Frank Vogel was supposed to be the coach to finally push the Orlando Magic toward their potential, bringing a young corps to the playoffs with him. After two seasons, senior management realized it wasn't going to happen. The Magic dismissed their coach on Thursday morning, the day after a 25-57 campaign ended with a win over the Washington Wizards. The team will look to move quickly to put a new, inspiring coach in place. Their options may be limited, though.
Here are four top candidates for the head coaching gig.
Jerry Stackhouse
Stackhouse has only been out of the NBA for five years.
He's already seen as one of the top coaches in the developmental G-League, though. Last year, the Raptors 905 (affiliated with the Toronto Raptors) won the title, with Stackhouse winning Coach of the Year. This year, the team didn't perform as well, but that hasn't dulled the shine on Stackhouse, a shine the Magic could definitely use for at least a moment.
Randy Wittman
Wittman has actually been with the Magic for the past year, serving as a coaching consultant -- whether that helps or hurts his cause remains to be seen. He's already made three stops in his NBA head coaching career, most recently with the Wizards. Wittman has only taken two teams to the playoffs, but he made it out of the first round in both of those instances.
He could be a steady hand to guide the team toward a more promising future.
Brian Shaw
Like I said, the options for this flailing team may be limited. Shaw played in Orlando for three seasons during his playing career in the 1990s. He's been coaching in the league since 2005, but arguably didn't get a fair shake in his only, brief stint as a head coach, fired during his second season with the Denver Nuggets.
He returned to the Los Angeles Lakers as an associate head coach, where he's seen how to develop young players first-hand, including Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, and Kyle Kuzma.
Patrick Ewing
If the Magic want to go down the former player route, however, Ewing may be a better choice. He just got settled in at Georgetown, where his first season went about as expected.
But it's no secret that Ewing has always wanted to be an NBA coach, sitting on benches as an assistant for 15 years, including several with the Magic. It might take a good amount of money to coax Ewing out of his cushy gig with his alma mater. It would definitely be the best hire the team could make, though, which matters in terms of ticket sales.
