<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">LOS ANGELES -- Soon to be overloaded at point guard, the Orlando Magic could send rookie Travis Diener to the NBA Development League for seasoning. The Magic's D-League affiliate is the Florida Flame in Fort Myers, but the Magic don't necessarily have to send him there. There are seven other teams in the developmental league. Point guard Jameer Nelson is set to return this week from a foot injury and likely will play before the Magic's five-game road trip ends Monday. With Nelson's pending return, the Magic would have four players who can play the point -- Nelson, Diener, Keyon Dooling and newly acquired Carlos Arroyo. "When Jameer comes back, we'll have four point guards, and the likelihood of Travis seeing time is not very good,'' Magic Assistant General Manager Otis Smith said Monday before Orlando faced the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center. "We'll have to start thinking about sending him down -- if just for a couple days -- just to get him some game time.'' Diener, 6 feet and 175 pounds, was the Magic's second-round draft pick last summer out of Marquette. He has played in 19 games this season, averaging 4.5 points.</div> Source
I think there is some confusion with the direction of the team and Brian Hill. The owners, GM, and coach need to be on the same page for the final 26 games. Right now Brian Hill is coaching for wins instead of developing the young players. Why? Brian Hill probably doesn't feel he has the job security in place to shut the season down and start building for the future. This is where the owners and GMs need to sit him down and assure him his job is safe. Maybe they haven't had this discussion, because the team still feels it can sneak into the post season or they don't feel Brian Hill is the right man for the job.
I think it would be a good move to send him down espcially if Jameer is going to be back. Jameer was playing great before he was injured, Arroyo is playing great and we have too much money in Dooling not to let him play. I don't see any way he could get playing time with these 3 ahead of him. Diener would probly be the starter if we send him down and get major minutes, I think it will help him more than riding the bench here.
Send him down, he's not going to do us any good sitting on the bench. I think that this guy is a bit overhyped as it is. From the looks of things, we're going to have Arroyo and Nelson, both young, very talented point guards. Why do we need Diener? Nelson has shown and continues to show that he can carry the load as a starter and Arroyo is a great spark off the bench.
Diener is good but he is pretty much a 1 dimentional type player (3pt shooter) He should go down and work on some other skills and come back next year with some experience.
