John Hammond discusses the potential of an unknown teenager from the streets of Greece.

The last time Weltman and Hammond worked together, Jeff was suggesting John and he go on a scouting trip to Greece to evaluate a relatively unknown prospect, Giannis Antetekounmpo. Jeff Weltman, assistant to John Hammond at the time, had found someone the Bucks could potentially find value in with their 15th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, someone now viewed as a savior the franchise can theoretically build around for the next decade. Did Jeff and John know Giannis had the potential to become a top-10 player in the NBA? “No,” Hammond said. “When we first saw him, Jeff and I, we thought that he was a player who had a great feel for the game, with great size and length. He was playing point guard at that time for his team. You could see he could handle it, he was a good decision-maker, and he knew how to play. But I wish I could say we knew he was going to be an All-Star at 22 years old. I wish we had known he was going to be this, but I don’t proclaim to be that smart.”

Jeff and John realized a lengthy player with great size who could already make quick decisions with at least one ball skill (in Giannis’ case, play-making) had the most potential to become a valuable asset. This asset-valuing mentality should bode well for Jeff and John when scouting players like Jonathan Isaac and Josh Jackson, two players in the draft who look the most NBA-ready to hold up defensively at multiple positions. Yeah, Jeff and John look like a pair of J’s the Magic wouldn’t mind rocking for a long, long time.