The NBA Playoffs kicked off this past weekend and the Orlando Magic are once again looking on as spectators. For a fourth consecutive season, the franchise failed to reach the playoffs and are still yet to hit the postseason since Dwight Howard forced his way out of Orlando in 2012. Head coach Scott Skiles was hired by the Magic for the start of the 2015-2016 season in hopes to return the team to playoff form. Former coach Jacque Vaughn failed to produce wins while developing the young talent of the Magic and was fired just before the All-Star break in 2015. His assistant and eventual interim coach, James Borrego, was never considered a long-term option.
So the hunt was on for Orlando at the end of the 2014-2015 season to find their new head coach that could take them to the postseason and, hopefully, contend for a championship within the next few seasons. The Magic had their initial sights on guys like Scott Brooks and Tom Thibodeau, who were fired from the
Oklahoma City Thunder and Chicago Bulls, respectively. However, both coaches felt the need to take the year off from coaching to rest and spend time with their families. A former Magic player himself and a fan favorite, Skiles moved to the top of the list of the remaining candidates. By the end of May 2015, Skiles accepted the offer to become Orlando’s new head coach. Fans had mixed feelings regarding Skiles’ hiring. Many were disappointed not being able to land Brooks or Thibodeau and believed that the Magic had settled on hiring Skiles.
Almost the moment the Magic hired Skiles to be their coach his firing became inevitable. Skiles is known to be a hard-nose coach that can rub some players the wrong way. Also, Skiles has always been seen as a good coach but not a great one from his time in Chicago and Milwaukee. He has shown his ability to get teams to the playoffs but has fallen far short of ever contending for a championship. Once Orlando hired Skiles many experts predicted that he would be let go by the fourth season with the club. By then, expectations will be that the Magic become one of the top playoff teams. The harsh reality is that the Magic will need to look to replace Skiles if they want to bring their first title to Orlando.
The goal for the Magic this season was to reach the playoffs for the first time since the Dwight Howard debacle. Even though Orlando won 35 games this season, 10 more than last year, the Magic failed to reach that goal. It’s easy to point to a horrific January as the primary reason why. After getting off to a 19-13 start, the Magic won just 2 games in January and could never recover. One of the reasons Orlando hired Skiles was to help make the team more defensive minded. That did not transfer over, however, as the team ranked just 18th in opponents points per game, allowing 103.7 on average in 2015-2016 (Fox Sports). With Orlando underachieving in Skiles’ first season as coach, should the Magic start considering finding his replacement now?
Sure, it can be argued that it’s not fair to fire Scott Skiles after one season but the business side of professional sports has never been about what’s fair. If Skiles’ firing was inevitable from the first day in house, what difference would it make if it’s now or three years from now? On the other hand, it can be argued that if the Magic decide in good faith to keep Skiles for the time being that they could miss out on other coaches that are more fitting.
Both Brooks and Thibodeau have announced that they are ready for a return to the NBA sidelines. Teams have already lined up to inquire about their services. As is usually the case after season’s end there are a number of teams looking for new head coaches. While Orlando may like the idea of making either Brooks or Thibodeau their next head coach, there is a lot of competition that could prevent them from doing so. Teams like the Wizards and Kings have already fired their head coaches, Randy Wittman and George Karl, respectively. Minnesota is already strongly pursuing Thibodeau and looks to be the front-runner to land him. If Thibodeau gets full control of the organization as he is seeking, he could very well be on the sidelines of the Timberwolves in 2016-2017. Other known teams in search for a new head coach heading into next season include the Rockets, the Lakers, and the Knicks. The Brooklyn Nets filled their head coaching vacancy this past weekend, agreeing to terms with current Hawks assistant Kenny Atkinson. Case in point, the Magic would have to make one hell of a sales pitch to convince any of these guys to come to Orlando.
Another name that should interest Orlando is Warriors assistant Luke Walton. Walton famously led the Warriors to an incredible 24-0 start this season while head coach Steve Kerr was out of action to rehab his back. By the time Kerr returned, the Warriors held a league leading 39-4 record. Even though Walton was never given official credit for any of those wins, he did receive Coach of the Month honors in November. There is little doubt that Walton will be a head coach next season. It’s only a matter of where. A young coach like Walton coming from a dominant team like the Warriors, whose already proven what he can do from the sidelines, could be exactly what this young Magic team needs. Granted, Orlando doesn’t have a Stephen Curry or Draymond Green of their own but a guy like Walton could steer them in the right direction. The winning direction. Other coaching candidates like Jeff Van Gundy and Spurs assistant Ettore Messina are expected to be available.
It was unfortunate for the Magic last season when both Brooks and Thibodeau elected to take the year off. Had either of them decided to coach last season, the Magic could have had a good shot of bringing one of them to Orlando. With Skiles just a year removed from his hiring it’s highly unlikely that the Magic look elsewhere. It would be risky for the Magic if they tried to bring in another candidate and failed. Orlando could do a lot better than Skiles but they could also do a lot worse. There has been no talk of Orlando looking at other head coaches and chances are they won’t. They’ve had poor departures with coaches in the past and they don’t want the reputation of a team that acts unprofessionally in doing so. So it’s likely the Magic give Skiles another year or two before giving him the boot. He can save his worries for one more season at least. The questions then will be, “Who do they get to replace him?” and “Are they anywhere near the level of available head coaches now?”
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