Steve Clifford

[Optimus_Steel]

He is a good coach that got unfair criticism here.

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[D12VCMagic]

Honestly, if you are ready to push for a PO spot Steve is a solid coach. If you want to develop talent, however, he is not the guy for you.

He seems like the right guy to get teams over the top and into the playoffs ar first but then his style tends to wear on players and the results trend down after. That’s how his first two coaching stints worked, let’s see if he bucks the trend. LaMelo might be the most talented player he’s coached, but that Hornets FO and ownership is pretty bad IMO.

[RookieStar]

He is the right coach for a team wanting to go into the POs and compete.

[Horcy]

Lamelo is very talented but he needs to mature and grow up. Without really needing to develop him on the skill side of things, maybe Clifford can actually be a good coach that can grow him up a bit. Or maybe the relationship turns toxic, the team sides with the player like always, and Clifford is gone in a year or two.

Regardless, it's pretty bizarre to have a team fire Coach A, hire Coach B, then fire Coach B to replace him with Coach A. I can't remember anything like that before. We brought back Brian Hill, but there were a lot of years and coaches separating his two appointments.

It's absolutely bizarre. I do not have a good feeling about how old school Clifford could coexist with LaMelo. LaMelo needs to mature, that's correct, but he's already LaMelo. I don't know how well he can react to Clifford's not so friendly ways of interacting with players. Specially with young ones

[MagicFan12345]

Was he the one who left us after a year or was that Skiles? These coaches get all jumbled together.

Good luck to him.

That was Skiles but yeah, they both look similar

[MagicFan12345]

I liked Clifford, he was very solid for the Magic taking the Magic to the playoffs twice and won the division but I do not know if that is a good hire for Hornets because 2nd stints do not usually work out well, Hornets should have hired Stotts, Stotts would have been a better option

[Skybox]

Good news for Hayward and Plumlee. Heavy minutes ahead. Bouknight got shelved before and had a hissy fit...we'll see how it goes.

I know that Cliff is a good coach. A very good fundamentals, no mistake coach. I just don't like the fit.

[MagicStarwipe]

Well, they'll be regretting that in a few years.

[jonbob17]

Lamelo is very talented but he needs to mature and grow up. Without really needing to develop him on the skill side of things, maybe Clifford can actually be a good coach that can grow him up a bit. Or maybe the relationship turns toxic, the team sides with the player like always, and Clifford is gone in a year or two.

Regardless, it's pretty bizarre to have a team fire Coach A, hire Coach B, then fire Coach B to replace him with Coach A. I can't remember anything like that before. We brought back Brian Hill, but there were a lot of years and coaches separating his two appointments.

Just curious...why is Lamelo immature? He seems to be the leader of the team, he is improving each year. He just finished his age 20 season with 20/7/8 with 1.6 steals and 39% from 3. Seems to be on his way to superstardom. Is he doing anything to prevent his team from winning or his own development?
Or is it just he is Lavar's son?

[Liver_Pooty]

Lamelo is very talented but he needs to mature and grow up. Without really needing to develop him on the skill side of things, maybe Clifford can actually be a good coach that can grow him up a bit. Or maybe the relationship turns toxic, the team sides with the player like always, and Clifford is gone in a year or two.

Regardless, it's pretty bizarre to have a team fire Coach A, hire Coach B, then fire Coach B to replace him with Coach A. I can't remember anything like that before. We brought back Brian Hill, but there were a lot of years and coaches separating his two appointments.

Just curious...why is Lamelo immature? He seems to be the leader of the team, he is improving each year. He just finished his age 20 season with 20/7/8 with 1.6 steals and 39% from 3. Seems to be on his way to superstardom. Is he doing anything to prevent his team from winning or his own development?
Or is it just he is Lavar's son?

Lol he is definitely not the leader of the team. He's too self absorbed to be a leader right now. Needs to grow up.

[Rick Rolled]

Perfect coach for Lamelo, James “fight my coach” Bouknight, and Miles “I drink lean on social media” Bridges.


So those are terrible, unoriginal nicknames for those guys, but this is going to be very, very entertaining regardless.

[pepe1991]

It's right move for Hornets.

Lamelo Ball is their go-to guy. Miles Bridges is about to get payed, they have to find actual center ( maybe Gordon Hayward or Rozier trades? ) , it's time to make playoffs.
Last year they were top 10 offense but 23rd team on defense.

They were fun last year, now it's time to put structure around that team, especially on defense.

As for " hating young players". It's false narrative repeated on this forum to feel better about fact that Bamba is bust.

[DiplomaticMagic]

Clifford is a good coach but he's an awful fit for that Charlotte roster. To be honest, they wouldve been better off with Mike D'antoni

[Skybox]

I like Cliff over D'Antoni...polar opposites. I'm just concerned Cliff is TOO stiff and structured for their roster.

I'll also say I thought Cliff was the right guy for the Magic at the time and he squeezed success out of this team. I like where we are at, but I also think we could have kept it together a little longer and got a little farther. Cliff never had a healthy Fultz & Isaac stint at the same time and we were headed to the high lottery BEFORE we blew it up...what if we had added and given him a little more ammo? The AG trade brought us shooting and cleared a confusing front court logjam with Isaac/AG.

Anyway, I don't want to be mistaken for a Cliff-hater. He was the right guy for the job and he left at the right time in our trajectory, once the decision to rebuild was made...I feel like we (today) are a lot closer to present CHA than our Cliff era, and I wouldn't choose Cliff for this team at this point. Cliff's like a middle reliever, you don't necessarily want him at the bottom or the top of your trajectory. I still think CHA is figuring out who they are - despite some success.

[jonbob17]

Lamelo is very talented but he needs to mature and grow up. Without really needing to develop him on the skill side of things, maybe Clifford can actually be a good coach that can grow him up a bit. Or maybe the relationship turns toxic, the team sides with the player like always, and Clifford is gone in a year or two.

Regardless, it's pretty bizarre to have a team fire Coach A, hire Coach B, then fire Coach B to replace him with Coach A. I can't remember anything like that before. We brought back Brian Hill, but there were a lot of years and coaches separating his two appointments.

Just curious...why is Lamelo immature? He seems to be the leader of the team, he is improving each year. He just finished his age 20 season with 20/7/8 with 1.6 steals and 39% from 3. Seems to be on his way to superstardom. Is he doing anything to prevent his team from winning or his own development?
Or is it just he is Lavar's son?

Lol he is definitely not the leader of the team. He's too self absorbed to be a leader right now. Needs to grow up.

Can you give any examples of being self-absorbed? Who is the leader of the Hornets?

[jonbob17]

I like Cliff over D'Antoni...polar opposites. I'm just concerned Cliff is TOO stiff and structured for their roster.

I'll also say I thought Cliff was the right guy for the Magic at the time and he squeezed success out of this team. I like where we are at, but I also think we could have kept it together a little longer and got a little farther. Cliff never had a healthy Fultz & Isaac stint at the same time and we were headed to the high lottery BEFORE we blew it up...what if we had added and given him a little more ammo? The AG trade brought us shooting and cleared a confusing front court logjam with Isaac/AG.

Anyway, I don't want to be mistaken for a Cliff-hater. He was the right guy for the job and he left at the right time in our trajectory, once the decision to rebuild was made...I feel like we (today) are a lot closer to present CHA than our Cliff era, and I wouldn't choose Cliff for this team at this point. Cliff's like a middle reliever, you don't necessarily want him at the bottom or the top of your trajectory. I still think CHA is figuring out who they are - despite some success.

I like your simile to baseball. I would compare Clifford to Dusty Baker. Came in and got the absolute most out of the Chicago Cubs pitching staff in 2003. A game away from the world series. Of course in doing so, he burned out some of the most electric arms in baseball, two of which would never pitch the same again.

Clifford is a good coach but he has a useful life. Roughly three years he will make your team better. After that find a less grinding coach. Or figure out how to make your stars happy.

I can see why Jordan would go back to him. Charlotte probably underperformed for the quality of talent they have. I can imagine MJ is also nostalgic for the era he played in, which probably lines up better for the Cliffords and Van Gundy's of the world.