Is Scott Skiles to blame for the Orlando Magic’s recent slump?

The Orlando Magic have struggled throughout January and early February and everyone is looking for responsibility. Scott Skiles has not absolved himself.

Back-to-back wins over the Atlanta Hawks cannot disguise the fact the Orlando Magic are not in a great place right now.

The team has lost 16 of its last 20 games, its offense has been disjointed, its defense has not been a patch on that from earlier in the season and morale has been at an all-time low.

Nikola Vucevic’s buzzer beater on Sunday and the comeback win on Monday may have gone some way to improving the latter, but with some tough games ahead and a number of underlying problems that need to be fixed the attention is beginning to shift toward head coach Scott Skiles.

Perhaps aware of that, Skiles, per Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, seemed happy to put responsibility on himself earlier in the month while in the depths of the losing skid, saying:

"“I’ve got to get these guys to understand what it takes to consistently win in the NBA, and I haven’t gotten that done in the last five weeks. For whatever reason, it hasn’t happened. So I’ve got to find a way to get that done.”"

Yet after Friday’s 107-93 loss to the L.A. Clippers, his outlook had changed, as (again, per Josh Robbins) he said:

"“The reality is there’s a lot of guys in the locker room that haven’t won many games. They’ve got to figure out how to get out of it, and the way you get out of it is you work yourself out of it. You start a game with energy, and balls will start going in for you; good things will start happening for you.”"

And he has a point, as there is enough talent on this Magic team to warrant a better place in the standings. Certainly not the step back that has occurred in the last month and a half entering the All-Star Break.

Skiles knows that and at times his frustration on the sideline is palpable.

His “tough love” approach has been less than effective recently and one way or another he has to find some way of getting through to his players, as this young team has nowhere else to turn for inspiration right now.

And how things have changed in that regard, as prior to the Magic’s first defeat of an abysmal January (which came against the Washington Wizards on the first of the month), the team had a 19-13 record and seemed to be establishing a strong defensive identity firmly aligned with Skiles’ trademark coaching style.

In mid-December, Orlando ranked fourth in the league in points allowed per possession and the Skiles effect was clear for all to see. But since then the defense has been far less effective when closing out shooters, fighting through screens and even crashing the boards.

In fact, through much of January the Magic have played less like a team committed to defense and more like one convinced it is capable of outscoring opponents on a nightly basis.

Right now, its defensive efficiency rating is 103.1, good enough for 16th in the league.

That is far from terrible, but given the offensive inconsistencies of Elfrid Payton, Victor Oladipo, Evan Fournier and Aaron Gordon, combined with the statistical set backs encountered by both Nikola Vucevic and Tobias Harris (who are averaging 2.3 and 3.4 points per game less than last season, respectively) and the fact the team is only scoring 101.0 points per hundred possessions, it is certainly a problem.

Injuries have hindered the team on both ends of the floor, as Payton, Oladipo, Gordon and Vucevic have all missed extended periods to date. But it is the lack of consistent defensive effort, focus and execution since the turn of the year, combined with the absence of a true rim protector, that has brought about the current situation.

Regardless of whether Scott Skiles is willing to take responsibility or put it on his players to somehow work their way out of this slump, he is ultimately the one charged with the unenviable task of generating a solution, even if that just means motivating his players enough to get them back on track.

So how does he do it?

Well building on the two wins over the Hawks will be a start, as there were a lot of positives to be taken from those games, even if the Magic did let Atlanta back into Sunday’s game late and find themselves down by 22 points at one point on Monday.

Still, if anything those two games proved Orlando can wrangle with teams at the top end of the Eastern Conference, even if that means winning ugly. They did so by limiting Atlanta to 38.5 percent from the floor on Sunday and an offensive rating of 93.8 in the second half on Monday’s game.

The Magic did the same in getting out to another fourth-quarter lead against the San Antonio Spurs before succumbing to their late-game frustration yet again.

This team can play defense, provided it is motivated enough to do so.

After the Magic return from the All-Star Break, who knows how this team will play?

Come the trade deadline, Scott Skiles may well be coaching a different group of players. But regardless of who he has at his disposal working harder on defense remains the key, as the tenacity that made this team look far better than the Jacque Vaughn/James Borrego outfit that won just 25 games last season must return if the season is to be salvaged.

Next: What is Evan Fournier's future with the Orlando Magic?

He may not be to blame for the Magic’s recent poor form but given the core of this Magic team is another year older and another year better than it was last year, Scott Skiles will surely be disappointed if all he is able to deliver is another ping pong ball.