While Mosley is out, Magic president Jeff Weltman insists the core stays, believing the team is elite when healthy. Is a coaching change enough to get the Magic past the first round? Yankee Scores has the full breakdown.

Magic president Jeff Weltman thought it was time for a coaching shakeup and proceeded to fire Jamahl Mosley, but he assured that he did not intend to tear apart the team considering how the season ended with Orlando getting swept by Detroit in the first round.

Just one day after Orlando lost to the Detroit Pistons in seven games despite holding a 3-1 series lead and blowing an almost 24-point lead in the third quarter of the final game, Weltman fired Mosley, who coached the Magic for five years.

The Injury Factor

But Weltman explained that if the Magic had Franz Wagner, who missed Game 4 due to a strain in his right calf, healthy, Orlando would have showcased what the team can do when it has its full roster intact.

“That’s a gut punch,” Weltman said of the Magic’s first-round loss, specifically their Game 6 second-half collapse. “That is going to remain with our team this summer. We know that a lot of our season will be filtered through that lens. What happened? I can point to a lot of things. I think what happened was we were up 3-1 against the No. 1 team in the East and then Franz got hurt. It altered the series.

Statistical Strength

“… When healthy, we were top five [on] defense and top 10 [on] offense. … I think we saw some of what we had hoped to see [against Detroit]. So I don’t want to tear this thing down and dismantle it because of the way it ended and certainly one half.”

Mosley, 47, was hired to help the Magic rebuild and develop the team’s young prospects. He led Orlando to the playoffs the last three seasons but failed to get out of the first round in each of those trips.

Fresh Perspective

“It just seems like it is time for a new perspective,” Weltman said. “Maybe a fresh voice and for all of us to get a different vantage point on what is going on with our team.”

“It’s very frustrating,” Weltman said of the injuries. “But it’s also very encouraging because whenever they are together, they have been elite. I feel like there are different ways to build a team. We are built on physicality, versatility, good defensive personnel and ultimately guys that can elevate their games in the playoffs. I think what we had hoped to happen in the playoffs happened. But obviously it’s hard to outrun injuries.”

“I don’t think we look for a particular trait or quality,” Weltman said. “Coaches come in a lot of different shapes and sizes. Someone who can look at our team that can help us move forward and understands where we are on our timeline, try to get past the growth stages of the rebuild. … I don’t have a box to say that we want the next coach to come out of this box.”

Elite Potential

“Had we stayed healthy, I’d like to imagine where we would have gone in this series and beyond,” Weltman said. “I think when you build a team for the playoffs, you try to construct a roster that has the attributes that we have. It’s not easy to get the positional versatility, guys that can elevate their games when it matters the most. The physicality, a lot of the way that we are built is designed to be successful in the playoffs.

“Unfortunately we didn’t see a lot of that. But when healthy, we got a pretty good look at that. I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t have competed against anyone else in the East if we could compete against the No. 1 team like that.”