The Magic Coaching Train

I needed some time to gather my thoughts.

I've gathered my thoughts.

David Whitley of the Orlando Sentinel captured the essence of the Magic's dilemma with Brian Hill brilliantly in a column on Thursday morning -- and I say "brilliantly" because I wrote essentially the same thing in this space exactly three weeks ago.

David's version: "[The Magic] left themselves no choice, first by hiring an authoritarian like Hill, then by hoping he might turn into a different kind of coach at age 59. So where did he go wrong? Hill probably would say nowhere, which is the problem. He is as focused and honorable a man as you'll meet. If the Magic were paying him $3 million a year, that probably worked out to $7.25 an hour. All that determination can make you rigid. And when Hill made a decision, it usually was non-negotiable. That's fine when things are going well. When they aren't, a little flexibility is called for. That's never been one of Hill's big attributes."

My version: "You will never find a coach, or a person, more meticulous than Brian Hill. His attention to detail is unparalleled, from his physical appearance to his plans for games and practices ... [but] when your fallback position is to outwork and outprepare the other guy, you can find trouble on game day, when things inevitably fall apart ... I would agree with those who claim that Coach Hill was reluctant to make adjustments when things didn't go according to plan, but I would add that planning is what got him here. You dance with the one that brung you ... If his job is indeed on the line, does he agree to loosen things up and let the kids play, or does he stick with the philosophy that kept him in the league in the first place?"

David's version is much more concise. Print versus blog and all that. Point being, we both watched a lot of Magic basketball over the last two years, and came to the same conclusion.

The conclusion reached by the Magic, obviously, was that Hill was either unwilling or unable to change his ways to fit the young talent on the Orlando roster. That was the key question in keeping Hill or not, and it took several weeks for GM Otis Smith and team president Bob Vander Weide to convince themselves of the answer.

If you're a glass-half-full kind of fan, there's cause for optimism here. If the Magic didn't believe that they had a team capable of winning at a much higher clip, they would never have made this move.

[UPDATE: I wrote that last sentence on Thursday night. On Friday morning, Otis Smith was quoted in the Orlando Sentinel thusly: "Obviously, we think we have a good enough basketball team to be further along than we were or else we wouldn't be making this change." So there.]

It boiled down to this: the front office thought the team could win, with a few changes in philosophy. They asked themselves if those changes would take place under the current head coach. Based on their observations of the last two years and, presumably, their conversations with Brian himself, the answer was unsatisfactory. Coach is gone. Welcome to the NBA. Now you're beginning to understand why it's called a "players' league."

But let's get one thing straight: Brian Hill did EXACTLY what he was hired to do. As he put it, "I was asked to come in and change the culture, bring defense and professionalism and preparation. I think I established all those things in the first year."

Agreed. Lest we forget, this Orlando team was a train wreck when Brian was hired in 2005. Doc Rivers begat Johnny Davis, who begat Chris Jent (!) as head coaches. The John Weisbrod Experiment resulted in trading away Tracy McGrady and bringing in Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley, and Kelvin Cato, none of whom had a "hockey mentality." Brian didn't do any of that; the Magic did it all by themselves. As Hill told John Denton of Florida Today: "Two years ago when I was hired the organization was at an all-time low and the basketball operations department was in disarray."

He's right. That's why he was hired. And there's no question that the Magic were better defensively under Brian Hill.

He was fired, on the other hand, because he would not or could not stray from the formula that has kept him in coaching for more than 30 years. In other words, he was dancing with the one that brung him, even after the personality of his team changed dramatically -- Cato out, Arroyo and Milicic in; Francis out, Ariza (and significant salary cap flexibility) in. The team drafted JJ Redick, one of the best long-range shooters in the history of college basketball. Dwight Howard continued to improve, but Jameer Nelson clearly struggled under the "old" system. Grant Hill and Hedo Turkoglu drifted in and out of the lineup with various injuries. Over the last two years, the team changed. The coach didn't, or at least, the front office didn't think so.

Brian Hill's relentless attention to detail, preparation, and "formula" brought him back to the Magic for a second stint. In the end, it also ended that stint. But again, he did what he was hired to do, and what he's always done. I, for one, hope he's working somewhere again soon.

Moving forward: who's next?

The Magic's coaching search cannot focus on the biggest name, or the guy who will make the most dramatic 'splash.' This team is way beyond making a splash -- in my view, there's as much potential on this current roster as there was on any Magic team since the Shaq-Penny-Nick-Horace-Dennis era. They're already a playoff team, which is why interest in this job will be enormous among coaching circles. This ain't no rebuilding project.

Instead, job one for Otis Smith is finding a guy who will develop the talent and maximize their skills. It's about finding the best fit, not "installing a system." Otis got the players he wanted, with more to come this summer -- now, he's got to find someone who can successfully turn them loose.

And these puppies can run. Howard, Milicic, and Ariza are all turning 22 years old. Dooling, Nelson, and Arroyo can go 94 feet all night. Even Redick is a much better athlete than most people believe. If "style" is important, if the knock on Hill was a "stale" offense (Bob Vander Weide's words), the next guy needs to deplane at Orlando International Airport wearing a singlet and a stopwatch.

Among the big names kicked around -- PJ Carlesimo, Bob Hill (the former Magic assistant who is now openly campaigning for the gig), Larry Brown, Rick Carlisle, Jeff Van Gundy, Stan Van Gundy, and the like -- none strike me as meeting the criteria I've just laid out. All are coaching veterans who will bring their own "systems" to Orlando, and in the cases of Carlesimo, Hill, Brown, and Carlisle, there's a history of flameouts and battles with ownership to consider. From that list, Stan Van Gundy is an intriguing possibility, as he was more than willing to push the ball in Miami (as much as Shaq's knees would allow it). I've always considered him an underrated coach, one whose full talents were difficult to see in the long South Florida shadow of Pat Riley. Still, do any of those guys seem to be an obvious choice?

There are also some dark horses that have floated up, including former Magic players Darrell Armstrong and Brian Shaw -- the hope being that Orlando could mimic the Dallas Mavericks' success with Avery Johnson. But, umm, didn't Orlando try that "recent player with no previous coaching experience" thing with Doc Rivers? Not that Doc was entirely to blame -- they didn't exactly load him up with talent in Orlando during the "Heart & Hustle" days -- but it would be a tough sell to the fans to return to that road.

Phoenix assistant Marc Iavaroni seemingly fits the bill. The Suns play an exciting (and winning) brand of basketball, one that would fit the Magic roster, and in a copycat league, NBA players always pay attention to styles that work. He's the hottest assistant in the league right now, and one way or another, he will be a head coach somewhere next season, most likely having the option of choosing from more than one offer. Iavaroni should get a phone call or two from Otis, at the very least.

Of course, Billy Donovan is the home run ball, a combination of correct style and huge splash, even though nobody knows how he would deal with professional players. What has Magic fans in a tizzy is the fact that Donovan has never said "no," choosing to leave the door cracked for a breathtaking offer from the Magic. While Billy D would be a spectacular hire in terms of marketing, something tells me he's staying in Gainesville. Still, there's no question the Magic should take a shot at him.

Want a dark horse? Reggie Theus. Seriously. In his second year as the head coach at New Mexico State, Theus won 25 games and took the Aggies to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in seven years. He won 42 games in his first two seasons in Las Cruces, with a program that was 6-24 the year before he arrived. He's been an assistant on Rick Pitino's staff (like Billy D), and once reached the American Basketball Association conference finals as the head coach of the Las Vegas Slam. Just this month, he was contacted by the Kings and the Bobcats about their coaching vacancies, telling ESPN's Andy Katz, "I'm an NBA guy. I know I can get it done ... I understand the attitude and what players expect."

And here's the kicker -- not only was he an original member of the Orlando Magic from the expansion days in 1989, he's a former teammate of GM Otis Smith. Think Otis could get Reggie on the same page? Just throwing that out there.

In any case, the days of fitting a square peg into a round hole are over. The next coach must be one who sees the team for what it is, and makes it better. This team is good, possibly very good. With the debate over a new arena in Orlando reaching a fever pitch, this hire could be the most important in franchise history.