The Orlando Magic went with a new, young coach in their last hire. Now looking for a new coach, reports say experience is the key ingredient.
The Orlando Magic fired Jacque Vaughn as the team’s head coach Thursday, setting off a race of rumors and speculation regarding who takes his place long term. That had actually been going on for a few weeks even before word leaked out that the organization was dissatisfied with where the team was at last week.
A lot of these names have been bandied about already among fans. For now, James Borrego is the team’s head coach, although that is subject to change.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports already reported that the Magic may move quickly to bring in a head coach possibly for beyond this season and hire him during the prolonged All Star Break.
Sources: Real chance Orlando makes move for a new head coach during extended All-Star break, and Scott Skiles is a prominent candidate.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 5, 2015
One thing that seems certain is the Magic are going to push forward with their rebuild and the new coach will play a big part in delivering the team not only out of the gutter, but into the Playoffs as well.
It would make sense then what Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders reports. The Magic are not going to hire another first-time coach, they want some experience in their next hire:
Source confirms that the Orlando Magic want a proven, experienced coach to take over. Don't expect another first-time coach to get hired.
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) February 5, 2015
Vaughn was tabbed as the team’s coach so that he could grow with the team in the same sort of way Scott Brooks grew with the Thunder. He was short on experience, but the thought was he could take his lumps as the team rebuilt and partner with a young star in the early part of his career to grow and improve. Vaughn had just two years as an assistant coach with the Spurs after a 12-year career.
Things obviously did not work out as the team’s Xs and Os deficiency and their inability to gain a team identity left the organization wanting more at this stage of the team’s rebuild. It was hard to see the growth the team wanted.
A more experienced hand could guide the Magic out of the depths of the standings and help mature the individuals into a unit ready to compete for the Playoffs. Who might that be. Sources informed Kennedy of who might be on the list:
Scott Skiles, Mark Jackson and Mike Malone are all candidates who will be considered for the Orlando Magic job, sources confirm.
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) February 5, 2015
Scott Skiles, a former Magic point guard, has been rumored to be connected to the job for almost a week now. The former Suns, Bulls and Bucks coach has a solid track record of getting teams into Playoff contention, but not a whole lot more. He is known as a taskmaster and someone who emphasizes defense. He, somewhat famously, benched Tobias Harris in Milwaukee early in his career until Harris got to Orlando and unleashed his offensive capability.
Mark Jackson has been a popular coach among Magic fans because of his high profile. He helped turn a young Warriors team into a Playoff team and got Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson to commit to defense to succeed. His teams never got over the hump and clashes with management led to his getting fired from Golden State.
Mike Malone had a strong start to the season this year in Sacramento with DeMarcus Cousins showing some surprising maturity. Cousins went down to injury and he clashed with ownership’s radical ideas for playing basketball (no one could blame him for thinking Vivek Ranadive’s 5-on-4 idea was crazy). The losing streak was Sacramento’s excuse to fire him and bring in someone willing to play ball. Of note, the Magic hired Vaughn over Malone three years ago.
All these coaches have the similar trait of helping players play at or above their talent level. But none have had much Playoff success or championship experience. They do share that experience factor.
Orlando is probably not looking for a complete retread as a head coach. The Magic have to figure to want someone that could be the coach when they are competing for championships down the road. But a little experience would do this team some good to get them to realize their potential. Vaughn simply had his players looking lost in certain situations and could not reign in the focus or the execution in those moments.
Who will the Magic’s next coach be? The road map seems pretty clear that the team will want someone experienced who can get the team to take that next step.
Next: Rumored names in Magic coaching search are not the answer