Cheers to Steve Clifford

[TinmanZBoy]

One of my best treats in watching NBA is to watch and listen coach Clifford dissecting games in postgame interviews... he is so knowledgeable and respectful ...

[Skin]

He's done a good job and he has a formula that he chases, but I'm withholding full judgement until I see how he develops Bamba, Isaac, Gordon, Fultz and our new rookies.

[Xatticus]

"doesn't play young guys"

hah

Old is 2 players: Mozgov = 32; Augustin = 31
Prime is 6 players: Vučević = 28; Ross = 28; Carter-Williams = 27; Birch = 26; Fournier = 26; Grant = 26
Young is 7 players*:Iwundu = 24; Martin = 24; Gordon = 23; Frazier = 22; Isaac = 21; Bamba = 20; Fultz = 20

* = Briscoe is 22 and the TW players are Jefferson = 25; Caupain = 23

The Magic started the season as the 5th youngest by average age. So: All Coach Clifford does is "play young guys" as the roster is youthful.


..

No you're right. I just remember reading that loads. But he also showed a lot of faith in JI this year and Bamba was getting steady minutes before he went down.

But yes, it's a super young team.

It's not really a very young team. The roster just doesn't have much in the way of veterans to skew the average age of the roster upward. Hennigan always had a couple old guys on the roster in an effort to balance the composition of the roster. That's actually pretty common for young teams. For example: the Suns went into the season with Ariza, Chandler, Crawford, and Anderson on their roster. Their roster is otherwise substantially younger than our own. Likewise, carrying a couple young guys on the end of the bench can skew the average age downward. What's relevant is the composition of the playing time and usage distribution.

The only example that I think you can reasonably point to that defends Clifford on this point was his commitment to Bamba in the rotation despite his struggles. Birch was always the more effective player, but Bamba remained in the rotation until he was ruled out through injury. Clifford gave a lot of minutes to Grant over Briscoe and to Simmons over Iwundu even though the bench was exceptionally poor while both of those players were in the rotation. Further, even though Isaac has remained in the starting lineup, Ross has replaced him on the floor for the meaningful minutes in the end of half and end of game situations.

[pepe1991]

"doesn't play young guys"

hah

Not like he had chance not to