The Orlando Magic have reportedly hired Steve Clifford as the team’s next head coach, but can he right the ship for the struggling franchise?
The Orlando Magic haven’t made the playoffs since the 2011-12 NBA season, and haven’t won more than 37 games in a single season since the 2010-11 season. They’ve been more miss than hit on their recent draft picks, and have employed four coaches over the last four years.
Orlando has no stability and pretty much no real building blocks on the roster.
In other words, they’re in a rough spot and need some kind of continuity on their roster or in the locker room. After relieving Frank Vogel of his duties (after two years of coaching), the Magic hope they’ve found their man in Steve Clifford.
Steve Clifford has agreed to a four-year contract to become the new head coach of the Orlando Magic, league sources tell ESPN. Magic will hold a news conference today to introduce Clifford, who led Charlotte to two playoff appearances.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 30, 2018
The hope is that Clifford can work his magic with this less talented Magic roster, much like he did when he led the Charlotte Hornets to two playoff appearances.
Clifford coached the Hornets for five seasons, but only had winning seasons on two occasions – the same two which resulted in playoff appearances. Even though both were first-round exits, during the 2015-16 season Charlotte finished tied for the third best record in the conference. But because of tie breakers, fell to sixth for seeding purposes.
This is all to say that Clifford has shown in the past that he can coach up a roster, but it should be noted that the Hornets had Kemba Walker, a pretty good star, on their roster.
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Even though the Magic do have some talent – including Aaron Gordon, Jonathan Isaac, Evan Fournier and others – I’m not sure if they’re in prime position to make a jump next season. This could take another few years of development, but at the very least they might have the “right” guy leading the way.