Magic front office confident about No. 5 pick: 'We're going to have a lot of options'
The Orlando Magic have felt the sting of falling back in the NBA Draft lottery before, so there's a certain relief that came with Tuesday's result. True, the Magic won't have a shot at one of the potential franchise cornerstones at the very top of the draft, but there are plenty of solid young players in this year's talent pool.
After the lottery, Orlando's front office expressed confidence that even with "just" the fifth pick, the Magic would be able to continue building on the talented core already in place.
"I have an incredibly high level of confidence in our Basketball Operations team because they have drafted very, very well over the course of the last several drafts," said CEO Alex Martins. "We know that they’ll do the same this year to add another core piece that we’ll be able to build around for many years to come."
The task of actually finding the right fit ultimately falls on general manager Rob Hennigan, and he admitted that the draft and Orlando's search for a head coach are two intertwined aspects of this offseason.
"This is very big because it’s our job to make sure that we know these players inside and out, and we’ll used the next five or six weeks to button up any holes in our research that we might have," Hennigan said. "We’ve got a lot of guys coming back. We’ve got to find a coach and the fifth pick will certainly add to our talent base. It’s up to us to make sure that the pieces fit and continue to push forward."
Both Hennigan and Martins were on the same page when it came to the plethora of choices available to the Magic, using similar language to describe the depth of the draft.
"The depth of the draft is always relative and it’s hard to say, but we think it’s a good draft,"Hennigan said. "We think we’ll have a lot of options at the fifth pick and we’ll have options to trade if that’s the route that we decide to take. So we’re open to everything."
"We’re going to have a lot of options," Martins added. "As we looked at how far we could potentially drop, we knew we could still get a very good player at No. 8. Now, we know that we’re going to get a very good player (at No. 5) and we’ll be able to address a need."
(h/t NBA.com)
Photo Credit: Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP
