Rewind your minds for a minute. Last year's playoffs, The Orlando Magic came within a single game of knocking The Eastern's Conference's Number 1 seed out of the playoffs. It seemed as though The Magic's future was once again bright, hope that hadn't been seen since the faithful summer when Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady had been signed. So what happened? Why the HUGE turnaround? I'll break it down for you. (It's a long read, but for those who are avid Magic fans, I'm sure you'll enjoy and agree) After last season it seemed as though Orlando was on the upswing. The only real problem standing between them and greatness was Grant Hill's contract that seemingly handcuffed them financially. Yet instead of showing Improvement Orlando's front office made moves that were considered highly questionable at best. Here's the breakdown: First Mistake, allowing Darrell Armstrong to sign with The New Orleans Hornets. Armstrong was the best point guard Orlando had obtained in years. He was great defensively, he was tough minded, he was a natural born leader, and he took care of all the responsibilities a point guard was suppose to. So how could you let this guy go without a solid replacement? Obviously Tyronn Lue, Reece Gaines, and Rod Strickland weren't the answer, no one is that gullible. I mean this year Orlando has tried more point guards than Barry Bonds has steroids. In losing Armstrong, Orlando lost it's defense. There's no longer a player on that lackluster roster who stresses defense. No one who can influence the rest of the squad and push them into becoming better defenders. They also lost a leader. Sure, Tracy is great, but his leadership is questionable. They lost their Point Guard. Without someone defending well at that postion you will be defeated night in and night out. Without someone distributing the ball and getting his teammates good looks, your offensive will suffer tremendously. Second wrong move, aquiring Juwan Howard. Sure, he's played decent on the offensive end (16 ppg) but that's all your getting as his skills have deminished in recent years. So why did his acquisition hurt the team? Last season they traded their second leading scorer, Mike Miller, for a rising star in Drew Gooden. So why sign a washed up Power Foward for more than he's worth? Your basically signing a has-been so he can take minutes away from your second year star. Look at the playoffs last season, their success against Detroit was because Drew Gooden was dominating Ben Wallace. Gooden, in just his rookie season, was averaging a double-double at just under 14 a game and 12 rebounds against perhaps the best defensive Power Foward in The East. Why bench this guy? If you wanted him to warm your bench, why did you trade your 2nd best player, Mike Miller, to Memphis for him in the first place? Another move that simply makes no sense. A few other quick mistakes, Firing Doc Rivers, a coach who led a .500 team at best to the playoffs, nearly knocking off the top seed. A coach who had to deal with the his highest paid player, Grant Hill, being injuried and not able to contribute. Seriously, with the moves Orlando has made as of late Doc Rivers should have been inducted to The Coaching Hall of Fame just for winning a single game this season. Last but not least, Orlando's draft. I believe someone in this forum has already commented on it, but the truth is Orlando simply doesn't know how to utilize the draft. Pat Burke, Reece Gaines, Ryan Humprhey, Stephen Hunter, some Pachuila guy, etc. These guys haven't been able to contribute, so why even going to the board on draft day? Obviously Orlando doesn't know how to gain success with their picks, so why not trade them away rather than waste them? That about sums up my opinion on Orlando's failure this year. If you actually stuck through this post and read all those paragraphs, thank you. I hope you can take something from it, perhaps another perspective, if not it should spawn an interesting debate. Final Thought, Orlando's problems don't begin on the hardwood, instead they stem from the front office. After this season changes defintely need to be made, but it should begin with those in charge...
I blame McGrady for being a stubborn arrogant self-centered punk. I think everyone is sick of his mouth, it only gets him in deeper crap.
Yeah.. His mouth is to much.. But the whole thing isnt caused by this.. None of his stupid "My team isnt playing" crap would of happened if we kept Armstrong.. He was the captain, and the leader.. His depature gave McGrady the chance to be the captain and to be the vocal leader.. But hes not doing the greatest job.. is he?
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">(It's a long read, but for those who are avid Magic fans, I'm sure you'll enjoy and agree)</div> I've read it and well, I agree in some points and in other not really. And so I write now my first post here and a quite long one too, maybe more will follow. First, yes, letting Darrell go and getting Lue as new Starting PG was a big mistake. But I don't like that you mention Rod there. Because they got him later and he did a good job, hopefully he signs with a contender. With Darrell they lost their vocal leader which was really their biggest mistake. He could have helped with the development of Gaines as well as with team chemistry as so many new players joined the team. Their second mistake has obviously something to do with Howard. Well they thought he could play C together with Gooden at his side as PF but that wasn't proven, it could have worked but we know it now better. The real mistake was that they gave him such a long contract. Your other point with the draft picks. Well in some way you're right but I can't agree totally. Steven Hunter is not so bad but perhaps he was not worth the 15th pick in 2001. And Pachulia is also not so bad and please have in mind that he was a second rounder and is still very young (20 years old now). Firing Doc was also not the worst decision. He wasn't able to form a team from this bunch of players. The problem was that they didn?t get a coach from outside and that they didn?t really start new after firing him which they should have done after loosing so many games in a row. All this mistakes came from the management and until Orlando has a new GM and Coach there will be no future. Don?t understand me wrong. I?m a great Magic fan and I hope we can get Okafor and Hill will healthy be back. But I don?t believe in all this. At the end I think Orlando will end up with the 5th pick and take this Pavel guy and of course, he will be a bust. To make it all worth I don?t believe Hill will stay healthy. If that happens, T-Mac will opt out after next season and will play for another team. The only way out of this as I've already mentioned is a new GM before the Draft and with that a new coach as well. Hopefully you understand what I mean.
I agree and disagree in a few points metioned by both King James X3 and Coranor , here is what I think. 1)Darrel Armstrong , yesterday I was watching NBA TV and Jamaal Magloire was talking about New Orleans' sucess this season , when he talked about armstrong he said something kind of like this , "Darrel is a great leader and inspires a lot of players in the court , I just can't figure out how Orlando led a guy like him go." His leadership was the mistake , sure T-Lue had great offensive skills , knew how to play PG and had respectable defensive skills, but Lue's defense is not able to do what Darrel's did , is different when the PG is almost stealing the ball from half court than other players almost stealing the ball near baseline , only Bogans has been able to do that and now Stevenson. 2)I agree with Coronar. Juwan's big contract was the mistake , first I didn't get the trade but who would've knew what could've happen if Gooden and Howard were able to play together? , It didn't work out but I guess Howard will be gone next season. 3)two letters: G.M. I was the guy that you mentioned King James X3 , I said the GM can't seem to find good talent and/or the talent Orlando needs. Draft picks , obviously none of the players you mentioned are "bad" players , they're just not the right talent we need/needed. Steven Hunter wasn't a bust , I personally knew what he was capable of doing before he started this good run. I read the other day in an article in this forum that the president or someone(Don't remember well right now) , said that Gabriel shouldn't have said that comment regarding JD as a coach next season , meaning is not 100% true that he will be our Head Coach next season , also because the president or whoever , also said that we might have a new GM at the end of the season. 4)I think we really need a new Coach next season but leave JD as an A.C. since he already knows how to win with the talent we have , that will hopefully come by adquiring a new G.M. and then drafting Okafor. Even if Hill is not completely healthy , I think we could have a really good team next season , We should also Sign DeShawn Stevenson and Trade DeClerq , maybe involved in a trade with Howard which could give us a nice backup PG or PF. That's about it , we can't do nothing but enjoy the rest of the season and wait for what the future brings us , either good or bad we will always have comments and questions about everything Orlando does for a long time , and I think we have learned EVERYTHING that could go wrong this season.
Don't get me wrong, Steven Hunter hasn't been a bust, but he hasn't been able to contribute consistantly. He's shown flashes of potential, but averaging just 3.4 points and 3 rebounds per game isn't going to get the job done. Gooden and T-Mac are the duo to build around. Drew showed great potential last season as the starting Power Foward after the trade for Mike Miller brought him to Orlando. He played great, he was a solid double-double player, than he went down with a toe injury that held him out until playoffs. Playoffs came around and he played extremely well, so why did they sign Howard? They couldn't have believed the two could play together. I mean Drew is big, but he's not big enough to play center, the guy is only 240. Playing them together is a tough thing to do because neither of them are big enough to step into that center postion. If they got a new GM they have a chance. The first piece of business is taking care of Grant Hill and more importantly his contract. If he can come back and contribute, fine, keep him around. If he returns and suffers another injury, push him into retirement, if he declines they should try and discuss a contract buyout. If they want to get SERIOUS help around T-Mac they're going to need cap space to do so, Hill's contract is taking up too much of that currently. Use this years draft, bring in a solid Small Foward who can play defense and contribute from the get go. Take Stevenson and Howard, move them off for a solid Center, one who'd stress defense and could be a presense downlow. Take Lue and a future first and second round draft pick and get yourself a REAL point guard who can be a leader on the floor. I'd suggest trying for Ben Wallace, if Detroit resigns Rasheed I'm sure they'd be open to trade discussions. Than perhaps a player like Derek Fisher, a guy who knows how to be a leader and makes the right decision. Leadership and Defensive, the two things they should be looking for this offseason.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting King James X3:</div><div class="quote_post">Don't get me wrong, Steven Hunter hasn't been a bust, but he hasn't been able to contribute consistantly. He's shown flashes of potential, but averaging just 3.4 points and 3 rebounds per game isn't going to get the job done. </div> How can he be consistant when he doesn't/didn't get minutes consistantly. Is not really his PPG (which is more than our Star Starting Center DeClerq compared to the number of games Steven Hunter even Mopped.) , or his rebounds (which how many could you get the last minute of the game (that's what he played in most of his 46 games this season.) , is his blocks and defense in the defensive end. His ability to change shots that's something DeClerq is not so good at , obviously Hunter still needs some work. I didn't want to do the math for the last few games since he started before the trading deadline but 1 fact , I think he is the only realistic (with 1+) shot blocker in the team. He probably averages about 5ppg , 8rpg , 3bpg since the last games. All we need from him is the Rebounds and Blocks , that's why we have the leading scorer of the league , to take care of Points. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting King James X3:</div><div class="quote_post"> Use this years draft, bring in a solid Small Foward who can play defense and contribute from the get go. Take Stevenson and Howard, move them off for a solid Center, one who'd stress defense and could be a presense downlow. Take Lue and a future first and second round draft pick and get yourself a REAL point guard who can be a leader on the floor. I'd suggest trying for Ben Wallace, if Detroit resigns Rasheed I'm sure they'd be open to trade discussions. Than perhaps a player like Derek Fisher, a guy who knows how to be a leader and makes the right decision. Leadership and Defensive, the two things they should be looking for this offseason.</div> Sorry but I find that last paragraph very insane. Why would we draft a SF???? We are load with Talent at that Position take a look: Grant Hill Keith Bogans DeShawn Stevenson Pat Garrity(not playing this season) Not only you said we get a SF in the draft , but trade Stevenson and Howard for a Center? Ok , Stevenson and Hill are out ( from what you said. ) so we are good in the SF position with Bogans and Garrity , fine. What good prospect is a SF in the draft? I'm not sure , but I really think we should get Okafor , keep Stevenson. Hill , we don't know yet so let's not include him right now , we should trade DeClerq , Howard , Gaines for a backup PG and a backup PF. C - Okafor/Hunter/ZaZa PF - Gooden/Trade SF - Hill/Bogans/Garrity (not in order) SG - T-Mac/Stevenson/Draft Pick PG - T-Lue/Stevenson/Draft Pick as you can see we have a solid backup PF which we adquired from a trade that involved DeClerq and Howard and/or Gaines, a solid C and who knows about the SF position we might have 4 guys that could play that. Stevenson will probably be re-signed and play backup PG and SG and SF if necessary. There can be so many changes is almost impossible to try and speculate next season's line-up. Only the future will let us know and hopefully we will be a great team next season.
I'll start with Hunter, once again he's not a bust, but he's not going to be a star. He's worth keeping around, watching his development, but I wouldn't expect too much. If you could make a move to bring in a solid center I'd go for it. Could Hunter be an 8 point-8 rebound player with 30+ minutes, perhaps, but even than he's not dominate enough to NOT be looking for a center to replace him. HUNTER played well over 30 minutes against Boston a few nights ago, he got plenty of playing time. What happened? He not only had just 6 points and 6 rebounds but he got LIT UP by Boston's center Mark Blount. Steven Hunter couldn't defend Blount, he got dominated and had 28 points and 21 rebounds dropped on him by a virtually unknown player. Not too good... I said get a Small Foward because your going to need more scoring to go along with T-Mac. In the proposal I had, I suggested picking up Ben Wallace and Derek Fisher type players. As you may have noticed they aren't the greatest of offensive players instead they serve different purposes like defense and leadership. So picking up a scoring Small Foward to help out T-Mac would be ideal. Now in my proposal I said getting rid of Grant Hill would be best, so that's one less Small Foward. Sure Bogans is solid but he's primarily a guard at just 6'5". Same goes for Stevenson, just 6'5" and 210 pounds, he's more of a guard than a Small Foward. As for Garrity, he's solid too, but in 02-03 he averaged only 10 points per game. That's way I said bringing in a good scoring Small Foward from the draft would be a good move, your going to need more scoring to help T-Mac if you have defensive oriented players in your lineup.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting King James X3:</div><div class="quote_post">Don't get me wrong, Steven Hunter hasn't been a bust, but he hasn't been able to contribute consistantly. He's shown flashes of potential, but averaging just 3.4 points and 3 rebounds per game isn't going to get the job done.</div> TMac_OwNz has already mentioned it so I only want to agree with what he said. Hunter provides us (okay I start now also with using us/we) with a defensive presence near the basket. Which is really great. He has to still to work on some things but he is also very young and hopefully we get another coach (I don't care if JD stays as assistant or not but we surely need another head coach) during the offseason he can teach our guys some smart things. Hunter and Pachulia can be our Centers of the future, perhaps we get Okafor and he can become our Center? <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Gooden and T-Mac are the duo to build around. Drew showed great potential last season as the starting Power Foward after the trade for Mike Miller brought him to Orlando. He played great, he was a solid double-double player, than he went down with a toe injury that held him out until playoffs. Playoffs came around and he played extremely well, so why did they sign Howard? They couldn't have believed the two could play together. I mean Drew is big, but he's not big enough to play center, the guy is only 240. Playing them together is a tough thing to do because neither of them are big enough to step into that center postion.</div> Some people believed either Howard or Gooden can play C and both will be happy. It didn't work out and that's the problem. But I agree T-Mac and Drew is our future and with giving Howard such a long contract the GM gave a false impression. I hope we see Howard going in the off-season otherwise Gooden will leave us sooner or later which will be very sad. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">If they got a new GM they have a chance. The first piece of business is taking care of Grant Hill and more importantly his contract. If he can come back and contribute, fine, keep him around. If he returns and suffers another injury, push him into retirement, if he declines they should try and discuss a contract buyout. If they want to get SERIOUS help around T-Mac they're going to need cap space to do so, Hill's contract is taking up too much of that currently. Use this years draft, bring in a solid Small Foward who can play defense and contribute from the get go. Take Stevenson and Howard, move them off for a solid Center, one who'd stress defense and could be a presense downlow. Take Lue and a future first and second round draft pick and get yourself a REAL point guard who can be a leader on the floor. I'd suggest trying for Ben Wallace, if Detroit resigns Rasheed I'm sure they'd be open to trade discussions. Than perhaps a player like Derek Fisher, a guy who knows how to be a leader and makes the right decision. Leadership and Defensive, the two things they should be looking for this offseason.</div> First we don't need another SF as TMac_OwNz already stated. More important is our PG position, but I don't like Fisher so, and our bench. If we can get rid of Howard we need a good backup for Gooden. Getting a decent PG is one of the main things Orlando should try. Lue is still not more than a good backup. Other things you mentioned are just impossibel. We won't never get a decent Center for Stevenson and Howard, that's just, well, impossible. Also you will never again see Ben Wallace in an Orlando Magic jersey. Hope for a bright future in Orlando only comes back with a new GM and a new Head Coach.
We definetely need a new GM and coach. Juwan was a huge mistake. I thought he'd help us out drastically, but it didn't turn out that way. Here's my take on our positions. PG-Lue, Stevenson, Gaines, our weakest spot. Lue isn't a starting PG caliber. He takes way too many dumb shots. He's clutch, but he shoots too many shots when he's covered close and they are fadeaways. Stevenson and Gaines are both young and I wish we could mold them both into good PG's, but their both more of SG's. JD has an obsession with Lue and just won't give Gaines a chance. I would like to see Gaines play at least 20 mins the remainder of the season, just to see what we have in him. Current Rotation:Lue, Stevenson, Gaines Sportsrock's Rotation:Stevenson, Gaines, Lue SG/SF-Tmac, Hill, Stevenson, Bogans, Penigar, Gaines, Garrity. Our strongest position by far. We got a bonafide Superstar and Hill when healthy would give us a strong 13 4 4. Bogans and Stevenson is the future. They both will provide good solid numbers and can only improve. Lately though, Bogans hasn't been getting any minutes, which is a big concern to me. Bogans should be getting 20 mins continuously too. He played great when he was starting. I love his rebounding and hustle. Garrity is a good role player, if he's hot let him play a little bit, but if he isn't, bench him immediately. Penigar has been giving us great energy off the bench. Current Rotation:Tmac, Hill, Stevenson, Garrity, Bogans, Penigar, Gaines Sportsrock's Rotation:Tmac, Stevenson, Hill, Bogans, Penigar, Gaines, Garrity PF-Gooden, Howard, Garrity, Penigar, Lots of talent, just not able to utilize it. Gooden should be the starter and getting 30 minutes consistently, like you guys have said, he is the future and could become an all-star. When I watch Kmart, I can see Gooden doing that. Juwan is good too, if he was able to play another position, I'd love to keep him, but he just can't. He is just ruining Gooden's development. Garrity isn't strong enough to be PF, but he makes the opposing team's PF's go outside and get out of position for blocks or rebounds. If he's off, bench him. Penigar's hustle and rebounding is amazing. He reminds me of Darrell Armstrong. Current Rotation: Juwan, Gooden, Garrity, Penigar Sportsrock's Rotation:Gooden, Juwan, Penigar, Garrity C-Andrew Declerq, Steven Hunter, Sean Rooks, Zaza Pachilia. We're solid at this position, but we don't play the right guys. Declerq is the worst of the 4, but for some reason he's our starter for the majority of the season, he will probably start again tomorrow. Steven Hunter is a tremendous shot blocker and can finish off Tmac's nice passes. He is a weak rebounder for his size and seems to get rattled easy. If he doesn't do something right he tends to hang his head and his play suffers. Sean Rooks is a good role player. He can hit the outside jumper on picks and rolls. He's a banger and can get some rebounds. We need some defense from our center more than offense though. Zaza Pachilia is a banger. He hustles like crazy and has a nice touch down low.(most of the time) He can muscle up the bigger centers in the league. Current Rotation: Declerq, Rooks, Hunter, Zaza(I know Hunter's been starting, but Declerq and Rooks got more minutes last game, so they will probably continue to get more minutes) Sportsrocks Rotation:Hunter, Zaza, Rooks, Declerq Basically our weakest position is PG and our SG/SF is our best by far. I would love this starting lineup next year. PG-Stevenson SG-Tmac SF-Hill PF-Gooden C-Hunter I want to let the young guys develop and obviously JD doesn't want to do that.
I think coaching has been the biggest problem in Orlando...Doc Rivers was not a great coach, imo...he did not run a lot of option plays to get his other players open, and did not have a sound defensive game plan...I dont see Davis working out as well...these Magic players need a stronger personality and influence on the sidelines; someone who can earn their respect...
