Rob Hennigan Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Magic To Seek Extension With Rob Hennigan

March 29th, 2015 at 3:54pm CST by Will Joseph

The Magic will soon attempt to try and extend GM Rob Hennigan‘s contract beyond the 2015/16 season, according to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. Robbins cited an industry source with knowledge of the team’s plans in his story. Contract talks between the team and Hennigan or his agent will likely occur when the season ends, Robbins reports.

The DeVos family, which owns the team, and CEO Alex Martins are “pleased” with the job Hennigan has done since the 33-year-old was hired in June 2012, Robbins added. According to Robbins, Martins believes it’s dangerous to have such an important executive be a lame-duck because uncertainty about job status can lead to risky decisions for short-term gains. When the team originally hired Hennigan, it signed him to a three-year deal with a team option for a fourth year. The team exercised its option for the 2015/16 season last May.

In his first big move, Hennigan shipped superstar Dwight Howard to the Lakers in a four-team deal that netted the Magic Nikola Vucevic, Maurice Harkless and Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Josh McRoberts, a first-round draft pick in 2014 and conditional future draft picks. An important aspect of the trade was who the Magic actually didn’t get in return. Hennigan declined an offer that would have included Andrew Bynum, a player with a long injury history. The decision to pass on Bynum proved to be wise, as Robbins wrote in the aforementioned story.

During the 2014 Draft, Hennigan pulled the trigger on a trade that brought in exceptional rookie point guard Elfrid Payton. The GM would have his hands full this summer because the team is in need of a head coach after firing Jacque Vaughn. Making things more interesting for the rebuilding franchise that won’t make the playoffs is that emerging star Tobias Harris could become a restricted free agent this summer. Either way, the Magic also seem likely to be active in free agency, Robbins reports. If the team doesn’t keep Ben Gordon, Willie Green and Luke Ridnour, and if the salary cap for next season is set at $68MM, the Magic would have almost $17MM in cap space if it receives the fifth overall pick, Robbins noted.

Mannix’s Latest: Bradley, Cavs, Magic

June 24th, 2014 at 8:55pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Avery Bradley arguably had the most impressive NBA season of his career to date, averaging 14.9 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 1.1 SPG, and 39.5% from three-point range. With this in mind, rival executives tell Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated that the 23-year-old guard could land a contract this summer that pays in the range of $7MM-$9MM annually, which could influence the Celtics to consider drafting some insurance for their backcourt this upcoming Thursday.

Below, you can find more interesting tidbits that Mannix passes along in his latest mock draft:

League sources say that the Cavaliers are weighing three options: Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, and Dante Exum. Mannix notes that Exum is a wild card; if Cleveland ultimately walked away with Exum on draft night, I think it’d be plausible to imagine that they’d trade down to select him.
Magic GM Rob Hennigan will not be inclined to draft someone who isn’t ready to play right away, which suggests that Joel Embiid may be out of the question with their No. 4 pick.
Two rival executives say that the Kings have been actively shopping their No. 8 pick.
The Bulls continue to shop their two first round picks – No. 16 and 19, respectively – hoping to land either future first rounders or the chance to move up in this year’s draft. Trading those picks for future selections would aid in Chicago’s attempt to clear cap space to make a run at Carmelo Anthony in free agency this summer.
The Rockets have fielded offers for their No. 25 pick. With their sights set on keeping enough salary cap space clear for a run at Carmelo or LeBron James, Mannix thinks that drafting and keeping an international player overseas next season would make sense if Houston decided to retain their selection.

Magic Pick Up Options On Hennigan, Vaughn

May 2nd, 2014 at 10:00am CST by Chuck Myron

10:00am: The team has officially announced the moves on its website.

“Rob and Jacque have worked extremely hard in establishing a culture which embodies teamwork, hard work, hunger for success and humility,” Martins said in the team’s statement. “With their strategic direction and leadership we feel we are headed in the right direction which will allow us to achieve our goals of contending in a long term sustainable fashion.”

9:30am: The Magic have decided to exercise their 2015/16 team options on GM Rob Hennigan and coach Jacque Vaughn, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). Both came aboard during the 2012 offseason, when Hennigan made the Dwight Howard trade his first signature move. That kicked off a rebuilding project that’s seen the Magic win just 20 games in 2012/13 and 23 games this past season, but today’s moves signal that the DeVos family, who own the team, and CEO Alex Martins are satisfied with the team’s course.

Hennigan was just 30 years old when the team hired him away from the Thunder, where he’d spent four seasons, the last two as Oklahoma City’s assistant GM. He netted Nikola Vucevic, Maurice Harkless and Arron Afflalo, among others, in the Howard trade, and those three have played key roles for the Magic the past two seasons. Orlando has three first-round picks coming its way as a result of the Howard trade. Hennigan used the team’s own 2013 first-rounder to take Victor Oladipo second overall this past June, and the guard turned in a productive rookie season even as he adjusted to the team’s experiment of using him at point guard.

Hennigan also scored with his acquisition of Tobias Harris in the J.J. Redick trade this past summer. Still, the GM has had his share of disappointments, too, trading Josh McRoberts for Hakim Warrick in 2013 and failing to find takers for the expensive contracts of veterans Hedo Turkoglu, Glen Davis and Al Harrington, all of whom the Magic waived.

Vaughn, another useful presence who’s still just 39, joined the team after serving as an assistant coach with the Spurs, the organization that gave Hennigan his start in the NBA. The team ranked near the bottom in both offensive and defensive efficiency in Vaughn’s first season, but the Magic made strides defensively this year, finishing 13th in points allowed per possession, according to NBA.com.

And-Ones: Boylen, Silver, Diogu

April 29th, 2014 at 11:08pm CST by Ryan Raroque

You can find tonight’s miscellaneous notes worth passing along below:

While it’s anyone’s guess as to who the next head coach of the Jazz will be, it’ll be surprising if the team ultimately decides to hire Jim Boylen, as Mike Sorensen of the Deseret News explains.
Following Adam Silver’s decisive ruling over Donald Sterling, J.A. Adande of ESPN wonders how much this enhances Silver’s credibility with the players and how it’ll factor in during the next round of collective bargaining.
Ike Diogu has signed on with Leones de Ponce of the Puerto Rican league, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. Earlier this month, the Knicks mulled signing the 6’8 forward to a deal that would have extended into next season.
Emerson College has become a breeding ground for front office positions around the NBA, details Liam Boylan-Pett of SB Nation. Thunder GM Sam Presti and Magic GM Rob Hennigan are among the school’s most recent notable alumni.

Eastern Notes: Magic, Cavs, Knicks

February 11th, 2014 at 6:55pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Magic GM Rob Hennigan tells Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel that he’s not actively looking to pursue deals right now: “We’re exploring all options that may improve our team…But in terms of aggressively, actively trying to do something? I would say no [we’re not].”

In that same piece however, Robbins adds that Orlando could make at least one move before the deadline, and much of the trade speculation has revolved around Arron Afflalo, Jameer Nelson, and Glen Davis. Afflalo – whose 19.6 PPG and 5.0 FTA this season represent career bests – is likely drawing the most interest at this point.

Here’s more out of the Eastern Conference this evening:

Looking at what he calls a “mess” in Cleveland, Ric Bucher of the Bleacher Report revisits some of the Cavaliers’ roster decisions since Kyrie Irving‘s arrival in order to describe how they got to this point, including their decision to bypass Jonas Valanciunas in the 2011 draft, hiring Mike Brown, and failing to provide a veteran mentor for Irving. In spite of this, he believes there’s still time to right the ship, especially if the front office- led by interim GM David Griffin – can piece together a roster that compliments rather than saddles Irving.
Frank Isola of the New York Daily News doesn’t buy speculation about Knicks owner James Dolan considering a Carmelo Anthony trade to the Bulls, and thinks that the seven-time All-Star will ultimately stay in New York beyond this summer. Even if Anthony were to bolt, Isola doesn’t believe it’d be the end of the world; with Andrea Bargnani, Amar’e Stoudemire, and Tyson Chandler coming off the books in 2015, New York could target a star like Kevin Durant with their ample cap space (All Twitter links).
ESPN New York’s Ian Begley weighs in on the rumblings surrounding Iman Shumpert and Kenneth Faried from the Knicks’ persepctive, saying that acquiring Faried – though he’d be a plus – doesn’t address their backcourt needs and cuts into their 2015 cap flexibility.
As for the Wizards’ reported interest in Beno Udrih, Begley notes that a one-for-one swap for either Glen Rice Jr. or Al Harrington is feasible, but only from a salary-matching standpoint. Regardless, I think Begley would agree that Washington probably wouldn’t be open to giving up a 23-year-old prospect like Rice Jr. in order to solely acquire a 31-year-old backup point guard.

Magic Notes: Harkless, Nicholson, Canada

September 7th, 2013 at 7:23pm CST by Spencer Lund

Hoops World's Alex Kennedy wrote about the young core Rob Hennigan has acquired since his term as Magic general manager started in 2012. The Magic's roster has been growing closer this offseason, akin to the young Thunder team Hennigan worked for before joining the Magic.

The youthful Magic players mentioned in the piece, Maurice Harkless, Tobias Harris, Nikola Vucevic, rookie Victor Oladipo, Andrew Nicholson, Kyle O'Quinn, and Doron Lamb only took a couple weeks off after the season concluded in April before returning to Orlando.

Once in town, they all work out, lift weights and scrimmage five-on-five together before hanging out off the court to grab food, play cards or watch TV at someone's house at night.

Said Harkless of all the time spent together, “I think it’s really important. We pretty much spend all of our time together, whether it’s in the gym or just hanging out at a guy’s house playing video games, watching TV or playing Spades. We just spend a lot of time together. I think it’s really good. It’s going to help us build chemistry, on the court and off of the court.”

It's that same chemistry Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka, Jeff Green, James Harden and Eric Maynor developed while they were all growing together in Oklahoma City with Hennigan looking on. Whether the Magic go on to reach the upper-tier as one of the NBA's true title-contenders, remains to be seen, but Magic fans have to like the growing bond between their young players.

This summer, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reported that the Magic were going to pick up the options on four of the players mentioned in Kennedy's piece who are all on their rookie-scale deals: Harris, Vucevic, Harkless and Nicholson.
Picking up the options on all four – they have until October 31st, but Robbins believed the options could be picked before the 1st of October – means they'll be under contract in Orlando through the 2014/15 season. Next summer, the Magic will decide on fourth-year options for Harkless and Nicholson and an extension for Vucevic.
Nicholson played well for team Canada tonight during their 81-74 loss to the Dominican Republic at the FIBA Americas qualifying tournament, tweets the Toronto Sun's Ryan Wolstat. Nicolson's play was one of the only bright spots in the game for Canada (Twitter).
According to another Wolstat tweet, Canada needs Puerto Rico to beat Venezuela tonight and Mexico tomorrow while Canada also needs to defeat Argentina tomorrow to grab a spot in the 2014 FIBA World Championships in Spain next summer.

Eastern Notes: Bulls, Knicks, Magic

May 25th, 2013 at 8:26pm CST by Spencer Lund

Following up on the NBA's review of the Dwyane Wade elbow to Lance Stephenson near the end of game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Heat and Pacers, we have a couple tweets with more info:

Ethan J. Skolnick the Sun-Sentinel says that just because nothing has happened tonight and may not, that doesn't mean the NBA won't take action tomorrow against Wade for the seemingly inadvertant elbow to Stephenson's head (Twitter link).
Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports Florida says that because today is a travel day for the Pacers and Heat that might be the cause for the delay in announcements after the NBA's review of the play. (Twitter link).
Sports Illustrated columnist, Ian Thomsen, discusses the similarities between this season's Eastern Conference Final and last season's Eastern Conference Semifinal. Last year the Heat lost game 2 and home court advantage too, plus they lost game 3 in Indiana to go down 2-1 to the Pacers. They then rebounded to win three-straight to head to the Finals.

Here are some more notes from around the Eastern Conference..

The Bulls' winning percentage when Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng, Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose share the floor is 86% writes Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun Times. That's probably why the Bulls' general manager Gar Forman will keep Boozer and Deng this offseason.
Former Bulls coach, and man-about-town for open GM and coaching positions, Phil Jackson, discussed his new book and his future with the Chicago Tribune's K.C. Johnson.
The Magic are a young team looking to rebuild through the draft with smart moves by their young general manager Rob Hennigan. The Orlando Sentinel's Mike Bianchi writes that's why Magic fans should root for a Pacers–Spurs matchup in the Finals; their presence would prove that small market teams can be successful without "buying championships."
Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com with part 1 of the Knicks' offseason notebook. Zwerling discusses who the Knicks might select with the 24th pick in July's draft and which players they may target in free agency, or through the draft, who could fulfill their need for a fast and explosive backup point guard for Raymond Felton.
Chris Forsberg at ESPNBoston.com already mentioned the dozen players the Celtics welcomed over the last two days as they continue to decide where they're headed in an uncertain offseason. A. Sherrod Blakely at CSN New England talks with two of those invites: guard, Shane Larkin of Miami, and Pittsburgh's center, Steven Adams.

Odds & Ends: Budinger, McGrady, Hennigan

April 16th, 2013 at 11:00pm CST by Alex Lee

As Tuesday night winds down, here are some odds and ends from around the NBA:

Chase Budinger, a soon-to-be unrestricted free agent, would like to return to the Timberwolves next season but is only likely to do so if Rick Adelman is retained as the head coach, writes Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Adelman pushed the Wolves to acquire Budinger, who he coached in Houston, in a draft-day trade with the Rockets last June. Budinger missed four months this season with a knee injury.
After he signed Tracy McGrady, general manager R.C. Buford said that with the status of the Spurs roster right now, they "felt like [they] needed to look at some depth and experience," tweets Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News (via Twitter).
The true winner of last summer's biggest blockbuster was Magic GM Rob Hennigan, writes Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel. Hennigan fleeced the Sixers and obtained three first-round draft picks and Arron Afflalo, says Bianchi, and most important, did not end up with Andrew Bynum.
Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer looks at the biggest issues facing the lowly Bobcats this summer, specifically pointing at the futures of head coach Mike Dunlap, restricted free-agent-to-be Gerald Henderson as well as the six other Bobcats who could become free agents.

Page On New Executives In New Places

September 2nd, 2012 at 7:54pm CST by Michael Pina

Throughout this offseason we've seen dozens of players change teams, but just as important for several franchises was the movement by a few decision makers at the top. Hoopsworld.com's Derek Page took a look at several general managers who were either promoted by other teams or simply decided a new city might be a better fit. Here's a rundown of a few.

Neil Olshey: The former Clippers GM who now finds himself in Portland, Olshey goes from a team in contention for an immediate championship to one that appears to be rebuilding from the bottom up. Olshey's decision to change teams was impacted by the Clippers decision to pay him less than a competitive wage, but it's still a tough move to rationalize when looking at it strictly through a basketball lens.

Rob Hennigan: When you're young and an assistant general manager for a successful team, as Hennigan was for the Thunder, other franchises who're in desperate situations might find you attractive. That's exactly what happened with the Magic and Hennigan, who goes from one of the most promising situations to a long-term project.

Kevin Pritchard: With previous experience as the general manager of Portland, Pritchard heads into this new role alongside former Knicks general manager Donnie Walsh as the two prepare to take a young, small market team and make it a permanent contender.

Magic GM Defends Dwight Howard Trade

August 10th, 2012 at 6:05pm CST by Alex Lee

We've already posted some of the reactions to the Dwight Howard trade from earlier today as well as last night once deal looked like it was official. The overwhelming consensus is that the trade is a coup for the Lakers, very helpful to the Nuggets and 76ers, and an absolute disaster for the Magic. So far, it looks like our readers agree, as only a small percentage of you think that the Magic got the best end of the deal.

Orlando general manager Rob Hennigan, presumably under fire from all angles today, spoke with the press today and offered his defense of the move, as told by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. Hennigan worked with two very successful organizations in the Spurs and Thunder, which was part of the reason he was brought in to run the show in Orlando. Most of the quotes are expected, but here are some interesting tidbits:

"Our goals remained consistent throughout. We wanted to put ourselves in a position to create some long-term sustainability over time, and doing that with a mixture of young players, young veterans, draft players and some other assets to use to build going forward."

To the second-guessers and the laundry lists of rumored offers that seem like better packages for Howard than the one the Magic came away with, Hennigan said:

"At the end of the day you look at what's available in theory and what's available in reality. Sometimes those two things aren't always the same. We felt with all of the options we did explore, this was the best one for us."

One of those packages was the one offereed by the Rockets, in which Houston was rumored to be willing to deal draft picks and/or young players as well as eat some of Orlando's bad contracts. According to John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com (via Twitter), Hennigan essentially admitted that the offer sheets to Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik "limited some of the avenues" to a completed deal that would have sent Howard to Houston.

Again from Denton, Hennigan offered a rather ominous quote when asked why the Magic weren't angling to receive Andrew Bynum in the deal:

"One thing we always do is our research. We're very comfortable with the research we've done."