The media and the fans already are giddily throwing out potential coaching candidates in the wake of the Orlando Magic’s stunning announcement over the weekend that they are once again parting ways with a respected head coach.
This time, his name was Steve Clifford.
The last time it was Frank Vogel.
The time before that it was Scott Skiles.
Jeff Weltman, the Magic’s president of basketball operations, already has fielded questions about perhaps hiring trailblazing San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon and making her the first female head coach in NBA history.
Weltman also has been asked about former franchise superstar Penny Hardaway — who is seemingly on the verge of turning the University of Memphis back into a national power — perhaps making a triumphant return to Orlando.
Or how about another former Magic player and successful college head coach Juwan Howard leaving the University of Michigan to return to Orlando?
I hate to be the pessimistic party-pooper today, but I’m here to tell you it really doesn’t matter who the Orlando Magic’s next head coach is; just like it didn’t matter who the Magic’s last head coach was. … Or the head coach before that … or the head coach before that … or the head coach before that.
The last head coach that mattered for the Orlando Magic was Stan Van Gundy, and only because he and general manager Otis Smith were able to build a championship-caliber team around superstar center Dwight Howard.
At the risk of morphing into Charlie Brown’s teacher with her infamously incoherently whining “wah wah” voice, let me say something I’ve been saying for the last decade: Until the Magic draft, develop or trade for a legitimate superstar, the coach is not really all that big a deal.
Wah. Wah. Wah.
Yes, of course, you want a good coach who can teach fundamentals to young players and help develop them, but there are a ton of good coaches out there who can teach the pick and roll. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: Great players make great coaches and bad players make bad coaches.
Vogel got fired by the Magic when he had bad players. He won a championship with the Lakers last year because he had LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Van Gundy was a great coach with the Magic, but he wasn’t so good when he took over a talent-depleted roster in Detroit.
Steve Kerr was a championship coach when he had roster that included Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, but when Durant left and Thompson and Curry got injured last season, the Warriors finished 15-50.
After Doc Rivers got fired by the Magic and ended up in Boston coaching three future Hall-of-Famers — Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen — I asked him how he could miraculously go from a coach who never won a playoff series during five years in Orlando to a coach who won a championship with the Celtics.
“Better players,” Doc said bluntly. “It’s no secret. This is a league of missing and making shots. When you have the right players, you’re a better coach. Each year you get better, and I’ve learned a lot since my first year as a coach in Orlando. But having said that, if I would have had these same players in Orlando, we would have had a good record, too.”
This isn’t to say the Magic won’t attract a really good coach to succeed Clifford, who himself was a really a good coach — as were Vogel and Skiles before him.
Weltman told me Monday that he already has received “dozens” of inquiries from coaches about the Magic’s opening. When there are just 30 NBA head-coaching jobs available, you are just naturally going to attract some great candidates.
“We’ve gotten a lot of calls from very strong candidates,” Weltman said. “There have been a lot of people who have reached out and expressed interest. There’s no shortage of people who are interested in this job. I believe this job has a sneaky appeal because it has such tremendous growth potential ... and coaches can see the opportunity to build something special here.”
Weltman is obviously and rightfully looking at it optimistically, but there is also a more cynical viewpoint. No doubt, there is an opportunity for the next coach to build something special, but there’s also an opportunity for the next coach to fail miserably if this roster rebuild doesn’t work.
This is why I will continue to say it really doesn’t matter who the next head coach is.
Would it be historic if the Magic hired Hammon?
No doubt.
Would it be euphoric if the Magic brought back Penny?
Of course.
But it’s not going to make them win any more quickly.
The fact is, Weltman himself is the most important person in the Orlando Magic’s organization moving forward.
And it’s not even close.
The coach Weltman hires to lead the team pales in comparison to the players he drafts to upgrade the roster.
