spinedoc wrote:Psst, you might want to read the link I provided, my first ever btw. I'm so proud, lol. But it says that Weis was nothing more than the hatchet man, and he leaned heavily on Otis and Dave for the decision making. Weis also said that there was a lot of pressure at the time to take Okafor from the so called experts like Dick Vitale.
Sorry, but neither that article (which most of us read when it was first published), nor the part you quoted support that assertion. I think you're reading waaaaaaay too much into the author's own thoughts and glossing over what Weisbrod actually said.
In fact, since the TITLE of the article is "John Weisbrod deserves some credit," it makes it a curious choice for you to use to support your position.
The article begins with a few paragraphs of "where are they now?" about Weis. Then the author gives him credit for some moves, saying, "Two key moves -- the drafting of Dwight Howard and the signing of Hedo Turkoglu -- were made under his watch and helped make the Magic what they are today." No mention of Otis yet. Some stuff about T-Mac, blah blah.
Next some stuff about what a difficult choice Howard vs. Okafor was at the time. Here's the Vitale mention you alluded to:
"And don't kid yourself: Those acquisitions weren't no-brainers. Many of the experts -- ESPN's Stephen A. Smith and Dick Vitale to name a couple -- said the Magic blew it when they used the No. 1 pick of the 2004 draft on Howard instead of Emeka Okafor. 'In 10 years, man, they [Magic] are going to regret not taking Mr. Okafor,' Vitale yammered then"
This is all looking good for Weis, still no mention of Otis. I already knew that taking Dwight was a good decision, so this isn't really adding anything to the discussion.
Then this quote:
"In the rear-view mirror based on how Dwight's career has progressed, everybody tends to think it was an obvious choice to draft him," Weisbrod says now. "But I recall it differently. I recall getting three garbage bags filled with hate mail for drafting Dwight over Okafor."
Still not seeing anything about Otis, just about Weis sticking to his guns and ultimately making the right call in the face of pressure. Next they talk about Hedo's signing. Not really relevant to this Dwight draft debate, but for the record, no mention of Otis and it's overwhelmingly pro-Weis again.
Here's the part you quoted:
It's clear Weisbrod feels vindicated at what has transpired since his departure, although he is quick to point out he shouldn't get all the credit for the great moves, just as he shouldn't get all the blame for the bad ones. He readily admits he was out of his element as a basketball GM and leaned heavily on his assistant GMs -- Otis Smith and Dave Twardzik -- when making personnel decisions.
Curious there are no quotes from Weis, and no specific mentions of things Otis said or did, especially not a direct tie between this claim and the Dwight drafting. As such, any connection between the two (especially sans quotes) is tenuous at best. Sounds like Weis is just sharing the credit like good bosses do.
Ok, that completes page 1 of the article, and that was the ONLY mention of Otis. Moving on to page 2...
Page 2 begins with the hatchet man discussion, which I think has more relevence in a discussion of the T-Mac trade than it does in a discussion of Dwight's drafting. The article then goes on to discuss Weisbrod's personal life at some length, and finally talks about what he's doing now with some final reflections on his time in Orlando.
Pretty standard bio article. Oh yeah, page 2 also doesn't mention Otis a single time. Long story short, using this article to give Otis credit is... questionable at best.
-Chris
