2017-18 Orlando Magic Player Evaluations: Jeff Weltman

The Orlando Magic’s president of basketball Jeff Weltman said he would take the year to evaluate the team and organization. It makes it hard to judge him.

Jeff Weltman sat on the dais following the completion of his team’s season and said simply, his team needed to get better. That is a statement that should be as much as an indictment on the executive leadership as it was a failure on the players and coaches.

There were bright spots throughout the course of the season — the 8-4 start chief among them. Even with the team dismissing Frank Vogel after the season ended, he said he saw individual players develop and grow throughout the year.

It was also clear his team needed a new direction. Dropping from 29 to 25 wins is not a sign of progress. Even if they wanted to use more than 220 games lost to injury as an excuse.

Surely the Orlando Magic are better than their record because of those factors. But it is hard to tell how much better. Any sense of progress for the team seemed to be stopped short.

And ultimately, the team’s progress and the team’s results fall as much on the management group that put the team together. It is, after all, Weltman’s responsibility to assemble a team with a chance to win. And to have a long-term vision to keep the team winning.

Weltman hedged his bets on that front. He said from the very start that he would come in to evaluate his roster this coming season.

That might very well have been a cover to say that he could not really make moves with the roster he had. A roster that very clearly was falling even before the season began.

There is no denying, Weltman was not left very much to work with. The Magic had limited cap room in the summer and their key players were going to remain the same. There simply was not a viable trade market for Nikola Vucevic, Evan Fournier or Bismack Biyombo.

Weltman’s task entering the season was to make sure he kept some financial flexibility, select valuable future pieces with his four draft picks and then slowly begin building the team back up through trades and smart moves.

Weltman did not need a sledgehammer to his first year. He needed a scalpel and chisel to begin framing the edges to get his foundational pieces in place and remove the parts that no longer made sense.

In free agency, he certainly did that.

Shelvin Mack was not a poor signing. It felt like an overpay initially to bring in another veteran backup point guard. But his contract only had one year guaranteed and Shelvin Mack largely played beyond expectations by the end of the year. He provided some solid minutes and consistency throughout the year, filling in gaps the Magic needed.

Jonathon Simmons came to the Magic as a steal, it seemed. A three-year, $18-million contract felt well below market value. And, playing in a much larger role than ever before, he shined in many ways. Jonathon Simmons might be the Magic’s most marketable trade asset at the moment.

It was hard to fault the signings Weltman made considering his limitations. They all added to the team in some way. Even veterans like Marreese Speights and Arron Afflalo.

The Magic are not in a worse cap situation now than they were at the beginning of the year. That is a win for Weltman.

But Weltman was also in a position where he had to look to add to the roster in as many cheap ways as possible. Taking advantage of the draft, where the Magic had four picks in the 2017 Draft, and in 10-day contracts and the G-League was an absolute must.

Here, Khem Birch might be the only true win he can claim.

Weltman was rightly raked over the coals for his statement on draft night that the draft flattened out at a certain point. Trading Anzejs Pasecniks for a pick that likely will never convey is a poor use of assets.

Then seeing Kyle Kuzma turn into a budding star with the Los Angeles Lakers — after he confirmed the Orlando Magic had him in three times — was not a good look.

It did not support Weltman’s statement in hindsight, even if that might have been the consensus at the time. The Draft was a big a tool the Magic had at their disposal. Instead, they spun off two picks and stuck with Jonathan Isaac and Wesley Iwundu.

Jonathan Isaac showed plenty of potential. He did not have the full rookie year everyone hoped as he dealt with various foot and ankle injuries to play just 27 games. It is hard to draw too many conclusions. But the Magic knew he would be a project in the end.

It was still a missed opportunity. One the Magic could not afford to let go.

Moving on from Elfrid Payton to get something was fine. Although perhaps, Weltman waited a bit too long to do so or held out for too much until he ran out of time. The public may never know the answer to that.

Perhaps, that is all a bit unfair. The team’s goals this season were not abundantly clear.

Orlando did not seem to be planning a full rebuild at the beginning of the year. Weltman may very well have earnestly believed the team was closer to playoff contention than they actually were. And with that in mind, he may not have believed adding more draft picks was the right call to help the team grow.

Hindsight makes experts of everyone. It is harder to make these decisions in the moment.

But it is clear there were opportunities lost. Opportunities that he will need to take advantage of now that the reality of the situation is abundantly clear. The team is in a full rebuild. And so the Magic cannot waste draft opportunities or rely heavily on established veterans.

What is clear today is the team is in a different spot. It is taking on a much larger rebuild. And so it is hard to judge Weltman on what he did in the past. His success or failure is still to come.

This season really was a full development year. It really was an evaluation year and a chance for Weltman to look at every aspect of the franchise.

He is doing that and the changes the team clearly needed are starting to get done. He is going to spend this summer reforming the organization in his image.

Next: 2017-18 Orlando Magic Player Evaluations: Rashad Vaughn

And so this year turned out to be a free year for him. This summer will begin the true evaluations for him.