Page 1 of 3

John Denton Appreciation Thread

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 2:21 pm
by Def Swami
Unfortunately, the Magic made several layoffs (rumored to be around 10% of workforce), which included John Denton. I feel sorry for all those who lost their job. It's a shame that the DeVos Family wouldn't take care of their employees in this turbulent time.

Read on Twitter


Regardless of what you think about the coverage of the team, Denton gave us 10 years of content. Our media coverage is so limited compared to most other NBA teams. We've basically relied on Josh Robbins and John Denton for this entire time for any local coverage. It's a shame.

Read on Twitter

Re: John Denton Appreciation Thread

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 2:41 pm
by Xatticus
That's unfortunate. Perhaps it is a blessing in disguise though. I really enjoyed reading his stuff before he became a part of the Orlando Magic's PR department. I really hope he finds a landing spot where he can continue to cover the Magic.

Re: John Denton Appreciation Thread

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 2:43 pm
by Magic#1
Def Swami wrote:Unfortunately, the Magic made several layoffs (rumored to be around 10% of workforce), which included John Denton. I feel sorry for all those who lost their job. It's a shame that the DeVos Family couldn't take care of their employees in this turbulent time.

Read on Twitter


Regardless of what you think about the coverage of the team, Denton gave us 10 years of content. Our media coverage is so limited compared to most other NBA teams. We've basically relied on Josh Robbins and John Denton for this entire time for any local coverage. It's a shame.

Read on Twitter

Change "couldn't" to "wouldn't."
It's too bad about Denton. He at least hustled to get content. I'm surprised they let him go and wonder what they're going to do to replace that coverage.

Re: John Denton Appreciation Thread

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 3:05 pm
by j-ragg
Wasn't a big fan of Denton but sucks when anyone loses their job.

Re: John Denton Appreciation Thread

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 3:29 pm
by basketballRob
He used to cover the Magic for Florida today.

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

Re: John Denton Appreciation Thread

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 4:45 pm
by fendilim
Magic#1 wrote:
Def Swami wrote:Unfortunately, the Magic made several layoffs (rumored to be around 10% of workforce), which included John Denton. I feel sorry for all those who lost their job. It's a shame that the DeVos Family couldn't take care of their employees in this turbulent time.

Read on Twitter


Regardless of what you think about the coverage of the team, Denton gave us 10 years of content. Our media coverage is so limited compared to most other NBA teams. We've basically relied on Josh Robbins and John Denton for this entire time for any local coverage. It's a shame.

Read on Twitter

Change "couldn't" to "wouldn't."
It's too bad about Denton. He at least hustled to get content. I'm surprised they let him go and wonder what they're going to do to replace that coverage.

I suppose he was getting paid a lot more than the other guys writing for the team

Re: John Denton Appreciation Thread

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 4:53 pm
by zuppafly
Xatticus wrote:That's unfortunate. Perhaps it is a blessing in disguise though. I really enjoyed reading his stuff before he became a part of the Orlando Magic's PR department. I really hope he finds a landing spot where he can continue to cover the Magic.
Exactly. His pieces before joining the organization were the best in content and depth. Hopefully for everyone he gets back on that track.

Re: John Denton Appreciation Thread

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 5:00 pm
by OrlandO
Sucks for Denton. 10 years is a good run for someone who wrote fluff pieces and answered his own questions though. O-Sen still hasn't filled the void left by schmitz and robbins' departures... maybe they should hire Denton and unleash him.

Re: John Denton Appreciation Thread

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 5:07 pm
by Knightro
The decision to do mass layoffs by the Magic organization is absolutely disgraceful.

A billionaire family claiming short-term “losses” on a sports franchise worth 1.5B billion-dollars that they bought for just 85 million is just so ridiculous it makes my blood boil.

According to Forbes, Magic have picked up an extra 100M in annual revenue in the last 5 years, from 134M to 244M.

Forbes also estimates their profits at 70M annually.

They are a privately held business responsible to no stockholders, so a one-time or even two or three-time quarterly loss is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

This genuinely makes me upset. Not just for Denton, but for every single person who got needlessly laid off.

Re: John Denton Appreciation Thread

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 5:32 pm
by basketballRob
Knightro wrote:The decision to do mass layoffs by the Magic organization is absolutely disgraceful.

A billionaire family claiming short-term “losses” on a sports franchise worth 1.5B billion-dollars that they bought for just 85 million is just so ridiculous it makes my blood boil.

According to Forbes, Magic have picked up an extra 100M in annual revenue in the last 5 years, from 134M to 244M.

Forbes also estimates their profits at 70M annually.

They are a privately held business responsible to no stockholders, so a one-time or even two or three-time quarterly loss is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

This genuinely makes me upset. Not just for Denton, but for every single person who got needlessly laid off.
I wish they'd sell the team. I bet they have some dirt, like Sterling did. I doubt they'd make it in a big market with a bunch investigative reporters.

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

Re: John Denton Appreciation Thread

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 7:17 pm
by thelead
Knightro wrote:The decision to do mass layoffs by the Magic organization is absolutely disgraceful.

A billionaire family claiming short-term “losses” on a sports franchise worth 1.5B billion-dollars that they bought for just 85 million is just so ridiculous it makes my blood boil.

According to Forbes, Magic have picked up an extra 100M in annual revenue in the last 5 years, from 134M to 244M.

Forbes also estimates their profits at 70M annually.

They are a privately held business responsible to no stockholders, so a one-time or even two or three-time quarterly loss is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

This genuinely makes me upset. Not just for Denton, but for every single person who got needlessly laid off.

That's trickle-down economics at work. Underpaid individuals taking the brunt of the economic downturn while the billionaires are sitting on the profits made by the underpaid individuals. I don't want to hear about tax dollars going to pay for arenas for these selfish bastards.

Re: John Denton Appreciation Thread

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2020 12:47 am
by Def Swami
Miss you, Stan
Read on Twitter

Re: John Denton Appreciation Thread

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2020 1:29 am
by Dubious Kitty
This was such a disgraceful move by the ownership. They should sell the team.

Re: John Denton Appreciation Thread

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2020 3:36 am
by PrimeThyme
Embarrassing. I can't stand the owners of this team, but if they sell it off I would have serious worries that a new owner would move the team. In a situation similar to Seattle where the owner(s) who took over that franchise even promised not to move it I belive yet still did.

On the flip side, I think the DeVos family and Martins (who is basically the day to day owner) are arguably the biggest reasons why the last decade has been as miserable as its been for our franchise and it would be hard for me to argue that it wouldn't be worth the risk.

Re: John Denton Appreciation Thread

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2020 8:20 am
by TheGlyde
Knightro wrote:The decision to do mass layoffs by the Magic organization is absolutely disgraceful.

A billionaire family claiming short-term “losses” on a sports franchise worth 1.5B billion-dollars that they bought for just 85 million is just so ridiculous it makes my blood boil.

According to Forbes, Magic have picked up an extra 100M in annual revenue in the last 5 years, from 134M to 244M.

Forbes also estimates their profits at 70M annually.

They are a privately held business responsible to no stockholders, so a one-time or even two or three-time quarterly loss is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

This genuinely makes me upset. Not just for Denton, but for every single person who got needlessly laid off.


Its a great post and a great sentiment.

Unfortunately, the people on top didn’t get there by sharing wealth and having compassion for others.

There are positives to capitalism but this is one of the negatives.

Specifically talking about Denton, it really sucks.

Back in the golden days of this board he and I used to chat a bit on AOL instant messenger (remember that thing haha) and he was great with sharing inside info to help shoot down people posting junk on the board claiming they had ‘inside info’

Hopefully he gets picked up somewhere to support his family and preferably can continue to cover the Magic, or at least Basketball.

Re: John Denton Appreciation Thread

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2020 4:30 pm
by Optimus_Steel
There are numerous reasons to dislike the DeVos, this is just adding more to the pile. I hope they sell the team to someone that wants to keep the here. They swear they are doing God's work....

Re: John Denton Appreciation Thread

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2020 5:42 pm
by OrlandO
The NBA, Blazers, Wolves and Spurs all did mass layoffs last month. I think the Jazz did so months ago.The Magic weren't the first and they won't be the last. Teams are playing basketball in one city in a bubble with outside staff and no fans, and it will likely take a year for the NBA to return to normal operating conditions for a number of reasons... it's unfortunate, but certain jobs have become unnecessary or redundant. Not surprised at all by layoffs.

Re: John Denton Appreciation Thread

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2020 5:44 pm
by Catledge
Fun Denton factoid: He was the first to break the T-Mac trade story while at FL Today.

I bet he could be a pretty good news-breaker for NBA stuff with the relationships he built during 10 years of being a company man.

Re: John Denton Appreciation Thread

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2020 6:31 pm
by PrimeThyme
Denton will land on his feet somewhere. He's a pretty talented writer with a long resume who has covered this team for years and years. What I feel for are those other 30 employees who may not be in the same situation. It's extremely tough times for many people right now and it's sad that it came to this.

Re: John Denton Appreciation Thread

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2020 10:38 pm
by basketballRob
TheGlyde wrote:
Knightro wrote:The decision to do mass layoffs by the Magic organization is absolutely disgraceful.

A billionaire family claiming short-term “losses” on a sports franchise worth 1.5B billion-dollars that they bought for just 85 million is just so ridiculous it makes my blood boil.

According to Forbes, Magic have picked up an extra 100M in annual revenue in the last 5 years, from 134M to 244M.

Forbes also estimates their profits at 70M annually.

They are a privately held business responsible to no stockholders, so a one-time or even two or three-time quarterly loss is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

This genuinely makes me upset. Not just for Denton, but for every single person who got needlessly laid off.


Its a great post and a great sentiment.

Unfortunately, the people on top didn’t get there by sharing wealth and having compassion for others.

There are positives to capitalism but this is one of the negatives.

Specifically talking about Denton, it really sucks.

Back in the golden days of this board he and I used to chat a bit on AOL instant messenger (remember that thing haha) and he was great with sharing inside info to help shoot down people posting junk on the board claiming they had ‘inside info’

Hopefully he gets picked up somewhere to support his family and preferably can continue to cover the Magic, or at least Basketball.
He covered the Magic for years with Florida Today also.

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app