NBA: Magic hope Skiles as coach will end playoff drought

Scott Skiles was named coach of the Orlando Magic on Friday, the 13-season NBA coach tasked with ending the club`s three-year run of failing to reach the playoffs.

Skiles, whose first season as a coach was for Greek side Thessaloniki in 1996-97, takes the job from which Jacque Vaughn was fired last February, one taken on an interim basis by James Borrego.

The Magic went 25-57 this past season, only a slight improvement on 23-59 the season before and 20-62 in 2012-13 but not nearly enough to satisfy fans of a team that reached the NBA Finals in 2009, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers, and 1995, losing to Houston.

Skiles, 51, has an overall NBA regular season record of 443-433 guiding Phoenix, Chicago and Milwaukee, the team from which he and club owners agreed to his resignation after a 16-16 start to the 2012-13 campaign.

Skiles has guided six teams into the playoffs, reaching the second round in 2000 with Phoenix and 2007 with Chicago.

"Scott clearly distinguished himself as a tremendous fit," Magic general manager Rob Hennigan said. "Our young roster will benefit greatly from Scott`s extensive head coaching experience and commitment to teaching smart, physical, unselfish basketball. We believe in Scott`s ability to establish a culture of winning habits and accountability that will help guide our team in a positive direction."

As a player, Skiles appeared in 600 career NBA games over 10 seasons with Milwaukee, Indiana, Orlando, Washington and Philadelphia, averaging 11.1 points, 6.5 assists and 2.5 rebounds a game. His .889 percentage from the free throw line during his career ranks as the eighth-best in NBA history.

Skiles was an original member of the Magic and played in 384 games during five seasons with Orlando from 1989-94, and in 1990 against Denver set an NBA single-game record of 30 assists that remains today.