We will use this thread to talk about signings, trades, coaching moves, and anything else related to the Orlando Magic offseason. This thread will also be used to discuss draft rumors or ideas that you have. Once the draft is closer, we will make a seperate thread for the event. Until then use this as your Magic Offseason Headquarters.
I say keep the main guys on the team trade Doug,Kato for someone who wants to play for us. Hire Flip Saunders as coach he has coached in the west it would be nice if he made the Magic as strong as the wolfs last year. I would like to sign Penny and Armstrong back as Vets who can lead the team and show the young guys how to act. In the draft play it safe get the best person at our position if we get the number 1 pick or our number 11. The second rounders we have could be impact. Maybe getting Declerq off our team and Augmen retiring we need the second rounders maybe in a package with Doug,Kato for someone dont know who yet ill write later if I fiqure it out. I hope Weis has only one big move and thats for a coach not any player I heard humers of Stevio going to L.A. i hope its not true. We can only see what Orlando is going to do so iam hopeing for the best and NO LOCKOUT!!!!!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting FlaBoy:</div><div class="quote_post">I say keep the main guys on the team trade Doug,Kato for someone who wants to play for us. Hire Flip Saunders as coach he has coached in the west it would be nice if he made the Magic as strong as the wolfs last year. I would like to sign Penny and Armstrong back as Vets who can lead the team and show the young guys how to act. In the draft play it safe get the best person at our position if we get the number 1 pick or our number 11. The second rounders we have could be impact. Maybe getting Declerq off our team and Augmen retiring we need the second rounders maybe in a package with Doug,Kato for someone dont know who yet ill write later if I fiqure it out. I hope Weis has only one big move and thats for a coach not any player I heard humers of Stevio going to L.A. i hope its not true. We can only see what Orlando is going to do so iam hopeing for the best and NO LOCKOUT!!!!!</div> Yeah I agree with everything you said. If we can ship Christie and Cato out of Orlando for something nice, I would be happy. Doug didn't impress a whole last year and we are stocked with guards anyways (Stevenson, Francis, Jameer). Hopefully we can aquire a nice big man to play next to Dwight to take some pressure off of him. Maybe someone like Brendan Haywood or singing Tyson Chandler. I think both of these guys could help us a lot. As far as the coaching decision goes, I don't think the Magic will be able to land Flip. He is one of the better coaches available right now and I don't even know if he is interested in coaching here. I would like us to get someone like Maurice Cheeks or Eric Musselman from the Warriors. These guys are both underated coaches who would be a nice fit for our team. In the draft, I would like to land a player like Sean May or Wayne Simeon. Both of these players are bigmen that could take the pressure of Dwight (like I was saying before). If Dwight and either May or Simeon can bith develop into stars, we will be a very good team for years to come. Having a dominating interior game could put us a playoff threat and maybe even a title contender in a few years. Think about the lineup we would have: PG- Jameer Nelson/Steve Francis/Andre Barrett* SG- Steve Francis/DeShawn Stevenson/Hedo Turkoglu SF- Grant Hill*/Hedo Turkoglu/Deshawn Stevenson PF- Dwight Howard/Pat Garrity/Tony Battie C- Simeon or May/Battie/Andrew Declerq That would be a very good team and I think we would be a Top 5 team in the Eastern Conference with that lineup. I also heard these rumors about Stevey going to the Lakers. I really hope Weisbrod doesn't make that mistake because they have nothing great to offer other then Odom or Kobe and I guarentee we wouldn't be seeing either of them in that deal. I hope the Magic don't trade Francis because I really like his style of play and he is still an All-Star calibur player even though he was snubbed out of this years All-Star game. If Francis gets traded for next to nothing, I'm going to be furious with Weisbrod. As far as the lockout goes, I really hope this won't happen. I hope the NBA can learn from what happend to the NHL and avoid this terrible situation. If it does happen, not only would I be deproved of my NBA games, I wouldn't be able to talk about basketball here! PLEASE DAVID STERN, DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting FlaBoy:</div><div class="quote_post"> Hire Flip Saunders as coach he has coached in the west it would be nice if he made the Magic as strong as the wolfs last year.</div> I just found an article about this on the Magic's website. Maybe I was wrong about getting Flip. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Flip Saunders in Magic mix Jent is dropped from consideration BY JOHN DENTON FLORIDA TODAY ORLANDO - Chris Jent was dropped from the Orlando Magic's coaching search Thursday, and now the franchise might finally be coming close to hiring a successor with an extensive coaching background. Flip Saunders and Brian Hill appear to have emerged as frontrunners in the race to become the franchise's next head coach, after team officials informed Jent they were set on "hiring a veteran coach with experience." Saunders, Hill and Eric Musselman have interviewed for the position with general manager John Weisbrod, and further sessions with Magic owner Rich DeVos and team president Bob Vander Weide are likely next. Saunders, fired by Minnesota on Feb. 12, is the most attractive candidate on the coaching market after Phil Jackson. His Timberwolves teams won at least 50 games four times and reached the Western Conference Finals last season. Saunders is also reportedly being courted by Cleveland and Portland. If Saunders is hired, the Magic would hope he could do for Howard what he did for Kevin Garnett at Minnesota. Hill, the most successful coach in Magic history, led Orlando to the NBA Finals in 1995 and Eastern Conference Finals in 1996. He was also head coach in Vancouver and has since worked as an assistant with the Hornets and Nets. Musselman also has Magic ties, working with the Magic for three seasons as a scout and assistant coach. He was first a head coach at age 23 and eventually rose to that position with Golden State at 37. He spent two years with the Warriors before being fired after repeated clashes with players. Jent, the Magic's interim head coach over the last 18 games of the season after Johnny Davis was fired, said he had been eliminated in large part because of his inexperience. This was Jent's second NBA season in NBA as a coach and, at 35, would be the league's second-youngest head coach. "I've been around the league more than that (also as a player), but unfortunately that's how you are judged in this league," Jent said. "I was just fortunate being in this league such a short period of time to get the chance to be a head coach. That was such an honor for me." Grant Hill, receiving the NBA Sportsmanship Award on Thursday, said while he and Weisbrod haven't discussed specific names of potential coaches, they have talked about qualities the Magic need in their next coach. Weisbrod believes Orlando needs a disciplinarian coach who will hold players accountable. "That's not my thing, picking coaches, but I kind of have a feeling about the characteristics and personality that our team needs," Hill said. "(Weisbrod) asked my opinion and I think we're kind of on the same page. Every team is trying to find that right person and we're no different." Jent was 5-13 as the Magic finished the season 36-46 and missed the playoffs. Jent's chances were hampered by season-ending injuries to Hill, Hedo Turkoglu, Doug Christie and Pat Garrity. Still, Jent received endorsements from Steve Francis and Dwight Howard, something he said he will always value. "I was given a fantastic opportunity and certainly there was nothing negative that comes from the 18 games and 60-plus games that I was under Johnny," Jent said. "It was a great year for me. But as far as being a head coach, you want it to work out for you. You want a whole year, but that's just not the case." Jent was labeled "the jewel of our staff" when Weisbrod promoted him from fourth assistant to head coach on March 17. He twice interviewed with Weisbrod for the head coaching position, and the Magic GM stressed that a lack of experience would be the only factor going against Jent. Jent, who had continued to work at the team's headquarters breaking down game video, got the bad news from director of player personnel Dave Twardzik and director of player development Otis Smith. Weisbrod did not attend the meeting. Jent hopes to stay with the Magic as an assistant, but new head coaches usually pick their own assistants, and he knows his return to Orlando is a long shot. He hopes his relationships with Magic players will work in his favor. "I always try to think about the bright side and that's staying here," he said. "I know that's probably a small percentage, with the way things work in the NBA. Head coaches, like heads of corporations, like to have people that they know and trust close to them. I'd like to think that because of my relationship with the players that I will have a spot on the new staff here." Jent said he will likely begin next week searching for another NBA job. He hopes to talk with past and present coaches Jeff Van Gundy, Randy Ayers and Rudy Tomjanovich for direction. He won't be the Magic's head coach, but he said he'll always have the memories of his first practice as interim coach on March 17. "Showing up that first day as head coach and having the attention of a NBA team was special to me," he said. "A lot of people were looking at me. They were listening and attentive. Walking on that court in Seattle and having people behind me that believed in what I was trying to do meant a lot. That was a good feeling for me." </div> http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...357/1002/sports
The draft is stcked with good players maybe some that can fit our run and gun style of play. Warrick hasnt been impressive in his workouts so he might not be a choice and May was good but I think we need someone thats in the NBA like Magloire he wants out of the Hornets and would look nice here but he has injuries. I havent seen much of Wayne to say yes or no but i like anyone who can fill as a Pf behind Dwight. Like i said in another post i would like to have A 2nd rounder as Julius Hodge he is a good leader. If some way the Magic land Flip then maybe he will use the same style as him Wolfs But we have a much younger team. What about Drafting McCants coming from a winning team and he is a good young Sg and range shooter. A line-up of Trades to Pat,Kato,and Doug and Retiring Augmen and Drafts: Pg:Nelson,McInnnis,Barrett Sg:Francis,Stevenson,McCants Sf:Hill,Turk,Hodge Pf:Howard,Lee,Hunter C:Magloire,Battie,Kusun Trading For Jeff McInnis in a S&T with maybe Doug Trading maybe Kato and Pat for Magloire. Drafting McCants, David Lee, Julius Hodge. I know I said Sign Penny, and Armstrong but I was just Dreaming of the good ol' days the Heart and Soul Days now its Total Team Effort Days. I know GatorsowntheSEC would like Lee on the Magic.
If we can get Hodge in the second round I will be so happy. He played great last year in the Big Dance and would be a great fit for our squad. As far as drafting Mccants, I'm not completely sold on him. I love the TarHeels but he seems like he is crazy. He called playing for the TarHeels "like being in jail" and he seems depressed a lot of the time. It would be a risky pick but I don't think we need to pick Mccants and Hodge in the same draft. We should go after Hodge in the second round and maybe take a big man in the first round. Also, I don't see the Hornets making that trade since they are trying to rebuild around youth and we are giving them olde players. I think we would have to include some future picks if we wanted to get Magloire. That lineup would be pretty insane though and I the thought of getting Hodge since Grant Hill is getting older and Turkoglu is a better backup then he is a starter.
Yea McCants has emotional issues and I got Magloire and Mashburn confused with there age for some reason. The Hornets have a lot of $$ though and getting rid of Katos contract could give them more, But on the Katos contract Philly would love it to get Katos expiring contract and getting a S&T with Sam Dalembert <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Philadelphia 76ers free-agent center Samuel Dalembert, who is a native of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is making it known that he would love to hear offers from a team that could get him closer to his homegrown climate. That sounds like an invitation for the Orlando Magic. . . .</div> from the Orlando Sentinal . Sounds good to me if we get Sam then in the draft we need a back-up Sg,Pf a 1st round pick in Martell Webster and any chance Charlie Villanueva can be at 37/38 in the second round. Do you think Antonio Daniels could be traded to us in a S&T with a line-up of: Pg:Nelson,Daniels,Barrett Sg:Francis,Webster,Stevenson Sf:Hill,Turk,Hodge Pf:Howard,Villanueva,Hunter Calembert,Battie,Kusun Coach:Saunders
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> OK, Brian, you can come out of the mop closet now. Isn't that where we left him? You remember the mop closet, right? That's where Brian Hill first learned that he was on the verge of being fired by the Orlando Magic. It was immediately after a game in Chicago in 1997, and NBC's Peter Vecsey had just reported that Magic players were orchestrating a revolt that would cost Hill his job. On his way to the locker room, Hill was whisked into the mop closet by former Magic General Manager John Gabriel, who briefed him on Vecsey's report. A few days later, Hill was unjustly and unskillfully fired. Now, eight years later, he is back, and the Magic have righted the greatest wrong in franchise history. They have made a cosmic correction. They have assured themselves of everlasting prosperity and eternal well-being. OK, maybe that's taking it a bit too far, but at least fans can be thankful the Magic have brought in their former basketball coach to lead the team and not a former hockey coach. Or did Scotty Bowman turn down the job? "I don't know if this will help our karma," team President Bob Vander Weide said. "All I know is that this just feels so right." Maybe because the way Hill left nearly a decade ago still feels so wrong. To say it was a dreamy, drippy feel-good reunion Tuesday wouldn't do it justice. It didn't just feel right; it felt like John Lennon coming back from the dead to join Paul McCartney for a redux of "Yesterday." If you're a longtime Magic fan and didn't get a little choked up when Hill walked into the RDV Sportsplex as the Welcome Back, Kotter theme song played, you need to have your tear ducts refilled. Well the names have all changed since you hung around, But those dreams have remained and they've turned around. Who'd have thought they'd lead ya (Who'd have thought they'd lead ya) Back here where we need ya! "This," Hill's wife, Kay, said, holding a bouquet of roses given to her by Vander Weide, "feels like it was meant to be." Brian Hill may not be the best NBA coach available, but he is the best NBA coach available for this franchise at this time. He has head-coaching experience. He will hold players accountable. And he truly cares about the team and the town. Even after he was fired unfairly here eight years ago, he kept living here, kept working in charities here and never had an unkind word to say about the franchise. And don't think he wasn't bitter. Internally, he was devastated when Penny Hardaway and his merry band of mutineers quit on him and convinced Gabriel to fire him less than a year after he coached the Magic to the Eastern Conference Finals. "It was horrible, and it was heartbreaking," Kay said. "Brian handled it much more professionally than I did. It took me a long time to get over what happened here." Brian may say now that the whole experience is behind him, but when he was told by a wise-guy reporter that Hardaway recently expressed an interest in ending his career in Orlando, Hill couldn't resist. "Who?" he said. "Who did you say?" And let's not forget the time Hill was coaching in Vancouver and his Grizzlies were facing Hardaway's Phoenix Suns. It was the first time since the mutiny Hill had come face to face with the head of the insurgents. Hill stood on the sideline and stared down Hardaway, who wouldn't make eye contact. "I don't recall that," Hill said and smiled, trying to play down the incident. The Magic's growing number of critics will call Hill's hiring a good public-relations move, but what's the matter with that? It's not like this franchise can't use some positive PR after years and years of questions about what's gone wrong. How could the Magic let Shaq get away? Why did the Magic sign Grant Hill when he was on crutches? How could the Magic choose Bo Outlaw over Ben Wallace? And the latest: What happened to John Weisbrod's "long-range plan?" Let us not get so caught up in the "Hillelujah!" headlines to ask what exactly happened to the here-today, gone-tomorrow GM? The Magic have been selling us on Weisbrod's comprehensive, long-term vision for more than a year now and suddenly we come to find out that his vision was to win a Stanley Cup and not an NBA title? Oh, well. The good news is, Weisbrod didn't trade Tracy McGrady for Martin St. Louis. In the past eight years, there has been too much tumult and the turnover, too many blown draft picks and plans gone bad, not enough consistency and stability. This is why the Hill hire makes perfect sense. Retro jerseys are in; why not retro coaches? This franchise has lost its sense of place in the community. Hill, at least, provides hope that maybe things could be like they once were. Before Hill was announced as the coach Tuesday, a bunch of us stood around RDV and looked at a glass-encased reprint of a Sentinel front page from June 5, 1995. The headline blared "Magic In Finals!" above a huge photograph of a smiling Brian Hill being carried off the floor on the shoulders of Shaquille O'Neal. Well the names have all changed since you hung around. Yes, Brian Hill is back. Too bad Shaq isn't. The fact is, Hill's job will be much tougher now than it was then. And the truth is, this feel-good fairy tale could become a fractured fable. The Magic deserve credit now for righting one of the great wrongs in franchise history, but in six months, all this goodwill will mean nothing if Hill starts next season at 1-10. If that happens, don't kid yourself. He'll be right back in the mop closet. </div> http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/bask...&coll=orl-magic
I wasnt happy at the first time I heard Hill was hired then it rubed on me the Magic are trying to be a good franchise and bring in good news coverage like Grant Hill winning the Sportsmenship award instead of Augmen hits reporter with lotion. The Magic are a old and new Magic fans team now. Great hiring and now please lets get good coverage like Dwight and Nelson become a duo that cant be stoped or Francis is coachable or even Penny retiring a Magic under Hill.Will Hill hire Jent as an assistant coach and make the players happy? Lets go Hill lead us to greatness!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting FlaBoy:</div><div class="quote_post"> I wasnt happy at the first time I heard Hill was hired then it rubed on me the Magic are trying to be a good franchise and bring in good news coverage like Grant Hill winning the Sportsmenship award instead of Augmen hits reporter with lotion. The Magic are a old and new Magic fans team now. Great hiring and now please lets get good coverage like Dwight and Nelson become a duo that cant be stoped or Francis is coachable or even Penny retiring a Magic under Hill.Will Hill hire Jent as an assistant coach and make the players happy? Lets go Hill lead us to greatness! </div> I agree with you completely. Hopefully we will get some respect this year and make it to the playoffs.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Relaunch out, reconnect in for Magic By KEN HORNACK SOUNDING OFF Last update: May 26, 2005 Nick Anderson is not going to be walking through that door. Dennis Scott is not going to be walking through that door. Penny Hardaway had better not be walking through that door. And if Shaquille O'Neal walks through that door, he's going to be favoring his right leg and have a lot of explaining to do to the Miami Heat. But now that Brian Hill has walked back in, the adolescent franchise known as the Orlando Magic is realizing how precious things were during the precocious phase of a decade ago. In the NBA, those who don't learn from the past aren't necessarily doomed to repeat it. Then again, those who don't put a playoff team on the floor or build an emotional bond with a once-loyal fan base off it might be positioning themselves for a move to Kansas City. So say goodbye to the impersonal, like-it-or-lump-it approach espoused by John Weisbrod, who at least never made NASA engineers cringe like predecessor John Gabriel must have whenever he uttered the word relaunch. WORK TO DO The time has come, better late than never, to reconnect. "Brian is obviously part of this community," said team president Bob Vander Weide, who admitted to not immersing himself as much as he did during the '90s until recently. "But we've got to do a whole bunch of reconnecting with the community." Darrell Armstrong was gutty. Doc Rivers was glib. Tracy McGrady was great, more often than not. Last season, Grant Hill was uplifting while teenaged rookie Dwight Howard was an upstanding, outstanding addition. Still, the Magic have never sold out more than 10 home games since the year after Hardaway ran Brian Hill out of town. As much as the departure of Shaq to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1996 remains an albatross, the coaching coup probably did the most to turn off ticket buyers than any event before or since. Hill seemed likely to return to the Magic in a front-office capacity, if at all, until Rivers and then Johnny Davis were fired within the past 18 months, with Davis' exit looking more and more like it had Vander Weide's fingerprints on it than Weisbrod's. 'PRETTY DARN GOOD' At one point Tuesday, Hill addressed his post-Magic career in a tone that was more Dr. Phil than Phil Jackson. "You know when you have something good and you leave it and then you have substitutes, whether it's girlfriends, boyfriends, whatever the case may be?" he said. "When you have things to compare it to, you realize, 'Boy, that situation was pretty darn good.' " The good old days are gone for good, but that shouldn't mean the Magic's efforts at reconnecting ought to be limited to the selling of throwback jerseys. As of Wednesday, team officials said the season ticket renewal rate was an acceptable 83.3 percent out of 7,500, which is still less than half the capacity of the TD Waterhouse Centre. "Sometimes when you don't win, you put your head down," Vander Weide said. "I don't think that's right. Sometimes when you don't win, you've got to get back out there. And that's kind of where I'm at." The return of Hill, a frequent visitor to New Smyrna Beach over the past 15 years with his family, is a step in the right direction. "Let's go show it," Vander Weide said. "Let's go work it. Let's go live it." In other words, it's time to walk the walk.</div> http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJour...MAG01052605.htm
The Sixers won't let Dalembert go, stop dreaming. We do need a center though, trading up and getting Bogut would be a good dream, i don't wanna take the chance on a Euro or a highschooler so after that I'm sayin Channing frye is a good choice we could pick up to play center if we trade down.
The Lakers are high on Frye also Hodge is getting better in the draft from mid 2nd round to mid-late 1st round. Also Memphis wants to trade there #19 pick could we offer them anything for it we could get 4 player in the draft. #11 May(play it safe a great back-up or starting Pf),#38 Hodge(If he falls this low a good 3 position player a team leader a good +),#44 Louis Willams(Decent Back-up + Dwight is very High on him) Iam getting info from an NBA draft site on these guys so dont quote me.
Let's get this started up again. It looks like were going after Reef. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Magic interested in talking to Abdur-Rahim July 7, 2005 BY JOHN DENTON FLORIDA TODAY The Orlando Magic have shown an interest in acquiring free-agent forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim, but it seems as if the odds of that happening are slim. Abdur-Rahim's agent, Aaron Goodwin, said that he was unsure how his client would fit in Orlando because the Magic already have Dwight Howard entrenched at power forward. Goodwin, one of the NBA's most powerful agents, also represents Howard. "It really depends on how they would use Shareef, but he's a (power forward) and Dwight is a (power forward) too," noted Goodwin, who said the Magic made preliminary calls about Abdur-Rahim last week. "I don't really envision Dwight playing (center) and Shareef is definitely a player who should be coming off the bench. We'll just have to see how it plays out." The Magic are eager to find more low-post scoring, but they have only their middle-class exception (approximately $5.1 million) to offer free agents. To get Abdur-Rahim, who made $14 million last season while averaging 16.8 points and 7.3 rebounds a game, the Magic would likely have to execute a sign-and-trade with Portland. Abdur-Rahim was scheduled to visit the New Jersey Nets on Wednesday and Goodwin said no meetings with the Magic have been discussed. </div> Source
