When the Magic began their search for Orlando‘s next coach, one big question that faced team president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman was whether or not he’d hire another first-time NBA head coach.
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Ultimately, that’s the route Weltman went by bringing in Sean Sweeney, the 16th head coach in franchise history.
The choice was similar to the one Weltman made when he hired Jamahl Mosley, a first-time head coach who was dismissed May 4 following a third straight first-round exit in the playoffs that capped off his five-year tenure.
While Weltman is known to have spoken with other candidates such as veteran coaches Billy Donovan and Jeff Van Gundy, he told the Orlando Sentinel that Sweeney was the only candidate the Magic interviewed who had not yet been a head coach.
“It’s a great question,” Weltman told the Sentinel on Thursday when he was asked about Sweeney having to handle the pressure that immediately comes with Orlando’s job while also learning how to be a head coach for the first time. “You have to look at him through a different lens.
“But there’s also a certain amount of experience that you accrue over the course of your career if you’re close enough to that seat and when you have guys relying on you for decisions both for game prep and also in-game.”
Weltman explained that Sweeney’s extensive experience, which most recently including serving as associate head coach for the Western Conference champion Spurs, stood out during the interview process.
“Sean’s ability to kind of access his information really quickly in real time as we were watching video and having discussions, we kind of felt that was going to be part of what allowed him to get there quickly,” Weltman said. “His other natural abilities and who he is as a person, we just thought, really projected him out to be potentially a really elite coach.”
Franz Wagner update
The last time the Magic saw Franz Wagner step off the court late in Game 4 of their first-round series against Detroit, the German forward did not return to the series because of a right calf strain. The top-seeded Pistons, trailing 3-1, then won three consecutive games to win the series over the No. 8 Magic and advance to the Eastern Conference second round.
How is Wagner doing now almost two months since suffering the calf injury? He recently served as a mentor for young prospects at the 19th annual adidas Eurocamp in Treviso, Italy, while also spending time in his home country of Germany.
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“He’s working out, and I know he and Sean have had a couple really good conversations,” Weltman told the Sentinel. “This is the first summer that Franz hasn’t been really, like, playing EuroBasket or playing with the German national team. So, I think this is going to be a great summer for Franz.
“He’s going to get a lot of good work done,” Weltman added. “He’s going to allow his body to rest. And I can’t wait for him and Sean and the rest of the coaches to get together. I know they’ve had good conversations but they haven’t been face-to-face yet.”
Sweeney’s staff philosophy
So far, Sweeney has agreed to bring on three assistant coaches: DJ Bakker, Mfon Udofia and Riley Crean, all of whom were in attendance for Sweeney’s introductory press conference Thursday.
Most coaching staffs around the league feature anywhere from 6-11 assistant coaches.
Sweeney shared his detailed approach to filling a staff.
“It’s a three-prong deal,” he said. “One is, it’s work habits. I want guys who understand the workload, who can carry out and have the commitment to doing the ‘daily process’ things that are important to winning. The second thing I want is, I want guys who are trustworthy. I want to be able to communicate and I want a staff that can do the same.
“And the last piece is just the competence,” he added. “I want guys who have skill sets that are not the same as mine. I want people that are different to me. I want people that can carry a message in their own voice and can help me be a better coach. I’m a very direct communicator oftentimes, so I need people around me that can communicate in their own way and help enhance everything that we do.”
Summer league nearing
Following this week’s NBA draft, in which the Magic currently only hold the 46th pick, the Las Vegas Summer League will take place July 9-19.
Sweeney once, jokingly, said he believes he’s coached the most summer league games in NBA history during his time as an assistant. It’s not a given he’ll fill that role for Orlando as a head coach.
“We’re going to work on who’s doing that over the next few days,” he said. “(I have) coached plenty of summer league games. I remember coming to summer league back here when it was in Orlando when we were in the old practice gym.
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“So, we’re going to work on summer league staff here coming up.”
Jason Beede can be reached at [email protected]