ORLANDO – There were times last season, even as the injury-ravaged Orlando Magic were struggling, that President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman would peer around the Amway Center and be amazed at what he saw.

Even though the Magic limped through a sixth consecutive non-playoff season, their fan base regularly packed the Amway Center to allow the franchise to finish in the top half of the NBA’s attendance statistics. What Weltman, who is about to begin his second season as the leader of the Magic’s basketball operations department, also saw was a group of fans who are eager to see the franchise find success once again.

``Obviously, our fanbase is desperate for wins and we feel the weight of that,’’ Weltman admitted. ``We talk about it all the time – we owe it to our fans to bring them a winner. These jobs are really like civil servant jobs and the purpose for us is to bring this city together … win and bring the city together.’’

Weltman said his first season in Orlando showed him just how much the Magic are a fabric of the community in Central Florida. He said it’s incumbent that he does everything in his power to bring a winner to fans who want to see the Magic succeed.

``I feel this is a unique fan base,’’ said Weltman, a 30-year veteran of working in the NBA. ``I thought it was kind of amazing when you look at the record that we had last year, and it would be a Tuesday night team against a lower-level team and the building would be sold out. I’d think to myself, `Wow, this is incredible.’

``We talk all the time to our guys about owing it to our fans and I feel even more strongly about it now more so than when I first got here,’’ he added. ``With the players that we’ve added, the coaches that we’ve added and getting the organization pointed in the right direction, I know we will win here and deliver for our fans.’’

With the Magic set to go through Media Day on Monday and open training camp on Tuesday, OrlandoMagic.com sat down with Weltman this week for a question-and-answer session. Here’s what Weltman thinks about the prospects of the team this season:

ORLANDOMAGIC.COM: From a front office perspective how are things different now heading into Year 2 as opposed to 12 months ago and heading into Year 1 with the Magic?

JEFF WELTMAN: ``When we got here, we said that last year would be a year of evaluation – from every corner of the organization to the roster and off the court. It was a challenging first season because we got off to a good start but we were really hit hard by injuries. That really puts everybody in a bad place and it’s hard to do your job when you don’t have a healthy roster. I don’t care what your job is with an NBA team – it’s hard to do your job if you don’t have healthy players.

``All that being said, we came to a lot of conclusions about where we needed to improve. We have 18 new staff members this year and that doesn’t even begin to look at our roster. So, I do believe, organizationally, we’re in a good place right now. From our performance department, coaching staff, analytics and management, we’re really starting to put together the unit we envisioned from when we got here. This is how we’re going to produce good work and grow players up the right way. Now, it takes time because we have two first-round picks in Jonathan Isaac and Mo Bamba who are 20 and (dramatic improvement) doesn’t happen overnight. But it’s our responsibility to put everything around them to help them develop into the players that they’re supposed to become.’’

ORLANDOMAGIC.COM: Many of the Magic’s players have been here all throughout August and September working out voluntarily. What is your sense now of how hungry and ready to go this team is as camp is about to start?

JEFF WELTMAN: ``I think it’s been a very constructive summer and Coach Clifford has brought in his own guys and he’s even added to his own staff with someone like Ty Corbin, who he has never worked with before, and they’re working together. With that comes the connection to the players. We’ve had a really good player turnout and a lot of them have had a good month in September with voluntary turnout and I feel like we’re heading into training camp with a good base of instruction, language and conditioning under our belts. I think we’re heading into training camp with a good spirit right now.’’

ORLANDOMAGIC.COM: How much have you been able to spend the past 3 ½ months getting to know head coach Steve Clifford? Obviously, you’ve known him since interviewing him in Milwaukee five years ago, but what drew you back to him for the head coaching job in Orlando?

JEFF WELTMAN: ``He is very easy to get to know and it doesn’t take long to get to know Steve Clifford because he has such a great sense of humor and he just loves talking hoops. More often than not, that’s what we end up talking about.

``We were blown away in his interview in Milwaukee (in 2013) and obviously Charlotte hired him before we could bring him back for a round two and work with him at that point. But he was a guy that we felt we’d want to revisit if the opportunity presented itself.

``Coach Clifford is of the that Van Gundy coaching tree that means he’s disciplined, on point and very crisp and precise with what he teaches. He also has a gift of having a loose personality and you just know that when you are dealing with him as a player that there is nothing personal here and he’s just trying to get us win and make me better as a player.

ORLANDOMAGIC.COM: The Magic organization was rocked recently by the death of long-time owner Rich DeVos. I’ve heard that when you were interviewing to become the Magic’s President of Basketball Operations that you met with Rich in Grand Rapids, Mich., and he showed you the room where Amway was started. How cool was that? And what legacy do you think Mr. DeVos leaves on the Magic?

JEFF WELTMAN: ``Having him take us to that (Amway) room where literally the conversation took place of, `Should we start this company?’ will always be etched in my memory.

``I was here, obviously, during his later days of involvement with the team, but it’s been crystal clear from the day that I took the job the influence that Mr. DeVos has had over everybody here. The first person, obviously, would be (CEO) Alex (Martins) and the family trusts Alex to dispense the DeVos way of working with people throughout the organization. I just consider myself one of those employees whose job it is to further that legacy. It’s a legacy of giving, working for others and supporting one another. That’s called teamwork and that’s how we’re going to be successful. Obviously, losing Mr. DeVos is a huge loss for our group, but I can tell you that he’s put so many people in place who will carry this flag of his that comes before all else. It’s the way that we’ll do our work.’’

ORLANDOMAGIC.COM: Getting back to basketball, team presidents and GMs always say that you never want a roster that is too old or too young. You seem to have a nice mix of veterans and young players. Was that one of your goals in building this roster?

JEFF WELTMAN: ``Obviously, we’re still a very young team and we want to grow those guys up the right way. In Toronto (where Weltman worked previously), we started to replace the older guys at the end of their careers with young guys who are up and coming. I look at their team now and people talk about their ``Bench Mob’’ and having the best second unit in the NBA, but all that is is young guys who grew up together. I’m not necessarily of the mind that you need to have these veteran guys just to have them. Now, don’t get me wrong, if you can have leaders in your locker room, that’s a different story, but just to have veterans for the sake of veterans, if you look at our roster that’s obviously not what we’re choosing to do. That means it puts greater emphasis on us organizationally to be about the right things and put the right people around our players at all time, including in the locker room regardless of age or experience.

``That being said, I do think we have a good, solid core of what I’d characterize as `young veterans.’ They’re good locker room citizens, good teammates and that’s how you want to go forward.’’

ORLANDOMAGIC.COM: You obviously believed in Aaron Gordon’s future by signing him to the long-term contract that you did in July. What’s the next step for him?

JEFF WELTMAN: ``It’s funny when you talk about Aaron in being one of those `young veterans,’ but I think of Aaron being in that in-between-land of being one of the young guys and being a veteran. He’s 23 and I don’t know if I can call him a veteran yet.

``We believe that Aaron has a great leap yet to make. His improvement won’t come by him being a better worker because he’s already as good a worker as you could ever ask for. He’s going to have to get there by gaining more of an overall understanding of how it all fits together. That comes with age and experience. The best thing about Aaron is that his response to any adversity is always hard work. Now, with the organization coming together as it is and putting pieces around him, we’re looking forward to him making that next leap.’’

ORLANDOMAGIC.COM: You, John Hammond and others were delighted on draft night to land center Mo Bamba. How big of a load will he be able to handle as a rookie and how special do you think he can eventually become as a player?

JEFF WELTMAN: ``Don’t be the best player, just be the hardest worker. If you’re a rookie, just come in and work hard and things will work themselves out if we have the right people around you and I believe that we do.

``I don’t think it’s a leap at all to say that Mo has a chance to be a unique player in this league. Not only does he have the longest recorded wingspan in the history of this league, he’s got the chance to be an elite-level perimeter shooter and he’s also got the IQ – on and off the court – to be a problem-solver and he’s not afraid. Now, it’s about him developing habits, working on his body and making sure that he’s able to withstand the duration of a NBA season from a health perspective. I’m excited to think about the future of our team with our young guys growing up and getting better every year.’’

ORLANDOMAGIC.COM: Another of those young guys, Jonathan Isaac, seems to have made a big jump over the summer with his game and his body. How impressed are you with the commitment that he made over the summer to improve?

JEFF WELTMAN: ``I think Jonathan was 211 and he’s 226 (pounds) today. It’s all a testament to the hard work that he’s put in. The Orlando Magic fans who are junkies and really watched the Summer League games that were on TV got a glimpse of where his game is headed. He’s a defender, a facilitator, he’s going to be able to hit shots and his instincts are uncanny. All of that stuff is good, but the glue is the character and work ethic and he’s got it. I have no reservations in saying that.

``Again, I’ll hit the rewind and play button again and say that it’s about not trying to be the best player, but instead the hardest worker with Jonathan. We will do it right and not fast. Jonathan is on a great tract right now and, given his rookie season, the thing we want the most for him is health and the ability to self-correct, improve and figure things out because he’s a highly intelligent player. With the people that we have around him – coaches and performance guys – I really think he’ll be the next one to show that big leap.’’

ORLANDOMAGIC.COM: In the offseason you traded for Jerian Grant, signed Isaiah Briscoe and stuck with veteran D.J. Augustin. Point guard is the deepest and most talented position in the NBA, so what was the reasoning in filling the lead guard position the way that you did?

JEFF WELTMAN: ``You always look to improve your roster and upgrade at every position, but the one thing you don’t want to do is force a need when the right situation doesn’t present itself. We kind of spent our chips where we thought they could be best applied. And, in all honesty, we have comfort level. D.J. Augustin had a really good year last year. He’s an elite-level shooter and when put on the floor with the right guys he was very effective for us.

``So, we tried to ask if there were some areas where we could add some size and length and the deal for Jerian materialized and we were very happy about that. Jerian is a guy who the league looks at as an unfinished product. Here’s a guy who has a high basketball IQ, he’s got size and he has the ability to be a two-way player. He’s just got to develop a consistency with his shot and find a consistent home. He is still on his rookie contract and the book hasn’t been fully written on him. So, we’re hoping he can come in and this will be the place. We always say with signings and free agents, it’s not always so much about `who’ as it is about `when.’ When you get a guy in their career and it just clicks is important.

``We hope this is the place for Jerian, but in the meantime the pieces that we have on the court around him, there will be a fit where we’ll be able to insert them and it can bring the best out of (Grant).’’

ORLANDOMAGIC.COM: I know this is kind of a question for Steve Clifford and the coaching staff, but how do you see the balance playing out at center between veteran Nikola Vucevic and Bamba?

JEFF WELTMAN: ``That’s totally a Cliff question, but Mo is just a rookie and Vooch is a proven, high-quality veteran in this league. We come into camp knowing that we have two highly talented, highly intelligent players at that position and talking to Cliff he sees opportunities to play those guys together. That’s one thing as Mo grows and develops his understanding of the league, his length, footspeed and perimeter abilities will allow that to happen. Can Mo and Vooch play some together? That’s obviously a Cliff question, but I think that will evolve as the season progresses.’’

ORLANDOMAGIC.COM: As someone responsible for building this team – both for today and down the road – how you balance staying patient and developing the young assets and pursuing a star player that might be available because of a trade demand or a team wanting to move on from him?

JEFF WELTMAN: ``One of the things you have to ask yourself is this: At what price? When you’re talking about acquiring a star player, it’s always about, `at what price?’ Are you giving up all of your good, young players go get this guy? Well, now what? What do you do now? If we were able to keep what we have going forward and add to it, then by all means we want to get good fast. But we won’t do it at the expense of being good for a long time. So, that’s the window that we try to see things through.’’

ORLANDOMAGIC.COM: Do you allow yourself to think about this team making the playoffs or is the focus still on building and development?

JEFF WELTMAN: ``I honestly don’t think in those (postseason) terms, but I do believe that the pundits have discounted us and that’s the best place we can be. Given health and some ability to go through the process without breaking up our lineups too often due to injuries and we can surprise some people. Obviously, it all starts with developing the right habits and developing that group identity. I think we have the people and the players to do that this year.

``I never put win totals out there or predictions about the playoffs, but I know that we’re all excited about this season. I think we’ve been overlooked as a team, so bring it on.’’

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