Management Gives Fans Reason to Doubt Magic

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The scathing e-mails started minutes after the NBA draft last week and haven't stopped yet.

"It's official," wrote one fan after the Orlando Magic picked Fran Vazquez with the 11th pick in the first round, "the Magic are losers!!! There is no way to avoid ripping this pick."

Wrote another: "Fran Vazquez is the worst selection in NBA draft history."

And another: "After having to watch another painful player selection, I must now say, 'Please, Kansas City, put me out of my misery, and take this team out of here.' "

Needless to say, Vazquez wasn't a popular pick among many fans, but that isn't what this column is about. The vast majority of fans and media rating the draft never even had heard of Vazquez until the Magic picked him. It would be sheer lunacy for any of us to prejudge an unseen European power forward from Unicaja Malaga -- a Spanish word meaning, "The Latin Geert Hammink."

But the fact that nearly everybody you talk to is second-guessing Vazquez illustrates a much more serious problem: Fans have lost total confidence in Magic management's ability to make the right decision. And, really, who can blame them? The Magic have done nothing in recent years to earn our trust.

Should fans be concerned that Vazquez apparently will not play in the Magic's summer league because of buyout issues with a pro team in Spain? Normally, you'd say no big deal; there's always a bit of overseas red tape that must be dealt with when drafting Europeans. Except we're talking about the Magic, whose history of discovering and developing players later in the draft can be summed up in two words: Jeryl Sasser.</div>

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