Hornets’ fans are suffering. The Hornets are mired in mediocrity and Steve Clifford is one reason why.
When Steve Clifford took control of the then-Charlotte Bobcats in 2013, the team–to put it bluntly–was atrocious. How bad were they? Well, the Bobcats lost 61 games the year before Clifford arrived.
One of the first contributions Clifford made was to bring a defensive mentality to the team. He also established a fundamentally sound offensive system. As a result, the Hornets are constantly in the front running for fewest turnovers per game in the NBA.
While Clifford has certainly improved the team during his five years at the helm, it’s also fair to say that the Hornets have plateaued.
On defense, only once (in 2015-16) was Charlotte an elite defensive squad when it ranked 7th in the NBA. During the other four years, the Hornets haven’t cracked the NBA’s top sixteen in overall defense.
On offense, Clifford plays a conservative game, especially during crunch time. While most NBA teams use screen plays to set up open shots, time and time again the Hornets position either Kemba Walker or Nic Batum on an iso. The outcome? During one stretch over the past two seasons, the Hornets lost fourteen consecutive games by three or fewer points.
Courtesy: CBS Sports
Then there’s Clifford’s dislike of “positionless basketball,” an approach embraced by other coaches, such as Brad Stevens and Gregg Popovich. Clifford has a set starting lineup/rotation and rarely tries something different, like say, playing Dwayne Bacon as the backup point guard or Michael Kidd-Gilchrist at power forward.
The approach is illustrative of Clifford’s stubbornness. He constantly plays veterans over younger players because he has a “win now” mindset. The problem with that? Young players don’t get a chance to develop. Examples abound, from Frank Kaminsky’s rookie year to Bismack Biyombo, to Malik Monk more recently. Player development slows down and younger players have issues when they rotate into the starting lineup. They haven’t played enough minutes to be efficient.
With veteran players and a “win now” approach, you’d think that the Hornets would thrive in the playoffs. But only once has a Clifford-coached team gotten into the playoffs (2015-2016) when Charlotte lost in a first round, 7-game match-up with the Miami Heat.
Since then, Charlotte–in a word–has underperformed.
Projected be at least a five-seed in both 2016-17 and 2017-18, the Hornets missed the playoffs both years.
To make matters worse, the Hornets are stuck in cap space, thanks to veteran signings in 2016. The circumstance has relegated the team to a state of mediocrity.
I think it’s time for MJ to fire Steve Clifford. And I say that the time to do it is now!
