Clifford ready for next chapter
The Hornets are seeking a head coach and Celtics assistant Charles Lee
is a candidate, after Steve Clifford
agreed to step down and accept a front office position. The Hornets were 48116 in two seasons in Clifford’s second tenure.
His teams were besieged by injuries to players such as LaMelo Ball, Mark Williams, and Gordon Hayward, and then the domestic assault suspension of Miles Bridges. Still, Clifford said he thoroughly enjoyed coaching the Hornets’ younger core and attempting to foster their growth. Brandon Miller finished as a Rookie of the Year candidate, and Williams is a staple in the middle. The Hornets have to hope Ball can play a full season, and that they can capitalize on yet another lottery pick.
“The one thing that we really tried hard to do, we played eight in a row at home against really good teams, and I thought our guys were great,” Clifford said of his final days as coach. “We’re out of it, they’re not meaningful games. We were competitive in every game. I like our guys, and injuries have been beyond our control, but still they’ve hung in there. We played a really good game against Cleveland and beat them; we played a really good game against Orlando and beat them.
“I want them to learn from this. We have younger guys that continue to grow, and in terms of not coaching, I have it in my mind because I’m at that age unfortunately that I have a lot of friends who retired in the last couple of years. The one thing I do know, you have to move on. I’m not going to dwell on things. Three years ago, I didn’t know if I’d get another chance. When I got this job, I thought this is finally my chance with a roster that you know what, we could be a top-four or -five team. I never really coached a team like that. And the injuries, we were 29th in injuries last year and 29th this year, it’s kind of taken that away. Yet I loved it. I’m glad I coached these guys. And I’m looking forward to this next part, so what I’m telling myself now is I’m just going to look forward.”
Clifford will work with new general manager Jeff Peterson, and the hope is his knowledge can boost a franchise that’s made some questionable drafting and free agent decisions in recent years.
“I’m interested to learn,” Clifford said. “I have a relationship with Jeff Peterson when I did the consultant thing in Brooklyn. Jeff ’s great and we got along well then and I learned a lot from him. So, I’m kind of interested instead of just being at the draft, being at the draft meetings, being at the free agent meetings, and see how things work and maybe I’ll like it.”
Clifford had nothing but compliments for former staff mate Jeff Van Gundy, who is a consultant for the Celtics. Clifford filled the same role a few years ago with the Nets.
“The consulting thing is tricky because I did it one year, and I believe if you do it the wrong way, you can actually be a negative,” Clifford said. “And if you do it the right way, you can be very much a positive. A consultant in our league, you have to be careful. Everybody has really good coaches and the players are the best in the world. And to think that anybody’s going to come in and be more of an expert on the players that you’re working with or the teams that they’ve been doing than the coaches who are already there have been doing, that’s crazy to me. You have to pick your spots and figure out what areas you can most help in, and that’s what he’s doing.”