Orlando Magic Announce They Have Parted Ways with Stan Van Gundy and Otis Smith
The Orlando Magic have made official what has long been a widely speculated organizational shift. They have fired coach Stan Van Gundy and mutually agreed to part ways with general manager Otis Smith.
They announced the move and released a statement on their official website. Here is a snippet of their statement:
"On behalf of the DeVos Family, we sincerely appreciate and thank Otis and Stan for all that they have done on and off the floor for the Orlando Magic. These are the days you dread in this business, but we feel it's time for new leadership and new voices.
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The Magic certainly should appreciate what the pair have done for them. They've had a tremendous run of success.
Smith was the assistant GM for the 2005-06 season, and took over sole GM duties near the end of that season. They have made the playoffs in all six of the seasons Smith served as GM.
Van Gundy was named the coach prior to the the 2007-08 season. In those five seasons, he accumulated a record of 259-135. That is good enough for a .657 winning percentage.
During Van Gundy's run, the Magic won three division titles, and won the Eastern Conference title before falling to the Lakers in the 2009 NBA Finals.
Despite their success, the moves are not shocking. There was a report back in March by Marc Stein and Chris Broussard of ESPN that the club told Dwight Howard—in an effort to appease their free-agent-to-be superstar—that he could decide the fate of the team's GM and coach.
