Wichtige und sehr interessante News von unserem Magic-"Insider".... Zwar teilweise sehr lang, aber extrem lesenswert, vor allem in Anbetracht seiner bisherigen "Inside"-News und der Trefferquote.
Gepostet gestern morgen, und heute erscheint dann gleich folgende Meldung:
Hier [falls einer meiner Magic-Freunde beim Sentinel nicht registriert sein sollte: www.bugmenot.com !!!].
A look at the 05-06 season...
Well I have not posted on here in long time but I thought I would share some positive thing brought to my attention recently.
I wanted to touch on the players first, Coaching staff second Draft/Summer League fourth and Arena issue fifth.
***********The Players***********
Lets start with the most positive, Jameer Nelson. This guy has won everyone over in the Magic organization, not just because of his stats as a starter. According to what I heard, Jameer was in a lot of pain and still is playing in pain. So much so that the Magic considered holding him out for the rest of the season, but HE insisted he wanted to play. All heart from a guy that was given a free pass to sit the rest of the season. Now look at his stats prior to the injury as a starter for 17 games. He shot over 50% for 12 of 17 games, he averaged over 16pts pg, over 4 reb, over 5 assists, over 1.5 steals and just slightly over 2 to.
{The sad part I want to make is a personal opinion. Had TMAC supported the team and generally saw the talent that Jameer and Howard had, Nelson would be a shoe in for the ROY because he would have started from day 1. But lets not dwell on the past.}
Grant Hill came back, so enough said. It is my understanding that there is very little concern about his shin since he is going to sit the last few games.
Dwight has already committed to the Magic on a tremendous off-season program. He may play summer league and he will definitely have a full time Strength coach and Nutritionist with him all summer long.
Ok just my opinion here again, but this kid could be the closest thing this league sees of the next Shaq. He is probably one of the first players that play as much as he does as in per game minutes and still has added muscle during the season. He has maintained a very heavy lifting program the Magic put him on since he was drafted and has missed very few workouts.
As a side note, He now weighs as much and is almost the same height Shaq was entering his freshman year at LSU. Look it up you will see. Shaq was listed at 7' 250 out of HS. Dwight is almost at 6’11.5, which is over 1" of growth since being drafted and accordingly is still growing. I truly look for him to put on 10 to 15 pounds during the off-season.
So if we return everyone healthy our starting 5 should look better with a second year together and a NEW HEAD COACH.
Oh and as for Francis...He is a little like a double edge sword. Weisbrod still has a lot of faith in him. The problem is that he feels like he has failed to find the right coach to help Steve harness all of his potential. More on this further down about the coach's. He really has limited trade value and if you look at his trade value versus his trade value to the team, his value to the team is much higher.
Believe it or not Steve gets along with most of his teammates and is happy in Orlando. I think a big sign will be in the off-season as far as his commitment to the team goes. Outside the articles I am sure you will see written about the arena during the off season, I would suspect Steve to be a vocal supporter come free agent season and look for him to help sway potential free agents the Magic look at.
The Magic are also extremely happy with Stevenson’s play of late. This is another factor that will play in to the off-season moves as far as free agency the draft and a new Head Coach.
******The Coaching staff********
Weisbrod has apparently already started to make a list of priority coaching candidates. You will be surprised or not to hear that Phil Jackson is nowhere on it. There may be some interest or posturing in the summer, but it looks like Eric Muss & Brain Hill are the leading candidates at this point. There is some interest in Flip Saunders and some other older NBA Coaches even Gar Heard's name has been mentioned. But from what I hear the process will be somewhat wide open. It will be a sales job I think. Someone is going to have to sell Weisbrod that they have the knowledge, teaching ability and trust for today's NBA type players.
Also the head coach must have a track record working with or developing big men. SO that may give Flip or B. Hill an edge. Next year the Magic wants the offense to Flow through Dwight. They think with his passing ability and his court vision, there will be a lot of open looks for the players at the 1, 2 and 3 spots. Which bring me to SUMMER LEAGUE.
Also Weisbrod will probably insist that Old Man Cliff will be retained as big man's coach. ***Ugh, pain's me to say it...Jent's name is on the list too.....
******DRAFT/SUMMER LEAGUE**********
So who will the Magic draft??? Well obviously it depends on the position they end up with at the end of the season and maybe a little luck of the ping-pong balls. But in any event, they are committed to drafting the best player available regardless if it is a pf, sf, sg, pg or C. The ideal situation would be to get a so/jr Power Forward coming out of college that comes from a well coaches team. Why??? Well the long-term plan is to have Dwight as the Starting Center by the 2006-2007 season. I think that pin pointed season has a lot to do with his expected growth and expiring contracts. The Draft will be a telling sign of the direct the Magic intend to go next season. Doug Christie could be traded on draft night.
As for summer league, if the Magic does not have the head coach in place by summer league, look for Clifford Ray to be coaching. The plan at the moment is to get Jameer and Dwight at full health and get them in to summer league working together on in and out plays. The Magic want Nelson to work on his 3 point shot and for Dwight to work on his post up plays. Kasun figures to be involved as well as the Magic try to decide his long-term future with the club.
Hopefully, well in my opinion, DeClerq, Garrity and Doug Christie at the very least will be gone next season.
**********THE ARENA**************
Well I save this for last for a reason. Obviously this is the most pressing and most discouraging issue on the table for the Magic. I know the Magic is making every effort to STAY IN ORLANDO. From what I understand, here is what is shaping up to be the basic strategy.
It will be a turf war. The Magic are willing to move nearby the Orange County Convention Center. The NEW pitch is going to be to the Hotel's with a MAJOR development featuring the Convention Center and NEW MULTIPURPOSE arena as the Center Piece, with Universal Studios as a backdrop.
The basic plan from what I understand will be a win win for Magic Fans. The Magic have lost faith with the City government and know that the best way to fill the stands and to get the arena they want would be to move to "tourist row". The new consulting firm the Magic hired to do polling of Orlando and Orange County residents generated the idea. The bottom line was using the Magic and Universal Studios as an anchor to draw tourist away from the Disney attractions.
The development plan will call for mass transit rail system in and around a 4 to 5 point area that would travel along Universal blvd. Meaning the convention center, the new arena, universal studios and Point Orlando and a future extension that would connect to a hub at the airport. A little known fact is the Magic are not polling on the arena issue in the context of what the newspapers have reported. They are polling as to the general consensus as to what residents want and how they want to see Orlando grow.
The #1 problem is the obvious traffic on I-4. #2 was Schools which was a close second.
So it brings the issue of how to solve a little congestion on I-4 if you can not use the tourist tax dollars. Simple, re-route the tourist from the road to the tourist tax paid for "Hotel" transit system. Which by the way is a provision in the law that allows for the money to be spent on transportation if it is used to improve the tourism experience in Orlando.
The entire plan of the project is to show the Hoteliers the benefit of keeping all their money in their back yard, versus being spent in downtown Orlando.
The plan will pit brother against brother. If the Magic get a new arena in Orange County outside the City, well the Downtown will go to shit, no new funding will ever reach the area from the tourist tax dollars and you can kiss goodbye any performing art center and scale back the Citrus Bowl plan a bit.
The move will dry up all of the events that were going to the current arena and move them to "Tourist Row". Why is this important...Well the idea is based on national polling about "LARGE" events. And when I mean LARGE events I mean concerts such as most U2 concerts. The polling shows that over 75% of all the people that buy tickets to the large concerts liver outside a 100 mile radius, 50% live outside a 300 mile radius and up to 25% live out of the state or over a 500 mile radius. What this means is that when Orlando loses a big event or concert, they lose a lot of Hotel Money. So plain and simple the Hoteliers win, the tourist tax is put to good use and the congestion, while may not be noticed, is eased a bit on I-4.
Also this solves the issue of traffic in and around the arena during magic games & events. It will give all patrons 4 major highways (I-4, Bee-line, etc) and John Young Parkway & Osecola Parkway to get to parking for the game.
IF this plan works, it will take a bold move by the City to sway the cards back in their favor and keep the Magic in Downtown Orlando.
Final thought, this is the most extensive planning the Magic have down to keep the team in Orlando. If this does not work, well it is obvious what will happen.
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Daraufhin kamen natürlich dementsprechend Fragen auf, folgend:
User X schrieb:
Thanks for the insight....
Some questions
1. What is the Magic's plan for Jameer Nelson from a role standpoint? Do they see Jameer as the starting point guard for the forseeable future?
2. Your gut feeling.....will the Magic stay in Orlando?
3. If The Magic decide it will not work here, how soon would they leave? Season after next?
The Magic Think Jameer can handle the Point full time next season. The plan as I understand it is running the offense 2 to 3 ways.
First if the Magic are in their half court set, they want the ball to go through Howard on almost every half court possession. Much like it did with Shaq. For this to work, Howard is going to have to show tremendous consistentcy in his shot selection and his back to the basket moves. It is obviously more to it that those 2 things, such as getting position on his man and passing effectively out of the double team, however, the Magic feel Dwight already has an excellent sense of what to do in a double team, who is open and where they should be.
Second way they want the offense to run is on the fast break. Because Jameer is so quick with the ball, (fast on the team going the full legnth of the court, they want penetration from him, but want him to work on his passes out of the paint once he pentrates (ala J. Kidd, S. Nash, etc). In this part of the offense they want Jameer to focus on drawing in defenders on the run and passing to the open man that either can pull up for a short J, trailing him with the ball or slashing to the hole. The reason why this is an area they want Jameer to work is because when he drives on a fast break or when the have numbers and he drives to the hole, he generally is looking to score. But they want Jameer to look for his shot when it is needed AFTER he gets his teammates involved.
The third way the want their offense to run is with pick and rolls using Dwight. This will mainly work if Dwight develops a consistent turn around jumper that is a threat if no double teamed.
Gut feeling on Orlando staying. hmmm....well I hate to even give an opinion on this because honestly I am not in a position to know what are the other options. I know that at the beginining of the season the point was made to Stern that the Magic are going to make every effort to spend the money necessary to put a good product on the floor. The perception of the organization from around the league is that ever since Shaq left, the Magic have been viewed as a cheap organization. SO the idea was to change that and put a winning product on the floor. Obviously if the Magic have a playoff team next year and attendance is donw it would be a tough sell to keep them here. But everything and I mean everything rest on the arena situation. I know the bottom line is they will get new place to play somewhere. What the Magic do not want to do is pull a Baltimore COlt on everyone and people wake up and find the offices cleaned out. But it is a business. I have been to many arena's. Everytime I go I either sit court side a few rows up or in a midlevel luxury box. Let me use the Arena over in Tampa for example since that is the closest one to ORlando most might know. I have been in most every luxury box there the main one there is the XO CLub. It is dedicated to a complete end of the arena and features a full time buffet of five star food, multiple bars and open non-alcoholic beverages. Now most people who can not afford a ticket (well it is invite only) but nonetheless have no idea why this is so important to the Magic. Well for starters, I would say 60% of the people in the XO club watch maybe 20% of the event that is going on. The rest of the time they are eating, drinking and socializing. At the XO club people get there early. THey are allowed to enter the arena before everyone else, I think it is a half hour early and they are the last ones to leave. Which in essence they spen the most money on the high profit items such as drinks.
So break it down from a Magic point of view. That is just one corporate sponsor which normally spends a couple million for that much space, plus as a corporate sponsor they also have to pre purchase a ticket for every seat in their luxury box at a price of about $100 to $200 per ticket. That is garunteed money before the season ever starts.
The average fan sitting in the seat for 80-90% of the game spends a lot less money than one that is eating and drinking the entire time. By the way in the XO club you can watch the game from anywhere. There is a FLatscreen TV everywhere you look, there is even one at each toilet and urnal..(NO SHIT)!. Have you ever sat in the rows of seats on the floor in the arena. Did you know that for every 20 seats there is a server assigned to those seats and they will bring you what ever you wat and even put it on a tab for you. Well that is the closest the Magic have to an XO Club type environment. That is not even to mention that the Luxury Boxes in Indiana are even way more over the top than in Tampa.
I can go on and on about the reasons why the Magic need a new how, but unless you actually experienced it and saw the people spending like drunken sailors it would be hard to understand for most people. When the issue comes up, the people voicing their opinion have no clue as to how an NBA franchise can Make money. They think it is all just helping the rich get richer by building a new place. But it is business. If you have an arena that is filled that has Midlevel boxes and fine dinning and mid level or even court side restaurants, you stand to make close to 60-70% more than if the Arean sold out every night as well. You just can not compare it. I hope the plan that is inplace now to get Orange CO. to build it and leave Downtown works. It just makes more sense. Then the Magic can sell Luxury boxes to the conventions. The only unfortunate things is the team will become a harder ticket to get once they start winning because I garuntee you will need to be a season ticket holder or the hoteliers will have first dibs on all seats. But you got to sleep with the lions if you do in to their den.
So sorrry for the long winded answer, but it is really not answering your question. I have no clue what the time line is. I know it is just a pressing matter. The Magic would much rather be able to design the arena exactly the way they want versus going to a city where it is already built. The Magic know that there is a gold mine here with the Tourist, so it will just depend on government. But I do know if it becomes a stare down contest between government and the Magic, the result will not end with the Magic staying put.
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User X schrieb:
Heh, and while you're at it, what the F went down with the Christie fiasco?
No comment on the Doug Christie thing from an inside info stand poit.
But as far as the trade is concerned "IN MY OPINION" I trully think Weisbrod was trying to make the team better and get Turkgolu more playing time. I also think it had a lot to do with the fact that Turkgolu's stats were better than Mobley, Turk had more upside than Mobley and if the Magic did not trade him for a legit reason, they would look cheap in the offseason when they did not make a great attemtp to resign him.
Francis I still believe is in the long term plans of the Magic. It will really depend on the coach they decide on for next season. Francis is very coachable, just not as harnessable if that is even a word.
Nonetheless, I think if the Magic can get a good coach that understands what matchups will work for him and what rotations work good together, the Magic can really put a good season together.
As I watched the Magic, the biggest problem is that if they were not in the fast break they really only had 3 set plays. Once the entire league figured this out, the put the Magic in a ZOne defense and negated 2 of the 3 plays, the third being pass around the perimeter and look to drive through the zone.
Then as far as a rotation, Davis only rotated the smalls, believe it or not, CLifford Ray would and still does handle the assignments of the ibgs and helps in their rotations. WHen Davis would bring someone in, he did it for stat reasons. For example, the Magic needed scoring, they would bring in Turkoglu, if the Magic needed Defense he would bring in Christie. Problem is it was not what the Magic needed from a statistical stand point, it was understanding what match ups the Magic could use that would give them an advantage. One reason why Davis was fired is because he could not get that little element of his coaching abilities together.
He misused players and put them in positions to fail rather than positions for them to suceed. One reason Jent will probably still be considered either as a high assistant on the staff or remain as a head coach is because he understands each players game and put plays together that focuses on their strengths and puts them in match ups defensively that allow them to succeed as well. See if a player is overmatched on one end of the court, it usuallay effect his thinking, his court vision, his team work and his overall game.
Good example is Houston. They were stinking it up at the beginning of the season. But once Van GUndy figured out what pieces fit where, who has what skilss, what match ups work, then they have been doing great. Look at the Atlanta Braves is even a better example. Why have they won 13 straight titles, simple, Cox is the best field manager in the game. He can take anyone that has Major League skill and he knows exactly where he can play them and put them in a position to suceed. Further proof is over the 13 year run, the Braves have been consistent in one thing every year, they have been a second half team.
In any sport it is easy to be a good first half team if you have more skill than the other teams, but it comes down to coaching in the second half and knowing your players well enough to know how and when to maek adjustments, recognizing when and how to put them in a position to suceed and knowing them well enough to recognize when they need a rest even if they want to stay in. That description is the anti-Davis which is why he was fired.
Ok I answered you DC question and gave you probably more info than you wanted, but I had free time and felt the need to rant.
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Wie immer alles sehr interessant, vor allem natürlich was eine neue Spielstätte angeht. Seit 2-3 Jahren ist das ja schon eine absolute Hängepartie, und wenn da nicht demnächst was passiert, dann heißen wir wohl bald Kansas City Magic.
Dieser Sommer ist der vielleicht wichtigste in der Geschichte der Franchise, da muss dringend ein erfolgreiches Produkt auf die Beine gestellt werden damit auch die Bevölkerung den Plan, eine neue Halle zu bauen, unterstützt. Falls das nicht passieren sollte, dann sieht es wohl leider sehr schlecht aus. :cry:
