Magic General Manager Otis Smith Q&A from the Orlando Pro Summer League
While at the Orlando Pro Summer League, OMD and a host of other reporters had a chance to catch up with Magic General Manager Otis Smith. The subjects ranged from Hedo Turkoglu to Orlando’s plans for the rest of the offseason. Here are the most intriguing things Otis said, along with a full transcript after the jump. Media: Do you feel a little different making moves now that you’ve been to the Finals? Otis Smith: I don’t think I’m in any different position that I was in last year or the year before. I think anytime that you’re in the summer in the offseason you’re trying your team better to have an opportunity to win a championship. To say we weren’t thinking the same thing last year is kind of crazy because we were. M: With the financial restraints the team faces right now… (Otis cuts off question) OS: Honestly I can spend as much as I want, so let’s throw that out right now. M: How many of the guys on the summer league roster have a chance at making the team? OS: Well, right now we have eight men on our roster. With that said we have room to take seven more. You can fill out your roster however you want to fill out your roster. We still have some work to do in free agency. M: What do you want to see out of Ryan Anderson this week? OS: Just a continuation of what he’s done with New Jersey. We liked him coming out in the draft. With him, his shooting is impressive. The way we play, it’s more spread you still want to see him do those types of things and rebound the ball. Those things are big. M: Is Glen “Big Baby” Davis on your radar? OS: Not today. M: Is that something that could happen later? OS: I think we like who we like. You can’t make us like who we don’t like. There’s been a lot written about who we like and most of it is not true. We have a tendency to like who we like, most franchises do, so right now he’s just not on our radar. M: When was the last time you had time with Gortat’s people? OS: It’s been a few days. M: You expecting a signed offer sheet to come in on Wednesday? OS: We’ll see. I don’t know what to expect but we’ll see when it gets down to it. Media: Do you think Boston adding Rasheed Wallace is a move that allows them to keep pace with the rest of the teams in the Eastern Conference? Otis Smith: They’re a pretty good team as it stands. We still have to go through them, they’re the last team in the East to win the championship, so we have to go through them to win it. M: I know you don’t make moves based on what other teams do, but do you get the sense other teams are making moves on what you’re doing? Like trying to find someone to defend Dwight? OS: No, I don’t think that. I think that goes without saying. I think every team has to defend him at some point and time, but I don’t think teams are being reactive to Dwight in the middle so there’s some things we have to continue to improve and there are some things other teams have to continue to improve. M: Two years ago it was kind of a stretch to say you were championship contenders… (Otis cuts off question) OS: Not for me. A year ago it was stretch for you guys too, not for me. I think for the most part all of us set the standard pretty low for most teams and teams believe what you guys write. Unfortunately that’s not the way it goes, guys have to come in and work and think we have a chance to be one of the best teams in the league. M: How reassuring is it to have a guy like Anthony Johnson coming back? OS: Quite frankly I like the eight guys I have in uniform right now. We played nine or 10, most teams don’t go past nine guys, so I like the guys we have right now. We just have to round out our roster and get a little more size. M: Would you say this year would be the first year where you look at your team and say “I have a bunch of vets”? OS: (laughs) I’ve got vets? I don’t know if I would qualify it that way. We have a bunch of guys that have been around a while. Our young guys are still our young guys even though they’ve been in the league for a few years. Dwight is still a young guy, J.J. is still a young guy, Ryan Anderson is still a young guy. So we have some veteran guys, but we’re still relatively middle-aged team.