Scott Skiles

Josh Cohen

ORLANDO – While many of the Orlando Magic’s players have expressed an excitement about playing for Scott Skiles despite their relative unfamiliarity with him, those associated with the organization who have known the new coach the longest couldn’t be more thrilled about his appointment.

Pat Williams, the Magic’s co-founder and Senior Vice President, was the team’s GM when the squad selected Skiles sixth in the 1989 expansion draft for its inaugural roster. To this day, spanning a Hall of Fame career of more than 50 years in pro sports, Williams considers Skiles one of the three favorite athletes that he’s had the pleasure of working with.

``I think it’s a tremendous positive that Scott’s back because he built a great career here and this was really the key city in his playing days,’’ Williams said. ``He was greatly admired by the fans from that era and he’s still the favorite player for a lot of them. He’s paid his dues coaching for 12 years with other teams and he comes to us as a seasoned coach. I think he’s going to be great for the Magic and Orlando.’’

Brian Hill, the winningest head coach in Magic history, has also known Skiles for more than 26 years and he thinks that the organization made a great hire in naming Skiles as its new head coach two weeks ago. Hill, an assistant on that 1989 expansion team and twice the Magic’s head coach, lobbied – along with then head coach Matt Goukas – for the Magic to nab Skiles in that expansion draft. Hill always saw the former point guard as a ``coach on the floor’’ during his playing days and now he thinks that Skiles’ gritty and demanding ways will be highly beneficial to the Magic’s young roster.

``I think Scott understands what it takes to win in this league, and that starts on the defensive end and holding players accountable,’’ said Hill, who works now an analyst for Fox Sports Florida. ``All of his teams (in Phoenix, Chicago and Milwaukee) have been really good defensively and not with a high level of talent. Everybody coaches within their personality and for a lot of former players the way that they played carries over to their coaching philosophy. I don’t think Scott is any different in that respect.’’

Williams said it didn’t take long for Skiles to become a key player and a fan favorite on the first Magic teams because of his fearlessness as a point guard and his legendary competitiveness. By Skiles’ second season with the Magic he made the leap from part-time starter to full-time starter and he boosted his production from 7.7 points and 4.8 assists to a career-best 17.2 points and 8.4 assists per game. That growth garnered Skiles the NBA’s Most Improved Player award in 1991 and it earned him a place into the hearts of many Magic fans.

And the fire with which Skiles competed on a nightly basis also forever entrenched the gutsy point guard into Williams’ memory bank.

``I remember those wonderful stories coming out of Skiles being on the floor and coaching both teams. On numbers of occasions he’d be telling the opposition what they were supposed to be doing. `Go over here, your coach wants you over here,’’’ Williams recalled. ``He was coaching the Magic and the opposition. He was always a very serious student of the game and you knew that he was going to coach even back then.

``I wrote a book talking about interesting people who have crossed my path from sports, politics and business and I did a vignette on each one of those people,’’ continued Williams, whose latest book, ``It’s Not Who You Know, It’s Who You Are’’ has been out since the spring. ``I get asked all of the time who are your favorite players, your most memorable players? I answered it in this book and there are three of them: Jerry Sloan, who we had in Chicago (with the Bulls); Billy Cunningham, who played for us in Philly (with the 76ers); and Scott Skiles. Those are the three because they came to play every night and gave everything that they had. Not that others didn’t, but those three weren’t the most talented but they hammered, clawed and scratched and fought the opposition and fought their teammates and referees and were relentless. So I put Skiles in that group.’’

Skiles also set NBA history during the 1990-91 season when he compiled a NBA-record 30 assists on Dec. 30 versus Denver. Some, including even Skiles from time to time, have discounted the NBA record that still stands today because of the run-and-gun style played by the Nuggets. Williams, however, still holds that night in particular regard.
  Said Williams: ``Scott went into the record books and nobody will ever touch that record. Everybody else in the league played against Denver that year and nobody else did what Scott did. So what he did was impressive. It was one of those magical nights when everything was breaking right and Scott got on a roll.’’

Hill said that Skiles was able to maximize his talents both as a player and a coach because he understands basketball on a completely different level than most around him. Hill always thought that Skiles would be as good or better of a coach than he was as a player because of the way he could see the game and also motivate those around him. Those traits should come in quite handy as Skiles works to help the Magic become a contender again, Hill said.

``Scott was always one of those guys who asked questions and was someone who you didn’t have to explain the `why’ of why we were going to do something. He already understood it,’’ said Hill, who guided the Magic to the NBA Finals 20 years ago this week. ``Scott always had good comments and recommendations in time outs and you knew in time that he was going to be a very good coach.

``I think Scott is a great hire and I think he’s going to do a fantastic job for the Magic,’’ Hill continued. ``I think he’s exactly the kind of coach that this particular team and this group of players needs at this stage of their careers. So I couldn’t be happier for Scott and the Magic.’’

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Brian Hill: "Scott Understands What It Takes to Win"

Dan Savage

ORLANDO – Orlando Magic Head Coach Scott Skiles has been a busy man since taking over the reigns last Friday.

Not only has he been active getting acclimated in the office, helping prepare for the draft and getting plans ready for the 2015-16 season, but he’s also done his share of appearances on the media circuit.

From Open Mike to the Dan Patrick Show to The Herd, Skiles has hopped on some of the best programs the nation has to offer. And during his tour, he's provided insight into his defensive principles, how to "coach tough" and keys to turning a team around.

Here are some excerpts from his appearances, including full links to all the shows:

Open Mike with Mike Bianchi on 740 the Game:

MB: “What’s it take to be a great defensive coach and translate that to your players?”

SS: “You have to lay your foundation early and often in camp. You have to take all doubt out of the players’ minds as far as what their responsibility is in everything that’s going on the floor. Eventually they draw comfort from that. Then they don’t have to worry ‘are we switching this one? What are we doing over here? How are we playing this pick-and-roll? What are we doing on LeBron (James’) iso?’

“You have to take away all the doubt, so that everybody knows what their responsibilities are, so that some accountability starts happening. Not even so much from the coaches to the players, but just accountability amongst the players. They can have a brief little dialogue during a free throw. They know exactly, 100% their responsibilities. But it has to be done every single day. It’s got to be done live. It’s got to be coached, taught all the way down to simple foot position, body position, hand position, just like you would break it down teaching younger kids.

“We will be a good defensive team. I don’t know exactly when, but I know that we will be a good defensive team."

MB: “I’m assuming you think (that the players on the Magic) have what it takes to be a good defensive team? The Elfrid Paytons, the Victor Oladipos, guys like that, right?”

SS: “Yes, is the answer. But even guys that are not ‘known as great defenders’ can play their role in the scheme and play it correctly. So if we’re going to have a great defensive team, we’d all like to have a bunch of 6’9,” long guys that can guard every position and things like that. It just doesn’t happen that way. So, we’ll rely on the system and as I’ve said, I’ve seen it.

“I know that the players will eventually draw comfort from it, because it’s simple, but it’s hard at the same time to do, because it requires multiple efforts all over the place. You give guys a lot of leeway early on to learn it and then ultimately you have to start holding guys accountable.

“But again, that really starts amongst the players first. That’s when you know you really have something going, when the players are starting to hold themselves accountable out there for what’s going on and they know what they’re supposed to do. And they say ‘Hey, my bad. I know I was supposed to be over there. I know that.’ Instead of standing there and having a debate about who should have done what. So, what we have to do is take away all of those little debates.”

MB: “Why was it important to you that you were hired and the fact that you were a former Magic player not be a factor in your hiring?”

SS: “Well, I think you start everything off on the wrong foot when you do that, some sort of promotional ploy. And they’re way too smart for that. The DeVos family, Alex (Martins), Rob (Hennigan), these are bright people. They know that’s not how you start a hire. You start a hire, because you get a good coach and you think you have a good relationship with him.

“Equally as important as the player-coach relationship is the (coach)-management relationship. It’s just critical that you do your best and everything you can to get it right. If the fact that a guy used to play for your team is 15th on the list, then it’s kind of gravy. But it’s nothing that should rank up high. As I said the other day, I really respect the way Alex and Rob both did it, but Alex in particular. He gave it to Rob and he said ‘it’s 100% your call’ and that’s absolutely the truth and absolutely real.”

SS: “What you have to do is you have go to get your defensive schemes to a point where the guys know them inside and out and they’re in the right spots. It’s hard to take a charge for instance, if you’re in the wrong spot. You have to get there early. There are more guys than you think that are willing to give their bodies up, they just haven’t been drilled enough to know where to be and how to get there and things like that. On the outside, someone might say ‘oh boy, they’re really playing a lot tougher now because he’s there.’ When point of fact, there’s some toughness out there anyway, they just have to properly know what to do."

DP: “What was it like playing against Michael Jordan?”

SS: “It was very difficult. One game comes to mind, actually. We had a game in Chicago stadium, where I believe Michael had 63 (points) when I played for Orlando.  We won in overtime, luckily.  But we did everything you could humanly do against a guy. We put big guys on him, we ran and doubled him, we doubled him on the top of the floor, on the side of the floor. And he would just look at the double and fadeaway from it and knock it in. He was a great competitor.”

CC: “What do you make – as a former point guard – of the evolution of point guards?”

SS: “It’s interesting. With all the space that’s on the floor now, with the main point being what you said ‘when they got their hands off people,’ and all the big people started shooting threes and things like that, with all the space, it’s hard to play offensively with one guy out there that can’t score. You need everybody to be a threat.”

CC: “Do you have to pamper players more today, especially stars?”

SS: “No, I don’t think so. Some of those terms, there’s big grey area in those terms. I think what happens is a lot of the organizations might not have a real solid philosophy of the type of players they like and the type of workers. (The thought is) ‘we’re going to get a coach that’s going to come in here and have discipline.' And those terms are thrown around. Then all of a sudden, three years in, ‘well that guy has lost it, now we have to bring in the players coach.’ So I think those things are kind of silly. A lot of them are driven by other people. I think the really good coaches come in, they look at their team, say ‘what do we need to do to win?’

“If you look historically, one of the key things is guard. You have to guard people if you want to win big. You don’t have to be the best defensive team in the league. What’s lost on Golden State is that they’re so great offensively, people don’t realize they’re also the best defensive team as well. You have to do that if you want to win a championship. Now if you just want to have the fifth seed and kind of cruise along every year and leave guys alone and not hold them accountable (then go another route). The great teams, the really, really great teams, they almost always hold themselves accountable and then the coach can only worry about the game of basketball. But I’ve inherited a really young team right now. And that will be the goal, to get to that point where they all hold themselves accountable as we talked about right in the very beginning. But ultimately, there’s going to be moments with this type of team where I’m going to have to hold some guys accountable.”

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Skiles Talks Defense, Toughness, Coaching Philosophy and More

ORLANDO – Listen to Ben Gordon rave about the smarts, motivational tactics and credibility of head coach Scott Skiles and it’s easy to see why the guard’s best years in the NBA came while playing for the new leader of the Orlando Magic.

``For whatever reason, Scott Skiles was the best coach that I’ve played for,’’ Gordon said not long after Skiles was named the Magic’s new head coach on Friday. ``I learned so much from Skiles. When I talk to him, I tell him, `I’m not trying to (joke around), but I learned more from you than anybody in my whole basketball career.’ He played at the highest level and coached at the highest level, so everything that he is telling you, you know it has to be true. You have to respect him because he has done it. A lot of coaches get nervous and insecure about their jobs because they aren’t good enough. That’s not the case with Scott because he’s done it all.’’

Gordon is one of three Magic players to have played previously for Skiles along with forward Tobias Harris and point guard Luke Ridnour. All talk about their love of playing for Skiles because of the way he gets the best of teams with his demanding tactics and relatable personality. Other Magic players, such as standout guard Victor Oladipo and center Nikola Vucevic, have heard the stories of Skiles’ legendary competitiveness and they are plenty excited about working with their new coach in the coming months.

Oladipo, who made a huge jump in his game from his rookie season to his second season, reached out to Skiles on the day that he was hired as coach and the two talked at great length soon after. Oladipo said Skiles’ grit and competitiveness could be felt through the phone conversation and he’s looking forward to playing for his new coach.

``From what I’ve heard, he’s very competitive and hard-nosed. It’s great to have someone like that on the sideline. He’ll bring the competitive nature out of us and I’m looking forward to him driving us,’’ said Oladipo, who boosted his scoring production to 17.9 points per game last season. ``He’s played the game at the highest levels of basketball so he knows what it takes to win both as a player and a coach. It won’t be hard at all to listen to a guy like that. We’re going to play hard for him, I know that.’’

Getting teams to play hard is something that Skiles is known for doing in his previous coaching stops in Phoenix, Chicago and Milwaukee. His ability to drive teams to play gritty defense and up-tempo offense are some of the reasons he’s been able to have an immediate impact at every stop. He guided the Suns to a first-round upset of San Antonio in his first season in Phoenix; his first Bulls team in 2003-04 held 26 straight foes to less than 100 points; and his second Bucks team won 46 games, had a winning record for the first time in seven seasons and he finished second in the NBA Coach of the Year voting.

Ridnour, a reserve point guard for the Magic last season, played for Skiles in Milwaukee and he considers the coach to be a master motivator because of his ability to relate to players. He said that Skiles has the toughness to hold players accountable, but he often shares stories from his playing days to let them know that he understands what they are going through. And his gritty style of coaching often rubs off on his players, Ridnour said.

``The biggest thing that stood out was his tenacity and him holding guys accountable for doing their jobs,’’ Ridnour said. ``That pays off for a team and everybody comes to play hard every night for him. All of his teams are feisty – just like he is. You get wins that you probably shouldn’t because of the feistiness that he teaches. The defensive principals and the way he demands that you move the ball, those were all reasons why I enjoyed playing for him.’’

Harris played 42 games as a rookie and 32 games in the 2012-13 season in Milwaukee before Skiles resigned his head coaching post with the Bucks. Harris was later traded to the Magic where he flourished the past 2 ½ seasons with more playing time. Skiles said he was instrumental in Milwaukee acquiring Harris on draft night in 2011, and the two have remained in contact through the years via text messages.

Skiles explained that Harris’ playing time in Milwaukee was limited because he was 19 at the time and Mike Dunleavy and Luc Mbah A Moute were better options because of their advanced experience. Skiles said last week that he is looking forward to working again with Harris, a restricted free agent this summer. Magic GM Rob Hennigan reiterated last week that the team fully expects to retain the versatile forward this summer, meaning that Skiles and Harris will be reunited.

``(The relationship) is very good and I was instrumental in drafting Tobias. I still communicate with Tobias,’’ Skiles said. ``He’s a very, very good player and a very, very good human being and he plays hard. He was in a tough spot (in Milwaukee) because our organization was geared from the top on down to try and win that season and Tobias was 19 years old. … We have a great relationship.’’

Ridnour said that Skiles also brings instant credibility as a coach because he is someone who played the game himself at the highest of levels. In 1990, when Skiles was a member of the Magic, he set the NBA record for assists in a game with 30. That mark still stands today, and Ridnour said there’s not a point guard in the league who doesn’t know that Skiles holds that record. That will help him, the veteran point guard said, when trying to relate to the likes of Elfrid Payton and Oladipo.

``He knows what it takes to win and this young team needs to start winning,’’ Ridnour said. ``It’s important to teach young guys the right way. Especially the young guys just coming into the league – they need to learn the right way to play. Scott will teach them to move the ball and defend and he demands a certain way that you come out and compete every night. So that will help these guys mature.’’

Added Gordon: ``Based on what Skiles has done in his career, it makes you think, `Coach said I have to do that? OK, then I have to do it.’ He has that kind of track record as a player and a coach. … He always shared his experiences with us. He shared his ups and downs, his up moments and when things went bad. So, as a player, you were getting what he went through right from the mouth of the horse. And you realize, `Wow, this is someone who had 30 assists in the NBA.’ If you’re Elfrid Payton, how could you not listen to Skiles?’’

Skiles has maintained a strong relationship with Gordon, who was his go-to scorer off the bench when the two were together with the Bulls. With Skiles serving as his coach, Gordon was an All-Rookie performer and the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in 2005 and he later averaged a career-best 21,4 points per game in 2006-07. Gordon said that Skiles was instrumental in helping him became one of the game’s elite scorers because he pushed him to play with confidence and be in superior shape.

Gordon said that Skiles was especially tough on him, but that’s what he wanted because he wanted to be a great player in the NBA. He said the coach gets a bad rap for being inflexible and for driving teams and players too hard. In fact, Gordon said that Skiles’ toughness and heavily structured ways are just what the Magic need because of all of the youth on the roster. Gordon told Hennigan that very statement when the GM called to ask for feedback about his former coach.

``Scott’s a straight shooter and a defensive-minded guy. He’s very organized. It’s simple things, but in today’s age that’s not always the case. He’s really good at motivating his teams and getting them to play to their potential,’’ Gordon said. ``I told Rob that with this (Magic) team, that burning a team out is not going to happen. Maybe he burned out some other players somewhere else, but that won’t happen to this Magic team because this team has good conditioning and it has workers. Based on the conditioning work that I did in Chicago under Skiles, I don’t think these young guys will have a problem doing it here. Our young guys are in shape and ready to go.’’

And Gordon, who has a team option on his contract for next season, is expecting the Magic to make a major leap under Skiles. After all, Gordon said, winning is exactly what the coach has done at every stop in the NBA.

``He’s someone who anytime they ask me about him, I always say the same thing – if you want to win, you hire him,’’ Gordon said. ``Especially if you want to win with young players, Skiles will win. That’s something that he’s proven that he can do.’’

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Magic Players Excited About Skiles Coaching Team

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:

skiles-confident-in-magics-young-core-and-excited-to-push-team-toward-contention

Skiles Confident in Magic's Young Core and Excited to Push Team Toward Contention

ORLANDO – In the Orlando Magic’s extensive search for its next coach, Scott Skiles’ profile checked all of the boxes because he had been successful previously as a NBA head coach and he brought a distinct toughness and discipline in his persona.

Of course, it didn’t hurt that Skiles is also one of the most popular players in Magic history because of the grittiness and record-setting flair that he displayed while a part of the organization’s first teams more than two decades ago.

All of those factors – but nearly exclusively his head-coaching acumen – paved the way to General Manager Rob Hennigan naming Skiles as the Magic’s 12th head coach in franchise history on Friday. Skiles, 51, was the Magic’s pick because of his proven track record as coach and the belief that his demanding style will get the best out of the Magic’s blossoming young roster.

``Scott clearly distinguished himself as a tremendous fit,’’ Hennigan said. ``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.’’

Skiles has a NBA regular-season record of 443-433 (.506) as head coach with the Suns, Bulls and Bucks. During his 13 seasons as a head coach, his teams have reached the NBA Playoffs six times.

``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,’’ Magic CEO Alex Martins said. ``We feel Scott 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.’’

The Magic have been without a full-time head coach since firing Jacque Vaughn on Feb. 5 following a 15-37 start to the 2014-15 season. James Borrego, who was considered for the full-time coaching position, took over on an interim basis and led the Magic to a 10-20 record over the final 2 ½ months of the season.

Skiles will assume a Magic team that won 25 games last season, but it has a solid foundation of young talent already in place. In center Nikola Vucevic, guards Victor Oladipo, Elfrid Payton and Elfrid Payton and forwards Tobias Harris and Aaron Gordon, Orlando has promising core that is expected to take the next step in the years to come.

Orlando’s hope is that Skiles’ old-school, no-nonsense style of coaching can help extricate all of the potential out of the Magic’s blossoming roster. Skiles’ track record says that his hard-driving tactics should make the Magic a tougher, more competitive style of team, especially on the defensive end of the floor.

Skiles got his start in coaching as the head coach of PAOK in Greece in 1996-97. By 1997, he was back in the NBA as an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns. Twenty games into the 1999-00 season, Skiles took over as head coach and ultimately led the Suns to a 40-22 mark the rest of the way and an upset of the defending champion San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs. And in 2000-01 his Suns won 51 games and again reached the postseason.

Skiles had great success in Chicago as head coach of the Bulls from 2003-07. Skiles guided the Bulls to three consecutive winning seasons that all ended with playoff appearances. During the 2006-07 season, Skiles’ Bulls squad won 49 games – their most since 1997-98 – and swept the defending NBA champion Miami Heat during the first round of the playoffs.

Skiles took over the Bucks’ head coaching position in 2008 and in that first season he led Milwaukee to an eight-game improvement. And by 20109-10, Milwaukee had improved by 12 games and reached the playoffs following a 46-win season.

Following a highly successful college career at Michigan State as a point guard, Skiles played 10 seasons and in 600 NBA games. The game that Skiles is most famous for came in a Magic uniform on December 30, 1990 when he carved up the Denver Nuggets for 30 assists. That mark still stands as a NBA single-game record.

One of the original members of the expansion Magic in 1989, Skiles quickly became a fan favorite in Orlando because of his fearless, attacking style of play as an undersized point guard. He played in 384 games (285 starts) during five seasons with Orlando from 1989-94. He averaged 12.9 points, 7.2 assists and 2.9 rebounds in 31.1 minutes per game, while shooting .380 (384-1,010) from three-point range and .892 (1,176-1,319) from the free throw line.

Skiles was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player following the 1990-91 season with the Magic when he averaged a career-high 17.2 points and 8.4 assists a game. Skiles still ranks among the Magic’s all-time leaders in assists (second, 2,776), free throws made (seventh, 1,176), free throws attempted (eighth, 1,319), minutes played (ninth, 11,940), three-pointers made (10th, 384) and points scored (10th, 4,996).

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Orlando Magic Name Scott Skiles Head Coach

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