Florida Magic Today
An article worth reading... Here's a glimpse of what the guys in charge of our team are thinking.
Magic hope win energizes team
General manager Otis Smith is quick to point out that Orlando's woes began on Jan. 10 when promising small forward Trevor Ariza slipped on a wet spot at Golden State's Oracle Arena. Ariza, Orlando's best defender and top reserve, tore a ligament in his knee. Not coincidentally, Smith said, the Magic have gone 4-11 since losing the blossoming Ariza.
Factor in the injuries to Grant Hill, Keyon Dooling (thumb ligament tear) and Tony Battie (chipped bone in thumb), and the Magic have had to try and survive with a skeleton lineup. The result has been a loss of confidence and continuity both offensively and defensively.
"I look at the fact that we were 19-31 at this point last year and I look at the fact that four of our top eight are injured," Smith said. "We could overanalyze it and say this needs to happen and this needs to happen, but I know what we need most of all. Most of it is getting guys healthy and continuing the maturation process of a young team."
Added Brian Hill: "Healthy teams win. If we can stay healthy, we have a chance to stay up in that upper echelon. If we don't, we'll continue to struggle."
Magic hope win energizes team
General manager Otis Smith is quick to point out that Orlando's woes began on Jan. 10 when promising small forward Trevor Ariza slipped on a wet spot at Golden State's Oracle Arena. Ariza, Orlando's best defender and top reserve, tore a ligament in his knee. Not coincidentally, Smith said, the Magic have gone 4-11 since losing the blossoming Ariza.
Factor in the injuries to Grant Hill, Keyon Dooling (thumb ligament tear) and Tony Battie (chipped bone in thumb), and the Magic have had to try and survive with a skeleton lineup. The result has been a loss of confidence and continuity both offensively and defensively.
"I look at the fact that we were 19-31 at this point last year and I look at the fact that four of our top eight are injured," Smith said. "We could overanalyze it and say this needs to happen and this needs to happen, but I know what we need most of all. Most of it is getting guys healthy and continuing the maturation process of a young team."
Added Brian Hill: "Healthy teams win. If we can stay healthy, we have a chance to stay up in that upper echelon. If we don't, we'll continue to struggle."
posted by OVERWADED @ 6:47 PM
8 Comments:
At 7:03 PM,
OVERWADED said…
Excuses, excuses...
At 8:16 PM,
WeRDevos said…
make. a. trade.
At 8:57 PM,
Matt said…
Statements of the kind by Smith and Hill are just pouring salt on the wounds, and are insults to the intelligence of the Magic fans. As I stated before, these guys are in the business of protecting each others' behind, and like an ostrich, are oblivious to their surroundings. Injuries are a part of NBA and all teams go through some injuries, from time to time. Magic are deep enough to compensate for any player’s absence with only one exception; Dwight. Comparing the overall standing to last year’s at this point of the season by Otis Smith is plain foolish. Hill is the one who is sucking the life out of this group of talented players by his autocratic and narrow-minded approach to the game of basketball. If he was acting up like an average coach that he is, acknowledging his limitations and being mindful of constructive suggestions, the team could have been a lot more successful while securing his job in the process. As for Otis Smith, he knows the limits of his own authority afforded to him by the ownership, which in no part allows him to mess with their sentimental choice of Brian Hill as the coach. On top of it all, the ownership does not have the slightest idea how the heck to run this business, so that it could generate reasonable profit, in the short term, while creating added value and equity, in the long term. Any green business consultant could see that the organization needs an experienced general manager who knows the ropes of the business, and has enough weight and respect to wheel and deal as he deems fit, not to mention directing the coach in whatever aspect of business that his shortfalls are evident.
At 10:26 PM,
Matt said…
This is a recent quote from Otis Smith on J.J. Redick:
"We're finding out what we already knew," Smith said. "That he can play."
Then why the heck weren't you playing him? Would you and your be-trusted so-called coach bench him again when Grant and Keyon come back?
At 1:48 AM,
Ken said…
Another look into the narrow, infantile mind of BSH. That guy just kills me every time he opens his mouth. I agree the depth alone of this team should have prevented this current loosing streak. Instead, one guy, 1, (Ariza) goes down and everything turns to shit. I'm sick of BSH's flimsy excuses why he just dosen't know what he's doing. Another thing, the streakiness of Turkglu has become a joke. Sure, every player has streaks, just look at Jameer, but Jameer will snap himself out of it. Turkglu just seems to get worse with each game. If he could have made just half of his shots in the game against the Net's, the Magic could have walked away with a win.
Just think, after the all-star break everyone will be back. Battie and GHill will be back in the starting lineup and Darko and Reddick will be back on the bench. Just as though nothing changed. DEPRESSING!
At 4:52 AM,
OVERWADED said…
You're all right.
Ken, the difference is Darko will still be getting those "generous" 20 minutes a game that B Hill gives him; coming off the bench of course. Whereas Redick will probably go back to 12th man or not even dressing. If Redick goes to the very end of the bench all over again when everyone is back healthy I'm going to flip out.
As was mentioned, injuries are part of the game. It amazes me to hear two guys in charge blaming injuries when their franchise player hasn't missed a single game. Add the facts that Battie and Dooling are not more than average role players at best, Grant has been hurt every year which we won without him, and neither B Hill or Smith had any clue Ariza was going to be as good as he is. I'm just so sick of this crap.
At 11:49 AM,
Big Figure said…
The sad truth is,the way matt explains everything (which i totally agree with everything matt said),the question to me then would be,does the magic ownership deserve to win????? Winning franchises usually have one or the other,a smart coach or a smart GM,and right now it doesnt seem like we have either,add in ownership that has no clue and what you have is a franchise that probably doesnt deserve to win anything.
At 8:17 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
As Matt said so well in his post, injuries are a part of NBA and all teams go through some injuries
No one likes to hear a team use excuses like injuries as the cause of a team playing poorly. Of course we miss TAriza and GHill, but that's why you have a bench, and other guys are supposed to step up, and the coaching staff should be stepping up their efforts too.
Magic are now just 1/2 game ahead of MIA for the 8th spot and 1 game ahead of NJ for the 9th spot.
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