ORLANDO, Fla. — Steve Clifford just got off the golf course the other day and talked about how much his game is improving.
Well, sort of.
“I just played 18 holes and I still suck,” Clifford said during a phone interview with the Orlando Sentinel. “But I don’t suck as badly as I did two weeks ago. How’s that for progress?”
Clifford then busted out laughing — an obvious indication that the stress over his recent breakup with the Orlando Magic has quickly subsided.
Even though Clifford admitted he threw a club in frustration during his most recent round of golf; a bad chip shot clearly isn’t causing him as much consternation as coaching a bad NBA team. Which is why he is no longer the head coach of the Orlando Magic.
In his first interview since his surprising departure as the Magic’s head coach last month, Clifford says he has no ill will whatsoever over the philosophical differences with Magic management and the mutual parting of the ways. In fact, he praised his working relationship with Jeff Weltman, the Magic’s president of basketball operations, and team general manager John Hammond.
“This was not some disjointed departure where we didn’t like each other,” Clifford says. “I got along well with Jeff and John. I feel very comfortable in saying Jeff, John and I worked well together and that we had a good relationship. This was more of what Jeff said when he talked about ‘alignment.’ That’s what it was about. Our goals did not align. I just didn’t want to spend another year …”
And his voice trails off.
Let me complete the sentence.
Steve Clifford did not want to spend another year where winning wasn’t the main goal.
It’s no secret that when Clifford was hired by the Magic three years ago, his edict was to win and win immediately. The Magic had endured six consecutive seasons of miserable losing and Clifford — a coach who is renowned for making chicken salad out of chicken spit — was hired to develop the limited talent on hand and get the team back into the playoffs as quickly as possible. He did exactly that in his first season when the Magic went 42-40, won a division title and made the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons.
Center Nikola Vucevic became an All-Star for the first time in Clifford’s inaugural season and Jonathan Isaac seemingly was about to blossom into a star. But after the Magic made the playoffs again in Clifford’s second season, we all know what happened next: An epidemic of injuries this season spurred Weltman into blowing up the roster and altering the entire course of the organization.
Clifford said tanks, but no tanks to a total rebuild. And that’s when the “alignment” issues between the coach and front office came to a head.
Although Clifford won’t get into any specifics about the disagreement between his philosophy and Weltman’s, it’s pretty easy to figure out. Clifford did not want to trade Vucevic and start all over again; Weltman did.
It’s the classic dilemma between team presidents/general managers and coaches. Coaches are judged on winning games; GMs are judged on drafting players. And, so, GMs want to roll the dice to acquire more draft picks that perhaps will give them a chance to build a great team down the road. Coaches want more proven players that will help them win games now. And, sometimes, GMs want coaches to play the young players when coaches just want to play the best players.
All you have to do is listen to one of Clifford’s closest friends and former boss, Stan Van Gundy, who just parted ways with the New Orleans Pelicans after only one season. Van Gundy said a few days ago on the “Stupodity” podcast that he felt the Pelicans roster was too young and that he and Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin “looked at coaching entirely different.”
Weltman pretty much admitted on the day he announced Clifford’s departure that these were the same type of philosophical “alignment” differences he was having with Clifford.
“I respect Cliff for the fact he can assess where he is in his career,” Weltman said then. “There has to be alignment in everything you do in this league. If there is not alignment, it undermines everything. … If Cliff is questioning whether the positioning of our team aligns with his own career positioning then he probably is not the right guy at that point.”
And, so, now Clifford waits for his next coaching opportunity. It appeared he was one of the leading candidates to get the Indiana Pacers head-coaching job and even had an interview set up until the Dallas Mavericks parted ways with Rick Carlisle. Indiana almost immediately snatched up Carlisle, who coached the Pacers to three playoff appearances, including the conference finals, when he was with the organization from 2003-2007.
“I was a little disappointed (at not getting the Pacers job), but Rick was a great hire for them” Clifford says. “Hell, I would have hired him, too, if I were them. He’s a great coach and did a tremendous job when he coached there before.”
As for Clifford, his immediate plans are to either take off next season or perhaps do some consulting work and wait for something to open up after next season.
“I hope to be a head coach again and that’s why I want to use this next period of time as productively as I can to grow as coach,” Clifford says. “I’m hopeful about getting another opportunity. If I have go back to be a bench assistant to do that, I would be willing to do that in the right situation.”
I believe Steve Clifford is one of best tacticians and teachers in the NBA.
Here’s hoping he gets another chance to prove it.
He’s too good a coach — and too bad a golfer — not to.
