Mount Rushless: Rob Hennigan of the Orlando Magic
This story starts on Christmas Day 2011, the first official day of the 2011-12 NBA season. The NBA had been involved in a lockout and a developing story during this time was if superstar center Dwight Howard would leave the Orlando Magic, the team that drafted him first overall back in 2004.
Before the start of the season, the Magic traded starting power forward Brandon Bass to the Boston Celtics for Glen “Big Baby” Davis and Von Wafer. Gilbert Arenas was a victim of the NBA’s new ‘Amnesty’ clause and Orlando signed veteran guard Larry Hughes. The 2011 Magic had a fairly decent season but couldn’t win games consistently. They finished 37-29, good for sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Tensions between Howard and head coach Stan Van Gundy began to increase with Howard publicly wanting Van Gundy to be fired.
However, a herniated disc in April 2012 would cause Dwight Howard to miss the remainder of the season. Without Howard, the Magic would fall to the Indiana Pacers in the first round in five games. On May 21, 2012, Van Gundy and the team’s general manager, Otis Smith, were relieved of their duties.
About a month later, Magic CEO Alex Martins appointed Rob Hennigan to be the new GM for the Orlando Magic. Hennigan was only 30 years old at the time, making him the youngest GM in the NBA. Among the first orders of business for the new Magic GM was the desire for his first transaction to be dealing his star to the Brooklyn Nets. While that move did not happen, it did not take long for Hennigan to start stirring wheeling and dealing in Orlando.
After selecting Andrew Nicholson and Kyle O’Quinn in the 2012 NBA Draft, Hennigan would make a barrage of moves: shipping 2011 Most Improved Player Ryan Anderson to the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for Gustavo Ayon, naming former San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Jacque Vaughn as head coach and finally granting Dwight Howard- the franchise’s all-time leader in points, blocks, and rebounds - his wish to leave the Magic.
On August 10, 2012, Hennigan orchestrated a four-team trade with the Lakers, Nuggets and 76ers. The trade sent Dwight Howard, Chris Duhon and Earl Clark to the Lakers; Andre Iguodala to the Nuggets; Andrew Bynum and Jason Richardson to the 76ers and Arron Afflalo, Moe Harkless, Nikola Vucevic, Al Harrington, Josh McRoberts, Christian Eyenga, three protected first-round picks and two protected second-round picks to the Magic.
In February 2013, Hennigan sent fan favorite JJ Redick, Ish Smith and Gustavo Ayon to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for a young Tobias Harris, Beno Udrih, and rookie Doron Lamb. The Magic also sent away Josh McRoberts for a used napkin when they traded him to Charlotte for Hakim Warrick, who was waived two days later. Without Howard’s superstar playmaking, the 2012 Orlando Magic fell to an abysmal 20-62 record, the worst in franchise history.
This was also the first time Orlando missed the postseason since 2006. That awful record netted the Magic the rights to the second overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. After the Cleveland Cavaliers stupidly took PF Anthony Bennett first overall, the Magic would end up selecting the perceived best pick in the draft, Indiana Hoosier guard Victor Oladipo.
The Magic would have another horrible season finishing 23-59 but would have some young pieces to build around. Victor Oladipo was the Rookie of the Year runner up, Tobias Harris was averaging around 17 points and 8 rebounds and Nikola Vucevic was recording a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds. In June 2014 the team fully bought into the rebuild, waiving longtime point guard Jameer Nelson after 10 seasons.
In the 2014 NBA Draft, the Magic held the 4th and the 12th overall picks. With the 4th pick, the Magic selected Aaron Gordon from the University of Arizona. Gordon was a 6’9 forward with ridiculous athleticism and huge upside, with many scouts declaring Gordon as the next Blake Griffin. With the 12th pick, the Magic selected yet another forward in Dario Saric. However, Saric was traded on draft night to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for the 10th overall pick, Elfrid Payton. Philadelphia also received a 2017 first-rounder and a future second-rounder.
The Magic would also send away Arron Afflalo and a second-round pick to the Denver Nuggets for Evan Fournier. With the Magic having one of the youngest rosters in the league, Hennigan decided to sign some veterans to mentor and groom the younger players. Hennigan had a knack for overpaying guys to sign with Orlando - an example being signing veteran journeyman Channing Frye to a 4-year, $32M contract.
Why? Why so much? The team also signed Ben Gordon but he was off the team by the following summer. The problem with all the youth on the team was that everyone was trying to make a name for themselves; so in turn, no one stood out. The Magic would finish the 2014 season with a record of 25-57, their third consecutive under-30 win season in a row - which resulted in Jacque Vaughn’s firing in February 2015.
In late May, Orlando would hire Scott Skiles to be the new coach. Skiles had played for the Magic from 1989-1994 and was perhaps best known for holding the NBA record for assists in a single game - tallying 30, a record which still stands today. Hennigan believed picking a former player would help improve team chemistry. In the 2015 Draft, the Magic selected Mario Hezonja with the fifth overall pick, hoping he would add some much-needed floor spacing.
This season, the Magic actually started to show improvement. Nikola Vucevic was averaging around 18 points a game, and the Magic as a whole raised their points per game from 95 to 103. Evan Fournier was averaging 15 points a game and could shoot consistently. Despite missing the playoffs at 35-47, there was room for optimism as this was their best record since 2011. Just when everything started to look promising, a bomb went off.
In February 2016, starting small forward Tobias Harris was traded to the Detroit Pistons for Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova. Why? What was the point of this move? Why do the Magic have so many power forwards? To make matters worse, head coach Scott Skiles resigned at the end of the season. A week later, former Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel would be named his successor.
The summer of 2016 would live in infamy for Magic fans. Desperate to change the culture, the Magic started making moves left and right. During the 2016 NBA Draft, the Orlando Magic selected Domantas Sabonis with the 11th overall pick.
But he would not be a Magic for long as he was traded along with Victor Oladipo to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Serge Ibaka. The alleged reason behind this move was the Magic’s desire to improve defensively as well as the realization that their backcourt of Elfrid Payton and Victor Oladipo could not play on the floor at the same time. Some of this was valid but another power forward? Why???
That summer, the Magic would re-sign Evan Fournier to a 5-year, $85M extension. They would also sign Raptors center Bismack Biyombo to a 4-year, $72M contract after an impressive playoff series as a BACKUP. The Magic would also agree to deals with a few dinosaurs: DJ Augustin, Jeff Green and CJ Wilcox.
The 2016 Orlando Magic, which probably had the NBA record for most power forwards on one team, continued to lose under Frank Vogel. Serge Ibaka didn’t even last a year with the franchise and was traded in February to the Toronto Raptors for Terrence Ross and a future first-round pick. After a 29-53 record, the Magic again cleaned house.
On April 13, 2017, Magic fan prayers were answered as GM Rob Hennigan was fired. Before his ousting, Hennigan managed to mess up one more thing: a photo of point guard Patricio Garino’s signing also - unintentionally - featured a whiteboard of the Magic’s potential off-season plans. That was the nail in the coffin for the Rob Hennigan era. In Hennigan’s five-year tenure, he compiled a record of 132-278, the worst five-year stretch in Orlando Magic history.
Hennigan’s handling of the Magic after Dwight Howard’s departure has earned the nickname by Magic fans, the “Dwightmare”. From using high draft picks on promising players only to have them lost in rotation or give up on them too early, to overpaying below-average players, to constantly having to find a new coach and all the stupid trades made that went nowhere; Rob Hennigan, you’ve solidified yourself as one of the worst GMs in NBA history, welcome to Mount Rushless!