By Dan Savage

June 24, 2016

ORLANDO – It was an extremely busy draft night for the Magic.

Not only did Orlando make a major deal that brought Serge Ibaka to The City Beautiful and sent Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and the draft rights to Domantas Sabonis to Oklahoma City, but they also nabbed Stephen Zimmerman with the 41st overall selection in the 2016 NBA Draft and dealt the 47th overall pick to Portland in a separate transaction.

With all that movement keeping the Magic Draft Room active in to the wee hours of the night, you’d understand if team’s head coach slept in a little bit the following morning.

However, that’s now how Frank Vogel operates. The Magic’s head coach was already back in action early this morning and paid a visit to Open Mike to talk about the trade that brought Orlando one of the NBA’s premier defenders and more.

Here’s a look at their conversation:

Mike: Serge Ibaka seems like your kind of player. Everybody know you like to stress defense and he is a defensive rim protector, is he not?

Frank: Maybe the best in the league. If not the best, one of the best in the league. A guy that really has a skill-set that is unique in today’s NBA and is really valued with the way the game is going. The value in having bigs that have the ability to shoot from the perimeter has increased and having bigs that have the defensive versatility to not only protect the rim, but to switch out and defend smaller guards, the value of that has also increased. With the way the league is playing small, Serge has both of those skill-sets. He is one of the few people in the NBA that can really do both at a high level.

Mike: I compared him to Draymond Green earlier, in fact he was Draymond Green, before Draymond Green, wasn’t he?

Frank: Well, they’re different players, but have similar impacts. We’re hopeful that he has that kind of positive impact on our team.

Mike: What’s it take to be a great rim protector? Besides just size. Just talk about that skill.

Frank: To me, there’s sort of an innate timing ability that these guys have. There are a lot of 7-footers that aren’t good shot blockers whether it’s their athleticism, their quick jump, their eye-hand coordination, their ability to get their hands on the ball. Part of it is just instinctual. Serge has that ability at a very, very high level, the ability to recognize the angles of the drives coming to the basket and he really just has quick jump off the floor and the great hand-eye coordination to block shots up high.

Mike: Any concern on your guys part of Serge’s stats this past year weren’t as good?

Frank: No, not really. I looked at how their team did. They were a few possessions away from going to the NBA Finals. And if you get to the NBA Finals, maybe winning a championship. And he was a key factor on that team. Things shift throughout a team’s evolution. Maybe (Russell) Westbrook and (Kevin) Durant are getting more shots, maybe coach Billy Donovan’s play is slightly different and rotation is slight different than Scott Brooks’ was. We look at his ability and he’s a young player that has a lot of upside, that is still entering his prime. I feel like he’s going to give us a huge lift for what we’re trying to accomplish next year.

Mike: Obviously, Victor Oladipo was a popular player here in Orlando, but the NBA is a business. I’m just wondering, when you look at your roster, you’ve got Evan Fournier at position similar to Victor Oladipo’s. Is this an indication that you guys essentially chose Fournier over Oladipo?

Frank: Well, it’s not. It really isn’t. I don’t think that would be fair for Evan or for Vic. It was really a matter of a logjam at one position, a need at another position and a need to balance our roster out. Too many young guys on one team isn’t good. Too many aged, experienced guys on one team isn’t good. You need a little bit of balance of both. Some guys that have been through playoff battles and have that experience and you need some up-and-coming youth. And you know, we didn’t have enough balance on the roster and we did have a logjam at the wing position. So, it was just really a matter of those things.

Doc: The first thing I thought of when I heard about the trade, was wait a minute, he plays Aaron Gordon’s position. Do you see them subbing for each other, spelling each other or do you think they’ll be able to be on the court at the same time?

Frank: Absolutely, I see them being able to be on the court at the same time. Aaron also is an elite defender and they can play the three and the four together, both having the ability to switch out onto smaller guards and defend, which has become a greater need in today’s NBA. It’s very, very difficult to play the game without switching, the way the league plays today. Both of those guys can do it at a very high level. So I do see them playing together, but I also see both of them having the ability to shift positions. Aaron playing the three or the four or Serge playing the four or the five. That’s a heck of a defensive lineup if you’re playing against a small-ball team like Golden State for instance, where you can put a shot-blocker in Serge Ibaka at the five spot and have the defensive versatility of Aaron Gordon to be switching everything and playing that game as well. And you don’t compromise your shooting on the other end.

Doc: Sticking with the Gordon and Ibaka theme, one of the things that I love about Ibaka is the fact that he cannot only block shots, but he can block shots in a Russell-esque way that will create transition points. Is that a thing that can be taught and mentored in Aaron Gordon or is that just a natural ability.

Frank: I think it’s a little of both. I think you can work towards that, but that’s a difficult thing. To have the mindset of not only am I’m going to try and block the shot, but I’m going to try and block it to a teammate, I think very, very few people really have that knack or that ability. It’s really about protecting the rim, making sure you get the stop, and then once you get possession then everybody is out on the break.

Mike: Did Doc just say you signed Bill Russell here? I think he did.

Frank: We’re hoping to. (Laughter) I don’t know if he’s interested. I hear guys of his age like being in Florida, so we’re trying to see what he has left. (Laughter)

Mike: Coach, I’m curious. Victor Oladipo was one of Rob Hennigan’s first draft picks. Sometimes, GMs don’t like to get rid of their draft picks. Did you in any way have to lobby for this move?

Frank: No, not at all. This is really something the front office wanted to do. To be honest, I was very intrigued with coming here to coach Victor Oladipo. He’s one of the reasons I took the job. I watched him a lot at IU and I watched his career as it started in this league with the Magic. We had a lot of conversations. Although I haven’t coached Vic for a year or two or anything like that, we’ve spent a lot of time together over the last month. This was pretty difficult for me to digest. Having the expectation and the excitement to come in and coach Vic, he’s such a willing worker, has a great attitude and wants to be great. So this is a challenging and difficult thing, but this is what this league is about. You have to look and when opportunities like this come up to, like I said, balance the roster and hopefully improve your team, you have to put those emotions aside and make the best decision for your team.

Mike: How does it work when you guys are going to make a major personnel move like this? Does Rob Hennigan call you up and say ‘what do you think about this?’ How does that work?

Frank: Yes, pretty much. I don’t get to hear about every conversation he has. Obviously, GMs are talking about deals every day, all year long. The coach doesn’t hear about all those, you shouldn’t hear about all those. But when something gets to the five-yard line, you say ‘hey, we have a real chance of doing something. What’s your opinion? Do you think this benefits the team? How would you use the new players? How would you miss the players that would be going out?’ You talk about those things, you discuss those things and you just add an opinion to Rob’s thought process. He does a great job with making group decisions and valuing his staff’s input, his coaching staff’s input and that’s kind of how it works.

Listen to the entire conversation here.