Eastern Notes: Vaughn, Pistons, Bucks, Knicks

The Magic believed as recently as a month ago that youth and inexperience were to blame for the team’s struggles, but it’s no longer that the Magic are losing that troubles club officials; it’s how they’re losing, writes Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. Still, Jacque Vaughn remains unmoved amid reports he’s close to losing his job.

“I do my job every day,” Vaughn said today. “I don’t abide by the tyranny of other people’s attitudes and moods. I’m ready to rock ‘n’ roll.”

There’s more on the Magic amid the latest around the Eastern Conference:

  • The Pistons view a trade as their preferred method to find a point guard to compensate for the loss of the injured Brandon Jennings, tweets David Mayo of MLive. Signing a D-Leaguer is Plan B, Mayo adds. Stan Van Gundy is now saying Monday is the earliest day the team would make any such move as he keeps pushing back the timeline, Mayo notes.
  • Coach Jason Kidd has offered Kenyon Martin a chance to remain with the Bucks for next year as an assistant coach, a source tells David Alarcón of HoopsHype (Twitter link; translation via HoopsHype). Martin signed a deal Thursday that keeps him with Milwaukee as a player through the end of the season.
  • Some of the Magic‘s veteran acquisitions from this past offseason began questioning the on-court decision-making, and the doubt spread to some of Orlando’s younger players as the team failed to gain confidence in Vaughn, writes Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. Vaughn didn’t earn his team’s trust, Kyler believes, but the Magic nonetheless dealt the coach a losing hand, as Kyler also opines.
  • The Knicks have sent Cleanthony Early to the D-League, the team announced. The assignment is to allow the rookie to work on his conditioning following knee surgery, but he’s expected back with the big club by Sunday, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post (Twitter links).
  • The Celtics recalled Andre Dawkins from the D-League on Thursday only to quickly send him down again, the team announced in a pair of tweets. The team brought the 10-day signee up to Boston merely for a practice, as Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com details.
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