Orlando Magic Coach Frank Vogel Will Lead Team To Playoffs Next Year

Frank Vogel has the right to be confident about the team that he signed up to coach. His former squad, the Indiana Pacers, beat the Orlando Magic three times last season, and Vogel will have the opportunity to remake his new team with a fresh philosophy. The Magic have a lot of talented players. Nikola Vucevic and Victor Oladipo have great potential, and the organization would be wise to keep them around for a long time.

“The future is bright for these guys,” Vogel said during a news conference on Monday. “In my mind, this team is ready to take the next step.”

He is the perfect coach to get the most out of his team’s talents, because he has previously turned Paul George and Roy Hibbert into All-Stars. George definitely deserved that distinction, but Hibbert probably didn’t in hindsight. It may have just been that the head coach got a lot more out of his center than anyone else could, and Vogel deserves credit for that. He’ll work some similar magic in Orlando, because he knows what it will take for them to have success.

The Magic will still have to fight for a playoff spot, but they now have a coach who can lead them to that goal. Scott Skiles is a decent coach when it comes to developing players; however, he isn’t the best guy to take a team into contention. Vogel came close to doing that with the Pacers, and he was also phenomenal at player development.

The Magic should have no problem making the playoffs under their new head coach, because they will now be playing a system on the defensive end that matches up with the best teams in the league. That wasn’t the case last season, and they missed the postseason due to lack of effort. Orlando has enough talent to compete with anyone in the Eastern Conference. Vogel will help them to achieve that confidence, and the Magic will be a threat in next season’s playoffs as a result.