Rob Hennigan Appreciation Thread

[RickB-Orlando]

I liked Henny, just think in the end he made a few moves that didn't work out. The Tobias trade is on him, regardless of who influenced it. Same for the Ibaka trade, which I admit I expected to push us to .500 at least. Not a fan of the Biz signing, but we'll see what happens, maybe Biyombo turns into a top defender.

[RickB-Orlando]

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.

Totally agree, Ibaka seemed to be the unicorn PF that so many here said we needed form the first four years. Hindsight is always 20/20.

[magic22s]

Thank you but good riddance!

[ilikebeer]

I wish would have continued with the draft and develop plan. Keeping guys like Harris, Oladipo, Dedmon, the Sabonis pick seems like it would have left us with a better team and more flexibility.

[rusoopE]

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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Exactly! I share the same thoughts

[drsd]

Orlando has a great number of assets, from young players, to all their coming draft picks, to a clear salary cap. GM Hennigan left the Magic in good shape for the forthcoming rebuild.


..

[cedric76]

Great job Rob

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[axl_c_cool]

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!

Why post in the appreciation thread then? You don't like the guy that's ok, your choice, but don't bring it in this topic

[shadrock]

Lets be very clear here. Rob is fired because of Alex MArtins sticking his finger in the pie too many times.

- Martins hired Skiles.
- Martins changed the plan to win now aka trading for Ibaka, because he is a short sighted PR focussed dweeb.
- Martins gave Skiles too much say in moves such as the Tobias Harris trade.

Take those three moves in particular away and you are left with:
- a really successful drafting record all things considered.
- a huge haul for Dwight including a potential 2019 unprotected pick from the Lakers SEVEN YEARS after the Dwight deal went through.
- an ability to NOT do what the public/media/fans think is going to work, which is a skill you can not put enough value on. He backed himself and i respect him immensely for that. He was criticised for the Dwight trade, he was criticised for the Fournier trade, he was criticised for drafting AG, he was criticised for trading for Elf. All of these moves worked out for him long term. I fear that in the future, we will be doing the more popular moves which will mean we end up with the Bynums and Exums of the world.

Lets be real here, if we had of gotten a top 3 pick anywhere in the last 3 years, we do not fire Rob Hennigan. If we end up with Porzingis over Mario, we do not fire Rob Hennigan. That to me is the saddest part. He will be remembered for not building a winning team but really, he did about as well as anyone could have been expected to do in the environment he was put in.

Alex Martins has once again thrown another coach/GM under the bus and absolved himself of any wrong doing which is a tired theme now, but the sad truth is the Devos family think hes fantastic and i dont see that changing anytime soon. As long as we are making moves that have ANY focus on PR, we are doomed. Fans like winning, they dont care about symbolic gestures, especially not when they are winning 20 something games in a season. No amount of Nick Anderson and Bo Outlaw and Scott Skiles and freaking Pat Garrity can cover the fact that we are losing.

Time to change the approach and set out sights on a championship, not on a playoff series.

RIP Henny, i know you were not the problem here...

[IM7]

Lets be very clear here. Rob is fired because of Alex MArtins sticking his finger in the pie too many times.

- Martins hired Skiles.
- Martins changed the plan to win now aka trading for Ibaka, because he is a short sighted PR focussed dweeb.
- Martins gave Skiles too much say in moves such as the Tobias Harris trade.

Take those three moves in particular away and you are left with:
- a really successful drafting record all things considered.
- a huge haul for Dwight including a potential 2019 unprotected pick from the Lakers SEVEN YEARS after the Dwight deal went through.
- an ability to NOT do what the public/media/fans think is going to work, which is a skill you can not put enough value on. He backed himself and i respect him immensely for that. He was criticised for the Dwight trade, he was criticised for the Fournier trade, he was criticised for drafting AG, he was criticised for trading for Elf. All of these moves worked out for him long term. I fear that in the future, we will be doing the more popular moves which will mean we end up with the Bynums and Exums of the world.

Lets be real here, if we had of gotten a top 3 pick anywhere in the last 3 years, we do not fire Rob Hennigan. If we end up with Porzingis over Mario, we do not fire Rob Hennigan. That to me is the saddest part. He will be remembered for not building a winning team but really, he did about as well as anyone could have been expected to do in the environment he was put in.

Alex Martins has once again thrown another coach/GM under the bus and absolved himself of any wrong doing which is a tired theme now, but the sad truth is the Devos family think hes fantastic and i dont see that changing anytime soon. As long as we are making moves that have ANY focus on PR, we are doomed. Fans like winning, they dont care about symbolic gestures, especially not when they are winning 20 something games in a season. No amount of Nick Anderson and Bo Outlaw and Scott Skiles and freaking Pat Garrity can cover the fact that we are losing.

Time to change the approach and set out sights on a championship, not on a playoff series.

RIP Henny, i know you were not the problem here...

Like Martin Tyler said, after Tony Adams smashed the ball in the back of the net against Everton, 'that, sums it all up'.

[Mr Magic Fan]

Lets be very clear here. Rob is fired because of Alex MArtins sticking his finger in the pie too many times.

- Martins hired Skiles.
- Martins changed the plan to win now aka trading for Ibaka, because he is a short sighted PR focussed dweeb.
- Martins gave Skiles too much say in moves such as the Tobias Harris trade.

Take those three moves in particular away and you are left with:
- a really successful drafting record all things considered.
- a huge haul for Dwight including a potential 2019 unprotected pick from the Lakers SEVEN YEARS after the Dwight deal went through.
- an ability to NOT do what the public/media/fans think is going to work, which is a skill you can not put enough value on. He backed himself and i respect him immensely for that. He was criticised for the Dwight trade, he was criticised for the Fournier trade, he was criticised for drafting AG, he was criticised for trading for Elf. All of these moves worked out for him long term. I fear that in the future, we will be doing the more popular moves which will mean we end up with the Bynums and Exums of the world.

Lets be real here, if we had of gotten a top 3 pick anywhere in the last 3 years, we do not fire Rob Hennigan. If we end up with Porzingis over Mario, we do not fire Rob Hennigan. That to me is the saddest part. He will be remembered for not building a winning team but really, he did about as well as anyone could have been expected to do in the environment he was put in.

Alex Martins has once again thrown another coach/GM under the bus and absolved himself of any wrong doing which is a tired theme now, but the sad truth is the Devos family think hes fantastic and i dont see that changing anytime soon. As long as we are making moves that have ANY focus on PR, we are doomed. Fans like winning, they dont care about symbolic gestures, especially not when they are winning 20 something games in a season. No amount of Nick Anderson and Bo Outlaw and Scott Skiles and freaking Pat Garrity can cover the fact that we are losing.

Time to change the approach and set out sights on a championship, not on a playoff series.

RIP Henny, i know you were not the problem here...

I agree with most of this. It's unfortunate the business side can't think long-term and work towards building a high quality basketball product. The only short cuts are generational players and there aren't many of them, and even then it's not a guarantee. This is the same franchise that let business get in the way of resigning Shaq. Will they ever learn?

As far as Rob, I appreciated his approach to drafting and cap flexibility. His picks all illustrate a common theme: get guys who have potential to contribute at a high level on each side of the ball. He swung for the fences with his draft picks and in something as uncertain as the draft, that is all you can ask for. I still have faith in AG and Elf to make a leap (how big is yet to be determined) and although Mario hasn't quite panned out the tools are clearly there to see why he was highly regarded going into the draft.

Nonetheless he did make mistakes. He wasn't very good in free agency (I hated the Biyombo signing). He failed to maximize the trade value of Tobias and Oladipo. Even if Martin's pushed for these kinds of trades it's still Rob's job to extract the most value as possible. It's almost like he got it from the macro perspective but the little things did him in. For example, why the hell does the Laker pick turn into 2 2nds? Why don't we have the better of the Clipper/Raptor pick? Were those really deal breakers? I find that hard to believe. Do I think these should have been fire able offense? No. His drafting, eye for talent, and ability to have contingencies to maintain flexibility more than compensated for small free agent blunders and coming up short on trades (things he can clearly improve upon).

Ultimately what did him in was bad timing (a lot just unlucky, like the east really improving this year) and impatient management. It's unfortunate. I hope AG and Elf just explode next year and make Martin's eat crow. Also wish the best to Rob and I don't doubt he'll get another opportunity and end up succeeding.

[shadrock]

Lets be very clear here. Rob is fired because of Alex MArtins sticking his finger in the pie too many times.

- Martins hired Skiles.
- Martins changed the plan to win now aka trading for Ibaka, because he is a short sighted PR focussed dweeb.
- Martins gave Skiles too much say in moves such as the Tobias Harris trade.

Take those three moves in particular away and you are left with:
- a really successful drafting record all things considered.
- a huge haul for Dwight including a potential 2019 unprotected pick from the Lakers SEVEN YEARS after the Dwight deal went through.
- an ability to NOT do what the public/media/fans think is going to work, which is a skill you can not put enough value on. He backed himself and i respect him immensely for that. He was criticised for the Dwight trade, he was criticised for the Fournier trade, he was criticised for drafting AG, he was criticised for trading for Elf. All of these moves worked out for him long term. I fear that in the future, we will be doing the more popular moves which will mean we end up with the Bynums and Exums of the world.

Lets be real here, if we had of gotten a top 3 pick anywhere in the last 3 years, we do not fire Rob Hennigan. If we end up with Porzingis over Mario, we do not fire Rob Hennigan. That to me is the saddest part. He will be remembered for not building a winning team but really, he did about as well as anyone could have been expected to do in the environment he was put in.

Alex Martins has once again thrown another coach/GM under the bus and absolved himself of any wrong doing which is a tired theme now, but the sad truth is the Devos family think hes fantastic and i dont see that changing anytime soon. As long as we are making moves that have ANY focus on PR, we are doomed. Fans like winning, they dont care about symbolic gestures, especially not when they are winning 20 something games in a season. No amount of Nick Anderson and Bo Outlaw and Scott Skiles and freaking Pat Garrity can cover the fact that we are losing.

Time to change the approach and set out sights on a championship, not on a playoff series.

RIP Henny, i know you were not the problem here...

I agree with most of this. It's unfortunate the business side can't think long-term and work towards building a high quality basketball product. The only short cuts are generational players and there aren't many of them, and even then it's not a guarantee. This is the same franchise that let business get in the way of resigning Shaq. Will they ever learn?

As far as Rob, I appreciated his approach to drafting and cap flexibility. His picks all illustrate a common theme: get guys who have potential to contribute at a high level on each side of the ball. He swung for the fences with his draft picks and in something as uncertain as the draft, that is all you can ask for. I still have faith in AG and Elf to make a leap (how big is yet to be determined) and although Mario hasn't quite panned out the tools are clearly there to see why he was highly regarded going into the draft.

Nonetheless he did make mistakes. He wasn't very good in free agency (I hated the Biyombo signing). He failed to maximize the trade value of Tobias and Oladipo. Even if Martin's pushed for these kinds of trades it's still Rob's job to extract the most value as possible. It's almost like he got it from the macro perspective but the little things did him in. For example, why the hell does the Laker pick turn into 2 2nds? Why don't we have the better of the Clipper/Raptor pick? Were those really deal breakers? I find that hard to believe. Do I think these should have been fire able offense? No. His drafting, eye for talent, and ability to have contingencies to maintain flexibility more than compensated for small free agent blunders and coming up short on trades (things he can clearly improve upon).

Ultimately what did him in was bad timing (a lot just unlucky, like the east really improving this year) and impatient management. It's unfortunate. I hope AG and Elf just explode next year and make Martin's eat crow. Also wish the best to Rob and I don't doubt he'll get another opportunity and end up succeeding.

RE: the Lakers pick... Not much more Rob could have done. He had the longest possible timeline allowable on the pick. It could have been conveyed like three times already but has missed every year only just. This is the 4th year and second year on a row its only been top 3 protected. To me, he squeezed every last drop out of that pick. We now literally have a 50% chance of getting the Lakers 2019 UNPROTECTED pick, which would be without question the best individual asset we got from the Dwight deal. I think of all things to criticise Henny on, the Lakers pick shouldnt be one. Besides, the Lakers actually believed they were about to be a championship team for the next 10 years when they got Dwight and im sure never even considered the possibility it could end like this.

[Mr Magic Fan]

Lets be very clear here. Rob is fired because of Alex MArtins sticking his finger in the pie too many times.

- Martins hired Skiles.
- Martins changed the plan to win now aka trading for Ibaka, because he is a short sighted PR focussed dweeb.
- Martins gave Skiles too much say in moves such as the Tobias Harris trade.

Take those three moves in particular away and you are left with:
- a really successful drafting record all things considered.
- a huge haul for Dwight including a potential 2019 unprotected pick from the Lakers SEVEN YEARS after the Dwight deal went through.
- an ability to NOT do what the public/media/fans think is going to work, which is a skill you can not put enough value on. He backed himself and i respect him immensely for that. He was criticised for the Dwight trade, he was criticised for the Fournier trade, he was criticised for drafting AG, he was criticised for trading for Elf. All of these moves worked out for him long term. I fear that in the future, we will be doing the more popular moves which will mean we end up with the Bynums and Exums of the world.

Lets be real here, if we had of gotten a top 3 pick anywhere in the last 3 years, we do not fire Rob Hennigan. If we end up with Porzingis over Mario, we do not fire Rob Hennigan. That to me is the saddest part. He will be remembered for not building a winning team but really, he did about as well as anyone could have been expected to do in the environment he was put in.

Alex Martins has once again thrown another coach/GM under the bus and absolved himself of any wrong doing which is a tired theme now, but the sad truth is the Devos family think hes fantastic and i dont see that changing anytime soon. As long as we are making moves that have ANY focus on PR, we are doomed. Fans like winning, they dont care about symbolic gestures, especially not when they are winning 20 something games in a season. No amount of Nick Anderson and Bo Outlaw and Scott Skiles and freaking Pat Garrity can cover the fact that we are losing.

Time to change the approach and set out sights on a championship, not on a playoff series.

RIP Henny, i know you were not the problem here...

I agree with most of this. It's unfortunate the business side can't think long-term and work towards building a high quality basketball product. The only short cuts are generational players and there aren't many of them, and even then it's not a guarantee. This is the same franchise that let business get in the way of resigning Shaq. Will they ever learn?

As far as Rob, I appreciated his approach to drafting and cap flexibility. His picks all illustrate a common theme: get guys who have potential to contribute at a high level on each side of the ball. He swung for the fences with his draft picks and in something as uncertain as the draft, that is all you can ask for. I still have faith in AG and Elf to make a leap (how big is yet to be determined) and although Mario hasn't quite panned out the tools are clearly there to see why he was highly regarded going into the draft.

Nonetheless he did make mistakes. He wasn't very good in free agency (I hated the Biyombo signing). He failed to maximize the trade value of Tobias and Oladipo. Even if Martin's pushed for these kinds of trades it's still Rob's job to extract the most value as possible. It's almost like he got it from the macro perspective but the little things did him in. For example, why the hell does the Laker pick turn into 2 2nds? Why don't we have the better of the Clipper/Raptor pick? Were those really deal breakers? I find that hard to believe. Do I think these should have been fire able offense? No. His drafting, eye for talent, and ability to have contingencies to maintain flexibility more than compensated for small free agent blunders and coming up short on trades (things he can clearly improve upon).

Ultimately what did him in was bad timing (a lot just unlucky, like the east really improving this year) and impatient management. It's unfortunate. I hope AG and Elf just explode next year and make Martin's eat crow. Also wish the best to Rob and I don't doubt he'll get another opportunity and end up succeeding.

RE: the Lakers pick... Not much more Rob could have done. He had the longest possible timeline allowable on the pick. It could have been conveyed like three times already but has missed every year only just. This is the 4th year and second year on a row its only been top 3 protected. To me, he squeezed every last drop out of that pick. We now literally have a 50% chance of getting the Lakers 2019 UNPROTECTED pick, which would be without question the best individual asset we got from the Dwight deal. I think of all things to criticise Henny on, the Lakers pick shouldnt be one. Besides, the Lakers actually believed they were about to be a championship team for the next 10 years when they got Dwight and im sure never even considered the possibility it could end like this.

Fair enough. I misunderstood the protections on the pick.

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