Pat Williams: 'This Draft Vital For Us'

For the last month or so, the conventional thinking was that the Orlando Magic would take Dante Exum with the fourth overall pick in Thursday's NBA Draft.

And then Joel Embiid broke his foot.

And then all hell broke loose.

'Well, there's no question the injury to Embiid has shaken the draft up dramatically,' Magic president Pat Williams said on The MoJo Show. 'The first four picks were pretty clear up until that injury. Now, the question is who's going to roll dice on the big center from Kansas with the back injury, which doesn't seem to be the big issue. Now, the broken bone in his foot/ankle area has everybody alarmed. And the question is, how far does he drift in the draft? And obviously that shakes everything up for everybody.'

Might the Magic be willing to gamble at 4?

'Well, we have historically avoided the injured player,' Williams said. 'We passed on Nerlens Noel last year. The year before that, we passed on (Jared) Sullinger. We passed when everybody was screaming (for us to) trade Dwight Howard for Andrew Bynum, and our staff passed on that injured player, which turned out to be the right decision. So, in the short history here with our basketball personnel people, they have passed on the injured player.'

Orlando, which has two of the top 12 picks, is taking a long view when it comes to contending. The Magic aren't willing to forfeit their future to compete for one or two years; they want to build a foundation to compete for 10 or 12 years.

'I think from the time we started with the overhaul with the Dwight Howard trade and the draft, the philosophy has been let's build patiently,' Williams said. 'Let's not miss any steps. Let us build a team that can be long-lasting. We want to win. We want to be successful. But we don't want it to be a one-year shot. We'd like it to be more (like) San Antonio, where we're really, really good for a decade or more. The only way to do that, I think, is through the draft. Obviously at some point you go the free-agent route, but not yet. So that's the strategy.'

Brandon Tierney put the over/under at five teams that have contacted Orlando about possible trades heading into Thursday.

'Probably more,' Williams admitted. 'At this time, everybody is talking to everybody about your own roster, about the value of different picks. You could probably cure cancer with the phone bills that the NBA GMs are running up over the last month and again today - just trying to determine is there anything out there that improves your team a little bit more than some other way. So that's going on.'

'Now, most of the deals will not happen,' Williams continued. 'A few of them will. There'll be a few deals tonight, but 95 percent of the stuff talked about won't happen, but stay tuned. You'll see some players tonight changing hats.'

Most of those changing hats likely won't involve the Magic, who are determined to draft a pair of franchise cornerstones.

'This draft, I would say, is vital for us,' Williams said. 'In a deep daft, it's awfully important to come away with two vital pieces here. They're there. Tonight will test our picking ability.'

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