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Group Blog talking about the NBA 2009 Eastern Conference Champions. Due to the amazing success of the 2009 playoff run comments are now frequently deleted to kill offensive comments, incoherence, or asininity. Comments can no longer be anonymous and require either a Blogger or OpenID account.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

More Billy Donovan Theories...

Call it common sense.
Or call it a conspiracy theory.
But here's my latest thought:
The Magic are buying time to pursue Billy Donovan, which would allow them to wipe away the Brian Hill mess in one stroke.
It's the only way, the most logical way, to make everthing right.
Present Billy as the new Magic coach, and Brian Hill is reduced to a footnote.
It's unfair to Brian, but that's business.
I'm thinking that this is less about Hill and all about landing the arena deal, i.e. securing the future of Magic basketball.
If the Magic bring on Billy Ball, they will again regain some footing as an NBA darling, for no coach can make a bigger splash than Donovan. They'd have Billy, salary-cap room and Dwight Howard, which equals an arena-ribbon cutting ceremony, uptick in corporate sponsor sales and sell-outs.
But the Magic have needed time to pull off the coup.
They need time to smoothe-talk Donovan, especially if Billy is playing golf in Ireland as some suspect. They need time to smoothe-over the hurt that GM Otis Smith will feel if they have to let him go because Donovan might want total control. Or they need time to talk Billy down from wanting to be GM, hoping he and Smith can work together.
Come on. Why else does team prez Bob Vander Weide say it will take two to three weeks to make a decision on Hill, who the DeVos family has known for more than a decade?
I suspect that Brian knows the score already, in some form.
Hill is a company guy, and if Vander Weide says that the future of the organization hinges on the arena deal and that Billy Ball is the only thing that can surely save it . . . .Hill will have to go play along.
Maybe he's not in limbo. Maybe he knows the plan. Maybe Smith does, too.
It's why they can't utter a peep.
So in a week or so, the Magic call a two-for-one news conference.
Hill says he's retiring, and then an hour later, out pops Billy.
Isn't this the Magic way? They announced John Weisbrod's "resignation" as GM, and then hours later followed with Brian Hill II.
And remember how they cleaned up the toxic waste after the first Brian Hill stint? After the players ran him off, the Magic brought Chuck Daly out of retirement for $5 million a year and then added Dr. J as a community ambassador. Both moves were made to fumigate the stink surrounding Hill's ouster.
See a pattern here?
Can we say that perhaps this latest situation is not about Brian Hill and is bigger than Brian Hill? Does any one buy that the problems, as outlined by Vander Weide, are "style of play" and Hill's questionable use of personnel?
Nah.
This, maybe, just maybe, is about Billy Ball saving the day --- and the franchise. From Brian Schmitz's Basketblog

6 Comments:

  • At 12:05 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Whoa,brian seems to really think that billy is a good candidate. None of us really touched on billy's style of play if he were to become the magic's next head coach. Sure college coaches havent faired well,but there can be exceptions if the right guy comes along playing the right style of basketball with the right combination of players,none of us can stop his hire if that is the way the magic choose to go,so lets open the debate. Me personally i've watched alot of florida gator basketball over the years being a fan of kentucky and sec basketball,they've pretty much whupped up on us the last 5 or 6 years,so i know their team very well at each position. Plus my all time favorite college coach is Rick Patino(i'm still madd to this day that he left kentucky for the celtics),well billy was a player under coach patino and an assistant coack at kentucky under coach patino so i know the style of play that he learned from coach patino very well,and i also understand the fundamental differences between the two coaches that make donovan a little more attractive as an NBA coach than coach patino ever did.

     
  • At 12:22 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Darko= Joakim Noah,athletic big men who can shoot from the outside and dribble on the perimeter at their size. Dwight= Al Horford,athletic big men who can run the floor,dominate the low block offensively and rebound with the best of them. Jameer= Taurean Green,shoot first point guards that can score from anywhere and hit the spot-up three. JJ=Lee Humphrey,Shooting guards that can stretch the floor being able to hit the three in transition,spot-up three and playing off of screens creating shots for themselves or others. After looking at those four players,you can see that they fit the exact same mold of the championship college basketball team,obviously the college game is a little different,but this is a quick indicator of the roles. The only thing the magic are missing is a corey brewer equivalent and there lies our real problem. We need a small forward who can hit the spot-up three,transition three,and defend well,currently we dont have that. Grant cant shoot three's and neither can trevor so both should be back-up's,hedo doesnt play any defense so he should be traded,everyday rashard lewis makes more sense to fill that small forward position for us because he can do those three things we need at that position. With billy and that starting five i think he could have a ton of success because he would be really coaching the same type of collection of players that he had at florida.

     
  • At 5:17 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    I guess it is interesting when you think about it, the possibility of Billy Donovan coaching the Magic. It would really be a fun Magic team to watch under his guidance.

    However, I really doubt that he would leave the Gators to coach the Magic. He probably would want complete control, and I wonder if the Magic would be willing to do that with someone who has never coached in the NBA.

    You never know though...

     
  • At 8:13 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    Billy Donovan would be an intriguing prospect, but I have a hard time buying into it for the reasons mentioned. It is true that Magic needs public support which has been eroded after the miserable season despite making it to the play-offs, and majority of it is directed towards Brian Hill, which by his pigheadedness became an easy target. However, Magic does not need public support for the arena. All I hear is that the arena is a done deal. All this stuff by some of the Orange county commissioners are smoke screen which shows either their ignorance or it is a ploy to protect their political standing.

    I can imagine hiring Donovan would create enormous excitement which is good for Magic's being able to sell season tickets and luxury sky-boxes in the new arena. I am not sure that he may ask for more control overriding Otis Smith. Smith could not exert influence over Hill, and I am sure he would do no better against Donovan, regardless of his title as GM. In short most of this stuff are pointing to the wrong premises. Don't ask me why and just simply believe me. Remember that all my predictions have come true despite not having a crystal ball. I guess I get as close as possible to having a crystal ball.

     
  • At 6:22 PM, Blogger FMI SPORTS said…

    www.KeepBillyDonovan.com We're back online until Billy signs!

     
  • At 3:23 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Please have Joel Glass e-mail his advisor from New Trier. It's good to see him doing so well! He can look up my e-mail address on the NT Website.

     

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