Better luck next year, John. Congrats though on the best Magic trick I've ever seen: Turning crap into a top 3 team in the East to back to crap again in less than a season. P.S. I hear Steve Francis brings good luck at the lottery.
Damn that McGrady plays some selfish ball just like Weisbrod said.....Maybe we need to get Charles to call the Fun Police on him or something
It's not really hate, more like insensitive ridicule. Karla is hate. Francis is just another talented but clueless player who does not get it. I still can't believe they touted that they got the better deal once upon a time.
Not likely, it would probably mean the others would accumulate fatigue and then fizzle out in late February rather than early March.
No one is to blame here but that dumb GM, Weisbrod. I understand having to break up that backcourt of Steve and Cuttino, but all he could get for cat was Doug Christie? And I still can't believe that Tracy McGrady is going to be sporting Rockets red for a looooong time.
They never were even a top 3 team, the Magic just took advantage of an easy early schedule, and won a spate of close games. It all evens out at the end of the season. Chuck Daly: "You are your record, no more, no less."
that, and they essentially traded their 3rd best player (mobley) for nothing, then lost their second best player (hill) for the last month, and lost their 6th man and 5th best player (hedo) for about the last 6 weeks. i haven't watched one of their games in forever, but i assume by the repeated losing streaks they just gave up once the playoffs looked unlikely. it all started with that mobley trade. hopefully either everyone comes back healthy or they at least trade steve to a decent squad.
I don't know if Orlando was top 3 east, but they were at least top 6 in my opinion. The 1st half of the season wasn't so "easy" b/c they at one point had an 11-5 record vs the West with wins over San Antonio, Dallas, Seattle, Denver, Memphis, Minn, and the Lakers. They were playing good open court ball. Hill, Francis, Cat, Hedo, Howard, Battie were all ballin. Then they started to slide a bit and WeisAss panicked. Johnny Davis didn't couldn't control Francis, and the more things went south (close games not going their way, losing to bad teams) the harder Francis tried to do everything by himself, and it didn't work. Then WeisAss trades Mobley (shooting a career high 3pt %) for Christie (knowingly hurt and shooting like 24% from the arc) in a panic move to try to stabilize Francis. Then WeisAss lies about it saying it's a cap move, when the truth is it doesn't help the cap at all because he could have let Mobley walk and Hill will have an option that year. The Hedo injury was a major blow. And Grant Hill being out again is just the straw that broke the camels already very weak back. Interestingly, Steve Francis has played GREAT ever since he came back from kicking the camera man. Before that, he was on a downward spiral turning the ball over way too much and shooting like crap and just being pissed off at his whole team. I think Chris Jent is getting through to Steve. Too bad the Orlando team (well I don't care that much) is so crappy now w/o Hedo and Hill and they don't play any D and their other players are playing terrible system offense. Seriously, did you guys see the Detroit game. Steve was feeding the big man, penetrating and dishing, taking good shots, but his team just was okay at best and playing crapily most of the time. Remeber, T-Mac was on a crappy Orlando team last year, and every game i'd see him play, he'd start off trying to do the right thing, finding cutter, setting up the open J, passing to big men down low; but after a few minutes of fumbled passes, missed jumpers and overall crappy play by his teammates leading to a big defecit, you could just see T-Mac say to himself "*** all this" and start coming down and jacking 3's every play. I love the trade. Francis will never be as good as T-Mac. But Francis is not a piece of crap either. He played terrible ball for a big stretch, and it was mostly his fault, but in the right situation, Francis can help a team thrive while thriving himself. Orlando was playing good ball against good teams. They just needed a better coach earlier and definitely a different GM, cause WeisAss is just an arogant biotch.
Injured Christie rips Magic GM By John Denton, Florida Today ORLANDO — Injured guard Doug Christie said Wednesday that it would be "extremely difficult" for him to return to the Orlando Magic next season and he also openly questioned the truthfulness of general manager John Weisbrod in a 35-minute rant. Wearing a cast on his surgically repaired left ankle and flanked by his wife and agent, Christie conducted a news conference via satellite from Seattle with an area TV station and Florida Today. He said he hoped to clear up the reasons as to why he hasn't been with the team since he was put on the injured list on March 5. Also, he bashed Weisbrod and the organization for allegedly not backing him up when questions arose about his absence from the team. "It's going to be extremely difficult," Christie said when asked if wanted to return. "It's looked at as, '(Christie) doesn't like Orlando and doesn't want to be there.' That couldn't be farther from the truth. But from the standpoint of a professional atmosphere and a job it would be very difficult to come back there and play under the circumstances that I have been put through for the last four months." Weisbrod said that he "has no intentions of trading (Christie) or buying him out of his contract." Christie is making $7.5 million this season and $8.2 million next season. Kelvin Cato, Tony Battie and Christie all have expiring contracts next season, meaning the Magic could have $23 million to deal next February at the trade deadline. Weisbrod chuckled at the claims that he has not supported Christie. "The ironical thing is that I've done nothing but defend the kid," Weisbrod said. "If anything the fans, media and even his own teammates have wondered why I have been so easy on him. "I'm sure he's upset the way he's been depicted in the media. But I came back from our meeting in New York and said exactly what his injury was. The reality is I've allowed him to go back to Seattle and conduct himself throughout this rehabilitation the way he wanted. I'm the one person in Orlando who has his back and I'm the guy he's taking shots at now." The Magic traded Cuttino Mobley and Michael Bradley to Sacramento for Christie on Jan. 10, feeling his defense and leadership would aid a push to the playoffs. But Christie, who turns 35 in May, struggled in his 21 games with the Magic, averaging just 5.7 points a game and getting exposed repeatedly defensively. He was taken out of the starting lineup just after the all-star break and went on the injured list with pain in his left ankle. After getting tests performed in Seattle and Los Angeles, Christie had surgery on April 4 to have bone spurs and bone fragments removed from his left ankle. The Magic were 18-15 at the time of the trade with Sacramento, 13-12 with Christie on the active roster and 4-15 since he was placed on the injured list. Christie hasn't attended a Magic game since going on the injured list. Christie and his agent, Bradley Marshall, are accusing Weisbrod of being vague about the veteran player's whereabouts over the past month in an attempt "somehow keep a blur over this trade and why it was done." Marshall, who held up a bag full of bone fragments removed from Christie's ankle, also accused the Magic of engaging in "an attempt to scourge (Christie's) character." "John Weisbrod started making some statements that I don't think are appropriate," Marshall said. "You don't make the statement, 'I don't know where he's at,' or 'as far as I know he's up in Seattle.' You don't make the statement in New York that you are going back to Orlando to clear everything up and then not do that. You don't make those kinds of statements. He knew exactly what the conditions were of this man's injury. "We had to object to this with the context of what's been going on in Orlando the last several years. We heard it from other players. We didn't believe it and we trusted John, but I've frankly got to say that we're disappointed." The Magic also suffered injuries to Grant Hill (shin/ankle inflammation), Hedo Turkoglu (fractured wrist) and Nelson (torn ribcage muscle). In addition, Johnny Davis was fired on March 17 and replaced on an interim basis by Chris Jent. "You could make the case with the three injuries and the coaching change that the organization has been on a tougher ride than he's been on lately," Weisbrod said of Christie. "The sooner Doug takes the constructive approach to getting himself back the better it will be. But right now he's making his bed and he's ultimately going to have to lie in it."
Weisbrod is an idiot, he is the reason the magic did not make the play-offs. Trading mobley away was stupid, and trading gooden varajoa away for Battie was also stupid. I liked the magic at the beginning of the year( i am still a francis fan). but now it is more difficult because of all the trash talking weisbrod did. So I have mixed feelings over them missing the play-offs.
The only thing Weisbrod didn't mess up was this year's draft. With the #1 pick you really couldn't go wrong picking either Howard or Okafor, so basically flip a coin. Then, drafting Jameer Nelson was smart as well. Besides that, this guy ruined this team and hasn't made one smart move or trade. Guy is a complete fool, if i'm a Magic fan i'm screaming & running for the hills.
Wow I don't think I ever read a GM put his foot in his mouth quite as much as Weisbrod. The guy has absolutely no tact at all.
