Getting Better All the Time
For Otis Smith it's all about winning and he's determined to make the Magic contenders again
When he has some spare time -- and there is precious little of that in his job -- Otis Smith will plop down in the chair at his home office, scan the shelves where he has hundreds and hundreds of books waiting on him, and pull something down to read.
"I am crazy about reading, but I don't get to do it nearly as much as I would like," said Smith, Magic assistant general manager. "I probably go through 8 to 10 books a month, but I'd like to read another 8 to 10 a month if I could."
Still, what he does read averages out to two or three books a week, which would be two or three more books a week than most people take the time to get through. And Smith isn't doing it for relaxation.
"I read because I'm trying to make myself better," he said, "so I can make other people better."
That, in a nutshell, is what Otis Smith is all about for the Orlando Magic organization: He wants to get better at what he's doing so he can make those around him better at what they are doing.
Early results suggest that it's working.
"If you just look at what's happened the last two months, you would have to say Otis is doing great things for this organization," Magic President and CEO Bob Vander Weide said. "You judge most GMs by the personnel decisions they make and how they're able to maneuver around the salary cap. We've made some trades that brought us three very productive players in Carlos [Arroyo], Darko [Milicic] and Trevor [Ariza] and we've cleared enough cap space to be able to offer a max contract in the summer of 2007.
"I'd say I'm pretty happy with where we're headed right now."
Not surprisingly, Smith doesn't quite see it that way. He has been competing at basketball in one fashion or another since second grade and earning praise for working hard doesn't define success for him.
"The only measuring stick I have for success is the won-loss record and we finished with a losing record," Smith said of the Magic's 2005-06 season. "I know people are excited about the way we played in the second half of the season and so am I, but that doesn't mean much. The only thing that matters is your record for the whole season and we had a losing record so I'm not happy. I've got to get better and we've got to get better."
The willingness to accept responsibility for a team is what has put Smith in the position he's in today. He was captain of virtually every team he ever played on, dating back to grade school. He was a good enough player to be the No. 1 prospect in Florida his senior year at Jacksonville Forrest High School, but he turned down the top schools in the state and several offers from SEC and ACC teams to stay home at Jacksonville University.
"I never thought that basketball was going to be my ticket for my life and JU afforded me small classrooms where I could get to know my teachers and everybody in my classes," Smith said. "I wanted a degree out of college and that's what I got."
He also got the attention of NBA scouts. He turned a moribund JU program into a high-energy team worthy of national attention. The Dolphins reached the NCAA and NIT tournaments during his four years there after being little more than doormats for more than a decade in the old Sun Belt Conference.
"We had a lot of guys come into our program because of Otis' reputation as a player and leader," said former JU coach Bob Wenzel, who is now a color analyst for college basketball games on ESPN and CBS. "He would outwork every guy on our team. He was always on the same page with me and when your best player does that, it permeates through the whole team. We never once had to get after our guys to work hard in practice or in the off-season. They just followed Otis' lead."
Smith was taken in the second round of the 1986 NBA Draft by Denver (41st pick overall) and spent a year and a half there before being traded to Golden State. A year and a half later, he was left unprotected in the expansion draft and the Magic nabbed him.
He considered that a good news/bad news situation.
"I liked the idea of coming home and getting a chance to play," Smith said, "but no one at Golden State told me I wasn't going to be protected and that kind of upset me.
"I learned a lesson that day that I've carried with me every day since then: Communicate with your people. I don't care who it is, if you have a relationship with somebody and communicate with them candidly, they will respect what you're doing."
He had the two most productive seasons of his NBA career with the Magic, but a knee injury shut him down for good after the 1992 season. He served two years as the Magic's community relations manager before heading to Golden State to work in management for the Warriors before returning to the Magic in 2003.
When former general manager John Weisbrod resigned after the 2004-2005 season, Smith was promoted to assistant general manager, as was Dave Twardzik. It is a unusual situation to everyone but Smith and Twardzik.
"The rule between me and Otis is full disclosure at all times and it's always been that way," Twardzik said. "If I'm not in his office, he's in mine and if we're not talking at the office, we're text messaging each other from whatever game we're watching.
"There is no hidden agenda for either of us and I think that's the key. Neither one of us cares who gets the credit when things go right, we just want to get it right. Is that unusual in pro sports? Maybe, but I don't find it difficult at all."
Neither does Coach Brian Hill. The coach/general manager relationship around the NBA is getting downright testy in a lot of places, but Hill says he and Smith aren't just on the same page, they're reading from the same book.
"I think Otis and I have the same vision for the kind of team we want," Hill said. "We both want a team that works hard at practice, that wants to improve individually and as a team, and that places a lot of importance on winning every night.
"The one thing I really like about Otis is that he accepts my input on decisions. He doesn't turn his back to what I want. Some GMs tell the coach 'I'll get the talent, it's your job to make it work.' Otis isn't like that. We work in unison and you can't succeed in this league unless that happens."
Smith shrugs again when the words of praise are repeated to him. Like most competitors, he remembers the negatives more so than the positives and his mind is constantly in motion trying to make everything right all at once.
He still stings from the mention of the drafting of Fran Vasquez. "We got duped," he said, not specifying who was responsible for misleading the Magic about Vasquez's real intentions.
He hates it when he hears the term rebuilding used about the Magic. "We've got pieces in place, lots of good pieces," he said. "Are we there? No, but rebuilding means you're tearing down and starting over. We're not starting over. We need a few more pieces and we can be contending again." Most of all, Smith hates losing. He has been around it enough to know that it can become every bit as habitual as having a cup of coffee every morning. He doesn't want that type of culture to set in around the team.
So when he said goodbye to the players at the end of the season, he didn't hand them a workout sheet, he handed them a book: Season Of Life by Jeffrey Marx.
"It's a book about teamwork, trust and trying to turn boys into men," Smith said. "I want our guys to be exposed to a variety of things in life, not just basketball. There is a lot out there for them to learn. If they learn from it, we're going to get better, and that's my job, to make them better."
This story originally appeared in the May issue of Magic Magazine. Get your favorite Magic fan a subscription to Magic Magazine! To subscribe call 1-877-841-7070 or e-mail subscription.service@skies.com and specify you want Magic Magazine. A one-year subscription is $18.95 and two-year is just $24.95.
When he has some spare time -- and there is precious little of that in his job -- Otis Smith will plop down in the chair at his home office, scan the shelves where he has hundreds and hundreds of books waiting on him, and pull something down to read.
"I am crazy about reading, but I don't get to do it nearly as much as I would like," said Smith, Magic assistant general manager. "I probably go through 8 to 10 books a month, but I'd like to read another 8 to 10 a month if I could."
Still, what he does read averages out to two or three books a week, which would be two or three more books a week than most people take the time to get through. And Smith isn't doing it for relaxation.
"I read because I'm trying to make myself better," he said, "so I can make other people better."
That, in a nutshell, is what Otis Smith is all about for the Orlando Magic organization: He wants to get better at what he's doing so he can make those around him better at what they are doing.
Early results suggest that it's working.
"If you just look at what's happened the last two months, you would have to say Otis is doing great things for this organization," Magic President and CEO Bob Vander Weide said. "You judge most GMs by the personnel decisions they make and how they're able to maneuver around the salary cap. We've made some trades that brought us three very productive players in Carlos [Arroyo], Darko [Milicic] and Trevor [Ariza] and we've cleared enough cap space to be able to offer a max contract in the summer of 2007.
"I'd say I'm pretty happy with where we're headed right now."
Not surprisingly, Smith doesn't quite see it that way. He has been competing at basketball in one fashion or another since second grade and earning praise for working hard doesn't define success for him.
"The only measuring stick I have for success is the won-loss record and we finished with a losing record," Smith said of the Magic's 2005-06 season. "I know people are excited about the way we played in the second half of the season and so am I, but that doesn't mean much. The only thing that matters is your record for the whole season and we had a losing record so I'm not happy. I've got to get better and we've got to get better."
The willingness to accept responsibility for a team is what has put Smith in the position he's in today. He was captain of virtually every team he ever played on, dating back to grade school. He was a good enough player to be the No. 1 prospect in Florida his senior year at Jacksonville Forrest High School, but he turned down the top schools in the state and several offers from SEC and ACC teams to stay home at Jacksonville University.
"I never thought that basketball was going to be my ticket for my life and JU afforded me small classrooms where I could get to know my teachers and everybody in my classes," Smith said. "I wanted a degree out of college and that's what I got."
He also got the attention of NBA scouts. He turned a moribund JU program into a high-energy team worthy of national attention. The Dolphins reached the NCAA and NIT tournaments during his four years there after being little more than doormats for more than a decade in the old Sun Belt Conference.
"We had a lot of guys come into our program because of Otis' reputation as a player and leader," said former JU coach Bob Wenzel, who is now a color analyst for college basketball games on ESPN and CBS. "He would outwork every guy on our team. He was always on the same page with me and when your best player does that, it permeates through the whole team. We never once had to get after our guys to work hard in practice or in the off-season. They just followed Otis' lead."
Smith was taken in the second round of the 1986 NBA Draft by Denver (41st pick overall) and spent a year and a half there before being traded to Golden State. A year and a half later, he was left unprotected in the expansion draft and the Magic nabbed him.
He considered that a good news/bad news situation.
"I liked the idea of coming home and getting a chance to play," Smith said, "but no one at Golden State told me I wasn't going to be protected and that kind of upset me.
"I learned a lesson that day that I've carried with me every day since then: Communicate with your people. I don't care who it is, if you have a relationship with somebody and communicate with them candidly, they will respect what you're doing."
He had the two most productive seasons of his NBA career with the Magic, but a knee injury shut him down for good after the 1992 season. He served two years as the Magic's community relations manager before heading to Golden State to work in management for the Warriors before returning to the Magic in 2003.
When former general manager John Weisbrod resigned after the 2004-2005 season, Smith was promoted to assistant general manager, as was Dave Twardzik. It is a unusual situation to everyone but Smith and Twardzik.
"The rule between me and Otis is full disclosure at all times and it's always been that way," Twardzik said. "If I'm not in his office, he's in mine and if we're not talking at the office, we're text messaging each other from whatever game we're watching.
"There is no hidden agenda for either of us and I think that's the key. Neither one of us cares who gets the credit when things go right, we just want to get it right. Is that unusual in pro sports? Maybe, but I don't find it difficult at all."
Neither does Coach Brian Hill. The coach/general manager relationship around the NBA is getting downright testy in a lot of places, but Hill says he and Smith aren't just on the same page, they're reading from the same book.
"I think Otis and I have the same vision for the kind of team we want," Hill said. "We both want a team that works hard at practice, that wants to improve individually and as a team, and that places a lot of importance on winning every night.
"The one thing I really like about Otis is that he accepts my input on decisions. He doesn't turn his back to what I want. Some GMs tell the coach 'I'll get the talent, it's your job to make it work.' Otis isn't like that. We work in unison and you can't succeed in this league unless that happens."
Smith shrugs again when the words of praise are repeated to him. Like most competitors, he remembers the negatives more so than the positives and his mind is constantly in motion trying to make everything right all at once.
He still stings from the mention of the drafting of Fran Vasquez. "We got duped," he said, not specifying who was responsible for misleading the Magic about Vasquez's real intentions.
He hates it when he hears the term rebuilding used about the Magic. "We've got pieces in place, lots of good pieces," he said. "Are we there? No, but rebuilding means you're tearing down and starting over. We're not starting over. We need a few more pieces and we can be contending again." Most of all, Smith hates losing. He has been around it enough to know that it can become every bit as habitual as having a cup of coffee every morning. He doesn't want that type of culture to set in around the team.
So when he said goodbye to the players at the end of the season, he didn't hand them a workout sheet, he handed them a book: Season Of Life by Jeffrey Marx.
"It's a book about teamwork, trust and trying to turn boys into men," Smith said. "I want our guys to be exposed to a variety of things in life, not just basketball. There is a lot out there for them to learn. If they learn from it, we're going to get better, and that's my job, to make them better."
This story originally appeared in the May issue of Magic Magazine. Get your favorite Magic fan a subscription to Magic Magazine! To subscribe call 1-877-841-7070 or e-mail subscription.service@skies.com and specify you want Magic Magazine. A one-year subscription is $18.95 and two-year is just $24.95.
