Billy The Kid-der

I said it, my brother said it, Watson said it, and you know what, it came true. We all knew Billy Donovan wasn't seriously staying at Florida. Once Corey Brewer, Al Horford, Joakim Noah, and Taurean Green said bye bye so did Billy. Losing out on the much documented Patrick Patterson sweepstakes couldn't have helped. However, he lost out on Patrick because Patterson knew better than to believe his sordid lies. How can Billy ever look Jai Lucas in the face again after lying to him point blank?

Orlando was the perfect NBA home for Donovan. He doesn't have to move his family from the state of Florida where he just built a Catholic School that his son attends. The money didn't hurt either. According to ESPN (see I document my sources), it's a 6 year/$36 million deal. He inherits a pretty decent team, at least by Eastern Conference standards. Dwight Howard is an absolute stud, Darko has some promise, and if Grant Hill spurns retirement and is healthy next year, they could be decent. Although we are JJ lovers not JJ haters here at BRB, Orlando may have reached last year taking him in the lottery next year. Even with that, he has the ability to be a good pro if one, he plays, and two, Howard establishes himself in the post, draws doubles, and kicks to JJ. One thing that hurts them immensely is the absence of a 1st Round pick this year. Detroit gets pick #15 (probably from the Darko trade), which leaves the Magic with only two second round picks.

Will Billy succeed in the NBA? I'm not sure. Sure, he is coming off of two national championships in a row but let's not forget, only two years ago, Billy was called a cheat by Mike Montgomery and was considered a classic underachiever as a coach. He seemed to always get the big recruit whether it was Udonis Haslem, Jason Williams, Donnell Harvey, James White, David Lee, or Matt Walsh but yet it seemed as if he was getting bounced by the likes of Manhattan every year in the NCAA Tournament. He caught lightning in a bottle with a recruiting class that although they were talented, their greatest asset was their chemistry on and off the court.

If you go according to history, you can't like his chances. Outside of Larry Brown, college coaches never seem to enjoy success once they arrive in the NBA and remember, Brown had already been in the NBA before coaching UCLA and Kansas. Donovan's mentor, Rick Pitino, crashed and burned in the pros a few times. Their full-court, team-oriented pressure doesn't translate to a league full of lazy one-on-one players.

To me, although there is talent in Orlando, until they sign a big-time wing player to go along with Howard, they won't step into the elite of the East and compete with Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, and Miami. If they had their pick this year, nbadraft.net has the #15 pick as Javaris Critteton from Georgia Tech who has the potential to be a big-time PG.

Whether or not Billy makes it in the pros, one thing remains: he lied to his incoming recruits, they bought it hook, line, and sinker and now they are coughing up their respective lunches because of it. I guess money means more in this day and age than the possibility of crippling a young man's future...