Jamahl Mosley & Jeff Weltman Draft Media Availability presented by Wendy’s

Jamahl Mosley & Jeff Weltman Draft Media Availability presented by Wendy’s

um uh I’ll just say a couple words about Tristan and then I’ll open it up to you guys um we set out with our goal entering this draft to add shooting skill and IQ and positional size to check all four of those boxes at the 18th pick is uh a good day’s work for us so Tristan is a very unique player he’s exceptionally skilled he’s one of the highest IQ players I think in this draft and maybe in in a lot of drafts recently um his shooting will open the floor up his skill level will create angles he’s great off the ball and um we just had a lot of experience with him on his visits we met with him in Chicago we had a great visit here and uh you know we’re just very excited to add him to our team with that we’ll open questions if youe wait for a microphone oh and he’s a buff yes indeed Jeff Dan Savage Rolland magic.com uh you know we talked uh your pre-draft pressor uh about the importance of adding skill um just how much of that is something you can’t have enough of and and how much does a culmination of that bring out the skills of other players yeah uh that’s really you know that’s what basketball’s about I mean skill ball handling vision feel for the game it unlocks all the other players and and really Tristan is exceptional there with with positional size to go with it uh he makes the game a lot easier for the other four players to play he’s selfless and even though um you know he’s an older player he has growth in him you know there’s a lot more untapped I think that the NBA will actually unlock in him and uh he will make it easier for our uh kind of primary uh creators to play and he can also Shape Up angles read the read the floor balance do things that just um put guys in their right spots almost the way uh in Europe they say point guards are organizers he’s kind of an organizer at a forward position Jamal Beyond him being a buff what excites you about Tristan exactly what Jeff said I I really just do believe his his IQ uh his ability to make people around him better uh and then more than anything his Poise his demeanor while he’s on on the floor uh putting people in the right position getting being in the right position knowing when to cut when to move uh then the ability to space the floor as well um and I just think he has room to continue to grow and also his ability to understand how to win in this league and and winning habits that he’s developed you know through his journey Jeff i i Phil Ross Reich Orlando Magic daily I know you’ve you mentioned that uh you’re looking for those those four things but how much did weighing how close you are to to winning and and and the experience of winning how much did it mean to bring in a veteran player who might be more ready to step on the floor pretty quickly how much does how much did what the experience from last year weigh into what you were looking for in this pick I think we talked the other day about trying to find the intersection and you say like well you want the player that’s going to help your team and have a have a a successful career when you’re picking 18 but if you get lucky enough to have that be an intersection of he’s also you know uh maybe at a stage he’s still a rookie you know so everyone has to come in and always say there’s basketball IQ and then there’s NBA IQ so he still has to go through that but um we’re lucky that he kind of like is is right at that intersection so he checked all those boxes and you know the uh the uh uh pundits would say he’s a plug-and-play guy whatever you want to make of that obviously he’s going to have to come in he’s going to have to earn what he eats and he’s going to have to uh you know be a rookie and go through that but his ability to to be connect Ive tissue to bring the team together to lift others up is is unique you mentioned it a little bit there but you’ve talked about his basketball potential his skill I’m curious because both of you often talk about this team’s chemistry the way they gel together personality-wise off the court what makes you confident that he can fit into this locker room in those aspects as well uh he’s you know you guys know we we we we we bring in people and players and so you know he’s just a a High character kid who’s about the right stuff he’s serious he’s committed um you know I think you know I always say you can tell a person by the way he plays I mean this is one of the most selfless players that you’ll find and uh we think that’s who he’s going to be for our team on and off the court uh Jee you mentioned that he’s older than you he’s 23 so he’s considerably older than the other players you’ve drafted recently uh either one of you could feeli this one does that mean does that indicate that he might have a better chance to get into the mix quicker than the other guys that have been drafted well I’ll just speak real quickly and then and then Coach can answer um you know there there’s no pressure because of someone’s age to to like ass uh assimilate into the roster immediately um he’s still a rookie and he has to earn whatever you know minutes he gets and then you know I’ll let speak to um how how Tristan will go through that process but he still has to come in as any other you know rookie and and learn the league yeah I Echo that I I just believe he’s going to have he’s going to come in and be willing to earn whatever minutes he’s given whatever time he’s given uh there is a learning curve and you know he’ll have to go through that but being older and having you know the experience of playing in big games uh being in the tournament and playing for a great coach I think he has an understanding of what it takes to um develop and keep winning habits that we’re you know that we’re growing with here uh as well as fit into that locker room we talk about his character his IQ just understand what it takes to develop the winning you know that we’re trying to keep accomplishing you know with this team what was the uh pre-draft I guess involvement that you guys had with him leading up to tonight in terms of talking to him bringing him in working out what you kind of saw maybe in person with him well we had a couple different kind of touch points with him um most importantly he came in for a visit and um you know got to know him uh through both of those kind of uh connections and obviously we do uh we do a lot of background work um it didn’t hurt that coach is a buff we probably had some pretty good Intel um but really everyone speaks glowingly of this kid and uh you know he’s gotten better every year uh and we believe that the things that he does um will translate and that despite his age there’s still growth for him Jeff you still have another pick tomorrow where do you go from here what are you looking for yeah that’s a good question um you know honestly the way this is broken up right now uh I think the league is going to take a pause and kind of do more work tomorrow you know honestly so you know see let’s see how the rest of the draft board kind of empties out over the over the course of the night um you know we we kind of dope out our whole board and try to figure out who we think could be there and uh obviously at 47 you’re looking at different you know players and you’re maybe talking to agents about what their plans are for the players and you know it has to uh be an agreement where you have uh uh kind of like a good roadmap for the player so we’ll see how that goes uh you know we’ve got our board and we’ll see if any surprises come along tonight and then you know even tomorrow we’ll have we’re picking the back half tomorrow so uh we’ll see how that goes for both of you this was collectively the first year you guys were picking outside of the lottery at 18 you know how much of the approach to the prospects and just kind of the general consensus of the board really change if at all just knowing that you guys weren’t picking in the lottery this year well the approach to the process doesn’t change you know I mean literally our guys are starting now on next year’s draft you know they’re already today planning on on visiting some of the tournaments next week for next year’s draft so the process itself doesn’t change and obviously you don’t enter the season knowing where you’re going to pick so you have to prepare for everything cast a wide net and then as you go through the process you try to understand like how the draft is laying out I mean I think there were some surprises tonight that kind of um took people uh caught people off guard a little bit you know so you have to be prepared to be able to Pivot uh understand like where there may be opportunities and um understand where you think the healthy parts of the draft rest and so we actually felt I think I told you guys the other day that at 18 we were looking at a pretty good group and I still feel that and uh um you know the process itself though doesn’t doesn’t change a lot the workouts are the same our coaches do an amazing job of uh really putting the prospects in a position where we’re able to evaluate their NBA abilities uh uh get them in in in a controlled environment where we can push them hard and see how they react to that what kind of teammates they are so none of that you know vares depending on where you pick thanks guys thank you thanks guys get

Listen to Coach Mose and Jeff Weltman on their thought process on picking Tristan Da Silva with the 18th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.

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