<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Orlando Magic will allow Billy Donovan to return to FloridaDave Curtis and Lynn Hoppes | Sentinel Staff Writers Posted June 4, 2007, 7:01 AM EDTThe Orlando Magic today will allow Billy Donovan out of his 5-year, $27.5 million contract that he signed on Friday."It's over," said a source close to the situation.Donovan had reservations about leaving the Florida Gators for the NBA on Friday and spent all weekend trying to find a way to get out of his contract. On Saturday, Orlando Magic General Manager Otis Smith went to Gainesville to try to convince Donovan to honor the deal. Smith talked with Donovan again on Sunday, and so did Magic President Bob Vander Weide.</div> http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/coll...mostemailedlinkThank god that he is going to be able to go back to Florida, which will allow Donovan to be the man in Florida for many more years hopefully. This was a great move by the Magic to allow him to get out of his contract, you never want a coach that is unsure if he wants to be your head coach or not. If they made him stay, it could easily turn into the Nick Saban situation for the Miami Dolphins, where Saban didn't have his full heart into the team and we end up feeling the results of it. I would like to see us pursue Stan Van Gundy if he is available.
Kind of a goofy thing to do, wasting the Magic's time and making them look foolish. Obviously he screwed this up but it's good that he decided this right away so Orlando can regroup. I'm really happy he's going back to Florida like you said Valo, I'm sure his latest star recruits are pretty happy considering whats happened in the last week.
Letting him go back is whats best. Hes probably already lost his fans in Orlando and maybe his players. Plus Florida got a few big time recruits who signed because of Donovan. Now its just a matter of whos going to be the Magics coach now.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Is Stan Van Gundy Choice After Billy Bail-Out? Posted on Jun 4, 2007 12:48:15 AMFormer Miami Heat Coach Stan Van Gundy was the only other coaching candidate the Magic talked to while they were courting Billy Donovan, who, incredibly is doing an about-face on Orlando after taking the job. Magic President Bob Vander Weide said that he was impressed with Van Gundy.Van Gundy told me last week before Donovan accepted the Magic job that he would "love to coach" the club, praising Dwight Howard and the city.</div>http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_ma...an_van_gun.htmlI would love this signing of Stan Van Gundy, a young coach that has coached and been successfull on the NBA level. In his first year in Miami, he showed he is great with young talent, as Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Dwayne Wade were the main players of that team, all as young players at that time. He was able to lead them to the second round of the playoffs, and the next season got his team to the Eastern Conference finals, loosing to a very good Detroit team. I think he would do great with the Magic, who is young, and has no real big ego's on it.
Haha, you meant Dwyane Wade, not Dwight Howard. I was like man that team wouldve been killer...lol.Why cant the Magic get a coach who HASNT coached in Florida before. Van Gundy did get alotve heat for nothing really. People took him being fired as if he was a bad coach(when Riley just wanted to get down there, plus the ego/players thing), but hes actually a good and versitle coach. Also, you would have yet another former Shaq coach being with Howard.
This was such a bizarre story...I'm glad the Magic are trying to get him banned from the league for 5 years.
I dont get why he didnt at least try to coach. He had a pretty talented young roster in orlando, and Dwight will likely be a beast next season.
He should have thought longer about this obviously. If they were pushing him as hard as he has said they did, he should have told the Magic he wanted more time or else he'd not take the job. If they really wanted him that badly, they would have given him time. Now he looks like an idiot, and any time he brings up wanting to coach in the NBA, it'll be hard for teams to listen to him.
Now he's going to see his Gators team be mediocre this season with there stud starting 5 leaving while the Magic go to the playoffs again. Then he's going to be wishing he would have stayed and made the big NBA money.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (GrizzFanTaylor @ Jun 6 2007, 02:10 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Now he's going to see his Gators team be mediocre this season with there stud starting 5 leaving while the Magic go to the playoffs again. Then he's going to be wishing he would have stayed and made the big NBA money.</div>Not neccesarily,1) He has some good recruits2) All 4 Florida players were not ranked very high in their high school rankings, so obviously he can work with low profile players
When you lose your starting 5 and your sixth man, even good recruiting won't keep your team at the same level. At least not in the year immediately following all of your players leaving.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Pronk48 @ Jun 6 2007, 02:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>When you lose your starting 5 and your sixth man, even good recruiting won't keep your team at the same level. At least not in the year immediately following all of your players leaving.</div>You don't know that.
Yes I do. Donovan didn't recruit any Greg Oden's or Mike Conley Jr's who can come in and immediately help a team contend. And that was with a team that had other experienced players...Florida loses their top 6 guys, they will not have a good season next year.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Pronk48 @ Jun 6 2007, 02:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Yes I do. Donovan didn't recruit any Greg Oden's or Mike Conley Jr's who can come in and immediately help a team contend. And that was with a team that had other experienced players...Florida loses their top 6 guys, they will not have a good season next year.</div>Rankings by posistion for recruiting class of 2004Joakim Noah - 19th pfCorey Brewer - 7th sfTaurean Green - 19th pgAl Horford - unranked
Why would he want to go back to Florida? All of the seniors are leaving...Florida is gonna be pretty bad next year...
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (GrizzFanTaylor @ Jun 6 2007, 01:10 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Now he's going to see his Gators team be mediocre this season with there stud starting 5 leaving while the Magic go to the playoffs again. Then he's going to be wishing he would have stayed and made the big NBA money.</div>They are still going to be the best team in the SEC this upcoming season, and get a good seed in the tournament. They are getting a top recruiting class in the nation to come in this year, as well as they are returning talent that was very good basketball players. Walter Hodge, Marqueese Speights, Dan Werner, Brandan Powell, and Jonathon Mitchell all in the playing time they received showed that if they was at just about any other school in the nation, they would have gotten alot more playing time. These guys can all step in and be ready to play next season. Plus with the team ball that Billy Donovan try's to install on the team, they will be dangerous for any team.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Pacers fan forever @ Jun 6 2007, 03:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Rankings by posistion for recruiting class of 2004Joakim Noah - 19th pfCorey Brewer - 7th sfTaurean Green - 19th pgAl Horford - unranked</div>
PFF, those rankings don't really mean anything. Pronk and Grizzfan said that the Gators are going to be mediocre next season. They didn't say the team was going to mediocre for the rest of his time there. Since none of those guys you mentioned played much as Freshman, it doesn't help you prove your point that they are going to be good next season.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (valo35 @ Jun 7 2007, 09:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>PFF, those rankings don't really mean anything. Pronk and Grizzfan said that the Gators are going to be mediocre next season. They didn't say the team was going to mediocre for the rest of his time there. Since none of those guys you mentioned played much as Freshman, it doesn't help you prove your point that they are going to be good next season.</div>Point is that there are what? 8 returning players? THose guys could be the next big things, you just don't know. Remember, Joakim Noah and Al Horford backed up David Lee, so they were not the first in line talent
