Bismack & What were they thinking?

[abuzz]

I was a closeted Magic Fan from their inception into the league, from Hardaway destroying my "Knicks" to the days of Shaq to Howard. But I'm so sorry to have to endure year after year with other Magic fans, tanking as something to look forward to. But worst of all was to see how in one game with the Raptors where Bismack pulled down 17 or so rebounds, that the Magic went in hog wild and signed him to such a ridiculously untradeable contract for someone with such a low BB IQ and hands of stone to boot. It hurts even more when one considers that the Magic could have had but refused to sign Tobias for less.

[DiplomaticMagic]

They weren't thinking.

[MagicMadness]

Our then-GM made the classic mistake of "big playoff series = big contract", along with the not-so-classic "sell the farm for a back-up."

Needless to say, he's 'then-GM' for a reason.

[DjPuffnStuff]

If we could do it all over again, what would be a decent value for Biz? I would think no more than 8mil per year. Maybe 4 yrs 30 mil?

[Nightman]

Rob Hennigan knew he was going to be fired unless the Magic made the playoffs so he made some terrible moves in attempt to get the 8th seed. It didn't work.

[OrlandoDream]

All Hennigan and Martins. As bad as that contract is, it's actually not the worse in the nba which is shocking. After this season, we have one more until it becomes an expiring. Just ride it out til then. Not like we are going anywhere the next season or two

[MagicStarwipe]

He was thinking "we're abysmal at protecting the rim".

[Skybox]

He was thinking "we're abysmal at protecting the rim".

He was thinking "we have a coach who created a stifling D with great rim protection and bigs that defended "vertically" and we are going to bring in not one, but two elite rim-protecting, mobile, athletic freaks to wreak havoc and instill fear throughout the league. Nobody will want to play the Magic and certainly no one will get to the hoop".

didn't work out but I get it

[deggett]

Vogel demanded defensive twin towers (Ibaka+Biz) to ensure playoffs.

[MagicFan4Lyfe]

I remember watching the 2015 playoffs and saying to my buddy "some idiot GM and franchise is going to throw major money at Biyombo". It was a painful to read that the "some idiot GM and franchise" would be my favorite team ever

[Skin]

Alex Martins gave Henny an ultimatum to make the playoffs or get fired. So Henny said, if I'm going down I'm taking EEEEVERYONE down. He no longer had to care about the Magic's long term future.

That's what happened.

[p0peye]

I was thinking Biyombo contract was bad, then I read Weltham planning to trade him for Noah. SMH.

[paperboymafia]

the gift of hindsight.

[paperboymafia]

Alex Martins gave Henny an ultimatum to make the playoffs or get fired. So Henny said, if I'm going down I'm taking EEEEVERYONE down. He no longer had to care about the Magic's long term future.

That's what happened.

I've been pondering this for a while, I'm genuinely interested; is that the perception built from what we, the fans have concluded as a likely scenario to explain the mess we're in, ie trying our best to read between the lines? Or can this be traced to actual proof/article/quote? I'm referring to Henny taking everyone down, not the playoff ultimatum.

[Audi]

Alex Martins gave Henny an ultimatum to make the playoffs or get fired. So Henny said, if I'm going down I'm taking EEEEVERYONE down. He no longer had to care about the Magic's long term future.

That's what happened.

I've been pondering this for a while, I'm genuinely interested; is that the perception built from what we, the fans have concluded as a likely scenario to explain the mess we're in, ie trying our best to read between the lines? Or can this be traced to actual proof/article/quote? I'm referring to Henny taking everyone down, not the playoff ultimatum.

Lol, no that's not what Henny was actually thinking. Do you think he'd ever land a job anywhere in the league again if it was discovered he decided to just crash and burn a team out of vengeance? C'mon.

[Optimus_Steel]

That Biz signing was made worse because we had just traded for Ibaka, we gave up a guard for a big, and then we still had Vuc, a big, on the roster. So now there is a rotation of 3 bigs that reduce spacing and speed. Just dumb series of moves that was initiated by Martins pressuring Rob with his job and he relenting to the pressure of playoffs now. They thought with the team we had that there was no way we are going to outscore people (true the talent level did not allow that) so lets do the opposite of what every other team in the league is doing and try out defend people by shutting down the paint, but it was a major miscalculation because its just not that simple to add shot blockers and then you are automatically a great defensive team. Ibaka had already declined too so his defense had been suspect for a while. Speed and spacing matters, defensive awareness of the guards is lacking. And if your offense is bad it hurts your defense too and chemistry matters and this team has none.

[rusoopE]

[paperboymafia]

Alex Martins gave Henny an ultimatum to make the playoffs or get fired. So Henny said, if I'm going down I'm taking EEEEVERYONE down. He no longer had to care about the Magic's long term future.

That's what happened.

I've been pondering this for a while, I'm genuinely interested; is that the perception built from what we, the fans have concluded as a likely scenario to explain the mess we're in, ie trying our best to read between the lines? Or can this be traced to actual proof/article/quote? I'm referring to Henny taking everyone down, not the playoff ultimatum.

Lol, no that's not what Henny was actually thinking. Do you think he'd ever land a job anywhere in the league again if it was discovered he decided to just crash and burn a team out of vengeance? C'mon.

C'mon what, stranger things happen and I stay way out of the loop on the exec level of sports as I find it tedious - and as far as literally thinking that Henny thought that, obviously it wasn't that word for word - the train of thought however is worth exploring as it's not the first time I've seen someone say it. I only asked,

[Skin]

I've been pondering this for a while, I'm genuinely interested; is that the perception built from what we, the fans have concluded as a likely scenario to explain the mess we're in, ie trying our best to read between the lines? Or can this be traced to actual proof/article/quote? I'm referring to Henny taking everyone down, not the playoff ultimatum.

Lol, no that's not what Henny was actually thinking. Do you think he'd ever land a job anywhere in the league again if it was discovered he decided to just crash and burn a team out of vengeance? C'mon.

C'mon what, stranger things happen and I stay way out of the loop on the exec level of sports as I find it tedious - and as far as literally thinking that Henny thought that, obviously it wasn't that word for word - the train of thought however is worth exploring as it's not the first time I've seen someone say it. I only asked,

I honestly think that is the way it went down. Obviously, the only ones with that kind of proof are the ones directly involved, but it isn't hard to piece it together.

Henny had always wanted to take the slow development approach. Martins was behind him on that on Day 1, but quickly changed his tune after Year 2 when he forced Henny to fire Vaughn because the Magic weren't winning enough games. So Skiles brought in his own guy with Skiles... a guy known for taking teams to the playoffs in year 1. Skiles being incapable of developing young players, and always preferring his most "ready now" players to help him get to the playoffs, undermined Henny's plan to develop his draft picks.

Once Martins/Skiles dumped Harris for Skiles' old players...and ultimately failed to get to the playoffs, Henny forced Skiles into quitting. Skiles said his style clashed with the vision of the team and couldn't go on. Once Skiles quit, Martins put the ultimatum on Henny to win now or get fired. Henny's slow plan of developing his young players was met with excitement because Vogel seemed to be on board with turning Gordon into his version of Paul George. All Henny needed to do was find the right fit next to Vuc, add 3pt shooters and strengthen our depth.

But Henny had been playing his cards wrong for a while now... Never attempting to "build a team", rather interested in "collecting talent" during his tenure. Then, when it came time to turning his assets and cap space into a team, he fudged up. He failed to factor in team chemistry. He kept the wrong assets. Blew his cap space to help him in the moment, because the moment was the only thing guaranteed for him. He knew that saving cap space wouldn't do him any favors because Martins told him to win now or get fired. So he blew it up.

We get what we got due to Alex Martins. Martins was held accountable for that mess and ultimately lost his job. New position of Pres. of Basketball Operations went to Weltman. Martins stayed with the Magic but he doesn't get to stick his hand in the cookie jar like he did before. He still has power in that he can fire the man holding the cookie jar, but his brain isn't being used to make basketball decisions.

All we can hope for is WeHam to fix us. Unfortunately, retreads hardly ever bring an innovative approach. Theirs is simple. Acquire as much length as you can and hope they turn into basketball players.

[Audi]

Lol, no that's not what Henny was actually thinking. Do you think he'd ever land a job anywhere in the league again if it was discovered he decided to just crash and burn a team out of vengeance? C'mon.

C'mon what, stranger things happen and I stay way out of the loop on the exec level of sports as I find it tedious - and as far as literally thinking that Henny thought that, obviously it wasn't that word for word - the train of thought however is worth exploring as it's not the first time I've seen someone say it. I only asked,

I honestly think that is the way it went down. Obviously, the only ones with that kind of proof are the ones directly involved, but it isn't hard to piece it together.

Henny had always wanted to take the slow development approach. Martins was behind him on that on Day 1, but quickly changed his tune after Year 2 when he forced Henny to fire Vaughn because the Magic weren't winning enough games. So Skiles brought in his own guy with Skiles... a guy known for taking teams to the playoffs in year 1. Skiles being incapable of developing young players, and always preferring his most "ready now" players to help him get to the playoffs, undermined Henny's plan to develop his draft picks.

Once Martins/Skiles dumped Harris for Skiles' old players...and ultimately failed to get to the playoffs, Henny forced Skiles into quitting. Skiles said his style clashed with the vision of the team and couldn't go on. Once Skiles quit, Martins put the ultimatum on Henny to win now or get fired. Henny's slow plan of developing his young players was met with excitement because Vogel seemed to be on board with turning Gordon into his version of Paul George. All Henny needed to do was find the right fit next to Vuc, add 3pt shooters and strengthen our depth.

But Henny had been playing his cards wrong for a while now... Never attempting to "build a team", rather interested in "collecting talent" during his tenure. Then, when it came time to turning his assets and cap space into a team, he fudged up. He failed to factor in team chemistry. He kept the wrong assets. Blew his cap space to help him in the moment, because the moment was the only thing guaranteed for him. He knew that saving cap space wouldn't do him any favors because Martins told him to win now or get fired. So he blew it up.

We get what we got due to Alex Martins. Martins was held accountable for that mess and ultimately lost his job. New position of Pres. of Basketball Operations went to Weltman. Martins stayed with the Magic but he doesn't get to stick his hand in the cookie jar like he did before. He still has power in that he can fire the man holding the cookie jar, but his brain isn't being used to make basketball decisions.

All we can hope for is WeHam to fix us. Unfortunately, retreads hardly ever bring an innovative approach. Theirs is simple. Acquire as much length as you can and hope they turn into basketball players.

I actually agree with all of this, but I think Henny attempting to save his job with a last ditch effort (that ended up being a total fail) isn't the same thing as vengefully blowing up a team because he's getting fired. If he wanted to actually do that, we prevented it by firing him when we did. In other words...Henny may have been walking away from a smoldering pile of crap that was mostly his doing, but it doesn't mean he set it aflame just to watch it burn....does that make sense? lol.