Exclusive: Coach Steve Clifford talks state of the Hornets, LaMelo Ball’s return
.JPG "Charlotte Hornets head coach Steve Clifford gestures during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Miami Heat,,Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)")
Firmly seated on a table courtside inside an empty arena, Steve Clifford is closely watching two-on-two drills mixing a veteran with three younger players.
The Charlotte Hornets coach pauses a few times while explaining things so he can stare at what’s happening on the court, apologizing on each occasion. But no one can blame Clifford for wanting to focus on the action in front of him, given the Hornets are mired in a rough stretch.
Improving across the board somehow, some way is paramount for them to snap their eight-game losing skid and begin restoring some of the good times they experienced earlier in the season. That’s the purpose of days like these.
“It’s the same thing that it’s all about: making progress,” Clifford told The Charlotte Observer on Sunday after practice at FTX Arena. “And so you want to come in, you want to learn from it. Like (Saturday) night, our second-half defense was really bad. So you want to learn from it and then you want to move on. But you’ve got to know what’s going well, what’s going poorly and do it that way. And that’s the biggest thing to me.”
A road-heavy schedule that leaves the Hornets living out of suitcases for three of their next four games isn’t going to make these daily crash courses any easier. Using creative avenues to correct some of their execution flaws will be a must due to the lack of actual practice.
“This will be one of our toughest stretches of the year in terms of number of days off, number of games back-to-back,” Clifford said. “We are traveling like in out, in out. So, it’s definitely made it difficult. So that’s why you want to find out. The hardest thing along with that is, ‘How do you get better?’ That’s why the shootarounds are important, days like this even though we didn’t do a lot of contact are important. All of it, all of it.
“So I don’t see any other way you can do it. I mean, there’s obviously a messaging part of it too and individual time with a player and everything like that. But no matter what, no matter what, you’ve still got to find ways for your team to improve.
Clifford spoke with the Observer about a variety of topics, including the difficulties of keeping the offensive pace where he wanted it to be when LaMelo Ball was sidelined, developing the younger players, the benefit of having Marvin Williams around, outside noise about tanking and more.
Roderick Boone: What has been your main message to the team over the past couple of days?
Steve Clifford: Understand the reasons why we haven’t been successful and understand what we’ve done well, what we’ve done poorly. Most days we put up there, ‘This was good. This needs improvement.’ Knowing what we have to work on and stuff like that is everything.
RB: Does it make it a little more comforting to look at the standings and see there are many teams in the Eastern Conference – and the league as a whole – that haven’t gotten off to great starts?
SC: That’s what I told the team going into (Saturday) night. We were like 2 1/2 games out of sixth. And we’ve got guys coming back. Gordon’s (Hayward) trying to do some things. He’s getting closer. Cody (Martin) had his procedure, he’s getting closer. But we are getting closer where we are going to have these guys back.
RB: You mentioned Gordon. He’s missed the past six games. How much progress has he made trying to return?
SC: Melo did the same thing. He’s doing everything he can do. (Sunday) was the first day he played a little two-on-two, so he’s getting closer.
RB: What’s been the toughest thing about navigating injuries while trying to get the team going in the right direction?
SC: Obviously, that’s been the toughest one right? We haven’t had a lot of continuity ... to get to playing groups and build on things on both ends of the floor, and establish who we are and how we want to play. That’s made it difficult. So, that has by far been the biggest challenge.
RB: What has surprised you about the team that maybe you didn’t know or weren’t sure about before the season began?
SC: I think that we are very much viewed as a finesse offensive team and I think there is a lot of toughness here. ... When we have everybody healthy we are going to be a team that plays with a lot of physicality. I don’t see any reason why we can’t be good at all those energy effort areas.
Defensive rebounding, defensive transition, keeping the ball out of the paint, being good at loose balls, being good at screening. I don’t see why we can’t do that. So I think that for me is a real positive.
RB: Speaking with the players, they remark about you being detail-oriented. How important is that so they are knowledgeable about roles and what you want from them?
SC: To me, that’s how I was brought into the NBA. The NBA is high execution. In playoff basketball, you can’t give possessions away. And I think that’s what you try to do, (what) every team and coaching staff tries to do – if you try to build a way to play and work so that you are detailed while intense, with good concentration.
RB: How do you ensure the problems that were issues with the big men last season don’t creep back into play again?
SC: Within your question, that’s been one of the other challenges. With all the injuries, we’ve hit this stretch here where it’s 15 (games) in 28 nights. Every team is going through it – a similar schedule. But it’s early in the year for us. So it’s when you are traveling a lot and you don’t have a lot of practice time. …
And the other thing is we’ve been playing some guys huge minutes. It is harder to find good practice time. That’s where one of the other things I’ve been happy with is just the way they’ve practiced. I feel like we’ve been able to get better in some areas at the same time, which is much more a testament to the players. I’ve got a really strong staff, but if the players aren’t committed to it, it doesn’t matter.
RB: There was skepticism on the outside earlier in training camp when you said Nick Richards had the lead for the backup center spot and he was one of the most improved in the offseason. Just how good can he be for this team?
SC: Oh, I think he’s at the very beginning. I think sometimes people don’t always view offensive rebounding as a skill. It’s a huge skill. (Or) rim protection as a skill. It’s a huge skill. Being a good taker on pick-and-roll coverages. It’s a huge skill. Having the ability to run past the other big guys down the floor. It’s a huge skill. So he has these things that he’s already not OK at, he’s already good at. And like most players, he’s going to want to build other things in his game.
But the one thing you want to do is continue to make your strengths your strengths. You look at his offensive rebounding numbers, I think he is top five in the NBA in offensive rebounds per minute. So I think he is at the very beginning. he can get better and better. He’s also more confident, which is a big part of this. I don’t see that he is doing anything now that he won’t be better at in 30 games.
RB: Obviously, you are more worried about the players you have in the rotation. But what about the importance of developing the younger guys who aren’t in the lineup and making sure they’re ready when you do need them?
SC: That’s one of the biggest challenges I think. So for like for Mark (Williams), these last two weekends … he had a big game (Friday) night in Greensboro. He and Bryce (McGowens) are down there playing. One thing Kai (Jones) has made good progress is with execution areas. Team offense and team defense areas.
And to me that is almost like an every couple days discussion. That’s where (GM) Mitch (Kupchak) is great, (assistant) GM Buzz (Peterson) is great. We sit down, we talk about these guys, what’s the best thing for them to do. Because sometimes they just need to play and that’s what Greensboro is for. They’ve got to be ready.
RB: With LaMelo out for nearly five weeks, how tough was it during to still execute certain plays offensively when it’s just not the same without his pace?
SC: It’s hard because you build your offense around the better scorers, shot creators, stuff like that of which that’s what he is. Same with Gordon (Hayward), same with Terry (Rozier). So it makes it different. And what we’ve tried to do is not get away from running because we need to be a running team. But then like the half-court stuff has been a lot different without him.
RB: Now that LaMelo is back, how do you get him to execute without practice time?
SC: It’s the same thing. You’ve got to find ways to make progress, see how you can get better. The thing with Melo is he had such a good training camp. It’s not like he’s been out the whole time ... so he has a good foundation for what we are doing.
RB: What’s it been like having Marvin Williams around to help with player programs on and off the court?
SC: He’s the best. I’ve been doing this a long time and he’s one of my favorite, favorite players I ever had the chance to coach. We remained friendly. But he’s going to be good at whatever he does just by the nature of who he is. They say success usually comes down to personal qualities?
He’s super bright, he’s very perceptive, he’s got great people skills. He’s been a huge help for us. And look at him. He’s out there rebounding. He works with the young guys and they all respect him because they know how he plays. He was a winning player. So just having him around is just great.
RB: Have you heard any of the talk about tanking and what do you think about that kind of chatter?
SC: I don’t have time to do all the social media and stuff like that. So I don’t see that. All of the social media stuff, I kind of look at it this way: I think that fans are why we are allowed to live the kind of life we live. I love the NBA. I never take this for granted. I love doing it and all that. And look, I’m a sports fan. So I understand there’s always frustration or whatever. That’s all fair. But I don’t read that stuff, so I’m not really aware of a lot of it.
This story was originally published November 14, 2022 at 8:02 AM.
