Although the Orlando Magic’s coaching search will focus on a handful of candidates with extensive head-coaching experience, general manager Rob Hennigan said Thursday that James Borrego will be interviewed for the job.
Borrego guided the Magic to a 10-20 finish after team officials appointed him interim head coach after Jacque Vaughn’s dismissal on Feb. 5.
“I thought J.B. did an admirable job,” Hennigan told reporters on the team’s annual exit-interview day at Amway Center.
“He came in under some trying circumstances,” Hennigan added. “He brought his own voice. He brought a voice that our players responded to, [that] they respected. It was not an easy situation for J.B. for a lot of different reasons, but I think he came in and he steadied the ship in a lot of ways. I think he regained a lot of that competitive spirit that we were talking about earlier in the season and did a stand-up job for us. We really appreciate the work he did.”
Magic officials have not held talks with any coaching candidates yet, Hennigan and league sources said. The team also is unlikely to speak with potential hires on Friday because CEO Alex Martins is attending the NBA’s Board of Governors meetings in New York.
But even though Hennigan is keeping mum about the details of the search — Hennigan on Thursday even declined to name the characteristics the team will seek in its eventual hire — the Magic’s clear preference is to find a seasoned head coach.
During halftime of Fox Sports Florida’s Magic season-finale telecast Wednesday night, Martins essentially confirmed an Orlando Sentinel report from Tuesday afternoon that the Magic regard head-coaching experience as a key attribute in potential candidates.
“We want to find the right, experienced coach for this group,” Martins said.
Team officials have said they have no specific timetable to make the hire. In reality, however, it is essential for the Magic to have a hire in place before free agency begins on July 1. Few high-level free agents would sign with a team that doesn’t have a head coach in place.
The list of potential candidates includes former Magic point guard Scott Skiles, who posted a 443-433 regular-season record over his 13 seasons as coach of the Phoenix Suns, Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks.
Magic shooting guard Ben Gordon played four seasons for Skiles with the Bulls from 2004-05 through 2007-08. Asked specifically about Skiles — not to endorse a specific candidate — Gordon lauded Skiles for his honesty, discipline and understanding of the coach-player relationship.
“He was tough on me, but, at the same time, that’s one of the reasons why I was able to win the Sixth Man of the Year Award as a rookie: because he was tough on me,” Gordon said.
“[He helped me] not because he was nice and he was patting me on my butt when I made mistakes and allowed me to stay in the game when I wasn’t playing well, but because he was tough on me. And he didn’t care that I was the No. 3 pick. He just wanted me to be the best player I could be.”
Other possible hires include former Sacramento Kings coach Michael Malone and 2010-11 NBA Coach of the Year Tom Thibodeau if Thibodeau and the Bulls part ways after the postseason.
Borrego, 37, likely will be the least-experienced candidate. Still, he knows the Magic’s current roster better than anyone. He spent two and a half seasons as Vaughn’s lead assistant coach before his promotion to interim head coach.
Many current players praised Borrego for his performance in the interim role.
“I think relationships in this league sustain organizations, and I have three years of relationships with these men,” Borrego said Thursday. “That’s invaluable. There’s no other coach in the league that we could bring in that could replace that.”
jrobbins@orlandosentinel.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.
