Magic president: No reason to 'dismantle' team

Orlando Magic president Jeff Weltman said that it was time to make a change at head coach and fire Jamahl Mosley but that he does not want to “dismantle” the roster based on how the season came crashing down in the team’s first-round loss to Detroit.

One day after the Magic blew a 3-1 series lead, including letting a 24-point third-quarter lead in Game 6 evaporate, by falling in seven games to the top-seeded Pistons, Weltman fired Mosley after five seasons as Orlando’s coach.

But Weltman said Monday that, with a healthy Franz Wagner, the Magic showed what they can do when whole. Wagner suffered a strained right calf in Game 4, and the Magic dropped three straight without their star forward.

“That’s a gut punch,” Weltman said of the Magic’s first-round loss, specifically their Game 6 second-half collapse. “That is going to remain with our team this summer. We know that a lot of our season will be filtered through that lens. What happened? I can point to a lot of things. I think what happened was we were up 3-1 against the No. 1 team in the East and then Franz got hurt. It altered the series.

“… When healthy, we were top five [on] defense and top 10 [on] offense. … I think we saw some of what we had hoped to see [against Detroit]. So I don’t want to tear this thing down and dismantle it because of the way it ended and certainly one half.”

Mosley, 47, was hired to help the Magic rebuild and develop the team’s young prospects. He led Orlando to the playoffs the last three seasons but failed to get out of the first round in each of those trips.

“It just seems like it is time for a new perspective,” Weltman said. “Maybe a fresh voice and for all of us to get a different vantage point on what is going on with our team.”

The Magic pushed their chips in last offseason when they traded four unprotected first-round picks, one first-round pick swap, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Cole Anthony for Desmond Bane. The move hoped to push the Magic into contention in the East, but what followed was an inconsistent season with some frustrating lows while dealing with injuries, mainly to Wagner.

Wagner was limited to just 34 games this regular season due to injuries, and the Magic finished with 45 wins and, as the eighth seed, had to fight their way into the playoffs through the play-in tournament.

“It’s very frustrating,” Weltman said of the injuries. “But it’s also very encouraging because whenever they are together, they have been elite. I feel like there are different ways to build a team. We are built on physicality, versatility, good defensive personnel and ultimately guys that can elevate their games in the playoffs. I think what we had hoped to happen in the playoffs happened. But obviously it’s hard to outrun injuries.”

Weltman, who signed a contract extension just before Orlando’s run to the NBA Cup final four, said the front office will keep an open mind on what type of head coach they look for and how experienced the next coach must be.

“I don’t think we look for a particular trait or quality,” Weltman said. “Coaches come in a lot of different shapes and sizes. Someone who can look at our team that can help us move forward and understands where we are on our timeline, try to get past the growth stages of the rebuild. … I don’t have a box to say that we want the next coach to come out of this box.”

Weltman made it clear that he believes this Magic core can reach its lofty goals as constructed. The first-round loss to the Pistons showed what Orlando can do when healthy, even though it left a bitter taste that will linger the entire offseason.

“Had we stayed healthy, I’d like to imagine where we would have gone in this series and beyond,” Weltman said. “I think when you build a team for the playoffs, you try to construct a roster that has the attributes that we have. It’s not easy to get the positional versatility, guys that can elevate their games when it matters the most. The physicality, a lot of the way that we are built is designed to be successful in the playoffs.

“Unfortunately we didn’t see a lot of that. But when healthy, we got a pretty good look at that. I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t have competed against anyone else in the East if we could compete against the No. 1 team like that.”