Orlando Magic: Would hiring David Fizdale change anything?

The Orlando Magic have been in free fall recently, and head coach David Fizdale has become available at the same time. Would they be the perfect match?

Despite an impressive win against an Oklahoma City Thunder team still trying to figure out who they are, November was a tough month for the Orlando Magic.

Although they headed into a stretch that saw them play eight out of 10 games on the road, both the fans and organization were optimistic about how the team would fare. Now out the other side, all concerned must feel like they were sucker-punched in the jaw with the way some of those defeats came about.

While a new month brings renewed optimism, the most concerning aspect of the nine-game losing streak was the way the team slipped into bad habits from last season — namely, mailing in quarters and playing with a lack of effort for games at a time.

Now, head coach Frank Vogel has done a good job since taking over last year. He really shouldn’t be on the hot seat, not with tangible proof that players are improving under his watch. But with David Fizdale now available, would he do a better job for the Magic?

Fizdale was unceremoniously sacked as the head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies earlier in the week, despite doing a great job there with at times limited resources.

Fizdale came in right at the end of the team’s Grit-N-Grind heyday, and was expected to transition the Grizzlies into a new era more in line with the way the modern NBA is trending.

To an outsider at least, he largely managed to achieve this in his one season and change in charge. This, despite star guard Mike Conley missing time both this year and last with injury. Tony Allen and Zach Randolph, two veterans who embodied the Grizzlies way, both left the team when the year was done too.

This left the burden of carrying this team in the West to the fantastic Marc Gasol. The three-time All-Star responded by getting the team to the playoffs, and diversifying his game too. He took 268 3-pointers last year (and has taken 90 this season), compared to the 66 he attempted throughout the first eight years of his career.

Even better, Gasol shot 38.8 percent from deep last season too. Fizdale couldn’t take those shots for him, but he helped to modernize the team’s offense. The 35.4 percent they shot from deep as a team may have only been the 17th best mark in the league last season, but it was progress.

If Fizdale joined the Magic tomorrow then, what could he do for this team that Vogel already hasn’t? After all, they’re a much better offensive team this season as it is.

Vogel’s continuity with the team has paid dividends, with the Magic looking much more comfortable playing on both sides of the ball because they know what their head coach wants.

Elfrid Payton for example, in his fourth year with the team, is currently playing under his third head coach in that span in Vogel.

It has taken five-plus years, but they finally have an identity and surprisingly, it consists of going at teams offensively right out of the gate. Tossing Vogel out now, disregarding the really encouraging signs we saw earlier in the season, would appear to be such a shortsighted move.

But yet the question still lingers. If a better head coach is available for a team that has made no secret of their desire to return to the playoffs, why not go for it?

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The Grizzlies might be 7-13, but they started the season well and are a tough out no matter when a team plays them.

Consider this as well. Beyond Conley (who played no more than 70 games a season his last four years) and Gasol (33 years old), who is their third-best player?

That’s likely Sixth Man of the Year candidate Tyreke Evans. Fizdale was working with a shorthanded roster and injury issues, and still managed to help Evans find form once again.

If he was at the helm as Gasol transformed into a true offensive savant, imagine what he could do with Nikola Vucevic.

Fizdale was apparently removed from his post because of a combination of two factors. The first was losing eight straight games, and the second was benching Gasol for the fourth quarter of the team’s embarrassing loss to the Brooklyn Nets.

Already this season Vogel has lost nine straight games, and although it was during a tough run of games for the team, it should be noted — especially given the manner in which they lost.

A 40-point home loss to the Rudy Gobert-less Utah Jazz was the low point, and you have to wonder if this is where the team is still at on any given night. How much have they really improved?

Benching Gasol was a bold move that likely saw Fizdale fired, but as an assistant coach with the Miami Heat for two championship teams, he’s dealt with superstars before.

Maybe it wasn’t the right move, but it was a bold one. Could the same be said for Vogel and his reluctance to tinker with his starting lineup too much during their poor run of form?

All of which is to say the timing might be off, but there’s actually a lot to be said for the Orlando Magic hiring David Fizdale as their head coach.

If anything, his reputation has only been enhanced by the injustice that was perceived to have been done to him by his former employers.

Next: 2017-18 Week 7 NBA Power Rankings

We might just have to wonder what he might have been able to do with a young and impressionable Magic outfit that is continuing to find ways to improve.