Rob Hennigan did much of the legwork for the NBA Draft. But with a coaching staff in place and Summer League ahead, what Scott Skiles wants comes to focus.
On Sunday and Monday, Scott Skiles will gather his staff together for the first time and begin to piece together what the team will look like. . . or at least the Summer League team. With Scott Skiles’ staff now in place, the Magic now inch closer to having an actual team and direction.
That direction will begin to take some shape in Summer League next week. As Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reported, that meeting will go over the basic sets and terminology the team want to use as Summer League comes up next weekend.
Some key Magic roster players are expected to play in Summer League including sophomores Elfrid Payton and Aaron Gordon and rookies Mario Hezonja (when his buyout is complete) and Tyler Harvey. Stalwarts like Victor Oladipo are expected to be around Amway Center throughout the week. There will be plenty of guys hungry to start learning from their new coach.
Skiles has had three coaching stops before, it seems pretty likely he will keep many of the same principles and terminology from before. As NBA fans know, that is likely an increased and intense focus on the defensive end. This is where Skiles will put most of his imprint on the team.
That imprint begins in the next few weeks.
In his first few weeks on the job, all Skiles could do was help with the Draft. And in that part he knew very little. Rob Hennigan joked Skiles was sort of dead weight. But the input he provided in what he was looking for as the Magic continue to build his team.
“Scott, in all seriousness, was great throughout this entire process,” Hennigan said. “He has a great sort of scouting mind and can relate to the managerial perspective that front offices take in addition to the coaching perspective. He really does a good job of balancing those two things. Because of that, the opinions that he had and the insight he provided as we went around and evaluated these players proved to be extremely valuable to us.”
That is all to say, Hezonja is very much a player Skiles had some input in picking. And the Magic still seem interested in a certain type of that player.
To be sure, the Magic are trying to have their coaching staff be a partnership with the overall vision Hennigan has spent the last three years trying to build from the front office.
That is to say, both are pretty interested in getting players that have a strong work ethic and are ready and willing to work.
Skiles said in talking about Hezonja that he believes Hezonja has the athleticism and talent to become good on the defensive end. As a young player, he may still take some plays off. But overall, Skiles saw how he fit into the bigger picture and could fit him into his plans too.
Certainly the Magic have the talent for defensive players, but Hezonja is also a shooter and scorer. He will help spread the floor offensively and create some space. If things go to plan.
What the Magic have banked on the last three years is a player type. One that Hennigan believes Hezonja fits.
“It’s a gamble,” Hennigan said. “All these picks are gambles. But we believe in the work ethic of the players that we’re bringing in. We certainly believe in Mario’s work ethic. We believe in his willingness in wanting to improve. We believe in his ambition to want to win. We think all those things are good ingredients for a player to continue to improve.”
That is the type Hennigan likes. It is certainly part of the type Skiles likes too. He wants guys willing to work and buy in.
It also helps many of Skiles assistant coaches bring two key focuses.
One, they are all still into player development. Jay Hernanded and Laron Profit were carry overs from the previous coaching staff. Conner Henry spent the last two years working in the D-League. These guys will make young players better.
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Second, they will focus on defense. Monte Mathis was Rick Carlisle‘s “defensive coordinator” with the Mavericks for the last several years. Skiles himself is known for defense and Adrian Griffin spent five years working with Tom Thibodeau. It is easy to believe the team is going to focus on getting stops.
Skiles’ team mentality has started to very clearly emerge as the Magic emerge from the NBA Draft and the draft process.
Now the team will get to see it go into practice at Summer League. The goal is quite clear too. The Magic are going to expect tangible results as this team takes shape.
“I think that would qualify as making the progress that we want to see,” Hennigan said. “We hoped to see that progress this past season, quite frankly. We didn’t. I think moving forward, that is the goal. To play in meaningful games and to compete for a Playoff spot. I think that’s the vision.”