Steve Clifford Introductory Press Conference 1pm ET

[Knightro]

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Watch Live: https://www.nba.com/magic/live

Opening Remarks
President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman: This is a great day for the Orlando Magic. I'd like to say thank you to the DeVos family and Alex for allowing us to take the long, steady approach to this process. I think it's very important that we go through it the right way so we come out the right end. When John and I were last conducting a coaching search together in Milwaukee five years ago, one of the names we stumbled upon was a guy who had never been a head coach before. It was Steve Clifford. We brought him in and he blew us away. He was so prepared and passionate. Really thorough in every aspect; in how he approaches player development, X's and Os, game management, organizational abilities, everything. We called his agent to request a second interview and the next day the Charlotte Hornets signed him. He didn't know it, but he's been a marked man every since that day. I sit here five years later and I'm thrilled to announce the next head coach of the Orlando Magic, Steve Clifford.

Head Coach Steve Clifford: The players should be clapping more *laughs*. It's great to be here. I also want to start by thanking the DeVos family. We had a great meeting with them last night. To be honest, it warms your heart to spend time with them and I forgot what a great ownership group they are. That's where everything starts in this league. I'm a firm believer that team chemistry starts with organizational chemistry and that always starts with ownership. Last time I was here, they were so supportive and unbelievably committed to what we did. They have high expectations of how we all represent them off the court and also great expectations of what we do on the court which is what this league is all about. Next, I want to thank Jeff, John and Alex for their confidence in me and the opportunity to come back here and be part of this organization again. I've had 18 great years in this league, I've enjoyed every year. But none more than the five years here. It started with the working relationship on the basketball side. I'm so convinced in the philosophy Jeff and John have shared with me, it's so much in line with what I believe. I believe this is going to be a great opportunity for me to not only do well as a head coach, but also grow and learn from them. A bigger part of that is the relationship and the synergy, chemistry and togetherness the basketball side had with the business side. It's great to be here and I'm excited to get started.

Questions
Mike Bianchi - Orlando Sentinel/96.9 The Game: This is for Jeff. The Magic have had a lot the turnover at the coaching spot over the last several years, how important was it to establish some stability at that position?

Weltman: I think it's crucial. 5th coach in 7 years. It's very important we start to establish our identity, create a through line and be able to build on something that doesn't get turned over every season. That was a big part of what we were looking for as we went into this search. Someone who we thought we could build and grow with and would have a long life philosophically and organizationally with the team.


Josh Robbins - Orlando Sentinel: Why did the coaching search take as long as it did and what specific qualities in Steve Clifford did you see?

Weltman: You think about all the different cycles we go through over the course of an NBA season. Things that we look for. You don't control the draft. There's a deadline, there are agents controlling information. You don't control the trade deadline, there's a date, there are other teams that have their own agendas and don't always make it easy on you. Very few times do you encounter a process that you as a team get to control. This is perhaps the most important thing a team does, hiring a coach. We needed to control this process to where we felt comfortable that we were making a hugely important decision for our organization and making the right one. I want to thank John (Hammond) lurking in the back of the room because I wore him out. I asked him the same questions again and again and again because I believe thats how you find the right answers. As we come through the whole process, we're here at the end, and I'm thrilled at the result. A deliberate approach, interviewing people of interest. Sometimes you might have an interview with someone else that brings back another question about one of the other candidates. Just to be very thoughtful and deliberate. There's no reason to rush this. Let's get it right. As to the qualities in Steve Clifford, I think it's very unique to find someone who is philosophically aligned with you, who has a Swiss army knife skill set and also has a proven track record. I'm not betting on something I don't know. Steve Clifford has proven himself to be an elite level NBA coach in addition to having great personal skills, player development abilities, all the organizational bullet points we hoped to address.


Dan Savage - OrlandoMagic.com: How much did your first stint in Orlando shape your coaching career and how fondly do you look back on those times?

Clifford: Very fond years. Playing in a Final was the most exciting year I've ever had in the NBA. The next year playing in the Eastern Conference Finals. I believe we won 58 or 59 two years in a row. Great group of players, very professional and very committed. I loved working for Stan and I loved the staff. Again, it started with ownership and their commitment. There was such a great energy level throughout the city and the organization. That part of it I enjoyed. The second part, and frankly I don't think we get enough credit for this, but a lot of this "4 out" it was started with that team. We were one of the first teams that started playing "4 out". That came really took place when Tony Battie hurt his shoulder, he was going to start at the 4. When Rashard Lewis signed as a free agent, his big thing was he didn't want to play the 4, he wanted to be a 3 man. I remember Stan brought him in and told him "Rashard if you'll play the 4, it's going to be hard for you, but I think we can be really good". He said "if that's what it's going to take to win, I'll play the 4". It changed our whole time here. That was the move that set the tone. After that, we didn't play anybody that couldn't shoot threes. Dwight and Gortat rolling and everyone else spaced out. It was a great lesson for all of us.


Jamie Seh - News 6: From your experience leading the Hornets against the Magic, what's your opinion on the roster you inherit right now?

Clifford: I'm not going to back away from that question, but the old saying in the NBA, and it's so true, is "you never know a player until you coach them". I'm going to start to attempt to establish the right kind of relationships with these guys tonight and tomorrow because I want to get to know them. But there's a difference between being able to impact a player just coaching them. I want to be able to impact each one of these guys in the right way. They're all accomplished players, they're the best players in the world. If you want to gain the right type of credibility so you can have the right type of impact on them, the type of partnership where the two of you come to a common place on how they have to play to play well and the team can function well when they're on the floor. I need to be up to speed and an absolute expert on their game and I'm not that yet. I've coached against them for a lot of years, but I don't know them nearly the way I know Kemba Walker, Nic Batum and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. So this will start now. I'll get to know them. I'll be watching them and evaluating them. But you can't guess in this league if you want to do a good job of leading them in the right direction. I don't guess. I'll be watching, we'll start to work together. I want their input and then I'll give them mine. We won't always agree, but it's way too early for me to start judging anything. I do know, looking at it, health was a big problem this year. A lot of good players missed a lot of games. I know that just looking at the numbers. The other part? That's not good NBA coaching. I'm not going to sit here and guess by looking at some stat sheet and say "this guy's gotta do this". Give me 5 or 6 weeks and ask me that question again and I'll have a better answer for you.


Philip Rossman-Reich - Orlando Magic Daily: What have you learned and how have you grown as a coach since leaving Orlando?

Clifford: The year in LA was a great learning experience. To have the opportunity to watch Kobe, watch Steve Nash, Pau Gasol and their interaction with the other guys, along with Dwight and Metta, was one of the best years I've ever had in terms of learning and growing. When you're around great great players, there's so much you can learn that you can't read about. That was one of my favorite years. In terms of a head coach, as much as anything else, it's always gonna get back to getting the most out of people. Having a way to play as a team that makes sense for this league. This league constantly changes. This year was different than last year. You have to be on top of that. A lot of study goes into it. But at the end of the day, as you're seeing in the playoffs, Golden State came up big in the 2nd half. Why? Two great players had the confidence level and knowledge of how they wanted to play to go off. And that's how normally it is. People always talk about halftime adjustments. Watch these games. A halftime adjustment is usually "DJ Augustin was 1-6 in the first half and went 7-8 in the second". So much of that is that connection from a coaching staff and an organizational standpoint that the players know how they have to play, they're confident in themselves and they go out and they play well. You need guys to do that. Trying to constantly find ways to more effectively communicate. For not just the players, but for the other people that you're working with. To me, that's one of the most important qualities you can have in any work-type situation. The second thing, and this is where I failed this year, you can never take anything for granted. When we got to Charlotte, they were 30th in defense. We were top 10 the next three years. Two years ago we were 7th at the all-star break, lost our backup center and struggled on our way in. This year we were like 17th or 18th. I spent just as much time on the defense, but I felt we were going to be a great defensive team and if we could be a top 10-12 offensive team, we ended up 13th, I thought we could be right there. I really believe in some ways, I took the defense for granted. You can't do that in this league. Every year you have to start from scratch as if you've never coached them before. When we start defense in training camp, you start with the stance, you start with the individual defense, then you go to help defense. The same things they learned in elementary school. There's no other way to do it. We did do that this year, but I don't think we nearly... maybe I just wasn't determined enough or was more thinking offense. Those are the two things I learned.


Christian Bruey - WFTV: A lot has been made about the turnaround you had in Charlotte. What was the key to that?

Clifford: The key there, frankly, was the same key that will be here which I'm going to talk to these about in these next few days. It was committed players. I'll give you the best example, that year I coached summer league. I hadn't been a head coach before, so I coached summer league. We had four of our guys we had just drafted; Cody Zeller, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Jeffery Taylor and Biz was there. So they all played summer league. I remember when I first called Kemba. Kemba was in New York and I said "listen, I'm gonna coach summer league, I'd love to have you come down, watch the practices in the morning and we're going to scrimmage at night". So he said "no problem". He came down and the day before we started he said "hey I tell you what I'm going to do, I'm going to do all the practices". So I said "well, the morning we're just gonna do the drills". He said "Steve, if we're gonna win, I gotta be on top of this stuff". He was the best returning player and he practiced every drill. As the best returning player, he did every drill, every summer league. We went 2 a day for like five days. He did all ten of them. Every drill he was the best player and he killed them in the scrimmages. Right then I knew that we had our leader. But as a group, those guys committed to a great summer. That's what we have to do. The offseason is the time when you get ready for training camp, not in September. The thing we have to concentrate now on is not what our record was last year, this is a total reset for every player. But it's gonna start with everybody having a good summer. A good summer for Jonathan (Isaac) at his age is different than DJ (Augustin) at his age. He (DJ) has a better idea of what he has to do in the offseason. He's been through it before, that's why he's an established player. But we have to have a plan for each guy that makes sense. And then the work they put forth that we help them with and guide them through will set up our year. As much as anything, our first year in Charlotte was set up in June, July, August, September as much as it was any other months.


Adam Shadoff - Fox 35: A lot of people look at you a young player development guy. Is that something you take pride in?

Clifford: I think like anybody else that's been an assistant, that's how you get your reputation. But I'd also like to make this point about player development, player development never stops. These two guys (Augustin and Vucevic) were in the gym here. Proven, veteran NBA players. The best players in this league never stop finding ways to improve. They don't just stay in shape, they try and get in better shape. Look at the great ones. LeBron has gotten better every year. He gets better every year. I remember being in LA and it was Steve Nash's 2nd to last year. Because of his back issues, he could only workout about 20 minutes at a time. So in August of that year, he went three times a day, for 18 minutes at a time. That's how precise he was with his workouts. And again, that was a guy who had been a league MVP. The best players regardless of age, player development never stops. It's gonna be different for veteran guys than it is younger guys, but player development is not separate from coaching. It's such a misnomer. The best coaches are good at player development because it's not just skills. It's not just shooting or dribbling. Playing well is the skill part, the individual part, but just as big a part is knowing how you have to play so the team plays well when you're on the floor. You have to be willing to do all these things. Jeff and I were talking today about certain things. There's an amount of toughness that plays in, a grit, that if you don't have it you can only be so good in this league. There are guys that play for 6-7 years and maybe they score, but their pick and roll defense isn't good or their rebounding isn't good and they change them. They should never change. That's the job of the organization and the staff to point that out and work with these guys in a way, and I'm gonna say it over and over, but playing in a way where they play well and the team functions well when they're on the floor. That leads to more winning.


Joe Kepner - WFTV: What do you remember about how 2012 ended with Dwight Howard?

Clifford: That was the year he got hurt? He had surgery. Yeah, listen I like Dwight. I have a great relationship with Dwight. He had a good year for us this year. Nobody in this league has spent more time with Dwight than I have. I went to LA with Dwight. I think Dwight has great qualities. He's gonna be a first ballot Hall of Famer. This league is difficult. These guys, all of em, they have people tugging at them in all different directions and they're forced to make decisions all the time. Sometimes it's difficult to make the right one. But I'm more glass half full. When Dwight was here, we went to the Finals and he was our best player. He was a dominant player in this league. When we went to the Eastern Conference Finals the next year, he was our best player. When we got here, this franchise hadn't won a playoff series in like 9-10 years. We won one the first year, Finals the second year, Eastern Conference Finals the third year. He was our best player. I can remember driving home after watching him some nights saying "this is a treat watching this guy play". We all get to choose how we think about our past and that's how I choose to remember Dwight.


Mike Bianchi - Orlando Sentinel/96.9 The Game: You've seen the turnover in coaching in this organization since you guys left. How important is it to establish a program, to have stability in the coaching part of it to build something?

Clifford: I think every year in every pro sport you always look for external development and improvement in the offseason and internal improvement. Obviously continuity with the roster and continuity with the coaching staff is a big part of the internal improvement. These guys will all have a coach that... I don't know if you call it "assigned to", but a coach they'll work with more closely. The relationship they establish with that coach will be a big part of how well they play the next year. The head coach obviously has a big part with all of that. Obviously as a coach, the philosophy. The NBA, because of the 24 second shot clock, there aren't as many different ways to play as there are in college. But philosophically, coach-to-coach, there's major differences. The continuity part, so that they know how we're going to play, what's important to me and I know what's important to them, can only help.


Aaron Goldstone - Orlando Pinstriped Post: How quickly are you going to build your staff? Has that process already started?

Clifford: We're going to do the staff together *motions to Weltman*. Jeff, John and I. Actually we're going to meet on that tomorrow. Today is hang out with you guys and get back to Orlando, everything like that. But we are organized and are going to start discussing that tomorrow.


Jamie Seh - News 6: How's your health? How are you feeling? Did what happened this past season change your approach to working at all?

Clifford: I was fortunate we had a great team doctor, Dr. Garcia, who helped me a great deal. I worked with neurologist, Dr. Jung, who is phenomenal. As he told me the second day, you don't have to change the way you work, you have to change the way you live. And that's what I've done. Going through it was professionally the most difficult thing I've ever had to go through. It impacted our team in a bad way. I felt terrible about it. It a hard thing for players to do, to go from their coach who coached most of those guys for a long time. Even though Stephen Silas did a phenomenal job, it's just different. Then I came back. It impacted our season, there's no question about that. Professionally, it was hard. Personally? It was probably the best thing that's ever happened to me. What I learned is two things. Number 1: You need to sleep. I had worked on staffs since my first year in the NBA with a lot of guys who had incredible work capacities. We got in early and stayed late and that was just the way I lived for a long time. The second part of it, for me, the way I could live and work at 51 and 52, I could not do at 54, 55 and 56. Some people can. I've studied sleep. Some people are good forever, they don't have to sleep. For me it didn't work out that way. Modern medicine is incredible. I've learned so much about this sleep thing, but it's only good if you take advantage of it. This wasn't something that just happened in September, this had been going on for a couple years. The year before they made me do an MRI. I just should have been more forth coming with the doctors about the level of significance of pain that I was having. But I just didn't. I just thought it would be ok. Just so you guys know *looks at players* when you don't run back on defense, I still get headaches *laughs*. We gotta get back.


Christian Bruey - WFTV: Any chance Stan Van Gundy would come on as an assistant coach for you?

Clifford: Oh man Stan is twice as smart as me, he couldn't work for me. Stan's in Greece actually. I texted with him this morning. He's a mentor, one of my closest friends. We've very close. He can't work for me, we can't do that *laughs*.


Adam Shadoff - Fox 35: This is the quietest, as far as leaks, coaching search I've ever seen in the NBA. Do you take pride in that?

Weltman: We just try to do things the right way. We try to respect the privacy and discretion of the people we interviewed. Obviously we wanted to keep our own deliberations private because they change sometimes. Certain guys may have different aims and goals. It's something that we strive to do, not just with our coaching search, but with all of our business. This is a business where there a lot of people who know what other guys are doing and then there are different levels of accuracy to those rumors and innuendos. But, by and large, teams that can keep their business their own can probably win on the margins of not having to deal with external influences. So it is something that we set out to do across the board. Obviously it only works if the other people feel that way as well. Coach Clifford and a lot of the people we met with were discreet. They wanted it that way and we wanted it that way. That's just the way it worked out.


Mike Bianchi - Orlando Sentinel/96.9 The Game: Did what Steve did when he took over Charlotte and turned them around immediately, did that have an impact on you wanting to hire him here?

Weltman: Mike, I would actually harken back to your original question to answer this one. For sure, a coach that can come in and impact a team immediately will raise eyebrows, but what really attracted us is the long haul. That Steve was able to establish himself as an upper echelon coach. I can throw numbers at you, his teams all five years led the league in defensive rebounding, they committed the fewest turnovers. The bottom line is when you play a Steve Clifford team, you have to beat them. They don't beat themselves. Over the course of five years, that's what the real attraction was.


Associated Press: What timetable do you see for the turnaround for this team?

Clifford: I don't think you ever put a limit on a team. I think I know some of these guys well, but I'm no expert right now on our roster. That's for these next few weeks. That takes study and coming up with a team game that will bring out the strengths of the best players and establish a way we can be good on offense and defense. Those are decisions that will be made in these upcoming weeks. You don't put limits on a team. Hopefully we'll come out and we'll play great early. But as Jeff said, we need to build the right foundation. You have to start from scratch every year, that's what this league is about. If you watch these games right now, it all gets down to the little things. It's a blown coverage, it's the wrong stance, it's a guy that talks late, it's somebody that doesn't sprint back and they're a step away from where they're supposed to be. It's the difference between a good half and a bad half. A lot of it is how quickly things come together. My mindset right now is everybody has to get into the best shape they can this summer, be working on the right things so they're games are improving and come when we start in September in an incredible place mentally. The summer is to get ready for training camp and we need to have a great summer.

[glennathan]

I will help you out Knightro

[glennathan]

Clifford starting out with thanking the Devos ownership group. Remembers how much they are committed to winning

[UCFJayBird]

Jumped in late but interesting comment from Weltman - they believe that Clifford's teams don't beat themselves. You have to beat them. Sounds like they think the reason the Hornets weren't better is simply because they didn't have the talent to compete, because they effort and coaching was there.

[Nemesis21]

Jumped in late but interesting comment from Weltman - they believe that Clifford's teams don't beat themselves. You have to beat them. Sounds like they think the reason the Hornets weren't better is simply because they didn't have the talent to compete, because they effort and coaching was there.

And we do??? We don't have the talent either. Retread.

[UCFJayBird]

Jumped in late but interesting comment from Weltman - they believe that Clifford's teams don't beat themselves. You have to beat them. Sounds like they think the reason the Hornets weren't better is simply because they didn't have the talent to compete, because they effort and coaching was there.

And we do??? We don't have the talent either. Retread.

I agree, but obviously a GM & front office is going to believe that they will get the talent eventually (especially a new team that came in a year ago with a clear intent to wait a year)

[MagicFan4Lyfe]

What?? You guys don’t think the great Nikola Vucevic going to lead us to the promised land? Lol

[MagicFan101]

Jumped in late but interesting comment from Weltman - they believe that Clifford's teams don't beat themselves. You have to beat them. Sounds like they think the reason the Hornets weren't better is simply because they didn't have the talent to compete, because they effort and coaching was there.

And we do??? We don't have the talent either. Retread.

Those are separate concerns. They had a solid but not great PG and paired him recently with Dwight for a mid-tier performing team. Many would argue they reached their potential. That is bad for the organization but a strong showing by the coaching staff.

Can we assemble better talent here? Obviously WeHam believe they can or they wouldn’t have accepted the job here. If they do bring in the talent, they believe they have a coach who can get the most out of them as a team. If they don’t then they lose their jobs. But how is that different than with any other scenario?

[OrlandO]

Anyone have a link to the replay? I looked on the magic's social media, but all they have is a video of dj augustin and shelvin mack going down a water slide at blizzard beach....

[the_hobo]

I remember Cliff from the SVG days. Does he have a similar gameplan mindset? I hope this means we're going back to our roots - big man in the middle, surrounded by shooters.

[basketballRob]

I remember Cliff from the SVG days. Does he have a similar gameplan mindset? I hope this means we're going back to our roots - big man in the middle, surrounded by shooters.

Yes they have the same coaching style. I remember one thing they always do is not go for the offensive rebound, they think if you concentrate on getting back that overall you'll be a better team. That's one example.

[OrlChamps2030]

Jumped in late but interesting comment from Weltman - they believe that Clifford's teams don't beat themselves. You have to beat them. Sounds like they think the reason the Hornets weren't better is simply because they didn't have the talent to compete, because they effort and coaching was there.

And we do??? We don't have the talent either. Retread.

Those are separate concerns. They had a solid but not great PG and paired him recently with Dwight for a mid-tier performing team. Many would argue they reached their potential. That is bad for the organization but a strong showing by the coaching staff.

Can we assemble better talent here? Obviously WeHam believe they can or they wouldn’t have accepted the job here. If they do bring in the talent, they believe they have a coach who can get the most out of them as a team. If they don’t then they lose their jobs. But how is that different than with any other scenario?

I haven’t seen many argue the Hornets reached their potential, in fact I’ve seen many arguing otherwise

[MagicFan101]

And we do??? We don't have the talent either. Retread.

Those are separate concerns. They had a solid but not great PG and paired him recently with Dwight for a mid-tier performing team. Many would argue they reached their potential. That is bad for the organization but a strong showing by the coaching staff.

Can we assemble better talent here? Obviously WeHam believe they can or they wouldn’t have accepted the job here. If they do bring in the talent, they believe they have a coach who can get the most out of them as a team. If they don’t then they lose their jobs. But how is that different than with any other scenario?

I haven’t seen many argue the Hornets reached their potential, in fact I’ve seen many arguing otherwise

They made it to the playoffs with that roster. What more can you expect?

Let’s also maintain some context. He was recently fired for a reason. They need a new voice. This isn’t Pop walking in the door. But can this person instill a culture of smart basketball while developing our young players to the point of hitting that first milestone (playoffs)? Absolutely.

Vogel is a little more hard nosed in his style. With the right players his system works. We know that. But Orlando had nothing for him and he clearly can’t develop a team. Clifford has a different approach.

I don’t expect Clifford to get us our first championship but I am ready to give him a chance at digging us out of the gutter.

[Knightro]

I've transcribed the first half of the presser in the original post. Will do more a little later.

[OrlandO]

Watch on YouTube

[MAGICian619]

For anyone who feels this was an “unenthusiastic” hire, watch the press conference. I left it feeling much better about Clifford.

[OrlChamps2030]

Those are separate concerns. They had a solid but not great PG and paired him recently with Dwight for a mid-tier performing team. Many would argue they reached their potential. That is bad for the organization but a strong showing by the coaching staff.

Can we assemble better talent here? Obviously WeHam believe they can or they wouldn’t have accepted the job here. If they do bring in the talent, they believe they have a coach who can get the most out of them as a team. If they don’t then they lose their jobs. But how is that different than with any other scenario?

I haven’t seen many argue the Hornets reached their potential, in fact I’ve seen many arguing otherwise

They made it to the playoffs with that roster. What more can you expect?

Let’s also maintain some context. He was recently fired for a reason. They need a new voice. This isn’t Pop walking in the door. But can this person instill a culture of smart basketball while developing our young players to the point of hitting that first milestone (playoffs)? Absolutely.

Vogel is a little more hard nosed in his style. With the right players his system works. We know that. But Orlando had nothing for him and he clearly can’t develop a team. Clifford has a different approach.

I don’t expect Clifford to get us our first championship but I am ready to give him a chance at digging us out of the gutter.

The hornets didn’t reach the playoffs with Dwight

[RookieStar]

Soo.... expect a trade for Dwight?

[ufgatorbait]

Introductory presser and only 20 replies says it all....one big collective yawn from the magic’s Best fan base

[thelead]

Introductory presser and only 20 replies says it all....one big collective yawn from the magic’s Best fan base

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