Mike Bianchi: Magic players already like new coach Vogel .

Scott Skiles did not like his team and his team did not like Scott Skiles.

This more than anything else is why Skiles is no longer coaching the Orlando Magic and Frank Vogel is.

It only took a few interviews with Magic players and team officials at the opening of training camp earlier this week to figure out the mysterious reason why Skiles shockingly quit after just one season and left the door open for the Magic to swoop in and hire Vogel.

It was like one of those Hollywood marriages that last only a few months because of an underlying incompatibility that neither party was fully aware of at the time.

It goes without saying that Skiles didn’t enjoy coaching the Magic. If he did, he wouldn’t have made the nearly unprecedented move of quitting with two years and millions of dollars remaining on his contract. But the part of the story everybody leaves out is that Magic players obviously didn’t enjoy playing for a coach whose style and demeanor was often rigid and uncompromising.

“Coach Skiles was definitely controlling — controlling on both ends of the floor,” said forward Aaron Gordon, who is arguably the Magic’s most athletically gifted player. “Coach Vogel has let it be known that if we take

care of things on defense then we’ll have more freedom on offense to be the players that we know we can be and make the plays that we know we can make. … He’s given us a long leash and we’re going to take advantage of it.”

This is not to say Skiles was a bad coach and Vogel will be a great one. Let’s wait and see. One of my biggest pet peeves in sports is blaming the outgoing coach for all of the past woes while the incoming coach is often portrayed as the new miracle cure.

How many times have we seen it in basketball where the old coach supposedly played a “slow and plodding” style while the new coach is going to come in and implement his “fast and exciting” brand of basketball? The same in football when a new defensive coordinator is hired and the team marketing department trumpets his “new, aggressive, attacking scheme.” And what exactly did the former defensive coordinator run — an old, passive, submissive scheme?

I still believe Skiles was a good coach who was saddled with a flawed roster. And perhaps when he suddenly quit, it served as a wake-up to management that the roster needed to be overhauled, which is exactly what happened during the offseason.

That said, I do believe that in the NBA — more than in any other athletic endeavor – players need to like and relate to their coach. Of the three major sports leagues in this country — the NFL, NBA and MLB — it’s no secret NBA players make the most money and have the most power.

NFL coaches, because of the non-guaranteed contracts in their sport, can get away with being unbending and dictatorial. MLB managers are more figureheads and leave most of the teaching to the base coaches, the pitching coaches and the batting instructors.

In the NBA, the head coach must not only teach basketball but manage the egos of a small, elite group of young millionaires, many of whom are just a year or two removed from high school. The best players in the NBA literally make five or 10 times more than the coach does. As the late, great Chuck Daly once said, “NBA players must

allow you to coach them.” Said Magic CEO Alex Martins of Vogel: “The one word I use the most when describing a successful organization or a successful business is ‘balance.’ I think you have to have great balance, and I think Frank signifies that. He understands the need to hold guys accountable when he needs to hold them accountable, but also to have great relationships with his players. In the short time he’s been here, we’re already hearing from our players how much they’re looking forward to being coached by Frank.”

Added Magic GM Rob Hennigan: “It’s critical for a coach to relate to players. One of the unique qualities Frank has is that he has that really personable, easygoing ability to connect and communicate with players. He still coaches you hard, but he lets you know he cares about you, invests in you personally and looks at coaching more as a collaborative approach. I think in today’s NBA that goes a long way with players. They pick up on that and appreciate it.”

Hennigan, it seems, has taken the “Three Bears” approach to the trio of coaches he has hired during the Magic’s postDwight rebuild.

The first coach, Jacque Vaughn, was too soft.

The second coach, Scott Skiles, was too hard.

Here’s hoping Frank Vogel is right.