Orlando Magic’s reported coaching staff full of player development, experience

When the Orlando Magic hired coach Jamahl Mosley as their new coach, they made sure player development was the story.

President of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said people often are how they come into the league. Mosley came into the league as a player development coach with the Denver Nuggets and worked his way onto the bench and through the league in the last 14 years.

Mosley’s ability to get on the floor and work with players and grow relationships with him was going to be his biggest benefit to the Magic as he started his head coaching career.

Mosley was not coming to the head coaching position without ample experience in the league. But it was clear he would need help transitioning to the main chair. And he would need people on his staff that would amplify and echo his message while filling in gaps he might have in his coaching experience.

As Orlando gets set to name its staff, the team is focused on player development and finding coaches who will add to this trait Mosley has. The team certainly knows with such a young roster that helping players get better every day in games and practices will be their most important task. Individual improvement will lead to team improvement.

It makes sense then that Orlando is bringing in a roster of coaches with player development backgrounds. What might be surprising is the amount of experience Mosley has brought in.

The Orlando Magic are getting set to name their assistant coaching staff and it is full of player development coaches who have carved careers working with players directly.

The Magic have not officially introduced their staff as of writing. But Jake Fischer of Bleacher/Report has filled in the bench for the Magic, reporting the team is close to finalizing its staff.

Team officials have already confirmed the team’s hire of Nate Tibbetts, the associate head coach for the Portland Trail Blazers last year and a former head coach for the Tulsa 66ers where he accumulated a .610 win percentage.

Much of the rest of his reported coaching staff has varied experience but all with a strong player development background.

Fischer reports the Magic will complete their coaching staff by hiring former Blazers assistants Kaleb Canales and Dale Osbourne along with Magic Director of Player Development and Quality Control Becky Bonner.

These hires are not official yet. But for sure, the Magic clearly have some draw to the player development work the Blazers have done.

They were reportedly interested in hiring Terry Stotts both in 2018 and in this coaching cycle. Fans gravitated quickly to David Vanterpool, who took an assistant job with the Brooklyn Nets, for his player development and player relationship reputation.

Both Canales and Osbourne have their own solid histories as player development coaches though.

Kaleb Canales was an assistant with the Blazers from 2008-12 before taking over as the interim head coach after the team dismissed Nate McMillan. He went 8-15 to close that season. He remained on Stotts’ staff for another season before bouncing around to the Dallas Mavericks from 2013-18, the New York Knicks for two seasons and then last year with the Indiana Pacers.

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Canales started out as a video intern and coordinator before graduating to the bench. But he still has support among former players. LaMarcus Aldridge endorsed Canales for the Blazers job this offseason.

Osbourne has considerably more coaching experience.

Before coming to the NBA, Osbourne coached for 13 years in the minor leagues of men’s basketball and in the WNBA. He coached essentially everywhere.

He was an assistant with the Blazers and Stotts for the last nine years. Before that, he was the head coach of the Tulsa 66ers, going 23-27 in one season as a head coach. He actually succeeded Tibbetts as the team’s head coach after serving as one of Tibbetts’ assistant coaches.

Osbourne noted in an interview with the Portland Tribune that coaching in the minor leagues requires coaches to focus on each individual player and teach them what the higher leagues are looking for. Continually, Osbourne got great opportunities — serving as an assistant coach for the Pan-American Games featuring players from minor leagues around the U.S.

Part of Osbourne’s responsibilities with the Blazers was to work with the young players, where all that experience working with minor league players certainly paid off.

Dale Osbourne was among the coaches Damian Lillard singled out in the wake of Terry Stotts’ dismissal this summer (as was Nate Tibbetts).

Finally, the team seems set to promote Bonner from the team’s player development and quality control role into a full-time assistant coach (although she may still retain some of her previous responsibilities).

Weltman hired Bonner with the idea of having her have a hand in everything within the franchise. She got sort of a crash course into running a franchise — she has a stated goal of becoming a general manager one day.

Some of her early responsibilities included reorganizing and reviewing the player experience within the Amway Center. She even really founded and developed the player development program the Magic have implemented since Weltman took over.

Undoubtedly, the Magic’s new practice facility, which recently had a topping-off ceremony and could be open for the team before free agency next summer, will have a lot of her touches.

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She described in an interview in the past year her role is to serve as a bridge between the front office, players, coaching staff and performance staff. Bonner has been traveling with the team and helping as a development coach on top of all these things.

It is unclear just how much her role will change on this staff. Or whether this is a long-term move to coaching or just an experience she wants to add to her resume in pursuit of bigger front office goals. But players have long respected Bonner and she has been a key member of Weltman’s front office.

The consistent theme with this entire coaching staff is their backgrounds working directly with players and aiming to make them better in a variety of different ways.

Tibbetts, Canales and Osbourne have long track records as assistant coaches. Both Tibbetts and Osbourne have plenty of experience as head coaches for minor league teams where player development is a premium to success.

Bonner has done nothing but think of ways to relate to players and get the most out of them since joining the Magic’s staff. Her previous work with the NBA relied on her ability to create relationships with players.

It may have been in a role outside of coaching, but her entire job was thinking of ways to make players better. She at least has some experience working as a coach and helping put together scouting reports in addition to her player development responsibilities.

Bonner is the least experienced of the Magic’s reported staff. And that feels like a victory in building an experienced coaching staff while still allowing young coaches a chance to grow.

Mosley will have a diverse and strong group of player development coaches to lean on and ample experience in the league to help him transition to the main job.

The Magic have made their mission clear, and it seems they are set to hire a staff that will help them do that.