Magic Johnson’s 1996 stint with the Lakers has been taken to task, he was criticized for being both out of shape and for possibly trying to grab some of the limelight that Michael Jordan’s return to basketball was standing under. Just two of the more respected basketball minds in modern NBA history, cleaning their lockers … was nearly as bad, and the city of Dallas had just about had it with their flailing Mavs by the time Mark Cuban took over in early 2001.ĥ-13-96: Tom Thibodeau and Ron Adams fired as Philadelphia 76ers assistant coaches. replaced the beloved Donald Carter, who helped established some great Mavericks teams of the 1980s, and some of the worst teams in NBA history in the early 1990s.
Gabriel, the slicked-back power broker who helped put the Magic’s 1995 Eastern winner together, would be asked to run the show in full as the team anticipated the most important summer of the franchise’s young lifetime.ĥ-01-96: Pat Croce takes over as both Philadelphia 76ers owner and president.Ĭroce’s whirlwind turn lasted just four years, but during that time he was able to draft Allen Iverson, convince Larry Brown to take over as coach, while showing the necessary patience needed to work behind his two combatants in Brown and Iverson and make the 2001 NBA Finals.ĥ-01-96: Ross Perot Jr. No more was the affable Pat Williams, he of those good luck charms and lottery wins, going to be the last voice in charge.
With thanks to the minds at Pro Basketball Transaction Archive, we decided to list some of the more notable moves of that summer, in chronological order.Ĥ-29-96: John Gabriel promoted to Orlando Magic general manager. Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent, franchises and careers were restructured, and the aftereffects can be felt to this day – as Phil Jackson and Pat Riley currently attempt to win with a franchise player making a cap-teetering salary all over again. And, no, 2010’s turn also pales in comparison to what we saw in the summer of 1996, when a series of league-altering moves were made in a just a few weeks’ time, with future Hall of Famers and team-shifters dancing about while one move led to another.