duncan228
06-01-2009, 04:23 PM
It Took 13 Years, but Orlando Is Finally Over O’Neal (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/sports/basketball/02dribble.html?_r=1&ref=basketball)
By Howard Beck
New York Times
Shaquille O’Neal has always taken a perverse joy in wrecking inanimate objects, whether they be flimsy backboards, opposing centers or minor municipalities.
In 1996, Shaq ditched Disneyworld for Hollywood, shattered the Orlando Magic and sneered at the wreckage he left behind.
“A dried-up little pond,” O’Neal later called it.
The insults stung, although perhaps not as deeply as the sight of O’Neal leading sun-soaked parades through downtown Los Angeles. The Lakers won three titles with O’Neal. The Magic won a reserved seat in Secaucus.
It took 13 years, nine lottery picks and seven head coaches, but Orlando has finally reclaimed its dignity, and a belated chance for revenge. The Magic, once again powered by a brawny young center with a Superman complex, will face the Lakers in the N.B.A. finals.
Both franchises had to overcome extended Shaq hangovers to get here. It just took the Magic a little longer.
O’Neal’s defection left Penny Hardaway as the face of the franchise. The burden proved too heavy. Hardaway led a player revolt against Coach Brian Hill but he couldn’t lead the Magic to a playoff victory. He forced a sign-and-trade to Phoenix in 1999.
Orlando started over, gathering cheap role players and expiring contracts to make a free-agent splash in the summer of 2000. Tim Duncan said no, but Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady said yes and Orlando had a new set of All-Stars to carry its championship dreams.
But Hill was always injured and McGrady was poor as a solo act and the Magic still couldn’t get out of the first round of the playoffs. In 2004, Orlando swapped McGrady for another slightly defective star, Houston’s Steve Francis.
The Francis era lasted two-and-a-half years and featured two 36-win seasons and three coaching changes. This would qualify as the low point, but there was a large trampoline at the bottom of the chasm: Orlando won the 2004 lottery and drafted Dwight Howard, a 6-foot 11-inch, 240-pound prep star.
Now Howard is the one destroying basket stanchions, opposing centers and the hopes and dreams of would-be contenders.
The Magic made the finals by beating the N.B.A.’s defending champions (the Boston Celtics) and the Eastern Conference’s top seed (the Cleveland Cavaliers). Howard muscled his way past the 2008 finals M.V.P. (Paul Pierce) and the 2009 regular-season M.V.P. (LeBron James).
Orlando’s 13-year odyssey has been laced with eerie flashbacks. Hill, fired in 1997, was brought back in 2005, then fired again in 2007. Hardaway returned in January 2006, albeit in spirit only. He was acquired in a trade for Francis, then waived.
Ben Wallace spent one season with the Magic, but became a four-time Defensive Player of the Year after he left. Doc Rivers won Coach of the Year in Orlando, but won the championship in Boston, four years after the Magic fired him.
The Magic built a championship caliber team with smart free-agent signings (Hedo Turkolu, Rashard Lewis, Mickael Pietrus) and opportunistic trades (Rafer Alston). Orlando’s draft mistakes include Fran Vazquez (11th in 2005) and J.J. Redick (11th in 2006), but the team found a hidden gem with Courtney Lee (22nd in 2008).
Finally, the Magic is positioned to win a title, the one that eluded O’Neal and Hardaway in the 1995 finals. Redemption, however, requires beating the team that stole Shaq’s heart and dunks.
O’Neal, who has since bounced through Miami and Phoenix, has already chosen sides, via Twitter: “I’m a go wit the lake show,” he wrote, once again choosing the lake over the pond.
By Howard Beck
New York Times
Shaquille O’Neal has always taken a perverse joy in wrecking inanimate objects, whether they be flimsy backboards, opposing centers or minor municipalities.
In 1996, Shaq ditched Disneyworld for Hollywood, shattered the Orlando Magic and sneered at the wreckage he left behind.
“A dried-up little pond,” O’Neal later called it.
The insults stung, although perhaps not as deeply as the sight of O’Neal leading sun-soaked parades through downtown Los Angeles. The Lakers won three titles with O’Neal. The Magic won a reserved seat in Secaucus.
It took 13 years, nine lottery picks and seven head coaches, but Orlando has finally reclaimed its dignity, and a belated chance for revenge. The Magic, once again powered by a brawny young center with a Superman complex, will face the Lakers in the N.B.A. finals.
Both franchises had to overcome extended Shaq hangovers to get here. It just took the Magic a little longer.
O’Neal’s defection left Penny Hardaway as the face of the franchise. The burden proved too heavy. Hardaway led a player revolt against Coach Brian Hill but he couldn’t lead the Magic to a playoff victory. He forced a sign-and-trade to Phoenix in 1999.
Orlando started over, gathering cheap role players and expiring contracts to make a free-agent splash in the summer of 2000. Tim Duncan said no, but Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady said yes and Orlando had a new set of All-Stars to carry its championship dreams.
But Hill was always injured and McGrady was poor as a solo act and the Magic still couldn’t get out of the first round of the playoffs. In 2004, Orlando swapped McGrady for another slightly defective star, Houston’s Steve Francis.
The Francis era lasted two-and-a-half years and featured two 36-win seasons and three coaching changes. This would qualify as the low point, but there was a large trampoline at the bottom of the chasm: Orlando won the 2004 lottery and drafted Dwight Howard, a 6-foot 11-inch, 240-pound prep star.
Now Howard is the one destroying basket stanchions, opposing centers and the hopes and dreams of would-be contenders.
The Magic made the finals by beating the N.B.A.’s defending champions (the Boston Celtics) and the Eastern Conference’s top seed (the Cleveland Cavaliers). Howard muscled his way past the 2008 finals M.V.P. (Paul Pierce) and the 2009 regular-season M.V.P. (LeBron James).
Orlando’s 13-year odyssey has been laced with eerie flashbacks. Hill, fired in 1997, was brought back in 2005, then fired again in 2007. Hardaway returned in January 2006, albeit in spirit only. He was acquired in a trade for Francis, then waived.
Ben Wallace spent one season with the Magic, but became a four-time Defensive Player of the Year after he left. Doc Rivers won Coach of the Year in Orlando, but won the championship in Boston, four years after the Magic fired him.
The Magic built a championship caliber team with smart free-agent signings (Hedo Turkolu, Rashard Lewis, Mickael Pietrus) and opportunistic trades (Rafer Alston). Orlando’s draft mistakes include Fran Vazquez (11th in 2005) and J.J. Redick (11th in 2006), but the team found a hidden gem with Courtney Lee (22nd in 2008).
Finally, the Magic is positioned to win a title, the one that eluded O’Neal and Hardaway in the 1995 finals. Redemption, however, requires beating the team that stole Shaq’s heart and dunks.
O’Neal, who has since bounced through Miami and Phoenix, has already chosen sides, via Twitter: “I’m a go wit the lake show,” he wrote, once again choosing the lake over the pond.