The worrisome nature of Steve Clifford’s approach to Orlando Magic

The Orlando Magic have been disjointed for much of the campaign and Steve Clifford’s handling of certain situations doesn’t always help.

At 12-17, the Orlando Magic are entering a critical juncture in their season. They remain in eighth place in the East, as they have for much of the season, but they are not doing much to convince anybody they are there because of some promising displays.

They are beating the teams that they are supposed to for the most part, while also dropping games to opponents who are simply better than they are. Conversely, the occasional plucky performance against a better team is usually sandwiched between strange efforts in which their energy and directness is lacking.

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In short, they look exactly like they did last season, before a late surge saw them make their way to the playoffs. We need to be realistic with where the Magic are at in their growth right now, as expecting them to be a top organization in an improved East is not what they are at this point.

Worryingly though, they don’t look any better than at this time last season, despite young players growing and their core being brought back for another run.

Which leads us to head coach Steve Clifford. In his second year with the team, laying all of the blame at his feet would be lazy. He alone is not the problem; he has done a great job of directing what was a lost franchise out of the wilderness with the help of a better front office.

Fans have short memories and it was only a few years ago that by this stage in the season attentions were already turning toward the following summer’s draft. The fact that they are competitive now without even drafting a transcendent player like Luka Doncic or Trae Young also speaks to how well Clifford was worked with the players he has.

So with the Magic looking uninterested and slow throughout some games recently, the question has to be asked. Is Clifford making as many correct decisions as possible to keep this team competitive throughout the long slog of the season?

Again, we should pivot to defending Clifford before going any further, because this is not an attack on him. It is not his fault that Aaron Gordon has been out of sorts for much of the year so far or that D.J. Augustin has regressed (as expected) from a career year last season.

He can’t helped it that Nikola Vucevic missed time with injury or that Mo Bamba looks bored on the court sometimes.

But what Clifford can do is chop and change the rotations and how players are used. Some of what he has done so far this season has been puzzling. Starting Markelle Fultz early on was a no-brainer and Fultz has still been among their best players in the early goings. But easing up on him at this point isn’t the worst idea either.

Having Michael Carter-Williams as the first person off the bench for certain games is not how to get their offense going. Given they have an offensive rating of 105 (25th in the NBA), you would think this would be a priority, especially against inferior teams Orlando is capable of hanging points upon.

Their 3-point shooting (and shooting in general) has been off for much of the year. But while their shooting suffers, somebody like Terrence Ross is averaging only 24.5 minutes a contest (his lowest since coming to Orlando). He has struggled for form this year, but he isn’t exactly being given a ton of chances to prove himself either.

Last year Ross would check into a game and immediately have the confidence to start letting shots fly. He shot 38.3 percent from deep. So far this season, that number has dropped to 32.9 percent, despite only taking one fewer 3-ball than the seven he averaged a year ago. His 12.6 points per game reflects this.

Much like Gordon’s struggles, Clifford can’t shoot the ball for Ross. But what he can do is adjust his rotations to see if he can get guys going, something that has been painfully lacking. Rigid is the best way to describe it; Clifford appearing comfortable in his ways and approach and not up for changing things drastically.

This wouldn’t be so much of a problem if the Magic were still a top defensive unit. Last season under Clifford, the Magic transformed on that end and to see neither Gordon nor Khem Birch get a single All-Defensive vote was a joke. Even Vucevic showed improvements on that end, with Clifford’s game plan being followed early and to great success.

They finished the season eighth in defensive rating (107.6), but over the last 30 games were a top-three team in this category. You would think that would carry over to this season with the Magic returning most of its core, a group that had a whole summer to continue to build on what Clifford so successfully instilled in his first year in charge.

Instead they find themselves in 12th in defensive rating (107.2) and despite Jonathan Isaac tied for second in the league in blocks per game (2.6), they have not clamped down opponents nearly as well as they did last year. Given that this is what Clifford was brought in to do — and despite a great start — it is slipping over a notable period of time and the coach is answerable for this.

So with rotations remaining mostly predictable and guys like Wesley Iwundu forced to watch on from the sidelines, even when games are going south, what is the solution here? The most worrying part is just how unconcerned everybody seems with what is happening. It is a malaise that is hard to shift once it has seeped into an organization.

The time for radical head coaching changes, or even a shift in approach, has not yet come for the Orlando Magic. But with this season just kind of happening before our eyes, with the team lazily floating along and being propped up by doing just enough, should we be asking more of head coach Steve Clifford? He is, after all, the person who is making the big decisions at key times.