Orlando Magic play it safe hiring Steve Clifford, maybe that is what they need

Fans wanted the Orlando Magic to hire a splashy name with a new coach. Instead, the team hired Steve Clifford a steady hand this rebuild needs.

Steve Clifford’s first head coaching job was a daunting one.

The Charlotte Bobcats had won 21 games in the court of the previous two seasons. They were a franchise in constant rebuild and seeking some identity. They fired Mike Dunlap after just one season. The team was going nowhere.

Clifford still had the shine of the 2009 Orlando Magic all over him. But as a first-time head coach, no one knew what he would bring to the team.

Would he just copy what Stan Van Gundy did? How would he strike out on his own?

Turning around this moribund franchise would be daunting.

In five years, he did not quite turn them into the perennial playoff contender they hoped he would. But he did do one thing — he brought them to respectability. He gave the team and the organization an identity. In one season he took the team from 21 to 43 wins and a Playoff berth, the second since the league revived the franchise.

His teams would never fall completely off the earth again. They remained in the Playoff picture and preseason favorites to make it. The Hornets never could get over that hump to constant contention. Injuries and mediocre draft selections prevented them from winning consistently.

After five years, Charlotte decided to move on — firing general manager Rich Cho in addition to Steve Clifford.

The Magic coaching search was quiet and long. It left fans speculating what direction the team would go — hoping to get the next Brad Stevens or wunderkind assistant coach. With so little information — about who the team was interviewing or even what they were looking for — it allowed fans’ imaginations to go wild.

After six years of frustration and poor performance, the Magic and their fans were looking for something they could believe in. Something to hold on for optimism. Whether they could actually see it or not. Fans wanted a reason to get excited.

Clifford is not that coach. His m.o. with the Hornets was a grittier style of play. A team that limited its mistakes and played to a defensive-minded standard. He seemingly had a particular way of doing things and got his players to buy into that mentality.

But Clifford is not going to bring excitement by his name alone. He is the mild-mannered, even-tempered player’s coach that blunted Van Gundy’s sharp edge during the Magic’s title runs from 2008-12. He was the one in the trenches softening those blows and helping develop players and that buy-in that made those teams successful.

That is part of what Orlando wanted now. Then again, that is also what they thought they were getting with Frank Vogel a few years ago.

Perhaps the Magic hired Vogel thinking they were closer to winning than they actually were. He was a remnant of a goal that turned into a delusion.

At this point, with the Magic hiring another experienced coach, it feels like the team fired Vogel to make change for the sake of change. Something was not working in Orlando and so it was time to clear out everything. The roster should be next.

But this hire is different. At least in a major way.

The general reaction online was not good for the hire. It seemed like fans wanted a splashier name. Or something new and fresh. They wanted something consistent and long-lasting. They wanted to make sure they got someone who could do this right.

Again belief seemed to matter more than results or something proven.

Fresh assistants bring fresh ideas, but they are no guarantee of success. Neither are experienced coaches. But going to someone who has helped establish a team culture and delivered even some measure of success seems more reliable. The Magic, after six years of being a mess, needed something a bit more certain and proven.

President of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said he would not commit to something he did not know. He was trying to minimize risk in some way and take a safer pick.

The reality is Clifford has done with the Hornets what the Magic are trying to do now.

And no one the team interviewed — whether it was David Vanterpool or Ime Udoka or whoever else — convinced them otherwise. They wanted someone who knows how to build a program and culture. That was true perhaps of some other coaches the Magic chased that went unreported too.

At whatever level, Orlando clearly wanted someone who had gone through the trenches and built a program to some level. That is something they likely targeted.

Clifford may not have been the primary choice. But he has done that.

When he arrived in Charlotte, the team was coming off a 21-win season and a seven-win season before that. The then-Bobcats won 42 games and made the Playoffs. Even through injuries and a mismatched roster that never could get that final piece, the team established a strong defensive identity. Everyone knew when they played a Steve Clifford-coached team.

The Hornets finished with a top-10 defense in the first three years under Clifford and were in the top-10 at the All-Star Break in 2017 before injuries took them down.

That is what the Magic want in the end. Consistency and an identity to lean on. That is the foundation a program can build upon. Clifford had built that in Charlotte. And now Orlando wants a piece of that.

It is fair to argue Clifford’s tenure with the Hornets was far from successful. The team had just two Playoff appearances in five years. His offenses ranged from average to floundering, despite their strong defensive chops.

Clifford is not the perfect coach by any means. Although he is the coach that has proven he can get the job done.

Orlando clearly wanted that stability. They clearly wanted that experience.

Next: Orlando Magic's clean slate begins with Steve Clifford

It may not have been the flashy hire. But it is one that will get the team where it eventually wants to go.