New assistant coach

Paul Westhead used to be head coach in Phoenix, I believe. He's not a no-name guy.

No, that's paul westphal. Paul Westhead was the coach of the Lakers in the early 80s. He won a ring with Magic and Kareem. Magic then got in a fight with Westhead and had the owner fire him in 1981. Westhead also had stints at Loyola Marymount where he ran a famous offense that scored like 150 ppg. He then tried his fastbreak style on the Denver Nuggets in 1990. It failed miserably and he was fired. Haven't seen him do to much since.

That's right, my bad mixing up "phal" and "head." Both are name guys, though, so the point stands.

Well, I will be right here waiting for you when you want to come back to reality. The Magic still have a less than desirable coaching staff, player personnel and management. We will be a .500 team until these things change.

I've studied Westhead's video tape and deployed his offense in high school basketball and the results were 6 consecutive final 4 appearance with one state title in '95. I am firm believer in "the team who puts the ball in the hoop more than the other team WINS!"

As a long time high school coach and X and O fan, I have to comment on the Westhead hiring. This man is a very capable coach and especially valuable as an innovator. His numbered fast break is widely copied and successful these days but I'm sure he has moved on to the next new phase. I have purchased his video's in the past and found the content to be exceptional. The guy may be boring and that might have effected his recruiting success at George Mason. His success at little Loyola Marymount was staggering when you look at the school and the teams they defeated. Somebody recruited the right parts of the puzzle there for him. The whole Magic Johnson thing that happened in L.A. related to Westhead's desire to run a "team" approach in the days of the old "man to man" defence rule structure. Magic J. didn't think it would work and had a lot of political clout. These days it might work. Magic getting Westhead fired meant the start of Pat Riley's career. He was Westhead's assistant and defensive coach. As far as one of the opinions above indicating Westhead to be a non-name coach!............really just another no-nothing fan typing away on a keyboard. Happy New Year Magic fans. Rick

So, let's review. Westhead is where on the top 10 coaches of all time? http://www.nba.com/history/top_10_coaches.html Right, he's not. Riley replaced Westhead because he was and is a better coach. Point is - we have a lackluster effort into making the team better. By the way, Westhead had 2 winning season with the Lakers with very good players. He has 3 losing seasons, 1 with Chicago in 82 and two with Denver, 90-91. With that and Johnny Davis' losing record in Philly - we're right on track for a lottery pick.

Oh, and can anyone point out the only reason that Westhead had the two winning seasons with the Lakers? He was appointed head coach only after a serious injury to the head coach (Jack McKinney) at the time. He merely took over a succesful team - and lived off of it. He is known for implementing an offense oriented team - which any team in the NBA can put up points. But he is also known for giving up more points than what his teams can score. Defense will win ball games. Write it down, take a picture, carve it in stone.

Maybe we should hire Tony Little as our strength and conditioning coach - he has a video tape too.