Orlando missed 23 consecutive shots<\/a> in that Game 6 loss on Friday, getting booed by fans when it was over.<\/p>\nThat loss probably was the one that sealed Mosley\u2019s fate, even though the loss in Game 7 at Detroit on Sunday was the one that ended the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a gut punch and that\u2019s going to remain with our team this summer,\u201d Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said. \u201cWe know a lot of our season will be filtered through that lens. I think what happened is we were up 3-1 against the No. 1 seed in the East that won 60 games and Franz (Wagner) got hurt and it altered the series. We still had two chances to put them away in Games 5 and 6. There\u2019s a lot to be taken away from that. I don\u2019t want to overreact to the second half of Game 6 the same way I don\u2019t want to overreact to the first half of Game 6 when we were up 22 points. It\u2019s our job to step back and look at the big picture of what works, what doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mosley is the third-winningest coach in Magic history, his 189 wins behind only Brian Hill (267) and Stan Van Gundy (259). He inherited a team that was in the early stages of a rebuild, with Wagner and Jalen Suggs entering the league as rookies in his first season and then the Magic winning the lottery to draft Paolo Banchero No. 1 overall before Mosley\u2019s second season.<\/p>\n
Orlando won 22 games in Mosley\u2019s first season, improved to 34-48 in Year 2 and has been .500 or better in all three seasons since \u2014 47-35 in 2023-24, 41-41 last season and 45-37 this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s an organizational matter,\u201d Weltman said about three straight first-round exits. \u201cThat\u2019s not on one person but it just seems like it\u2019s time for a new perspective, a fresh voice and for all of us to get a different vantage point on what\u2019s going on with our team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Magic are one of 10 teams \u2014 Boston, Cleveland, Denver, Houston, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota, New York, Oklahoma City are the others \u2014 to have not finished below .500 in any of the last three seasons.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t enough. And with much of the team\u2019s core \u2014 Banchero, Wagner, Suggs, Desmond Bane and more \u2014 under contract for the foreseeable future, the Magic clearly felt the best way to shake things up was to bring in a new coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been an incredible five-plus years, and this organization and city will always mean so much to me and my family,\u201d Mosley said. \u201cIn my heart, I truly hope that during our time here we were able to impact the players, staff, and the Magic organization in a meaningful and lasting way. I want to sincerely thank the DeVos family for the extraordinary opportunity to serve as head coach of the Orlando Magic. To our fans, there is nothing but love in my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is a roster in need of upgrading in some ways, shooting perhaps foremost among them after Orlando was only 27th in the 30-team league in 3-point percentage this season. Injuries have also been a major issue for the Magic, including in the playoffs \u2014 with Wagner unable to play in the final three games, all losses, against Detroit.<\/p>\n
Mosley\u2019s job security was a talking point for much of the season, especially amid reports that he and Banchero were not on the same page. In March, Banchero acknowledged that were some moments of conflict \u2014 but thought Orlando was better for going through that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re both competitors,\u201d Banchero said when asked then about his relationship with Mosley. \u201cThere were times where I was frustrated and I wasn\u2019t playing as well as I think I should be. But it never became me pointing the finger at him or being disrespectful. It was all constructive; he\u2019s talking to me, I\u2019m talking to him. And winning, it cures everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evidently, there wasn\u2019t enough winning.<\/p>\n
Mosley had two seasons left on an extension that he and the Magic agreed on in March 2024. The team lauded his \u201cpreparation, work ethic, ability to connect with the players and passion he brings to the job every day brings positive results, both on the court and off\u201d when announcing that deal.<\/p>\n
Barely two years later, he and the Magic were parting ways.<\/p>\n
Only seven coaches have been in their current jobs longer than Mosley was with Orlando \u2014 Miami\u2019s Erik Spoelstra (hired in 2008), Golden State\u2019s Steve Kerr (2014), the Clippers\u2019 Tyronn Lue (2020), Oklahoma City\u2019s Mark Daigneault (2020), Minnesota\u2019s Chris Finch (2021), Indiana\u2019s Rick Carlisle (2021) and Dallas\u2019 Jason Kidd (2021).<\/p>\n
Mosley spent 15 years as an assistant in Denver, Cleveland and Dallas \u2014 and was often mentioned as a candidate for head-coaching jobs around the league over that span \u2014 before Orlando hired him. He had a long relationship with Weltman, who first took note of Mosley when they worked together with the Nuggets.<\/p>\n
Mosley was the 14th coach in Magic history, the 15th if counting Billy Donovan \u2014 who accepted the job in 2007, then had second thoughts and returned to the University of Florida. Donovan just left the Chicago Bulls after six seasons as their coach, which sparked speculation that he could be the front-runner in Orlando if the Magic indeed would be moving on from Mosley.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nba<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jamahl Mosley was fired as coach of the Orlando Magic on Monday, paying the widely expected price after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[16582,112008,112004,5798,5834,8088,1882,28,5803,5801,112010,111856,112007,10014,2295,14596,92028,139,141,1239,140,5799,112009,110,112006,8086,112005],"class_list":["post-258391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-billy-donovan","tag-brian-hill","tag-chris-finch","tag-desmond-bane","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-erik-spoelstra","tag-fl-state-wire","tag-florida","tag-jalen-suggs","tag-jamahl-mosley","tag-jason-kidd","tag-jeff-weltman","tag-mark-daigneault","tag-minnesota","tag-nba","tag-nba-basketball","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-magic","tag-orlando-news","tag-paolo-banchero","tag-rick-carlisle","tag-sports","tag-stan-van-gundy","tag-steve-kerr","tag-tyronn-lue"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}