"Our team's personnel are now very uneven. The players have tried their best. In the past month, our rotation has barely reached 10 people. Every player is very tired. Although we don't want to admit it, we must face reality.
Our team has no hope of entering the playoffs this season, and our focus has begun to gradually shift to player contract renewals, summer drafts and free agent signings. We will work hard for the remaining games this season.
We have failed to live up to the hopes of those fans who bought the ticket package, but as we said again, we must face reality. We should not have too many demands for results this season. Our hope is that next season, next season will include Gran Turismo.
· Tehill, Pat Garrity and others can return from injury. Our team's strength can be improved to a higher level, at least to the level of last season and enter the playoffs. If the draft is successful, then our team
The goal will be higher," head coach Yoni Davis said at the post-match press conference.
"What do you think of this year's draft? With the Magic's current record, they are very likely to get the No. 1 pick. So which player does the team tend to select?"
"We have just entered March Madness, and many players are showing their strength. Although there is no player like LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony who can only be seen in 10 years this year, the overall quality is still very high.
Okafor of the University of Connecticut is a very good player and a player I admire very much, and high school student DeWalt Howard also has great potential."
Johnnie Davis said some innocuous words, which made the reporters in the audience very dissatisfied. There was no gimmick in this kind of plain talk. Do newspapers rely on this kind of nonsense to buy sales? So they all turned their attention to the reporters who also participated.
I know how to use t-mac, let's see if we can get some selling points.
"What do you think of today's game?"
"I feel very bad after losing the game, but there is nothing we can do about it. The Heat's player strength and number of players are obviously better than ours." Although the content was very general, McGrady's tone was not good, and the keen reporter immediately discovered that there was a possibility here.
There was something wrong, so they swarmed up like sharks that smelled blood.
"The Orlando Magic have had a lot of injuries this season. Grant Hill and Pat Garrity were ruled out for the season early, and you missed more than 10 games. Do you think this is all a coincidence or is there something else wrong?
"
"I don't know, no one knows what caused this. I have always been in good health before and rarely missed games due to physical reasons, but this season I also had injuries, but fortunately it was not serious. But this
But it was a wake-up call for me. You know, the Magic's swingmen are always more susceptible to injuries. It's like a curse. Every time I see Hill and Pat in practice, I can't help but take a look.
I'm a little scared of my knees now, and sometimes I want to leave the stadium."
When these words came out, all the reporters seemed to be excited. In fact, Tracy McGrady just stated a fact, but what is even more exciting is his attitude in saying this issue.
In fact, there are many curses in the NBA. The two most famous curses about injuries are the Blazers' center's grave and the Magic's swingman's knee injury. Let's not mention the Blazers' center's grave for the moment.
Although the swingman's brittle knee was later broken and few people cared about it, and no one even cared about it, in the past few years since 2000, it has been widely rumored and has become a topic of conversation for many people.
This curse originated from "Penny" Hardaway, who was also the first victim. As mentioned before, O'Neal's departure caused Hardaway to shoulder the pressure of the entire team and forced a comeback without fully recovering from knee surgery. The result was again
The injury completely caused him to collapse. Although the injury caused Hardaway to perform worse than before, he was still selected for the NBA third team by averaging 20.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 1.58 steals, and once again sent the Magic to the
Playoffs. In the playoffs that year, Hardaway was even more impressive, averaging 31.0 points per game. This was only lower than Jordan's 31.1 points at the time, but his left knee injury often dealt with him like a tiger.
The illness was devouring Penny's peak career. Due to constant discomfort in his left knee, Hardaway decided to go to Houston for a second left knee surgery shortly after the start of the new season. After the operation, Hardaway rested until January of the following year.
29th. In the shortened season of 1998-99, even though Penny Hardaway became one of the few players in the league who averaged more than 15 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals per game, the people of Orlando still abandoned him and signed him first.
He was traded to the Suns. For the Suns who took him in, people hoped that he could join forces with Kidd to form a super backcourt. Hardaway, who got over his injuries, also looked forward to his rebirth in Phoenix. However, things turned out to be undesirable. After the season
In the first round of the game against the Spurs, Hardaway collided with the opponent's center David Robinson during a dunk and severely tore the ligament in his left knee, which directly led to him playing only 4 games in the 00-01 season. The Suns also
In 2001, Kidd was sent away in exchange for Marbury to rebuild the team. Hardaway, who was getting older and suffering from injuries, gradually lost his position as the main force in the team, and a generation of geniuses became lonely...
After giving up Hardaway, the Magic started again. This time they selected "Grant Hill", who was known as the person closest to Jordan at the time, another talented swingman. After the 2000 playoffs, the Orlando Magic
Use Chanky Atkins(s) and Ben Wallace(grady) to work together to rebuild glory. However, Hill's ankle injury was much more serious than expected. In his first season with the Magic, he only played a total of
Four times. In the next three seasons, he played a total of 43 times for the Magic. What is even more ironic is that Ben Wallace, who was originally traded away, grew into the core of defense in the Pistons and won the NBA championship in the 2003-04 season.
Championship, of course, this has not happened yet. Hill's status gives him a privilege, that is, he can rest when he wants. Whenever Hill feels pain, he will tell the head coach, and then he will leave the game 02~03
When the Magic played against the Timberwolves in 2016, Hill scored a game-high 27 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. This was the best performance since his comeback. Although the Magic lost, Hill's path seemed to be on the right track.
Unexpectedly, he was forced to withdraw from the game the next day. It was not Hill's original intention to withdraw from the game. He also quarreled with Rivers in the locker room, but in the end he could not disobey the head coach's order. After all, Hill wanted to
Hill had three surgeries in two years, and his not-so-glorious injury history required them to be extra cautious. The Magic had long been mentally prepared for Hill's sudden pain. After all, it was not as simple as a cold, so Rivers downplayed it: "
If this happened in the playoffs, would he be able to play? Of course he could. But not now, he was a little sore and I said 'that's it' and let him rest for a while."
Of course, this alone is not enough to be a curse. But then Pat Garrity's injury appeared, which made people have to think more.
Originally, after Hill died, McGrady became the core of the team, but at that time McGrady appeared more at the shooting guard position. The team's small forward was the white player Pat Garrity. Although Garrity did not want Hill
He is so all-round and excellent that scoring 20 points is like picking something out of a bag. However, his accurate mid-range and long-range shooting ability also allows him to score about 10 points in each game with the number of shots he takes, becoming a stable scoring point for the team. But 02~03
His stable performance at small forward this season just made everyone think that this player can be entrusted with further important tasks. However, he suffered a fatal knee injury in the 2003-04 season and was reimbursed for the season. He accompanied Hill, who was also a small forward, to play the role.
The vice-captain and mascot of the cheerleading team. After Tracy McGrady left, he became the only target of the curse of the small forward. He fell down with multiple knee injuries and was pushed into the operating room. Hill had seven surgeries on his knee, and Pat Garrity
He was so skilled that he was pushed to the operating table 8 times due to knee problems.
It is indeed a fact, but McGrady, as a member of the team, you should not take the initiative to mention it. For example, the curse of the Blazers center, which will be more legendary in later generations, everyone knows about it, and the core of the Blazers, Aldridge, also
When talking about this topic, in order to avoid the curse, he always insisted that he played power forward, and the reason turned out to be ridiculous "I rarely attack the basket." But this was not suggested by Aldridge, but by the reporter.
What's more important is that the head coach, manager and injured players have all spoken on this topic before him.
But McGrady's remarks this time are obviously different. McGrady took the initiative to stir up the topic, and as a small forward himself, he said that the Magic's small forwards were dangerous. He was very scared and wanted to escape. There was something else clearly revealed in his words.
Meaning, but this is not over yet. A question at the closing stage of the press conference even detonated the whole audience.
"Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets was elected as the Western Conference Player of the Week last week. The Eastern Conference Player of the Week was Pacer Jermaine O'Neal. You were also nominated for the Eastern Conference. What do you think of this?"…
"They are well-deserved to be selected as the best of the week this time. Jermaine O'Neal is now the best power forward in the East, and his performance has been very stable. Yao Ming performed very well, and he played a very important role in the Rockets' current results.
, I hope to have the opportunity to fight alongside him." If the injury curse just now is still half-hidden complaints, the subtext this time is that Chi Guoguo can no longer be in Chi Guoguo. The team's press officer ignored it.
The reporters in the audience were excited and ended the press conference decisively. As a result, the Heat's press conference was completely useless. The Magic lost inside the game and won outside the game.
The next day, the headlines of major newspapers in North America were filled with the same news: "Scoring champion Tracy McGrady is afraid of team injuries and is trying to go to Houston to meet with Yao Ming."
Although the sky was clear in Orlando, there were dark clouds hanging over the Amway Center. The next day, many high-level officials, including team owner Charlie DeVos, gathered at the Amway Center. There was an undercurrent in the Magic team, and the players and coaches were in danger.
But no matter what happens, life has to go on as usual. Fear and worry cannot solve any problems.
On the morning of March 10th, the Magic will play away to the Washington Wizards tonight. Washington, D.C., is located in the northeastern part of the United States, close to Virginia and Maryland. It is very close to the south and north of Florida, where Orlando is located.
It was close, so the team asked to gather early and fly to Washington.
Paul Edison was one of the coaches accompanying the team, and of course he was no exception. He arrived at the Amway Center early. Because the team's logistics management was in place, he didn't need to prepare any special equipment, so he went to the training ground to do some casual activities and prepare to wait for everyone to gather.
Then we set off with the team. At this time, the team staff sent a message, "Paul, you don't need to go to Washington with the team today. Mr. Charlie will come in the afternoon. The team's top management will have a meeting. You go to Pat first. He has something to talk to you about."
explain."
Paul Edison came to Old Pat's office without stopping, opened the door and entered.
"Please sit down, Paul. Time is urgent. Let me make a long story short. I think the reconstruction plan you told me before is very correct. At the team meeting this afternoon, I decided to recommend you to explain it to the club's senior management. As for the final result, everyone accepts it.
If you don't accept it, it will depend on your performance in the afternoon."
"Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. I really don't know how to thank you. I'm going to go back to the presentation right now. Trust me, I won't screw it up."
"Wait a minute, Paul. Actually, there is one more thing. I tried to contact Robert Parish (O'Neal's agent) yesterday, and he said that even if Shaquille leaves the Lakers, he is not very interested in returning to Orlando.
Unless we can meet his financial requirements, there is a transaction veto clause in his contract. But I am worried that many board members, including Mr. Charlie, will not be able to accept his big talk, so don’t put all the center in this afternoon.
As for O'Neal, I hope you can give a detailed explanation on how to build a team around Howard. In short, it's up to you, do a good job, young man."
That afternoon, team owner Charlie DeVos, team manager John Weisbrod, team deputy general manager Pat Williams Sr., team president Bob Vandervelde, and staff manager Dev Tow
Wazek teamed up with player development manager Odis Smith and many other senior executives to gather at the Amway Center conference center.
Bob Vandevelde was in charge of presiding over the meeting, "We are all here today to discuss the future development of the team. Everyone knows the current situation of the team, so I won't go into details. The reconstruction of the team must now be
Put it on the agenda. Pat Williams said that our Paul Edison has a very excellent and detailed team building plan. I hope everyone can seriously discuss it to see if it is feasible. Of course, everyone can speak freely, and if you have other plans, you can also propose them.
.Okay, if there are no questions, let’s ask Paul to explain his plan.”
When Edison saw that Vandevelde had finished speaking, he calmed down his nervousness and walked straight to the rear projection.
At 2:00 pm on March 5th, U.S. time, in Orlando, in the conference room on the top floor of the Amway Center, a small meeting of less than 10 people officially entered the theme. Similar scenes are played out in different locations every moment in Orlando.
Everything seemed so ordinary, but this meeting that officially brought Paul Edison to the forefront became a decisive moment in the history of the Orlando team. This meeting even changed the history of the NBA. The Orlando Magic dynasty was here.
The moment kicked off. Many people at the meeting seemed to still remember the scene vividly many years later. They became witnesses to the beginning of the legend.
