Official: Billy Donovan Accepts Orlando Job

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">University of Florida head coach has delayed signing an extension with the Gators for over a week and now there might be a good reason for it.

Sources have informed the Orlando Sentinel that the Magic have made Donovan a big offer and expect him to accept by week's end.

More information as it becomes available.</div>
Source

 

My emotions for the Gators can't allow my initial reaction be happy, but I guess since Iavoroni is out of the picture this would probably be our best choice for the Magic. As long as the Gators go and get Anthony Grant and play damage control with our recruits then i would be alright with him leaving. I'm gonna have to stew this over at work today and will post my real reactions after it.

 

I think he could indeed be a great coach in the NBA because of his style of play. This is devastating to the Gators and now they're going to have to scramble to find a coach.....

 

I'd rather have Carlisle to be honest. I like Donnovan but a good percentage of the College->Pro coaches are busts. Maybe I'm still burned by Nick Saban but I just don't want to see us in this forum 2 years from now talking about a possible recruit because Donnovan misses the College game.

 

It's official!

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">ORLANDO (AP) -- After leading Florida to two national titles, Billy Donovan has agreed to leave the Gators to coach the Orlando Magic, an official in the NBA told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal hasn't been finalized, said Donovan agreed to a five-year, $27.5 million contract.

Donovan, who turned down an offer in April to coach Kentucky, replaces Brian Hill, who was fired after two consecutive losing seasons.</div>
Source

Also...

Brian Hill Blog on the issue

 

Didn't he say he wasn't interested in leaving the Gators?

 

<div class="quote_poster">Kidd Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Didn't he say he wasn't interested in leaving the Gators?</div>

Doesn't evey coach say that before they leave, it was probly to just get more money

 

This guy has been successfull everywhere he has been. The guy is a winner and there is no doubt about it. There more reasons why I like this guy as our coach than the other candidates, BUT the one con..he is coming straight from college to a new harder level..and a new lifestyle. I think he can get the job done and I look forward to the new fresh air, but there will be a lot pressure on him. I'm a true gator hator since I can remember, but I would hate to see this guy become the next rick pitino. Hopefully this guy can make this team more lucrative for free agents as well. lol i took a nap today and i woke up and i had 7 voice mails on my phone..6 of them were to tell me donovan was the new coach.. so I know people are excited. I know I cant wait for next season, and I'm glad we got our guy before the draft. Plus its always great to take a destroy a part of gator nation

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Billy Donovan becomes the eighth coach in Orlando Magic history
Orlando, FL – The Orlando Magic have named Billy Donovan head coach, General Manager Otis Smith announced today. Per team policy, terms of the deal are not disclosed. Donovan becomes the eighth head coach in franchise history, replacing Brian Hill.

“Billy Donovan is a winner,” said Smith. “We feel he is the right person to develop and maximize the talents of our players. We look forward to Billy leading us to the next level.”

Source </div>

I'm not big on college ball tbh. I don't know his style, his mentality, his play sets, etc. So I'm completely ignorant of this guy.

It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

 

Basically his strengths was his ability to adjust his game plan and his ability to motivate his players, which as we all know are 2 of Brian Hill's biggest weaknesses. He can adjust his style on the fly. It should be interesting how reliant he will be on zone.

With Billy Donovan as coach with the same team I truly believe we would be 5 games better. 45-37. He won't let us lose to overmatched teams like we got accustomed to seeing last year, such as New Orleans without their best 3 players or a Bosh-less Raptors team or hell even the Bobcats both times in Charlotte.

Not to mention the publicity that we are already receiving. So far all of the other coaches have gotten minor publicity, while it's a huge breaking story that Billy Donovan is coming Orlando. We'll have quite a few national televised games and I would bet that we would have a national TV game for at least 1 time we play Al Horford/Corey Brewer/Joakim Noah. The Amway Arena is going to be packed to see what Billy D can do in the NBA. He has already put Orlando Magic basketball on the map in his 9 hours of being our coach. Should be interesting what he does with our roster. I gotta say though Darko/Dwight is a better Noah/Horford duo, both play great defense, Darko can hit the outside jump shot and can make plays happen for other players(Noah-minus the jump shot), while Dwight is the rebounder and enforcer downlow(Horford). I can't wait to see what he does to our roster.

 

Wow. I have NO idea what this guy is capable of. He will sell tickets tho, and from a PR standpoint, Florida's got to love this move.

I'm one who believes college coaches just aren't ripe for the pro level. It's a whole different animal, and it'll take anywhere from 3-4 years to fully adjust, and by that time, more often than not, the team chooses to go another direction.

I surely hope that he succeeds though. It'll be an interesting year for sure.

 

The difference between Billy and this scenario and other coaches is that he actually has a good situation with basically ZERO egos. There isn't many teams in the NBA where the superstar has as little of an ego as Dwight. Dwight won't let any player have a bigger ego then the team, IMO. He has pieces to help build this Magic team as contenders. We have plenty of young talent. He has the duo of Dwight/Darko with other young talent such as Jameer(who will do wonders for Jameer-like Jamal Mashburn said on ESPN), Ariza, and JJ. Not to mention we have $12-14 million in salary cap room. None of those other coaches have really gone to a situation as good as this is tbh. Also if Devos has poured out over $5 mil in a coach, does that mean he is actually starting to get committed to winning? Does that mean he will be more willing to spend the luxury tax?

Some other positives for Magic fans. His teams thrive on ball movement, something that we obviously didn't have last year. His teams are extremely efficient(leading the nation in FG %). His theory with the Gators the last 2 years was layups, dunks, and Lee Humphrey. He won't let Dooling/Jameer/Arroyo/Ariza jack up stupid shots. He also knows how to use big men, so that should get Dwight/Darko more involved. The thing I am looking the most forward to is Darko. I could actually see him thriving in a similar role that Noah had in Billy's offense. He can make the tough pass inside to Dwight(like Noah did to Horford), he will play defense. The only thing is he won't be as good of a rebounder or bring the intensity that Noah brought, but he will be able to hit that outside jumper. The possibilities with him are extremely bright, which might entice him to sign for a little less to make room for a Shard type player. One last thing that I find to be a great advantage is that he played in the NBA as a PG, so he knows how the NBA is run. As a player he was a hard nosed aggressive player that knew he wasn't the best athlete, but relied on hustle plays and put everything he had out on the court. He does the same coaching. Does this remind you of a former Magic player who is now a head coach? Hint he now coaches the Bulls..... Not to mention the amount of improvement that Taureen Green made from freshman to sophomore/junior years was HUGE as was the rest of the 04's. He is a very good teacher and he's good at developing young guys. He knows how to be a good PG and could help Jameer out. So basically the characteristics that helped his Gator teams win is what the Magic were lacking this year, which makes him as intriguing of a candidate.

Again, I don't know how good of a coach he will be, but if any college coach is capable of doing this especially with our situation it is him.

Just the devil's advocate of this, UF/UCF alumni/fans make up the majority of the Orlando area and most UF fans are absolutely PISSED. This could actually hurt our fanbase tbh with you. I don't think it will because even the pissed off Gators that aren't Magic fans will buy a ticket to see if Billy can do it or not, We might actually lose some of the Gator Magic fans, rather than gaining a huge chunk of Gator fans. We will certainly get more attention from Orlando and the surrounding areas(Tampa, Gainesville, Ocala, Jacksonville and probably even some more from Tallahassee)

Also even if he doesn't win he would have made big strides with this organization, IMO. I think we're going to get the new arena and the NBA WILL stay in Orlando. Not to mention he re energized the Magic fanbase and has pretty much put us on the map something that hasn't happened since Shaq has come.

With Iavaroni getting hired, honestly I think Billy D was probably the best available choice left. He doesn't have the NBA coaching experience, but he has proven he has ability to develop younger players and he plays more of the style that we want, rather than the Brian Hill/Carlisle/Carlisimo/Van Gundy's style. We should have a more exciting offense, while still putting a priority in defense. The Gators won the last 2 years because of their ability to lock down on other teams when they need to. Now the only question is can Billy D adjust enough on defense where the Magic won't have to rely on zone.

The big thing to realize is this guy is human, he isn't a miracle worker. Don't expect us to contend for the title next year(unless we do make a big roster shuffle to get those pieces around Dwight). This will take time all I'm asking is don't jump on this guy quickly. Give him AT LEAST 3-4 years to get his personnel and system in place.

 

I hate to be an optimist and I hate to use comparisons, but I couldn't resist on some of the comparisons..... I know several are reaching but still it's fun to think about and a lot of these are somewhat true, so you can see what Billy sees in Orlando.

PG-Taureen Green(A better shooting, worse slashing Jameer Nelson has basically been my comparison to him for the last 2 years)

SG- Lee Humphrey(JJ Redick, do i really need to explain this one?)

SF- Corey Brewer(This is the hardest one to fill, but if we can sign Gerald Wallace you could say it. You can combine Ariza/Turkoglu to get it)

PF-Joakim Noah(Darko Milicic, he has the ability to play the spot at the top of the key and playmake out there. He'll need some work, but Noah needed TONS of work too. He won't provide the energy or heart of Noah, but unlike Noah he can bury that mid range J consistently)

C-Al Horford(Dwight Howard, this is the easiest comparison to me. Both have made a name for themselves with their defense and rebounding. Neither have really been relied on for scoring until late in the season and both have shown lots of potential to be able to score. Al is a better ball handler and has a jump shot, so that's where this comparison is off, but he doesn't compare to the beast that is Dwight on the glass or around the rim)

Bench:
-Chris Richard(Tony Battie, Neither have had the most glorious of careers, but both make a living doing the dirty work, both were the veterans of their ball clubs

-Walter Hodge(Keyon Dooling, Both extremely quick, both can be frustrating on D, both can run the point for stretches, but both are better fits at the SG position, Hodge has a much better shot though)

 

These comparisons wont even match..everything will be different

 

I respect Billy Donovan, but if Rick Pitino couldn't excel at the pro level then i'm still a pessimist towards college coaches turning pro. Even since Pitino there have been no successful coaches in that scenario. Tim Floyd yuck, Mike Montgomery pass, etc. I don't want to say that he'll do terrible but until he proves me wrong I don't see him being a huge success... although having Dwight Howard helps.

 

I don't know a damn thing about college ball, but I came back just to see how Gators reacted. Good show.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Chuck Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I don't know a damn thing about college ball, but I came back just to see how Gators reacted. Good show.</div>

So did my reaction live up to your standards?

 

<div class="quote_poster">GatorsowntheNCAA Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">So did my reaction live up to your standards?</div>

It exceeded my expectations

 

<div class="quote_poster">Chuck Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">It exceeded my expectations </div>

In a good way/bad way? What were you expecting? Me to flip out and hate on him or brag on him or what.