<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">ORLANDO -- Orlando Magic chief operating officer John Weisbrod has given head coach Johnny Davis assurance that he will keep his job following this season, but that still doesn't keep Davis from worrying about the future. Davis, who took over 11 games into the season after Doc Rivers was fired, entered Friday's game against the Atlanta Hawks with a 16-36 record. Davis was initially offered the Magic job on an interim basis, but declined and demanded a two-year contract from the Magic. Davis said he and Weisbrod have regular discussions about the team's progress and the long-term future of the franchise. Davis said most of the feedback he's gotten has been extremely positive despite the Magic's woeful season. "Basically my future will take care of itself," Davis said. "My mission is to just have the team as ready as possible to perform each night. Coaching is no different than parenting. Every day there are issues and you have to deal with them. And you can't just say you're not going to be a parent every day. So my focus has to be on the team and not on the future."</div> Given the injuries and the overall talent of this team (with the exception of Tracy Mcgrady) I don't know whether it was Davis' fault or the teams. I guess he gets another year to prove which one it is.
Might work, might not, its hard to predict. In a way, I think the stability at the top is a good thing, but then again, Johhny is hardly winning anything with us... Tough one.
Geez, another reason why I think the Magic are the NBA's worst run franchise. He doesn't play our young guys. None of our rookies get more than 10 minutes now. Bogans has disappeared.
I dont think it'll work, and it might even be a ploy so that Weisbrod wont have to spend big bucks on a big name coach...I see another few years in mediocrity for Orlando because I dont think they truly respect Davis, particularly McGrady...
1st Problem: Grant Hill's contract, he makes an average of 15 million for the next 4 seasons while playing just a hand full of games each year. Hill's contract basically handcuffs Orlando financially, they don't have the option of signing free agents to help T-Mac unless they can convince Hill to retire. If he can come back and contributes fine, if he still struggles with these injuries than Orlando is headed for a terrible decade. 2nd Problem: Juwan Howard. He makes an average of 6 million annually until possibly the 2008-2009 season. Not only is he over paid, but his talent is deminishing, and he's taking minutes away from the best prospect Orlando has in second year power foward The Big Drizzle, Drew Gooden! 3rd Problem: The Draft. Orlando hasn't done a great job bringing in SOLID talent who can consistently contribute. They need to scout better, select a player they believe in and give him quality minutes rather than limited ones so their young players can actually develop. Emeka Okafor would be perfect if he can play Center at this level, if not they should draft another big body who can step in and contribute immediately. If they blow this draft pick with the high selection they currently hold it could certainly prove devastating. Orlando really needs to watch their step this season, their walking on thin ice with T-Mac and his expiring contract. No Help = No Franchise Player!
JD is supposed to be an interim coach... Why they made him the head coach for longer than this season is beyond me.. JD is no more than an assistant, he should'nt be a head coach. He just really isn't a head coach...
As nearly everybody else, I also can't understand why JD is more than the interims coach. They should have looked for another Head Coach who brings a little more experience and success along. But hopefully we see a new Management coming in the off-season and with that also a new Head Coach. @King James X3 I don't know why you're posting this all in this thread because it just doesn't have to do anything with the discussed topic. Anyway I want to talk about a few points you mentioned. 1. Hill. Well Orlando was also without Hill for nearly the whole last season and they didn't have the problems (they even nearly beat Detroit in the playoffs) they are having this year. So his injury/contract is not such a big problem you suggest. 2. Howard. Well I think this problem is well known here. There is no need to mention it over and over again. 3. Draft. See 2. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Emeka Okafor would be perfect if he can play Center at this level, if not they should draft another big body who can step in and contribute immediately. </div> Do you know any other big body who can step in and contribute immediately? Because I know only of Okafor and I hope Orlando can pick him and he can play Center. But i doubt JD is able to coach him. I agree with sportsrock and see also Orlando as the worst run franchise. And that's the real problem we have. Unless something changes there won't be a bright future for Orlando.
I agree with you Coranar except on the Grant Hill thing. They both are big problems. We only have around $30 million in money because we're right at the cap and Grant Hill hasn't played so that's $14 mil wasted there, it's hard to win with a salary cap of $30 mil, while everyone else has a big salary cap. Considering that Tmac is getting another $14 mil, we only have around $ 16 mil to spend on the rest of the team. We can't get a good team with only $16 mil. The worse part is Juwan is getting $6 mil, so that means we have $10 to spend on 10 guys for our active roster. So basically we're at a $14 mil disadvantage over every other team.
I'd love to have B.Scott here but his asking price will probably be out of our range. I'd hate to see JD back next season. I think the only reason he's playing the veterans is to save his ass.(It's not working.LOL) Eventhough the guys upstairs have said repeatedly JD will be back, you can't believe a damn word they say. =) I've heard many scouts say Okafor is the best polished defensive player they've seen since Tim Duncan. I don't see him having any problems playing center in the NBA.
Yeh I don't know why the Magic would want want to keep him as a coach I would think they would maybe go for O'brien or maybe Byron Scott but I guess not.I dont think Johnny Davis has head coached a winning season his whole coaching career.
Yep, exactly, I think JD is a good assistant, but just doesnt have the head coach qualities. Sure he brought us out of the 19 slump but I'm sure if they would've gave Doc some more time he would've done it. Bad decision by the Magic.
JD's only head coaching year he went something similar to 22-60. I'm not sure on the number, but I don't think that he got more than 25 wins. He's just not head coaching material. I like him as an assistant though.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting sportsrock37:</div><div class="quote_post">I agree with you Coranar except on the Grant Hill thing. They both are big problems. We only have around $30 million in money because we're right at the cap and Grant Hill hasn't played so that's $14 mil wasted there, it's hard to win with a salary cap of $30 mil, while everyone else has a big salary cap. Considering that Tmac is getting another $14 mil, we only have around $ 16 mil to spend on the rest of the team. We can't get a good team with only $16 mil. The worse part is Juwan is getting $6 mil, so that means we have $10 to spend on 10 guys for our active roster. So basically we're at a $14 mil disadvantage over every other team.</div> What I meant was, last year we only had Hill for 29 Games and the Salary Cap was nearly the same. But we still managed to get into the playoffs and there we nearly beat Detroit without Hill. So I thought at the beginning of the season the same should this year be possible as well. But I was proven wrong. Of course $16mil locked in Hill's contract is much but with the talent we have we should have been able to make the playoffs. So I think Hill's contract shouldn't be the main problem at the moment. There are others like management and coach which are more serious as I see it.
