The Magic, The Heat, and the Timing

Tim Povtak, one of my favorite NBA writers, made a couple of terrific points on Wednesday morning when he appeared on the Sentinel's daily sports radio show on Orlando's 740 The Team.

If it's indeed Stan Van Gundy for the Magic -- and after the events of the last week, I'm reserving judgement until I see the man coach a regular-season game in Orlando -- that's not a bad hire at all. I've already written that I consider SVG to be a highly underrated coach, and I know from past experience with the Miami Heat (specifically, hosting pre-game shows on Sun Sports during the team's 2004 playoff run with Van Gundy and rookie Dwyane Wade) that players, especially young players, respond to him. But here's the extra point that Tim made this morning:

If it's Van Gundy, there is no NBA learning curve. He knows the game, and knows the players. Ramping up a Magic roster under SVG would be infinitely easier than doing so under Billy Donovan, who has never coached in the NBA. Tim went so far as to say that teams like the Heat were actually "relieved" when the Magic hired Donovan over Van Gundy, assuming that it would take Donovan a half-season or longer to become acclimated to the pro game (and professionally fragile egos). Tim concluded that in the short term, Van Gundy is a much better basketball hire for the Magic than Donovan would have been. Donovan would sell more tickets and energize the casual fan; Van Gundy, theoretically, would win games sooner.

If you buy Tim's logic (and I think I do), and we agree that winning solves everything (ditto), hiring Van Gundy puts the Magic back on their feet.

But as of this writing, there was yet another snag for Orlando, and it comes from their friendly rivals to the south.

Heat team president Pat Riley is reportedly seeking compensation before allowing Van Gundy out of his contract as a Heat consultant, a deal that runs through 2008. This is a common practice in the NBA; as the South Florida Sun-Sentinel noted this morning, Riley himself cost the Miami Heat a first-round pick and $1 million dollars when they drew him away from the Knicks in 1995. However, drawing a line in the sand over Van Gundy is a curious move from Riley, who said nothing about compensation when he announced in April that SVG was free to pursue head coaching opportunities. For that matter, if SVG has a deal on the table from the Sacramento Kings, as has been widely reported, there's been no mention of compensation to the Heat from that franchise. And finally, "compensation" usually applies to head coaches, not assistants or "consultants."

You could make an argument that the Magic situation is unique, as they play in Miami's division, but let's get real. Doesn't this sound like Riley just wants to stick it to the Magic because it's Orlando, and because, well, he can?

Regional rivalries aside -- and make no mistake about it, the two franchises are rivals, from the front office to the court -- the backstory here is Riley's touch-and-go with Stan Van Gundy in the head coaching position with the Heat. After finishing the '02-'03 season with a 36-46 record, Riley walked away from the job on the eve of the 2003-2004 season, handing the reins over to Van Gundy, who watched the team struggle to an 0-7 start. The Heat, behind sensational play from the rookie Wade, rebounded to finish 42-40 and reach the second round of the NBA Playoffs. 2004 was the summer of Shaq; with the Diesel on board, Van Gundy took the Heat to the Eastern Conference Finals in '05, losing in seven games to the Pistons after blowing a 3-2 series lead.

In December of '05, Stan Van Gundy made the stunning announcement that he wanted to "spend more time with his family," and Riley was back in. That season, of course, produced the Miami Heat's first NBA Championship. Riley was dogged with accusations that he forced SVG out in order to retake the spotlight (with, to his credit, a vastly improved team of his own creation as Heat president and GM). Riley and the rest of the Heat organization vehemently denied any such "master plan," and the topic rarely came up in the wake of an NBA title. Stan Van Gundy, ever the loyal soldier, made it very easy on the Heat by remaining essentially silent on the matter. He's been all but invisible ever since.

Until now. If and when Van Gundy is announced in Orlando, you can bet that several media outlets will be revisiting this particular chapter in Heat history, and will no doubt question Pat Riley's motivations again. And when they do, they'll be late to the game, because the Sun-Sentinel's Ira Winderman has already done so:

"On one hand, Riley asking for compensation is sound business. Why not, if the opportunity is there, seek to bolster your franchise?

On the other, should someone with the remarkable resume' of Riley display concern over a former assistant working in the same division?

Riley has done a remarkable job in advancing the careers of the Van Gundys, [Jeff] Bzdelik, Marc Iavaroni and others who have emerged from his staffs.

Yet the legacy is not one of sage mentor and devout pupils.

It can be argued there is no room for sentiment in competitive sport.

But, sometimes, a large figure can come off looking remarkably small."

Well said. Earning the ire of Ira (snicker) is partially a mess of Pat Riley's own creation. Which brings me back to the Magic.

Their current mess, the one involving Billy Donovan, is partially of their own creation as well. Just a little bit. Follow me on this:

The Magic lost game four of their first-round series against Detroit on April 28th. After a three-week "evaluation period," Brian Hill was fired on May 23rd. Billy Donovan was announced as the new head coach on May 31st.

Judging from published reports, Donovan and the Magic may have been in contact -- through third parties, at least -- before Hill's departure was official, but essentially, those three weeks of limbo forced the Magic into a compressed negotiating period with Donovan. Go back and re-read the news accounts, and remember the timeline: while Donovan was announced on a Thursday, he was denying contact with the Magic as recently as Tuesday of the same week. It was a 48-hour courtship, with the Magic in a hurry -- while they were dancing with Billy, their pool of candidates was shrinking. Marc Iavaroni, the former Suns assistant who was a popular choice among Magic fans, was announced as the Memphis Grizzlies' head coach on that same Thursday morning. No NBA team wants to enter June, and the summer draft/free agent season, without a coach in place.

48 hours for Donovan to decide if he wanted to leave a place where he had spent the last 11 years of his life building a program from nothing into a two-time national champion. 48 hours to weigh the costs and benefits of uprooting his wife and four children -- all of whom, by all accounts, absolutely love it in Gainesville and have no desire to leave. 48 hours to ponder the effect his departure would have on his current players, his recruits, Gator Nation, and his good friend Jeremy Foley, who tabbed him for the Florida job when Donovan was barely 30 years old. Granted, Donovan is an adult, and his failure to fully consider his own desires and the weight of the move is a fair criticism, but could you do all of that in less than two days and feel good about it? Is it any wonder that Donovan made a decision that he immediately regretted?

Donovan was in a hurry because the Magic were in a hurry. They spent three weeks -- wasted three weeks, according to critics of Brian Hill -- evaluating their head coach, and found themselves up against the clock as a result. That translated into Donovan's hurried decision, one that he might not have made had he been granted sufficient time to weigh the options. As a secondary result, the delay also forced Stan Van Gundy into the uncomfortable position of fending off the Sacramento Kings, who may end up going with someone else anyway. And if I really wanted to stretch it, I might argue that all the extra time allowed the Heat to brace themselves for Van Gundy's potential departure by coming up with the "compensation" gambit.

So why did it take three weeks?

That's a question the Magic will have to answer. We can only guess: no matter what the fans think, it's never easy to fire a head coach, especially one with such deep personal ties to the organization. Perhaps they were trying to convince Hill to change his style to the uptempo game that Otis Smith desires. Plus, Otis has free agency to worry about, and his bosses have a new arena to fight for. Hill was on vacation. The DeVos family was spread all over the globe. Just not enough hours in the day. Whatever.

Point is, whether we agree with the necessity of three weeks or not, the Magic have at least a little bit of culpability in this situation. They did nothing wrong by landing Donovan -- and if he doesn't change his mind, this conversation never happens -- but you have to wonder how things might be different now if Billy D was officially offered the job on, say, May 15th.

Think he could have used those two extra weeks?