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Shawn (Melbourne)

John, welcome to the new challenging position. The main question in mind is the return of TMac. What will you be doing to ensure his stay with the Magic after the 2005? And I have to say we needed some one who is tough like you to lead this ball club.

John Weisbrod

  (3:33 PM)

With regard to T-Mac we are not looking at the situation about keeping him, it is about making the team better, which is the same goal that T-Mac has for this team. The best chance for him to want to stay with this team, is for us to make it better and we are trying to do that.

Derek (Baltimore)

I wish you the best with putting together a winning team. Incidentally, what are the point and bigs are you looking at in the draft? Better yet, what's the 1st order of business in taking steps to dig out of the team's present situation? Thank you for considering my question.

John Weisbrod

  (3:34 PM)

Our first order of business is to change the culture of our team. Losing breeds losing. We want to build a team which is more competitive and has tough-minded individuals. As far as team-building in offseason our need is for a "Big" and for a point guard.

Jackson,Melbourne

What college players are high on your list in this years draft?

John Weisbrod

  (3:35 PM)

I think the highest college player would be Okafur at UConn, largely because he is the most NBA ready and we need immediate help. Ben Gordon also at UConn is a guard we think highly of. As a sleeper I'd say Luke Jackson of Oregon.

Dan (Orlando)

What are your plans for DeShawn Stevenson? He seems like a player on the rise and could make a good 1 or 2 guard

John Weisbrod

  (3:37 PM)

Yeah, we hope to have DeShawn as one of our building blocks. He's got several years in the league, but he's still very young. He's a good one on one defender and a good piece of the puzzle as we build our team.

Hammam, Orlando.

How will you apply your hockey experience with basketball?

John Weisbrod

  (3:38 PM)

Winning team dynamics have alot of common denominators in any sport. The same things that contribute to success in hockey, contribute to success in basketball. Having a balanced group, with people understanding their roles, team chemistry, people fitting well together. Also the process of building a team...the draft, free agency, trades...those dynamics are all the same.

Atlanta

John, What is your favorite part of your job? what makes it interesting to you as an individual?

John Weisbrod

  (3:47 PM)

Favorite part of the job is competing. For all of us in pro sports, we are here to compete. I am looking forward to getting this team back into competitiveness and that is what drew me to the NBA.

Ronald, Auburndale

Do you think Tyronn Lue and Deshawn Stevenson complement each other as point guards?

John Weisbrod

  (3:49 PM)

It's tough for me to say. Since that has been our backcourt and we've struggled so much. I think DeShawn has done better as a starter. We like Tyron alot, but we think that maybe he is better suited to helping us off the bench. That's why point guard is one of the spots we are looking at in the draft.

John, New York

What do you think about your two rookies, Keith Bogans and Reece Gaines? Are they going to be an intrical part of your franchise in the future?

John Weisbrod

  (3:50 PM)

Keith Bogans has certainly exceeded expactations and we think he will be a big part of our future. Reece has had a tougher time adjusting. The jury is still out on Reece, but he is an extremely talented kid. Being 6-5, 6-6, he has the body to grow into that role.

Mark(Singapore)

what are you planning to do with juwan howard in the off-season?

John Weisbrod

  (3:51 PM)

Juwan has been excellent for us, even though the team has struggled, he has arguably been our most consistent player. At this point in his career, I think he may be best used as a top player coming off the bench for a good team and hopefully we can get the team built here where that is a fit.

Mark, Illinois

What did you think of T-Mac's 62 point performance the other night... do you think he could of gotten more?

John Weisbrod

  (3:52 PM)

The sky is the limit for T-Mac in terms of personal production. The downside for a GM, is that when one guy gets 60 points, we don't have balance in our lineup. I think as T-Mac develops he will continue to improve his playmaking along with his scoring.

Jeff (Knoxville)

Hopefully we'll get a question in for the Orlando fan in TN.Why aren't we seeing an increase in the minutes of Reece Gaines and Zaza Pachulia now that the Magic are eliminated from contention?

John Weisbrod

  (3:54 PM)

Yes. Reece just started getting some more minutes and is performing rather well. Zaza got some good minutes early in the year, and then spent some time on the bench, but I think there's a good chance he'll get some more minutes here in the last end of the season.

Sabin-Deva

Do you intend to avoid the luxury tax for the next season ?

John Weisbrod

  (3:55 PM)

We don't have any specific plans to avoid the luxury tax. We've been under the tax the last few seasons, but if going over the tax is what we need to do to get this team where it needs to be, than we are willing to do that.

Cedric (New York City)

Congrats on your new challenging position. What will you make of the Grant Hill Situation?

John Weisbrod

  (3:57 PM)

It's easy for us to roll our eyes at the thought of Grant coming back, since we've heard it so many times. But Grant feels better than he has since the injury and his doctors are optimistic. He should be able to give it a shot at the start of next season. He'll have some rust, but we expect that even if he doesn't get back to the highest level where he used to perform, his abilities will still be such that they can really help us.

Gary (Orlando)

Are you looking to draft a player that is NBA ready and not necessarily the player with the brightest future?

John Weisbrod

  (3:59 PM)

Certainly we have to be aware of NBA readiness, because we have such immediate needs. But we won't be shortsighted and pass over a great talent who may not be ready. We plan on taking the best player available, even if it requires some patience.

Jimy (Fla)

How do you guys scout overseas? And is there any foriegn players on your wish list?

John Weisbrod

  (4:00 PM)

There are a bunch of interesting foreign players for this draft, probably not in our minds, for where we are picking. We have two fulltime people who scout international players and they make four or five trips per season to evaluate players in Europe, Asia Africa, wherever we can find NBA players.

John Weisbrod

  (4:00 PM)

We appreciate all the interest in the form of all these questions. We're gratified at how loyal the Magic fan base has remained despite our performance this season. We have every intention of paying back our loyal fans with an improved team in the very near future.