Orlando Magic: Give coach Steve Clifford his credit

The Orlando Magic are benefitting from continuity early in the season, with head coach Steve Clifford deserving a lot of credit for where they’re at.

May 30th, 2018 seems like a long time ago, particularly in basketball terms. Just over one week later the Golden State Warriors were crowned champions for the second straight time, and the idea of finishing a season in a bubble in Florida seemed like something out of a sci-fi movie. That was the date when head coach Steve Clifford took over the Orlando Magic, a move that was met with little excitement at the time, including by the Magic fanbase.

Clifford had done well in his previous job with the Charlotte Hornets, making the playoffs on a couple of occasions with a roster built around All-Star level talent Kemba Walker.

This was different though. The Magic were coming off the worst stretch of their existence, which had begun in 2012 when Dwight Howard skipped town to play for the Los Angeles Lakers (the first time, the Orlando Magic truly were irrelevant for a long time). They had seen a proven head coach like Frank Vogel come, not do very much, and then go. Hiring Clifford was a risk, and it has paid off.

It begins with what he is able to get out of his players on the defensive end. Although the Magic have been guilty of letting plenty of leads slip, as well as having nights where they don’t look bothered, these periods never last. That is because coach Clifford doesn’t let them. He has gotten the best out of guys on that end of the court.

All-Star center Nikola Vucevic, who the team is built around, was at one point in time an awful defensive big man. With the help of Clifford, he is now average at worst and actually goes through some underrated periods on that end. This didn’t happen overnight, but the improvements defensively have been clear to see, especially this season.

Clifford has taken an unfancied group, which we will come back to, and right now has them at 5-2, with the fifth-best defensive rating in the league (102.9). This despite not having Jonathan Isaac all year, with Al-Farouq Aminu having contributed little because of injury since joining the organization last offseason as well.

Last year the Orlando Magic finished ninth in this category (107.1). The year before, Clifford’s first in charge, they were eighth (105.8). The year prior, when Vogel was in charge? 19th (107.7). Clifford has done this while getting the most out of guys like Michael Carter-Williams, bargain pickups who looked to be on their way out of the league.

Instead, Carter-Williams has become the energy guy for the group, even if his offensive play is often to the detriment of the team’s success. Backup center Khem Birch is another guy who has benefitted greatly from playing under Clifford. He gets spot minutes and he plays hard, and because of this, he has found a home in Orlando and his place in the league.

Steve Clifford maximizes the effort of his Orlando Magic players

This really is the key to why Clifford, despite his previous health concerns and far from flashy name and style of play, has been a success for the Magic. He has done more, with less. He was hired by a front office that had inherited a disaster of a roster from former General Manager Rob Hennigan, and who quickly saw the value in having Clifford lead them out of the darkness.

Make no mistake, the current front office’s drafting hasn’t been perfect. Isaac has had two major injuries in three years, while Mohamed Bamba, once thought of as the center of the future, is in a major battle with Birch to simply be the backup here. Both were fifth overall picks in back-to-back drafts, in 2017 (Isaac) and 2018 (Bamba).

They also let Wesley Iwundu, a second-round pick, walk to the Dallas Mavericks during the offseason, despite every indication that he was a player who was going to continue to flourish as he had under Clifford. But despite this, the franchise has continued moving forward, continued pursuing a third straight postseason berth.

It’s not just the way Clifford has done less with more though, it is how he has integrated what is at his disposal into one cohesive unit as well. Markelle Fultz, at one time the enigma of the entire league, is thriving (even if he’s going through a slump at the moment). Clifford never cared what happened to him before with the Philadelphia 76ers, all he asked is that he played hard.

To that end, Fultz has delivered. He has the potential to be an elite defensive player. Even Evan Fournier, long the source of many an eye roll amongst the Magic faithful, has seen some of his best basketball come under Clifford. He may be in a contract year which helps, but his offensive play is now missed more often than not, instead of being ridiculed.

All of which is to say, could another head coach have done as good a job as Steve Clifford is doing with the Orlando Magic right now? Better yet, would another head coach want to? The resources are limited, but improving, and the chances of a big trade or notable free agent joining are minimal.

This seems to suit Clifford just fine, as he uses continuity of the roster and his style of play to keep the Magic on an upward trajectory defensively, and improving offensively. You won’t hear about it often, accolades never come the Magic’s way easily, but Clifford has proven to be the perfect head coach for a franchise that needed him at that moment. May 30th, 2018.