Minor-league team wants you to pull a "Billy D"

On June 20th, the Fort Myers Miracle, a Single-A minor league baseball team in Florida, will be hosting a "Billy Donovan Night" to poke fun at the fact that he backed out of his deal with the Orland Magic last week.

Just like Donovan escaped his five-year, $27.5 million contract with the Magic, fans can try and negotiate their way out of their ticket purchase.

"It's something to waffle about," said Andrew Seymour, assistant general manager and promotions director for the Miracle. "If you're not seeing entertainment, you can opt out of your contract."

The contract, in this case, is the ticket. Fans will have up to the first three innings to restructure their deal, but even that's negotiable.

The price of the ticket, the seat location and even a buyout can be arranged. Part of the negotiating process will involve making a free throw.

Fear not Orlando, the Hedgehog is to the rescue

It was earlier reported that former Miami Heat coach, Stan Van Gundy was close to accepting the coaching vacancy with the Sacramento Kings, but now new reports are saying the Van Gundy has decided to accept the head coaching position with the Orland Magic instead.

After all the fiasco with Billy Donovan pulling a Kobe and abruptly changing his mind, the Magic must be relieved to finally have a coach, for the second time, but I'm pretty sure this one won't bail on the team in order to go back to college.

Not only is Van Gundy a good coach, he looks exactly like pornstar, Ron Jeremy, and that just has to have the ladies swooning.

This whole Donovan thing is confusing

Well last night when I went to bed, there were early reports that Donovan wanted to get out of his contract that he signed just three days ago with the Orlando Magic, and it appears that he still does. But there are conflicting reports on whether or not the Magic will allow him to break his contract.

The Orlando Sentinel reported early this morning that Orland will indeed allow Donovan to leave and may have already found his replacement.

On Monday morning, the Magic issued a statement, saying, " While Central Florida, the Orlando Magic and Billy were energized with the announcement of his contract signing on Friday, we know there was a different feeling in Gainesville and people have been tugging at him since that time.

"Billy is conflicted with those emotions and the opportunity he has ahead in Orlando and in the NBA. We've had numerous conversations and a personal visit in Gainesville with Billy over the last 48 hours, and we have a commitment from him that the dialogue between us will continue.''

They later went on to say that in all likelihood Donovan's predecessor will be Stan Van Gundy formally with the Miami Heat. Van Gundy is also involved in the head coaching job for the Sacramento Kings.

But then ESPN says something different, Andy Katz is reporting that the Magic may not let him out of his contract and they are trying to convince him to stay in Orlando.

"We've had numerous conversations and a personal visit in Gainesville with Billy over the last 48 hours and we have a commitment from him that the dialogue between us will continue."

Does this mean they will make him stay? Well, no, but it also mentions that there is a penalty if he does decide to back out. If I were the Magic I would try my damnedest to get Donovan to want to stay, obviously if he has no desire to coach then you have to let him go, because then he would lose all respect of his players and the fans. Whatever his final decision is, he's going to piss off one part of Florida, either Gainesville or Orlando.

See this story on the Fanhouse, Deadspin, Larry Brown Sports too name a few.

The Nets are going to do what?

Talks are reportedly heating up between the New Jersey Nets and the Orlando Magic. The Nets are planning on getting rid of majority of their "good" players in Vince Carter and Jason Kidd. Playing with ESPN's nifty Trade Machine I have came up with a trade that would benefit both teams.

NJN get- F Grant Hill and G Keyon Dooling
ORL get- G/F Vince Carter and F Jason Collins

This trade would make total sense, Grant Hill has a $16M expiring contract and Keyon Dooling would basically be a through in with a small expiring contract. And for the Magic they would get a pure scorer that they don't have right now and Jason Collins is just someone who has a $5M contract that the Nets want nothing to do with. They want to add him with the potential trade that involves G Jason Kidd to the Lakers but the Lakers wouldn't be able to supply an expiring contract of that magnitude. And if the Nets do go ahead and trade Jason Kidd(which is likely) and Vince it would free up around $35M on next year's salary cap. If the Vince trade goes through I will then have to join Davey as an Orlando Magic fan, where ever Vince goes, I go. Jameer Nelson at the point, Vince at the two guard, Hedo Turkoglu at forward, Darko at the other foward and Dwight Howard at center....say it with me now....CHAMPIONSHIP!!!

It was just a matter of time...

As I was watching my New Jersey Nets getting anally raped by Davey's Orlando Magic, I noticed a certain someone absent from the line-up. That "someone" was non other than Grant Hill. Moments later Bill Walton mentioned that Hill was injured and is expected to miss a couple of weeks. So of course I threw on my sweet "Harriet the Spy" outfit and I tracked down what happened.

Side-Note: How in the HELL do you explain wearing that...I mean, seriously Bill...WTF! I could just imagine him leaving his "pad" with his tie-dye shirt and hemp sandals on his way to a Grateful Dead concert.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, Hill will miss the next two to three weeks with a Grade 1 MCL sprain. "He sustained it in Wednesday night's victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, but apparently did not inform the team or didn't believe it was serious at the time. But when he came to practice Thursday, Hill told the club his knee hurt and an MRI confirmed the sprain," according to the paper.

Come on, let's not beat around the bush. This was inevitable. As much as I like Grant Hill, the guy can't stay healthy. Since coming to Orlando in 2000 Hill has played in a total of 167 games(including this year), just in case you didn't know, there are 82 games in a season and he's been in Orlando for 6 season. I like Grant Hill alot, I think he's a great person, a good basketball player, but I think it may be time to call it a career.

Injury notes from Wikipediea:

"Hill has been hampered by ankle injuries ever since his arrival in Orlando, playing in only four games in his first season with the Magic, 14 games in his second and 29 in his third. He was forced to sit out his entire fourth year with Orlando (2003-04).

ctors re-fractured his ankle and realigned it with his leg bone. Five days after the surgery was performed, the unexpected happened: Hill developed a 40.5 °C (104.5-degree) fever and convulsions. He was immediately rushed to a hospital. Doctors removed the splint around his ankle and discovered that Hill had developed a staph infection, from which he nearly died. He was hospitalized for a week and had to take intravenous antibiotics for six months.

But the 2004-05 season saw a return to the old Grant Hill, who was so popular earlier in his career. Hill, though hampered by a bruised left shin that caused him to miss several games, started and played 67 games for the Magic, well over the combined amount of games he played for the Magic the previous 4 seasons. He averaged 19.7 points per game on a .509 field goal percentage. Fans voted him an All-Star starter again, and he led the Eastern Conference All-Star Team to a victory over the West. In addition, at the conclusion of the season, Hill was awarded the Joe Dumars Trophy presented to the NBA Sportsmanship Award Winner.

During the 2005-06 season, Hill reverted to the oft-injured self as nagging groin injuries kept him sidelined for much of the first half of the season, limiting him to 21 games. He got a sports hernia that was caused by an uneven pressure on Hill's feet while he was running, due to concerns that he could reaggrevate the injury on his left ankle if it got too much pressure. Hill underwent surgery for the hernia and has since stated that he would consider retirement if he has to get another surgery.

As of the 2006-07 season, Hill returned from injuries despite numerous rumors surrounding his retirement. Hill received ankle rotation therapy from specialists in Vancouver, BC during the offseason and has stated that he has regained much motion in his left ankle. Hill has returned to the Magic lineup, starting at the shooting guard position."