# Outlook on the 2004-2005 Season



## hobojoe

Following the disaster that was the 2003-2004 Orlando Magic, John Weisbrod and the rest of the Magic’s front office clearly made a conscious effort to get rid of just about everyone who had a part of the losing team last year, and brought in guys who have shown they can win. The Magic drafted High School player of the year Dwight Howard number one overall, and expect him to make a big impact at power forward right away. Later on in the draft, the Magic pulled off a deal for College player of the year Jameer Nelson, who led St. Joe’s to a 27-1 regular season and an Elite 8 birth in the NCAA tournament. In the biggest of the offseason moves, Weisbrod dealt superstar Tracy McGrady, perennial loser Juwan Howard and point guards Tyronn Lue and Reece Gaines to the Houston Rockets for three of the starters from their playoff team last season, including their starting backcourt, Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley. After playing on two of the best teams in the league over the past few seasons in Sacramento and San Antonio, swingman Hedo Turkoglu joined the Magic for the mid-level exception for 6 years. Turkoglu should serve as a great 6th man for the Magic if Grant Hill remains healthy this season, or the starting small forward in the event that Hill goes down with yet another ankle injury. While his moves have been scrutinized, and his life has been threatened, there’s no doubt that John Weisbrod has done his absolute best to bring in guys accustomed to winning, and who know what it takes to win. 

The biggest upgrade made by the Magic is quite obviously at point guard, the Achilles heal for the Magic over past few seasons along with center. The trade with the Rockets got rid of Tyronn “no defense” Lue and first round bust Reece Gaines while bringing in one of the most talented point guards in the league in Steve Francis. While many feel that Francis is better suited as the off guard, there’s no denying his abilities as a basketball player. The questions lie in his attitude and ability to play intelligently and distribute the ball to his teammates at the right times. Fortunately, in a draft day deal that sent a future first round pick to the Denver Nuggets, Jameer Nelson was brought in to backup Francis. Nelson, the consensus College player of the Year could see some playing time at point guard with Francis sliding over to the shooting guard spot, allowing Francis to play the game he’s best suited to play. Francis could have a career year in Orlando this season, benefiting from a change of scenery as well as getting out of a half-court offense surrounded around getting the ball to Yao Ming, rather than an up tempo style of play that the Magic will play. Orlando is now capable of running the fast break that Paul Westhead was brought in to teach, with Francis, Nelson or Grant Hill capable of leading the break, and finally a few good rebounders to start the break. Bottom line, Orlando has gone from having quite possibly the worst starting point guard in the league and without a capable backup to now having a star point guard and a very capable backup.

On the other end of the spectrum we have the shooting guard position, which took a tremendous hit with the loss of Tracy McGrady. Say what you want about T-Mac and his antics last season and this offseason, but the guy is one of the most talented players in the league, a Top 5 player in the league, one of the Top 2 shooting guards in the league and the best scorer in the league. Losing him hurts tremendously, make no mistake about it. Getting Cuttino Mobley helps ease the loss a little. Mobley is a fine player, he’s very good role player to have. But he’s not Tracy McGrady. What Mobley is, is a very good spot up shooter, one of the best 3-point shooters in the league, a hard worker on both ends of the court, and a guy capable of scoring close to 20 points a night, grabbing a few rebounds and getting a few assists. He’s not an ideal shooting guard, but he’s definitely adequate. It’s nice to have Keith Bogans coming off the bench, one of the few players likely to return from last season’s team. Bogans is another hard worker on the defensive end, and on the glass. Like Mobley, Bogans is a lethal 3-point shooter that will help spread the floor for penetration from Francis, Nelson and Hill. Hedo Turkoglu will also get some minutes here, although most of his minutes will be at the small forward spot. A wildcard in this equation is restricted free agent DeShawn Stevenson, who is yet to sign an offer sheet with any team or to re-sign with the Magic. Orlando already has good depth set up at the SG/SF positions, so it’s not imperative that we have Stevenson back next season, but having him on the roster certainly couldn’t hurt, especially in the even that Grant Hill goes down with another injury. 

As we move on to the small forward position, we encounter the perennial huge question mark: Grant Hill. Only this season we have a reliable backup plan in the form of Hedo Turkoglu. When healthy, Grant Hill is an elite small forward in the game, plain and simple. The problem is, the Magic haven’t seen a healthy Hill for very long in the 4 seasons he’s been on the Magic. A healthy Hill could help with the ball handling duties, the rebounding, creating and scoring. What Grant Hill can provide more than anything is veteran leadership, and a good teammate to help out the youngsters learn the way. Being realistic, the Magic simply can’t count on Hill this season, or any season in the future; he’s just too big of a question mark to bank on. That is precisely why the Magic used their $5 Million mid-level exception on former Spur and King swingman Hedo Turkoglu. The sharp-shooting Turk plays much better when he starts, and the numbers will back that up. Even if Hill is healthy, Turkoglu may get the start to help alleviate the pressure from Hill, and help limit his minutes to try and keep him healthy. In the event that Hill goes down with his ankle injury, Turkoglu will see the majority of the minutes at the small forward position, and Keith Bogans, Pat Garrity, Britton Johnsen and possibly DeShawn Stevenson will play the backup minutes there. This position has definitely been upgraded from last season, with plenty of depth even with one of the biggest question marks in the NBA. 

With the loss of one Howard at power forward, the Magic brought in another. Juwan Howard averaged 17 points and 7 rebounds a night last season for the Magic, but hurt the team more than he helped. His contract is bad, he didn’t play defense, he hogged the ball on offense, made way too many stupid turnovers for a guy with his experience, and stunted the growth of Drew Gooden. Thankfully, Juwan was shipped away to the Rockets in the McGrady trade. With the number one overall pick, the Magic selected another power forward with last name Howard, this one was Dwight Howard. Dwight should come in straight out of high school and start at power forward for the Magic, much to the chagrin of Drew Gooden. Sources say that Gooden has not handled coming off the bench very well, first with Juwan Howard last season and now possibly Dwight Howard. To avoid any problems, and to get as much value as they can get for him in a trade, Gooden is likely to be dealt before the start of the season. Hopefully, Gooden is traded for a player of good value who can help the Magic either at the center position, or possibly at shooting guard. At this point, the Magic would then need a reliable backup to Dwight Howard, who can’t be counted on to be great this season. I don’t think we’ll find that in fellow rookie Anderson Varejão, who would be a nice player to have off the bench to play a Zaza Pachulia type role this season, but not to play a lot of minutes and be our only option if Howard goes down. A trade for Gooden is going to have to include a reliable veteran to play backup power forward minutes. So far in the summer league games Howard has shown great athleticism resulting in him being a good rebounder and shot blocker already. His offense is a work in progress, which is OK because the Magic don’t need him to score a lot right away. Howard should be an asset on defense and on the glass. It’s unknown whether Varejão will come over to play with the Magic this season or not, but he could be a sparkplug off the bench for Johnny Davis. 

Moving on to what looks to be the Magic’s thinnest spot heading into the season, it looks like Kelvin Cato will be the starting center come tip off on opening night. Cato has a reputation as being a bit lazy, but he’s shown he can rebound and play defense, which is something the Magic will really need from him. If they plan on running the fast break like John Weisbrod says they’re going to, the Magic are going to have to rebound the ball, an aspect in which Cato can really help with. Off the bench the Magic have last year’s starter Andrew DeClercq, a rebounding and fouling machine who’s effective in short sprints of time, but not as a starter. The Magic are thin in this area, and could really use another body to throw in there. Two possibilities are obvious; one would be to finally bring Mario Kasun over and the other would be to sign someone to the minimum. The other option the Magic could have would be to acquire a center via trade, most likely with Drew Gooden being the player dealt out of Orlando. If there’s one gaping hole in the Magic’s roster, it’s here at center. Luckily, with the depleted crop of centers in the league, especially in the East, Cato and DeClercq won’t be that horrible of a center rotation. This was of course before Shaq came back to the East, and in the Southeast division, much to the dismay of the Magic. A move needs to be made to add another body to the roster before the start of the season. 

With Turkoglu and Mobley now aboard, Garrity expected back, Bogans still on the roster and the addition of Nelson to the team, the Magic have one hell of a 3-point shooting team. Mobley was 6th in the league in 3-pointers made last season, and shot 39% from behind the arc. Turkoglu made 101 trifectas shooting 41.9% from behind the arc, good for 8th best in the league. We all know what Garrity can do, 513 career 3-pointers at 41.3% for his career, he's one of the best in the league at what he does. Bogans proved to be deadly from the corner last season and is only improving. Jameer Nelson was one of the best long-range shooters in the college game, and has shown he has NBA 3-point range. The Magic have assembled one of the elite groups of 3-point shooters in the entire league, which should definitely help spread the floor for penetration from players like Steve Francis and Grant Hill. 

Defensively, the Magic are an incredibly improved team. Last year, the Magic were easily the worst defensive teams in the league. With the additions of Kelvin Cato and Dwight Howard up front, the frontcourt now has two players capable of blocking shots, playing defense and rebounding the ball. Cuttino Mobley has always been a hard worker on defense, even though he’s undersized. Keith Bogans was the best defensive player on the team last season. Hedo Turkoglu is a capable defender, and he has the height and long arms cause problems for opposing players. Playing under Gregg Popovich for a season certainly didn’t hurt his defense. Last season’s squad was more than capable of scoring; they lost so many games due to being terrible defensively. John Weisbrod has assembled a new group of players who all know how to play defense. While they won’t be the Detroit Pistons or the San Antonio Spurs, this year’s Magic will not get killed by giving up over 100 points a night. 

A huge key this season will be the Magic’s ability or lack thereof to run the fast break effectively. The tools are all there, and the coaching staff and GM have expressed their desire to run this year. Paul Westhead was brought in as an assistant to get the team out and running on the break. To have an effective fast break you need quite a few things. First of all, you need a ball handler capable of leading the break. Steve Francis, Jameer Nelson and Grant Hill are all more than capable ball handlers and passers to lead the break. Next, you have to have good rebounders in order to start the break. Kelvin Cato, Drew Gooden (if he’s still on the team), Dwight Howard and Andrew DeClercq are all quality rebounders up front for Orlando. Grant Hill, Hedo Turkoglu, Steve Francis and Keith Bogans are all above-average rebounders for their position, which will definitely help out the break. Finally, a team needs good athletes capable of finishing on the break. Dwight Howard is the perfect big man for running the fast break. He’s got speed, quickness, and very athletic enabling him to dunk easily on the fast break. He’s got the potential to posterize quite a few people this year. When healthy, Grant Hill is one of the best finishers in the lane in the game. The tools are all there to run a very good fast break, and the coaching staff is in place to teach the team how to run a good fast break. 

The deciding factor for the Magic this season versus other teams in the East with questions heading into the season is the depth of the Magic. The Magic have gone from having only a handful of guys belonging in the NBA to a team that has ten quality players. The Magic have a better chance of succeeding this season than other bubble teams because their depth enables them to overcome unforeseen problems. If someone goes down with an injury (Grant Hill, Pat Garrity) we have good backup plans at each position. If one of our rookies doesn’t turn out to be ready to contribute, it’s OK, once again because of our depth.

Depending on how lucky the Magic get with injuries and players playing up to their potential, the team could conceivably finish anywhere in the East. They could finish in the middle of the pack, they could finish last in the entire league if everything that could possibly go wrong does like last season, or everything could go right and they could have home court advantage in the playoffs. That’s basketball for you, as the old saying goes, “that’s why they play the games.” If forced to make a prediction right now, I’m going to say the Magic will finish 44-38, 2nd place in the Southeast division behind the Heat, 5th in the East. Expect a big year out of Steve Francis, with his production returning to its pre-Van Gundy days. Howard will make a big impact with his rebounding and shot blocking, but the team will regret getting rid of Gooden. Expect Turkoglu’s best season as a pro, benefiting from the spacing on the court because of the excellent shooters on the team, and the respect for the penetrating abilities of Steve Francis and Grant Hill. Finally, expect the team to win ball games. This team has been assembled to win right now, and Weisbrod has obviously made it a priority to bring in guys who know how to win, and are accustomed to winning. They may not have a Top 5 player in the league anymore, but teams win games, not individuals.

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this entire thing, I guess I kinda got carried away in my enthusiasm.


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## Dark Praetor

Word?

awsome read, you'll probably get a post of the day.

I'm not sure we should trade Gooden yet though, we haven't got a back-up foward if Howard plays badly.


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## hobojoe

> Originally posted by <b>Dark Praetor</b>!
> Word?
> 
> awsome read, you'll probably get a post of the day.
> 
> I'm not sure we should trade Gooden yet though, we haven't got a back-up foward if Howard plays badly.


I agree, in the last paragraph there I said we're going to regret trading Gooden. I also mentioned that if we trade Drew we need to get a veteran PF capable of playing backup minutes.


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## BallBiologist

5 stars post


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## FanOfAll8472

Did read the entire thing and excellent 5 star (if you had your rating out...) post . Should go on the front page as post of the day.


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## Yyzlin

Great read and a fantastic post as usual, Hobojoe. However, I wouldn't start piling on all this praise on Weisbrod. He really hasn't done much of significance that deserves any merit. Let's just run down what he has done so far. He alienated our best player, and a top 5 player in the league. OK, fine. We didn't want to take the risk of him leaving for free agency anyway, so sure, sending him packing for some valuable players in return isn't such a horrible idea. 

But Weisbrod traded McGrady for what was _certainly_ not the best package on the table. With Indiana's and Phoenix's deals offering more of value, choosing Houston's deal was definately dropping down in terms of return talent. Francis is a star player, but he carries a long and large contract with him. Ditto for Cato, who will be 30 next season, and still is under a ridiculously overpaid contract for two more years. Mobley is a fine role player, but his contract expires next year, and at age 30, I don't think signing him to a long contract is an ideal situation. So, in return, all we get from the deal past next year is a top 10 point guard and an league average center. It's not bad, but there were much better offers on the table that boded better for the present _and_ the future. 

The rest of the moves that Weisbrod has made has been simply no-brainers. Drafting Howard was obvious enough. McGrady was gone, and we were obviously entering a slight rebuilding mode. We needed a superstar, and Howard's potential was widely agreed on to be greater. Next, Weisbrod swung a future first round pick for Nelson, which is probably his brightest move of the year. Our playoff indications look good for next year, and getting a college player of the year at such a value was a smart decision. He should serve well as a backup. Moving on to the offseason, we used the MLE on Hedo Turkoglu. Simple enough. We had a gaping hole at SF that was dependent on a player who hasn't been healthy in years, and a need obviously existed. Signing arguably the fourth best SF (Jackson, Cardinal, Peterson) on the market hardly signifies as a major coup. It was a solid decision, as Turkoglu fits our team profile nicely, but hardly a "genius" move. 

That said, my outlook for this season is nothing more than a transitional year. We will probably contend for a playoff position, but the likelyhood of advancing far doesn't look positive. This middling status in the Eastern Conference will probably stick for one or two more years, as Howard (hopefully) matures into a superstar. By then, perhaps we will finally return as a serious championship contenders.


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## JNice

> Originally posted by <b>Yyzlin</b>!
> But Weisbrod traded McGrady for what was _certainly_ not the best package on the table. With Indiana's and Phoenix's deals offering more of value, choosing Houston's deal was definately dropping down in terms of return talent.


I somewhat agree with most of what you said. But, in regards to the above, I'm not so sure we really know that. No one really knows besides the teams involved what was really offered. I think some of the rumored offers from those teams were a bit off. I dont think either of those teams offered as much as was rumored. What we all read was probably what Orlando wanted, but I doubt it was actually what was offered.

I am pretty sure had Phoenix actually offered Marion, Johnson, and the #7 pick, Weisbrod would have done the deal. I could be wrong, but again I emphasize, we don't know.


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## Dark Praetor

> Originally posted by <b>hobojoe</b>!
> 
> 
> I agree, in the last paragraph there I said we're going to regret trading Gooden. I also mentioned that if we trade Drew we need to get a veteran PF capable of playing backup minutes.


Sorry, I skimmed most of the post. :devil:


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## Yyzlin

> Originally posted by <b>JNice</b>!
> 
> 
> I somewhat agree with most of what you said. But, in regards to the above, I'm not so sure we really know that. No one really knows besides the teams involved what was really offered. I think some of the rumored offers from those teams were a bit off. I dont think either of those teams offered as much as was rumored. What we all read was probably what Orlando wanted, but I doubt it was actually what was offered.
> 
> I am pretty sure had Phoenix actually offered Marion, Johnson, and the #7 pick, Weisbrod would have done the deal. I could be wrong, but again I emphasize, we don't know.


I do believe reading that Marion, #7 pick, and the rights to either Vujanic and Lampe was an officially offered trade, and that was what I was basing my GM evaluation on. Then again, like you said, you never know as even reports can turn out to be false.


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## JNice

> Originally posted by <b>Yyzlin</b>!
> 
> I do believe reading that Marion, #7 pick, and the rights to either Vujanic and Lampe was an officially offered trade, and that was what I was basing my GM evaluation on. Then again, like you said, you never know as even reports can turn out to be false.


It would be nice to know what was really offered by other teams.


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## Yyzlin

Regardless, Orlando was in serious talks with management from Phoenix and from ALL reports, Marion and the #7 pick were set in stone for the trade. What was hinging was most likely Johnson. However, even without Johnson, I think it offers more appeal, especially for the future. Plus, if Weisbrod was a particularly shrewd GM, you would hope he would have been able to negotiate a better deal. I mean, if not Johnson, than at least Barbosa.


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## hobojoe

> Originally posted by <b>Yyzlin</b>!
> Great read and a fantastic post as usual, Hobojoe. However, I wouldn't start piling on all this praise on Weisbrod. He really hasn't done much of significance that deserves any merit. Let's just run down what he has done so far. He alienated our best player, and a top 5 player in the league. OK, fine. We didn't want to take the risk of him leaving for free agency anyway, so sure, sending him packing for some valuable players in return isn't such a horrible idea.
> 
> But Weisbrod traded McGrady for what was _certainly_ not the best package on the table. With Indiana's and Phoenix's deals offering more of value, choosing Houston's deal was definately dropping down in terms of return talent. Francis is a star player, but he carries a long and large contract with him. Ditto for Cato, who will be 30 next season, and still is under a ridiculously overpaid contract for two more years. Mobley is a fine role player, but his contract expires next year, and at age 30, I don't think signing him to a long contract is an ideal situation. So, in return, all we get from the deal past next year is a top 10 point guard and an league average center. It's not bad, but there were much better offers on the table that boded better for the present _and_ the future.
> 
> The rest of the moves that Weisbrod has made has been simply no-brainers. Drafting Howard was obvious enough. McGrady was gone, and we were obviously entering a slight rebuilding mode. We needed a superstar, and Howard's potential was widely agreed on to be greater. Next, Weisbrod swung a future first round pick for Nelson, which is probably his brightest move of the year. Our playoff indications look good for next year, and getting a college player of the year at such a value was a smart decision. He should serve well as a backup. Moving on to the offseason, we used the MLE on Hedo Turkoglu. Simple enough. We had a gaping hole at SF that was dependent on a player who hasn't been healthy in years, and a need obviously existed. Signing arguably the fourth best SF (Jackson, Cardinal, Peterson) on the market hardly signifies as a major coup. It was a solid decision, as Turkoglu fits our team profile nicely, but hardly a "genius" move.
> 
> That said, my outlook for this season is nothing more than a transitional year. We will probably contend for a playoff position, but the likelyhood of advancing far doesn't look positive. This middling status in the Eastern Conference will probably stick for one or two more years, as Howard (hopefully) matures into a superstar. By then, perhaps we will finally return as a serious championship contenders.


Weisbrod may not have done an ideal job so far, but I really admire what he's done because he's been willing to take charge and make the moves he felt were necessary to make the team better. He's not playing it conservative, he's executing a complete turnaround from last seasons team, and I love that considering our record last year. It's easy to say what he could've and should've done, but the fact of the matter is he pulled off several moves to add winners to our team and talented players to add to the depth. A prime example is the draft day trade for Jameer Nelson. The signing of Hedo Turkoglu was good too, to finally have a good backup plan incase Hill goes down. While the McGrady trade may not have been ideal in terms of talent and age, it certainly filled the holes in our team, and ensured in my mind that we'll be competitive this season.


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## Yyzlin

> Originally posted by <b>hobojoe</b>!
> 
> 
> Weisbrod may not have done an ideal job so far, but I really admire what he's done because he's been willing to take charge and make the moves he felt were necessary to make the team better. He's not playing it conservative, he's executing a complete turnaround from last seasons team, and I love that considering our record last year. It's easy to say what he could've and should've done, but the fact of the matter is he pulled off several moves to add winners to our team and talented players to add to the depth. A prime example is the draft day trade for Jameer Nelson. The signing of Hedo Turkoglu was good too, to finally have a good backup plan incase Hill goes down. While the McGrady trade may not have been ideal in terms of talent and age, it certainly filled the holes in our team, and ensured in my mind that we'll be competitive this season.


Do you hear what you are saying? You are giving credit to Weisbrod for taking charge and making moves that he thinks will make the team better. That's what a GM is supposed to do. It's the strength of the moves that he did make that is indicative of his success, and he hasn't been so stellar. He didn't pick the best McGrady trade. I really wouldn't qualify any of the players we received from Houston as "winners". Then, we had a hole at SF and he filled it with our MLE, choosing from one of the plethora of SF's on the market. A ten year old could have came to the same conclusion. You can credit Weisbrod for having a bold plan for the Magic, but boldness doesn't mean success, and personally, I wasn't very satisfied with the turnover this offseason.


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## hobojoe

> Originally posted by <b>Yyzlin</b>!
> 
> Do you hear what you are saying? You are giving credit to Weisbrod for taking charge and making moves that he thinks will make the team better. That's what a GM is supposed to do. It's the strength of the moves that he did make that is indicative of his success, and he hasn't been so stellar. He didn't pick the best McGrady trade. I really wouldn't qualify any of the players we received from Houston as "winners". Then, we had a hole at SF and he filled it with our MLE, choosing from one of the plethora of SF's on the market. A ten year old could have came to the same conclusion. You can credit Weisbrod for having a bold plan for the Magic, but boldness doesn't mean success, and personally, I wasn't very satisfied with the turnover this offseason.


I hear what I'm saying, but maybe you're not. What I'm saying is that Weisbrod did take charge and make the moves to improve the team. A lot of GM's in his position wouldn't have the guts to make the moves he's making. Just because your team is horrible doesn't always mean that the GM is going to make huge changes over the offseason whether they're warranted or not. Look at the Clippers for example, all they've done the past few seasons is suck and keep adding high draft picks. Weisbrod has got rid of the players who lost all those games last season and brought in guys accustomed to winning. Mobley, Francis, Cato and Turkoglu all were on playoff teams last season. Dwight Howard was on a very good high school team, Jameer Nelson was the leader of a St. Joe's team that almost had a perfect regular season.


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## Yyzlin

That's why the Clippers have had one of the worse management in the game in the last several years. Our Magic aren't so far behind. The only reason such a huge turnover was made was because of McGrady's trade demands after he and Weisbrod had less than friendly encounters. Whether he is gutsy or not, any GM should know that talent and on-court performance is more important than any perceived "winning" attitude. When you have a superstar in McGrady, you don't jettison him because of one losing season. In addition, I fail to see how any of the incoming players from Houston are exactly "winners" either. You know just as well as I do that they all have a history of poor character. With our first pick, we were pretty much guaranteed a player with a good attitude and work ethic. You couldn't have gone wrong with either Okafor or Howard.


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## hobojoe

> Originally posted by <b>Yyzlin</b>!
> That's why the Clippers have had one of the worse management in the game in the last several years. Our Magic aren't so far behind. The only reason such a huge turnover was made was because of McGrady's trade demands after he and Weisbrod had less than friendly encounters. Whether he is gutsy or not, any GM should know that talent and on-court performance is more important than any perceived "winning" attitude. When you have a superstar in McGrady, you don't jettison him because of one losing season. In addition, I fail to see how any of the incoming players from Houston are exactly "winners" either. You know just as well as I do that they all have a history of poor character. With our first pick, we were pretty much guaranteed a player with a good attitude and work ethic. You couldn't have gone wrong with either Okafor or Howard.


The Clippers have had one of the worst management in the game the last several years, and so have the Magic. That's precisely my point, because I guarantee if we still had John Gabriel as our GM we would be a worse team. Weisbrod has already shown he's a better GM than Gabriel ever was.


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## Yyzlin

But you still haven't explained what makes Weisbrod a better GM. With the lone exception of the Nelson acquisition, every move Weisbrod has made has been either negative, or a no-brainer.


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## hobojoe

> Originally posted by <b>Yyzlin</b>!
> But you still haven't explained what makes Weisbrod a better GM. With the lone exception of the Nelson acquisition, every move Weisbrod has made has been either negative, or a no-brainer.


Turkoglu. Year after year we've been devestated by Grant Hill not being able to play. Finally, we have a very good backup plan if Hill goes down again in one of the best 3-point shooters in the league who's always been on winning teams, rebounds the ball and plays defense. Weisbrod may have paid him a little too much, but nonetheless it's a good signing given the teams history and the circumstances. In my opinion, it's a positive signing at least for the short term. I wouldn't exactly call it a no-brainer either.


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## Yyzlin

Of course it was a no-brainer. We had no starting SF. There were quite a few on the free agent market. Weisbrod signed one of them to the full MLE. I'm sure any GM would come to the same judicious decision.


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## lw32

> Originally posted by <b>Yyzlin</b>!
> Of course it was a no-brainer. We had no starting SF. There were quite a few on the free agent market. Weisbrod signed one of them to the full MLE. I'm sure any GM would come to the same judicious decision.


I wouldn't take what you consider a "no-brainer" to be a common decision. Trust me, Gabriel made a *lot* of mistakes. I read recently he might be joining the Portland staff however!
Another pick which doesn't fit under your assessment is Dwight Howard, I'd bet my bottom dollar that Gabriel would have gone safe with Okafor. Call me crazy, but I like a little suspense, I like a little excitement over a player barely anyone has watched.
Also, a "no-brain" decision is a tad bit opinionative. What you might consider a "no-brain" decision, I might not.
Gabriel did not do a good job as GM, and although people (some) believe that Weisbrod ran McGrady out of town, I'm in the small minority that believes that a manager needs to be decisive and thick-headed or else he'll get abused by others in the business - much like what happened to Gabriel. I'd like to know, just out of curiousity how Gabriel helped the Magic during his tenure from 1996 till last year? Not much was accomplished, at the very least Weisbrod has brought excitement back to a team that was in need of some changes (obvious from the record over the years).


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## byrondarnell66

I am not a big Magic fan, but on paper i do not see why they should'nt make the playoffs


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## hobojoe

> Originally posted by <b>Yyzlin</b>!
> Of course it was a no-brainer. We had no starting SF. There were quite a few on the free agent market. Weisbrod signed one of them to the full MLE. I'm sure any GM would come to the same judicious decision.


If it's such a no-brainer, why didn't Gabriel get someone last season to play SF? Oh that's right, we signed a cancerous PF despite already having a young, up and coming PF coming off a huge playoff series against the Pistons instead. Give me a break, if it was such a no-brainer Gabriel would've done it last season, or the season before that when he knew there was a good chance Grant Hill would go down with an injury. Fact of the matter is Gabriel had multiple tries at it, but never got it done. In one offseason, Weisbrod has already brought in a good SF in case of a Hill injury.


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## Yyzlin

> Originally posted by <b>hobojoe</b>!
> 
> 
> If it's such a no-brainer, why didn't Gabriel get someone last season to play SF? Oh that's right, we signed a cancerous PF despite already having a young, up and coming PF coming off a huge playoff series against the Pistons instead. Give me a break, if it was such a no-brainer Gabriel would've done it last season, or the season before that when he knew there was a good chance Grant Hill would go down with an injury. Fact of the matter is Gabriel had multiple tries at it, but never got it done. In one offseason, Weisbrod has already brought in a good SF in case of a Hill injury.


That's because we didn't have an extreme need at SF before this year. Miller, Garrity, Giricek, Gooden, McGrady, and later Stevenson have all had turns handling the position in the last several seasons. Now that Stevenson's return is questionable, and Garrity an afterthought after missing the entire last year, it _was_ obvious that we had a gaping hole that didn't exist in previous years.

The signing of Howard was also considered a positive one at the time and well received by we, the fans. He put in good work in Denver, and as I recall, people were very optimistic about Howard and Gooden pairing at C and PF. That obviously didn't work, but hindsight hurts. 

And the truth is, we wouldn't be discussing any of this had Hill simply stayed healthy. One injury, and Gabriel is turned into a goat. If the dice had rolled right, he would still be in office and we would be very thankful for his cap clearing measures that did land Hill and McGrady.


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