Orlando Magic players defend coach Jacque Vaughn
Several Orlando Magic players are shooting down rumors that Jacque Vaughn is the problem for the team. They point the finger at themselves.
While Magic fans are chirping and hounding the team to make a change to head coach Jacque Vaughn, the Magic are going to preach patience while they pinpoint exactly what has gone wrong with the Magic the past month.
And the players are going to stand by their coach.
Tobias Harris and Nikola Vucevic told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel that Vaughn is not the problem for the Magic during this stretch where they have lost 13 of their past 17 games. These players are standing by their coach and taking personal responsibility for the team’s struggles:
"Tobias Harris: “I think for us as a team we need to turn it around, not just for Coach but for ourselves. At the end of the day, Coach can’t come on the floor. He can’t box out for you. He can’t dive on the floor for you. Nobody on the staff can get on the floor and go out there and outhustle somebody and play with a passion and a heart for you as a player. “Fans, they love to point the finger. That’s any team and any organization you play for. Fans are passionate about what they do. But for us as a team, it’s going to come down to us really buying in and focusing on how to get better. I think a lot of the reason we’re losing is because teams are outhustling us and teams are outplaying us. And for a young team and a lot of energy guys, that shouldn’t be the problem.”"
"Nikola Vucevic: “You can’t blame it on Jacque. We’re the guys out there playing. You can’t say that it’s Jacque’s fault. The effort has to come from us. He can’t control that. He can give us plays and X’s-and-O’s and all that, but if we don’t come out with any effort … it’s not going to do anything. “We obviously want this thing to turn around, not only for him but all of us. Nobody in this locker room enjoys losing. It’s no fun. Everything’s so much better when you win."
Harris noted that Vaughn is more fiery behind closed doors than he often portrays in front of the media. He will be doing late-night video sessions late into the night too.
This is not a question of the process of preparation. It appears to be, on the coaching front at least, an issue of instituting a philosophy and executing that philosophy. The team still seems to be figuring out who it is at the midway point of the season.
That has led to the angst and consternation about the coaching position with the Magic.
Some of it is young player mistakes, but the concern might go deeper, according to Robbins. He reported management believes many of the issues can be attributed to youth, but the recent struggles — and the recent games have not been pretty — may point to a deeper root cause.
There has been frustration from Magic fans as the team has struggled. The calls from outside the team are for immediate change to turn the season around, to make sure players continue to grow and develop and, simply, to move forward if Vaughn is not the coach long term.
It is true hiring a new coach might add a momentary jolt as a new voice comes in. Not much schematically can change with the old assistant coaching staff still in place. If there is a change, this patient franchise will probably wait until the end of the season to make a change.
Almost certainly, the Magic were taking this year to evaluate Vaughn as much as their young roster with this year being the first year the team has actual expectations heaped on him. So far, the Magic are struggling mightily.
At some point, they have to turn things around if Vaughn wants to keep his job. Results matter at the end of the day.