After a few weeks of deliberation and even multiple reports having the Orlando Magic lean another way, the team has finally come to a conclusion and picked their newest head coach.
Former Orlando Magic player and the record holder for the most assists in one game, Scott Skiles, has been named the new head coach of the Magic.
Following from an official Orlando Magic press release.
The Orlando Magic have named Scott Skiles head coach, General Manager Rob Hennigan announced today. Skiles becomes the 12th head coach in franchise history.
“Scott (Skiles) clearly distinguished himself as a tremendous fit,” said Hennigan. “Our young roster will benefit greatly from Scott’s extensive head coaching experience and commitment to teaching smart, physical, unselfish basketball. We believe in Scott’s ability to establish a culture of winning habits and accountability that will help guide our team in a positive direction.”
“As we began our search, our internal discussions centered on finding a head coach with a solid resume of NBA head coaching experience, great leadership qualities, a motivating communication style, and someone with a strong strategic acumen,” said Orlando Magic CEO Alex Martins. “We feel Scott (Skiles) brings a balanced approach in all those qualities and we look forward, with great confidence, to him leading our young men in helping us reach our collective goal of sustainable success.”
This will be Skiles fourth stop in his coaching career which start in 1999 with the Phoenix Suns. He’s been at the helm of the Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks as well amassing a career regular season record of 443-433 in his 13 seasons as an NBA head coach.
Skiles will be coming into a great situation with a young and talented Magic roster for him to mentor and teach as he has done so many times previously with different players. The one main issue right now might be the almost impending departure of Tobias Harris from the Magic, possibly in part due to Skiles hiring. Skiles and Harris previously were together as members of the Bucks and didn’t get exactly get along too well.
After the Magic fired coach Jacque Vaughn the team was looking to bring in a coach that knew the team and the franchise and there was no better fit than Scott Skiles.
