6:19pm: According to NBA.com's David Aldridge, "both the agents for Phil Jackson and an Orlando Magic source denied Wednesday any contact between the parties on a potential kingmaker role for Jackson with the Magic organization."
1:14pm: The Magic are unlikely to accept the latest proposal from Sam Vincent to have Phil Jackson join the organization, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. The team wants someone who'll be in Orlando full-time, instead of one week per month, as Jackson would be. Though a half dozen candidates appear to be in the running for the GM job, Robbins tweets that a list of finalists has not yet been submitted to the Devos family, who owns the Magic. Even without Jackson around, Pacers assistant Brian Shaw could still wind up with the Magic head coaching gig, Robbins notes via Twitter.
8:40am: After seemingly removing himself from consideration for a position in the Magic's front office, Phil Jackson has renewed interest in becoming Orlando's lead personnel man and bringing a team of his closest confidants into the organization, reports Sam Amick of SI.com. A revised proposal was submitted to the Magic on Tuesday morning in which Jackson would work for the team remotely from California. Sam Vincent, the architect of the plan, would also join the Magic as a member of the front office with Brian Shaw coming on board as head coach and Scottie Pippen taking the lead assistant position.
Beyond salary, Jackson is interested in acquiring a portion of minority ownership in the franchise so that he can help convince Dwight Howard to stay with the Magic given the Zen Master's presence and commitment to the team. Yet, some in the Magic organization view Howard as a lost cause who wants out of Orlando as soon as possible and has no intentions of re-signing with the team. The risk of investing in Jackson with hopes of retaining Howard could get expensive beyond just a minority ownership stake as the former Lakers coach earned $12MM in his final season in Los Angeles.
One of the issues with the plan stems from Magic CEO Alex Martins dislike for having an executive working outside of Orlando. Since parting ways with former general manager Otis Smith on May 21, Martins has been looking for an executive who would be in the office every day. The team's finalists for general manager reportedly include Spurs vice president and assistant general manager Dennis Lindsey, former Hornets general manager Jeff Bower, Thunder executives Troy Weaver and Rob Hennigan, and former Trail Blazers general manager and Pacers executive Kevin Pritchard.
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Magic need to get that proposal done.
NO WAY unless Jackson moves to Orlando and no minority position unless Howard resigns AND Jackson commits to be vested in a stock option after 5 years.