#Spacing - Steve Clifford Thread

[JDR720]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/rick_bonnell/status/399309107502784513[/tweet]

[Liver_Pooty]

Is Clifford back from the vet yet?

Lol. Well played.

[Elden Payton]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/rick_bonnell/status/399309107502784513[/tweet]

Thank God!!

[BigSlam]

Head Coach Steve Clifford has re-joined the team at practice today. Welcome back, Coach!

[mrknowitall215]

Clifford trying to slow down, but speed up Bobcats rebuild

The previous years were abysmal, the opening weeks have been traumatic and this game in particular could not have been more ugly. And what difference did all that make to the Bobcats? No difference at all.
"You have to learn how to win on the road," Charlotte's new coach Steve Clifford said Wednesday after his team's latest such win, an 89-83 edging of the Celtics. The victory put the team at 2-2 on the road and 4-4 overall and on their way to reversing the trend of the previous two years, when they were a preposterous 28-120.

The emphasis at practice has been on defense, where they rank No. 12 in defensive efficiency after ranking dead-last in the category last season.
"He's a real down-to-earth guy who doesn't tolerate much," said third-year point guard Kemba Walker. "That's what I need in a coach. He's really hard on me, he expects a lot from me. When I'm not doing things so great, he'll let me know."

Clifford is a renowned grinder who is also known to relate well with players as people. "He can be pretty hard, and that's how you have to be as a head coach," said Walker. "I think that's what we all really appreciate about him so much, because when he wants to let you know that he expects things from you, he will. That's what's been so great about him."

When Clifford was hired, his first assignment was to watch at least 50 Bobcat games from last season. Fans of the team might say that experience could not have helped Clifford's health. "Listen, if the hardest thing in your job is to go in every morning and sit and watch games all day, how hard is that?" he said. "Your job is to be the expert on your team. There's no way you're going to have a vision on how you play best if you don't know more about them than anyone else. And the only way to do it is to sit and watch. Statistics give you a general idea, but they don't tell you why."

"Coming into it, I was confident that we'd be hard to keep out of the paint, and that we should be able to get to the free throw line," said Clifford. "And then on the flipside, the two areas that we're most concerned about are the rebounding and the range shooting that we don't have a lot of three-point shooting."
Instead of adding shooters, the Bobcats compensated by bringing in Jefferson, who should create more open shots on the perimeter as the Bobcats reinvent their offense around him in the post.
"I'm hoping it will give us a way to more consistently force more help, which will open things up for the other guys," said Clifford. "There aren't many guys who will be able to guard him one on one, so whether it's before he gets the ball or after he gets the ball, they're going to have to be shading, helping him more, which helps everyone else play well. And then the other part - the downside of it -- is we haven't played enough with him to really begin our true lines of execution. It's the hardest part of the offense to develop. It takes more coordination, more precision with your spacing."
In other words, they aren't improving quickly enough. After three straight years of losing, and only one winning season among the last nine, this is a promising problem.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nba/ne ... index.html

I found the underlined paragraph interesting

[LamarMatic7]

the underlined paragraph is probably the reason for his hospital visit.

[mrknowitall215]

the underlined paragraph is probably the reason for his hospital visit.

"Fans of the team might say that experience could not have helped Clifford's health."

[MasterIchiro]

"When the offense is bad we keep playing defense and that's a good sign"

-Coach Clifford

About sums it up.

[ohara]

I like our coach! Team seems to have bought into his approach which is essential to being a good team.

[Liver_Pooty]

I like our coach! Team seems to have bought into his approach which is essential to being a good team.

Were 5-4. Whats not to like?

[mrknowitall215]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/status/414227444472631296[/tweet]

High praise from Woj...

[HornetJail]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/status/414227444472631296[/tweet]

High praise from Woj...

Remember when a random dude from another board came over here in the middle of our 7-5 start and said that Dunlap was going to be the next Popovich?






Really though, I couldn't be too much more thrilled with Clifford as of late. His rotations have been better as of late (he's sat Ben Gordon when Gordon sucked and played Ben Gordon a little more when Gordon didn't suck) but he needs to implement MKG into the offense more upon his return. MKG should be making all sorts of cuts to the basket that get Kemba some assists and get the team easy buckets rather than 18 foot jumpers over 7-footers with .5 on the shot clock.

[mrknowitall215]

No worries. I see exactly what Clifford is doing with guys like MKG & Biyombo. He's allowing them to get comfortable without over thinking & analyzing the game by telling them to play within themselves. As they find confidence in their roles, they'll begin to naturally expand. Clifford is handling the developmental stages of how a coach is supposed to groom a young player without throwing them into the fire, something that was severely missing with Dunlap as the coach last year. They are learning discipline & control under Clifford's tutelage

[Elden Payton]

BRD is coach of the year imo.

Some of his rotations frustrate the hell out of me but you cannot argue with the results.

[ohara]

When the team fights like this team does, and never quits, it is inspiring. They have bought into Clifford's coaching and are committed. Finally, we have a coach that I think will stick around awhile. MJ better realize he will need to pay this guy well, because there will be teams who will offer him to go elsewhere. Do not want to lose this Coach.

[Elden Payton]

There is definitely something about the elite Van Gundy family coaching tree.

We are officially 13-13 under Clifford.

0-1 under Ewing.

[Tupik]

It sure feels good to have found what I think is going to be our coach over the next 3 to 5 years at least. He's been coaching extremely well since the start of the season, and except certain gripes we've had with his rotations (which I'm sure he has his reasons for), he's been an all-around spectacular coach. I could hardly be more satisfied with what he's been doing so far.

[hotrod]

@WojYahooNBA: Steve Clifford is delivering one of best coaching performances league's seen in a long time. He's NBA coach of year -- and it isn't close.

I agree, though Hornacek is doing very well also.

[mrknowitall215]

Still Growing Up

After the Jazz loss, Coach Clifford broke down the current state of the Bobcats succinctly:

* They are executing on defense and taking the right shots on offense.
* Effort isn’t the problem.
* They give up too many “ranged” – aka three point – shots on defense.
* They are challenged by their lack of “ranged” shooting on offense.

As usual, Clifford was frank and generally upbeat about the team’s progress towards becoming a consistent winner. He didn’t throw anyone (including the front office) under the bus and his point about the team learning to win was accurate. As much as we would like for a nineteen year old NCAA freshmen to save the day, in the NBA there are no shortcuts. Clifford and his staff are instituting the type of system and culture of responsibility that the Bobcats haven’t had in a decade; one that will eventually allow for the team to properly develop and maximize future draft prospects to their utmost. The Jazz loss, like the Magic and Lakers losses before it, was tough but with 13 wins in late December, we can already see progress happening in real time.

http://www.bobcatsbaseline.com/2013/bob ... -7-review/

[lmcguir5]

I was pretty buffaloed last night when we weren't putting Kemba in down the stretch. You have to have your best player on the floor when the game is in doubt. He ended up putting Kemba in (the crowd was chanting his name for a good while before this happened) but too little too late. The boys made a nice run to get the game close but couldn't finish. Clifford has to shoulder some of the blame here for that, but he is right, our lack of three point shooting handicaps us pretty badly. The Jazz outscored us 30-6 from behind the 3pt line, and that was clearly the defining stat in our loss. This draft we're going to have to work hard to find mid level talent that can nail a three pointer. On another note, that damn Trey Burke took the air out of the building every time we seemed to get some momentum rolling