Donovan Going Back to Florida?

The TV side might have changed it, but not on ESPN.com

Billy Donovan informed the Magic and the University of Florida over the weekend that he had second thoughts about agreeing to be Orlando's head coach, but it's unclear whether the NBA team will let him go.

Orlando has a signed contract from Donovan and is making a decision as to whether to let him out of the five-year, $27.5 million deal that he signed on Friday multiple sources told ESPN.com on Sunday.

 

Goodman clearly broke the story. ESPN taking credit for it is par for the course.

 

Playing devil's advocate for a second, if they were really trying to glean on Fox Sports' info, couldn't they find someone to rewrite their story and get it on the web as their "exclusive" in a lot less time than 41 minutes? Especially since I'm guessing they knew something was cooking before the Fox story hit the site?

 

Personally, I think Donovan would be making a huge mistake going to Orlando. But this... wow. Either you're getting bad advice or...

 

Or you're a moron.

 

Here's what I see on espn.com right now:

And there's a breaking news banner on the front.

But nothing about their breaking the story. Am I missing it, or did they pull it?

 

Thanks for finishing, friend... I was thinking the same thing.

 

Couple of questions because college basketball isn't my strongpoint:

So if Donovan signed the contract what can the Magic do? Obviously they'd keep any money but since it's not another NBA team, it's not like they can be compensated ... haven't there been situations in the past where they just rip up the deal?

If Donovan goes back to Florida, how exactly would it hurt his credibility? Changing his mind is a lot less of a crime than say lying (Saban) ... has it hurt the others in recent years who've changed their minds ... ie. Cremins and the guy from Winthrop now at Wich. State?

 

If I'm the Orlando Magic, I sue, sue, sue until the lawyers fall asleep and the digit counters on the calculators burn out.

I call up David Stern, get the legal muscle of the NBA behind me, and I go charging into court for an injunction. Billy Donovan don't coach anywhere until we get our goddamn money.

 

If it's a gated community it's going to have a new night security guy tomorrow. How the hell did the Sentinel get in to even knock on the door?

 

I find it somewhat hard to believe that the contract is signed. Those things take a long time to get sorted out with numerous clauses and such. This courtship was pretty quick.

 

I'm with spinning. I've seen Katz pull similar B.S. before. That same week, he was taking credit on ESPN.com for breaking all 23 coaching moves. He probably broke two or three of them at most.

He also will print anything one of his coaching buddies wants him to whether it is accurate or not. And he'll print it knowing it's false because said coaching buddy promises him he'll get the scoop when the decision comes down.

He wasn't able to get the scoop in said situation but he sure got several things wrong in the search. I was stunned at his lack of ethics and I'm embarrassed that he's now the president of the USBWA.

Just because a guy is on TV and billed as a basketball analyst doesn't mean he's better than ANY of you hard working college basketball beat writers. If he's ever involved with a search on your beat, you'll quickly see the shoddy one-source (everything anonymous as well) reporting.