What in the Magic's history suggests they could "EVER"

[ball junkie 277]

I'll start at the beginning of the franchise.

 

Win the lottery 2 years in a row....Draft Shaq and Penny....Shaq stays until his rookie contract runs out....Leaves for bigger lights....Penny stays longer but feuds with management and is soon after shown the door.

 

Rebuild roster.

 

In 2000 try to sign Duncan, Hill and McGrady....Duncan stays in S.A..... Hill gets hurt and T-Mac becomes a superstar....Doesn't take long for T-Mac to be at odds with management and then he is gone.

 

Rebuild roster.

 

Win the lottery....Draft Howard and Nelson in same year....Nelson isn't consistent enough and Howard, although he does sign an extension starts having issues with management and he is gone.

 

Are we seeing a pattern here ????

 

Which bring us to today....Not sure who is the owner of the team....Last I heard Mr. Devoss was having health issues and gave it to someone else in the family....I find it hard to believe Orlando can win a championship with Amway millionaires running the show.....They have gone and hired a young GM(Hennigan) that follows the Spurs and OKC models of winning.

 

OKC has yet to win it and the Spurs had a primetime Tim Duncan to win their's.

 

Chad Ford said before the trade deadline that everyone on the Magic's roster could be had except Olidipo.

 

Tom Haberstroth after the deadline put the Magic in the loser category although he didn't place blame on Hennigan.

 

With a batch of veterans on a team built for the future, I didn't see the Magic standing pat at the deadline. If this summer you had told me that Arron Afflalo, Jameer Nelson, Glen Davis and Jason Maxiell would all still be employed by the Magic at 3:01 p.m. ET on Feb. 20, 2014, I would've called you nuts. The fact GM Rob Hennigan didn't move any of those veterans probably says more about the market than the Magic's intentions.

 

Now, management has shown a great ability to spend money as we all know.

 

Anyone that can make a case as to how the Magic can one day be NBA Champions I'd be interested in their thoughts......

 

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10495180/nba-which-teams-were-trade-deadline-winners-losers

[CTMagicUK 1,482]

Nothing you said is evidence that the Magic will never win a championship.

[A Random Stranger 25]

Because history is history?

 

There are two to three things I can take from Magic history is that we are a team that has deep pockets and are willing to spend millions of dollars to push for playoff contention (A good sign for any team that is looking to build a championship caliber roster). Secondly, the Magic nearly had Duncan, the only thing that kept Duncan in San Antonio was David Robinson talking him out of it. If that hadn't happened, hell we would probably would have won at least one by now. Lastly, the only reason Dwight left is because of the hair-brained moves that one Otis Smith made, management was bad, and they brought in liability after liability. Management this time around seems to be at least decent (Its only been roughly a year and a half, but I like the moves so far), so the possibilities of us winning a title eventually is not as unfathomable as some may think.

 

As far OKC is concerned, the only reason they haven't won one is because of teams like Miami being around, and that is perfectly acceptable. This year...may be different.

[Soul Bro 1,419]

I believe the OP is very fair... especially because it comes from a dude that was a season ticket holder for years. Few thoughts from me:

 

1. Championships are VERY hard to come by.

2. The Magic have made plenty of mistakes throughout the years and have not proven to be a championship organization... yet.

3. Clearly, the Magic are following the recent paths of the Thunder and Rockets by acquiring tons of young assets, focusing on player development, and setting a clear team-centric culture... which has yet to be produce a recent championship for either team.

 

I really like where this team is headed... but we need to get or develop at least one once in a generation player in the next year or two.

[Emory889 353]

The answer to the question is easy. The Magic making the finals twice in their history suggests the Magic COULD win a championship. Glad I could help.

[Emory889 353]

Also, dismissing the Spurs championships because they have Duncan is absurd. There's been exactly one team in the last 30 years that won a championship without a great player. That's called a trend.

[Soul Bro 1,419]

The answer to the question is easy. The Magic making the finals twice in their history suggests the Magic COULD win a championship. Glad I could help.

I still have nightmares over MagLeeto's missed lay up

[nCoolness 79]

2100 will the Magic's championship year. :gold_cup:

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

Get this man a Valium.

[Captain Hi-Top 791]

Your "pattern" that you suggest shows ineptitude really just details the plight of the small market team. We all know that the odds, as a small market team, are not in our favor as a general rule. The top tier players gravitate towards a select few teams, which makes retaining key people and/or attracting that top talent difficult at best.

 

However, this organization has managed to field a team that made it to the Finals twice now, since the beginning of the Magic, in a period where a third of the league hasn't managed that feat at all.

 

Shaq left. Shaq always wanted to leave. Nothing that management could have done about that, so I can't see "blaming" them for that loss, and I think we can all agree, had he stuck around, we would most likely have at least one Championship banner in the rafters.

 

Hill was injured. Talk about some bad luck, but damn did this team swing for the fences. Years before LeBron, Wade and Bosh teamed up in Miami, this team almost pulled off the makings of a monster team that, quite frankly, would have been better in terms of spreading out the talent in my opinion. Can you imagine T-Mac, Hill and Duncan all together in their prime? Ultimately, Duncan decided not to leave the Spurs, but we still would have been pretty good with T-Mac and Hill if it weren't for that injury. Now the team was forced to play with one star on the court, at the cost of two stars on the payroll which was a long term nightmare. Bad end results, but I'd rather take that shot and have it fail versus not take it at all. At least they were trying and thinking big!

 

Dwight, well, Dwight turned out to be that perfect example of the plight of the small market teams. He had everything here, but wanted more. He wanted those bright lights, and he left. Can't blame the team here for that one either, I place that blame on Dwight.

 

So, what I see from this team is potential. The ability to take shots at the title, the willingness to spend to make it happen when the time is right, and the dreams to come up with ways to make it happen. We have a team that made changes in management, acquiring a young talent that, hopefully, can make that happen. He's clearing out the mess Otis made and putting this team in a position to jump back into Finals contention (hopefully sooner rather than later).

 

This is the kind of thread I'd expect to see on a Buck's forum, to be completely honest, and probably well deserved given their ineptitude. If your (not just the OP, but the universal "you") desire is to root for a team that is constantly in contention for the title, I'd suggest picking a new team, perhaps one of the large market teams that, while they might not be great right now, always seem to attract the big names that give their fan base hope. Or, you know, go root for Miami.

[Secretly Space Jesus 670]

What in the history of the United States suggested that they could "EVER" emerge as a global superpower in the post-WW2 landscape? They'd never been a global superpower before then. Why would anyone believe that something that hadn't been true before could suddenly become true later?

[Murphy13 185]

What in the history of the United States suggested that they could "EVER" emerge as a global superpower in the post-WW2 landscape? They'd never been a global superpower before then. Why would anyone believe that something that hadn't been true before could suddenly become true later?

 

American Imperialism was rampant before WWII; the foundation was there well before WWII. Your point is not lost though.