Mr2Bits
Gator Fan
Donovan has no regrets
posted: Thursday, May 8, 2008 | Print Entry
The anniversary of the most controversial decision of Billy Donovan's coaching career -- his decision to leave Florida for the Orlando Magic and subsequent reversal -- is still a few weeks away.
So, how did that work out for you, Billy?
Well, the Magic are in the second round of the NBA playoffs, fresh off beating Detroit at home Wednesday night to draw within 2-1.
Meanwhile, Donovan is sweating out whether or not his only reliable post player from a disappointing NIT season -- Marreese Speights -- will return to school or stay in the NBA draft. The prospect of coaching a team that is loaded with 10 freshmen and sophomores isn't ideal.
But guess what? Donovan is completely at peace with every move he's made.
"I feel good about it," Donovan said. "I'm happy they're doing well. I'm happy for Stan [Van Gundy, the current Magic coach]. The goal for the organization was to get to the second round. They're at where they wanted to be. The hire turned out to be great."
A year ago, Donovan accepted an offer to coach the Magic after winning his second straight national title at Florida. The news conference announcing his hire was on May 31, a Friday, in Orlando. Later that night, after an ill-advised goodbye news conference back in Gainesville -- with his children's forlorn faces in attendance -- Donovan had second thoughts. By Sunday night he wanted out. But since he had signed the contract, it would be three more days before he could negotiate an exit agreement that included a clause that he wouldn't coach in the NBA for five years.
"I don't have any regrets," Donovan said. "You have to have great emotion and enthusiasm for what you're doing. And in my situation, my heart was more into this challenge."
Florida finished the season at 24-12, losing to UMass in the NIT semifinals in New York. The Gators finished the regular season by losing three straight games in the SEC and then folded quickly in the SEC tournament, losing to Alabama in the first round. That prompted this response from Donovan at the tournament after he said he heard freshman Chandler Parsons say the team wasn't ready to play.
"It's in front of our guys, what it takes to win," he said then. "For whatever reason, I haven't brought it out in them. They're not committed to it. But I'm not necessarily really that excited about these guys being sophomores, to be honest. I don't think people change a whole lot, and I don't think you've seen the basketball team change at all this year. So it's hard for me to get overly thrilled or excited."
Donovan then moved the team's practices for the NIT out of the state-of-the-art practice facility to an on-campus facility, where the Gators used to practice when current NBA players Udonis Haslam and Mike Miller first arrived on campus in 1998.
Nearly two months later, Donovan's tone hasn't change much from his initial emotional comments.
"I didn't like the tone they had," Donovan said on Thursday. "It wasn't that I didn't want to coach them as sophomores. But I don't think they had an appreciation for what had happened before they got here. I think they thought, 'Hey I've got Florida across my chest, so we're going to win.' I really wanted to make sure they didn't get into a trap because of the way they were viewing the end of the year."
The Gators were fine offensively last season, near the top in of the SEC in scoring and field-goal shooting but had slumped to the bottom of the league in field-goal and 3-point defense.
Donovan said the Gators, which started off 18-3 and 5-1 in the SEC, hadn't played some of the best teams in the league, notably Tennessee. He never felt like the players truly committed themselves, and so his comments in March had been bubbling up since January.
"I didn't like where we were mentally," Donovan said.
But the quick fix isn't coming, especially if Speights stays in the draft. Donovan said the realistic appraisal he's getting from NBA executives is that the sophomore will go anywhere from 22-40. Donovan said Speights said that he would return if he's not in the top 20. But that could easily change.
"He understands he's not a lock," Donovan said. But the problem is that Speights may not understand that he has a chance to be in the top 15 in 2009 if he has a great junior season.
"If we lose him, it will definitely hurt us," Donovan said. "I want him to be here, but for the right reasons. He would be one of three upperclassmen with Dan Werner [a junior] and Walter Hodge [the lone senior]."
The Gators also added Georgetown transfer forward Vernon Macklin, who won't be eligible until the 2009-10 season. But the hope is that he'll be in Gainesville soon and able to help the team in practice this summer.
Then Donovan would have the whole team (minus Speights) back for summer school, plus Macklin and former champs Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green coming back after a year in the NBA to go to school and work out with the Gators.
Donovan said the next wave of heralded newcomers -- big men Eloy Vargas, Kenneth Kadji, Rayford Shipman and Allan Chaney, and guard Erving Walker -- need to come in with the right mindset.
"They need to have a level of humility and respect the guys in front of them," Donovan said. "I want to see which freshmen can impact winning. We've got the whole summer to get the right mindset with this group. The guys coming back have to provide the leadership and the other guys have to trust them."
That means more heat on rising sophomores Nick Calathes, Jai Lucas, Parsons, Alex Tyus and Adam Allen, the players who were called out by Donovan in March.
"If Speights doesn't come back, we're still relatively young again and we'll see how we handle that," Donovan said. "Now all of a sudden we wouldn't have 14 or 15 points a game, and we'll still have a lot of questions. I knew this would take a while [to rebuild]. But I'm still excited about it."
posted: Thursday, May 8, 2008 | Print Entry
The anniversary of the most controversial decision of Billy Donovan's coaching career -- his decision to leave Florida for the Orlando Magic and subsequent reversal -- is still a few weeks away.
So, how did that work out for you, Billy?
Well, the Magic are in the second round of the NBA playoffs, fresh off beating Detroit at home Wednesday night to draw within 2-1.
Meanwhile, Donovan is sweating out whether or not his only reliable post player from a disappointing NIT season -- Marreese Speights -- will return to school or stay in the NBA draft. The prospect of coaching a team that is loaded with 10 freshmen and sophomores isn't ideal.
But guess what? Donovan is completely at peace with every move he's made.
"I feel good about it," Donovan said. "I'm happy they're doing well. I'm happy for Stan [Van Gundy, the current Magic coach]. The goal for the organization was to get to the second round. They're at where they wanted to be. The hire turned out to be great."
A year ago, Donovan accepted an offer to coach the Magic after winning his second straight national title at Florida. The news conference announcing his hire was on May 31, a Friday, in Orlando. Later that night, after an ill-advised goodbye news conference back in Gainesville -- with his children's forlorn faces in attendance -- Donovan had second thoughts. By Sunday night he wanted out. But since he had signed the contract, it would be three more days before he could negotiate an exit agreement that included a clause that he wouldn't coach in the NBA for five years.
"I don't have any regrets," Donovan said. "You have to have great emotion and enthusiasm for what you're doing. And in my situation, my heart was more into this challenge."
Florida finished the season at 24-12, losing to UMass in the NIT semifinals in New York. The Gators finished the regular season by losing three straight games in the SEC and then folded quickly in the SEC tournament, losing to Alabama in the first round. That prompted this response from Donovan at the tournament after he said he heard freshman Chandler Parsons say the team wasn't ready to play.
"It's in front of our guys, what it takes to win," he said then. "For whatever reason, I haven't brought it out in them. They're not committed to it. But I'm not necessarily really that excited about these guys being sophomores, to be honest. I don't think people change a whole lot, and I don't think you've seen the basketball team change at all this year. So it's hard for me to get overly thrilled or excited."
Donovan then moved the team's practices for the NIT out of the state-of-the-art practice facility to an on-campus facility, where the Gators used to practice when current NBA players Udonis Haslam and Mike Miller first arrived on campus in 1998.
Nearly two months later, Donovan's tone hasn't change much from his initial emotional comments.
"I didn't like the tone they had," Donovan said on Thursday. "It wasn't that I didn't want to coach them as sophomores. But I don't think they had an appreciation for what had happened before they got here. I think they thought, 'Hey I've got Florida across my chest, so we're going to win.' I really wanted to make sure they didn't get into a trap because of the way they were viewing the end of the year."
The Gators were fine offensively last season, near the top in of the SEC in scoring and field-goal shooting but had slumped to the bottom of the league in field-goal and 3-point defense.
Donovan said the Gators, which started off 18-3 and 5-1 in the SEC, hadn't played some of the best teams in the league, notably Tennessee. He never felt like the players truly committed themselves, and so his comments in March had been bubbling up since January.
"I didn't like where we were mentally," Donovan said.
But the quick fix isn't coming, especially if Speights stays in the draft. Donovan said the realistic appraisal he's getting from NBA executives is that the sophomore will go anywhere from 22-40. Donovan said Speights said that he would return if he's not in the top 20. But that could easily change.
"He understands he's not a lock," Donovan said. But the problem is that Speights may not understand that he has a chance to be in the top 15 in 2009 if he has a great junior season.
"If we lose him, it will definitely hurt us," Donovan said. "I want him to be here, but for the right reasons. He would be one of three upperclassmen with Dan Werner [a junior] and Walter Hodge [the lone senior]."
The Gators also added Georgetown transfer forward Vernon Macklin, who won't be eligible until the 2009-10 season. But the hope is that he'll be in Gainesville soon and able to help the team in practice this summer.
Then Donovan would have the whole team (minus Speights) back for summer school, plus Macklin and former champs Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green coming back after a year in the NBA to go to school and work out with the Gators.
Donovan said the next wave of heralded newcomers -- big men Eloy Vargas, Kenneth Kadji, Rayford Shipman and Allan Chaney, and guard Erving Walker -- need to come in with the right mindset.
"They need to have a level of humility and respect the guys in front of them," Donovan said. "I want to see which freshmen can impact winning. We've got the whole summer to get the right mindset with this group. The guys coming back have to provide the leadership and the other guys have to trust them."
That means more heat on rising sophomores Nick Calathes, Jai Lucas, Parsons, Alex Tyus and Adam Allen, the players who were called out by Donovan in March.
"If Speights doesn't come back, we're still relatively young again and we'll see how we handle that," Donovan said. "Now all of a sudden we wouldn't have 14 or 15 points a game, and we'll still have a lot of questions. I knew this would take a while [to rebuild]. But I'm still excited about it."
