I wonder if Hennigan wanted to be like the Nuggets (and be competitive). I mean, Nelson, Affalo, Hedo, Davis, Harrington lineup with Vuvecic as a 6th man has the looks of a a 10th seed team. Wouldn't be surprised if he tries to get Al Jefferson or something.
Since I brought up Weisbrod, I went and read what he's been up to since he left the Magic. After firing coaches and trading most of the roster in one season, he quit saying he had an executive opportunity in the NHL. He then became a scout. And then went to be a scout for another team, and then a 3rd team. And now, finally, he's an assistant general manager. Is there any question whether Weisbrod was hired for anything other than taking the fall for trading McGrady? Hennigan is no different.
I would have to say there is no debate he is the least qualified. Since he is a rookie easily the most susceptible to rookie mistakes.
They could have just kept Otis Smith, who was supposedly fired for suggesting the franchise needed to trade Howard, and accomplished the exact same thing.
and they let SVG go for nothing.. who is damn good coach, they wont find a better coach than out there than SVG, unless they hired Nate McMillan.. (but they screwed up on that too)
I gotta agree with this. Hennigan might be young and inexperienced but the guy isn't completely dumb. There is no way he spends months leaking fake offers and generally frustrating teams by holding out for a better deal only to take arguably the worst deal on the table from the start. The owner HAD to have pulled rank on this and made the deal and it's so lopsided from a basketball sense that one could reasonably speculate that there was some Buss/DeVos business deal on the side. Either that or DeVos felt some guilt for the Howard situation and decided to send him wherever he wanted regardless of what was being offered. After all, DeVos is one of the richest men in the world - he doesn't care if he is going to spend the next 10 years losing money on the Magic - that's a tax write off for him. By the way, here is his house which is currently up for sale if anyone here was looking for a new residence. http://www.businessinsider.com/the-...ng-his-25-million-oceanfront-home-2012-4?op=1
...if I think about it a little more and try to speculate a motive for Orlando's owner taking the reigns to make this move that clearly handicaps his team's prospects, maybe he is trying to sell the franchise. This could signify the arrested development holding pattern of a team in transition. I personally don't see how lessening the value of your franchise is a strong business decision but you see it time and time again when teams are on the move. It's just a theory but one I haven't seen posted yet.
I think they just saw Afflalo as "marketable" because he scored a ton of points at the end of last season. And they felt they needed someone marketable while they suck. He's a pretty fun player who can do a lot of things when he wants to. This deal makes sense if it was made by their business side executive, not Hennigan, as Hollinger said. It seems like they always preferred some sort of "face" over basketball reasons. Serious talks about Brook Lopez, now this. I think they just wanted a fairly young player who's guaranteed to score 20 points per game and be the face while the team is crap. And they didn't care about cutting salary as much as Houston hoped. In the end, they will suck for several years at the very least, probably for some 5 years. By that time, that bad salary will disappear on its own.
I usually don't use the conspiracy excuse but I refuse to believe that a GM could be this dumb so I think the NBA had more to do with this than Hennigan.
I don't know, I think the NBA would have wanted Dwight in Brooklyn (with a big package of draft picks, brooks, and Lopez going to Magic when Lopez's restriction was up). Think of the "Battle for NY" t-shirts they'd sell. Think of the big matchup of Dwight and Amar'e, the two big threes playing each other four times a year in the biggest market. Plus, LA already had a storyline, with Nash v. Paul for the best pg in LA.
I don't know about that, but something about this deal smells. I no longer believe in the integrity of the league. Just my opinion, but that's how I feel.
