Clifford out as Magic coach after 3 seasons

Steve Clifford and the Orlando Magic took some time after the season to rest, recover and contemplate the future.

And after a couple weeks, they decided the fit wasn't right anymore.

Orlando's rebuilding project will no longer include Clifford, after he and the Magic completed an agreement Saturday to end his three-year run with the club. Magic President Jeff Weltman stressed that it was a mutual decision and he respected Clifford for being able to “assess where he is in his career.“

“Obviously, we've repositioned our team,“Weltman said. “And so, there has to be alignment. There has to be alignment in everything you do in this league. And if there's not alignment, it'll undermine everything.“

That alignment clearly didn't seem to be there. Weltman indicated that Clifford — who will turn 60 before next season starts — decided he wasn't the right coach to lead the Magic through what may be serious growing pains with a young group.

“The ‘why' is quite simple here: alignment,“Weltman said. “And if Cliff is questioning whether the positioning of our team kind of aligns with his own career positioning, then he's probably not the right guy at that point. I appreciate the fact that Cliff can look himself in the mirror and have those conversations with himself because I don't think a whole lot of people can do that.“

Orlando becomes the third current coaching opening in the NBA, following Brad Stevens being promoted to president of the Boston Celtics and Portland's move Friday to seek a new coach after Terry Stotts held that role for nine seasons.

Jobs coming open didn't affect the Magic timetable, Weltman said. He also didn't say if the team has a target date for a hire. For now, the assistant coaches — a group that includes Ty Corbin, Steve Hetzel and Pat Delany — remain in place, and it wouldn't be surprising if some got at least a meeting with the Magic during the interview process.

Clifford was 96-131 in those three seasons, though that record is a bit misleading given how many injuries the team dealt with this season. Orlando went to the playoffs in 2019 and 2020 under Clifford, its first postseason trips since a run of six straight ended in 2012.

“It's the toughest season I've ever been through,” Clifford said as the season ended.

Orlando was 21-51 this season, and Clifford missed some games near the end of the season after testing positive for COVID-19. He had been vaccinated just as the positive test results came back, was asymptomatic and returned for the season's final few days.

Stotts, Trail Blazers mutually part ways

Following months of speculation and another early exit from the playoffs, the Portland Trail Blazers and coach Terry Stotts parted ways Friday.

Stotts, 63, was one of the NBA's longest-tenured coaches, compiling a 402-318 (.558) record over nine seasons and leading Portland to the playoffs each of the past eight years. The Blazers peaked under Stotts with a surprising run to the 2019 Western Conference finals, but they lost in the first round in four of the past five seasons.

His departure, termed a mutual decision, came one day after the Blazers were eliminated by the Denver Nuggets in six games. Stotts had one guaranteed year remaining on a contract extension that he signed in 2019.

“This was a difficult decision on both a personal and professional level but it's in the best interest of the franchise to move in another direction,” Blazers President Neil Olshey said in a statement, hailing Stotts for his “integrity, professionalism and consistency.”

Stotts finished with the second-most regular season wins in franchise history, trailing only Jack Ramsay (453). Stotts also coached Atlanta and Milwaukee and spent time as an assistant with Golden State, Seattle and Dallas.

Clifford