Steve Clifford’s return to the Charlotte Hornets is so far-fetched it’s going to work
The Charlotte Hornets salvaged an embarrassing coaching search Friday by hiring Steve Clifford — again.
Clifford, who coached the Hornets from 2013-18, became the final twist in a 63-day coaching search brimming with them when he agreed to terms Friday.
Kenny Atkinson took the Hornets job and then turned it down in favor of staying a Golden State assistant. Mike D’Antoni interviewed for it but didn’t get it. The Hornets fired James Borrego in April, then took so long to hire somebody else that they held their draft without a head coach.
And now comes Clifford, 60, who was fired almost immediately by Mitch Kupchak shortly after Kupchak took the Hornets’ GM job in 2018. Kupchak and owner Michael Jordan — who had met with Clifford in Charlotte only this week, after the Atkinson deal went sideways — have rehired the very man they fired four years ago.
It’s strange. Hornet World usually is. But in this case, I like the result — as least as well as you could, under the circumstances. This is just wild enough to actually work.
Clifford can coach. Having watched his teams play for five years, he’s far from perfect, but I actually like his chances of succeeding here better than Atkinson’s. He’s impossible to outwork, he deals with everyone professionally, and he’s honest both when it’s good and when it’s bad.
And before you start up with all the “that guy’s a retread” talk and all the “The Hornets never get it right” talk, hold up a second. Think a little about what Clifford did here the first time. He made the NBA playoffs twice in five years with the Hornets.
Before Clifford, the Hornets went 1-for-10 in making the playoffs over the previous decade. After Clifford, they went 0-for-4 in making the postseason under Borrego. No, Clifford never won a playoff series in Charlotte (thanks, Purple Shirt Guy), but at least he got there.
Clifford is also a good example of the idea of not burning bridges on the way out the door. He always had a good relationship with Jordan, and that remained. He never ripped Kupchak for firing him. And all that was smart. You never know when you may need that reference from a previous employer, or in this case, another job.
Just before Clifford got fired in 2018, I wrote that he should get one more season to try to turn it around. He didn’t, though, and well before it happened, he understood it might.
“Listen, the NBA is about winning, period,” he said at the time. “You can’t worry about (job security). That’s just part of it. … I’ve been fired a few times already.”
And he has, like most NBA coaches who last into their 60s. After Charlotte, Clifford had a three-year run as Orlando’s head coach, which started well (two straight playoff appearances) and ended badly (a 21-51 final season). He was a consultant for the Brooklyn Nets last season. He has a strong reputation as a defensive-minded coach, something Charlotte desperately needs.
Now he will get a third chance at an NBA head job with the Hornets, and he will need to do some things differently. Clifford had a reputation for playing the veterans a lot in Charlotte, but now he’s got a bunch of first- and second-year players he needs to develop while also accomplishing Kupchak’s goal of “making a jump” from the 43-win season the Hornets just had.
He will also need to take good care of himself. You may remember that “Cliff,” as most everyone calls him, lost about six weeks of his final NBA season in Charlotte with the Hornets due to a series of chronic and debilitating headaches. Doctors told him at the time they were caused in part by severe sleep deprivation. He’s a grinder and always has been, but he’s going to need to delegate as much as possible to the new staff he hires.
You may not think this can or will work. That’s fine. I’m not positive it will either. As I wrote earlier this week, what I really wish the Hornets had done is hire South Carolina women’s coach Dawn Staley.
But anyone who doesn’t think Clifford will have a chance to succeed again here — and his first tenure in Charlotte was a modest success compared to all those who came before and since — doesn’t really know him. If they get him enough players, he’ll win. Do that, and the jokes about the Hornets will finally subside.
This story was originally published June 24, 2022 at 7:29 PM with the headline "Steve Clifford’s return to the Charlotte Hornets is so far-fetched it’s going to work."
