If you could undo 1 past mistake for a shot at winning the title, what would it be?

bloodhound · Post #1 » by **bloodhound** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 3:09 pm

If you could undo one mistake from the past for a shot at winning the title, what would it be?

Playing Jameer gets my vote. We were on a roll with Skip and playing Jameer in Game 1 was a huge mistake.

Oh and he also got smoked by Derek Fisher.

the_hobo · Post #2 » by **the_hobo** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 3:18 pm

bloodhound wrote:If you could undo one mistake from the past for a shot at winning the title, what would it be?

Playing Jameer gets my vote. We were on a roll with Skip and playing Jameer in Game 1 was a huge mistake.

Oh and he also got smoked by Derek Fisher.

No doubt in my mind if we played Rafer and his backup Anthony "No-Neck" Johnson, we would have won. Dude had Old Man PG game and sat the entire finals series. Not cool

Lee's missed layup was also a result of goaltending so there's not much else he could done to fix that.

fendilim · Post #3 » by **fendilim** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 3:40 pm

Jameer. Never understood why we played him anyway. Rafer was running the team the whole playoffs. To make that BIG of a change during the finals...

Orlwillbeback · Post #4 » by **Orlwillbeback** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 3:41 pm

The decision to not only play jameer, but start him AND play him starters minutes despite the fact that rafer had it going in the post season still pisses me off. Still unfathomable.

Viper1500 · Post #5 » by **Viper1500** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 4:06 pm

I'll never forget Jameer's TERRIBLE defense on Fisher's 3 to tie the game and to send it into OT.

PigsEatHam · Post #6 » by **PigsEatHam** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 4:08 pm

So many to choose from (Nick Anderson missing free throws in Game 1 versus Rockets; not resigning Shaq at whatever the cost; signing Grant Hill; choosing Bo Outlaw, much as I love the guy, over Ben Wallace; starting Jameer versus the Lakers).

It's a painful, tragic list of hindsight. But I'm going to go with not resigning Shaq. Having him and Penny together a while longer probably gets us a championship in the nineties. You can say we didn't have a choice, that he wanted to leave, but we should never have submitted a lowball offer. Promise him the moon and don't let him leave until his signature is on a contract, Deandre Jordan-style.

PigsEatHam · Post #7 » by **PigsEatHam** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 4:10 pm

OrlChamps2030 · Post #8 » by **OrlChamps2030** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 4:13 pm

Trading Gortat + VC's valuable contract for Hedo + J-Rich. That ending the run of contending.

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NEM · Post #9 » by **NEM** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 4:27 pm

Jameer. It was pretty clear he was still far from 100% and he hadn't played in 6 months so he was very rusty. Skip did a great job getting us to that point and he should have had the chance to finish the job.

Gasol goaltended lee's layup so not much Lee could have done.

Nick missed 4 FT's but that was only 1 game in a series in which we got swept. Sure it set the tone for the series and gave the rockets all the momentum, but I think it had a far bigger impact on the rest of nicks career and the rest of that game than it did on the series as a whole.

Turk mailed it in after he got paid. I would still take VC over Turk in that scenario. We did get to the conference finals with VC. Just ran into a buzz saw once we got there. We lost to a team that was basically 5 minutes from winning their 2nd championship in 3 years. And could have been 3rd had KG not been hurt the previous year..

npiper17 · Post #10 » by **npiper17** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 4:30 pm

The Jameer thing is an interesting one. People often say that we could have won that year if Lee had made that layup and we hadn't collapsed at the end of game 4. However whenever I've heard Stan talk about that series, he's said it wasn't that close and they were much better than us. I've always thought he was doing the team a disservice and covering his back a little - a move I think is largely linked to the Jameer factor.

As much as I like Jameer, he shouldn't have played in that series and people forget how serviceable Anthony Johnson had been in those playoffs, stepping in well for Rafer when he was suspended vs Boston and playing a large part in the Philly series as well.

Anyway after that painful reminiscing, it's the Lee layup for me. I think not taking one in LA left us too vulnerable.

darthcheech2000 · Post #11 » by **darthcheech2000** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 4:51 pm

Playing hardball with Shaq lost us a lot of championship runs.

Although, Brian Hill's history in the playoffs says if Nick would have made one of those damn FTs we would have one that series... god damnit!

NEM · Post #12 » by **NEM** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:23 pm

darthcheech2000 wrote:Playing hardball with Shaq lost us a lot of championship runs.

Although, Brian Hill's history in the playoffs says if Nick would have made one of those damn FTs we would have one that series... god damnit!

If he would have made 2 free throws, we would have two that series...

Orlwillbeback · Post #13 » by **Orlwillbeback** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:56 pm

doct3r dr3 · Post #14 » by **doct3r dr3** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 6:04 pm

Pleased to see #KeepHedo was even included as an option -- I was afraid that that viewpoint had already been relegated to the dustbin of Magic history. I'll go to my grave insisting that's where the Magic messed up. That next season (2009-10) was realistically, our window to win the title. Last year before the Heatles formed in Miami, Big 3 Celtics on the decline, Andrew Bynum playing injured in the Finals... And I maintain that Hedo was the engine that kept our offense going. He was a hugely clutch performer, especially when it mattered most.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f33_d1KQnrc[/youtube]

And instead of having him to go to, in our biggest moments of the season, we ended up with:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ6lvChs7To[/youtube]

Otis Smith himself basically had to eat humble pie and admit defeat, trading VC back for Hedo in December of 2010. (Longtime diehards may recall that Hedo responded by posting a triple-double in one of his first games back with the club.)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0XYG93dUic[/youtube]

But of course, by then, it was already too late, as LeBron had already taken his talents to South Beach, where he would go on to win not 1, not 2, n-, umm... 2 titles, and effectively close the Magic's window for the Dwight Era.

Additionally, Courtney Lee, who we lost in the trade for VC in 2009, ended up growing into a nice player in his own right -- one that would've continued to work well in his role as 3-and-D glue guy in the starting lineup for years to come.

Just an all-around disastrous mistake. :nonono:

npiper17 · Post #15 » by **npiper17** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 6:16 pm

^^^^^ Courtney Lee! Now there's a guy to root for. As oft is my tendency during the quiet summer months, I watch an old Magic game or two, recently enjoying Game 2 of our first round match up against the Sixers in 2009. Courtney carried us that game.

OrlandoDream · Post #16 » by **OrlandoDream** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 7:11 pm

The blowing up of our finals team is the move that will forever haunt my dreams. That imbecile otis smith ruined this team and their future. Another season with that same team, and I think we could have gone all the way.

OrlChamps2030 · Post #17 » by **OrlChamps2030** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 8:40 pm

doct3r dr3 wrote:Pleased to see [url=http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=919583]#KeepHedo[/url] was even included as an option -- I was afraid that that viewpoint had already been relegated to the dustbin of Magic history. I'll go to my grave insisting that's where the Magic messed up. That next season (2009-10) was realistically, our window to win the title. Last year before the Heatles formed in Miami, Big 3 Celtics on the decline, Andrew Bynum [url=http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/news/story?id=5274858]playing injured[/url] in the Finals... And I maintain that Hedo was the engine that kept our offense going. He was a hugely clutch performer, especially when it mattered most.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f33_d1KQnrc[/youtube]

And instead of having him to go to, in our biggest moments of the season, we ended up with:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ6lvChs7To[/youtube]

Otis Smith himself basically had to eat humble pie and admit defeat, trading VC back for Hedo in December of 2010. (Longtime diehards may recall that Hedo responded by posting a triple-double in one of his first games back with the club.)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0XYG93dUic[/youtube]

But of course, by then, it was already too late, as LeBron had already taken his talents to South Beach, where he would go on to win not 1, not 2, n-, umm... 2 titles, and effectively close the Magic's window for the Dwight Era.

Additionally, Courtney Lee, who we lost in the trade for VC in 2009, ended up growing into a nice player in his own right -- one that would've continued to work well in his role as 3-and-D glue guy in the starting lineup for years to come.

Just an all-around disastrous mistake.

I disagree with you on both points. #LetHedoWalk was the right move.. I thought the team the year after the finals squad was better than the previous one.

And while C-Lee was a good role player I would still do that trade all day. VC was better than post finals
Hedo (and still is) plus he was on a team friendly contract and Ryno blossomed into a premiere stretch 4. C-Lee has improved but he has still been a journeyman role player. We all have different opinions in hindsight though.

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Nemesis21 · Post #18 » by **Nemesis21** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 8:53 pm

Should have stuck with Skip 2 My Lou!

Max Power · Post #19 » by **Max Power** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 10:22 pm

The trading of Gortat that landed a clearly declining Jason Richardson and a clearly dead Gilbert Arenas. That's the day the Magic stopped being contenders.

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MagicStarwipe · Post #20 » by **MagicStarwipe** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 10:42 pm

If you could undo injuries, I'd undo Penny getting injured.

Other than that... just make 1 of 4 FT's Nick. It's not that hard.

If you could undo one mistake from the past, what would it be?