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If the Memphis Grizzlies can fire David Fizdale with a 7-12 record this season, after going 43-39 last year...
Then the Orlando Magic can fire Frank Vogel with a 9-13 record this year, after going just 29-53 last year.
But will they?
That's the question.
Welcome to the Orlando Sports Weekly Rundown, I'm David Baumann.
Do I think Frank Vogel is in trouble?
No.
Not yet, anyway, even though Bleacher Report and The Ringer suggested he was on "the hot seat" entering the 2017-18 season.
I think Vogel is safe only because this brand new Magic front office knew that the rebuild process would take some time (both GM John Hammond and President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman joined the team this past offseason).
The difference between the Magic sticking with Vogel and the Grizzlies firing Fizdale is simple.
Memphis wanted to immediately continue their winning ways.
Let's not forget that Memphis fired Dave Joerger two years ago after he finished the year with a winning record (42-40) in the brutal West.
Still, the Fizdale firing shocked people around the league including LeBron James...
Orlando Sports News: Orlando Magic Coach On Thin Ice?
Answers to why Fizdale was fired would soon come...
Turns out, he was feuding with Grizzlies star Marc Gasol, inexplicably benching Gasol for the entire fourth quarter of the final game Fizdale coached.
Everyone knows the NBA is a players' league.
If you're a head coach and can't find a way to see eye-to-eye with your star player... you're digging your own grave.
Add to it a losing record and a lengthy losing streak (7 games)... and you're toast.
But back to Frank Vogel and the Magic.
The Magic haven't sniffed a winning season since Dwight Howard was here.
And that was an eternity ago.
With no true blockbuster offseason roster moves, winning NOW couldn't have been in the plans for the new Magic front office.
Except winning was EXACTLY what the Magic did at the start of this season.
They got off to a blazing 6-2 start!
They were right there with Boston for the top record in the East!
Fans had something to be excited about for the first time in five years!
But since mid-November, everything good that was happening came to a screeching halt.
The shots stopped dropping. Rookie Jonathan Isaac went down to an ankle injury. The team stopped hustling.
Their descent from the #2 spot to the #11 spot in the East standings was like watching a rock being thrown from the top of the Grand Canyon.
Orlando went on a 9-game losing skid -- until a quality 121-108 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday night snapped the streak.
Prior to the win, there were whispers about how many more consecutive games the Magic could lose before Vogel got sacked.
Hell, I think the Magic could have lost 5-10 more straight and Vogel STILL wouldn't be going anywhere.
The Magic can't afford to make ANOTHER coaching change.
Consider, this could be the first time in their careers that Aaron Gordon and Elfrid Payton have had the same head coach for two full seasons!
Plus, Vogel is a solid coach who only had one losing year out of six when he was with the Indiana Pacers from 2010-16.
I will say this: If the Magic go on another lengthy losing streak and completely fall out of the playoff race prior to February...
Players will get traded.
The coaches will stay in place.
David Baumann is a Sports Columnist for 407area.com and can be heard Tuesdays 7-9pm on EK Sports, 96.9 The Game FM. He can be seen Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30pm on Spectrum Sports 360's Face Off segment on Central Florida News 13, channel 1013.
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