The Orlando Magic have fired Jacque Vaughn, which makes sense

If you’re having a hard time getting a read on the Orlando Magic, understand that you’re not alone.

The team likes to run, we think, but it also seems to want to encourage a snail’s pace at times offensively. The squad was created to work as an athletic defensive juggernaut, but they also make critical errors on that end of the court while signing veteran free agents that absolutely do not play defense. For those of us that are charged with watching their games, the group appears to be attacking opponents with a new scheme both offensively and defensively far too often for any cohesion to develop. If a revamp didn’t take place every other game, then it was at least something close to it.

This is why word leaked last week that coach Jacque Vaughn’s time in Orlando was up. This is also why Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Thursday that Vaughn has been fired by the Magic. The report was filed a good half-hour before Magic officials met with their players to tell them the news. According to Woj, James Borrego will be named the team’s interim head coach.

Borrego has good timing, in spite of Orlando’s recent play. The Magic are attempting to shake off a 10-game losing streak, and a 2-16 malaise that dates back to the last days of 2014. Orlando had to play the Grizzlies and Thunder twice during this streak, along with the Mavericks and Spurs, and the team fell in one-sided fashion to teams in Detroit and Milwaukee – squads that many saw the Magic fighting this season in an attempt to grab the last playoff spot in the East.

At 15-37, the postseason is far out of reach, and it was truly out of reach even before the Magic lost 16 of 18. Borrego, a former college coach and San Antonio Spurs assistant under Gregg Popovich, will have the good fortune of taking on the lowly Lakers in his first game as a head man, followed by a contest against the struggling Chicago Bulls (a team the Magic are three weeks removed from beating) along with upcoming games against the Knicks and 76ers. He’ll also have the All-Star break to serve as a mini-training camp of sorts.

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Whether Borrego is long for the Magic is up in the air. Wojnarowski reported that former Suns, Bulls and Bucks coach Scott Skiles could be in contention for the top spot in Orlando, something that makes sense if the Magic come into such a relationship with an understanding of who, exactly, Scott Skiles is.

He’s a guy that has gotten away from the modern NBA a little bit, with an offense heavy on long two-pointers and a paucity of free throws, and his over-active defensive schemes will send opponents to the line quite a bit. He can also turn a team around with his no-nonsense approach and obsession with detail – if history is any indication, the Magic will start to overachieve with Skiles at the helm. He took over the Suns midseason in 1999 and did exceedingly well in that post, and while he didn’t win much after taking over the Bulls in 2003-04, next year’s team shocked the NBA by going 47-26 after an 0-9 start to the season.

If history is any indication beyond that, Skiles will also start to wear on his players. He’ll start his passive/aggressive routine again, he’ll limit himself to intractable rotations, and he’ll fail to develop players he doesn’t care for.

If the Magic front office – helmed by Rob Hennigan and Matt Lloyd – understand this, then they’ll do well with Skiles. If they can anticipate Skiles’ breaking point and have a replacement ready to go, not Jim Boylan this time, the Magic won’t waste a season (or more) some years down the line.

If they don’t? Like the frog unknowingly sitting in that pot of water that is slowly reaching boiling point, they’ll have fallen for the same nonsense that teams in Phoenix, Chicago and Milwaukee fell for. Scott Skiles, as it is with all coaches both good, bad and middling, is not going to change his spots at his age.

The Hennigan era is a tricky one to document. He came to Orlando well-credentialed, stuck with absolutely no leverage with Dwight Howard wanting out of town. Hennigan did well to not saddle the Magic with big contracts when he eventually dealt Howard, nailing a stud in Nikola Vucevic that analytics types were hot to trot for after Doug Collins refused to play him in his rookie year. The Magic were hamstrung from the outset – rebuilding without the benefit of having a lottery pick to work around in the first rebuilding year, and the lottery pick that came from the first post-Howard season was plucked from The NBA’s Worst Draft Ever.

Victor Oladipo is a nice player, but unless another coach can build him into something special, he doesn’t appear to be your typical second overall NBA draft pick (wait …). Aaron Gordon’s rookie season has been hampered by a scary left foot injury, but he’s played well enough for a raw talent working through time on the shelf. Moving up to draft Elfrid Payton was a risk, but Hennigan is attempting to establish a culture and Payton definitely brings the nerve. Dealing to get younger in moving Arron Afflalo to Denver to Evan Fournier has been a bit of a wash, thus far.

The Magic could be criticized for bringing in scads of journeyman – past-prime types like Ben Gordon, Luke Ridnour, and Willie Green – but the team had to have some semblance of experience on the squad, and all three came at a rather cheap price. The Channing Frye signing has been a bust so far, but that’s what happens when you take the money and run. The moves haven’t worked out, but the team still has plenty of excuses and another chance with another coach.

Hiring Vaughn wasn’t a mistake. The guy was pegged as a future NBA head coach dating back to his college days, and cerebral NBA point guards who studied as coach under Gregg Popovich seem like readymade 60-game winners. Nobody criticized the move at the time, and nobody should in retrospect.

Vaughn had to go, though. The Magic were irresponsible in allowing leaks to hit the press about Vaughn’s looming brand of impermanence, but the guy was presiding over a 28th-ranked offense and a 25th-ranked defense. Jacque had to work with the rebuilding team that wasn’t in his first season, the prize of Oladipo in his second, and injuries to Gordon and inconsistent play from Payton in his third, but …

… yeah. It was time.

We sure hope the Magic know what they’re doing beyond this move, though.

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Kelly Dwyer

is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops