Orlando Magic: 2018-19 NBA season preview
By Luke Duffy
Storyline 1: Steve Clifford at the helm
While the growth of their young lottery picks on the court is important for the Magic this coming season, so too is the attitude and temperament of the person steering the ship. That is Clifford’s responsibility, and he becomes the fifth head coach of their prolonged rebuild.
How Clifford leads the players is crucial, as he is known for his desire to see the teams he is managing play hard defensively. Given that Bamba and Isaac look potentially great in this regard, that appears to be an ideal match.
Where it gets a bit trickier, however, is with Clifford’s attitude towards young players, particularly rookies. He will have no problem sticking Bamba to the bench if he is underperforming early on, or even if he feels the player is getting too much, too soon.
On one hand, you can’t blame Clifford either, given the fact that head coaches haven’t stayed around for very long during this rebuild, he will be wanting to put the best and most cohesive unit on the floor that he can for the sake of his job.
This is counter-productive to Bamba’s growth though, which is where the problems may begin. Something else worth point out is the fact that the Hornets had a defensive rating of 107 last season (16th in the league). The Magic’s was 107.7 (20th).
Orlando’s personnel already look better than anything Clifford had in Charlotte, but this is still worth keeping tabs on. Former head coach Vogel was in charge of an Indiana Pacers outfit that twice led the league in defensive rating, and he couldn’t do much to help here.