FanHouse Adonal Foyle

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Sunday, there are 44 days remaining -- the same number the Lakers retired in 1983 for Jerry West.

Sometimes the basketball gods smile upon you even if you're not really part of the game. That's what happened to me on Nov. 12, 2004.

OK, so maybe it wasn't any kind of hoops deity that hooked me up; it was Raymond Ridder, the Warriors' director of public relations. Still, I remember to this day my brick of a cellphone ringing that cold morning in Memphis with Ridder at the other end.

"You want to go to lunch with Jerry West?" he asked. Ridder had worked for the Lakers and knew West from his days in L.A., so they were going to catch up. And I was coming along.

So, you may or may not have seen the feature we did for the NFL Draft in which we took every single team and decided who the worst draft pick in the history of that franchise was. And it was so awesome and fun to do (and totally not time consuming at all) that I decided to roll it out for the NBA as well.

So, for every NBA team, we give you a horrible draft pick -- either a straight bust, or player picked ahead of another player who was far better, etc. -- and then a snarky reason as to why said pick was the worst in franchise history. Your suggestions in the comments, please. And happy draft day!

LOS ANGELES -- In the wake of their 100-75 loss to the Lakers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Orlando Magic players, coaches and members of their front office have been talking about their team's resiliency.

The media has been reminded several times that the Magic came back after Glen Davis hit a buzzer-beater in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semis and after LeBron James hit a buzzer-beater in Game 2 of the conference finals.

But how will they handle the bus controversy?

The Magic lost a close one at home to the Rockets last night, and they're blaming it on the officials. They feel the game should have been sent into overtime, based on this tip in at the buzzer from Adonal Foyle. The problem is, the refs ruled that the ball was still in Foyle's hands when the red light went on, so game over and a loss for Orlando.

It was an extremely close call, but I believe it was the correct one. It appears the ball may have been just out of Foyle's hand before the light went on, but it's nearly impossible to tell because of Foyle's follow through. I don't think you can say for certain that his fingertips weren't still touching that ball when time had expired.

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy was said to have been on the phone to the league office to complain about the call within 15 minutes of the game being over. Hey Stan, if you want to complain about something, how about the fact that with the game tied, your team allowed Rafer Alston to get an uncontested layup to give Houston the lead? The blame for this loss belongs to Orlando's atrocious crunch time defense, not the officials.

The Magic learned this week that Tony Battie has a torn rotator cuff in his left shoulder. The initial prognosis is that he'll need (likely season-ending) surgery, but he was scheduled to seek a second opinion yesterday. Battie is hardly an elite player, but losing him could have disastrous effects for the Magic.

Why? Because beyond Dwight Howard and Adonal Foyle, the Magic are short on big men capable of banging down low. Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu are both 6-10, but they're perimeter players who rarely venture into the post. Needless to say, when Howard is out of the game, the Magic will get killed on the boards.

The Magic could have avoided this problem had they retained Darko Milicic, but he's in Memphis now. There's not much quality left on the free agent market to replace Battie, especially considering almost every other team in the league could top what the Magic have to offer, which is merely the veteran's minimum of $1.2 million.

Besides, if Chris Webber or P.J. Brown, the top power forwards still unsigned, decide they want to play this year, they could easily get that much money (or more) from a legitimate contender like Dallas or Phoenix, which means the Magic are most likely going to have to fill the hole internally. So dust off those gym shoes, James Augustine, and start working on that English, Marcin Gortat, because you're most likely going to see a lot more action this year than you ever thought possible.

(via HOOPSWORLD)

By now, everyone has heard about Charles Oakley's desire to come back, and yesterday he made his pitch to the Orlando media that he'd be a fit with the Magic. From the Orlando Sentinel:

"Orlando has a good young team with a bright future -- I like Dwight Howard -- but I could help them develop some heart and some toughness," he said Tuesday on his cell phone from Las Vegas, where he was watching the USA Basketball team and conducting personal workouts. "I'm available. And I'm in shape, better shape than most of the guys in the league today."

Oakley may have the desire, and I'll even let him pretend to be in better shape than most of the league, but Magic fans need not get their hopes up just yet. For one, Oakley seems to be painfully unaware about Orlando's salary situation.

Yes, the team is was (update: Adonal Foyle agreed to terms!) in the market for a veteran big man, but the most they had to offer is the veteran's exception of roughly $1.2 million. That's not a bad payday for a 43 year old who's been out of the league for two years, but in Oakley's own words from an interview with ESPN.com earlier this week, anything less than $9-10 million over two years is "bulls--t money".

If that's really the case, Oak, then don't even bother waiting by the phone. The more I think about it, the more I doubt that he's going to come back with any team this year. You have to figure guys who were actually active last year like P.J. Brown (who may be old but is still six years younger than Oakley), Chris Webber or Brian Skinner will get contracts first, and this late in the summer, it'll be a surprise if any of them make as much as the mid-level exception. Unless Oakley lowers his demands, he'll spend next year just like he's spent the last two: hanging onto a thread of fame as Michael Jordan's wingman.

Golden State experienced a rebirth on the court last season, reaching the postseason for the first time in a dozen seasons. 'Abject failure' has a road trip buddy on the way out of town though, as the team has reached a buyout agreement with 10-year Warrior (and handsome fellow) Adonal Foyle.

Foyle, who got fat with a long-term and high-priced deal with Golden State signed in the rather absurd free agent market of 2004, might join up with Orlando, says the Associated Press. Fan-favorite/class act Foyle hails from Canouan, a tiny Caribbean island under the jurisdiction of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (which is recognized by the United Nations as a sovereign state, as I learned from this awesome game). Anyways, Orlando is a lot closer than Oakland to Canouan. And Orlando might actually use Foyle, who played a whopping 475 minutes last season under Don Nelson.

Locker room impact, though? Andris Biedrins, who just turned 21, is now the longest tenured Warrior. Unless you count, like, the entire coaching staff and front office. Talk about a turnover. Troy Murphy, Jason Richardson, Adonal Foyle... gone gone gone. The ghost of Todd Fuller is barely a nostalgic glimmer at this point.