Jamahl Mosley, Orlando’s last-minute lucky charm

It was President Jeff Weltman who, as in previous years, was to represent the Magic in the lottery. Except that on the morning of the draw, Jamahl Mosley had a feeling and asked to replace him.

“I was not very good at it”explained Jeff Weltman on his passages to the “lottery”, the 5th place in the Draft 2021 being thus a disappointment compared to the probabilities.  » It’s funny. The manager felt lucky, we let him roll the dice and tonight he is the manager of the year. »

Orlando had a 14% chance of picking first, the same percentage as Houston and Detroit.

This is the fourth time that the Florida club has won the jackpot, after 1992 (Shaquille O’Neal), 1993 (Chris Webber) and 2004 (Dwight Howard). For Jamahl Mosley, who will start his second season in charge of the club next year, it is a welcome gift to accelerate the reconstruction of this team.

“I was working on my breathing when it happened. My heart was pounding. It’s just excitement for our fans. For the guys in our squad. For the club. The fans, the organization, it’s so exciting. There’s so much to follow with this organization, this group and this fan base, it’s going to be special. »

From now on, we will have to think about making a choice, probably between Jabari Smith (Auburn), Chet Holmgren (Gonzaga) and Paolo Banchero (Duke), the favorites for the first place in the vintage.

« I have a feeling that as the prospects start meeting the teams, the teams will start to fall in love with the guys, because that’s what usually happens »explains Jeff Weltman. « And usually the leverage kicks in from there, but I know we’re going to have a lot of interesting discussions with the teams. It is obvious that we have no intention of exchanging our choice. We are looking to get a very talented, young player with a strong character to add to our squad. I have no expectations on this (a possible exchange). Of course, we will continue to work. It doesn’t really change the way we approach the Draft. We’re just really excited to be able to fall in love with someone and choose that player. »