Vogel fired by Magic as coach
Frank Vogel was brought to Orlando two years ago with hopes he could get the Magic back to the playoffs, and stop the spinning of the revolving door to their coaches’ office.
Neither of those things happened.
Vogel was fired by the Magic on Thursday about 10 hours after the team wrapped up a 25-57 season, its sixth consecutive losing year. Vogel, who had one year left on his contract, went 54-110 in his two years with Orlando.
The Magic hasn’t been to the playoffs since Stan Van Gundy’s final season with the team in 2012. Clearly, another season of struggle was not all Vogel’s fault. The Magic used 27 starting lineups this season, none for more than 11 games, 18 for three games or fewer. There was no continuity to the lineup, and only three players appeared in 70 games. In all, injuries and illness robbed the Magic of 227 player games this season thwarting key parts of Vogel’s plan.
Evan Fournier, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic were the team’s three leading scorers; they combined to miss 74 games.
HORNACEK OUT » The Knicks will open their offseason with a coaching search. The team fired Jeff Hornacek shortly after beating Cleveland on Wednesday night to finish a 29- 53 season. The Knicks lost more than 50 games and missed the playoffs both seasons under Hornacek. Team president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry said they didn’t see enough progress on the court and enough communication and accountability off it.
NETS SALE » Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has completed the sale of a 49 percent interest in the team to Joe Tsai, who could become the controlling owner in three years. The NBA’s Board of Governors unanimously approved the sale to Tsai, the co-founder of China-based global internet company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. PISTONS READY FOR CHANGE? » Detroit’s promising start — which included wins over playoff teams Golden State, Minnesota and Oklahoma City — feels like a long time ago, and the big question for this offseason is the status of Stan Van Gundy, who has just one playoff appearance in four seasons as coach and president of basketball operations.
“I think we have tomake changes,” owner Tom Gores said earlier this week. It’s not clear if those changes will involve moving on from Van Gundy. WIZARDS ADD DEPTH » Free agent Ty Lawson signed with the Washington Wizards, giving them additional depth heading into their first-round playoff series against the Toronto Raptors. Wizards point guard John Wall returned March 31 after missing more than two months because of surgery on his left knee. NBA SETS ATTENDANCE RECORD » The NBA set an attendance record for the fourth straight season, surpassing 22 million for the first time. The league says 22.1 million fans attended games in the regular season, eclipsing 21.9 million during the 2016-17 season.