Magic CEO Alex Martins yesterday said that the team has "started to interview candidates" to head its basketball operations department, according to Josh Robbins of the ORLANDO SENTINEL. But Martins "cautioned that the hiring process could take a long time." Martins would "not name the candidates who already have been interviewed." He said that the team "currently intends to hire a president of basketball operations." That hire, "in turn, will select" a GM (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 5/4). CBSSPORTS.com's Chris Barnewall noted Martins was "adamant that he does not intend to rush the hiring process and confirmed Orlando does have interest in front office members currently on playoff teams." Martins said that this "lines up accurately with the reports on Orlando showing interest in Cavaliers GM David Griffin" (CBSSPORTS.com, 5/3).
WHO'S THE BOSS? In Orlando, Mike Bianchi writes Martins "claims he virtually had nothing to do with the basketball decisions" during former GM Rob Hennigan’s five-year tenure of "misery and malaise." Martins also "refutes the amplifying narrative that he is some sort of pushy puppetmaster who is pulling the strings on trades, draft picks and coaching hires." Martins: "On a day-to-day basis, I don't have any role in the basketball operations." He added, "At the end of the day, they [the GM and his basketball operations staffs] make the decisions ... and they're hired and fired based on those decisions." Bianchi writes this is why it is "imperative that the Magic restructure their front office and not only hire" a GM, but a president of basketball operations who "reports directly to the DeVos family," which owns the team. Martins is a "businessman and darn good one." He is a "marketing guy" and a "deal maker." But as the leader of the team's basketball operations, he has "not been so good" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 5/4).
