ORLANDO, Fla. — As Jeff Weltman rocks out to his headphones during his morning run each day, he smiles a little bit. The smiles have gotten bigger lately as a hectic offseason starts to take shape.
One of the most anticipated days in Orlando Magic history finally arrives Thursday with the 2021 NBA draft, and Weltman is as giddy as a grade-schooler at Christmas. If the Magic have their way, it will be like Christmas in July.
As hectic as the draft preparation might have been, the Magic were equally tasked with hiring a new head coach, and Jamahl Mosley was brought in just 16 days ago.
“It is a lot, but it’s been fun, and it’s exciting. It’s kind of a thrilling time to be dealing with these high-level assets and dealing with a coach like Jamahl,” Weltman said.
Weltman seems to genuinely be enjoying this offseason’s happenings. He does not ruffle easily. He’s steadfast and has a plan, and the Magic have checked all the preparation boxes. While Magic fans fret about the outcome of what’s going to take place Thursday night, Weltman is relaxed and optimistic, at least on the surface.
Orlando holds the fifth and eighth selections in the draft, as well as the third pick of the second round at No. 33, and the way Weltman sees it, there are plenty of building blocks available as the Magic begin another rebuild.
“We feel really good about the players that we’re looking at,” Weltman said Tuesday during a video conference call. “We’re going to come away with two good players … We’re very confident of that.”
That said, however, the Magic have no idea what’s in store. Weltman said preparations would continue right up to the start of the draft. What transpires is anyone’s guess.
“We lock in at about 6 o’clock on Thursday evening,” Weltman said. “The debates never end, and there is always a new piece of information, there’s always a call from another team … There’s an old expression that if the draft were held 24 hours earlier or 24 hours later, it would be completely different and I believe that.
“It’s our job to continually assess.”
It’s no secret, Weltman admitted, most everyone knows what the team needs — scoring and lots of it.
“You know where we are right now … we’re looking for talent, we’re looking for character and I would say specific positional needs and slotting in certain skills,” Weltman said. “We’re not where we were a few years ago where we could slot in a specific need. We need to add guys that we can grow with.”
The Magic need a shooter who is also a scorer, a playmaker who can put the ball in the hole from outside or even off the block on the drive. That might be too much to ask of one player in this draft class, but at least they have two early picks. So a shooter who scores at No. 5 would go well with a scorer who can shoot at No. 8.
If that’s confusing, well, welcome to Weltman’s world. The Magic could go that route, or they could opt for someone who can shoot and score at No. 5, and then concentrate on a power forward with strong scoring and rebounding skills at No. 8.
No wonder Weltman rocks out during his morning run. Sometimes, he just needs to disappear from the whole draft quandary. It’s been a hectic summer. Not only were the Magic assessing draft picks, but Weltman and Co. were also in the process of hiring a head coach.
“From an organizational standpoint, I’ve never been through anything where we’ve had two picks in the top 10 and hiring a head coach,” Weltman said. “It’s forced us, I would say, to explore our coping mechanisms, so this morning I did a couple of extra laps around Amway just rocking out before I got in … just blowing off some steam.
“We’ve gotta kind of keep our focus fresh as we enter what will be an important week for us.”
The Magic finally hired Mosley on July 12, and he’s had to hit the ground running to catch up to the Magic’s draft perspective, and he’ll have plenty of opportunities to interject his evaluations prior to and during Thursday’s draft.
“It’s really important that Jamahl is attached to this process,” Weltman said. “We’ve given Jamahl a list of the guys that we’re considering at each pick, so he’s able to kind of watch them and share his feedback with us. … We’ll work in conjunction with Jamahl, and if Jamahl has any concerns about one direction or another, we’ll take those with significant weight as we weigh our decision.”
Most of the focus on who the Magic will select Thursday night has centered around the three players the team made available to the press following their workouts in Orlando — FSU’s Scottie Barnes, Gonzaga’s Corey Kispert or G-Leaguer Jonathan Kuminga. The Magic, however, brought in close to 20 players for workouts and evaluation, and they could surprise people.
Scottie Barnes
In a search of 15 random NBA mock drafts Wednesday, the leader of the pack for the Magic’s No. 5 pick is Barnes, a Florida-grown original from West Palm Beach who played his final two seasons of high school basketball at Montverde Academy.
The 6-foot-7, 215-pound forward/guard has a good handle and solid defensive and rebounding skills and the ability to score off the post, but his shooting touch remains a question. He shot 50% overall, but most of his success was midrange, and he only shot 27% from the 3-point range.
— Barnes’ self-assessment: “I see myself as a point guard. I see myself at any position they want to put me at,” Barnes said. “I can play it all. I can play different positions — whatever is needed throughout the game — and if I need to come down and play-make at the 4 spot, at the top of the key, elbow ... I feel like I can play through there.”
Jonathan Kuminga
Kuminga is the consensus pick of the mock drafts to go No. 8 to the Magic, and he too has a shooting touch that is a question mark. Could the Magic decide to take two project-type shooters at both first-round spots? Perhaps, but it seems odd. They know they need a shooter, so why two questionable shooters have ended up as mock-draft choices is somewhat bewildering.
— Kuminga’s self-assessment: “My shooting has been really good. I feel more comfortable shooting any range, taking any type of shot because I’ve been putting a lot of work in since I left the [G-League] bubble,” he said.
Four mock drafts did have the Magic going for a pure shooter at No. 8 in Arkansas sniper Moses Moody, another Montverde product. Moody could be one of six Montverde players selected in a record-setting first round for any high school in draft history. In one season at Arkansas, Moody shot 37% from 3-point range while averaging 17 points and six assists.
Another four mock-ups mentioned Tennessee’s Keon Johnson as a possible selection for the Magic at No. 8, but Johnson hit just 27% of his 3-pointers last season. He did make 45% of his total floor shots, but he could struggle even worse from the NBA’s 3-point depth.
CBS sports went a completely different route in its No. 8 assessment of the Magic, going with Turkey’s 18-year-old center Alperen Sengun, a 6-foot-10, 240-pound post player who was the MVP of the Turkish Super League this year.
One player, however, who was not mentioned in any of the mock drafts’ projections for the Magic was UConn guard James Bouknight, another combine riser who showed off an unknown shooting ability at the pre-draft workouts. He hit more than 20 3-pointers in a row on one combine video exhibition-like display. The 6-foot-5 Bouknight, however, had an in-game 3-point percentage of 29% last season, which isn’t exactly tipping the scales in the need department for the Magic.
The most intriguing player is Kispert, but the knock on the 44% 3-point shooter is that he disappeared in the big game, scoring just 12 points and hitting only 5 of 12 shots —2 of 7 3s — in the NCAA championship-game loss to Baylor.
“Ultimately, we need to come away with two good players that are of high character that we can grow and develop and be part of our team,” Weltman said.
