolo’s going to be able to shoot the ball like Franz. Then you put Wendell Carter inside at 6’10”/6’11”, it just gives us nice size. Nice athleticism. A good overall skill set. And all very young guys who we can hopefully move forward with.
Moses: When you drafted Giannis, it took him a couple of years in the NBA to develop, do you see a similar path for Paolo?
Hammond: With Giannis, he came in extremely thin and now he’s one of the strongest players in the NBA which is a credit to him and his work ethic. Paolo’s different in that regard. Physically he’s ready to play. When we talk about a ready NBA player, we talked about the things he went through a Duke, but we also talk about how he’s physically ready. As far as his overall game, there is a transition period. It’s gonna take a little time for Paolo to get comfortable. To get used to the speed of the game, the amount of games. The nuances of learning the NBA game on both sides of the floor. Understanding defensively who you’re guarding. Understanding team concepts of your defense. Offensively understanding the speed of the game and the decisions that have to be made.
Moses: Is the current state of the NBA where everybody needs to be able to shoot the 3?
Hammond: Yeah I think it is. Right now the three point shot is such a major factor in the game. Everybody shoots it. If you’re not a stretch player, a guard or a big, it’s difficult to be one of the special players in the league if you can’t stretch the floor. Now you don’t *have* to make threes, you look at a guy like DeMar DeRozan of Chicago, an all-star and one of the best players in the NBA and for the most part he’s a midrange game player. We have a guy on our roster, Markelle Fultz, who I think at the end of the day his true strength is going to be as a midrange game player. Some guys can do that. But in today’s game, the more guys you have that can stretch the floor, the better it is because the three point shot is such a major factor.
Moses: What do you like about Caleb Houstan?
Hammond: Shooting. Three point shooting. You look at a guy like Caleb and you hope for a 3&D guy. Can he find a way to defend in this league? He’s a very smart player on both ends of the floor. Can he figure out the nuances of NBA defense, have the quick enough feet to keep people in front of him and contest shots? Offensively spot himself up for the corner three and shoot the ball consistently. He has an understanding for the game. He understands what to do and what not to do. Right now what he does best is get to the corners, wait for the ball to be swung to him and make the three.
Moses: What did you think of Suggs and Wagner’s rookie seasons?
Hammond: Well… Jalen didn’t play enough. His injuries set him back. That was difficult. He missed almost half the season. But when he played he was really good, particularly defensively. He’s got good size, good strength, good feet. He’s tough. Great instincts defensively. Had a chance to be a very good defensive player. Offensively, making the move from one year of college to the pros. I think a guy like Jalen has a year under his belt now and is going to be better offensively. We need him. We need him to be a good player moving forward. Franz Wagner was even better than we thought. If we can say that about Wendell Carter, about Paolo Banchero, about Jalen Suggs, when you have numerous guys like that on your team, pretty soon your saying “our team is even better than we thought”. Guys have to play above what you think their potential is. A guy like Paolo, the No. 1 pick, he needs to be an all-star. You hope. Fingers crossed he can be something like that.
Moses: Where does Cole Anthony fit into this team?
Hammond: Another guy. He’s gonna be another guy. I didn’t mention his name, but I should mention his name. Cole has to continue to work. Adjust to playing in the NBA. People have value that can score the ball. Cole Anthony can score. He had some injury issues, another player that’s had that concern. Get himself healthy and no reason he can’t be a very good player in this league and be a long-term player for us. Like the guy. He’s a hard worker and he wants to be good, wants to be great. So hopefully that can all work for him.
Moses: What are you expectations for next season?
Hammond: To be a team night in and night out, and look a lot of this because of the injury woes to a certain extent. We knew going in what this was potentially going to be for us. We knew it was going to be a tough year. We thought maybe we could overachieve. We weren’t capable of overachieving because of injuries in particular. But expectations would be, we need Markelle Fultz to play 70-75 games. We need Jalen Suggs to do the same. We need to stay healthy. If we stay healthy there’s no reason we can’t be competitive night in and night out. And be a team at the end of the season you say “they’re even better than I thought” that’s the hope and expectation. Wherever that takes us. I don’t know how many wins that’s going to get us. But just to be one of those teams that every night we take the floor that we have a chance to win.
Moses: What did you think of Mosley’s first season?
Hammond: A great connector. A guy that I think has the ability to communicate with players. He has a good understanding of the game and how he wants the game to be played in his eyes. There’s no reason he can’t be a very good coach in this league and maybe even a great coach. But you know how it goes, usually good coaches have good players. And great coaches have great players. So it’s our responsibility to help make him a good coach and a great coach.
Moses: When you guys got the first pick, did you fist pump? High five?
Hammond: Jamahl was on the stage and Jeff and I were sitting in the audience. I don’t think we hugged, but I think we gave each other a double fist bump. It was a great time for us.
Moses: How hard is it to get the No. 1 pick in the draft?
Hammond: It’s not hard if you’ve got luck on your side.
Moses: Where do we go from here? Summer League?
Hammond: Next thing for us is trying to put our roster together. Somewhat complete our roster, maybe not in full completion. We’re working on that right now. In a few days here we’ll have a mini camp here in Orlando with our summer league team. We’ll fly to Vegas and play the NBA Summer League. Guys are in the gym. Nowadays guys are basically in the gym all year. They’ll take little breaks here and there, but it’s a big business, a tough business. Guys know they have to work year round to compete and keep a job.
Moses: You and like five other people knew Banchero was the 1st pick, no one else had any idea - you know this right?
Hammond: The reason why is because Jeff Weltman is really thorough. We’re gonna talk about it again and again and again. You asked when that decision was made, it was made late in the process. But we gathered all the information we needed and once we had the information we said that’s the right guy for us.
Moses: Magic fans are excited, do you feel that buzz as well?
Hammond: Yeah there is. No question whatsoever. When we won the lottery, that kind of kickstarted everything. We felt that way. We hope we can put a very good competitive team on the floor. A team that plays hard every night. If we play hard every night and stay healthy, we’ll have good things happen. There’s no reason this thing can’t continue to grow with our young players and we’ll keep adding to that as we move forward.
Moses: Do you get a vacation anytime this summer?
Hammond: If there’s a quiet time on the NBA calendar, it’s usually August. June is the draft. July is Summer League and free agency. If there’s a little window of quiet, it’s August. But this isn’t a “got to” job, it’s a “get to” job. We get to do this and we’re so lucky to get to do this that we never get tired of it.
https://markmosesshow.podbean.com/e/john-hammond-orlando-magic-interview-62822/
I think I know what you meant