The Vertical: Rob Hennigan Fired

[SD2042]

Now that Hennigan has left the building, the inevitable is now complete. Rob didn't have the best cards in hand all the time. He did the best with the cards he was dealt. He came into a rebuilding situation with the sole intent to turn the franchise around for the better. His mission failed due to some strokes of bad timing, incompetents on his part and the Magic organization, being undermined in terms of lack of communication and solid trust.


At the beginning of this rocky journey, we all knew that rebuilding was inevitable for this franchise once the Dwightmare hit the fan. In came Hennigan, played the hand he was dealt. Just like that, the rebuilding project for the Magic took off. Some good decisions were made(AG and EP) and some bad decisions were made(Ibaka, Hezonja, Scott Skiles, Alex Martins micro-mgmt). Somewhere within this rebuilding abyss, the Magic loss perspective and the patience necessary to respect the rebuilding process. In some ways, we as fans gotten lost within the process as well. Rebuilding is not an exact science somebody once told me. All the right moves have to happen just at the right time. For the Magic, the timing wasn't there. Instead, they forced the issue. They let their lack of patience get the better of them when things didn't fall in their favor as expected. The Magic organization allowed their lack of success to fall victim to the pressure for veteran experiences. That's the definition of desperation. Allowing pressure to bottleneck someone or a group into making rash decisions that can lead to failure. Look where we are now!

I can respect the fact that business is business. Business to me is like a psychopath. It only cares about meeting goals by making the bottom line which is the money. If the business is not meeting the goals and making the necessary financial gains it expects to meet, weight has to be cut. Unfortunately Rob Hennigan was the weight that was cut out of the Magic business fabric today. I don't completely hold Rob Hennigan responsible for all things that went wrong. Alex Martins and the DeVos Family should be held accountable as well. If you're going to run a business, be on the same accord at all times. Never rush to judgement when you don't have all your dominoes line up. Accountability and leadership must be on point up and down the ladder.

I wish Rob Hennigan the best and hope he takes his experiences and learn from them. Take those lessons and do better at his next job than he was as Magic GM.

[CourtsideTV]

we should've traded for cousins. at least we would be in playoffs. I'm sure evan+vuc+mario + filler would've been good enough.

[MagicStarwipe]

Wow, that press conference. Martins is absolutely clueless and full of crap. Completely threw Hennigan under the bus too, and took no accountability for his role in this situation. Basically he just wants to keep his nice and cushy spot in the organisation and has the DeVos family eating out of his hand. What a joke.

[PrimeThyme]

I just watched the presser and a few thoughts:

1. Props to Joshua for asking tough questions and trying to hold Alex accountable
2. Biachi is a twat
3. We're still ****

That entire press conference was Martins bullchiting the fan base again and trying to make it seem like we will be competing for the playoffs next year so that we will keep our season tickets. They are still in the same win-now mindset that they've been in for the last two years. The incompetency of our franchise will just continue this way until Martins is gone from the basketball side of things.

[SD2042]

What´s the difference between a General Manager and a Pres Basketball Operations?

I was a Henny supporter but he made so many bad moves these season...

Sad day being Magic-Steeler fan...

Unfortunately it is a dark day in Steelers Territory. Rooney meant a lot to the Steelers in their illustrious history all across the board.

[Optimus_Steel]

Wow, that press conference. Martins is absolutely clueless and full of crap. Completely threw Hennigan under the bus too, and took no accountability for his role in this situation. Basically he just wants to keep his nice and cushy spot in the organisation and has the DeVos family eating out of his hand. What a joke.

This was not a presser for Magic fans, it was a presser to appease RDV. Audience of one.

Sent from my SM-N920V using RealGM mobile app

[shadrock]

You can't expect of a coach that he will say in front of media " yea guys, we will tank now for 3 years, they will probably fire me after that period to have scapegoat ,but it's all good becaue i'm one of highest payed coaches in nba despite being medicore coach at best".

His job is to try to win. Tanking comes from upper menagment.

Yeah i understand this, i guess i was hoping to hear something like 'no more shortcuts' or 'we are going to continue to build around the young core'. The win now at all costs mantra terrifies me. Thats the logic that will see us keep Vuc and Fournier and build around them.

This is first time ever that we agree about something

I expect to se trade of at least 1 ( maybe even 3 ) Magic starters before season starts. New GM has soo much things to fix.

[Nyce_1]

I just watched the presser and a few thoughts:

1. Props to Joshua for asking tough questions and trying to hold Alex accountable
2. Biachi is a twat
3. We're still ****

That entire press conference was Martins bullchiting the fan base again and trying to make it seem like we will be competing for the playoffs next year so that we will keep our season tickets. They are still in the same win-now mindset that they've been in for the last two years. The incompetency of our franchise will just continue this way until Martins is gone from the basketball side of things.

it was all PR....all he knows.

[npiper17]

Those of you suggesting the Magic fire Martins are wasting your time and breath.

Whilst far from perfect, there are many accomplishments he can point to during his tenure not least - a new arena (without which we could be looking at the St Louis Magic right now), a period of sustained success under Otis Smith and Stan Can Gundy (where exactly the same front office structure that he intends to keep in place was in place), a new entertainment center to continue the regeneration of downtown.

So whilst Martins has many flaws, I am going to spend the next few weeks hoping he makes the right choice of GM / Pres of Bball Ops. This will be the defining move of his reign and should this fail then he should certainly fall on his sword.

[Dubious Kitty]

Those of you suggesting the Magic fire Martins are wasting your time and breath.

Whilst far from perfect, there are many accomplishments he can point to during his tenure not least - a new arena (without which we could be looking at the St Louis Magic right now), a period of sustained success under Otis Smith and Stan Can Gundy (where exactly the same front office structure that he intends to keep in place was in place), a new entertainment center to continue the regeneration of downtown.

So whilst Martins has many flaws, I am going to spend the next few weeks hoping he makes the right choice of GM / Pres of Bball Ops. This will be the defining move of his reign and should this fail then he should certainly fall on his sword.

I think we found Martins' RealGM account

[OrlandO]

I also find Martins' flippant response to the most important draft for the franchise in the last 5 years amazing. I would have assumed that there would be more urgency to find a GM or PBO in place to help make that selection. But, it appears Matt Lloyd and Frank Vogel are going to be making the pick. Hope for the best, I suppose.

OH FFS. Vogel can't even evaluate guys he coaches every day and now he gets to make the most important draft pick of our rebuild to date? I don't believe it. We've got to hire a new GM well before the draft...

Lloyd is the interim GM, so he'll likely have the final say if he's the man around during draft time (which is two months away...). Vogel will likely weigh in even if we've got a new GM at that point.

Questioning Vogel's in game choices is one thing, but he's done fine with development. Elf, AG and Mario have all improved. Even Vuc has shown he can play basic defense. Vogel's insight on what he'll be able to get out of a player is essential, as is Forcier's, IMO. If they don't think they can get a player to transcend, then a GM should know.

Hezonja hasn't improved... he clearly regressed and he's still trying to get back to where he was as a rookie. There's no way I'm giving credit to Vogel for Elf and AG. He played to their weaknesses for way too long, made them look like crap as a result, and only budged when the season was lost and his hand was forced. Vogel only put the ball in Elf's hands after Fournier got injured. Even then he still benched him for Watson when Fournier returned. We didn't get to see Elf get the ball consistently again until the next month and he immediately went on a tear. The truth is we could have had post all-star Elf all season... that was obvious when he came out of the gates being able to drive/finish on anyone. Vogel also thought he could use AG like some perimeter star scorer and when that immediately backfired he benched him for Green. Vogel completely failed him at the SF spot. And although AG was forced out of position by default due to the Ibaka trade, Vogel certainly didn't do him any favors by going out of his way to give the extra PF minutes to Green, Rudez, Biz/Vuc instead of AG in the first 50 games.

Skiles deserves most of the credit for Vuc's defense. Vogel benched Vuc for playing good defense.

What about Fournier being used like Harden? It's like Vogel didn't watch any film on him from last season. Took 50 games and an injury for him to stop doing that so much. Fournier looks like a good shooter again now that Elf is dishing it to him instead of the other way around.

I think it's telling Vogel didn't get the best out of Biyombo defensively. Not even off the bench where he's always been good at it. Also telling Biz complained about how he was being used.

[SHAQ32]

Wow, that press conference. Martins is absolutely clueless and full of crap. Completely threw Hennigan under the bus too, and took no accountability for his role in this situation. Basically he just wants to keep his nice and cushy spot in the organisation and has the DeVos family eating out of his hand. What a joke.

This was not a presser for Magic fans, it was a presser to appease RDV. Audience of one.

Sent from my SM-N920V using RealGM mobile app

You think so?

[npiper17]

Those of you suggesting the Magic fire Martins are wasting your time and breath.

Whilst far from perfect, there are many accomplishments he can point to during his tenure not least - a new arena (without which we could be looking at the St Louis Magic right now), a period of sustained success under Otis Smith and Stan Can Gundy (where exactly the same front office structure that he intends to keep in place was in place), a new entertainment center to continue the regeneration of downtown.

So whilst Martins has many flaws, I am going to spend the next few weeks hoping he makes the right choice of GM / Pres of Bball Ops. This will be the defining move of his reign and should this fail then he should certainly fall on his sword.

I think we found Martins' RealGM account

Unless Martins has moved to the UK then unlikely.

Sorry but unlike most on here, I deal in shades of grey rather than just black and white. Like almost every human being, Alex Martins has good and bad qualities and I feel what he has done for this organisation has bought him enough credit to be allowed to turn this thing around.

[npiper17]

Rewatched the presser and I think people are overplaying the young core comments.

When listing the positives for the organisation, Martins talks about a good young core then immediately talks about draft picks, cap space,
Vogel as head coach. I don't see this as him saying that we only need one or two guys and all will be well. I see it more as a 'we have a number of assets in place to help move things along quickly' message.

I also think the part where he talks about not being able to say it will take one year or two years etc to get back to the playoffs is a positive sign. It suggests the organisation will move away from the pointless pre / early season declarations they made this year.

I'm willing to see how this all plays out knowing that Matt Lloyd has an okay track record in the meantime.

[Def Swami]

One more thing from the press conference today. You don't have to wait until a team is eliminated from the playoffs to talk to any of their front office members, or even assistant coaches for that matter. For example, Luke Walton was hired by the Lakers during the first round of the playoffs last year. The one person they'd have to wait on for a playoff elimination is a probably a head coach, like Doc Rivers.

[Xatticus]

This article is from 2012, but it surely puts things into perspective:

Jeff Van Gundy: Magic CEO Alex Martins is 'unprofessional' and 'knows nothing about basketball'

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/jeff-van-gundy-magic-ceo-alex-martins-is-unprofessional-and-knows-nothing-about-basketball/

Was thinking this during the interview. For every praise that he said about rob ("sticking to the script")... a little "a$$hole" would leak out and throw Rob under the bus pretty much saying... "It's not my fault... but at the end of the day ... everything goes through me.... but definitely not my fault"

All while stroking his bosses. The guy is a serpent.

[NEM]

It's been a long time coming, but I am as happy as a kid on Christmas! Finally this team gives me some hope. Couldn't have woken up to better news! God is good! The Magic are back baby!

YESSSSSSSSS!!!

Still clueless I see. The Magic are not back. When are you going to open your f***ing eyes man?!! We will be in this **** hole until Devos & Martins are gone.

1. Don't curse at me. Show some respect. When I argue my case against your posts, I don't insult, at least since my last warning in probably December. Since I know you've been warned repeatedly AND suspended since then, you should probably cool it with name calling/swearing/whatever else you have to say that doesn't pertain to this forum.

2. I never said I liked Martins. I'd like him to get canned too. Unfortunately that doesn't seem likely, so might as well hope that he's learned from this experience and let's the next guy do his job 100% of the time even though I don't think he meddled nearly as much as you do.

3. RDV's only purpose is to open his check book, which he's done so repeatedly. I see no problem with him. The guy wants a championship just as 29 other owners do. Let's blame him for that. Hoping for him to be gone is not something that'll come to fruition because as long as this organization is making them money (and they are), they won't sell. You're better off investing your time, money, and patience in something else.

[PennytoShaq]

16 points, 48% FG, 35% for 3, 3 free trow attemps per game. 5 rebounds. put that stats on Magic and he is hands down best Magic player. And since Magic traded him for nothing, he is still more valuable than nothing.

Where do you come up with this stuff? Evan Fournier put up better numbers. There is no hands down about it unless you just have no idea what you are talking about. Harris has no touch and it showed last night when he clanked fee throws and jumpers that could have put us away. Get over the Harris love. He is a bench player and a guy you would berate every night if he still played for us.

I love how you keep using 1 game samples to decide how good a player is.

You mean you love how I use season stats? And then accentuate that with quite examples of ineptitude? Glad you apreciate it. Can you explain how you are pro tank yet are cool with a player who would maybe give us +5 in the win column while costing us 16mm a year?

You guys are such hypocrites that you write your own narrative.

[PennytoShaq]

16 points, 48% FG, 35% for 3, 3 free trow attemps per game. 5 rebounds. put that stats on Magic and he is hands down best Magic player. And since Magic traded him for nothing, he is still more valuable than nothing.

Where do you come up with this stuff? Evan Fournier put up better numbers. There is no hands down about it unless you just have no idea what you are talking about. Harris has no touch and it showed last night when he clanked fee throws and jumpers that could have put us away. Get over the Harris love. He is a bench player and a guy you would berate every night if he still played for us.

I'll post link below but to sum it up:
Evan has bit higher PPG, but much worst FG%, lower eFG%, lower TS% and lower free trow percentage, lower RPG, higher TO.
Unlike Fournier, Harris is defensive box plus minus positive, also higher offensive box plus minus (both are positive ). Their win shares are not even close, Harris with 6,9 win share would have by far highest win share on Magic roster.

For rest of their head to head stats there is link . http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.fcgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1_hint=Evan+Fournier&player_id1_select=Evan+Fournier&y1=2017&player_id1=fournev01&player_id4_hint=Tobias+Harris&player_id4_select=Tobias+Harris&y4=2017&player_id4=harrito02

So Evan scores more and shoots better from 3, which are 2 of the 4 stats you mentioned, but suddenly those don't matter because you dug up irrelevant, team based advanced stats that somehow justify your frail argument? Got it.

[Xatticus]

Why wasn't Hennigan fired back in January when you guys knew this season was a **** show? They should have hired a new guy by early February at least and then have their new guy make the moves at the trade deadline. Makes little sense to have a lame duck GM start the process for the next rebuilding plan and be involved in off season planning. Not like he's a head coach and could finish the season to redeem himself. His moves were already made.

Because we have a PR guy and salesman running our franchise. I really don't think Martins is indifferent to success on the court. I just think he is far more concerned with trying to soak up credit and divert blame. And why wouldn't he be? That has gotten him to where he is.