AleksandarN
Starter
Can you picture what Rick would do with the lineup the Magic have. If I was Otis I would phone Rick asap.
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_magic/2007/05/why_doesnt_bhil.html
This is strange, to say the least.
The Magic are like boxing commissioners, considering whether to revoke Brian Hill's license as head coach.
They are the review board.
Hill is the fighter.
It's just that most of the time . . . the fighter will plead his case for getting back into the ring. Go down swinging, so to speak.
And yet, Brian Hill, when reached by our Tim Povtak on Thursday, refused to make a case for himself. He refused to embrace the idea that he's returning or debunk the notion that he's in quicksand.
When Povtak asked him, point blank, several times, if he were coming back as coach, Hill said he wouldn't comment.
What does that tell you?
It tells me two things:
1. Brian already knows he is down for the count. I mean, if you were confident you were keeping your job, why not say, with a snarl, "I'm coming back and I don't know why you media folks keep asking me this. Let me get to the beach."
2. Brian, a classy professional who has a long relationship with the DeVos family, is not a bridge-burner. He knows that if he wants a job in the Magic's front office one day --- and he does, but as a general manager --- he can't be ripping the club. Especially if they are about to pay him the next two years remaining on his deal --- to the tune of $6 million --- or are negotiating a nice settlement.
This is how millionaires in corporations handle stuff.
Why else would Hill allow himself to twist in the wind?
It's hard for me to buy into the idea that President Bob Vander Weide and GM Otis Smith are asking Brian to change how he coaches and everything will be fine.
Hill's going to change who he is after 30-plus years in the business? Like the Magic didn't know what they were getting when they hired him ---for the second time? Most coaches are open and listen to front-office suggestions, but they have to wonder when the front-office "advice" will stop.
And Hill has to wonder what credibility he has with the players and ticket-holders now that the Magic have gone public in saying his performance is under review. Vander Weide said "the process" will take two to three weeks.
No, it feels as if the Magic need time to plot their next move (coaching hire), time to develop an exit strategy for Hill and themselves.
That Hill didn't comment doesn't surprise me at all. I've known Brian for years, and he is as wary and cautious of the media as any coach I've ever been around, measuring every word. He's a fighter --- he has more heart and guts and fire than some of his players -- -but he's no mud-slinger.
But it's Hill's silence that tells me a lot.
And Hill's silence is as cryptic as Vander Weide saying he couldn't answer "right now" whether Brian would be the coach next season.
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_magic/2007/05/why_doesnt_bhil.html
This is strange, to say the least.
The Magic are like boxing commissioners, considering whether to revoke Brian Hill's license as head coach.
They are the review board.
Hill is the fighter.
It's just that most of the time . . . the fighter will plead his case for getting back into the ring. Go down swinging, so to speak.
And yet, Brian Hill, when reached by our Tim Povtak on Thursday, refused to make a case for himself. He refused to embrace the idea that he's returning or debunk the notion that he's in quicksand.
When Povtak asked him, point blank, several times, if he were coming back as coach, Hill said he wouldn't comment.
What does that tell you?
It tells me two things:
1. Brian already knows he is down for the count. I mean, if you were confident you were keeping your job, why not say, with a snarl, "I'm coming back and I don't know why you media folks keep asking me this. Let me get to the beach."
2. Brian, a classy professional who has a long relationship with the DeVos family, is not a bridge-burner. He knows that if he wants a job in the Magic's front office one day --- and he does, but as a general manager --- he can't be ripping the club. Especially if they are about to pay him the next two years remaining on his deal --- to the tune of $6 million --- or are negotiating a nice settlement.
This is how millionaires in corporations handle stuff.
Why else would Hill allow himself to twist in the wind?
It's hard for me to buy into the idea that President Bob Vander Weide and GM Otis Smith are asking Brian to change how he coaches and everything will be fine.
Hill's going to change who he is after 30-plus years in the business? Like the Magic didn't know what they were getting when they hired him ---for the second time? Most coaches are open and listen to front-office suggestions, but they have to wonder when the front-office "advice" will stop.
And Hill has to wonder what credibility he has with the players and ticket-holders now that the Magic have gone public in saying his performance is under review. Vander Weide said "the process" will take two to three weeks.
No, it feels as if the Magic need time to plot their next move (coaching hire), time to develop an exit strategy for Hill and themselves.
That Hill didn't comment doesn't surprise me at all. I've known Brian for years, and he is as wary and cautious of the media as any coach I've ever been around, measuring every word. He's a fighter --- he has more heart and guts and fire than some of his players -- -but he's no mud-slinger.
But it's Hill's silence that tells me a lot.
And Hill's silence is as cryptic as Vander Weide saying he couldn't answer "right now" whether Brian would be the coach next season.
