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When someone in upper management gives a head coach and a GM an endorsement it usually means there’s a press conference coming soon that will announce one or both of the endorsed parties is now unemployed. Orlando Magic CEO Bob Vander Weide gave head coach Stan Van Gundy and GM Otis Smith a vote of confidence earlier this week, saying neither was in jeopardy, but of course, that was when the team was still in the playoffs. Kind of a lot’s happened since then.

Since then the Magic, who have been championship hopefuls for the last three seasons, were summarily dismissed from the playoffs in the first round . . .to a team they destroyed in the first round last year, no less. Since then the Atlanta Hawks have made no major changes save a move to replace Mike Bibby with Kirk Hinrich as their starting point guard, and Hinrich was little more than a bit player in these proceedings. The loss was, then, a clear sign of just how many steps backwards the Magic took over the last year, and you can bet someone’s going to have to pay. You can’t open up a brand new arena and promise your fans you’ll get back to the Finals and then fall out in the first round without some kind of additional fall out.

Sources close to the situation say Otis Smith is really safe for now, so that leaves Stan Van Gundy as the person most likely to be sacrificed on the altar of unrealized potential.

If Van Gundy is, indeed, sacrificed to save Smith’s job, he won’t be unemployed for long. In fact, he could be on a plane to Houston right after leaving the press conference to announce his dismissal. The Rockets have made no secret of their interest in the Magic coach, and should be become available he would jump to the front of a very long line of candidates currently under consideration by the Rockets.

Houston’s coach search has included some interesting names of late. A couple of members of the team’s two championship teams have joined the list of assistant coaches who have made the list. Sam Cassell and Mario Elie both have championship credentials in Houston, and both are now among the ranks of assistant coaches. Elie served as an assistant to Paul Westphal in Sacramento and Cassell has been learning the ropes under Flip Saunders in Washington. Former Atlanta Hawks head coach also interviewed with the Rockets, a team he played for during his career as a player. Also on Houston’s list are former Rick Adelman assistants Elston Turner and Jack Sikma, as well as Dallas Mavericks assistant and former Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Dwane Casey, former Timberwolves GM and head coach Kevin McHale, and Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Kelvin Sampson. The Rockets are also interested in former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown, who has not yet thrown his name back into the coaching ring.

Of all those names, Van Gundy’s may rise to the top should he become available. First, he has championship experience, having lost in the Finals as head coach of the Magic and served on Pat Riley’s staff when the Miami HEAT won their title in 2006. Second, should Dwight Howard become available, either via trade or through free agency, Van Gundy could help the Rockets get a meeting with the one player they covet above all others.

It remains to be seen whether or not Van Gundy will be the one sacrificed in Orlando, but his status will almost certainly play a role in the Houston Rockets’ coaching search. They’d like to have someone in place before the draft, but they’ve also emphasized that they want the right person more than they want to just fill the job. Many in the organization believe Van Gundy would be the right person.

D’Antoni Getting Defensive?

For at least the second time in Mike D’Antoni’s coaching career he’s being asked to put more emphasis on the defensive end of the floor. When he was the head coach of the Phoenix Suns then-GM Steve Kerr suggested he add Tom Thibodeau (now head coach of the Chicago Bulls) to his staff because Thibs had a reputation as being the best defensive assistant coach in the league. Now, he’s hearing the same suggestion from management in New York.

The suggestion is good news for D’Antoni, who was thought to be on the hot seat even before his Knicks were swept out of the first round of the playoffs by the Boston Celtics. The suggestion represents a guarantee that he’ll still be the head coach of the team when the curtain goes up on 2011-12, something no one was taking for granted. It is also, however, a clear indication that the Knicks front office isn’t entirely pleased with the progress of the team, the onus for some of which must also lay on the front office folks themselves.

NBA fans in Denver got a good chuckle when it was reported that Mike D’Antoni said he wasn’t pleased with Carmelo Anthony’s defense. It was one of the first times Nuggets fans had ever heard the words "Carmelo" and "defense" in the same sentence. There has also been talk in New York about Amar’e Stoudemire’s own shortcomings on the defensive end, which have a lot to do with the fact that his formative years in the league were under D’Antoni in Phoenix, where he was never asked to play defense. D’Antoni may finally be realizing the merits of having his team participate in the defensive end of the floor, but that doesn’t mean he can just flip a switch and have the players respond. To be a top defensive team you must have great defensive players, and right now the only great defensive player in New York is Chauncey Billups . . .who isn’t getting any younger.

There’s a chance that Mike D’Antoni isn’t the right coach to take the Knicks deep into the playoffs, but before that determination is made the front office has to do their part to forward the effort. D’Antoni needs a Shane Battier type, someone who is veteran enough to command the respect of Stoudemire and Anthony, and who has a well-established reputation for defense. And then, yes, he needs a defensive-minded assistant coach on his staff to spearhead the movement towards being a top defensive team.

Frank Isola of the New York Daily News even offered up a solid list of candidates today: Memphis assistant Dave Joerger, Orlando’s Steve Clifford, Portland’s Bill Bayno and Chicago’s Ron Adams are all regarded as top defensive coaches. Another possibility for the Knicks is Thibodeau’s replacement in Boston, Lawrence Frank, the former Nets’ coach. Frank’s contract expires this summer.

The Knicks made some significant strides forward this season, from signing Stoudemire to trading for Anthony to making the playoffs, but there is still plenty of work to do . . .most of it on the defensive end. Whether or not that means Mike D’Antoni is the long-term coach of the Knicks remains to be seen, but he is certainly the coach for the foreseeable future.

Vote of Confidence For Vogel

It’s never easy to fire a head coach mid-season, and in the case of the Indiana Pacers the decision to fire Jim O’Brien was even more difficult. O’Brien, after all, was part of the original brain trust that helped develop the team’s five-year rebuilding plan. As much as team president Larry Bird and GM David Morway were the masterminds behind the scenes, O’Brien was the one on the ground every day, molding the Pacers into the team he, Bird and Morway believed they would become.

{AUTHOR_BOX}Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned from a coaching standpoint, and Morway and Bird came to think that the Pacers were better on paper than their schedule said they were. There were questions about how Hibbert was being used, whether or not the power forward position was being utilized effectively, and even whether or not Darren Collison was being too tightly controlled. And so, on January 30th and with his team sporting a 17-27 record, O’Brien was relieved of his head coaching duties.

The impact was almost immediate. The Pacers won seven of their next eight games after losing seven of their previous eight, and were three games over .500 for the month of February. They went on to finish out the season with a record of 20-18 under Vogel, making the playoffs for the first time since 2005-06. They lost to the top-seeded Chicago Bulls in the first round, but even with that disappointment there were plenty of positives for the team after Frank Vogel took the reins. It seems likely that he earned himself a shot at being the long-term coach of the team.

"One thing I learned the last three months is that I can do this," Vogel tells the Associated Press. "I’m confident in my leadership abilities, my management abilities, my coaching abilities. It’s been an honor to coach the last few months, it would be an honor to coach in the future."

For his part, Bird stopped short of endorsing Vogel, but said he liked the positive energy Vogel brought to the team.

"I think Frank did an excellent job, stepping in without the experience of a head coaching job. The way he conducted himself, he brought positive energy to this team. We won more games than we lost. We did it with a young team, a team that’s trying to grow."

In particular, Vogel put more emphasis on Tyler Hansbrough and Paul George, who were both starting by the end of the season, and both of whom played well in the playoffs. They had success, but Vogel firmly believes they have plenty more room to grow.

"I was hopeful it would work better, to be honest with you," he said. "I thought we could have made a serious run this year. This group has a high ceiling. A high ceiling for what they can achieve in the future."

Vogel may not have a new contract yet, but he does have the support of his players and a solid second half run to show for his brief time as the Pacers’ head coach. There are more experienced head coaches available, but there’s something to be said for the consistency and confidence bringing Vogel back would instill in his young charges. Experienced or not, Frank Vogel might just be the right man for the job going forward.

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