The players will clearly change, but how much blame for this season rests with Frank Vogel? What does he need to change for next season?
Rossman-Reich: Frank Vogel deserves some blame for this season. A lot of it was probably completely expected. He has been a bit stubborn changing his rotations and has stuck with players and lineups that clearly did not work. It is OK to experiment (and Vogel has not done that as fully as fans would probably like *cough* Aaron Gordon at the 4 *cough*) but when something does not work, a coach has to know when to move on. The offense too has been a bit stagnant. Hopefully, a roster that has a clearer fit will do better for him moving forward. But he struggled to find something that worked with this roster and did not go outside the box when things were not working.
Iwanowski: Frank Vogel has certainly put out some questionable rotations, and he seems not to put too much focus on legitimately developing the young players he has by putting them in the best situation to succeed. A lot of that has to do with the roster, but there is not much excuse for playing guys like Jeff Green over younger players with a higher ceiling like Mario Hezonja. Perhaps when the Magic front office realizes the playoffs are out of reach, Vogel will focus on maximizing the potential of guys like Aaron Gordon and Elfrid Payton. But, for now, the rotations do deserve some criticism.
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Grullon: Frank Vogel tried to do the best he could with a broken roster, but he does deserve to be blamed for some of the questionable decisions he has made throughout the season. Everyone knows the Magic roster simply did not make sense heading into this season. Vogel tried to do his best to make it work, but he failed miserably at trying different rotations that would shake up the team to better fit today’s NBA. Also, it would be fair to say the team’s young players have failed to develop up to this point in the season. Payton, Gordon and Hezonja have put up similar numbers as last season. And, in Hezonja’s case, he is currently an afterthought. As a coach coming into a team that is rebuilding and relying on their young players to develop that simply cannot happen.
McMillan: Frank Vogel deserves a good portion of the blame for this season. When he first arrived he said he wanted the Magic to be a fast team, getting up and down the floor on offense. Looking at the roster and the strengths of players like Elfrid Payton, Aaron Gordon and Mario Hezonja, playing a faster tempo seems like a good idea. However the Magic never really got into that habit. The Magic should look more like the Golden State Warriors when it comes to tempo. I also expected to see a lot more “small ball” or switchy lineups with Ibaka at center, Gordon at power forward, Green at small forward, Hezonja at shooting guard and Evan Fournier at point guard. That is a long lineup that can switch everything. That lineup never hit the floor once. Vogel was put into a situation where they asked him to win now, so he was sort of handcuffed with his distribution of minutes. If Vogel were allowed a year to develop his team, which he was brought in to do, things might look a little different right now. Young guys may have gotten some crunch-time minutes in close games instead of veterans. Minutes might be allocated differently, who knows. Next season the players will be different and the schemes may change because of it, but if there is one thing Vogel MUST do next season, its play Gordon at power forward.
Jumani: A lot of the blame rests on Vogel’s shoulders. His decision to play Aaron Gordon at the 3 was mostly a failure. He had a few good games, but not many. That was the problem. His decision to play big lineups was a catalyst in the Magic’s defensive breakdowns. He played two point guard lineups, which hurt the Magic also. This season was a setback for Vogel, as he is accustomed to winning and going to the postseason. However, playing Hezonja more has shown good results the last couple weeks. Hezonja has been better than Green, who has been very lazy on defense. Hezonja’s defensive intensity has risen.