Rob Hennigan’s comments show some doubt in Jacque Vaughn

Rob Hennigan said everything is constantly under evaluation including the Magic’s recent sluggish play. That could lead to thoughts on a coaching change.

Jacque Vaughn has been the head coach of the Orlando Magic since the beginning of the current rebuilding project. From the onset, the primary expectation of the team was to attain and develop young players even if that meant posting pathetically bad win-loss records.

The mindset is changing though in Vaughn’s third year.

While player development is still the most important aspect of Orlando’s future, it is time to start seeing tangible results on the court. Ultimately, Vaughn will be held responsible for the team’s play on the court and his seat has never been warmer.

In an interview with Joshua Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, general manager Rob Hennigan aired his feelings on the current situation. When asked about the team’s recent struggles, Hennigan said the following:

"“Am I disappointed with our team’s inconsistent play? Yes. Am I frustrated with our overall effort and competitive spirit? Yes. Am I frustrated with our recent play after we had a seemingly good start to the season in spite of a tough road schedule? Yes.So it’s on all of us collectively to start turning this around, and I think Step One is rediscovering our competitive spirit and belief in each other and cementing that as a constant. That’s where it starts and then from there I think we can begin to address the residual effects. But it starts with reigniting our competitive spirit — a competitive spirit that we’ve seen in certain games but, as I said, just not consistently enough.”"

It is never good for a coach when his superiors are questioning the way his players are competing, as the head coach is largely held responsible for keeping his players motivated and competitive.

For what it is worth, Hennigan still put his support behind Vaughn and said he was doing a good job, but like everything was under constant evaluation. It is hard to ignore how the Magic have looked completely disinterested in several games this season, with the losses to the Charlotte Hornets, Los Angeles Lakers and Detroit Pistons all coming to mind.

While the fan based does not expect this year’s squad to be dominant, they correctly demand hustle and visible improvement, at the least.

Hennigan’s responses to questions centered around Vaughn did not get much better when the GM was asked whether or not the third-year head coach was guaranteed to maintain his position through the end of the season.

"“Look, we’re clearly in a rut and we need to find our way out of it together. The buck starts and stops with me. I’m responsible for the team and its performance, plain and simple. I’m constantly evaluating myself and ways in which I can do a better job for our team, and that will continue to be the case, and I’ll continue to make sure I’m evaluating every inch of the organization. It’s my job to make sure that we’re constantly evaluating every aspect of the organization from top to bottom.So, to your question, I’d say that everyone and everything is being evaluated right now. I wouldn’t be doing my job if that weren’t the case. I’ll also say that there’s not one isolated problem or issue and that we need to collectively be part of generating the solution.”"

It is never a good sign when your boss will not guarantee your job security even in the short-term.

The writing appears to be on the wall. If Vaughn motivates the Magic to play good basketball over the next month then he will likely be given the opportunity to finish the regular season at the helm. With that being said, if the Magic continue on their current nosedive—they have lost 11 of their last 15 games— then Vaughn may be watching the finale of the regular season on the couch.

Hennigan is not one to make rash decisions, saying he wants to take emotion out of his decisions when he can (yet, he said he understands fans’ passion and expectations). But if things continue to look worse, change becomes inevitable.

Next: The Magic changed the game by changing the pace in Chicago