Steve Clifford did the job he was hired to do.
But he was unwilling to do the job he wasn’t hired to do.
And that is why he is no longer the head coach of the rebuilding, overhauling, starting-from-scratch Orlando Magic.
You know this franchise is likely light years away from winning again when a sitting NBA head coach essentially gives up his multi-million-dollar job, tells management he’s not really interested in a lucrative contract extension and instead decides he’d rather leave than lose. Judging from the Magic’s portrayal of the shocking announcement of a “mutual” parting of the ways with Clifford on Saturday, it sure sounds like this was more Clifford’s decision than the Magic’s.
Normally, when there is a coaching change in the NBA, it is simply the organization deciding to fire the coach because said coach isn’t doing a good enough job. This certainly doesn’t seem to be the case here. Jeff Weltman, the Magic’s president of basketball operations, said after the season that Clifford and his staff did an “amazing job” during an injury-ravaged season that unexpectedly morphed into another Magic rebuild and the stunning decision at the NBA trade deadline to deal the team’s best veterans — two-time All-Star Nikola Vucevic, Evan Fournier and Aaron Gordon — for unproven young players and draft picks.
Clifford obviously decided that it would be coaching suicide if he stayed in Orlando. When you think about it, this is actually a brilliant career move for Clifford, who is 59 years old and seemingly came to the realization that the Magic’s timetable simply didn’t match the timetable he has for what he wants accomplish in the NBA. As Weltman said Saturday, “We appreciate the many sacrifices he [Clifford] has made as our head coach and understand the timeline of our new path does not align with his goals as a head coach in our league.
“If Cliff is questioning whether the positioning of our team aligns with his own career positioning, then he’s probably not the right guy at that point,” Weltman added. “I appreciate the fact that Cliff would look himself in the mirror and have those conversations with himself because I don’t think a whole lot of people would do that.”
Clifford’s conversations with himself probably went something like this: “Hey, Self, you are considered one of the NBA’s best tacticians and strategists — a coach who somehow manages to hold players accountable while still earning their respect. Your history as a head coach is that when you take over a team, the team improves dramatically and quickly. Maybe you should do something you’ve never done before; take over a team that’s already pretty good!!!”
Clifford is no doubt going to pursue a job with a team built to win and win now. In fact, two ousted playoff teams with superstar players — the Portland Trailblazers and the Boston Celtics — currently are looking for head coaches and Clifford should be a prime candidate. Because of the peculiar timing of the Magic’s announcement, it would not be shocking to me if Clifford already has another job lined up.
And let’s be honest, shall we? Parting ways with the Magic can be a great career move. Just ask Clifford predecessor Frank Vogel, who was fired by the Magic after the 2018 season and won a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers last season. Or Doc Rivers, who was fired by the Magic in 2003 and then won a championship with the Boston Celtics and might win another one this year with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Yes, Clifford could have easily signed an extension with the Magic and got his teeth kicked in for three years while the Magic overhaul their roster before he eventually got fired. It’s no secret that the head coach who begins a total rebuild rarely survives to see the fruits of his labor — if, in fact, there are any fruits of his labor.
Weltman’s strategy is a common one: Lose big now so you can win big later. While this is the accepted way of rebuilding in the NBA, it is still a longshot. Clifford, it seems, simply wasn’t willing to roll the dice on the rest of his career by betting that this latest iteration of a Magic rebuild was actually going to work. And who can blame him? After all, this isn’t what he signed up for.
When he was hired by the Magic in 2018 after their six consecutive seasons of unprecedented losing, the edict was clear: Develop the talent on hand and get back into the playoffs as quickly as possible. And that’s exactly what he did. In his first season, the Magic went 42-40, won a division title and made the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons.
It appeared the Magic were on their way to becoming a factor in the Eastern Conference. 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 then the epidemic of injuries altered the entire course of the organization.
Even though the Magic made the playoffs again in Clifford’s second season, Isaac missed most of the season with a leg injury and then blew out his knee in the playoffs. Consequently, he missed all of this season while rehabbing his surgically repaired knee — a devastating blow that was compounded when starting point guard Markelle Fultz was sidelined after he also blew out his knee early in the season.
The rest, of course, is history — the Magic’s mostly hapless, hopeless history since the ill-fated Dwightmare of almost a decade ago.
That’s when the Magic fired the franchise’s greatest coach, Stan Van Gundy, and embarked on another total rebuild. Ironically, Clifford was once an assistant on Van Gundy’s Magic coaching staff and considers Van Gundy to be one of his mentors and confidantes.
It should be noted that one of the reasons the Magic parted ways with Van Gundy is because they felt he would not sign off on a total tank job.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Here we are nearly 10 years later and the Magic have parted ways with another good coach who told the team that he was hired to win games, not lose them.
Steve Clifford’s message to the Magic came in loud and clear on Saturday:
Tanks, but no tanks.
