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Napsal: pát 31. srp 2018 9:34:12Frank Vogel was brought to Orlando two years ago with hopes he could get the Magic back to the playoffs Chris Harris Jr Jersey , and stop the spinning of the revolving door to their coaches’ office.
Neither of those things happened.
Vogel was fired by the Magic on Thursday about 10 hours after the team wrapped up a 25-57 season, its sixth consecutive losing year. Vogel, who had one year left on his contract, went 54-110 in his two years with Orlando.
The Magic haven’t been to the playoffs since Stan Van Gundy’s final season with the team in 2012. Vogel, who had some successful years coaching the Indiana Pacers before going to Orlando, simply didn’t have the roster to change that.
”I have nothing but the utmost respect for Frank Vogel as a coach and a person,” said Magic basketball operations president Jeff Weltman, who met with Vogel to deliver the news. ”I know he’ll be a head coach again shortly.”
Weltman didn’t give a timetable for finding a new coach.
”We just have to find that right guy,” he said.
Clearly, another season of struggle was not all Vogel’s fault. The Magic used 27 starting lineups this season, none for more than 11 games, 18 for three games or fewer. There was no continuity to the lineup, and only three players appeared in 70 games. In all, injuries and illness robbed the Magic of 227 player games this season – thwarting key parts of Vogel’s plan.
”It was very hard to evaluate it and I’m not sure we were able to get the complete look that we wanted to,” Weltman said. ”But that’s sports. … I wish we were blessed with more health this season Michael Palardy Jersey , but that’s not the way it panned out.”
Evan Fournier, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic were the team’s three leading scorers; they combined to miss 74 games, and Gordon will now become a restricted free agent. Bismack Biyombo was the only Magic player to appear in all 82 games, and most of those were as a reserve. And while the season ended with a win, the irony is that the victory hurt Orlando’s draft-lottery chances.
Vogel’s status has been the source of some speculation for weeks. Weltman is part of a new front-office regime in Orlando, and it’s expected that the big changes next season won’t be limited to the coach.
”It comes with the territory,” Vucevic told the Orlando Sentinel on Wednesday before the season finale. ”When a team struggles, obviously the front office is going to look at what’s been working, what hasn’t, what can be done for the team to be improved. So there’s a lot of possibilities. I try not to think about it too much. I try to focus on what you can control, which is on the basketball court.”
The firing came even though Vogel saw signs the team was headed in the right direction. He spoke often about the culture he thought the Magic were building, and after the finale indicated he was excited to add another lottery pick to a team that he insisted had promise.
”They made the best of a tough situation by playing with great effort, positive energy, enthusiasm, all throughout a difficult season Dalton Schultz Jersey ,” Vogel said.
The next step in Orlando will now be someone else’s task.
Vogel was the second coach fired Thursday, with the New York Knicks dismissing Jeff Hornacek.
The Magic will have no shortage of coaching candidates. Jerry Stackhouse is likely to get at least a real chance at an NBA job this offseason, after two successful years leading Toronto’s G League affiliate. And he and Weltman have history; Weltman came to the Magic as president 11 months ago after serving as the No. 2 in command of basketball operations under Masai Ujiri with the Raptors.
This will be the Magic’s fifth coach in just more than three years. The replacement for Van Gundy was Jacque Vaughn, who was fired in February 2015. Vaughn was followed by interim coach James Borrego (now a San Antonio assistant), then Scott Skiles (who lasted one season), then Vogel.
The Magic weren’t good enough to win under any of them. The team’s best record since Van Gundy left was 35-47 in 2015-16, and no NBA team has won fewer games over the past six seasons than the Magic.
”We’re not good enough,” Weltman said. ”We have a lot of areas to improve upon.”
—
Associated Press freelancer Dick Scanlon in Orlando, Florida, contributed to this report.
Offensive lineman Wyatt Teller doesn't need a scouting report to see what's happening with the Buffalo Bills.
He knows his newest team made a splash to open the draft, with a potential franchise quarterback and defensive game-changer arriving in the top half of the first round.
Wyatt got a first-hand look at former Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen, whom the Bills selected seventh overall, while blocking for him on the North team at the Senior Bowl. Tremaine Edmunds, taken 16th overall by Buffalo, was Wyatt's teammate in college at Virginia Tech.
"Tremaine Leonard Fournette Jersey , in my opinion, is an absolute stud. He's one of the best players I've ever played against," Teller said. "(Allen's) deep ball is unlike anything I've ever seen. He can chuck a ball and he's a smart kid. I see an identity coming. You're getting both sides of the ball and this is a place I wanted to go."
Teller joined that duo on Saturday as part of Buffalo's youth movement.
Selected 166th overall, the fifth-round pick may help to fill an unexpected hole along the offensive line. Center Eric Wood abruptly retired at the end of last season after doctors uncovered a career-ending neck injury at his exit physical.
Veteran guard Richie Incognito stunned the team by announcing his retirement earlier this month.
At 6-foot-4, 314 pounds, Teller has the size and power to make an impact in the NFL. He bench presses 420 pounds, squats 600 pounds and is known for his ability to handle defenders in the run game. He has already made one successful transition, moving from the defensive line in high school to the offensive line at Virginia Tech.
Some projections had Teller going as high as the third round, and he'll likely compete for a starting job at guard as a rookie.
"Everything comes down to competition," Teller said. "Everything comes down to working as hard as you can. If I want to make that transition from college to the NFL, it's basically like switching a position. It's going to be difficult and it's all about competing."
Here are some observations about the Bills' draft.
KEEPING THEIR EDGE: One key for the Bills was landing two top-end prospects at premium positions without mortgaging the future or giving away their surplus of picks.
The Bills entered the week with a bounty of draft capital and were able to trade up twice in the first round without surrendering their second first-round pick or any 2019 selections.
"I have got to be honest, I did not expect to be able to get a quarterback and Tremaine," Bills general manager Brandon Beane said.
"I thought we were going to have to give up the 22nd pick. Tremaine would have been in our conversation at 12 if we did not move up and we did not have a quarterback we liked. When he was there and he fell a little bit, we just felt it was such a good fit that we had to go up and get him."
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON? : Buffalo's final pick of the draft was North Carolina wide receiver Austin Proehl Nate Orchard Jersey , son of former NFL wideout Ricky Proehl. Buffalo chose Austin Proehl with the second-to-last pick of the draft at 255th overall. Ricky Proehl played in the league for 17 seasons, making 669 receptions for 8,878 yards and 54 touchdowns while winning a Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams. Austin Proehl had 91 receptions for 1,265 yards and five touchdowns in four years with the Tar Heels.
Beane has known Austin Proehl longer than any other prospect given his relationship with Ricky Proehl. Beane was with the Panthers when Ricky played for Carolina from 2004-06, and Ricky was a member of the Panthers' coaching staff from 2011-17.
"I've known him since he was eight, so I've known him for a long time," Beane said of Austin. "We were still looking for competition at the slot position and he was on the board. He's a great young man obviously. We know what kind of person (he is). He's a really polished route runner, refined. He was schooled up by a guy who played 17 years in the league."
MORE DB DEPTH: Buffalo's best position group got even deeper on Day 3 with the selections of cornerback Taron Johnson (121st overall) and safety Siran Neal (154th overall). Johnson is the early favorite to land Buffalo's nickel cornerback role. Neal will have a hard time earning playing time to open his career with standouts Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer ahead of him on the depth chart.
STILL NEED: The Bills chose two receivers late in the draft with Ray-Ray McCloud (sixth round) and Austin Proehl (seven round), but they still desperately need help after fielding one of the worst receiving groups in the league in 2017.
Buffalo does have Kelvin Benjamin returning after playing through much of last season with a knee injury. More speed and experience would be a plus, especially with unproven talent at quarterback in Josh Allen and AJ McCarron.
Womens Orlando Brown Jr. Jersey ,
Neither of those things happened.
Vogel was fired by the Magic on Thursday about 10 hours after the team wrapped up a 25-57 season, its sixth consecutive losing year. Vogel, who had one year left on his contract, went 54-110 in his two years with Orlando.
The Magic haven’t been to the playoffs since Stan Van Gundy’s final season with the team in 2012. Vogel, who had some successful years coaching the Indiana Pacers before going to Orlando, simply didn’t have the roster to change that.
”I have nothing but the utmost respect for Frank Vogel as a coach and a person,” said Magic basketball operations president Jeff Weltman, who met with Vogel to deliver the news. ”I know he’ll be a head coach again shortly.”
Weltman didn’t give a timetable for finding a new coach.
”We just have to find that right guy,” he said.
Clearly, another season of struggle was not all Vogel’s fault. The Magic used 27 starting lineups this season, none for more than 11 games, 18 for three games or fewer. There was no continuity to the lineup, and only three players appeared in 70 games. In all, injuries and illness robbed the Magic of 227 player games this season – thwarting key parts of Vogel’s plan.
”It was very hard to evaluate it and I’m not sure we were able to get the complete look that we wanted to,” Weltman said. ”But that’s sports. … I wish we were blessed with more health this season Michael Palardy Jersey , but that’s not the way it panned out.”
Evan Fournier, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic were the team’s three leading scorers; they combined to miss 74 games, and Gordon will now become a restricted free agent. Bismack Biyombo was the only Magic player to appear in all 82 games, and most of those were as a reserve. And while the season ended with a win, the irony is that the victory hurt Orlando’s draft-lottery chances.
Vogel’s status has been the source of some speculation for weeks. Weltman is part of a new front-office regime in Orlando, and it’s expected that the big changes next season won’t be limited to the coach.
”It comes with the territory,” Vucevic told the Orlando Sentinel on Wednesday before the season finale. ”When a team struggles, obviously the front office is going to look at what’s been working, what hasn’t, what can be done for the team to be improved. So there’s a lot of possibilities. I try not to think about it too much. I try to focus on what you can control, which is on the basketball court.”
The firing came even though Vogel saw signs the team was headed in the right direction. He spoke often about the culture he thought the Magic were building, and after the finale indicated he was excited to add another lottery pick to a team that he insisted had promise.
”They made the best of a tough situation by playing with great effort, positive energy, enthusiasm, all throughout a difficult season Dalton Schultz Jersey ,” Vogel said.
The next step in Orlando will now be someone else’s task.
Vogel was the second coach fired Thursday, with the New York Knicks dismissing Jeff Hornacek.
The Magic will have no shortage of coaching candidates. Jerry Stackhouse is likely to get at least a real chance at an NBA job this offseason, after two successful years leading Toronto’s G League affiliate. And he and Weltman have history; Weltman came to the Magic as president 11 months ago after serving as the No. 2 in command of basketball operations under Masai Ujiri with the Raptors.
This will be the Magic’s fifth coach in just more than three years. The replacement for Van Gundy was Jacque Vaughn, who was fired in February 2015. Vaughn was followed by interim coach James Borrego (now a San Antonio assistant), then Scott Skiles (who lasted one season), then Vogel.
The Magic weren’t good enough to win under any of them. The team’s best record since Van Gundy left was 35-47 in 2015-16, and no NBA team has won fewer games over the past six seasons than the Magic.
”We’re not good enough,” Weltman said. ”We have a lot of areas to improve upon.”
—
Associated Press freelancer Dick Scanlon in Orlando, Florida, contributed to this report.
Offensive lineman Wyatt Teller doesn't need a scouting report to see what's happening with the Buffalo Bills.
He knows his newest team made a splash to open the draft, with a potential franchise quarterback and defensive game-changer arriving in the top half of the first round.
Wyatt got a first-hand look at former Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen, whom the Bills selected seventh overall, while blocking for him on the North team at the Senior Bowl. Tremaine Edmunds, taken 16th overall by Buffalo, was Wyatt's teammate in college at Virginia Tech.
"Tremaine Leonard Fournette Jersey , in my opinion, is an absolute stud. He's one of the best players I've ever played against," Teller said. "(Allen's) deep ball is unlike anything I've ever seen. He can chuck a ball and he's a smart kid. I see an identity coming. You're getting both sides of the ball and this is a place I wanted to go."
Teller joined that duo on Saturday as part of Buffalo's youth movement.
Selected 166th overall, the fifth-round pick may help to fill an unexpected hole along the offensive line. Center Eric Wood abruptly retired at the end of last season after doctors uncovered a career-ending neck injury at his exit physical.
Veteran guard Richie Incognito stunned the team by announcing his retirement earlier this month.
At 6-foot-4, 314 pounds, Teller has the size and power to make an impact in the NFL. He bench presses 420 pounds, squats 600 pounds and is known for his ability to handle defenders in the run game. He has already made one successful transition, moving from the defensive line in high school to the offensive line at Virginia Tech.
Some projections had Teller going as high as the third round, and he'll likely compete for a starting job at guard as a rookie.
"Everything comes down to competition," Teller said. "Everything comes down to working as hard as you can. If I want to make that transition from college to the NFL, it's basically like switching a position. It's going to be difficult and it's all about competing."
Here are some observations about the Bills' draft.
KEEPING THEIR EDGE: One key for the Bills was landing two top-end prospects at premium positions without mortgaging the future or giving away their surplus of picks.
The Bills entered the week with a bounty of draft capital and were able to trade up twice in the first round without surrendering their second first-round pick or any 2019 selections.
"I have got to be honest, I did not expect to be able to get a quarterback and Tremaine," Bills general manager Brandon Beane said.
"I thought we were going to have to give up the 22nd pick. Tremaine would have been in our conversation at 12 if we did not move up and we did not have a quarterback we liked. When he was there and he fell a little bit, we just felt it was such a good fit that we had to go up and get him."
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON? : Buffalo's final pick of the draft was North Carolina wide receiver Austin Proehl Nate Orchard Jersey , son of former NFL wideout Ricky Proehl. Buffalo chose Austin Proehl with the second-to-last pick of the draft at 255th overall. Ricky Proehl played in the league for 17 seasons, making 669 receptions for 8,878 yards and 54 touchdowns while winning a Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams. Austin Proehl had 91 receptions for 1,265 yards and five touchdowns in four years with the Tar Heels.
Beane has known Austin Proehl longer than any other prospect given his relationship with Ricky Proehl. Beane was with the Panthers when Ricky played for Carolina from 2004-06, and Ricky was a member of the Panthers' coaching staff from 2011-17.
"I've known him since he was eight, so I've known him for a long time," Beane said of Austin. "We were still looking for competition at the slot position and he was on the board. He's a great young man obviously. We know what kind of person (he is). He's a really polished route runner, refined. He was schooled up by a guy who played 17 years in the league."
MORE DB DEPTH: Buffalo's best position group got even deeper on Day 3 with the selections of cornerback Taron Johnson (121st overall) and safety Siran Neal (154th overall). Johnson is the early favorite to land Buffalo's nickel cornerback role. Neal will have a hard time earning playing time to open his career with standouts Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer ahead of him on the depth chart.
STILL NEED: The Bills chose two receivers late in the draft with Ray-Ray McCloud (sixth round) and Austin Proehl (seven round), but they still desperately need help after fielding one of the worst receiving groups in the league in 2017.
Buffalo does have Kelvin Benjamin returning after playing through much of last season with a knee injury. More speed and experience would be a plus, especially with unproven talent at quarterback in Josh Allen and AJ McCarron.
Womens Orlando Brown Jr. Jersey ,