Magic Name Adonal Foyle Director of Player Development
The Orlando Magic announced Tuesday they have named Adonal Foyle the team's director of player development, replacing Morlon Wiley. Foyle's responsibilities will include providing support for the overall development of players, acting as a conduit between players and management and assisting the Basketball Operations staff.
Just about everyone who follows the Magic were hoping they would find some way to keep Foyle around and figured the job vacated by Morlon Wiley -- who by all accounts did a very good job in this post -- was going to be the place Foyle found his fit.
In a way, Foyle has been doing this job already too.
He did not play at all -- and I mean at all -- last year and was more or less on the roster as an extra body in practice and as a mentor to some of the younger players and, especially, Dwight Howard. Even after Orlando traded him in 2009 to Memphis in the Rafer Alston deal, the team found a way to bring him back. Despite his limited amount of skills on the court, Stan Van Gundy and Otis Smith both called re-signing Foyle to be the easiest decision in the summer of 2009.
As the team's representative to the NBA Players Union and the union's vice president, he also has ample experience representing players problems to management. So, in a way, he has been grooming himself for this position for a few years now.
You would be hard-pressed to find someone who would not want Foyle as part of their organization.
So a big Orlando Magic Daily congratulations to Adonal Foyle. We are very glad to have him still in the family!
