ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) Jeff Weltman wanted to run his own organization and the Orlando Magic have given him that opportunity.
Weltman was formally introduced Wednesday as the franchise’s new president of basketball operations. The 52-year-old Weltman spent the last four years with the Toronto Raptors, the last as the club’s general manager.
”On an emotional level this hits home,” Weltman said. ”This is kind of the dream job you can have. I wasn’t looking to leave to Toronto but this was such a unique and special situation.”
He has hired longtime NBA executive John Hammond as the Magic’s general manager to help him turn around a franchise that hasn’t made the playoffs in five years and was 29-53 last season.
The Magic were looking for proven leadership to head up their basketball operations, which they now have in Weltman and Hammond.
Weltman was hired by the Raptors in 2013 as their vice president of basketball operations and was promoted to general manager last September. Heading up an NBA basketball operations department for the first time, Weltman has worked under highly respected Raptors’ president Masai Ujiri the last four years. Toronto has made the playoffs in all four years Weltman was in the front office.
Before joining Toronto, Weltman also spent time in the front offices of Milwaukee, Denver, Detroit and the Los Angeles Clippers.
He will be working with coach Frank Vogel and a roster that has plenty of room for improvement. Orlando has the No.6 pick in next month’s NBA draft and also has the 25th, 33rd and 35th selections in this year’s draft.
The Magic also have only about $14 million in available space to go shopping for free agents this summer and few valuable assets to broker trade deals. But the team’s needs are many beginning with quality shooters and proven veteran leadership.
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