We got a good one for you Magic fans. A conversation with President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman on this episode of Gjiic Pods Squad Gagic Fans. The Forida Department of Transportation reminds you that fans don't let fans drive drunk. If you've been drinking, don't get behind the wheel. Instead, find a sober driver or catch a ride service. Remember, drive sober or get cold over. Have a great night at drive.
Sea wants to talk to Jeff.
About in regards to this Orlando Magic team, including what the players have been up to over the summer, the decision to sign Contavious Caldwell Pope and what went into him deciding to join the Orlando Magic. Bagic re signed a lot of players on their roster. Mo Wagner Gogabatase. We'll discuss that and what lies ahead for this Magic roster that got a taste of the postseason last year
and how that could propel them moving forward. It's a great conversation, lots of insight with President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman this edition of Magic Pod Squad.
Those fawns long enough to Orlando, this is this is jenn and Suggs.
This is Paulo man Carroll of the Orlando Magic and you're listening to the Pod Squad.
Welcome every one to another episode of Orlando Magic Pod Squad. Great to have you with us. Dante Marcatelli, Jeff Turner, David Steele, Jake Chapman. That's all we could fit in here. We would put more in here if we could.
Good thing. Everybody fits.
Jeff Wellman, Magic President of Basketball Operations, kind enough to join us, and Jeff, it's always great to talk to you. Kick off another season of Magic basketball for you. This will be number eight here in Orlando. Wow, how about out that? What goes through your mind when you hear that season eight?
I'm getting old, man, No, no, no, no, It's It's been a great run here, man. I've had a great you know experience, you know, with the organization, with the city, Our families loved it, and you know we've been through a lot of iterations of the team, you know, first getting here, kind of hitting the lay of the land, assessing what it was that we had, kind of trying to you know, fit that together and take it as far as we could. Obviously, recalibrating and going in another direction.
And you know, haven't been more excited than I am as we sit here today going into season eight.
For me, for us, we get excited. This is the start of another season. We get excited. David Steele starts answering our calls again, come on, because the games are coming. What are your emotions as you get ready for it? Do you get as excited as you did when you started? What do you think as we start training camp?
Yeah, I mean I'm excited that David's answering our call. Yeah, you too, right, Yeah, it's it is an exciting time. No, you know, hey, this time of year is always exciting, but I will say it's exciting for every team, you know, all of the work that you put in over the summer,
all the planning. I think for us, you know, specifically, because we've been kind of stare stepping and we're at a place now where it's going to get harder to do that, you know, and we're a team that, unlike a lot of the teams that we're competing with, and we make no mistake like that's what we're competing with, we have not yet kind of pushed our chips in you know, so we're still, by and large, you know, constituted by young players who are still in the process
of growing and understanding how they affect winning with one another. Obviously, we're excited about the additions this year, but yeah, I think the whole organization, I think you can feel it when you walk into the building, has a great sense of excitement for the season ahead.
You know, as you look at where the team is right now.
You mentioned that there's been a process that you've been through some evaluation periods. Are you do you feel like you're more now beyond the evaluation period or is there still a certain amount of evaluation that's going on before you move to that next step.
Honestly, David, in our jobs, I feel like you never outgrow the evaluation period. It's just the lens through which we have to say see the whole world. You know. I will say that it's tough, you know, the league makes it. It's tough for all of us in the NBA, and it's really tough for the players because the timetables in the NBA are set by contract lengths, and so when we have to when we always say there's a
lot of hard decisions coming at us. That's because you know, contracts have lived their lives, and when they get to the end of their lives, decisions must be made. And the first wave of those decisions come from players who
are just starting to scratch the surface, you know. So all we try to do is give the players as much space and nourishment and you know what what I guess is called player development as possible, to have them grow into the league the right way, understand what the league values, what what our team values, and give them a chance to show who they can be. But you know, the earlier you have to make these decisions, the more fuzzy, you know, the the the probably byproducts are going to be.
And so you know, this is this is something that the whole league is up against, you know, and especially if you're a young team and you're building through the draft and through young players. You know, we believe in our young guys. You know, we haven't really recruited over then, we haven't done a lot of as I said earlier, kind of pushing our chips into the middle of the tables,
sorts of deals. So you know, right now we've been able to stare step because they've been able to stare step, you know, and when you win forty seven games, you're eating up a lot, a lot you know, more difficult space as you go forward. So, you know, we're excited about this season where where we never stop evaluating and this is a tough league and they know that, you know, the players know that, and they know that what we're
evaluating is who drives winning, who drives winning. So you know, there's a lot to kind of factor into the whole, you know, wash of what what constitutes and NBA team and you know, but but at the end of the day, the players that affect winning, the players that make each other better, that make it easier to play with one another, those are the guys that we gravitate towards.
And Frands you've already taken care of from the twenty one draft contractually, Jalen Suggs the next name on that twenty one list. How do you expect for that to play out that negotiation?
I mean, I don't have any expectations, you know, I know that Jalen is like an extremely important, you know, part of what we're doing here. He's an exceptional young talent, and he's an exceptional young man. And you know, we've had conversations with his representatives, you know, and and we'll
just see where that goes. Obviously, I'm not going to really kind of open the door to those discussions other than to say that, you know, jalen Is is a really vital, you know, part of our team and he's been a big part of our success.
Jeff, It's it's interesting when we hear you talk. You've used words like this is it's horror, it's tough. You know, You're you're talking about contracts and making it all go together, the step by step process. I think as fans people listening, you know, for us, you know, I consider myself a fan. It's what are we doing this year? But you can't do that ken Ye talk about the process of how far out from a timeline you're looking at when you're when you're building this thing.
All the way out, I can't see that far. I feel that, you know, we never want to lose sight of this season. You know, we want to be better than last year. We want to compete, we want to we want to win a championship. You know, we also have to understand that, you know, the things that have driven us to this point have been the growth of our young players, and we have to invest ourselves as deeply as possible to continue that process because that is
what's going to attract other players. You know, there's a reason that a guy like Cantavia called well Pope wanted to be here, you know, because he sees the way our young guys are developing, the way our team is trending. And I do believe that there are a lot of players around the league that notice that that that see what we're doing here, and we have to continue that.
So uh, you know, with the with the nature of of you know, the CBA, and and you know the financial compression that's going to really hit the whole league at some point. You know, the more you kind of build through the draft and reinvest in your own players, like, the tighter you get financially, the tougher those decisions get made. But what really makes them difficult, like I said, is
we have to make in them so early. These guys are so young, and you know, the earlier you have to make them, the more room there is for you know, the the less accurate probably your your data collection can be. If I can put it that way, and so you know, we need to give these guys a chance to show who they are, you know, and as people, as workers, as teammates, every in every way. So so to answer your question, we look all the way ahead because our
goal is to win a championship. You know, I want, I'd love to win one this year, and if we see that we're trending that way, we'll do everything we can. But that being said, I feel that, you know, this is the position that we're in right now, is we
are competing at the highest level. We we do want to get better and compete for a title right now, but we'd also we also, as I've said before, I want to follow our north star and we won't deviate from that, which is, you know, we have a lot of young players on this roster who we feel have a lot of potential and a lot of growth in them, and we are obligated to them to get them as far as we can, you know, and give them all
the nourishment that they that we can organizationally. And so it's trying to do two things, you know, and that's where I get to it gets a little tricky at times, you know, It's not it's it's not.
Uh.
I always say the NBA seldom presents you with an obvious choice, you know, but this is this is what we're trying to do.
Jeff. They say progress isn't linear. I say that a lot. I think I probably heard it from you.
Our analytic guys say that a lot.
Yeah, unless you're Jamal Mosley and you're talking about win totals right right.
But aside from that, like.
Expectations and plus twelve plus thirteen just for you man to man to watch coach mostly get some of that recognition Coach of the Year votes to select team.
How gratifying has that been for you?
I think it's it's terrific And I think like that's emblematic of our organization.
That's why I love it so.
Much, because you know, coach deserves it. I mean, he's so invested, he's so invested in the team.
He's so the way that we think.
Ahead, you know, years and years and you know, how how does our team unfold? You know, he's thinking that way about each of our guys every single day, you know, and there's just no substitute for that. It's just authentic. It's genuine and you know, uh, you know, it's the old expression, but our guys would run through a wall for him, you know, they know how much he cares. And he's good. He's a really good coach, you know.
And I think that like our team, if you think about it, he came here three years ago, and you talk about the growth. He was a rookie, so you know, he's getting better and better himself, you know. And and so I I couldn't you know, ask for anything more, h to have as as a partner, to go through this you know, process with and and and to watch him the way that he treats people, the way that he invests in people, the way that he gives of him of his own time. You know, it's so gratifying.
And and again, Jake, it speaks to the way that we work here. It speaks to who we are and who we want to know, who we want our players to know. This is what we're about, you know, and I believe that they do.
That's such a good question. It's kind of why we replaced him with George, you know, it's kind of why we kind of why we made that substitution. Sorry, George, I've kidding kidding. That's going to come back to Bible would.
Have been something about the Matts or something.
Take us through this summer, you say, got yourself up so nicely with salary cap flexibility, the ability to add a contavious Caldwell Pope who you mentioned. We know the numbers we look at. I mean, he's missed twenty four games in six years, which is remarkable. Three point shooter. What are the things that sold you on KCP? And just take us through the decision to bring him on.
You know, KCP is one of those guys who because he's he doesn't have these gaudy numbers and kind of you know, a top ten sports center guy every night, maybe flies a little under the radar, but I can tell you that, you know, guys around the league in my position are no, no, a lot about KCP, and everybody admires him. I know one one GM told me after we signed him, we're always looking for a guy like him. You guys got the real one, you know, And so I think that, you know, KCP, he's about
all the stuff that we talked about. You know, he just makes guys better. You know, he's he's he's economical, he's smart, he's every single possession know every night. I mean already, even even in kind of like open Jim scenarios, guys are already blown away. Like man, he tries to get over every screen, even we're just running up and down. You know, it's just kind of like one of those
guys that knows no other way. Obviously, you know. The shooting piece is something that we were, you know, like looking to improve upon this summer, and I think he'll hopefully add that. If history is any indicator, but who he is as a person, man CACP was one of the biggest free agent signings this summer. You haven't heard him one time talk about now I can spread my wings, now I can show the league who I am. All he talks about is I want to show these guys the importance of defense support.
You know, this is what I do.
You know, the importance of showing up every day. And so I think he's going to be a great influence on our team. I think he's going to help us on the court off the court, and you know, he's got a hunger and a humility about him that I think, you know, like I said, a lot of guys in my position around the league recognize.
Jeff could you pull the kurt back a little bit with regard to what the players have been doing this summer? Things have changed in the NBA. When Jeff was playing, you know, I think the season ended and there were there was a lot of off time, a lot of downtime, a lot of golf, which I'm sure there's still some of that, But how has that changed overtime? And could you tell us what our guys have been doing to get ready for training camp?
Yeah, because when Jeff played, I don't think pickleball was a thing.
Whether I don't recall that man, Yeah, I.
Don't think so. So, you know, they they I mean when you say you know what our guys, I mean, you know, sixteen guys, they all they've all had their own summers obviously, you know, you know, go going back to to to try to qualify for Olympics with his
national team. They didn't make it. Franz and Mo had their German national team experience, had a great run you know in the Olympics, and a lot of our other guys have you know, a lot of our young guys have been here for the predominance of the summer, and some guys have been bopping around in and out. Our coaches and performance staff have done a great job of just sending guys out. You know, as a matter of fact, I met with our player development crew yesterday and you know,
they've quantified everything. They measure everything, how many visits we we've taken what we worked on in those visits, and we're trying to get to a place where everything is measured. The players understand what their offseason goals are both for a team fit and and individually and and so we're not wasting time over the summers. So, like you said, summers have changed, you know, like we've we've tried to get as efficient as we can. But with that, you know,
the foundation of all of that is relationships. You know, the players have to feel whether they're here or at home or you know, in another place, even working with a third party trainer, that they're attached to the team, that that that we're we got them. And so our guys have done a great job of attaching to whatever workout they're doing, and and and and and making it make sense for how it helps us win this season.
Everything is done what helps us win this season, and so you know, I so it's a it's a. It's a big question because it entails like sixteen different guys. But I know that, you know, our guys have worked really hard. And I know I can say that with credibility, David, because our fans have seen it carry over the last couple of seasons. You know, that doesn't do The improvements that we've had don't come without a lot of hard work and.
The importance of that. Those off seasons are you know, really getting more and more significant, aren't they.
Yeah, And it's the work. And it's also honestly, in this age of you know, social media and the incredible level of scrutiny and intensity that these young guys are going through, they need to chill a little bit too,
you know. They need to get away and and and not think about the magic, be with their families, be with their buddies, and you know, catch their breath, you know, because once we we always say like we take our inhale, you know about now and basically U x hell at the end of the season, and it's it's it's a lot,
you know, it's a lot that comes at him. And uh so, so these summers are important in a lot of ways, you know, you know, and and a lot of our guys, their bodies are still growing, you know, and changing, you know, and even to the point where, you know, one of the guys that's that that has been around a lot the summer is Jonathan and Jonathan you know, it's I think our fans will see, you know, he's he's he's added a lot of weight, you know, and uh, it's it's it's partially the work that he's
done and the guys as hard a worker as there is, but he's growing up, you know, and it takes time. That's kind of like harkening you back to like the earlier part of the discussion, you know, doesn't happen like that, you know. So so we have to you know, ride that timeline with them and understand, you know, the curve that they're on. You know, when you talk about like seeing years ahead.
TeV is interesting because you know, kind of going back to when I played, you know, a lot of the players would begin in September and start getting back into the central Florida area and we we'd find gyms to play pick up games and things like that. What you read about now is the players will will congregate, somebody will set something up by player, and they will congregate and and have a weekend or a week where they'll
all be together, go to dinner and things. Are we seeing anything like that with this young group and who would be kind of leading that for us?
Yeah, I think we're seeing a lot of that. You know, these guys stay so attached. Obviously, you know, you didn't have Instagram. I don't think no.
Instagram.
I don't know.
We don't even actually have cell phones, so I really didn't see.
But I would argue he doesn't have a cell phone still he doesn't.
Know how to way.
You know, our guys stay attached, man, I think you know, I think there are obviously a lot of ways you can say attached these days. Our guys are, by NBA standards, I think, a particularly tight knit group. And so yeah, they did do a lot of that, you know, on their own. They also do a lot of their own stuff.
You know.
So you know, the Peel go to Seattle and he's got his guys he wants to work with. And I think it's important that our guys recognize, like, man, this is a guy that played you know, USA basketball. You know, this last season season before was his draft summer. He hasn't had a summer with his family in a couple of years. You know, you think about everything this guy's been through. So he goes back to Seattle, he gets
his work in. Man, we're sending guys out, We're attaching to the guys that he's working with, and I think it's important that those guys, you know, know that even that we want them to have that time, we want them to have it, but also they have that awareness of how they impact the rest of the team. And so you know, when you talk about like who's setting things up, you know, I think a lot of our young guys are starting to step up and grow into that.
You know.
Fronz and Pee, I think are really feeling, you know, where this is going and you know, starting to pick up some of the onus of that.
You know.
But I think they all had great summers, you know, in their own respects, and a lot of those times were together, you know, on their own, you know, kind of like under their own instigation. So I mean, I love that they do that, and they really care about each other. It's a very you know, tight ening group.
And the other thing Jeff obviously is like we have this facility now so you talk about like the home away from home, and and you know, our young guys, Anthony jet I mean, you know, Caleb, they lived in here, They lived in here. They put so much work in and you know, they really the thing I love about our guys is they just buy in. You know, they want to come into the league the right way. You know, I say, like, you are in this league, man. You look at like careers of players. You are how you
come into the league. More often than not, you know, if you come in the right way and you learn and learn what matters and what people are evaluating from you, it generally puts you in a good place for the rest of your career, you know. And I think our guys are really like getting an understanding of that, and
it just goes so far. It allows them to be coached, It allows them to understand the big picture, you know, understand like what the next step is, you know, and you know, those things, those things are so important to young players, you know. So I think like they all had different summers, and you know, they all need to have different summers because they're all at different stages of
their careers. And you know, but I think collectively they always stay attached and keep each other up on what's going on, and you know, so kind of excited to bring that back and see them all start to filter in. Now is a really exciting time of year and they all get to be together for the first time.
Jeff, it's interesting you say that about young players.
I was in Detroit when.
KCP was I think it was a year two through four in his career, and I want to ask you about Corey Joseph as well. Both those guys, it seems like identified things that they were good at, got really good at it, and it's able to prolong their careers. What great examples are they for the young core that we have here, just as far as staying power in the league.
I mean, you know, I was with Corey in Toronto, and you you want to talk about just a spectacular person. Man. You know, Corey has like that great mix of kind of like that that Ontario you know, very kind of like rule following, like organized like way about him that I'm familiar with living in Toronto, which is, you know, great city, and he's also got his Island background and he's he's always got.
A smile on his face.
You know, he's a very like lighthearted guy and the experiences that he's had and it's very interesting. I'm sure you guys will talk to him at some point and one of the things he'll tell you is his last
stop in Golden State. This is this is a guy who's in his thirties now gets to Golden State and has an eye opening experience with how hard Steph Curry works and it really you know, and and when I talk to him this summer, you know, before we kind of brought him up here and started like getting a look at him and met with him just to see where he is and everything. You know, he talked, He talked about that and how it kind of like recalibrated him and it shows. I mean, it was.
It was amazing.
Man. When he came up in July, he was in game shape. I'm like, dude, you're in better shape now than you were in Toronto.
You know so.
But but I say that as like like the starting point. But the beauty of Corey is Corey knows when to let the young guys leave. You know, I know that our team is in good hands with our vet guys because they're not trying to impress the coach by being the loudest guy in the room or act differently when there's a coach around or something, you know, one of
us around. They're just authentic guys. They're good guys. They understand what it takes to win, and at this point in their careers, they just want to help these young guys and they'll do that. They'll do that by sometimes this following, you know. And I think that's that's wisdom, you know, that's smart.
You know.
So so Corey is just a great guy. And Corey can still play, and Uh, I'm really excited that that he's going to kind of, you know, be in our locker room, be around our guys. I think he's going to be a great influence on them.
You mentioned Jet and Anthony Black. I think when you look back at what Anthony was able to do last year, getting thrust into starters minutes at times and contributing the way he did. You mentioned they've been in the gym the entire summer, which is great. Uh, You've got competition at every position. It's such a deep team. What what are you telling Anthony and Jet and what what are you expecting with those two as they try to carve out minutes.
I think that you know, these are these are talks that you know, coach Moses having with them daily, and you know, I think this all folds into like the same conversation about just understanding your progression. You know, don't don't sorry guys, don't don't try to get too much too soon. And you know that that's one of the hardest things for a young guy to to recognize. And so you know, when Anthony got thrown into the fire
last year, I thought he acquitted himself. Well you know, but you know this gets back to like who you are and the character and the ability to understand, the ability to buy in, the ability to be coached.
Both of those.
Guys, you know, are tremendous talents, tremendous kids, and man, they had really good summers.
You know.
They they work their tails off the summer. You know, they put so much time in every day, every day. And I look at them and you know, their bodies are starting to change. But you know, to your earlier question, Jeff, you know you think about like Jonathan, you know, is I say, starting to grow into his body now he's twenty what six twenty seven? I mean, like these guys are twenty you know, p's twenty one, you know, so
it's like what are they going to look like? And if you years, you know that that's what we have to keep asking ourselves. And in the meantime, you know, as you say, like, well here's here's here's like the
point off in the horizon that I'm looking at. Okay, Like what do we have to do every step of the way so that when they get to this point they're the best they can be And for them to understand that that's part of this process, you know, uh, takes a lot of work from our staff and it takes the right player to be able to get that. So it's a big part of like when we try to bring guys in here even throughout the draft process that you know, can they internalize you know that that
timetable and it's not easy. It's not easy. Like you get in the season and guys want to play and they want to show who they are. But you know, ultimately, like you know, we just like is this helping the team? Is this helping the team? And you know, our guys, I think for the right people, they understand that that's the question that that they need to answer for US and for any team in this in this league. So yeah, I think I think those guys both had summers. I think,
you know, they're both really talented. What that means this year, you know, we'll see. It's like you said, Dante, we are very deep.
We have depth at every.
Position, you know, and coach is going to be able to look down that bench and have a lot of arrows in this quiver and a lot of options and a lot of different answers for different questions that might be thrown at them in different games and matchups and circumstances, and you know what injuries are going to hit. That's one area where I feel, you know, good about our roster.
But that said, you know it, as I said earlier, it comes with that kind of like duality of you know, we want to win now, we want to win a championship, but our pathway to doing that is to make sure that we're developing our young players properly.
You mentioned Palo and Frauds. How young they are. Froz just heared twenty three. I think you said Pallo twenty one. In the future for those two guys, what makes you confident knowing them and what they're all about as human beings that they're going to reach a very very high potential at the end of their arc.
I feel like those guys are more mature than I am. And I'm not talking about when I was their age. I mean, they're they're just they're incredible, man like the the the level of maturity and the willingness to like put themselves in difficult situations and get uncomfortable and work and sacrifice. It's just you just don't see it very often in guys that age, you know, any walk of life. And so for them to be able to do that, you know, honestly, that's what we need to bet on.
That's the sort of stuff that if the Magic are going to win a championship, that's the sort of stuff we need to bet on, you know. And they're not the only guys, but but but you ask about those guys specifically, you know, they they they're extremely smart, extremely competitive, and even as they grow through their own process of everybody no one's immune from wanting to show who you are and kind of blow up and be that guy.
You know, But even as they go through this at the very earliest stage, I mean, they're not even in their pre primes. Yet you know, even as they go through at the very earliest stages, you already see this
awareness of is that helping the team win? And you know, ultimately, you know, you see a lot of great players in this league kind of get to the middle part of their careers before that, you know, switch flips and you can already see it flipping with them, you know, at ages like you know, twenty one and twenty two, twenty three. I think Howlo will be uh twenty two in November. But my point is, like I think the way that our guys look at kind of you know, the stages
of a career. You know, you know, your your pre prime is almost like twenty three to twenty five, twenty six, and they haven't even hit that part of their career yet. You know, they're you know, so so so for them to be doing what they're doing, not just you know, putting up numbers and kind of like you know, garnering all these accolades, but to understand like what take what it takes to win, and how they lift up their teammates and that it's no good if you're not taking
everybody with you. To have that awareness, man, that's Uh, that's unique.
Last thing, Jeff, and I want to get your thoughts that. Jeff talks about it all the time, and he may want to weigh in two, but getting a taste of the playoffs, these young guys getting a taste, right, and that's we've heard from all of them, seemingly through social media sites which Jeff is not on, but they're say how much that has fueled them and how much that has motivated them the entire summer. A lot of people are just smarting jeffs mart to stay off Jeff. But
what that can do for a guy like Paul. Obviously for everybody, but for a guy like Polo, what do you think that did making the playoffs? I know coach Moseley will say when I'm in January and I'm talking about the playoffs are like this. Now they get it, they've seen it, they understand how important the games are. What does that do to a guy like Polo getting that taste?
Yeah, Honestly, Dante with particular question, I just want to expand that because it's not just p it's the whole team. Sure, and and I feel like, you know, walking through that locker room after Game seven, I mean it was like a wrecking ball had just come through there. Man, you know, tears and eyes. No one wanted to talk. You know, you could tell right then and there, okay, game on, you could you could just see it right there. And
I think that's carried through the whole summer. I think that the only way to gain that kind of you know, those battle scars, is to go through it, you know, and especially the nature of the way we went through it to get to the seventh game, to get a big lead and then to lose a close game.
You know.
I think that grows people up. It grows it grows up players. And how how does it impact them? We'll see, we'll see. I know it's in them and I know that, like there's still a lot for them to process, and so they haven't been through. Okay, now we're going to play after we've been through that experience. It's not like that happened two or three or four times. It just happened once. So the first time you never know. So we'll see how how how they internalize that, how that
hits them immediately. But it's in there and it will come out at some point.
I love that.
That's great. I think that fires us all up, and I think we can't wait, right, you know.
And Jeff was on a team that made the playoffs and got knocked out, upset in the first round by Indiana, and then the next season that team made it to the NBA Finals. So it you know, it does happen. It has happened. He's happened here.
Well, well, I was a big part of that. So yeah, I know why. That's why I was injured and that, you know, so when I came back, it just changed there.
Your contract, the locker room were exceptionally No.
I know, we want to wrap it up, but if I'm not, may just so, Jeff, when I go around town, people stop me all the time. What people around town And you guys have probably heard this. They love this team and you've talked about how close they are. It's so apparent. It's so obvious to fans, the way they cheer for one another and everything. And I always always laugh and I tell them, you know, it's like, yeah, it is very unusual at our level because I've been
there and I know every one of those guys. They think they should be on the floor and I tell them and I and you can comment I believe that what you've talked about the philosophy of this organization and it comes from the top, and that's hu je f Willman. That this belief that you know, we're going to do everything we can if you'll just stay with us to
make sure you're the best player you can be. I think that's a big part of what you've created here and why this team is so close And to the playoff question, I think that because of that closeness and experiencing that together, not just one guy felt you know anything, it's all of them together. It's why I get excited about this crew.
Well, I first of all, I appreciate that I want to I want to say I'm not at the top, but I want to say that that m comes from the devices and you know, and yeah, obviously you're out school and then to Alex and then you know, listen, I was recruited here, you know, and I felt it, you know, And so I do think it's a part of our ethos. It's hoped, you know, the magic way.
That's what we want to establish, the magic way. You know, when you come here, you're part of something bigger than yourself, and if you're not looking for that don't come uh you know that said, Man, I so appreciate all of that, Jeff, but I'll just I'll just finish with this. Man. Everything that you said is just because we got the right dudes. Man,
It's just because we got the right dudes. They are just such good people and I can't tell you how how deeply we try to get to know them through the draft process, and you know, the amount of homework that we do even when we're looking at free agency. It's just it's so important too. We just can't do
what we're doing without that component, you know. So I'm really glad that you bring that up and kind of like maybe that's a great way to like tie it all together at the end, you know, I really appreciate that. But it's it's it's really it's at the end of the day, we everybody in this building, man, like, they work their butt off and they'd work the right way. And I always say, the right information has to find
the right person with no ego. But all of that, it doesn't mean anything without without without the character and who those who those players are as people, you know, and that's that's what we're about.
Well, I love that it's a great way to wrap it up. I think that's what we all see, that's what gets fans so excited about this group that you've put together here and we can't wait to get started. That'll do it for this addition of Magic Pod Squad with Jeff Wellman