Magic GM John Hammond on "In the Zone" with Brandon Kravitz - 5/16/2023
Posted: Wed May 17, 2023 3:29 am
Orlando Magic general manager John Hammond joined Brandon Kravitz on "In The Zone" on Tuesday, May 16th. This interview was conducted BEFORE the NBA Draft Lottery.
This is a loose transcript. Questions have been edited down for clarity.
Kravitz: Do you feel any pre-lottery jitters?
Hammond: Some Brandon, of course. It's out of your control. It's just pure luck, so you hope the ping pong ball bounces your way.
Kravitz: Is there anything you did last year that you find yourself doing again?
Hammond: We've having Coach Mosley on the stage. That's the first thing. Some other people who brought some good luck trinkets last year are bringing them again. For me, I'm aware of what I wore last year, anything to bring a little good luck, sure.
Kravitz: Is there a spot where you could drop tonight where you would be a little bit bummed out?
Hammond: No, I don't think so. We have going into the lottery we're at 6 and 11. 11 is Chicago's pick and is protected 1-4. If they move up, they keep their pick. Even if that happens, we'll say "so be it" and that pick would roll over to next year. We're happy to have that pick this year or happy to have it next year. With our own pick at 6, odds are a team is going to jump forward, which would bump us back a spot. We know realistically we could walk in at 6 and drop back to 7 or 8. If that happens, we'll feel good about it still I mean that.
Kravitz: Will you consider packaging both picks to move up if you don't land in the top 4?
Hammond: Those conversations haven't happened yet, but they will once the draft order is set. Once we know exactly who is where. It's all about seeing what kind of opportunities present themselves.
Tozzi: Which areas does the front office want to improve upon this offseason?
Hammond: You know the league is what it is today. Shooting is so very important. I think you look at shooting and IQ. We want to be a smarter basketball team. Turn the ball over less than we did this past year. I think those two things in particular. But you know how it goes in the lottery, especially in the top 10. Usually when you're in that range, you're not worried about need. We know what we want to do and what areas we want to improve, but you just say "we're going to take the best player on the board" and move forward.
Tozzi: Do you look for that marriage of need and fit in the draft do you go pure BPA and let free agency and trades address needs?
Hammond: That would be perfect if you could address both at the same time in the draft. But we've got some flexibility. We've got flexibility with extra picks. We've got some financial flexibility moving forward. We like where we're at. But we want to be careful and be guarded as we move forward to not try and potentially move too quickly. If the opportunity presents itself, maybe in the draft to move up or in free agency, we want to be very smart and protect what we've built.
Tozzi: Have you been watching the playoffs?
Hammond: I've watched a lot of it. As much as anything, you know what I've observed? Just get in. Just get in and you never know what could happen. If you'd have told us that the Miami Heat were going to be playing in the Eastern Conference Finals, a lot of people would have said there's no way they can do that. And they're there. And they deserve to be there. I think the real key is just get in and you can see what happens from there.
Kravitz: Are you concerned that you won't have enough minutes available for two rookies?
Hammond: Yeah we are. But what can we do? Unless we trade the picks, we're going to be adding two potentially very good players. Things happen on rosters. Some players play their way into more minutes. Some players play their way out of more minutes. You can't force it. We also have a third pick, the 36th pick, which is a valuable pick. If we make all three of those picks, we'll move forward with a very young roster and let guys fight and earn minutes.
Kravitz: Do you anticipate having to make tough decisions on roles and minutes?
Hammond: You know, the guys will tell us what to do in regards to their play. We're going to have some decisions to make, but that's the fun thing. You become a good team by having a competitive team. When guys are fighting for minutes and feel they need to earn the right to play. And with our team that could be in regards to younger players. And if that's the case, so be it.
Tozzi: What were you most satisfied with from your team this past year?
Hammond: A year ago at this time we were coming off a 22-win season. And we wanted to really improve on that and get better. We didn't know how much better we could be. We made the Paolo pick at 1 and when people asked how good we could be, I said was hoping for a 10 game swing. I probably said this 25 times, if we could go from 22 to 32, that would be a good year. We had 12. We got to 34. What do we take away from that? We got better. But now we have to do it again. We have to get even better next year.
Kravitz: You were on this show almost a year ago to the day and you said the summer of 2022 would likely be a soft spending year in terms of free agency and it was. Will you be more aggressive in free agency than last summer?
Hammond: The plan is to try and get better. The plan is to make our team better. We'll see what presents itself. We're not trying to do a quick fix. We like the young players on our team. We think they're going to improve and get better. We think our team can improve organically. But that said, if there is a player in free agency that we think is a good fit with our existing players, we'll do what we have to do.
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1248-in-the-zone-byte-sized-30599435/episode/magic-general-manager-john-hammond-joins-115270554/
This is a loose transcript. Questions have been edited down for clarity.
Kravitz: Do you feel any pre-lottery jitters?
Hammond: Some Brandon, of course. It's out of your control. It's just pure luck, so you hope the ping pong ball bounces your way.
Kravitz: Is there anything you did last year that you find yourself doing again?
Hammond: We've having Coach Mosley on the stage. That's the first thing. Some other people who brought some good luck trinkets last year are bringing them again. For me, I'm aware of what I wore last year, anything to bring a little good luck, sure.
Kravitz: Is there a spot where you could drop tonight where you would be a little bit bummed out?
Hammond: No, I don't think so. We have going into the lottery we're at 6 and 11. 11 is Chicago's pick and is protected 1-4. If they move up, they keep their pick. Even if that happens, we'll say "so be it" and that pick would roll over to next year. We're happy to have that pick this year or happy to have it next year. With our own pick at 6, odds are a team is going to jump forward, which would bump us back a spot. We know realistically we could walk in at 6 and drop back to 7 or 8. If that happens, we'll feel good about it still I mean that.
Kravitz: Will you consider packaging both picks to move up if you don't land in the top 4?
Hammond: Those conversations haven't happened yet, but they will once the draft order is set. Once we know exactly who is where. It's all about seeing what kind of opportunities present themselves.
Tozzi: Which areas does the front office want to improve upon this offseason?
Hammond: You know the league is what it is today. Shooting is so very important. I think you look at shooting and IQ. We want to be a smarter basketball team. Turn the ball over less than we did this past year. I think those two things in particular. But you know how it goes in the lottery, especially in the top 10. Usually when you're in that range, you're not worried about need. We know what we want to do and what areas we want to improve, but you just say "we're going to take the best player on the board" and move forward.
Tozzi: Do you look for that marriage of need and fit in the draft do you go pure BPA and let free agency and trades address needs?
Hammond: That would be perfect if you could address both at the same time in the draft. But we've got some flexibility. We've got flexibility with extra picks. We've got some financial flexibility moving forward. We like where we're at. But we want to be careful and be guarded as we move forward to not try and potentially move too quickly. If the opportunity presents itself, maybe in the draft to move up or in free agency, we want to be very smart and protect what we've built.
Tozzi: Have you been watching the playoffs?
Hammond: I've watched a lot of it. As much as anything, you know what I've observed? Just get in. Just get in and you never know what could happen. If you'd have told us that the Miami Heat were going to be playing in the Eastern Conference Finals, a lot of people would have said there's no way they can do that. And they're there. And they deserve to be there. I think the real key is just get in and you can see what happens from there.
Kravitz: Are you concerned that you won't have enough minutes available for two rookies?
Hammond: Yeah we are. But what can we do? Unless we trade the picks, we're going to be adding two potentially very good players. Things happen on rosters. Some players play their way into more minutes. Some players play their way out of more minutes. You can't force it. We also have a third pick, the 36th pick, which is a valuable pick. If we make all three of those picks, we'll move forward with a very young roster and let guys fight and earn minutes.
Kravitz: Do you anticipate having to make tough decisions on roles and minutes?
Hammond: You know, the guys will tell us what to do in regards to their play. We're going to have some decisions to make, but that's the fun thing. You become a good team by having a competitive team. When guys are fighting for minutes and feel they need to earn the right to play. And with our team that could be in regards to younger players. And if that's the case, so be it.
Tozzi: What were you most satisfied with from your team this past year?
Hammond: A year ago at this time we were coming off a 22-win season. And we wanted to really improve on that and get better. We didn't know how much better we could be. We made the Paolo pick at 1 and when people asked how good we could be, I said was hoping for a 10 game swing. I probably said this 25 times, if we could go from 22 to 32, that would be a good year. We had 12. We got to 34. What do we take away from that? We got better. But now we have to do it again. We have to get even better next year.
Kravitz: You were on this show almost a year ago to the day and you said the summer of 2022 would likely be a soft spending year in terms of free agency and it was. Will you be more aggressive in free agency than last summer?
Hammond: The plan is to try and get better. The plan is to make our team better. We'll see what presents itself. We're not trying to do a quick fix. We like the young players on our team. We think they're going to improve and get better. We think our team can improve organically. But that said, if there is a player in free agency that we think is a good fit with our existing players, we'll do what we have to do.
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1248-in-the-zone-byte-sized-30599435/episode/magic-general-manager-john-hammond-joins-115270554/
