After firing head coach Frank Vogel earlier in April, Orlando Magic are now looking to replace him with former NBA All-Star guard Jerry Stackhouse. The Magic has been reportedly interested in Stackhouse for some time now and organized an interview with him this week according to Yahoo Sport’s insider Shams Charania.
Sources: Charlotte and Orlando plan to interview Jerry Stackhouse, coach of Raptors’ G League team, for their head coach openings. Stackhouse also has interview with the Knicks this week.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 16, 2018
The only problem for Magic could be that Jerry Stackhouse, who is coaching the Toronto Raptors’ NBA G League affiliate, Raptors 905 at the moment, is currently one of the most sought-after coaching names in the NBA. Besides Orlando Magic, Stackhouse already had an interview with the New York Knicks and one other team. The advantage that the Magic could have over those other teams is their president of basketball operations, Jeff Weltman. Stackhouse is reportedly very close with him from the time when Weltman worked as the general manager for the Raptors and Stackhouse was an assistant coach.
Orlando Magic decided to fire Frank Vogel on April 12, after another disappointing season for the team. After going 29–53 in his first season with the team, Vogel did worst in 2017-18 and finished with 25-57 record, which was second-worst in the Eastern Conference.
Jerry Stackhouse played in the NBA for 18 years and had stints with several teams including Philadelphia 76ers, Detroit Pistons, and Dallas Mavericks. After retiring, he took the assistant coaching job with the Toronto Raptors in 2015, before taking over Raptors 905 in 2016. He coached the team to NBA D-League championship in his first year and was named NBA D-league coach of the year in 2017.
