Otis smith all but done (link inside)

[NameLess Scrub 6]

LOL @ SACs Otis hate fest

[the notorious S.A.C. 89]

LOL @ SACs Otis hate fest

 

If you know Ive been calling for his head longer than most everybody. Him being canned will be a very happy moment for me since the franchise "may" go in the right direction for the first time in years. I cant remember being as happy since Brian Hill was canned years ago.

[Tank Vogel 191]

There is no way that draft stuff can be true.

 

I mean, right?

[Bulletproof 10]

Dave (Orlando)

 

 

What do you see as the most likely course of action for the Magic this summer?

 

Chad Ford

(1:15 PM)

 

 

I think you'll see them let go GM Otis Smith and head coach Stan Van Gundy in the next few days. From what I can gather, they've already begun to kick start a search for a new GM. I think it's time for a major change in the front office, but I wonder if they'll be able to find a better coach than Van Gundy. I know he can grate on players, but given the wholesale changes coming in Orlando, he'll have a new group of players to grate on. I could see them hiring someone like former Knicks GM Donnie Walsh or Pacers GM David Morway there. As for Dwight Howard, I think everyone realizes he's gone sooner or later and the focus will be on how to best rebuild the team.

 

http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/chat/_/id/43835

[Crazyhorse81 247]

How happy are we all going to be if we fire SVG and replace him with an inferior coach who actually makes us worse? I know Dwight won't be happy. I'm still sticking with my original prediction: We're going to fire Stan to try to keep Dwight, only to lose Dwight too. I think we should lock the two of them in a room together and have them make up.

[SATOLS 7]

I don't know if any of you are correct. No. 1, both J.J. Redick and Jameer Nelson have stood up for Dwight. Even though J.J. also says he likes playing for Stan and Jameer says that Stan has made him a better point guard.

 

I t might come down to this. They might just be screwed no matter what (to be blunt).

 

I think you could trade Dwight. But you won't get a better player or package back -- and in fact, you probably don't even get an adequate package back that can do even one thing that he does well as well as he does it.

 

What are your options? Bynum? He's only under contract one more year, and that might be a team option, not sure. So, you'd still be facing the same situation next year. Only this time all the speculation would be about where Bynum wants to go. Plus, supposedly the Lakers weren't willing to trade Bynum last year but are this year because of the crazy things he's done all season. Now it's not just injury concerns. They don't trust what he's going to do or say. But they aren't willing to trade anymore than Bynum, using Dwight's back injury as an excuse -- that he might be damaged goods. That probably is what Magic Johnson and Kobe have been pushing for since the end of last season anyway. They figure, if Dwight comes, Phil Jackson will come back, too, as an added benefit.

 

New Jersey, if they keep their pick? What is their incentive to trade the pick if it's a top 2 pick (and it has to be a top 3 pick for them to keep it)? They still could end up with Howard in free agency next season, and then they'd end up with both Howard and the pick. So then, you want Brook Lopez, the big man who missed the season with a broken foot? Not to mention that he doesn't have to agree to a trade with the Magic. He can just sign an offer sheet with someone else.

 

So, that leaves you with the teams that are willing to rent Howard. Houston? You like Luis Scola as a championship winner? Or maybe they want to send back Kevin Martin? He's a frail jump shooter who plays no defense. Warriors? ANYONE on that roster you want? Bogut, who is coming off surgery and missed much of the past two seasons?

 

You could keep Stan. So then, if you trade Dwight, the only player SVG really seemed to trust not to screw up on the court, and try to keep much of the rest of the roster intact (except Duhon, of course), what then?

 

Does Stan really want to coach that team much as it is now? You might not have a point guard other than Duhon anyway, if Jameer decides to leave. Have you watched him yell at the current players all game, every game? All the rest of those guys want to play for Van Gundy? I'm not buying that. I have seen them all snap at him when he yells at them as they come off the court. Ever consider the possibility that they just don't want to end up getting hit with the same criticism that Dwight is getting because he doesn't want to play for him? Van Gundy will get frustrated that the team doesn't win -- and in the process, frustrate everyone else.

 

They might still win. But the evidence right now isn't great. They went 5-10 without Dwight. Over an 82-game season, that amounts to about a 25- to 27-win season. The guys on this team who are good, they are going to want to keep winning. This is why I said at the end of the season and before the playoffs that you should not be happy to see the season end because you might not like the changes that end up coming afterward.

[30Assists 342]

How happy are we all going to be if we fire SVG and replace him with an inferior coach who actually makes us worse? I know Dwight won't be happy. I'm still sticking with my original prediction: We're going to fire Stan to try to keep Dwight, only to lose Dwight too. I think we should lock the two of them in a room together and have them make up.

I hate to say it, but it might be like Miami when SVG was there. SVG made them a serious contender again, showed them the importance of defense, but wasn't able to bring them over the hump (or Riles came down and took them over so he could hog the glory).

 

But when Spoelstra took over, the team didn't nosedive like you'd expect, even with two and a half HUGE egos on the team. I still think we'd need an A-list coach to keep Dwight around, but it's not the end of the world if we don't get one. Maybe.

 

...Unless they bring Hill back.

[Crazyhorse81 247]

I hate to say it, but it might be like Miami when SVG was there. SVG made them a serious contender again, showed them the importance of defense, but wasn't able to bring them over the hump (or Riles came down and took them over so he could hog the glory).

 

But when Spoelstra took over, the team didn't nosedive like you'd expect, even with two and a half HUGE egos on the team. I still think we'd need an A-list coach to keep Dwight around, but it's not the end of the world if we don't get one. Maybe.

 

...Unless they bring Hill back.

 

 

While I agree with what you're saying, that wasn't my point. Spoelstra has at least two, maybe three HoFers on his team right now. We can't say that about our team. What if Spoelstra doesn't win a single title with that Big Three? That, to me, would just point to his failure as a coach. Look at Rivers. Dude had one of the worst seasons on record even with PP. It wasn't until two more HoFers were added that he won one title. Just one. With, at the time, the league's most stacked roster. My fear is that we're going to fire SVG, and since we don't have three all-world talents, we have just one, that we won't make any progress. Dwight will get impatient and just leave in FA next off-season, and then we'll have no All-Star, and no good coach. That, to me, seems the most likely outcome considering all current evidence.

[30Assists 342]

While I agree with what you're saying, that wasn't my point. Spoelstra has at least two, maybe three HoFers on his team right now. We can't say that about our team. What if Spoelstra doesn't win a single title with that Big Three? That, to me, would just point to his failure as a coach. Look at Rivers. Dude had one of the worst seasons on record even with PP. It wasn't until two more HoFers were added that he won one title. Just one. With, at the time, the league's most stacked roster. My fear is that we're going to fire SVG, and since we don't have three all-world talents, we have just one, that we won't make any progress. Dwight will get impatient and just leave in FA next off-season, and then we'll have no All-Star, and no good coach. That, to me, seems the most likely outcome considering all current evidence.

Oh, I agree, I'm just saying that maybe losing SVG won't mean the demise of our team. IF Dwight sticks around. If SVG leaving causes Dwight to sign long-term, that gives the Magic leverage to drag in some other big name(s).

 

See all those "ifs?" I do. :\

[Franchero MVP 391]

How happy are we all going to be if we fire SVG and replace him with an inferior coach who actually makes us worse? I know Dwight won't be happy. I'm still sticking with my original prediction: We're going to fire Stan to try to keep Dwight, only to lose Dwight too. I think we should lock the two of them in a room together and have them make up.

 

I think your prediction is going to be wrong though. Orlando isn't firing Stan unless Dwight extends. It's pretty obvious that's gonna be the stipulation. So we won't have to worry about Dwight leaving until that extension ends.

[Emory889 353]

I think your prediction is going to be wrong though. Orlando isn't firing Stan unless Dwight extends. It's pretty obvious that's gonna be the stipulation. So we won't have to worry about Dwight leaving until that extension ends.

 

I agree. I can't see them firing Stan and hope that that will be enough to make Dwight want to stay. If Dwight wants Stan fired, he needs to make a long term commitment to Orlando.

[Crazyhorse81 247]

I think your prediction is going to be wrong though. Orlando isn't firing Stan unless Dwight extends. It's pretty obvious that's gonna be the stipulation. So we won't have to worry about Dwight leaving until that extension ends.

 

 

I have Cleveland on line one for you. And Mike Brown on line two. Which call would you like to take first?