Jamahl Mosley was fired as coach of the Orlando Magic earlier this week but some have come to his defense.
There were rumblings of the Orlando Magic firing coach Jamahl Mosley weeks before their season ended.
It appeared Mosley was on the way to saving his job after taking a 3-1 lead against the No. 1 seeded Detroit Pistons in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Those hopes ended when the Pistons won the last three games of the series to advance. Mosley was fired a day after.
"This was not unexpected in the league. In fact, it was expected or quite some time," ESPN insider Brian Windhorst said. "People didn't think the Magic would make it out of the Play-In and this might happen a couple of weeks ago. Then the Magic make this impressive run and push Detroit to the limit and people are wondering did Jamahl save his job? And then you blow a 3-1 lead ... Jamahl got them from a rebuilding team to a playoff team. He couldn't take them to the next level."
With that said, some have rushed to Mosley's defense. First, it was former NBA player Chandler Parsons saying the Magic were "ignorant" for the firing. Then Danny Green, who was a three-time champion, said Mosley should have been given more time. The Magic were without the injured Franz Wagner for the last three games of the series.
"Shout out to Jamal," Green said on ESPN. "I had him when I was a young pup in the league. I think he did the best he could with what he had. I don't think he had a very fair shake. There was a lot this season where he didn't have a healthy team. They were Franz Wagner away from making a run to the Eastern Conference Finals. If you have Franz Wagner, I think they win this series and possibly win the next series against Cleveland."
The Mosley era is done after five seasons. Now, the Magic have reported interest in former Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan. The next few weeks should be interesting.
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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of MagicRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com