Scott Skiles has a reputation to uphold.
For 13 years, Skiles has established himself as something of a defensive guru. Or at least a resurrector of latent defensive tendencies.
The thing Skiles was most expected to do was change the Magic’s defense. The one that ranked 25th in the league in defensive rating. For the Magic to get anywhere and improve in any meaningful way, it would have to start with the defense.
The Magic were OK defensively through the preseason. But that is preseason anyway. Not much a signal of anything.