ISAAC PICK A PROJECT
Magic take talented FSU forward in No. 6 spot
New Orlando Magic executives Jeff Weltman and John Hammond have a type of player they like.
Jonathan Isaac sure fits the mold.
The Magic selected the 6-foot-10 Florida State forward with the 2017 NBA Draft’s sixth pick Thursday night.
Isaac is long, athletic and agile. Weltman and Hammond value those traits.
Isaac is a swing-for-the-fences pick: He’s potentially high reward but also potentially high risk.
He’ll likely be a long-term project.
He averaged 12.0 points and 7.8 rebounds per game and made a respectable 34.8 percent of his 3-point tries during his lone season at FSU — promising numbers, to be sure, but not dominant. He will likely need at least several seasons to develop and to add strength, and even then, there’s no guarantee he’ll fulfill his potential.
“I’m not pleased with myself in the sense where I think I do anything fantastic or great,” Isaac said. “I know I have the capabilities to be an amazing defender, and I think I have the capabilities to be an amazing offensive player. But I’m nowhere near that. I have a lot of work to do. I have a lot of work to put in. But I think I’m on the right track.”
Weltman, the Magic’s new president of basketball operations, had said the team’s goal with the sixth pick was to find a player who will become a cornerstone of the team’s rebuild.
After the Magic drafted Isaac, they traded away the 25th pick and the 35th pick.
The Magic opened the night with four total picks. Afterward,
Weltman said he didn’t want to bring aboard four rookies at one time and attempted to preserve the assets by making trades.
They sent the 25th pick to the Philadelphia 76ers and received a 2020 Oklahoma City Thunder first-round pick if it falls 21st or later. If that pick isn’t conveyed to Orlando in 2020, the Magic will receive the Thunder’s first-round pick in 2021 if it’s 21st or later. And if Orlando doesn’t receive the pick in 2021, it will receive the pick in 2022 if it’s 21st or later. If the pick isn’t sent to the Magic by 2022, the Magic instead will receive the Thunder’s second-round picks in 2022 and 2023.
As a part of the deal with Philadelphia, the Magic also will receive a 2020 secondround pick: the least favorable of either the Brooklyn Nets’ or New York Knicks’ second-round pick.
The Magic traded the 35th pick to the Memphis Grizzlies and received the Nets’ second-round pick in 2019.
Orlando picked Kansas State wing Wesley Iwundu with the 33rd pick. Iwundu played four seasons in college and is a solid defender.
The Philadelphia 76ers picked Washington point guard Markelle Fultz with the first overall pick. The Los Angeles Lakers drafted UCLA point guard Lonzo Ball second, and the Boston Celtics took Duke small forward Jayson Tatum third. The Phoenix Suns selected Kansas wing Josh Jackson fourth, and the Sacramento Kings acquired Kentucky point guard De’Aaron Fox with the fifth pick.
Those choices set the stage for the Magic to pick Isaac, who was born in New York City but has lived in Florida for the last nine years.
As Thursday approached, Hammond, the Magic’s new general manager, said he and his colleagues in the Magic front office didn’t see a gap between the fifth-best player on their board and the sixth-best player on their board.
The Magic desperately needed an infusion of talent.
Last season, team officials hoped the franchise would turn a corner and make the playoffs, but the team instead posted a 29-53 record. Those struggles prompted the team to fire GM Rob Hennigan and assistant GM Scott Perry.
How do the Magic plan to develop Isaac? That’s unclear. The Magic finished last season with Evan Fournier as their starting small forward and Aaron Gordon as their starting power forward. With combo forward Jeff Green scheduled to become a free agent, Isaac should have an opportunity to compete for minutes as Gordon’s backup or even as a backup to Fournier.
“My first impression is that we're young and we just got younger,” said Isaac, who will turn 20 in early October. “There's a lot of room for growth, and there's a lot of things to do to grow.”
It’s possible that Isaac will log some minutes with the Magic’s new nearby minorleague affiliate, the Lakeland Magic.
As the 2013 draft approached, Weltman, then a Milwaukee Bucks assistant general manager, heard about a promising but under-the-radar Greek forward named Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Weltman walked into his boss’ office one day and suggested they visit Greece to scout Antetokounmpo.
Weltman’s boss was Hammond.
The Bucks chose Antetokounmpo 15th overall in 2013.
And this past season, the so-called “Greek Freak” made the Eastern Conference All-Star team for the first time.
These days, Weltman is the boss in Orlando, and Hammond is Weltman’s general manager. But their preference for long, athletic, agile players has remained the same. Back in 2013, Antetokounmpo’s physique resembled Isaac’s physique now.
But the most important pick, by far, was the sixth pick.
The Orlando Magic would be ecstatic if Isaac blossoms like Antetokounmpo has blossomed. “It is exciting,” Isaac said. “It is humbling because I’m a humble person. I appreciate them seeking me and wanting me to be a part of their program. I know that the new people in charge are used to winning, and they’re used to turning programs around, and I just want to be a part of that.”