By John DentonJune 10, 2015
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.’’