{"id":293680,"date":"2026-06-02T22:43:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T22:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/293680\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T22:43:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T22:43:07","slug":"jeff-weltman-shares-why-orlando-magic-hired-sean-sweeney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/293680\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Weltman shares why Orlando Magic hired Sean Sweeney"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout his nine years as Magic<\/a> president of basketball operations, Jeff Weltman<\/a> has hired three head coaches.<\/p>\n

The process to land Spurs<\/a> assistant coach Sean Sweeney<\/a>, however, went far differently than past ones, according to Weltman.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I\u2019ve never been through anything like this,\u201d he told 96.9 The Game<\/a> while speaking Tuesday for the first time since the Magic formally announced the hiring Monday.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because Sweeney, 41, is in the middle of an NBA Finals<\/a> run as associate head coach for San Antonio<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A league source first confirmed<\/a> the finalizing of an agreement between Sweeney and Orlando<\/a> last Friday \u2014 the night before San Antonio faced off against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals, which the Spurs won.<\/p>\n

Sweeney will remain with San Antonio through the Finals, the Magic said Monday. Game 1 between the Spurs and the New York Knicks is Wednesday night on ABC.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to say, a huge thanks to the San Antonio organization because they really wanted to let Sean have every opportunity that he could to pursue a job that he really wanted,\u201d Weltman said. \u201cAnd so, they were really amenable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to work on off days and just make it work the best way that we could,\u201d Weltman added. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t optimum but we made it work. They were very cooperative cause they didn\u2019t want to hold Sean back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, Sweeney wasn\u2019t the only candidate considered for the job. While Weltman declined Tuesday to delve in the details of who was interviewed for the opening, it was widely reported both Billy Donovan<\/a> and Jeff Van Gundy were a part of the search.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long, however, for Sweeney to standout to the Magic, according to Weltman.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went through a process with a few great candidates and Sean was really impressive,\u201d the Magic executive said. \u201cSean was really impressive in our meeting with him. We had a subsequent follow-up and kind of moved pretty quickly on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t too much before we announced it or it got out that we had made our decision,\u201d Weltman added.<\/p>\n

He explained what made Sweeney so impressive as a candidate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing that you notice with Sean is he has like a natural intensity about him,\u201d Weltman said. \u201cIt\u2019s not something that he has to try to put on or impress you with. It\u2019s just there. He\u2019s very locked in.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis focus and his intensity I think underlies a lot of the way he delivers information (and) receives information,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Weltman dismissed Jamahl Mosley<\/a> on May 4, one day after the Magic were eliminated from the first round of the playoffs for a third consecutive season. Mosley was hired by the New Orleans Pelicans<\/a> two weeks later.<\/p>\n

Under Mosley, Orlando\u2019s defensive rating had risen inside the top three league-wide in back-to-back seasons, but it took a step back this year, falling to 13th in the regular season, according to NBA.com<\/a>. Meanwhile, Orlando\u2019s offensive rating was able to jump outside of the bottom 10 for the first time in over a decade, but it still sat 18th<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Magic hope Sweeney can address both areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been written that he has a modern approach \u2014 I don\u2019t know where that word came from but I do believe that to be the case,\u201d Weltman said. \u201cHe\u2019s a coach. He\u2019s going to coach players on both ends of the floor, surround himself with really, bright creative minds and our guys and our team will get better.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we will establish a program that allows us to continue to grow because, at the end of the day, we\u2019re still a very young team,\u201d Weltman added.<\/p>\n

Although Sweeney has been credited for helping San Antonio\u2019s defensive rating climb from 25th in 2024-25<\/a> to third-best<\/a> this season, Weltman pushed back on the narrative that Sweeney is solely a defensive-minded coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cSean\u2019s been an offensive coach, too, so I don\u2019t know how those tags get slapped on people,\u201d Weltman said. \u201cBut a lot of it comes down to basic principles and teaching the game in a way that the players have to adhere to. And I think he\u2019s had success doing that in the places that he\u2019s been.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, he\u2019s never done it from the No. 1 seat. That\u2019ll be a new experience for him,\u201d Weltman added. \u201cBut again, when you put together the ingredients of those things that we talked about, plus his natural intensity, his integrity, his character and his work ethic \u2014 he is relentless \u2014 those ingredients are kind of what you hope for (that) could lead to being a real special coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Throughout his nine years as Magic president of basketball operations, Jeff Weltman has hired three head coaches. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[111856,139,141,1239,140],"class_list":["post-293680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-jeff-weltman","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-magic","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}