A year after firing Jacque Vaughn, have the Orlando Magic made any progress?

A year and a week ago, the Orlando Magic fired Jacque Vaughn and changed the team’s direction. Have the Magic made any progress or the progress they wanted?

Last Friday was an ignoble mark on the calendar for the Orlando Magic. It was the one year anniversary of the Magic firing Jacque Vaughn.

On that day, the Magic spoke about not making the progress they felt was necessary. They did not have the wins they wanted and the team was not further along. Essentially, the coach was not getting the most out of the talent they thought they had.

A change was necessary to shake things up, they said. It was necessary to get the team moving in the right direction. A 25-win season was not the necessary improvement in Year Three of the rebuild. Essentially the team would have to repeat those goals.

They hired Scott Skiles, a proven coach with a track record of turning teams around in this exact situation, promising accountability and the progress the Magic could not achieve last year.

A year after that firing, where are the Magic?

Sitting at 23-29, they are already on track to be better than last year. It is hard to imagine the Magic not winning two more games and improving on last year’s record — failing to do that would be a complete disaster worthy of going through a wholesale change.

But essentially, Skiles was hired to show tangible progress. He was hired to push this group above whatever their limitations were last year, hold them accountable and produce wins.

Since the coach changed and the players did not, perhaps Skiles has some more insulation when it comes to remaining with the franchise as the team determines which guys it will move forward with.

But for sure there was the expectation the team would improve.

By all statistical accounts, they have. The Magic are currently 25th in the league in offensive rating at 101.0 points per 100 possessions and 16th in the league in defensive rating at 103.1 points allowed per 100 possessions. In 2015, the Magic were 27th in offensive rating with 99.0 points per 100 possessions and 25th in defensive rating with 105.2 points allowed per 100 possessions.

In a very basic sense, the Magic have gotten better. This is a better team than last year. Skiles deserves credit for instilling a defensive mentality and some form of structure and discipline. The players deserve credit for their own internal improvement.

The Magic are better . . . yet, they are not quite there.

The urgency injected by a 2-12 January has shown this team has not taken the complete step forward that it perhaps expected. And certainly expectations were raised by the 19-13 start.

The All-Star Break is a good time to reflect on where the Orlando Magic are at as a team. The trade deadline is a good time to do something about them.

So with that anniversary and this time of year, the question has to be asked: How much have the Orlando Magic improved since that coaching change last year?

Adam Papageorgiou of Magic Basketball Online reflected on this question last week and concluded perhaps the coaching change did little to move the needle at all:

"We can only blame those past Vaughn staffs for so long for the accumulation of ‘losing habits’ that seem to still exist within Magic players. It’s been a year now. Can we nitpick some Scott Skiles play-calling decisions or substitution choices on a by-game basis? Sure. He’s still in the honeymoon phase though, no matter how much you may see me tweet loudly about a lack of Hezonja or Gordon. That’s just me.The reality may be that this roster just isn’t good enough to grow into a playoff team. The rebuild hasn’t failed, I’m not at any point in time to make that declaration yet. But no ‘star’ has emerged as of yet. That’s more bad ping pong ball luck than draft talent evaluation."

It is a sobering thought and one that merits reflection. The lack of improvement falls on everyone — players, coaches and management. Orlando has not pushed itself above a certainly level. It has hit some sort of ceiling that it cannot break.

The answer is the team has gotten better. The numbers show it. Watching the team shows it. The fight shows it.

The Magic may still be losing games, but they do not fold. They find a way to fight back on most nights. They are at least giving themselves a chance to win games. The frustrations each night are ones of execution, not of ability. Skiles has turned the team around in that respect.

This is a league of results though. It does matter that you win and the end. And the Magic’s continued and repeated struggles to win games — even to inbound the ball consistently — matters. The lack of progress has the team asking many questions.

In the end, those questions are healthy. They were the questions the Magic wanted to ask and try to answer this year. The fact there is any answer — even if it is, “No, this group does not work together and is missing X” — is a sign of progress.

Is it measurable progress on the floor? To some extent, it has been. Maybe not as much as the team had hoped for.

The Magic may have the record the team would be happy with back in October, but the way they got there certainly is not satisfactory at all. It has led to more questions and unsettling answers.

The Magic are in a better place than they were a year ago. That is important.

Next: Looking to the core, who are Orlando Magic's key players?

Is it where they want to be? No.