ORLANDO, FL (FNN News) – The Orlando Magic hired Scott Skiles because he would bring usher in a sense of accountability for the young Magic roster. Jacque Vaughn had a different strategy: Vaughn would put the players in positions where they would make mistakes and learn from them on their own, without necessarily correcting all of their mistakes. To an extent, that ideology had its strengths, but Vaughn let it go too far at times, often letting bad habits slide and worsen. Watch any Magic game this past season and bad habits from all corners of the team, from the coaching staff to the players, began to form. While touted for their defensive capabilities, the backcourt of Victor Oladipo and Elfrid Payton, for instance, gambled way too often on steals, yielding easy points for the opposition. This trend continued and was a reason the Magic lost many games that went down to the wire. It seemed as if Vaughn rewarded great play with more bench time and poor play with more playing time; it was an unorthodox system of rotations that did not have that much logical merit to it. With Vaughn gone and Skiles in, those bad habits will go away very soon.

Some of the top teams in the league today who had long, thorough rebuilds, followed a similar pattern. The Golden State Warriors, for example, missed the playoffs for many years even though they had drafted a future star in Stephen Curry. For the most part, their coaches did not do an effective job. Once Mark Jackson came around, they became substantially better, but had not made the step into title contention. It seemed like their players were given free will to do what they wanted to but Jackson kept things in check. There was not much order in offensive and defensive schemes, but there was so much talent with a coach to ground them that they were able to make the playoffs. In that sense, Jackson’s philosophy trumped Vaughn’s. Once the Warriors fired Jackson and brought in an aspiring coach, Steve Kerr, who had an unused playbook of many intricate and clever plays which he was eager to use. One year later, his team broke several historical records and took home their first title in over forty years. The Oklahoma City Thunder followed a similar pattern: they were not winning for a few years until they brought in Scott Brooks, an individual who brought out the best in his players and maximized the roster’s talent. Although he was fired, he left a lasting impression on his players. It is to be determined if UF’s very own Billy Donovan will win OKC a title, but a pattern with rebuilding teams going into playoff, and then title contention can be seen.

Hopefully, Skiles’ trends with other teams will not repeat during his run with the Magic. While he has done an outstanding job turning around franchises that have seen the lowest of lows, eventually his players turn on him after a few years. Jeff Van Gundy came to Skiles’ defense, noting how great players embrace great coaches, and the pitfalls faced by Skiles’ teams were not at his fault. Toward the end of his last coaching gig, his offense was not as stale as it once was; there were some creative offensive sets, not just defensive schemes, that would come out of timeouts.

Skiles will bring the accountability the team never had with Vaughn under the helm. He will rectify the errors made by the young team, discouraging gambles and encouraging better team defense. The young core of the Magic is filled with players with intangible attitudes to win and succeed. If those intangibles are not nurtured correctly, they will lead to careless one-on-one “one-up” plays that severely weaken the team defense, as seen in the Vaughn era. Echoing that notion, Miami Heat President Pat Riley once said, “There’s always the motivation of wanting to win. Everybody has that. But a champion needs, in his attitude, a motivation above and beyond winning.” Skiles will make sure the inexperience bred by the team’s youth will cease. Hopefully, he will be the one to take them to playoff and title contention.