Frank Vogel has a firmer grasp on his team now
Coach Frank Vogel was new to the Orlando Magic last year and admitted he thought there was enough on paper. Now he has a better grasp of his team.
A year ago Friday, the Orlando Magic received the shocking news of Scott Skiles‘ resignation. It was as surprising as it was sudden, throwing the Magic’s offseason plans into complete disarray.
General manager Rob Hennigan had to leave the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago and return to Orlando overnight to deal with the aftermath. All of a sudden, the Magic were searching for a new coach.
Within a couple weeks, the team had already identified its coach and moved to bring him in. After interviewing with the Memphis Grizzlies, Frank Vogel ultimately decided to join the Magic, seeing promise in the young team and its continued growth.
Vogel brought with him the pedigree of five straight years as a top-10 defense with the Indiana Pacers. It seemed he was the perfect coach to build off what Skiles was preaching as a defensive-minded coach while doing more to build the development of the young players remaining on the roster. All the while he would hold the team accountable and help guide them to the Playoffs.
The Magic’s plans were a bit different. The team made a major trade to acquire Serge Ibaka and spent a fair chunk of change in free agency to change the roster.
Vogel believed the team was ready to take that next step. And he believed the changes to the roster would help the team pretty significantly. It would build a roster similar to what he had in Indiana and had success with. Players would grow and improve.
Of course, we now know none of that happened. The Magic struggled almost from the outset and quickly faded into oblivion.
The Magic finished with 29 wins and the fifth-worst record in the league. They had to change their style completely following the Serge Ibaka trade after the All-Star Break. That brought with it some success, but still plenty of hiccups as the team had to change roles and styles on the fly.
This summer presents a chance to reset, analyze and grow more realistically.
With the team firing Hennigan and searching for a new president of basketball operations, Vogel has taken a much bigger role in the team’s offseason planning. At least at this initial stage. It is certainly more than he took with the Pacers.
The Magic have put a lot of trust in Vogel to help right the ship with this team.
As everyone did, Vogel admitted to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel he overestimated what his team could do last year. But he said he has a better handle of his team now that he has coached them for a year.
"“I have a much, much firmer grasp of our roster now than I did at this point last year,” Vogel told the Orlando Sentinel. “You can sit and watch tapes in the summer. It’s just not the same as having a year with the guys. So it’s a world of difference, in my mind.“I’ve got a strong idea of a lot of ways exactly why we did not have success,” Vogel added. “That’s what this summer’s going to be about: rectifying that by developing within and [through] trades, free agency and the draft.”"
This may also be one of the benefits of having coaching continuity. Whereas last year Vogel seemed to approve of the Magic’s moves thinking they would make his team better on paper, he did not really know the team. His interactions with players to that point were likely sporadic and brief.
Now he has a better sense of what his team’s strengths and weaknesses are.
More than any other offseason, Vogel will have an imprint on this year’s team. Without a firm leadership structure in place leading into the NBA Draft, Vogel and interim general manager Matt Lloyd are in charge of all the preparations for the draft and offseason.
Vogel told Robbins he took some time off after the season, but he has been in contact with Lloyd daily to help plan for the offseason. Vogel will be one of the influential voices in the room as part of the preparations.
Orlando Magic
The new president of basketball operations will have an idea of the team he wants to build. But only Vogel will know most immediately what the team needs and its intangible locker room dynamics. And so if the team wants to turn things around quickly, Vogel will have significant input to give with his experience in the locker room already.
This will be one of the biggest benefits of having some coaching continuity. Vogel knows his roster well and can begin constructing an offensive and defensive scheme that will play to their strengths. Vogel spent last year trying to replicate what he did at Indiana. He believed he had enough on paper to do so. That proved to be an imperfect (and incorrect) strategy.
Now, not only does Vogel know what he has with the Magic roster through direct experience, he will have a hand in making the decisions to make the changes. An upper hand, in many ways too, because of that experience.
Next: Orlando Magic have to stick to a plan to right the ship
Vogel and the Magic made an error with how they constructed the roster last year. They recognize that now. It seems the team is ready to learn their lessons from that experience.