Orlando Magic's Jeff Weltman Perfectly Executed His Critical Offseason Plan

Orlando Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman entered the offseason with a clear goal: improve the team’s offense without compromising its defensive identity. Finding that balance was a challenge, but through the well-executed additions of Desmond Bane, Tyus Jones, Jase Richardson and Noah Penda, the Magic boosted their offensive production without making a major defensive sacrifice. Despite limited draft capital, they assembled a young, contending roster with long-term potential.

During the Magic's Summer League debut against the Sacramento Kings, Weltman joined the broadcast for an interview. While aware of the Eastern Conference landscape, he's focused on the team's goals.

"I always say we have to run our own race," Weltman said. "Obviously, you never root for injuries for anyone in this league, but they're a big part of our game. So the landscape is going to shift, year to year. We just have to kind of run our race and hope that our team is good enough, this season, next season, the season after. The exciting thing for us is these guys are all young. They're all going to grow up together. We hope that the fit is as good as we think it could be."

Weltman said he believed the team was strong enough to make a playoff push last season, but injuries to Jalen Suggs and Moritz Wagner hurt their chemistry down the stretch. With added depth and new offensive threats, he now expects the Magic to take another step forward.

"We went into the playoffs without Jalen and Moe and we fought," Weltman added. "The lack of continuity, the lack of kind of playing together for a full season, that stuff has its effect. I do believe that with the age profile, with hopefully the depth and the skill level and the IQ that we've added to the team, with our vets and hopefully our young guys, we will have a different look offensively and and it was important for us to not really lose who we were defensively. That's been our calling card. So the trick was to improve ourselves offensively and maintain our defensive integrity. It looks good on paper. I hope that's what we've done, but it's up to our guys to show it."

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