What do Former Hornets Staff Think of Re-Hiring Steve Clifford?

Former staff from the Clifford era share their thoughts on the appointment

One of the benefits of re-hiring a former head coach is there are several staff in and around the Hornets organisation who have experience of working with Clifford before. I reached out to some contacts who were in and around the team on a regular basis to get their thoughts on the news that Steve Clifford is returning as head coach. All sources spoke on the condition of anonymity 

Person A

Cliff is a nice guy that was well liked during his time in Charlotte. He has a lot of respect around the league. The rosters he coached had very limited talent but he got as much as possible out of them. He isn’t a player development coach so it’ll be interesting to see how he fits with the current players. I’m curious as to why player development no longer seems to be a priority for the team.

Many people have already shared their concern around player development due to Clifford's chequered past, notably with Malik Monk and Mo Bamba. How Clifford fills out his assistants will be key, as these are often the coaches who spend most time working with players on a development plan. There are rumors that Charlotte want to retain some of their assistant coaching staff and I wonder if that was a sticking point with D'Antoni. It wouldn't surprise me to hear if some of Jay Hernandez, Dutch Gaitely, Marlon Garnett and Nick Friedman were to end up staying on Clifford's new staff to help maintain the development culture.

Person B

I think having Cliff back has the chance of being a really good thing. After all he is the second winningest coach the franchise has ever had. The thing I am looking forward to the most will be on the defensive side of the floor. We know this young core can score, and with Cliff’s defensive acumen this recipe could get the Hornets back to the playoffs and possibly make some noise. I will be interested to see what assistants fill out the rest of his bench.

Defense must be the defining reason Clifford was hired, right? Well then why in the world were they ever looking at Mike D'Antoni? It's like going to McDonalds and being torn stuck at the drive in torn between a salad and a super sized Big Mac Meal with extra fries and a two McFlurrys. Clifford also brings a track record of helping build a team about a central star, it was Kemba in Charlotte and Vucevic in Orlando, both became all stars under his stewardship.

As for assistants? Clifford has past history leaning on familiar names such as Patrick Ewing (Georgetown), Steve Hetzel (Blazers), Pat Delany (Wizards), Nate Tibbets (Blazers) and Bob Weiss (Retired). However, this late into the off-season it figures many of these candidates will be unavailable. One name to keep an eye out for is ex-Hornet and recent retiree Marvin Williams. Williams was beloved by Clifford and I always felt he would make a good coach or front office staff member one day.