TRANSCRIPT: Jeff Weltman on "Open Mike" with Mike Bianchi - 6/24/22

[Knightro]

Magic President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman went on "Open Mike" with Mike Bianchi on Friday morning. Here is the transcript.

Bianchi: Why did you feel the need to have so much subterfuge and be so clandestine about this pick?

Weltman: *Laughs* It’s not about this pick. I hate to make a big deal out of this because most teams strive to do this, but it’s common sense. You want to keep your business internal and not let other teams know what you’re up to even at No. 1 when you can kind of do whatever you want. The benefits are many to work discreetly. Some of them are it helps you suss out what’s going on behind you a little bit. So what the motivations of team behind you might be in case they want to reach up to your pick. But obviously I’ll always think it’s just a good practice to do business that way because there’s so many different parties that connect to the running of an NBA team and it’s really important that all of those people know that sensitive information can be managed discreetly. We’re not patting ourselves on the back, it’s just the way we like to work.

Bianchi: I’m still a little confused about Paolo - did he work out for your guys or did he not workout? Wouldn’t it be normal to workout a guy you were going to draft?

Weltman: I don’t know if there is a normal anymore. I really don’t comment on exactly how processes go because by the way we’re going to do this again next year and I don’t want people to think one way or another about that. As with everything, as with every reach of our world these days, things are evolving and changing quickly and the draft process is no different. We were comfortable that we had more than enough cooperation from Paolo, enough touchpoints, able to gather enough information. Some of the stuff he did for us is not stuff that people are jumping through hoops to do. It went a long way to show us how badly he wanted to be with us. We obviously had constant dialogue with him and his agent throughout the process. We had a comfort level with it and here he is.

Bianchi: Paolo’s mom was a women’s basketball coach in college and taught him how to play the game. John Wooden among others have said women’s basketball is the purest form of basketball because it’s played below the rim and you must know the fundamentals. What did you think of how Paolo grew up around basketball?

Weltman: Yeah I mean he clearly has an advanced IQ. Now basketball IQ and NBA IQ are different things and he has a lot to learn, but that’s one of the huge appeals of Paolo is that he comes in with a crazy skill set, especially at that size, and an IQ to go with it. That’s what the league is about now. It’s about having multiple smart playmakers and decision makers on the court who can create for themselves and others. Paolo by all of our metrics and scouting eyes exceeds most normal limitations of that. To have all of that in one 6’10” 250 19-year-old frame, you don’t come across that very often.


Bianchi: How does the drafting of Paolo effect Mo Bamba and Jonathan Isaac and their roles moving forward?

Weltman: What we’re trying to do Mike is get a combination of players where it really doesn’t matter who is supposed to be at what position. Paolo just fits into that. I don’t think he upsets the apple cart, I don’t think he tips the balance one way or the other. You can put him out there with any of our four other players and that's one of the beauties of him, he’ll slot right in. He can guard multiple positions, he can play multiple positions. He’s a great screener. You can put him in the pick and roll as a handler. He just presents all sort of issues for the defense. In today’s NBA where switching is king, if you want to switch a small guy onto him, you’ll probably pay the price for that. That was one of the beauties of him because it really doesn’t upset the roster

Bianchi: How much consideration do you give to NCAA Tournament performance when making your evaluation?

Weltman: I always say I think guys get overdrafted a little bit by what they do in the tournament and they get overpaid a little bit in free agency by what they did in the playoffs. That said… with everyone coming out after their first season this year, I think as important how he finished, and obviously you want him to finish strong and in the most meaningful games - that’s a good indicator and harbinger of what we’re hoping for in the future. But also just the trajectory of the season. You see him come in strong and then kind of try and find his way a little bit, and then gain his legs and really take off in the second half of the season. The problem solving, we’ve done a lot of background into that to understand what he went through to come out as strong as he did. I can’t imagine playing for Duke Basketball in Coach K’s final season. I remember that last game at Cameron, there was Adam Silver and Jerry Seinfeld and all these celebrities that have nothing to do with basketball and just the pressure that comes with that. He’s been through a unique situation as an 18/19 year old. Not that that’s going to prepare him for the NBA in its entirety, but its probably a little bit of a taste of the fishbowl that he’s in for.

Bianchi: Did you talk to Coach K in your preparation?

Weltman: We talked to a number of Duke coaches and staff. I won’t get into specifics, but they all had great things to say about Paolo. Who he is as a person, a teammate, a worker. We even had several touch points with some of his teammates and they had great things to say about him. We try and leave no stone unturned in our never-ending quest to get to the bottom of the person. You know how strongly character matters to us. It’s a really important part of what we’re trying to build here.

Bianchi: Can you give us an example of Paolo’s work ethic?

Weltman: The examples are really how he applies himself. He’s the first guy in. As a 19-year-old he already has a stretching regimen which is something a lot of guys come to part way through their careers in the NBA. He’s prepared himself for this. He worked hard before he even got to Duke to prepare himself for what he has known is going to be his career. He has a focus about it. He has a seriousness about it. And also there’s a lot of growth within that space because none of these guys really have ever been exposed to the amount of technology and time and resources that an NBA team can pour into them from a conditioning standpoint, from an off-court standpoint. As hard as he’s worked at that, the indicators are that he will buy into that and actually embrace that, we feel that’s a whole other level of potential that he can reach just through that before he even hits the court.

Bianchi: If you had to take one of the other two, would it have been Chet Holmgren or Jabari Smith?

Weltman: Mike… c’mon *laughs*. That’s a great question and it will remain a great question.

Bianchi: How do you envision Fultz and Banchero working together in pick and rolls?

Weltman: Paolo’s purple suit was a nod to Washington since he grew up in Seattle and didn’t go to UW. His folks did and that was a little nod to UW. Obviously Markelle was a Huskie. I think that Paolo is going to be a monster in pick and rolls and I mean that from either side of it. Because he’s an amazing short roll passer. He can put it on the floor after a short roll catch. He can find guys. He’s a good screen setter, so he’ll initiate that action. But also as a ball handler, Coach Mosley is going to have fun with a lot of the offensive options that Paolo adds to our team.

Bianchi: Talk about taking Caleb Houston in the second round.

Weltman: We had Caleb on early in the process. He’s just a great kid. He’s very quiet. He’s very serious. His game is extremely disciplined. We think he has a really high potential to be a very good NBA shooter. He knows how to play and how to lift guys better. He’s a two-way player. One of the things we were hoping to do was add shot creation and shooting along with IQ, two-way guys and character. We really like the pairing of those two for this draft.

Bianchi: The other second rounder you did have that went to the Lakers, why did you trade that?

Weltman: It probably doesn’t bear too much explaining. We have the youngest team in the NBA and we probably didn’t want to add three rookies. So we put that pick back, we have a huge cache of 2nd rounders we’ve built up over the years. Those will always put you in a good positions to close deals and maybe bump up a couple of spots in the draft here and there. It was more a matter of us going into free agent with a lot of cap room, we wanted to allow ourselves some roster flexibility and we wanted to be careful to not have 15 twenty year olds. That was the thought process behind moving out of that pick.

https://969thegame.iheart.com/featured/open-mike/content/2022-06-24-magic-president-jeff-weltman/

[nymets1]

I really don't care about having (15) 20 year olds on the team. If they all are athletic, can shoot, drive, defend, pass, I don't care about their ages. I'm actually for all 15 players on the team being 28 or 29 and younger. If you need veteran or older people around them, That's the coaches and playing against random dudes in practice.

[Dub_Sax]

I really don't care about having (15) 20 year olds on the team. If they all are athletic, can shoot, drive, defend, pass, I don't care about their ages. I'm actually for all 15 players on the team being 28 or 29 and younger. If you need veteran or older people around them, That's the coaches and playing against random dudes in practice.

How is this approach different from the previous rebuild that failed in part because they had a lot of young players competing more against each other to prove they belong than trying to win as a team?

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[zaymon]

Its one of the best interviews Weltman gave. I am not so sure about Fultz and Banchero fit together and especially Fultz+Suggs+Banchero. It seems he is open to bringing Bamba back. I suspect we could really increase his value with Banchero and Fultz passing. From other interviews not so sure Harris is back

[RookieStar]

I really don't care about having (15) 20 year olds on the team. If they all are athletic, can shoot, drive, defend, pass, I don't care about their ages. I'm actually for all 15 players on the team being 28 or 29 and younger. If you need veteran or older people around them, That's the coaches and playing against random dudes in practice.

eh.. not me. I know what happens when there isn't a "mature" vet to look up to. Anyone can think he is an alpha and everyone else must listen to him, which is kinda hard cuz everyone thinks " this guys is the same age as me, why should I listen to him"

[RookieStar]

Also..

Thanks Knightro for the notes. LOL Im sure there are guys like me who can't listen and just rely on a transcript.

[Catledge]

I really don't care about having (15) 20 year olds on the team. If they all are athletic, can shoot, drive, defend, pass, I don't care about their ages. I'm actually for all 15 players on the team being 28 or 29 and younger. If you need veteran or older people around them, That's the coaches and playing against random dudes in practice.

eh.. not me. I know what happens when there isn't a "mature" vet to look up to. Anyone can think he is an alpha and everyone else must listen to him, which is kinda hard cuz everyone thinks " this guys is the same age as me, why should I listen to him"

I think it's a big deal. It's hard to execute a game plan with more than one rookie in the lineup, which makes it hard to know what you have.

I think the development focus this year should be on Franz and Paolo, with everybody else having to earn their minutes based on quality of play right now.

[basketballRob]

Watch on YouTube

[J the Drafter]

I really don't care about having (15) 20 year olds on the team. If they all are athletic, can shoot, drive, defend, pass, I don't care about their ages. I'm actually for all 15 players on the team being 28 or 29 and younger. If you need veteran or older people around them, That's the coaches and playing against random dudes in practice.

How is this approach different from the previous rebuild that failed in part because they had a lot of young players competing more against each other to prove they belong than trying to win as a team?

Sent from my SM-G781V using RealGM mobile app

Well, overhauling the strength and conditioning staff seems to have stopped the trend of players get hurt year after year and greats starts fizzling due to injury.