Monday, the New Orleans Pelicans swooped in to hire Jamahl Mosley as their new head coach. The Orlando Magic relieved him of those duties after they failed to meet expectations this season.
Orlando ponied up four unprotected first-round picks and one first-round pick swap to pry Desmond Bane from the Memphis Grizzlies. The hope was that it would propel them to the top of a wide-open Eastern Conference.
Instead, after a turbulent campaign, the Magic found themselves in the play-in tournament. They entered the year envisioning an NBA Finals run. They got bounced in the first round by a Detroit Pistons team that looked shaky throughout a disappointing postseason appearance of their own.
As Orlando plots its next steps, the franchise could reportedly turn to the defensive architect of the Boston Celtics' 2008 title team.
Tom Thibodeau fits what the Magic want from their next coach
After moving on from Mosley, veteran NBA insider Marc Stein reported in his Substack, "The Stein Line," that the organization would prefer a seasoned head coach, rather than hiring a promising assistant who has yet to experience all that comes with being at the helm.
"The Magic's known preference is hiring an experienced coach to succeed Mosley," reports Stein. [Billy] Donovan and Tom Thibodeau are the most obvious candidates in that category after Michael Malone [North Carolina] and Taylor Jenkins [Milwaukee] quickly landed new jobs."
Thibodeau nearly took the New York Knicks to the NBA Finals last season. They reached the conference semifinals the two years prior. It was the most successful stretch the franchise has experienced since the '90s. As they continue to build off it, they're four wins away from returning to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.
Just as the Knicks were justified in moving on from Thibodeau, he could be a home-run hire for the Magic. He has a history of quickly helping to elevate a franchise. That includes earning Coach of the Year honors in the 2020-21 campaign, his first season as the bench boss in New York. At the time, he inherited a team coming off a 21-45 season in a truncated campaign.
In Orlando, he would take over a team featuring a promising core quartet: Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Desmond Bane, and Jalen Suggs. If Wagner had stayed healthy in the playoffs, perhaps the Magic would have knocked out the Pistons in the opening round. Who's to say how they would've faired against a Cleveland Cavaliers team that just punched their ticket to the conference finals, but has looked inconsistent along the way?
Furthermore, Orlando has potential paths available that many organizations around the Association would prefer to their outlook. Banchero's 23; Wagner and Suggs are only a year older. And Bane is 27. The Magic can afford to be patient and see how that group performs under a new head coach. They could also take another aggressive swing and strike a blockbuster deal. Perhaps the target in that scenario would be Giannis Antetokounmpo?
Either way, it's a great opportunity. And if Orlando hires Thibodeau, his track record suggests that he could quickly help them mature into a more serious threat to the Celtics and the other teams at the top of the Eastern Conference food chain.
Add us as a preferred source on Google