Magic GM Gives Thoughts on Season and Future
John Weisbrod Comments
Talk about the three most important priorities in the off-season:
“Well, I think in the general sense stability is certainly one. We’ve had so much change, and misdirection, and change of direction, discussion player-wise, coach-wise. Creating a structure that is stable enough to get the most out of people, I think is probably the most important global piece. Certainly dealing with the issue at hand in regards to our franchise player as effectively as possible over the course of the off-season is probably the number one individual player piece. Then obviously you put all the other layers, which I guess is number three, the draft and free agency, trades that can get done.”
What kind of specific players do you want?
“Well for a number of years it has been an issue for the organization to get a big. I feel like the need for a point guard is just as pressing. Point guards dictate both at the offensive end and at the defensive end. If Grant is able to play, it would be our intention to play him at point. Certainly it would be difficult to move through the building process and feel comfortable banking on that, depending on what his progression is over the course of the summer. How you use the draft, verses trades to fill those two most major holes. Obviously you have to play the cards that are dealt to you and see how things go in the lottery and what you can get done with other teams. The point guard and center are the most pressing positional pieces.”
If you draft or sign a point guard do you still intend for Grant to play point?
“If Grant is healthy, our intention would be that he play point. I think that is the role at this stage in his career that he would want to play, to be able to impact things. From a cerebral standpoint as well as an athletic standpoint, he would not have the burden of being the slasher and the scorer. Obviously we have that type of person in Tracy, and certainly Grant is smart enough and well-rounded enough as a basketball player that he can do that. I think that is the direction that he is interested in going, and certainly based on the team needs that would be a good fit for us.”
Do you have to remind yourself that this team might not be that far away with the return of Grant Hill and Pat Garrity?
“We are very away because we had 21 wins. With 21 wins you are very far away, but I think about your point all the time, and how different it could have been this year with those two guys in the mix. In that sense, before any draft picks are made or any deals are signed you’re a better team just by having guys on your roster that have not been able to play, play. So yes, that makes a big difference, if you had Grant in a spot as a healthy player, you wouldn’t have to leverage all your other assets to fill one of those holes and certainly makes you a deeper team. It is a wildcard though in terms of knowing, and I don’t know that we’ll be able to have any comfort in that until the season starts. We can’t take it into great consideration while we’re building this thing other then how he seems to be doing at the time.”
How are Grant and Pat doing?
“I think they’re doing well. Grant is arguably the best he’s been. It is easy for people to roll their eyes or be cynical because we’ve been through it so many times, but he feels great. He doesn’t have that immediate pain and throbbing, and need to ice after every time he works out, which is a positive sign. The doctors say the pictures look better than ever have in the past, so there are a lot of positive parts to that. Obviously a world-class athlete at his age, looking to put the impact on his body that he is, with all the hardware and past surgeries, it is still a, I would guess, a 50/50 proposition.”
How detrimental would it be if the franchise player wasn’t ready to make a commitment?
“The issue is that it is important to the organization to push the issue to find out how things are with Tracy as early as possible. The issue is that we would like to have a pretty good indication of where things are going. When I say I don’t intend on going into next season with an “I don’t know,” I say that because I know that he is predisposed to wanting to stay and we are predisposed to wanting to have him. I seem to think without an off-season of time to discuss and contemplate where the team is going and how things are progressing, I would hope by the start of next season we will have a much better feeling of how he feels about it than we do now. That is one of the things I have to make priority to get accomplished over the course of the off-season. To say that because we want to know that, and that we need to know that, that we are delivering an ultimatum to Tracy McGrady is unfair and untrue. Obviously he is the one that can determine when or if he wants to stay or go. He is the one that can determine if he got traded and who he got traded to, and when it happened. He certainly has the option of taking this thing all the way to the end if he chooses to do that. I hope to make as much progress in that direction as I possibly can. The only time yesterday trading Tracy McGrady came out of my mouth was in reference to if Tracy came to us and said “I’m going to opt out and I don’t want to be here,” what choice would we have? We would obviously do the prudent thing. But to view it like I was putting this kid in the position where if he didn’t give us a definitive answer or sign an extension by the time the season started or he was traded is not a fair characterization of the way we were looking at it.”
How do you go about obtaining the stability that you desire for this team?
“Stability isn’t necessarily going to be in the form of the same names and faces. I don’t think stability means you bring the whole roster back from this team. I think stability is about the structure of what the organization represents and the way we do things, how the coaching staff functions. Then whatever pieces you bring into that puzzle, and whatever players come into that mix are in a more stable environment, as opposed to the one they are in this year, which is obviously erratic during the course of the year for a lot of things.”
Do you think Johnny Davis will change his coaching staff?
“I think there are some pieces we will probably be looking to add. In fairness to Johnny, other than bringing on Paul Westhead in the middle of the season, which is a tough time to go looking for a coach, he inherited the group that was obviously Doc’s staff and we sort of pieced our way through the end of the year. So certainly I intend to sit down with Johnny and say, “How is our staff? Is there a piece we want to add?” It is not something we have discussed yet, up through last night he has gathered that group and gone to battle each night, and you don’t want to muddy the water by having those discussions before they are appropriate. Just like we are evaluating our whole team, we got to evaluate our whole group and make sure that we feel like we’re putting a coaching staff in place that gives us the best chance of succeeding.”
Did you anticipate that Johnny would be able to change the losing culture that came over this team early in the year?
“I don’t know that I had anticipated the culture changing. Obviously, you would be hopeful it would because we were ten games into the season. Certainly the way we dealt with the losing, and the way the psyche of the team went, that was the disappointing thing. I guess to some degree it is expected that when you are losing five out of every six games that you play it is tough to stay emotionally up during the course of the year. I would have wished we could have been a little more consistent, and that the effort level that we got out of the guys, and Johnny would be the first to admit that. He was in the position where he came in during the midst of a losing streak and that streak continued. All of a sudden, despite what your intentions might be walking into a building every night, you feel like you are in the position where you do anything you can to win that night. I think that just makes you a short-term thinker instead of a long-term thinker. Now we have the opportunity to have an off-season to get back to big view thinking instead of the some of the linear thinking you automatically fall victim to in the midst of getting your head kicked in.”
What do you think you have to do in the off-season to have enough to ask Tracy for a commitment?
“I think making good use of wherever we land in the draft is obviously a big part of it, making a free-agent signing with an MCE, that we can envision being a starting player for our team in a successful environment going forward. Then whatever deals we do, if we do deals, that we end up being improved by the deals. One of the reasons why the discussion needs to take place with Tracy is because Tracy is not responsible for understanding the CBA or how things fit together or what’s conceivable or not conceivable, so we need to be honest with Tracy about the circumstances and what can be accomplished in this period of time. If we can give him indications whether that is going to be satisfactory or not we get a read as early as possible, as opposed to him thinking that all these things can happen in one summer that realistically can’t happen. Then everyone is disappointed at the end. I’d rather try and start painting that picture right now, which is a large part of why I want to get honest with him.”
This is your first summer as GM and also the most important summer in the history of the franchise, is that something that keeps you awake at night?
Not really. To be honest, this [the media] is what keeps me awake at night. I don’t have a lot of uncertainty about my ability to do the absolute best at doing the job and getting the things done that we need to get done. The way the representation of those things happens and the way the role that the media plays in that, is something that frankly, gives me angst, and that I spend more time thinking about. The way things come off effects the way things are, and I need to respect that. I have to set realistic expectations for myself, because I’m sort of an impatient person. I think yesterday was an indication of that, as soon as I see that the season is ending I want to jump on top of the issue that is in front of us. I’m going to have to force myself to be patient, but I also have periods of time where I get absolutely excited about what is conceivable and how far you can go in a short time if some things come into a line with the draft and on the trade front. I’m excited, and if I stay awake at night it is because I can’t stop thinking about all the different options. Anxiety is not something I think about.
What kind of support are you getting from the DeVos family?
I have always gotten great support from them. Mr. DeVos is a great person to work for. He determines who he wants in the positions of making decisions, who he trusts and certainly he stays involved to a certain degree on the big decisions. Anything that happens with Tracy he would certainly be involved with that. I couldn’t have a better situation in terms of our ownership giving me the autonomy to do what I think we need to do.
When do you think you will have an assistant GM?
I think it is unlikely that we will have on before the draft, because most of the good candidates are playing pivotal roles with their current teams in terms of draft preparation. I won’t say any names but I have sat with some people and had some discussions with some people and certainly hope that some time in the gap between the draft and free-agency would be an ideal time. I don’t feel rushed on any time frame, whenever we identify the right person we’ll do it then.
Talk about the three most important priorities in the off-season:
“Well, I think in the general sense stability is certainly one. We’ve had so much change, and misdirection, and change of direction, discussion player-wise, coach-wise. Creating a structure that is stable enough to get the most out of people, I think is probably the most important global piece. Certainly dealing with the issue at hand in regards to our franchise player as effectively as possible over the course of the off-season is probably the number one individual player piece. Then obviously you put all the other layers, which I guess is number three, the draft and free agency, trades that can get done.”
What kind of specific players do you want?
“Well for a number of years it has been an issue for the organization to get a big. I feel like the need for a point guard is just as pressing. Point guards dictate both at the offensive end and at the defensive end. If Grant is able to play, it would be our intention to play him at point. Certainly it would be difficult to move through the building process and feel comfortable banking on that, depending on what his progression is over the course of the summer. How you use the draft, verses trades to fill those two most major holes. Obviously you have to play the cards that are dealt to you and see how things go in the lottery and what you can get done with other teams. The point guard and center are the most pressing positional pieces.”
If you draft or sign a point guard do you still intend for Grant to play point?
“If Grant is healthy, our intention would be that he play point. I think that is the role at this stage in his career that he would want to play, to be able to impact things. From a cerebral standpoint as well as an athletic standpoint, he would not have the burden of being the slasher and the scorer. Obviously we have that type of person in Tracy, and certainly Grant is smart enough and well-rounded enough as a basketball player that he can do that. I think that is the direction that he is interested in going, and certainly based on the team needs that would be a good fit for us.”
Do you have to remind yourself that this team might not be that far away with the return of Grant Hill and Pat Garrity?
“We are very away because we had 21 wins. With 21 wins you are very far away, but I think about your point all the time, and how different it could have been this year with those two guys in the mix. In that sense, before any draft picks are made or any deals are signed you’re a better team just by having guys on your roster that have not been able to play, play. So yes, that makes a big difference, if you had Grant in a spot as a healthy player, you wouldn’t have to leverage all your other assets to fill one of those holes and certainly makes you a deeper team. It is a wildcard though in terms of knowing, and I don’t know that we’ll be able to have any comfort in that until the season starts. We can’t take it into great consideration while we’re building this thing other then how he seems to be doing at the time.”
How are Grant and Pat doing?
“I think they’re doing well. Grant is arguably the best he’s been. It is easy for people to roll their eyes or be cynical because we’ve been through it so many times, but he feels great. He doesn’t have that immediate pain and throbbing, and need to ice after every time he works out, which is a positive sign. The doctors say the pictures look better than ever have in the past, so there are a lot of positive parts to that. Obviously a world-class athlete at his age, looking to put the impact on his body that he is, with all the hardware and past surgeries, it is still a, I would guess, a 50/50 proposition.”
How detrimental would it be if the franchise player wasn’t ready to make a commitment?
“The issue is that it is important to the organization to push the issue to find out how things are with Tracy as early as possible. The issue is that we would like to have a pretty good indication of where things are going. When I say I don’t intend on going into next season with an “I don’t know,” I say that because I know that he is predisposed to wanting to stay and we are predisposed to wanting to have him. I seem to think without an off-season of time to discuss and contemplate where the team is going and how things are progressing, I would hope by the start of next season we will have a much better feeling of how he feels about it than we do now. That is one of the things I have to make priority to get accomplished over the course of the off-season. To say that because we want to know that, and that we need to know that, that we are delivering an ultimatum to Tracy McGrady is unfair and untrue. Obviously he is the one that can determine when or if he wants to stay or go. He is the one that can determine if he got traded and who he got traded to, and when it happened. He certainly has the option of taking this thing all the way to the end if he chooses to do that. I hope to make as much progress in that direction as I possibly can. The only time yesterday trading Tracy McGrady came out of my mouth was in reference to if Tracy came to us and said “I’m going to opt out and I don’t want to be here,” what choice would we have? We would obviously do the prudent thing. But to view it like I was putting this kid in the position where if he didn’t give us a definitive answer or sign an extension by the time the season started or he was traded is not a fair characterization of the way we were looking at it.”
How do you go about obtaining the stability that you desire for this team?
“Stability isn’t necessarily going to be in the form of the same names and faces. I don’t think stability means you bring the whole roster back from this team. I think stability is about the structure of what the organization represents and the way we do things, how the coaching staff functions. Then whatever pieces you bring into that puzzle, and whatever players come into that mix are in a more stable environment, as opposed to the one they are in this year, which is obviously erratic during the course of the year for a lot of things.”
Do you think Johnny Davis will change his coaching staff?
“I think there are some pieces we will probably be looking to add. In fairness to Johnny, other than bringing on Paul Westhead in the middle of the season, which is a tough time to go looking for a coach, he inherited the group that was obviously Doc’s staff and we sort of pieced our way through the end of the year. So certainly I intend to sit down with Johnny and say, “How is our staff? Is there a piece we want to add?” It is not something we have discussed yet, up through last night he has gathered that group and gone to battle each night, and you don’t want to muddy the water by having those discussions before they are appropriate. Just like we are evaluating our whole team, we got to evaluate our whole group and make sure that we feel like we’re putting a coaching staff in place that gives us the best chance of succeeding.”
Did you anticipate that Johnny would be able to change the losing culture that came over this team early in the year?
“I don’t know that I had anticipated the culture changing. Obviously, you would be hopeful it would because we were ten games into the season. Certainly the way we dealt with the losing, and the way the psyche of the team went, that was the disappointing thing. I guess to some degree it is expected that when you are losing five out of every six games that you play it is tough to stay emotionally up during the course of the year. I would have wished we could have been a little more consistent, and that the effort level that we got out of the guys, and Johnny would be the first to admit that. He was in the position where he came in during the midst of a losing streak and that streak continued. All of a sudden, despite what your intentions might be walking into a building every night, you feel like you are in the position where you do anything you can to win that night. I think that just makes you a short-term thinker instead of a long-term thinker. Now we have the opportunity to have an off-season to get back to big view thinking instead of the some of the linear thinking you automatically fall victim to in the midst of getting your head kicked in.”
What do you think you have to do in the off-season to have enough to ask Tracy for a commitment?
“I think making good use of wherever we land in the draft is obviously a big part of it, making a free-agent signing with an MCE, that we can envision being a starting player for our team in a successful environment going forward. Then whatever deals we do, if we do deals, that we end up being improved by the deals. One of the reasons why the discussion needs to take place with Tracy is because Tracy is not responsible for understanding the CBA or how things fit together or what’s conceivable or not conceivable, so we need to be honest with Tracy about the circumstances and what can be accomplished in this period of time. If we can give him indications whether that is going to be satisfactory or not we get a read as early as possible, as opposed to him thinking that all these things can happen in one summer that realistically can’t happen. Then everyone is disappointed at the end. I’d rather try and start painting that picture right now, which is a large part of why I want to get honest with him.”
This is your first summer as GM and also the most important summer in the history of the franchise, is that something that keeps you awake at night?
Not really. To be honest, this [the media] is what keeps me awake at night. I don’t have a lot of uncertainty about my ability to do the absolute best at doing the job and getting the things done that we need to get done. The way the representation of those things happens and the way the role that the media plays in that, is something that frankly, gives me angst, and that I spend more time thinking about. The way things come off effects the way things are, and I need to respect that. I have to set realistic expectations for myself, because I’m sort of an impatient person. I think yesterday was an indication of that, as soon as I see that the season is ending I want to jump on top of the issue that is in front of us. I’m going to have to force myself to be patient, but I also have periods of time where I get absolutely excited about what is conceivable and how far you can go in a short time if some things come into a line with the draft and on the trade front. I’m excited, and if I stay awake at night it is because I can’t stop thinking about all the different options. Anxiety is not something I think about.
What kind of support are you getting from the DeVos family?
I have always gotten great support from them. Mr. DeVos is a great person to work for. He determines who he wants in the positions of making decisions, who he trusts and certainly he stays involved to a certain degree on the big decisions. Anything that happens with Tracy he would certainly be involved with that. I couldn’t have a better situation in terms of our ownership giving me the autonomy to do what I think we need to do.
When do you think you will have an assistant GM?
I think it is unlikely that we will have on before the draft, because most of the good candidates are playing pivotal roles with their current teams in terms of draft preparation. I won’t say any names but I have sat with some people and had some discussions with some people and certainly hope that some time in the gap between the draft and free-agency would be an ideal time. I don’t feel rushed on any time frame, whenever we identify the right person we’ll do it then.
