By John DentonMay 29, 2015
ORLANDO – The Orlando Magic’s hiring of Scott Skiles on Friday had everything to do with the hard-driving, no-nonsense coach’s abilities to push and mold a basketball team and very little at all to do with the fact that Skiles starred in Magic pinstripes more than two decades ago.
That’s the way CEO Alex Martins and GM Rob Hennigan wanted it to be, and they expressed as much to Skiles in the conversations and meetings leading up to Friday’s hiring as the team’s new head coach. Hennigan and Skiles conducted a seven-hour get-to-know-you chat at Skiles’ suburban Orlando home recently, and the two discussed everything from basketball philosophies, the Magic’s need for better defense and too many jokes to count.
Skiles, who is far from being the sappy, sentimental type, most certainly wanted his consideration for the Magic job to be all about his coaching abilities instead of some kind of promotional ploy. After 2 ½ years away from the game, Skiles – who has kept a home in the Central Florida area for years – felt the tug to get back into coaching and where better to do so than with the Magic’s promising, potential-filled roster?
Ultimately, the two sides agreed that Skiles’ track record of success in taking over NBA teams in Phoenix, Chicago and Milwaukee and his abilities as a demanding coach would be a perfect fit for a young Magic squad very much in need of an injection of toughness and direction.
``I’m sure from a personal standpoint it’s going to help with my comfort level just being around here, but it’s a basketball team and I have a tremendous responsibility to coach the best that I can,’’ Skiles said on Friday before his introductory news conference in Orlando. ``Really, when you have this many young players on a team, it’s your job to help them and get them better. The guys need to understand that even though the franchise went this rout, retooling with younger players, that it’s not an excuse. Our strength should be having young players who go out and play hard every night and hopefully that translates into wins.’’
Skiles, 51, joked that it has always meant a lot to him that he is still considered one of the fan favorites from his Orlando playing days from 1989-94. But then he cracked that those particularly nostalgic fans are ``older than 50 now’’ and that the younger segment of the fanbase has no recollection of his playing days.
Skiles also used his first day on the job on Friday to clear up what he termed to be some of the ``false narratives’’ about him as a coach, such as: