Rob Hennigan Appreciation Thread

axl_c_cool · Post #1 » by **axl_c_cool** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 10:32 am

Despite a hard 5 years Rob tried to build us the right way through the draft. Bad luck with lottery balls and internal pressure leading some bad trades and free agent signings were what ruined this rebuild. That aside, some good deals including

- Trading for Tobias Harris
- Trading for Evan Fournier
- The Dwight Howard trade
- Drafting Aaron Gordon

Goodluck and all the best in whatever you do in the future.

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CourtsideTV · Post #2 » by **CourtsideTV** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 11:01 am

lets hope the lakers pick from the dwight trade ends up in our favor.

MagicStarwipe · Post #3 » by **MagicStarwipe** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 11:14 am

I liked him. This was an almost no win situation and I think he only deserves half the blame at absolute most. He always talked about doing things organically, but in the end that plan was not allowed to happen. He had a deadline set by those higher than him in the organisation. He had to land a surefire superstar in 2014 or 2015 to meet that deadline and it didn't happen.

LBPTarHeel27 · Post #4 » by **LBPTarHeel27** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 11:26 am

MagicStarwipe wrote:I liked him. This was an almost no win situation and I think he only deserves half the blame at absolute most. He always talked about doing things organically, but in the end that plan was not allowed to happen. He had a deadline set by those higher than him in the organisation. He had to land a surefire superstar in 2014 or 2015 to meet that deadline and it didn't happen.

It really was. I cannot see a scenario where he makes the right moves and keeps the job. The ping pong balls did not make his job any easier.

Mr Magic Fan · Post #5 » by **Mr Magic Fan** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 11:58 am

His tenure illustrates how fine a line it is between perceived success and failure in this league. How difficult it is to build a contender. How much chance plays a role in success. For example look at the Cavs, heck even the wizards who are where they are because they got into the lottery 3 times. Are those GMs better than Rob? I'm not so sure.

I also think expectations were outrageous. Essentially the organization said "we want to be a contender ASAP". However, when he started the team was a mess. Dwight wanted out and would only go to two teams who didn't really have attractive assets. Arenas contract, hedo contract, Glen Davis contract, Duhon, no young talent at all. The deck was bare from the beginning.

In hindsight it seems like a poor fit from the beginning. Rob wanted to focus on flexibility until that right opportunity came along. Unfortunately it just didn't materialize and Martins was too impatient (I'm curious if the success of Orlando City soccer plays a role in this accelerated rebuild as well). You can say cousins, but there is a reason the kings got so little in return.

Overall, I appreciated the thought process and analysis of most of the transactions. Gamble on athletic players, who with development can emerge into high level 2 way players. Maintain salary flexibility. Take calculated risks but not jeopardize the long term. Some of it didn't work out, but you can't really predict that sometimes. It's like poker where you can play a hand beautifully and still lose. His fatal flaw was his stubbourness with Vuc.

Unfortunately he will be judged very harshly due to the record, but I don't think it tells the whole story. If things break differently, the perception would be completely different. For example, say Porzingis declares in the 14 draft. Then Rob looks like a genius right now.

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Nemesis21 · Post #6 » by **Nemesis21** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 12:00 pm

Thank you Rob! Unfortunately you weren't allowed to do your job the last 3 years thanks to a grease hair piss ant and 90+ yr old owner with no patience. You did the best you could. Thank you for your effort. I would like to apologize for this **** hole you were put in, with no help from your bosses, who made you the scapegoat for their mistakes. I wish you all the best in your next role and I know you will be an NBA GM again.

dsg2003mach1 · Post #7 » by **dsg2003mach1** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 12:38 pm

Mr Magic Fan wrote:His tenure illustrates how fine a line it is between perceived success and failure in this league. How difficult it is to build a contender. How much chance plays a role in success. For example look at the Cavs, heck even the wizards who are where they are because they got into the lottery 3 times. Are those GMs better than Rob? I'm not so sure.

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definitely agree, had we drafted one spot higher we get Porzingis and this is a totally different situation. I cant help but feel like some of the personnel decisions came from above. Personally I could have lived with a few more seasons of incremental improvement vs what we ended up with.

I hope Rob gets another shot somewhere, that would tell the tale imho

npiper17 · Post #8 » by **npiper17** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 12:52 pm

I think his heart was in the right place and he made some decent moves and some bad moves.

Ironically, if he hadn't made the Ibaka trade (with a misguided 'win now' mentality) and the Magic had improved on last season's win total but missed the playoffs, I think he keeps his job.

Good luck in the future Rob. I expect to see him end up back at OKC or San Antonio in an assistant GM-level role.

LBPTarHeel27 · Post #9 » by **LBPTarHeel27** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 12:55 pm

npiper17 wrote:I think his heart was in the right place and he made some decent moves and some bad moves.

Ironically, if he hadn't made the Ibaka trade (with a misguided 'win now' mentality) and the Magic had improved on last season's win total but missed the playoffs, I think he keeps his job.

Good luck in the future Rob. I expect to see him end up back at OKC or San Antonio in an assistant GM-level role.

Yeah, he certainly still has a place in the league. It may take a handful of years but he will be back in a GM role down the road.

dsg2021 · Post #10 » by **dsg2021** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 1:13 pm

The Tobias and Dwight trades were so brilliant. And he made solid picks minus maybe Mario only.

He should be rehired quick imo, just not as a head GM probably. If he gets lucky with the Lakers' 1st coming our way, it will be the pièce de résistance on the Dwight trade. And getting rid of JJ, a fan favorite, but to see a youngster dropping 17-20 ppg in his place was really fun.

Edit: Fournier trade was great too.

Statlanta · Post #11 » by **Statlanta** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 1:24 pm

Good luck to Henny on future endeavors.

If I were to judge solely based on win total in the RH era.
Wins 20 Attendance 15th
Wins 23 Attendance 23rd
Wins 25 Attendance 23rd
Wins 35 Attendance 17th
Wins 29 Attendance 15th
All figures from basketball-reference.com

You would think the assets he got grew somewhat considering no star and multiple trades. Also it looks like he got us someone entertaining at the very least considering a new sport team just arrived here looking at the attendance figures. I think he's more mediocre than bad or franchise crippling GM but with 5 years with no playoffs and lack of clear roster vision I can see why he got the axe. Here's hoping that the next GM can progress the roster state for the Magic into a more clearer vision for the team.

anothermagicfan · Post #12 » by **anothermagicfan** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 1:53 pm

Thanks for your efforts rob. IM sure he will lead another team soon enough. I honestly think this firing comes down to not getting enough out of the victor and Tobias trades. Im sure we would be better with them but they would have given us a really high salary cap. That's too much for a team that would be better but not good enough to contend. No one can say Mario was a bad pick yet. If he doesn't start to show some improvement next year then the jury can be out on him.

swarlesbarkley · Post #13 » by **swarlesbarkley** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 2:06 pm

I don't think it was Rob's decision to win now so I don't blame him for our current situation. He got hidden young talent (Harris, Fournier, Vuc) when ownership was on board with losing. He scrambled and made bad decisions (Green, Biyombo) when ownership wanted to win too fast.

TreasureCoast · Post #14 » by **TreasureCoast** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 3:07 pm

People are gonna wish we had him back eventually. Alex Martins runs the show people! As long as we have Martins and DeVos we can only expect to cater to the tourists he fills the stands with and the retirees. Can't wait to see what good character/good Christian boy yes man we hire next, Danny Schayes is that you??

rusoopE · Post #15 » by **rusoopE** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 3:13 pm

Man i really wanted henny inking a New contract. I always backed up his moves (not Biz tho) and had hopes on him. Best of luck to him. I will miss him

MagicFan4Lyfe · Post #16 » by **MagicFan4Lyfe** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 3:52 pm

There is nothing I appreciate about Hennigan. Don't let the door hit you too hard on your way out!

The future is bright again!

Max Power · Post #17 » by **Max Power** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 4:30 pm

We focused a lot on Hennigan's results on the floor. I was in favor of his removal simply because of the time this rebuild spun its wheels and didn't go very far. I think Hennigan has an aptitude to find good players maybe others didn't think were so good. Tobias was an example, as well as Vuc. So he deserves credit there and for the Howard deal, which could have been worse had we taken Bynum.

There's a good GM in him, but results simply took too long here. The Spurs and Thunder had a ton of lottery luck and savvy drafting help them get where they are. We weren't fortunate that way. I suspect Rob gets another shot to GM in a few years and will do significantly better.

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Nemesis21 · Post #18 » by **Nemesis21** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 4:35 pm

GortatExpress wrote:There is nothing I appreciate about Hennigan. Don't let the door hit you too hard on your way out!

The future is bright again!

Hi NEM

Mr Magic Fan · Post #19 » by **Mr Magic Fan** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 4:55 pm

rusoopE wrote:Man i really wanted henny inking a New contract. I always backed up his moves (not Biz tho) and had hopes on him. Best of luck to him. I will miss him

Agree about the Biz signing. I think that was his worst move, it just created more roster problems. Other moves he made I'm thinking "yeah that makes sense". Biz signing I thought "who spiked the company meeting?" It was and still is baffling.

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Nemesis21 · Post #20 » by **Nemesis21** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 5:14 pm

Mr Magic Fan wrote:
rusoopE wrote:Man i really wanted henny inking a New contract. I always backed up his moves (not Biz tho) and had hopes on him. Best of luck to him. I will miss him

Agree about the Biz signing. I think that was his worst move, it just created more roster problems. Other moves he made I'm thinking "yeah that makes sense". Biz signing I thought "who spiked the company meeting?" It was and still is baffling.

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I agree, no need to get Biz after trading for Ibaka. I thought for a long time that Ibaka would be perfect at PF next to Vucevic. It didn't work out because of the log jam. He should have just signed Biz(not at that price though), then look to move Oladipo and others at the trade deadline.