With their offseason now underway, the Magic have started making changes in their front office, firing general manager Rob Hennigan, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (via Twitter). The team also dismissed assistant GM Scott Perry, according to Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link).
“We appreciate Rob’s efforts to rebuild the team, but feel we have not made any discernible improvement over the last few years specifically,” Magic CEO Alex Martins said in a statement. “It’s time for different leadership in basketball operations. We certainly wish Rob and his family well.”
Hennigan was considered to be on the hot seat for much of this season, as his flurry of moves a year ago failed to lead to tangible on-court improvement for the Magic. An eventful 2016 offseason saw Orlando trade for Serge Ibaka, then sign Bismack Biyombo, D.J. Augustin, and Jeff Green in free agency.
The franchise had playoff aspirations to start the year, but lost its opener to the Heat, and never got back above .500. Orlando’s spot in the standings prompted the team to flip Ibaka to the Raptors before February’s trade deadline, and Hennigan and the front office were widely criticized for giving up far more for Ibaka last summer than they got back for him at the deadline.
Hennigan’s seat likely became hotter in recent weeks after a photo taken by Patricio Garino‘s agent that showed an apparent list of Orlando’s offseason targets on a dry-erase board went viral. Hennigan insisted that the leaked white board wasn’t indicative of the Magic’s summer plans, and that it was just a list of possible options for the team, but it wasn’t a great look for a management group that was already under fire.
2016/17 was the fifth straight season that the Magic finished with a losing record, dating back to 2012/13, Hennigan’s first year at the helm. During Hennigan’s five years as Orlando’s GM, the team posted a 132-278 record (.322). The club has employed four different head coaches during that time, never winning more than 35 games in a season or earning a spot in the playoffs.
With Hennigan no longer in the mix in Orlando, the Magic have named Matt Lloyd as the interim general manager, the club confirmed (via Twitter). Lloyd will be in the mix for the permanent job, though he won’t be the only candidate considered.
According to Robbins, Magic officials have interest in Grant Hill as a potential president of basketball operations. Robbins adds that Pistons associate GM Pat Garrity and Warriors assistant GM Travis Schlenk could also be among the executives targeted by Orlando.
There were rumblings earlier this year that Doc Rivers could consider jumping to the Magic in a head coach/president of basketball operations role, but that seems like a long shot — Rivers dismissed the idea at the time. For now, Frank Vogel remains the head coach in Orlando, and he just finished the first year of a four-year contract, so a new GM may be reluctant to make a change unless the Magic are willing to eat a significant chunk of money.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Lmao i thought bringing in Ross was a great idea but hes arguably the most inconsistent player I have ever seen in the NBA. You gave Biyombo an insane contract for what? Hes trash, Fournier never deserved that much money either, he deserved to get fired. Bring Walsh in, he’s pretty good at building teams
Biyombo is NOT trash and that is a horrible word to use about anybody. He is a backup center and now overpaid. We have some good players but need better shooters. Elfin needs to stop driving into traffic or he may never make it. A couple of special players and WE can be at 500.
Hennigan was giving Billy King a run for his money at worst GM ever lol.
Not even close billy king set the nets back 5+ years
Not really the Nets were in a whole lot of games this season and they have some very promising players in Hollis-Jefferson and Levert along with Lin and Lopez plus they got draft picks to play with and their are a couple guys they should consider picking up, if Ivan Rabb is available by the time they pick and Grayson Allen they should pounce on both immediately they will both be steals.
King is by far the worst GM ever. He wrecked the sixers and then miraculously gets the Nets job within weeks of being fired. Somehow he did an even worse job with them. He trades away draft picks with wreckless abandon and the Nets are in no way, shape, or form in a better spot. No franchise can sustain success with that approach. He makes Vlade Divac look like a savvy GM
Didn’t say they were close but Hennigan was definitely headed that way.
Surprise of the year..
Dude the Nets are in good shape and so are the Kings who have Hield,Skal, and Cauley-Stein to build with and a very good coach in Joerger plus two first round picks. I saw the Nets play and they were pretty competitive considering beyond Lin and Lopez its hard to recognize any other player on their roster but Rondae and Caris will only get better and like i said they can get two solid players in the draft. Off the top pf my head their are a lot ot guys they can target, Luke Kennard, Grayson Allen, Ivan Rabb, maybe Harry Giles slips to them, Marks will draft the right guys.
Thank you for FINALLY doing this Magic! Except, its a year too late and this team is in complete ruins and also about 3 years away from sniffing a 1st round knockout