HoopsHype.com Columns

The Doc is not in
by Mike Tuck / November 19, 2003

How much of the 1-10 start and failure to get past the first round of the playoffs falls on Doc Rivers? For now, all of it does. But GM John Gabriel may not be too far behind. The word is that Doc Rivers had lost the ears of the locker room and that the team wasn’t responding to him. To a certain extent that may be true, but it is far from the only reason, and probably isn’t even the main reason.

The Magic aren’t the same team Doc Rivers has coached for the last five years, not even close. The only mainstays on the roster are Tracy McGrady, Andrew DeClercq, and two guys that are hurt, Pat Garrity and Grant Hill. So saying that Doc Rivers style has become old and tiresome is not a story you can buy. The Magic have the third youngest roster in the league, which would lend itself to be a team more willing to listen to the coach. The problem in communication, if there was one, was with T-Mac.

McGrady likes Orlando. I believe he even liked Doc Rivers. But T-Mac was tired of losing, and was not going to blame his new teammates. McGrady has complained this year of how the team was unprepared to match up against a zone defense. When asked what was wrong he said changes needed to be made, and even though he didn’t say that Doc should go, he didn’t defend him either.

McGrady probably didn't demand Doc’s firing. But a 1-10 start and no signs of improvement and a superstar whose contract is nearly over made the firing almost a necessity in some ways.

So why pull the trigger now and not wait till after the season? A number of reasons. First, to please McGrady. Not to say that firing Doc makes T-Mac happy, but it shows him that the team is trying to improve someway -- even if not the right way. At 1-10, believe it or not, not all is lost, certainly not in the Eastern Conference. Orlando is only 4.5 games out of first in the Atlantic Division. By making a move now, maybe it will give Orlando time to turn their season around and make a run at a playoff spot.

So will the firing of Doc Rivers make the team play better? I don’t think so. The team will play better when it starts knocking down shots and playing better defense. It also will help to get Gordan Giricek back in the lineup, and if possible, although not likely it seems, Pat Garrity and/or Grant Hill.

The Orlando Magic are not a 1-10 team, but they aren’t much better. Doc Rivers did a very good job with what he was given during his five-year tenure. His teams always played hard and left everything out on the floor. The team failed to get past the first round of the playoffs during Doc’s time in Orlando. But should they have? They were the lower seed every time. Minnesota hasn’t been past the first round in the last seven years, yet Flip Saunders is still the coach. Of course they aren’t 1-10 this season, but if you are going to reflect on past seasons, then chew on that.

Doc Rivers is a good coach. He hasn't lost the passion to coach and the will to win. He is frustrated, just as everyone in and around the Orlando Magic team is. But how good can a team be with one good draft choice in the last five years be? And I mean one. Mike Miller. Period. The rest of the group are Jeryl Sasser, Steven Hunter, Ryan Humphrey, Mario Kasun, Omar Cook, Laron Profit, and then this year’s draft which includes Reece Gaines, Keith Bogans, and Zaza Pachulia. Not exactly building blocks for the future. And Miller isn’t even with the team any more.

Much of the blame has to fall on the general manager for where the team is now. Obviously the Magic have been handicapped by Grant Hill taking up much of the salary cap and not getting anything in return. But truth be told there hasn’t been a steady flow of good players in…or out of Orlando. Basically it’s been Tracy McGrady and Drew Gooden in and Ben Wallace, Mike Miller, Corey Maggette, Matt Harpring out. Every other move made has been average players or bad players being swapped in and out.

The Magic will play better. They have to. They can’t play worse. If they are to make a run at the playoffs, then Johnny Davis and the GM – whether it’s John Gabriel or someone else – need to formulate a lineup that will be productive. The Magic lack size and skill. They don’t have a point guard and they don’t have a center. They have Juwan Howard and Drew Gooden, who both play the same position, but must learn to play together or the team has to move one of them. They have three rookies and two second-year players. Changes will be made, but wins are not promised. They never are.

Mike Tuck is a producer/on-air talent for 740 The Team in Orlando and a regular contributor to HoopsHype.com

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