Steve Clifford brings nostalgia, but he must carve his own path

Coach Steve Clifford will drum up memories of the Orlando Magic’s glory years in the late 2000s. But he must carve his own path to find success now.

The Orlando Magic are rightfully cautious with nostalgia.

The last time they welcomed a coach back “home” was with Scott Skiles. It provided a nice boost for fans and put some shine on a difficult situation. Skiles got the most out of a young team to get them to a 19-13 start. But his hard-driving ways and evaluation of the Magic’s roster differed from management.

He was a true nostalgia hire. Someone who never meshed well with the overall vision of the team and then pushed the organization to change course completely — above both management and coach. Skiles was a nostalgic glue (like he was when he was a player) meant to keep the team from bursting at the seams.

The different directions everyone was headed eventually caused the team to collapse — they won just 35 games after that hot start, missing the playoffs. The Magic forced their chips to the middle of the table starting with the Tobias Harris trade. And then Skiles resigned in a seeming fit of frustration.

Nostalgia works until it does not. It is not a reason to hire anyone and certainly not a reason to keep them around. Ultimately a coach is not judged on the feelings he engenders with the franchise and its fan base but his results on the court.

Nostalgia is built from success. And it is erased as a team struggles.

The hire of coach Steve Clifford had a whiff of that same nostalgia as Scott Skiles. He was an assistant coach during the Magic’s run to the 2009 Finals. An easily recognizable face connecting fans and the team to those glory years.

Indeed, Steve Clifford told John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com that plenty of people have approached him to talk about those marquee moments. Clifford said it is good to see fans still want to engage with the team. He knows what a force Magic fans can be when they are full-throated in support of their team.

But Clifford has to make his own mark. Eventually, the nostalgia of his coaching tenure in Orlando will fade away. He will become the face of the current Magic. And the team he is coaching is very different than the one that won.

Clifford will ultimately get judged on how his team performs.

Stan Van Gundy obviously has influenced Steve Clifford and his philosophies. Clifford had a long coaching career before he joined Van Gundy’s staff in Orlando. That was probably his most successful run. But that time will not define Clifford. He certainly has taken things from Van Gundy, but Clifford has found his own voice too.

For Clifford to succeed, he will have to cut through the nostalgia he inevitably will engender. He has to carve his own path. He already has the experience to do so.

As the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets, Clifford’s teams had a strong defensive identity. Until last season, the Hornets were a top-10 defensive team by defensive rating in each of Clifford’s first four seasons in Charlotte. That fourth season the team saw some slipping because of injuries. But last year, the team struggled to keep up its defensive intensity.

Orlando is hoping Clifford can establish that identity and maybe mimic the success he experienced in his first year with the Hornets when he completed a 20-win improvement and a Playoff bid.

That kind of coaching is what the Magic hired, not the reminiscing of days past. Nostalgia might give Clifford a little benefit of the doubt with fans. But it is not going to save him if things go south and he cannot deliver for the team.

Skiles’ nostalgia ran out pretty quickly as the team struggled. And his legacy with the Magic — including his bid to enter the Orlando Magic Hall of Fame — likely took a hit because of how sudden and frustrating his exit was.

Clifford is like Skiles in some ways. He is a no-nonsense guy who can be brutally honest and forthright with his team. His communication and relation to players might be better than Skiles. But they will demand much the same things.

There was some trepidation hiring Clifford because of these similarities and his limited success with the Hornets. There is a question of just how much Clifford will be able to turn things around. Every coach comes with his own risks. Getting that hire right is difficult.

The Magic know that more than anyone else.

Clifford in his interview with Denton cited his special relationship with Orlando. He feels the city has grown and changed since he left in 2012. While he has been able to reconnect with old friends and acquaintances, this city is very new too.

It is a different time and a different place.

And Clifford will be judged by a different standard too. He will be judged by what he builds with the Magic on his own. It is his path and his work that will direct the Magic this year and for the future.

At the end of the day, what he did in 2009 will matter less than what he does in 2019.