Honesty instills confidence at Scott Skiles’ Orlando Magic Press Conference
By Carson Ingle
The Orlando Magic introduced Scott Skiles on Friday and did so very differently. Instead of buzz words, there was surprising honesty for this change.
In a 24/7 media world, those covered by the press have a tendency to lean toward the cautious side with what they say publicly. Out of that back-and-forth relationship, many sports clichés have been born that normally get involved parties through the types of press conferences the Orlando Magic held Friday night.
Enter the Magic’s new head coach Scott Skiles, someone seemingly unphased by these social norms. When being introduced in front of the assembled reporters, Skiles lacked the normal varnish attached to many men in his position.
Even in his opening comments, the man tasked with making Orlando a winner again could be self-deprecating about his time away from the NBA after a midseason firing by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2013.
“This is the biggest crowd I’ve spoken in front of since I went to the Fortress of Solitude,” said Skiles jokingly referring to the Lake Mary home where he has spent his time. “I apologize in advance if I’m a little rusty.”
Even in his period of reclusion, there are many stories that persist about a 13-year career as a head coach. Future Hall of Famer Jason Kidd apparently is not a fan from their days together in Phoenix.
Others will recall about how things went south with the Chicago Bulls. Many still have fresh in their minds a report he hated his most recent roster in Milwaukee.
These are all stories that have built a less-than-desirable narrative around Skiles according to some. However, the former gritty point guard turned equally resolved coach does not see it that way while refusing to run from those characterizations.
“I won’t deny that there have been a handful of times when I may have butted heads with a guy,” Skiles said. “I’m never looking for confrontation, but I’m not afraid of it.”
One those rumored tiffs that has gotten plenty of play in Orlando goes back to Skiles’ connection with current Magic player Tobias Harris. Harris, who is set to be a restricted free agent this summer, was buried on the Bucks bench during his first two seasons.
As a result, he was swiftly sent packing in a trade for J.J. Redick and an account of strife between player and coach quickly emerged. Skiles emphatically shot the summation down as a misrepresentation of their connection.
“We have a great relationship,” Skiles said. “I’m positive Tobias would say that as well. I never said to any person in the (Bucks) organization that I didn’t still love Tobias.”
Seeing their emboldened new hire take on the toughest questions at the podium perhaps inspired general manager Rob Hennigan and CEO Alex Martins as well. The two men normally marked by their media savvy spoke honestly on how they went about tabbing Skiles.
Martins was the Magic’s media relations lieutenant while Skiles was Orlando’s starting point guard in the franchise’s early days. Still, he wanted to promote a transparent process and basically recuse himself from the proceedings.
“We’re not going to talk about Scott,” Martins told Hennigan initially. “You’re going to go meet Scott and you’re going to ultimately come to your own conclusions about Scott and then we’ll compare notes. I truly wanted this to be an objective decision about his coaching ability.”
Skiles said he had only spoken to Martins twice in the lead-up to Friday, but Hennigan became a believer anyway. The unapologetic Skiles who is still passionate about winning after two years away did not need to be sold by anyone.
It was the same personality on display Friday that should give calm to Magic fans and perhaps in some ways invoke memory of the most successful coach in team history, Stan Van Gundy.
Skiles certainly echoed him when he laid out his three objectives for the team: being on time, playing hard, and caring about winning. He was also reminiscent of Van Gundy when he set a goal to take the Magic from the league’s bottom five on defense to the top five.
Most poignantly, Skiles candidly asserted that being just good enough would not be a benchmark for success.
“We want to have a winning record,” said Skiles. “The reason I don’t want to just say playoffs is because you’ve been able to have a losing record and make the playoffs in the East. If our goal is to have a losing record and to get the eight seed every year, that’s pretty pitiful.”