Orlando Magic president Jeff Weltman dismissed head coach Jamahl Mosley on Monday, one day after the team squandered a 3–1 first-round series lead and lost Game 7 to the top-seeded Detroit Pistons.
Despite the playoff collapse, Weltman insisted he has “no reason to dismantle” the current roster. “When healthy, we were top five on defense and top ten on offense,” he said, noting that forward Franz Wagner strained his right calf in Game 4 and missed the final three games of the series.
Mosley, 47, guided Orlando for five seasons and reached the postseason in each of the last three, but the club never advanced beyond the opening round. “It seems like it is time for a new perspective, maybe a fresh voice,” Weltman explained.
Last summer the Magic traded four unprotected first-round picks, a first-round swap, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Cole Anthony to acquire guard Desmond Bane, signaling a push toward Eastern Conference contention. Injuries, particularly to Wagner, limited the group to 45 wins and an eighth-place finish that required the play-in tournament to reach the playoffs.
Weltman, who signed a contract extension before Orlando’s run to the NBA Cup final four, said the front office will keep an “open mind” during the coaching search and will not target a specific profile. “Coaches come in a lot of different shapes and sizes,” he said.
Even after the defeat to Detroit, Weltman believes the current core can compete when healthy. “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,” he added.
Source: ESPN
