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Former Orlando Magic assistant coach looks back at tough season

By Philip Rossman-Reich

ORLANDO, FL - OCTOBER 27: The Orlando Magic review plays with head coach Frank Vogel of the Orlando Magic during the game against the San Antonio Spurs on October 27, 2017 at Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images)
ORLANDO, FL - OCTOBER 27: The Orlando Magic review plays with head coach Frank Vogel of the Orlando Magic during the game against the San Antonio Spurs on October 27, 2017 at Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Injuries came to define the Orlando Magic’s season. The team lost more than 200 games to injury and left a departing coaching staff with some regret.

The Orlando Magic played just one game with a full roster during the 2018 season. That was opening night against the Miami Heat. It was an 116-109 thriller that saw the Magic make big shots at the end of the game to defeat a hated in-state rival. Things seemed bright and cheery.

Injuries are something every team deals with during the course of a season. Orlando got out to an 8-4 start even with some serious injuries to key players like Aaron Gordon and Elfrid Payton.

Then the injury bug truly hit. Jonathan Isaac was lost for the majority of the season. Terrence Ross went down for virtually the rest of the season. Nikola Vucevic missed two months with a broken hand in December. Aaron Gordon missed time with a concussion and various injuries.

It just piled on and on and on. President of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said the injuries made it difficult to evaluate his team fully. But it still was enough to make some decisions about the team.

The first big one was to dismiss coach Frank Vogel, along with his entire coaching staff except for assistant coach Matt Hill. That included Jay Hernandez.

And while the ultimate result of the season may have been out of their control and the coaching staff accomplished some of its goals, it was not enough to get another year to work with the team.

Hernandez joined Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson of Scoop B Radio to discuss how he became a coach and broke into the business. He said the injuries really prevented the team from accomplishing its goals.

"Well this season was a tough one for us, we had a lot of injuries, we had somereally talented guys and unfortunately, we didn’t really have a chance to put it all together and with the guys being out at various times we started off the season very bad but I thought we definitely did a good job of getting guys better and our G-League guys did a good job of getting guys prepared and allowing those guys to come up,” Hernandez said. “Guys like Khem Birch did a very phenomenal job for us coming off the bench.“And it’s just one of those things that in this league you need your best players to play and with Orlando Magic, unfortunately, we didn’t have that consistently this year, we had a number of different lineups and I believe for up to 200 plus games we didn’t have our starters playing so it’s really difficult in this league to win that way. I thought our guys did a great job of staying motivated, being prepared and being diligent at everything that they doing and staying together most importantly.”"

That echoes a sentiment Vogel said toward the end of the season and players confirmed in defending their coach. They all felt Vogel did a good job keeping the team together and preventing any divisions. The group simply could not overcome the more than 220 games they lost to injury.

Then again, they also could not overcome their own talent shortcomings. Vogel knew the team’s margin for error was very small. And the team was not able to overcome it with all the injuries and inconsistency with the lineup.

Still, it is disappointing to see the team make these wholesale changes. Hernandez is right that players made individual growth and improvement, even if they could not make it work for the whole.

Hernandez took a big risk taking a job with the Magic. He gave up a personal basketball training business that included Kemba Walker and Tobias Harris he built for more than a decade to become a development coach with the Magic. He survived Jacque Vaughn‘s dismissal and Scott Skiles‘ resignation to become a permanent assistant coach.

Hernandez continued to play a pivotal role in player development, working with players before games and behind the scenes in the same way he did in private practice.

It is unclear what comes next for Hernandez. But his individual player development skills certainly will find him landing somewhere in the NBA world soon.

Next: 2017-18 Orlando Magic Player Evaluations: Evan Fournier

The 2018 season was a disappointing one. A year that likely rightly signaled to management it was time to make some major changes. But the 2018 Magic did not get a chance to recover or figure out its true potential either.