Billy Donovan Wants Out

[Mr. MacPhisto]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2892334

Wow, this has happened a lot lately. Will the Magic let Donovan go without penalty? If you're so shaky about leaving Florida then why sign the new contract?

If Donovan had major reservations about going to Orlando then he shouldn't have signed the contract.

[intenso]

at some point the school these coaches leaves is going to have to say screw you, take your money and live with it.

[Kuiper]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2892334

Wow, this has happened a lot lately. Will the Magic let Donovan go without penalty? If you're so shaky about leaving Florida then why sign the new contract?

If Donovan had major reservations about going to Orlando then he shouldn't have signed the contract.

My understanding is that Donovan had yet to actually sign his contract. I'm not sure oral contracts are enforceable in Florida.

[schlobbin31]

The article says that he signed the contract last Friday.

[Madre Hill, Superstar]

Translating Billy Donovan: "Wait, I'm in the same conference as Lebron James? Screw that, I'm going back to Gainesville!"

C'mon, if Bill Simmons was thinking that...

[mswerb]

Last I saw, Orlando is letting him out of his contract. Billy had the job for 3 days.

[jb]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2892334

Wow, this has happened a lot lately. Will the Magic let Donovan go without penalty? If you're so shaky about leaving Florida then why sign the new contract?

If Donovan had major reservations about going to Orlando then he shouldn't have signed the contract.

Quick takes....

I have no idea, other than ticket sales, what in the world Orlando was thinking in the first place. AFAIK Billy never played meaningful Association ball out of Providence. He's a college coach through and through. I am very hard pressed to remember the last big time college coach who did jack shit in the Association. Maybe you count Larry Brown, but OTOH you can make the case he had pro basketball roots, with his first gig being ABA head coach, right? Plus, he played meaningful ABA years and was a pretty damn good pro point guard for Carolina in the day. Terry Pluto features him prominantly in "Loose Balls", the second best book on pro sports ever written IMhO. I digress.

But the real issue is why in the world would anyone think Donovan is "The Guy" to break that mold? I believe NBA athlete laughs at him.

Secondly, if you are Florida, you take him back with open arms and no questions asked. You never had a hoops program before him and population trends and progress under him be damned, you don't want to take the chance on life after him so readily.

Bottom line: Billy should have never left what was the perfect situation for him and was unqualified to be an NBA coach and never should have been hired over men like Michael Cooper in the first place except for name recognition.

This thing had the ending it should have had.

[intenso]

Orlando was thinking, this guy is a god in Florida and we'll sell a bunch of tickets and make some money.

[jb]

Orlando was thinking, this guy is a god in Florida and we'll sell a bunch of tickets and make some money.

No doubt.

Pretty short sighted though, don't you think?

Q: are they going to refund anyone who bough t tickets based on the supposition he was coach over the weekend?

[mswerb]

Orlando was thinking, this guy is a god in Florida and we'll sell a bunch of tickets and
some money.

Exactly.

[Mr. MacPhisto]

Orlando was thinking, this guy is a god in Florida and we'll sell a bunch of tickets and make some money.

No doubt.

Pretty short sighted though, don't you think?

Q: are they going to refund anyone who bough t tickets based on the supposition he was coach over the weekend?

I think it'd be wise to make the offer of a refund. Sucks to have to possibly refund 200+ season tickets.

What really sucks for the Magic is that they're going to build a new arena beginning next year and they had hopes for Donovan to build up the team and really pack int he new place. They're also facing Dwight Howard's last year before he can become a Restricted Free Agent, so there's plenty of pressure in O-Town. My guess is that they will sign a big name free agent this year (Lewis or Chauncey maybe - they have $15M in cap space) and try to extend both Howard and Nelson.