Shaquille O Neal in contention for the General Manager post at Orlando Magic – NBA News
Shaquille O Neal may be in the running to become the next General Manager of the Orlando Magic, ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard revealed recently.
The Magic are looking for a new coach and General Manager after they fired Stan Van Gundy and GM Otis Smith decided to part ways with the franchise.
Shaquille O' Neal has a history with the Orlando Magic team, as he started his career as center for the Magic. He played for Orlando from 1992 to 1996, and led the club to the NBA Finals in 1995. His hiring is being considered
in an attempt to retain Dwight Howard in the franchise, who has said that he wants to be traded in the offseason.
The Magic team management refused to comment on the speculation, saying that they will not openly discuss the process of hiring a new coach and GM in public. However, it has been reported by sources that Shaq might meet with Magic
officials next week to further discuss the position.
Orlando President Alex Martins was a member of the Magic squad in which Shaq played in the early 90’s and he is believed to have a good working relationship with the All Star center.
Despite taking jabs at Howard for using the “Superman” nickname that Shaq made famous when he was at his peak, Shaq and Howard are reported to be good friends who often share text messages.
Shaq is even said to have advised Howard during this tough season for the Magic center. The Diesel is also a critic of former magic coach Stan Van Gundy. He played with the coach during his years at the Miami Heat and was one
of the proponents of Pat Riley replacing him as the head coach.
Shaquille O Neal currently has a contract with TNT where he acts as an analyst and speaker on basketball related topics on different TNT shows. He is a superstar of the NBA, and one of the few players who has taken his super star
status to other arenas, apart from basketball.
The coaching job of the Magic is also being contested, with former Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan interested in the position. Sloan was with Utah for 23 years and resigned during the 2011 season to take a break from coaching after
doing the job for more than two decades. In an interview with Fox Sports Florida on Tuesday, Sloan made his intentions about coaching the Magic open, saying he thought it would be an “intriguing” job to take on.
Sloan is one of the most celebrated coaches in NBA history, and ranks 3rd in most regular season victories by a coach. He is also the only coach to have more than a 1000 victories with one team, doing so with the Utah
Jazz. He is also considering taking the coaching job at the Charlotte Bobcats, the team Michael Jordan owns. The Bobcats finished with the worst record in the NBA this season.
Tags: