JEFF WELTMAN MEDIA AVAILABILITY | 6.16.25

JEFF WELTMAN MEDIA AVAILABILITY | 6.16.25

good good good jeff just take us through your thought process you know what went into the decision to to acquire Desmond Bane well that’s a pretty uh easy decision for us honestly um you know we’ve valued him very highly for a while and uh you know there are a few guys in the league that you kind of uh agree with with with with um you know our our our little crew that if they become available you’re going to be aggressive and when I stood here in front of you guys after the season I honestly didn’t expect him to be uh you know uh available in these conversations but when we learned about that as we kind of uh did our laps around the league we shifted gears and you know made it a priority for us how quickly did this come together when did you learn that he was potentially available and and how long how long did this take well I don’t want to get too deep uh into you know conversations that I feel are you know best kept uh private but uh it took a little time it wasn’t a quick hitter when you look at when you look at what Desmond can bring to this this team how how many of those kind of boxes you mentioned he’s a player that you guys kind of universally agreed was yeah you should chase if he became available but how many of those boxes does does he check i mean you know you know the guy is almost the player you would design if you could start from scratch you know um because obviously we’ve spoken a lot about our need for shooting but we’ve also talked about playmaking and I’ve talked about adding skill and uh you know Desmond is such a unique player because he’s one of the best shooters in the NBA but he’s also uh you know a gifted playmaker and uh he he generates um shot creation for himself and for others he creates advantages with and without the ball high IQ player um so he’s a very unique player he kind of is one of the 90th plus percentile wings for putting them into guard actions and he operates those actions at high frequency and high efficiency so uh he checks every box and and you know then you want to talk about the other end of the floor the guy’s tough he’s physical he’s locked in every night um he’s kind of uh you know one of those guys I feel that coaches know exactly what they’re going to get from every night and just monster competitor at the highest level i kind of think of him as like just an old school tough tough guy you know do you have any sort of previous relationship with him at at some point no I don’t i don’t but I can tell you that um you know part of what we all do in this league is we we compile data you know we we we make it our business every team does to gather as much intel on every player uh you know that that especially if staffs change over or players switch teams and um I can just tell you that they’re just there there aren’t too many people that I think the league regards as highly um in their locker room in their organization uh in practice as Desmond Bane you know he’s he’s uh by all accounts just one of those rare guys that is going to I believe impact our team in every possible way so if you see four first round picks I think there’s some sticker shock with that how do you Yeah assess or how do you assign value to those picks when you’re doing a deal like this well I mean that’s a great question because I think that uh obviously we don’t know what the value of those picks are right they’re future picks and that’s up to us to determine what the value of those picks are so obviously the one that we do know is this year 16 and clearly part of us taking the temperature of this trade was our feelings about 16 and so we have to bake that into how we look at the overall package um and then going forward um you know three of the remaining picks are under our control so you know we feel that we’re betting on ourselves you know we feel like we’re going to be a good team we feel that you know the the other unique thing about a guy like Dez being available to obtain in a trade is the fact that he’s just about to turn 27 and so if we are a good team then we hope to be a good team for a while because um you know our age profile is that our you know most highly paid you know kind of core four players are ages 23 to 27 so you know uh uh hopefully we can uh come to an agreement with Paulo this summer we’ll be having those conversations shortly and um and you know have this group together for a long time wearing magic uniforms so that obviously will determine what the value of those picks are and some of this is uh this is what the NBA is about right it’s betting on yourself it’s putting pressure on yourself it’s it’s uh you know elevating your standard um I will say that one of the unique things about this trade when you think about the caliber of a player that Desmond Bane is at the at the age that he’s at and with the contract control that you have um is that we gave up none of our own core pieces so this was by definition going to be you know a draft capital trade when you look at the puzzle how many other pieces do you feel like you have are are you set you’re complete or are there still some moves coming well you know the other part of the math for the the the the draft outlook was we still have 25 so we’re still in this draft and obviously we we need to round out our roster so we have work to do for the next week and a half we need to plan our free agency we need to uh go through the draft process and you know augment the roster where we can we still think there are places where we hope to get better but I think this is a huge impact to our team you mentioned the kind of salary cap realities come come for everyone and doing this you definitely invite invited in invited in a little bit what what considerations were were that kind of in and what was the conversation with with the Devos family about making this move and potentially dipping more than just a toe into those wines yeah no you’re right we put our foot on the gas here so so as I’ve always said like that that train is coming for everybody and we probably skipped a station here um I hope that our team is good enough to merit where where the finances will take us but I’ve told you guys that the DVASS are committed to this team and man you you talk about like showing showing that um I the DVAS family wants to give this city a winner so badly and uh this trade is proof of that you know Jeeoff we were here about a year ago when you signed was called Will Poke y obviously we have to give something to get something but what do you think changed with his with his uh you know role description for this team in the future well I’m sorry I’m not following you with with KCP when you signed him a year ago yeah you know I think you viewed him as a piece for the short-term future it was a three-year deal and now he’s not on the Magic yeah so what in that lens what changed for his role i guess not well you know I think I think this I think you know uh Kenny’s game um is is dependent upon others offensively you know um he’s not a guy that creates his own shot you know he’s that’s not who he is you know and so I think like the injuries to France and Paulo and Jaylen our three uh you know shot creators um really upended our whole offense and that’s why I’ve always said it’s not just Kenny our whole team struggled to shoot we did not get the same quality of shots that we had gotten the year before and so obviously look none of this matters if your team isn’t healthy none of it so if we have health if we had health last year I think Kenny would have been the guy he’s been for his whole career you know Kenny’s a hell of a player and um I think adding a guy like Dez um will will give us like you know an elite level shooter but also a guy that’s a playmaker a guy that has you know behind John Morant ran more pick and rolls for anybody on the Grizzlies and so you know like to have that guy that’d be able to put pressure off the dribble another guy and hopefully you know Jaylen you know additionally um you know we get excited about that you touched on it a little bit but how much does your draft philosophy change now that you just have the 25 and then the second round as well um I don’t know if it changes i think I think you know we have to go through the process obviously our roster’s changed so maybe from that perspective we may have to you know reccalibrate the needs and and you know how we want to fill up the the positional you know needs that we have but I don’t think uh our draft philosophy you know changes um you know 25 is obviously um you know a later first round pick but I think we were looking at some interesting guys that we’re starting to get our arms around a little bit and uh you know we’re excited about that pick i know he’ll be available tomorrow but can you share anything from what Desmond has said about joining this uh joining this franchise all I can tell you is you know coach and I uh facetimed with him yesterday and he’s really excited to be here um he was actually uh on vacation in Florida so um uh yeah he he sees the fit you know he um he’s excited to I think take us to another level i think he sees how that could happen and I think that he’s heard um about the sort of organization and the sort of locker room that we have and I think it’s going to be an amazing fit and I feel he does that he does as well so we can’t wait to get him in he’s obviously a confident guy anyway but to see what was traded for him you think that’s going to put an maybe an added chip on his shoulder even even bring him to another level team wow look look what this team created for me yeah well I mean you know clearly we showed how much we value him so I I guess in that respect you know but I don’t think this is a guy that needs motivation you know this is one of those uh you know elite level um mental performers you know and he’s physical he’s tough he brings it every night he’s never not completely locked in um he’s not but at the same time he’s a very low mistake player very intelligent player uh so he’s going to give us a ruggedness and a physicality um and a maturity even though he’s just about to turn 27 that I think will really impact our our team obviously you know you’re acquiring a player in this game and that that kind of operates independently but how much does maybe the temperature around the league and kind of how trades are are done to kind of elevate these teams and even maybe how open it feels the East might be next year with with Boston dealing with injuries Milwaukee dealing with injuries how much does it feel like that that door is open and this was the time that to come through yeah that’s an interesting question because it seems to be a hot topic right now um I can tell you that we’d have made this trade at any point you know um our goal isn’t to win the East it’s to win the championship and the first step to doing that is we’ve got to move our team forward and get ourselves into that conversation and we’re hopeful that this trade will do that um does that mean it’s going to happen immediately you know we have to see we have to let these guys get together and and and you know the beauty of this trade is they’re all at the age profile and contract profile we’ll be able to keep them together for a while so um I don’t look at it as like we’re chasing the East or hey you know Boston has injuries or anything like that i look at it as we’re a factor now i think we’re a real factor and when I first was in front of you guys when we kind of plotted out this rebuild it seems like it was longer but it’s been about three and a half years and um I think the stated goal was to build a sustainable winner right and so you know look we’re hopeful that this is a winning team and that we can keep winning for a while because these guys are young so I think there’s actually not only the hope that we can sustain it but when you think about what Fron what Paulo what Jaylen what Anthony Black and Tristan and you know all of our young guys Goa all of our young guys what they’re going to look like Jet what they’re going to look like in three or four years i mean you know um it’s kind of exciting to think about that because like they should get better every year you know including our main two guys with your picks where they are you know so late in the first round of the second what is the philosophy when it comes to the draft i think the philosophy is to add the best player and you know we we we spend a lot of time on the person um I think that you know character matters in this league and consistency and fight and togetherness and understanding how you slot into a greater good and um you know we spend a lot of time on that and and uh you know obviously we’ll pay a lot of attention to skill sets and how they can augment the team but you know right now if you look at our team it’s not going to be easy to get a guy on the floor a rookie on the floor and that was part of our you know math when we looked at even 16 this this year you know um so I don’t think our philosophy changes greatly you always kind of ask this just generally that when they do this when you this press conference every year what’s what’s the feeling on on this draft class especially where you guys you guys are sitting i know you won’t get into any specific players but like what’s what’s the general it’s a good draft Philip i don’t know what to say you know I think uh drafts all always surprise us five years out you know I think there going to be some players that teams miss on and you know uh um I think that obviously it’s it’s you draw a line under one you draw a line under two and then it’s really wide open it’s really wide open after that and I think you start to see a little bit of a jockeying around like eight or nine i think that’s there’s forming like a somewhat of a line in the sand around that portion of the draft and then it just completely expands so I that’s how it seems to be shaping up how important is this sorry how important is the skills of being a shooting for three for this team i’m sorry i’m sorry how important is the skill shooting for three for this team uh it’s extremely important we have not been that good at it so uh we got to get better and adding you know Dez he’s he’s an elite level shooter and I can you know his shot profile is so versatile you know he can get his own shot he can shoot off the dribble he’s he’s an elite catch and shoot guy um but more importantly he can play off that you know if if he’s going to get a close out he can make plays off the dribble get by guys set up the next guy he creates advantages you know even when he doesn’t have the ball he knows how to move without the ball so the gravity the the the way that defenders just have to stick to him over screens off the ball is going to uh we believe will have a big impact on everyone else’s game too brought Kenny in you said was sorry was the do your colleagues around the league like look at a trade like this and be like wow like just ready to deal like maybe we can make another trade here like is there more of a fallout after a big trade like this um honestly I think what happens probably is maybe the opposite effect where they see like oh wow they gave up a lot of assets they kind of you know compress themselves further financially so they’re probably not going to be able to do as much as they could have you know a few days ago and it’s actually a very important question because part of what we need to do now is like is we need to re re uh lap the league and understand like where we fit into teams plans like because our teams changed so dramatically in the last couple days personalitywise what do you look for in a player you said character matters earlier i’m just curious i mean you know competitiveness toughness intelligence team orientation consistency you know being a giver an energy giver um just what you would what you would look for in any walk of life you know basketball’s no different being a professional athlete is as hard a job as you can imagine you know the pressures that come with that and being able to navigate that you know being able to be in a locker room where you know you need to coalesce with your team in order to achieve a common goal but you also have your own careers to think about it’s it’s it’s it’s an incredible thing that these guys do you know and it requires great character and Doug checks that box dez is you know as I alluded to earlier I think you know by by uh uh uh by all that we are able to acquire and every all that all that the league I think that that that holds these guys up is at the top of the ladder with those guys like he’s one of those guys he’s he’s what you you guys know I don’t use the word culture but like he’s one of the guys that as we were doing our laps and we do our intel that you know he’s a culture driver you know he’s one of those guys that like that that tag keeps getting applied to him and I feel like we have a a room full of Dezas you know I feel like this is what our team is about it’s what we’ve tried to build here and I think he’s just going to be a great fit one of the reasons you brought KCP in you said Kenny won a championship he’s got that experience he’s got that cache how do you replace that in the locker room moving forward well you know look yeah 100% and I also think that we’re we we’ve made the playoffs the last two years now these guys are getting their own experience you know they’re learning what it is to win in the playoffs they’re learning what it means to you know show up in the postseason and the length of the season you know the next step is to get to another round and learn how long this thing is and how hard it is to close it to close out a series and uh you know Dez comes in as I said with that age profile dez has deep playoff experience but he’s also got that age profile where he’ll be you know learning with these guys and going through it and we look at our team internally and just feel that there’s so much growth baked into this thing and you know they’ll bring it out of each other i think that’s part of like the character you know uh portion too is they’ll challenge one another they’ll get on one another if if they’re not holding up their link of the chain so um um I uh it’s a great question but I think that we need to start winning now and and hopefully this gets us gets us to another level obviously health is is kind of the big big thing hanging over the team i know guys are kind of scattered to the wind in the offseason but where what’s where is there an update on on where Jaylen and Mo are at as they continue their recovery from surgery um they’re scattered to the wind they’re they’re doing great i mean our our performance guys are in touch with them all the time and as a matter of fact they’re in touch with the people they’re working with you know but uh they’re progressing you know right on time and and they’re both doing really well you you guys know what kind of relentless workers they are and the energy they’re going to bring to it you can imagine so they’re doing great and um uh I think you know they’re they’re tracking well everyone good thank you thank you guys i’m here like you

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