Category: NBA Teams

NBA teams blog

Orlando Magic hire Steve Clifford as head coach

Steve Clifford, who helped lead the Orlando Magic to the 2009 NBA Finals as an assistant coach and has more than 30 years of coaching experience at the NBA and collegiate level, has been named the team’s head coach, President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman announced today. Clifford becomes the 14th head coach in franchise history.

Clifford returns to Orlando after spending the previous five seasons (2013-18) as head coach of the Charlotte Hornets. He was named Charlotte’s head coach on May 29, 2013 and compiled a record of 196-214 (.478). Clifford led Charlotte to the NBA Playoffs in two of his first four seasons at the helm after the team qualified for the postseason just once in the previous 10 seasons.

“We are very excited to welcome Steve (Clifford) back into the Magic family,” Weltman said. “Steve is widely regarded throughout the NBA community as an elite coach and developer of players at all stages. His teams have always been disciplined and prepared, and have embraced the concept of playing for each other.”

During Clifford’s first season in Charlotte (2013-14), the team saw a 22-win improvement from the previous season, finishing 43-39 and earning a playoff berth for the first time since 2009-10. In 2015-16, the Hornets went 48-34, their best record since 1999-2000. Charlotte again made the NBA Playoffs, eventually falling in seven games to third-seeded Miami.

A native of Island Falls, Maine, Clifford arrived in Charlotte after spending the 2012-13 season as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers, first under Mike Brown and then under Mike D’Antoni.

Prior to the Lakers, Clifford spent five seasons as an assistant coach with Orlando from 2007-12. As a member of Stan Van Gundy’s staff, he helped the Magic to a 259-135 record (.657) and five straight playoff appearances, including a trip to the 2009 NBA Finals. The team won 50 games or more in four straight seasons from 2007-11, winning three consecutive Southeast Division titles (2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10).

Before going to Orlando, Clifford spent four seasons as an assistant coach under Jeff Van Gundy with the Houston Rockets from 2003-07. He began his NBA career with the New York Knicks, serving as the team’s advance scout in 2000-01 before moving to the bench as an assistant coach from 2001-03.

Prior to the NBA, Clifford spent 15 years coaching at the collegiate level, including four years as head coach at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York from 1995-99. He posted a record of 86-36 (.705) at Adelphi, leading the school to four straight 20-win seasons, becoming the first coach in school history to record consecutive 20-win campaigns, and four straight appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament. His winning percentage remains the second-best of the 12 head coaches in the program’s 65-year history.

Clifford began his college coaching career at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, where he spent four seasons as an assistant coach. He then served as an assistant coach for one year at Fairfield University, four seasons at Boston University and one season at Siena University before becoming the head coach at Adelphi. Clifford also spent one season as an assistant coach at East Carolina University in 1999-2000 before moving to the NBA.

Clifford’s first coaching experience came at Woodland High School in Maine, where he coached for two seasons after graduating from the University of Maine at Farmington with a degree in special education. He played four years for the Beavers, being named Best Defensive Player in his final two seasons while serving as team captain.

Shane Battier reportedly staying with Heat front office

It’s always fun to see where well-known former players wind up once they hang up the sneakers. Shane Battier is doing his thing in Miami, and reportedly might have left for Detroit but will stay put. Here’s the Miami Herald with the details:

Shane Battier, the Heat’s director of basketball development and analytics, has removed himself from consideration for a high-level front office job with the Detroit Pistons, a source confirmed Tuesday.

The Pistons had shown interest in several former players – including Battier, Brent Barry and Tayshaun Prince – for a role in their revamped front office. And Battier has ties to the state, having been born and raised in Birmingham, Mich., and attending Detroit Country Day school.

Battier had interviewed with the Pistons and was asked back for a second interview.

But Battier, 39, ultimately decided to stay with the Heat

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And according to Michigan Live, “The Pistons hired Ed Stefanski last week as a special adviser to owner Tom Gores. Stefanski is leading the search for a new president of basketball operations and head coach after Stan Van Gundy was dismissed on May 7.”

Marcus Smart hopes to remain with Celtics

Like many Celtics, Marcus Smart struggled in yesterday’s Game 7 Eastern Conference Finals loss to the Cavs. But overall, Smart has been a key contributor on an excellent Boston squad. He hopes to stick around. Will it work out? Free agency is a complicated thing. Here’s the Boston Herald reporting:

In an ideal world, Marcus Smart expects a small scale version of Isaiah Thomas’ mythical Brinks truck to arrive when he becomes a restricted free agent this summer.

His comments to ESPN following the Celtics’ Game 7 loss to Cleveland revealed a player who believes he’s worth upwards of $12 million per year this summer. In a market that is once again expected to find most teams in a constricted state, the Celtics guard’s hopes may not match what he ultimately earns.

But based on his exit interview Monday with Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens, Smart said he feels good about his future as a Celtic.

“Danny emphasizes all the time how much he loves me as a player and emphasized how much they want me here. I want to be here, so that’s the plan right now,” said Smart. “I’ve been here four years. Boston’s all I know. The atmosphere that the city just gives off to you is remarkable. It’s ecstatic and it’s a good feeling. You want to feel that way.

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Kevin Love will miss Cavs vs Celtics Game 7

And we’re back to this. LeBron James in a key playoff situation surrounded mostly by role players, while a key star or two are injured. In this case it’s one player, Kevin Love. Of course, the Celtics played this season without Gordon Hayward, and are now without Kyrie Irving. They’ve gotten extremely good play from guard Terry Rozier in Irving’s place, though. And Game 7 is in Boston. So, advantage Celtics. Except, the Cavs have LeBron. But the Celtics right now have looked like the better team. Especially when playing at home. So, advantage Celtics, still, right? But… LeBron… Anyway, enjoy the game, and here’s the Boston Herald reporting on K-Love:

Cavaliers forward Kevin Love was placed in the NBA’s concussion protocol Saturday and declared out for Sunday’s Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics.

The 8:30 p.m. game at TD Garden will determine the East’s representative in the NBA Finals, which open May 31 at the home of the West champion. The Rockets lead the defending champion Warriors 3-2 going into Saturday’s Game 6…

Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said Love was flying with the team to Boston Saturday afternoon.

Love banged heads with Jayson Tatum with 6:58 left in the second quarter and went to the locker room to be evaluated.

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Karl-Anthony Towns eligible for massive contract extension

These days, every good NBA player is up for a huge payday once they’re past their rookie contract and have proven themselves as a force to be reckoned with. As for the specific case of young Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns, here’s the St Paul Pioneer Press reporting:

Karl-Anthony Towns’ potential pay day just got a little bigger.

Towns, who’s eligible to sign an extension this summer, can now earn up to $188 million on a five-year extension after earning All-NBA honors on Thursday, per ESPN’s front office insider Bobby Marks.

The extension would come into effect at the start of the 2019-20 season. Minnesota signed Andrew Wiggins to a five-year, $146 million max extension last offseason. The All-NBA honors mean Towns can make up to 30 percent of the Wolves’ salary cap, which is higher than the extension for which Wiggins was eligible.

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Don Nelson has advice for Warriors

It’s always worth hearing what pro coaches who have no reason to censor themselves suggest in regard to other teams’ coaching strategies. In this case, it’s a legendary former Warriors coach discussing the current squad. Here’s NBC Sports Bay Area reporting:

What would former Warriors head coach Don Nelson like to see Golden State do differently in Game 5?

“As they watch film, they gotta see that they’re (the Rockets) overplaying all their good players,” Nelson explained on KNBR 680 on Wednesday. “When that happens, you don’t want to go to halfcourt to catch, and then take you three dribbles to get into your attack area.

“You want to catch and be in your attack area upon catch … and then, when there’s pressure on you a long distance from the basket, instead of shooting long — you gotta drive that ball. You gotta create something. There’s a lot of wide open layups there that we’re taking advantage of when we drive.”

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Jaylen Brown praises Boston playoff crowd

The headline isn’t a surprise — of course a player is going to generally say good or great things about his team’s fans — but it’s still fun to read the exact wording they use to do it. The Celtics are undefeated so far at home in these playoffs. Here’s Jaylen Brown discussing the home crowd, via NESN.com:

Jaylen Brown has said before that playing at home can be like having the best sixth man in the league, and the Celtics swingman doubled down Wednesday night after Boston defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 96-83 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals to take a 3-2 series lead.

“The energy level, we feed off the crowd,” Brown told reporters in Boston. “The crowd is like the best sixth man in the league, is what the tale says. So when we’re out there, we can definitely feel the energy the Garden is giving us. And we use it to do what we gotta do.”

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Detroit Pistons hire Ed Stefanski

Detroit Pistons Owner Tom Gores announced today the hiring of Ed Stefanski as a senior executive reporting directly to Mr. Gores with responsibility for helping reshape the team’s basketball operations infrastructure and strategy.

In this new role, Mr. Stefanski will assist in the searches now underway for a new head coach and new head of basketball operations; conduct a broad review of the existing structure in which the two jobs were previously combined; recommend enhancements and improvements to that structure; and act as a long-term strategic adviser to Mr. Gores and the Pistons’ ownership team.

His contract has a three-year term.

Mr. Stefanski brings nearly 20 years of NBA executive-level basketball operations experience to Detroit after serving in lead management roles with Memphis (2014-18), Toronto (2011-13), Philadelphia (2007-11) and New Jersey (1998-2007). He most recently served as executive vice president for the Memphis Grizzlies. Previously, he helped transform the Nets into the team that won back-to-back Eastern Conference Championships in 2002 and 2003.

A 1976 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, Mr. Stefanski played three seasons for the Penn basketball team, where he was coached by Chuck Daly, who later would lead the Detroit Pistons to back-to-back NBA championships, become the franchise’s all-time winningest head coach and be named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Mr. Stefanski was a member of two Ivy League Champions (1974 and 1975) and helped the Quakers reach the NCAA Tournament in both of those seasons. He was drafted by Philadelphia in the 10th round of the 1976 NBA Draft.

Clippers sign coach Doc Rivers to contract extension

The L.A. Clippers have agreed to a contract extension with head coach Doc Rivers.

Clippers Chairman Steve Ballmer had this to say: “Doc is one of the top coaches in the NBA, coming off one of his finest seasons since joining the Clippers… We trust Doc to lead a competitive, tough, hard-working team while upholding a culture of accountability expected to resonate throughout the organization.”

Under Rivers’ leadership, the Clippers have earned the NBA’s fifth-best record (259-151, .632) during his five-year tenure. When joining the team in 2013, he led L.A. to its best record in franchise history (57-25, .695), winning a second straight Pacific Division title. The Clippers have reached the postseason in four of Rivers’ five seasons with the team. He is the winningest coach in Clippers franchise history by both total victories (259) and winning percentage (.632). Despite coaching an NBA-high 37 unique starting lineups throughout the 2017-18 season, Rivers’ squad was in playoff contention until the final homestand of the season, finishing with a 42-40 record.

“I am proud of the success we have had here over the last five seasons, but there is more work to be done,” Rivers said. “We are coming off a year where our team battled through many challenges and much adversity, proving deep talent and even greater potential. I am looking forward to getting back to work on the court to develop our players and compete with the NBA’s elite.”

Now entering his 20th season as a head coach in the NBA, Rivers is one of just two active coaches (Spurs coach Gregg Popovich the other) to win at least 800 games and his 846 career regular season wins are 14th-most in NBA history and second-most among active coaches. The 1999-2000 NBA Coach of the Year, Rivers led the Boston Celtics to the 2008 NBA Championship, and has earned two Eastern Conference Championships and seven divisions titles. A 13-year NBA veteran and former Clippers point guard (1991-92), he coached in Boston from 2004-2013 and prior to that, led the Orlando Magic from 1999-2003.

Celtics guard Shane Larkin may return soon

The Celtics lead the Cavs 2-1 in their Eastern Conference Finals series. Game 4 is tonight in Cleveland. Here’s Boston.com with a Celtics roster update:

Celtics backup point guard Shane Larkin took part in a lengthy individual workout with assistant coach Jay Larranaga after Sunday’s practice, his first since spraining his left shoulder in Boston’s May 7 loss to the 76ers in the conference semifinals. On Monday, Larkin said he made it through the session with minimal soreness. Although he remains sidelined in this conference final against the Cavaliers with no return date set, he believes he is “pretty close’’ to getting back on the court.

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