Our long national nightmare is finally over: the Orlando Magic have hired a new head coach. After weeks have gone by where the Magic front office kept their process mostly under veiled secrecy, they have brought in former Orlando assistant Steve Clifford to be the man.
Clifford has a daunting task in front of him trying to turn around a roster that Jacque Vaughn, Scott Skiles, and Frank Vogel failed to have much success with, but he has worked on a reclamation project before. He presided over the Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets franchise for five seasons and led the Bobcats to their first two playoff appearances before they reverted to back to the traditional Hornets moniker.
Clifford oversaw the development of young players like Kemba Walker, who blossomed into a two-time All-Star. He is also known as a tough defensive-minded coach, a mentality Orlando has tried but failed to foster.
New Orlando Magic Head Coach Comes As No Surprise
Clifford's prior Magic experience also should help him acclimate well to the franchise, although that is also what makes the move slightly surprising. As a member of Stan Van Gundy's 2009 coaching staff, he was on the bench when Orlando made it to the NBA Finals.
That familiarity is great to work with on the surface and the DeVos family has often made hires of people they are familiar with. Look no further for a recent example then when they brought in former on-court star Skiles as coach.
However, Clifford's experience in Orlando and in the coaching profession for that matter is closely tied to the Van Gundys. He spent six seasons on brother Jeff's staff with the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets prior to teaming up with Stan in 2007.
What makes this problematic is that anyone who has followed the Magic knows that the Van Gundy clan does not exactly see eye to eye with management. They have expressed particular ire in the past for team CEO Alex Martins.
When Stan was fired by the Magic in 2012, Jeff ripped Martins on the Stephen A. Smith Show.
"OK, listen: all you have done in your 25 years in the business is release press releases and run the business side," said Van Gundy on Martins. "You don't know if a ball is blown up or stuffed. You don't know if their pick and roll coverage on the side or high was right or wrong. Just say, 'I have no knowledge about basketball.' It's offensive when someone who has no knowledge about basketball -- even in the positive comments -- tries to sort of negate what [former Magic coaches] Brian Hill or Matt Guokas did as a coach. He doesn't know one thing about basketball so please hold off your comments on my brother's expertise since you know nothing about basketball."
Stan also criticized Martins expertise on local radio following his ouster.
"It's a typical lack of understanding from someone who has no sports knowledge, who has never coached or played, who has never been in a locker room….it's a naiveté," Van Gundy said about Martins. "I'll stand on the relationships with players based on the results we got. I think Alex's comments are based on the fact that Dwight and maybe others didn't like me…and thinking somehow that's important."
Given that those comments are from the two people most influential in Clifford's coaching career, I thought this partnership seemed unlikely even when it was rumored last week. Obviously, everyone has put whatever trepidations remain aside and Martins is less of a focus with Jeff Weltman and John Hammond running the basketball side of the Magic.
Ultimately, no one knows how successful Clifford will be. Most fans probably wanted a bigger name, but getting someone to win the press conference does not automatically produce results.
With their lack of recent success, Orlando is not even in the position to bring that kind of "home run" hire into the fold. Clifford is as qualified and has as good of a chance to succeed as anyone on the market and harkening back to the past certainly cannot hurt a team looking to find a vision for the future.
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