Orlando Magic coaching staff comes together quickly

The Orlando Magic’s coaching staff was quickly put together for Summer League preparations. A bit of their tone was set as they started to work together.

The Orlando Magic coaching staff barely had time to meet when they were thrown together and told to prepare a team for Summer League. The staff was hired at various times, but they had been announced only a few days before practice would begin for actual games.

Perhaps that was enough time to begin installing a new offense and defense for a summer league team that featured few potential roster players — Devyn Marble is already on the roster and second round picks Stephen Zimmerman and Tyler Harvey also — and a lot of learning for players trying to get a new NBA job.

The Summer League was a time for some player experimenting and development but also the first time the new coaching staff was working together and getting comfortable in Orlando for the first time.

Watching their approach was as much a part of Summer League’s intrigue as the games.

“We started training camp on Wednesday, I think we have all been in town together since probably Tuesday,” Forcier said after the team’s first game last Saturday. “We haven’t had a chance to go out and have dinner yet. We’re having fun. Even when we’re getting killed in a game like this today. We’re having fun. Finding a way to keep our sense of humor. We realize it’s a basketball game and not life and death.”

The Orlando Magic Blue team coached by the Magic’s regular coaching staff of Chad Forcier, Corliss Williamson, Jay Hernandez and David Adelman went only 1-4 in the week. The team averaged 75.4 points per game and shot 39.0 percent. It was a rough week on the basketball court.

The coaching staff though did work to keep things light where they could. The first game was an absolute beat down and the team continued to struggle throughout the week. But the group was encouraging throughout, trying to get more out of the players at every turn. Forcier always seemed optimistic when talking about the team’s performance and how they could improve.

They certainly did improve as the week went on, even if they did not produce results. There was never the blowout they suffered.

The approach may have been a little bit of the tone to be expected from the Magic and their staff this year.

“I have had fun with the new coaching staff,” Devyn Marble said of his impressions of the new coaching staff. “Very positive. Trying to teach us a little bit of what we may do in training camp and the fall. Just trying to hold onto that. [Saturday] we kind of struggled a little bit because we don’t know all the nuance and stuff like that. As the week moves on, you will see us moving stuff more efficiently.”

It was noted multiple times throughout all the press conferences Thursday when the team introduced its new players acquired through free agency that Frank Vogel will crack a joke and keep a light tone. That is not to say he will not coach the team and prepare the team hard for its upcoming games. But that is certainly a different tone than what was expected under Scott Skiles, a more hard-driving and serious coach.

The Magic did get better on the court, but it was clear the team had its own struggles. Some of that may have been the roster construction — Nick Johnson largely played point guard and he continued to struggle leading the team despite 7.4 assists per game and a 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio. The Magic lacked any real consistent scoring threat with Harvey struggling to shoot and Johnson, Marble and Zimmerman leading the team in field goal attempts.

Summer League results are not anything to worry too much about. The 1-5 record and the struggles of the Blue team, especially in contrast with the White team, is not anything to worry about. It is still about the group getting together and learning to work together and set the tone Vogel wants.

It seemed like during Summer League, there was as much chemistry building going on at the bench as it was on the court for the short Summer League games.

The team ran some motion-based sets and had a very basic defensive set in with basic pick and roll coverage and help responsibilities. If they were any clue to how the team would play during the season, it was a very basic preview.

The group of coaches the Magic hired are certainly plenty experienced and qualified. Forcier had spent time with the San Antonio Spurs since 2007, winning a title as a player development coach. There is Corliss Williamson, the longtime player and recent coach with multiple staffs with the Sacramento Kings. And then David Adelman, a coach who grew up among coaches with his father Rick Adelman. He joined his father’s staff in Minnesota and continued to make his own name.

It is a strong coaching staff for sure. One that will still be ironing some things out as the public face of the summer ends and the work behind the scenes at Amway Center continues on into September and October for training camp.

The reviews of this new coaching staff were good so far. It is still hard to tell much about anyone in the new coaching staff, including Vogel, until training camp begins.

Next: Orlando Magic's depth chart after free agency

In the short time they had to work together at Summer League though, they set a tone for how the team will conduct itself and have begun to come together as a team.