The Knicks were quick out of the gate to fire Jeff Hornacek.
The Magic aren’t wasting much time, either.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
Orlando has fired coach Frank Vogel, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 12, 2018
Hornacek and Vogel were by far the two coaches most widely expected to be fired this offseason. They won’t be the last, but any other coaching changes will carry a higher degree of surprise.
There are plenty of parallels between Hornacek and Vogel, who went 29-53 and 25-57 in Orlando. Both had more success in prior jobs (Vogel far more with the Pacers). Both worked this season for executives who didn’t hire them. Both had lacking rosters. Neither did nearly enough with their teams to stave off firings.
Like last offseason, Magic president Jeff Weltman is still limited in his ability to shape the roster. The only way to open significant cap space is losing Orlando’s best player, Aaron Gordon, in restricted free agency.
But changing coaches will allow Weltman to move toward building his team. He deserves space to do that.
Vogel might land on his feet. He’s still respected from his time in Indiana, and everyone understands how deficient and ill-fitting the Magic’s roster was.