Jacque Vaughn To Be Named Magic Coach, According To Report

Will all of this convince Howard to stay in Orlando? No.

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Hennigan, hired by the team last week to replace Otis Smith, fired the majority of the remaining members of Orlando’s basketball operations department, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Now all the team needs to do is figure out the on-court stuff, I guess.

If you’re ever part of a front office that builds a team of under-25-year-old stars that makes it to the NBA finals, you too can can get hired as an NBA general manager.

The timing of Orlando’s hire is key, with the 2012 NBA draft looming. Hennigan’s first order of business with the Magic will be overseeing the team’s selections with the Nos. 19 and 49 picks in the June 28 draft.

Howard famously waffled on his desire to remain in Orlando at the trade deadline. Eventually, the team plied him with gumdrops, and the All-NBA center waived his early termination option, leaving him under contract for the 2012-13 season.

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Hennigan, a former Spurs intern, followed a similar path as current Thunder GM Sam Presti to his position. If he wins the job, he would be the youngest general manager in the league. Lindsey has worked with the Spurs for the last five years, while Bower was well-regarded for running a team on a tight budget in New Orleans before being let go in 2010.

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The Orlando Magic front office has had its share of ups and downs over the past year, but it seems to finally be trying to get things in order. After an odd report regarding Phil Jackson and a surprise first-year head coach, Orlando’s apparently looking at more conventional routes of filling its general manager and coaching vacancies.

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Those are the parameters of a Brian Schmitz story breaking the latest Jackson rumors, and while interesting on its own, the whole thing gets much more intriguing when the other characters get involved.

It appears, as long as yours truly is correctly comprehending the story, that former NBA assistant coach turned D-League head coach turned NBA head coach turned Lebanon National Team head coach Sam Vincent was brokering the Zen Master to Orlando deal.

Van Gundy was fired after the Magic were eliminated in the first round of the NBA Playoffs for a second consecutive year. He compiled a 259-135 record in five seasons with Orlando.

For more on Van Gundy and the Magic, visit Orlando Pinstriped Post and SB Nation Tampa Bay.

The two Western Conference Finalists have become the envy of the rest of the NBA, as two relatively small-market franchises who have been able to identify talent in the draft and compete for championships without exceeding the luxury tax.

The Thunder’s GM, Sam Presti, is a disciple of Gregg Popovich and R.C. Buford in San Antonio. Front-office executives influenced by the Spurs, like Rich Cho in Charlotte, have begun to spread throughout the league.

The Magic have been given permission to interview Oklahoma City’s Troy Weaver. Weaver is currently vice president and assistant general manager for the Thunder. Orlando is reportedly interested in Oklahoma City assistant general manager Rob Hennigan as well.

Spurs assistant general manager Dennis Lindsey is also a candidate, and San Antonio is expected to give Orlando permission to interview Lindsey soon. Lindsey, who has been with San Antonio for five years, has previously been a candidate for open general manager positions in Toronto and Portland.

Until replacements are named for Smith and Van Gundy, there’s really no telling what’s going to happen regarding Howard, but that hasn’t stopped speculation from running rampant on the internet.

Former ESPN writer Chris Sheridan reported earlier this week that Howard wants to be traded now more than ever, according to his sources -- and the feeling is maybe mutual -- but sources are telling the Orlando Sentinel something altogether different.

The Van Gundy that has been out of coaching longer was given an opening by Smith to talk about his feelings regarding his brother’s firing, and unsurprisingly, Van Gundy took it and ran with it. The majority of his disgust was with Magic CEO Alex Martins, the current figurehead of the company.

“For him to have been in the office all day and the president -- Alex Martins -- knows that he’s there, but then lets him and calls him on the phone to fire him? It’s unprofessional. Just unprofessional,” Van Gundy said during the radio interview.

It seems that Sloan wants to coach in the NBA this year, regardless of location. Considering his history, there’s almost definitely going to be a team interested in his services.

It’s probably best taken with a bit of skepticism until Howard issues some sort of statement -- he hasn’t spoken to the media recently -- but former ESPN writer Chris Sheridan reports that “sources close to Howard” have indicated he wants out of Orlando ... regardless of the coaching staff.

It’ll be interesting to see what kind of public stance Howard takes on the recent developments. It was made clear during the season that Howard and Van Gundy didn’t get along, so one would assume a new coach would help matters in Orlando.

It’ll be interesting to see what the Magic decide to do ... and whether these assistants are interested in keeping Van Gundy’s assistants, considering they’ve all been given the option of staying in Orlando next season. That likely wouldn’t be as big of a problem for Malone, however, as his father Brendan was on Van Gundy’s staff last season.

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The team has already said that the first order of business will be to find a new general manager to run the head coaching search. His hands might be a bit tied, however, as CEO Alex Martins announced on Monday afternoon that the team will allow Van Gundy’s assistants to remain on staff if they’re interested.

Typically coaches prefer to build their own staffs with coaches that they are familiar with or have worked with in the past. If all five assistants stay in place, however, Van Gundy’s replacement won’t have that luxury.

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ESPN.com now reports that the story may have been largely inaccurate.

Howard has missed time with a back injury but will be re-evaluated by doctors next week to determine his health for the upcoming postseason. The strained relationship between Howard and Van Gundy has seen no shortage of media attention. That attention will likely only intensify during the playoffs.

Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel reported later on Wednesday that Van Gundy responded to the allegations in the report via a text message to the newspaper. He statement is as follows:

Heading into the postseason, the discussion of a potential conflict between Howard and Van Gundy has only heated up. Howard is currently dealing with a back injury, but we can expect this to continue to be a storyline throughout the playoffs.

Citing sources with direct knowledge of a phone call between Howard and DeVos, the report says that Howard will go to the length of sitting out for the playoffs in order to not play for Van Gundy. That would certainly be an extreme measure, but given that Howard has previously demanded a trade and reportedly asked for Van Gundy to be fired, it’s not exactly a shocking revelation.

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Wojnarowski’s source also tells him that Van Gundy came out publicly because he’s “tired of talking around it when asked.” As for Van Gundy’s immediate future, a source tells Sports Illustrated’s Sam Amick that the Magic have not yet decided to fire him for his remarks. Of course, it’s still very early in this process.

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Things later got especially awkward when Howard himself walked by the press scrum. Via Frank Isola of the New York Daily News.

The confirmation originated from a report by a local television station suggesting Howard would not sign a long-term contract extension with the Magic unless Van Gundy was removed as head coach. Howard elected not to become a free agent this summer and has just one year left on his current contract.