The Orlando Magic fired head coach Jacque Vaughn after a 10-game losing streak and a season-long inability to build a cohesive team.
Jacque Vaughn, a first-time head coach, took control of the post-Dwight Howard Orlando Magic in 2012. In his time with the Magic, he saw some ups and downs, but ultimately he failed to build any sort of structure that was moving the Magic toward sustained success. Finally, with a roster that features many young, talented, high-ceiling players and coming off a 2013-14 campaign in which significant improvement was shown, Vaughn’s squad fell flat this season.
The former point guard tremendously improved the team’s defense between his first year, where the overall defensive rating ranked 25th, and his sophomore season in charge, bumping up to a respectable middle-of-the-league 17th. But after the noticeable improvement in 2013-14, Vaughn’s squad plummeted back down to 26th this season.
Some of the Magic struggles could be attributed to factors beyond Vaughn, such as the youth of the team. Certainly, in their effort to rebuild, the Magic had made a very clear effort to replace any aging or bloated contracts that could be moved in exchange for young talent or picks. Enter Tobias Harris, Elfrid Payton, Victor Oladipo, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic. Even with ample talent, Vaughn never quite found true lineup consistency. He had eight lineups that played more than five games together and averaged more than six minutes per game. Of those eight lineups, only one managed to break a Net Rating of 0.0 and that lineup only played together in 13 games this season for an average of 6.4 minutes.
All of the additions had strengths and weaknesses, but Vaughn failed to define the Magic at any point in the season. In a piece by Grantland’s Zach Lowe, Vucevic says, “The main issue is that we are focused too much on running and trying to score, and we forgot that we have to play defense.” Many times, it was pointed out that Vaughn was struggling to create a team identity. As tactics on both the offensive and defensive end fluctuated, it became clear that Vaughn was failing to instill any coherent plan into his young players and then the losing got worse. The Magic finally pulled the plug after the team lost its 10th consecutive game.
Vaughn leaves the Magic with a 58-158 record in two and a half seasons. The team currently ranks 25th in Net Rating (-5.9) and is tied for 24th in Offensive Rating (99.5) with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
With Vaughn excused from his duties, the Magic have promoted assistant coach James Borrego to head coach in the interim. Since the switch, the Magic have pulled off two wins, so things are already looking better. Borrego has many accomplishments under his belt, the most notable being a long tenure with the San Antonio Spurs, where he started as an assistant video coordinator in 2003 and was an assistant coach by the time he departed in 2010. Since then, Borrego has worked as an assistant coach with the New Orleans Hornets and the Orlando Magic. All signs point to Borrego staying in the job for the time being and possibly riding out the season in charge. Orlando has been linked with several potential replacements since the firing of Vaughn was leaked by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports on Twitter several days before the firing actually took place.
While there is no shortage of options, the Magic could pursue Scott Skiles, Mark Jackson or Mike Malone. There was also some reported mutual interest between Orlando and George Karl. However, just as it seemed there could be something mutual in the works, reports have surfaced that Karl has agreed to a deal to become the next head coach of the Sacramento Kings. The other option, which would include giving Borrego the remainder of the season to pad his résumé, is for the Magic to wait until the season has ended to watch who comes free from their current jobs. The pot of gold rumored to be at the end of that rainbow would most likely be the Chicago Bulls’ current head coach Tom Thibodeau.
While we will have to wait and see what the Magic will do moving forward, it was clear that Jacque Vaughn was unable to work any magic in Orlando.
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