Woj: Before the start of the season, Scott Skiles sat inside his practice facility office and confessed his greatest fear of accepting the Orlando Magic coaching job. Because he now called the city home, he wondered how it would impact his family life when the franchise inevitably fired him someday. Skiles, who had been run out Phoenix, Chicago & Milwaukee once the winning stopped, he understood that almost no coached is spared that fate in the NBA. Within the Magic organization, there were some officials livid with Skiles for abruptly resigning his job one year in of a four year contract. Some guys really went to bat for him to get the job. Others in the Magic hierarchy were relieved he was gone. Everyday was a battle with him. He was more intrigued with the roster when he signed his contract than once he started coaching the team. He didn't love PG Elfrid Payton but GM Rob Hennigan remains a strong believer. There's a lesson to be learned here too. Skiles hiring was the strong recommendation of ownership and president Alex Martins, who loved him as a player there in the 1990s there. Everyone believed the players needed a tough hand, an increased level of discipline. Nevertheless, Hennigan & Skiles had to see basketball, see the team through a unified prism and that's hard to make happen when a partnership is thrust together. Suddenly the Orlando job becomes one of the intriguing jobs on the market, with the Magic competing with New York, Memphis & Indiana for a fairly shallow pool of candidates. Skiles goes back to his quiet life in Orlando, sooner than he imagined and in a way that would have even surprised him a year ago. This time Skiles fired himself. Woj forget Houston or know something we don't?
Interesting that. Have actually seen a few news and TV shows leave out Houston when it comes to open coaching positions. I actually think it has more to do with coaches resigning or being axed rather than in JB's case who was temporary until the end of the season. So in our case there was no official 'we don't have a coach' moment.
This was certainly shocking. Skiles was the handpicked man of the owner and the one making the decisions about trades. Dont buy that it was about Payton. Because Skiles didnt play him that much anyway(often around 25 minutes and off the bench) and anyone with eyes can see that hes the worst fit next to Oladipo and Gordon. You cant have 3/5 players who cant shoot anymore.
