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Instant success was never the goal for Magic
Topic Started: Apr 22 2005, 03:06 AM (370 Views)
MagicMadness
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Everybody who thought the Magic would be a serious playoff contender this year, please raise your hand.

OK, now slap yourself in the face.

You're suckers. All of you.

I tried to tell people at the beginning of the year that this team would be mediocre at best and that fans should be ecstatic just to be in playoff contention. And until the final couple of weeks of the season, when injuries wrecked the roster, the Magic were exactly that: an ordinary team with an outside chance at the playoffs.

That's what they were at the beginning of the season.

That's what they were at the end.

So why all the consternation? Why am I now hearing people proclaim the season to be a disaster and rookie General Manager John Weisbrod to be a flop who doesn't know what the puck he's doing?

Get a reality check. This season wasn't a miserable failure; it was a necessary step. When you clean house, you're going to get dirty.

Repeat after me: You don't just blow up your entire roster during the offseason, put an entirely new starting lineup on the floor and go from the worst team in the league to a playoff powerhouse in one season.

Magic management never would say this publicly, but this season was never anything more than an afterthought. Every move made by Weisbrod has been made for the future, not the present. When he took over, he began looking three years down the road, not one.

If immediate success was Weisbrod's goal, he would have kept superstar Tracy McGrady around this year and not concerned himself with McGrady opting out of his contract after this season with the Magic receiving zero compensation.

That would have been a dumb, irresponsible move. You don't risk the long-term future of franchise on the outside chance that McGrady might stay if the Magic have a really good season. You trade the guy and get something of value for him. Prudently, that's exactly what Weisbrod did.

If immediate success was his goal, Weisbrod would have drafted college superstar Emeka Okafor, not high school phenom Dwight Howard. That, too, would have been a dumb move. Okafor may be the rookie of the year, but Howard could be the superstar of the decade.

Even Weisbrod's absolute worst move -- trading Cuttino Mobley for Doug Christie -- was made not for this year or next year, but the year after.

"The deal was made for a host of reasons that go well beyond the immediate," Weisbrod admitted shortly after the trade. "In all honesty, the immediate basketball part of the deal was the lowest factor. We are looking long term. Next summer [when the contracts of Christie, Kelvin Cato and Tony Battie expire], we'll be $23 million under the cap. You can do a lot with $23 million."

Translation: In the master plan, this season was inconsequential. Sure, making the playoffs would have been a nice bonus, but it certainly wasn't paramount in the grand scheme.

This season was little more than one long, 82-game assessment process -- an audition for the future. Johnny Davis' coaching acumen was evaluated, as was Grant Hill's health, Jameer Nelson's ability to play point guard and Steve Francis' ability to not play point guard.

"A lot of the changes we made were for two and three years down the road," Magic interim coach Chris Jent said after the final team meeting Thursday. "You have to be realistic. To build teams, it takes time."

But, amazingly, there are many who claim Weisbrod should be fired after only one season for mismanagement of the team.

Ridiculous.

The only thing mismanaged this season was our own expectations.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/bask...magic&track=rss

Yes! I agree completely with Bianchi's assessment of the season. I know there are a lot of fans who view this season as a big failure, but people have to realize that deep playoff teams cannot be built in one season. I'm not completely satisfied with how the season ended, especially because it started out with so much promise, but injuries and the reality of two rookie starters helped bring the Magic back down to earth.

I predicted before the season that the Magic would win between 30-39 games, hoping for at least 35, and they ended up with 36. I know a lot of people are still dissatisfied, but for the record, I thought this season was a mild success.
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Drex22
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SCREW THE Orlando Sentinel!!! durring the start of the year all they wanted to do was rip the Rockets saying how the Magic got the better deal quote JW as saying "the rings should start rolling in" and in a nut shell say how the Magic are the better team after 15-20 games.... NOW they back off and say the fans are cazy for ever thinking this team was going places this year...WTF?? I dont understand them at all, I love this part...

"Get a reality check. This season wasn't a miserable failure; it was a necessary step. When you clean house, you're going to get dirty.

Repeat after me: You don't just blow up your entire roster during the offseason, put an entirely new starting lineup on the floor and go from the worst team in the league to a playoff powerhouse in one season."

Funny, the Rockets have had more player changes this year and more missed games because of injurys and we still got it done...Why dont some of you still get it...

YOU NEED TO EXPECT MORE FROM YOUR TEAM!!!

Lets check again, we had all of this coming into the season

1. A new allstar coming in (STEVE)
2. Another allstar coming back (HILL)
3. The current allstars bestfriend that can light it up and play GREAT D (see last years Laker V Rockets playoffs on KOBE)
4. The first pick in the draft (arguably the ROY)
5. Another great first round draft pick

you guys had a fresh start with SOOOOO MUCH potential.... and now the OS is telling us "SHAME ON YOU"???? we were right to have gotten excited!!! This isnt our faults...

Wakeup and smell the coffee people!!! IT'S THE FRONT OFFICE!!
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TragicMadness
Rookie
I dont blame JW for the teams colapse this year. I blame 5 key players going down w/ injuries. I blame crybabies like SF, Cato, and Christie. However if we keep our core together, we will be much better then the sorry ass rockets in the long run. I gurentee you guys dont get out of the first round. T-Mac is a curse and the biggest crybaby of them all.
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Drex22
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^dont get me wong I'm a Rockets fan first, but Steve also made me a Magic fan.. As far as saying whos team will be better...GET OVER IT ALREADY!! WHO CARES.. only bitter fans!! We both got a good trade, MOVE ON!! I hope all the sucess in the world for the Magic (UNLESS PLAYING THE ROX) I'm a fan of the team just like you... all I'm doing is pointing out that I'm not a fan of the OS and JW, why is that such a big deal?? Can we not question or gripe about bad articals or management??
MagicMadness has a good fourm here, dont you go screw it up by being the "BIGGEST CRYBABY" ...
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iceveins333
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Rocks blocking shots on guys with dreadlocks
yeah this forum is a lot better than the espn forums without all those little immature no lifes who spammed the hell out of the board
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MAGICMANEVAN
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Quote:
 
Yes! I agree completely with Bianchi's assessment of the season. I know there are a lot of fans who view this season as a big failure, but people have to realize that deep playoff teams cannot be built in one season. I'm not completely satisfied with how the season ended, especially because it started out with so much promise, but injuries and the reality of two rookie starters helped bring the Magic back down to earth.

I predicted before the season that the Magic would win between 30-39 games, hoping for at least 35, and they ended up with 36. I know a lot of people are still dissatisfied, but for the record, I thought this season was a mild success.
yeah i guess ur right MM.
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kjbucs01
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Sixth Man
This team should have been in the playoffs and definitely would have been in if the mobley trade never happened. But even without the injuries to hill and turk we would most likely be in. We had the talent to be in the playoffs and win now. But i also think that this team is built so that just in case we dont win this season or next we will be in great shape in a few years. We will be in the playoffs next year, and then after that when we get all that cap room, and with the growth of dwight and jameer, we will be contenders. I think besides the mobley deal, JW has done a great job of getting a team that can win now and be GREAT in a few years. Actually you can look at the christie deal in two ways...we would have been in the playoffs this year and lost OR we dont make it this year and we do make it next year THEN because of the cap room with christie leaving we have even more room for the next year. I personally love JW and think he is doing great. I dont think our expectations were too high either.
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MAGICMANEVAN
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man i still wish mobley was here and we did not have that old bag. christie is a whining crying baby and should go bang himself. but it is also good that we can have cap room at the end of the season.
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Black and Blue
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Have You Hugged Your Van Gundy Today?
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Thank goodness for this thread! I have been telling all the Weisbrod haters out there that he is just planning for the future with the seemingly boneheaded trades, and now finally proof on the boards. Gracias, Magicmadness.
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Drex22
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^I hope it's true also, but I dont buy into the propaganda...
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gomagic33
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Mr. Anderson
We should have still made the playoffs regardless. The only wrong and bone headed move that JW made this season is keeping Jhonny Davis for too long and then finally deciding to get rid of him.
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Solid Snake
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Legend
Great article. What some of you don't understand is that yes we did have the talent to win now, but this is a brand new team. Sonics had talent to win last year but they didnt, now with the same team they finished 3rd in the WEST. So, we had a good team, but it was completely re-done and expectations shouldnt be so high with so many new players who have never played together before. OUr major players, Hill, Francis and Dwight, this was just there first season together for all 3. The only mistake made by Weisbrod was Johnny Davis. That was clear from day 1 that he couldnt coach, no reason to give him a chance. Twice his team had the worst record in the league.
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c4ac5
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If grant hill stays healthy,howard and nelson keep improving,francis and the turk get more consistent,and some better bench production will lead to the magic making the playoffs.ALso it would be nice if some baggage like christie got dumped in the offseason,other than that we'll see what happens in the draft and free agency.

The most important thing above mentioned is still this franchise relying on the ankle of grant hill.If he gets hurt again next year,doesn't matter when it is either this team probably won't make it or their playoff run would be seriously halted.Not unless somebody besides francis turns into an allstar during the offseason.
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MAGICMANEVAN
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Not unless somebody besides francis turns into an allstar during the offseason.
i hope!!!
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