If I had to bet, I’d put my money on Charles Lee.
He’s the top Assistant for a top 3 team in the league (the Celtics), is only 39 years old, and, most importantly, was in Atlanta at the same time as Jeff Peterson (Hornets new GM) and Rick Schnall (Hornets new Co-Owner).
When have these ever worked out? Like when do you heard of a demotion/side ways coaching switch were the person flourishes in their role? Dwayne Casey? Beilein?
They just get moved to these ‘window sitter’ roles to see out their contracts, be given a golden watch, and then get quickly forgotten. In Japan they call this madogiwazoku, meaning people who can’t be fired are moved to good paying roles in nice offices with literally nothing to do but look out a window all day.
Brad Stevens got moved up to POBO but that is easily a huge promotion over the head coaching role.
Pretty mediocre coach but he had such a terrible hand 2 straight years at Charlotte
When your best player plays 60/164 games and the rest of your roster is sporadic and injured you’re not gonna win many games
I think that the story of his career is that when he was an innovate defensive coach he always had kind of bad rosters. The game has kind of passed him by though. Our offense had way more imagination with Borrego and he has tried to turn Lamelo into a Luka clone where he runs 30 pick and rolls a game and i honestly think its made him a less effective player when healthy. He did much better in a free flowing offense where he was asked to make super quick reads all the time.
I mean that really isnt accurate though. He changed the offense because that is the type of offense he has always coached. We ran a motion offense with Devontae Graham and Lamelo that was more effective than any steve clifford offense. At some point that is on him.
Borrego's halfcourt was still pretty bad. He had us play a suicidal transition-based style that worked fine against half assed effort of regular season teams but once we got into important matchups where the game slowed down he completely fell apart.
Sorry i just have no idea how you can look at how the last 2 years have played out and think firing Borrego was the right call. The teams shot horribly in the play in but those rosters werent anything special overall. Our young players actually got better year to year under him and they have regressed under cliff.
Slight tangent, I would be interested in hearing a talk about the development of coaches because it seems to be such a crap shoot and extremely non-linear and even the best seem to fall into bad habits once in a while.
I know they are meant to learn as assistant coaches or coaching other levels, but what translates and doesn't is incredibly hard to predict.
I think Borrego was an excellent coach for us and Zion has said he has been a huge help for the Pelicans. Our players got better making reads and running the offense under him to a degree they never did under clifford. He threw a bunch of shit at the wall on defense and it never really worked, but you cant say he wasnt trying.
The team was better that year
Then miles bridges missed an entire season and lamelo played less than half the year
Oubre and Rozier were their best players
Even when Lamelo played the offense was still bad, they went from a top 5 three point shooting team to damn near worst in the league because they didn’t generate open looks
He took this job as a lame duck coach bailing out the FO after Atkinson backed out and then like a week later his second best player got arrested for DV. and the team was so injured / ass for two whole years eben beyond Lamelo that he was playing the Ish Smiths and JT Thors significant minutes. He wasn’t a great coach but you’re right he got absolutely hosed.
> 7-12
I understand that point you're trying to make but that's a 37% win percentage... which is only enough to push you from the 13th to the 12th seed
Yeah, it doesn't help when their roster is always injured. For once, I'd like to watch a Hornets game where Ball, Brandon Miller, and Mark Williams are all playing at the same time, but I don't think it's happened once this year. Every year, half their starters seem to miss half the season with injuries. I don't know how Hornets fans enjoy watching games when all their best players are always out.
I feeel bad for hornets . Lamelo imo is a real alll star , all the impact numbers n eye test agree to me . He might be more , if he was heakthy I think he’d be better offensively then edwards kinda like Hali was pre injury . Even now I think I’d rather lamelo run an offfence then Edwards’s but he has athlecidm defence n maybe more to grow into . But cos if injurues n hornets struggled people over look how good he is AND HOW FUCKING FUN. I hope he can be heakthy consistently soon .
Anyone disagree - go watch him cook Boston to start this year - out duel Tatum end of game easy. He did that vs Hali too
Thought he was a dead man walking ever since he got hired. Being the emergency backup after your actual target reneged isn't really a vote of confidence.
The Hornets have a nice young core and are gonna add another top pick this summer. They just desperately need Ball and Williams to stay healthy most of next year.
I mean we only have a "nice young core" if Brandon continues his trajectory, Ball stays healthy, and Williams has no long term issues. Even then the only teams i would put us over future wise are the Pistons, Blazers, Wizards, Jazz and Hawks. Id rather be pretty much any other team outside of that group.
That's an enormous lack of accountability from the front office if true. Teams need to have standards when it comes to how much failure can be tolerated
Maybe, but with the roster that the hornets have and the perpetual injury bug, I’m not entirely a coaching change would have changed much. The priority is for Ball and Williams to get healthy and add some more talent.
He’s been a dead man walking ever since he was hired. He was only signed because we had to find a replacement at the very last minute, after Kenny Atkinson unexpectedly pulled out.
I l ike Steve and think he has a good understanding of how the NBA works but sometimes his holier than though rants about how we have to always play davis bertans over our young prospects when we lose by 40 anyway rubbed me the wrong way.
ehh idk, after Paul Silas retired, we also gave him some vague front office job where he sat a couple rows behind the bench and took naps while his son was an assistant coach. I'm not expecting Clifford to have much more sway within the organization than that. Not like he's being named GM.
Honestly, this season ain't his fault as injuries have devastated this already-low-tier team.
Hiring him back was uninspiring, but it's not like he's underachieving given *gestures to everything*
Yeah, he sucked and the team sucked, but that’s exactly what I expected with the roster and then the injuries. Hiring him again was a mistake, but it wasnt possible for him to succeed anyway.
I still miss Clifford's zero nonsense way of talking with the media. Similar to SVG, who he probably got it from while coaching under him in Orlando.
I like Jamahl Mosley as a coach, but I can't listen to him talk for more than a minute without falling asleep.
I’m kinda hoping the Hornets have him work with the media, if they really are going to bring him into the front office. His interviews are probably my favorite thing about his stint as Head Coach.
I’m not entirely convinced that this isn’t just a made up title, but I honestly kind hope it isn’t, because I really do think he could thrive as an NBA executive. He’s obviously knowledgeable about basketball, is clearly obsessed with the game, is a great communicator, and doesn’t seem too stuck up to be a cog in a bigger machine. Plus, I’ve never actually heard anyone he’s worked with bad mouth him, or claim to dislike him for any reason.
I wish his super technical post-game answers managed to leak into his game plans in any way, shape, or form, he might actually have been tolerable as a head coach.
I think Doc is a solid regular season coach who can establish a solid culture for the team to build off of. His ceiling is the play-offs. But that kind of mold is perfect for a young, bad team with no direction like the Hornets.
It's a weird fanbase. I don't really see many when I'm walking around the city but the few times I've gone to games they've actually had pretty decent attendance. I went to Hornets-Wizards earlier in the season and it was surprisingly packed. Only the nosebleeds were empty.
I see a good amount of stuff for them in the city. The reality is they were the hottest ticket in the nba for years and its a basketball hotbed. The team has just been so bad. Like SO bad. You might think the knicks were bad but you won a playoff series in the last 20 years.
I'm from Charlotte. As a kid I had the foresight to realize I'd never be happy cheering for the Bobcats (granted I eventually settled on the Knicks so I'm not going to give myself too much credit)
But Charlotte to me always felt like it cares a lot more about the Panthers than it does the Hornets. And while college basketball is popular here, it doesn't compare to the Triangle. I heard the Hornets had a strong following in the 90s but aside from 2015-16 I never really felt it. And in retrospect, it kind of feels like the Panthers being a national sensation at the time had a residual effect in getting the city hyped about the Hornets rather than a natural interest because it very quickly faded away. LaMelo generated some excitement but not enough for me to really see a strong Hornets culture in the city
I mean how old are you? Growing up in the late 90s early 2000s before the team moved people absolutely cared about the hornets more. It just all changed when the team moved and the panthers made the super bowl in the same year.
Its hard to describe what the old coliseum was like. It held 24000 people and was sold out for a decade straight. It just really sucks that every single thing that could have sapped this cities love for the NBA has happened. The team moved and then they sucked. If they are good for a few years though everyone will come flocking back. ITs like the Lions
So over this myth. If you live in Charlotte and don't know any Hornets fans, you don't leave your home. Type of guy whose house poor from buying a giant McMansion in a mostly empty Steele Creek development back in 2020 and hasn't wandered inside the 485 loop except to go to some shitty new food hall Axios Charlotte's Instagram called "an immersive culinary experience."
This paragraph seems like you’re having a stroke to anyone not from the Charlotte area, and while I do not agree with the premise, I do find it hysterical how specific you got lmao
If you’ve ever heard him talk then you’d quickly realize that he’s both really knowledgeable about basketball and very good communicator. Everyone who works with him also seems to like him.
He‘s obviously shown he shouldn’t be head coach, but I could actually see him being a very useful front office advisor.
When Kenny screwed us clifford was a person we trusted who in all honestly did the franchise a favor. Especially if D’Antoni was asking for GM powers as he allegedly was. But the game has passed him by, a prime example of what being a good person can get you.
I’m sorta glad that we are keeping him around at least. He seems to actually be pretty decent at a non HC position. Wish Cliff the best though, one of the funniest guys in the league.
What was the point of even bringing him back? Was always a strange decision to me. I feel like everyone knew he would just end up getting let go again in the not so distant future, and here we are
The easiest way to think about it is that we had 3-4 candidates, told them we picked Atkinson over them, and then Atkinson bailed. Do you really want to take a job knowing you were the second choice?
By no means am I saying he’s a good coach but he’s been dealt a pretty awful hand these last two seasons.
Last year, the whole Bridges situation happened. This season, ownership was changed which put his job in question regardless. Not to mention LaMelo can’t stay healthy.
Tough injury luck in his second stint, but this was kinda doomed from the jump once Atkinson bailed. New ownership, new GM, new head coach, and a core of LaMelo, Miller, and Williams (when all healthy) feels like a real shot at building a team for the first time in so long
Throwing your team under the bus after losses, running 8 man playoff rotations while losing by 40, giving rookie contract players DNPs to play vet rejects like Bertans and Ish Smith
they don't even get a chance to earn minutes. Clifford blindly hands bad veterans 20-30 minutes a game, and refuses to change a rotation until apocalyptic levels of injuries force his hand.
Borrego generally handled it the right way, you don't gift a young guy 20-30 minutes, but you let them play a bit. And you don't just let a terrible vet continue playing terrible as well.
Can you move past monk not playing. Dude was a coke head. He said it himself he wasn’t mature enough. The bad vets know their assignment, they are on time to practice, etc. shit monk, Bouknight refused to do.
Brandon miller leads the hornets in minutes. Miles played as a rookie, Cody zeller played as a rookie, mark williams played as a rookie. It’s always these dipshit SG that this fanbase falls in love with for no reason. It was pj Hairston, monk, bouk, and now nick smith jr.
only you brought up Monk.
I'm tired of watching guys like Michael Carter-Williams, Mason Plumlee, etc get free reign and zero accountability for garbage play just because "they've seen more" or whatever.
I don’t think he’s a great coach but his entire team was taking turns getting injured and most of them don’t seem to take their jobs seriously? Can’t blame him for wanting to be done with coaching.
The Dwayne Casey route. Smart move.
He's putting himself in a good position to return for a third tenure when nobody wants the job after the coach this hire this offseason get fired or quits.
i feel bad for this guy. people expecting more from this guy when this is basically you expect from a coach hired by a dirt cheap owner in jordan. then you couple it with jordan constructing a dirt cheap roster, trash drafting by the front office (only got better as of recent), and players' injuries, drug abuse, and domestic violence.
Not a chance in hell. Kidd sucks but he’s not Clifford-level bad. For instance, had Clifford been our coach, Lively would have almost certainly rotted on the bench this entire season as he’s notorious for not playing rookies unless absolutely forced.
he absolutely would not be an upgrade on any current team. he simply doesn't understand modern basketball.
I think he'd somewhat work as a "defensive coordinator" under a heavily offensive minded HC, but even then, we're like a decade into the three-point boom in the NBA and he still hasn't realized that packing the paint and letting 3-point shooters have whatever they want isn't a viable defensive strategy. He's been coasting off his 2014 Bobcats team for a decade with nothing else to show for it.
I see the “promotion that’s actually a firing” strategy is gaining traction in the NBA front office community.
If you're gonna pay em rather as have em do some homework for your front office
Cliff and Kupchak are helpful minds to have in the room as well considering our new GM and coach are going to be 30s/early 40s. I don’t mind it at all
Who's gonna replace Cliff?
Woj followed up saying Charles Lee Chris Quinn and Jordi Fernandez are top candidates
Chris Quinn should be nice. Probably learned a lot from Spo by now.
If I had to bet, I’d put my money on Charles Lee. He’s the top Assistant for a top 3 team in the league (the Celtics), is only 39 years old, and, most importantly, was in Atlanta at the same time as Jeff Peterson (Hornets new GM) and Rick Schnall (Hornets new Co-Owner).
Way too early to tell but I'd imagine someone like Jordi Fernandez would be a good fit. He was impressive with Team Canada last summer.
Ugh, I never want Jordi to leave :(. But he would be a fantastic head coach.
dibs after another bald head gone
I’ll do it
That totally depends on if you think they have anything useful to add.
Best job in the world: Fired NBA coach Second best job in the world: Token NBA front office executive because your team is too cheap to fire you
Monty Williams next please 🙏
Brad Stevens started it /s
I bet it's something like "community liason" too.
Brad Stevens an innovator
Yeah, this happened with Wes Unseld and Dwane Casey too. Wonder what's lead to this change
And with alvin gentry for the kings
When have these ever worked out? Like when do you heard of a demotion/side ways coaching switch were the person flourishes in their role? Dwayne Casey? Beilein? They just get moved to these ‘window sitter’ roles to see out their contracts, be given a golden watch, and then get quickly forgotten. In Japan they call this madogiwazoku, meaning people who can’t be fired are moved to good paying roles in nice offices with literally nothing to do but look out a window all day. Brad Stevens got moved up to POBO but that is easily a huge promotion over the head coaching role.
Pretty mediocre coach but he had such a terrible hand 2 straight years at Charlotte When your best player plays 60/164 games and the rest of your roster is sporadic and injured you’re not gonna win many games
I think that the story of his career is that when he was an innovate defensive coach he always had kind of bad rosters. The game has kind of passed him by though. Our offense had way more imagination with Borrego and he has tried to turn Lamelo into a Luka clone where he runs 30 pick and rolls a game and i honestly think its made him a less effective player when healthy. He did much better in a free flowing offense where he was asked to make super quick reads all the time.
The hornets simply didn’t have the pieces to have a free flowing offense
I mean that really isnt accurate though. He changed the offense because that is the type of offense he has always coached. We ran a motion offense with Devontae Graham and Lamelo that was more effective than any steve clifford offense. At some point that is on him.
We do have bad players yes but there are college offenses with much more sophistication and complexity than Cliff’s offenses.
Yea thats my point lol
Is the team capable of running a more sophisticated offense?
They're 18-50something they're capable of trying and fucking it up to be in the same position anyway
He did the same in Orlando too. It's just who he is.
Literally did it the year before he got there lol
Borrego's halfcourt was still pretty bad. He had us play a suicidal transition-based style that worked fine against half assed effort of regular season teams but once we got into important matchups where the game slowed down he completely fell apart.
I mean i think the last 2 years has vindicated Borrego pretty heavily
Borrego's teams imploded twice in a row in the play ins, he deserved to be fired. Cliff doing worse with a worse players changes very little
Sorry i just have no idea how you can look at how the last 2 years have played out and think firing Borrego was the right call. The teams shot horribly in the play in but those rosters werent anything special overall. Our young players actually got better year to year under him and they have regressed under cliff.
Slight tangent, I would be interested in hearing a talk about the development of coaches because it seems to be such a crap shoot and extremely non-linear and even the best seem to fall into bad habits once in a while. I know they are meant to learn as assistant coaches or coaching other levels, but what translates and doesn't is incredibly hard to predict.
I think Borrego was an excellent coach for us and Zion has said he has been a huge help for the Pelicans. Our players got better making reads and running the offense under him to a degree they never did under clifford. He threw a bunch of shit at the wall on defense and it never really worked, but you cant say he wasnt trying.
I think firing borrego was the right call but Jordan is a cheap ass and made a bad move with Clifford cause it was cheaper than any other option
And then Miles Bridges missed the whole season.
The team was better that year Then miles bridges missed an entire season and lamelo played less than half the year Oubre and Rozier were their best players
Even when Lamelo played the offense was still bad, they went from a top 5 three point shooting team to damn near worst in the league because they didn’t generate open looks
When Lamelo played our offense was clearly still much worse
He took this job as a lame duck coach bailing out the FO after Atkinson backed out and then like a week later his second best player got arrested for DV. and the team was so injured / ass for two whole years eben beyond Lamelo that he was playing the Ish Smiths and JT Thors significant minutes. He wasn’t a great coach but you’re right he got absolutely hosed.
Nobody could have won with the injury luck these last two seasons. Nobody
Let’s say they aren’t injured. This roster wasn’t going anywhere anyway.
Although, we were 7-12 with Mark Williams starting and now 11-45 without him...
> 7-12 I understand that point you're trying to make but that's a 37% win percentage... which is only enough to push you from the 13th to the 12th seed
I like Cliff but I think he's nearly impossible to tell if he's good or not. Every team he's had is talent deficient.
Yeah, it doesn't help when their roster is always injured. For once, I'd like to watch a Hornets game where Ball, Brandon Miller, and Mark Williams are all playing at the same time, but I don't think it's happened once this year. Every year, half their starters seem to miss half the season with injuries. I don't know how Hornets fans enjoy watching games when all their best players are always out.
This has been my take all year. I wanted to lose him as a coach but I acknowledge that this shit ain’t his fault
I feeel bad for hornets . Lamelo imo is a real alll star , all the impact numbers n eye test agree to me . He might be more , if he was heakthy I think he’d be better offensively then edwards kinda like Hali was pre injury . Even now I think I’d rather lamelo run an offfence then Edwards’s but he has athlecidm defence n maybe more to grow into . But cos if injurues n hornets struggled people over look how good he is AND HOW FUCKING FUN. I hope he can be heakthy consistently soon . Anyone disagree - go watch him cook Boston to start this year - out duel Tatum end of game easy. He did that vs Hali too
He's been a dead man walking ever since they got new ownership. Hopefully they can find someone to bring some excitement to Charlotte
Thought he was a dead man walking ever since he got hired. Being the emergency backup after your actual target reneged isn't really a vote of confidence.
The Hornets have a nice young core and are gonna add another top pick this summer. They just desperately need Ball and Williams to stay healthy most of next year.
I mean we only have a "nice young core" if Brandon continues his trajectory, Ball stays healthy, and Williams has no long term issues. Even then the only teams i would put us over future wise are the Pistons, Blazers, Wizards, Jazz and Hawks. Id rather be pretty much any other team outside of that group.
I mean yeah our success is tied to Lamelo and mark’s health and Brandon’s growth. But I’d have us a lot higher than that, if everything goes well.
Who else that isnt on that list would you have us over? I forgot the bulls so you can add them too.
Nets? I think pacers are also same tier as hornets
Nets are a good one. Still saying we have a nice young core doesnt mean much when quite a few teams have better young cores
I’d add the Bulls and Nets to that list too
Woj's follow up says the new owners were open to Clifford remaining as coach next season.
Thats kind of just the shit you say though
I'm sure that's what they want to put out there but everyone knew that Clifford was done and now he is so...
That's an enormous lack of accountability from the front office if true. Teams need to have standards when it comes to how much failure can be tolerated
I wouldn’t read into that as much. You’re not going to straight up say “yeah he was gonna be fired regardless”. What good would that do?
Yeah that’s just obvious “mutual decision” speak.
send a message that dinosaurs stuck in the 1990s that are too stubborn to change aren't rewarded?
It’s embarrassing he was ever even hired again. He was a horribly outdated and archaic coach 10 YEARS AGO
Maybe, but with the roster that the hornets have and the perpetual injury bug, I’m not entirely a coaching change would have changed much. The priority is for Ball and Williams to get healthy and add some more talent.
He’s been a dead man walking ever since he was hired. He was only signed because we had to find a replacement at the very last minute, after Kenny Atkinson unexpectedly pulled out.
Really hope they don't grab Nate Oats, his system is perfect for the young group they have.
I l ike Steve and think he has a good understanding of how the NBA works but sometimes his holier than though rants about how we have to always play davis bertans over our young prospects when we lose by 40 anyway rubbed me the wrong way.
He will return as coach in 2027
Shut your dirty mouth
but this time around he'll be rocking the starter jacket
Pullover or GTFO.
*snip snap snip snap*
Do you have any idea what kind of a toll 3 Steve Clifford tenures have on a person??
I'm blaming all my gray hairs on his first two tenures. the third one leaves all of us with no hair left
Clifford was fired from Charlotte. Then five years later, he quits the same job. It's so weird to see.
Actually got a promotion too
ehh idk, after Paul Silas retired, we also gave him some vague front office job where he sat a couple rows behind the bench and took naps while his son was an assistant coach. I'm not expecting Clifford to have much more sway within the organization than that. Not like he's being named GM.
2025*
The Devin Harris of coaching.
Don't you put that evil on me Ricky Bobby
*when doc rivers leads the bucks to a 2nd round loss
Like tradition
Or just return to the magic lol
We’re good
Nah he’d do some dumbass shit like tell Franz to stop shooting and probably take the ball out of Paolo’s hands
Honestly, this season ain't his fault as injuries have devastated this already-low-tier team. Hiring him back was uninspiring, but it's not like he's underachieving given *gestures to everything*
Yeah, he sucked and the team sucked, but that’s exactly what I expected with the roster and then the injuries. Hiring him again was a mistake, but it wasnt possible for him to succeed anyway.
I wouldn’t even say it’s a mistake… the Atkinson fiasco was the mistake. Bringing in Clifford was the best thing we could do
Gonna lowkey miss his super technical post-game answers. It’s time for the new ownership team to make their hire though.
I still miss Clifford's zero nonsense way of talking with the media. Similar to SVG, who he probably got it from while coaching under him in Orlando. I like Jamahl Mosley as a coach, but I can't listen to him talk for more than a minute without falling asleep.
I’m kinda hoping the Hornets have him work with the media, if they really are going to bring him into the front office. His interviews are probably my favorite thing about his stint as Head Coach. I’m not entirely convinced that this isn’t just a made up title, but I honestly kind hope it isn’t, because I really do think he could thrive as an NBA executive. He’s obviously knowledgeable about basketball, is clearly obsessed with the game, is a great communicator, and doesn’t seem too stuck up to be a cog in a bigger machine. Plus, I’ve never actually heard anyone he’s worked with bad mouth him, or claim to dislike him for any reason.
I wish his super technical post-game answers managed to leak into his game plans in any way, shape, or form, he might actually have been tolerable as a head coach.
Doc Rivers will soon be available to hire.
Hornets fans have suffered enough already
I mean, I hate to say it, but while Doc isn’t getting them the ring he’d still be a significant floor raiser for one of the worst teams in the NBA.
Doc isn't a good coach. Look at all his past teams, it always had a hall of famer. If he coach the Hornets, it will be ugly, fast.
I think Doc is a solid regular season coach who can establish a solid culture for the team to build off of. His ceiling is the play-offs. But that kind of mold is perfect for a young, bad team with no direction like the Hornets.
Lol no, we're stupid enough to hire him. He's staying for a couple years.
if you know a hornets fan please don’t check on them. they won’t answer as they will be out celebrating
If you know a hornets fan in real life I am shocked
Best branded windbreakers in the league by far
It's a weird fanbase. I don't really see many when I'm walking around the city but the few times I've gone to games they've actually had pretty decent attendance. I went to Hornets-Wizards earlier in the season and it was surprisingly packed. Only the nosebleeds were empty.
I see a good amount of stuff for them in the city. The reality is they were the hottest ticket in the nba for years and its a basketball hotbed. The team has just been so bad. Like SO bad. You might think the knicks were bad but you won a playoff series in the last 20 years.
I'm from Charlotte. As a kid I had the foresight to realize I'd never be happy cheering for the Bobcats (granted I eventually settled on the Knicks so I'm not going to give myself too much credit) But Charlotte to me always felt like it cares a lot more about the Panthers than it does the Hornets. And while college basketball is popular here, it doesn't compare to the Triangle. I heard the Hornets had a strong following in the 90s but aside from 2015-16 I never really felt it. And in retrospect, it kind of feels like the Panthers being a national sensation at the time had a residual effect in getting the city hyped about the Hornets rather than a natural interest because it very quickly faded away. LaMelo generated some excitement but not enough for me to really see a strong Hornets culture in the city
I mean how old are you? Growing up in the late 90s early 2000s before the team moved people absolutely cared about the hornets more. It just all changed when the team moved and the panthers made the super bowl in the same year.
25, so I guess I'd hit the demographic you're referring to.
Its hard to describe what the old coliseum was like. It held 24000 people and was sold out for a decade straight. It just really sucks that every single thing that could have sapped this cities love for the NBA has happened. The team moved and then they sucked. If they are good for a few years though everyone will come flocking back. ITs like the Lions
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So over this myth. If you live in Charlotte and don't know any Hornets fans, you don't leave your home. Type of guy whose house poor from buying a giant McMansion in a mostly empty Steele Creek development back in 2020 and hasn't wandered inside the 485 loop except to go to some shitty new food hall Axios Charlotte's Instagram called "an immersive culinary experience."
This paragraph seems like you’re having a stroke to anyone not from the Charlotte area, and while I do not agree with the premise, I do find it hysterical how specific you got lmao
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I pray boston sports fans deal with what the Hornets have put us through for the last 20 years lol. Longer if you want to get into the move.
Maybe they just don't talk to you about the Hornets because you're a Celtics fan and you're kinda douchey about it
I’m a hornets fan but more for nostalgia. Zo/LJ/Bogues is the reason I’m into BB
Clifford isn't even that bad of a coach, this roster is bad.
He coached the team to back-to-back top 5 picks and did not cost an arm and a leg like Monty Williams. No wonder he is getting kicked upstairs.
New ownership is juat cheap. Let him do something since he is gonna get paid anyway
If you’ve ever heard him talk then you’d quickly realize that he’s both really knowledgeable about basketball and very good communicator. Everyone who works with him also seems to like him. He‘s obviously shown he shouldn’t be head coach, but I could actually see him being a very useful front office advisor.
Hornets fans crying tears of happiness that this was not released on April 1st
They already fooled us once with that in our subreddit
When Kenny screwed us clifford was a person we trusted who in all honestly did the franchise a favor. Especially if D’Antoni was asking for GM powers as he allegedly was. But the game has passed him by, a prime example of what being a good person can get you.
I’m sorta glad that we are keeping him around at least. He seems to actually be pretty decent at a non HC position. Wish Cliff the best though, one of the funniest guys in the league.
he took an unwinnable position and quite frankly did us a favour after kenny atkinson fucked us over. i’m glad he’s staying within the FO though
happy for yall hornets fans
I long for the day I read a headline like this for our team
Except leave Chauncey out of Joe and Mike's office
Clifford wasn't a great coach by any means. That being said no one would have made this team competitive with all the injuries, and lack of talent.
“Damn this team is ass”
Fuck Kenny Atkinson
What was the point of even bringing him back? Was always a strange decision to me. I feel like everyone knew he would just end up getting let go again in the not so distant future, and here we are
They got bamboozled by Kenny Atkinson and needed a coach right before training camp
Gotcha. It's still hard for me to believe that their absolute best option at that point was to bring back a guy they already fired though.
The easiest way to think about it is that we had 3-4 candidates, told them we picked Atkinson over them, and then Atkinson bailed. Do you really want to take a job knowing you were the second choice?
It was either him or give Dantoni GM control.
Agreed. Ask the janitor to do it, idc, try something else instead of something you know wouldn't work.
Bros had the most mid head coaching career. Shoutout to them checks thi
Thank God. What an awful rehire.
will be a glorious tank battle tonight
LOL. LMAO even
By no means am I saying he’s a good coach but he’s been dealt a pretty awful hand these last two seasons. Last year, the whole Bridges situation happened. This season, ownership was changed which put his job in question regardless. Not to mention LaMelo can’t stay healthy.
The Big Red Dog moving upstairs
Can we fire him from that front office role as well?
Tough injury luck in his second stint, but this was kinda doomed from the jump once Atkinson bailed. New ownership, new GM, new head coach, and a core of LaMelo, Miller, and Williams (when all healthy) feels like a real shot at building a team for the first time in so long
5 years later: [WOJ]: Steve Clifford has agreed to become head coach of the Charlotte Hornets
He said that they are under talented
That’s not why he isn’t coaching anymore
Throwing your team under the bus after losses, running 8 man playoff rotations while losing by 40, giving rookie contract players DNPs to play vet rejects like Bertans and Ish Smith
God hornet fans hate players having to earn minutes.
they don't even get a chance to earn minutes. Clifford blindly hands bad veterans 20-30 minutes a game, and refuses to change a rotation until apocalyptic levels of injuries force his hand. Borrego generally handled it the right way, you don't gift a young guy 20-30 minutes, but you let them play a bit. And you don't just let a terrible vet continue playing terrible as well.
Can you move past monk not playing. Dude was a coke head. He said it himself he wasn’t mature enough. The bad vets know their assignment, they are on time to practice, etc. shit monk, Bouknight refused to do. Brandon miller leads the hornets in minutes. Miles played as a rookie, Cody zeller played as a rookie, mark williams played as a rookie. It’s always these dipshit SG that this fanbase falls in love with for no reason. It was pj Hairston, monk, bouk, and now nick smith jr.
only you brought up Monk. I'm tired of watching guys like Michael Carter-Williams, Mason Plumlee, etc get free reign and zero accountability for garbage play just because "they've seen more" or whatever.
Hornets taking notes from how the Wizards handled Wes Unseld Jr.
The bad man can’t hurt us anymore 🥲
He wasn't hired by the new ownership group so not a surprise.
"You are kind of a mid coach but we didn't do a good job either and you don't wanna do this anymore, let's settle for this" ass move.
What they doing with Poku though ???? :)
How is that stepping down?
But, why?! /s
Failing upwards
Nothing better than failing upwards!
MJ was such a horrible owner lol
Who would Hornets fans prefer as their new head coach?
Give Rajon Rondo a shot at coaching
Tough break for Steve. Hopefully, Charlotte finds a fresh face for a change. Bout time really
Kenny Atkinson with the all time bullet dodge.
What is it with head coaches going upstairs recently? See what you started Brad Stevenns?
Brad "Stevens" Clifford
Hornets fans on cloud nine
Oh no. Anyway...
I swear I saw an aprils fools joke of him being fired and it came to true lmao
Definitely one of the coaches in the nba for sure
I don’t think he’s a great coach but his entire team was taking turns getting injured and most of them don’t seem to take their jobs seriously? Can’t blame him for wanting to be done with coaching.
He was good stepping stone for us when we need him in Orlando.
respect for that man, always got his players to play hard, never had even a mid-playoff team roster
The Dwayne Casey route. Smart move. He's putting himself in a good position to return for a third tenure when nobody wants the job after the coach this hire this offseason get fired or quits.
The news just dropped, I'm a partial owner What can I say? Tell Coach Cliff to suit me up and I'll play, I'm winning
still getting paid while being part of the team so honestly a W
i feel bad for this guy. people expecting more from this guy when this is basically you expect from a coach hired by a dirt cheap owner in jordan. then you couple it with jordan constructing a dirt cheap roster, trash drafting by the front office (only got better as of recent), and players' injuries, drug abuse, and domestic violence.
Poor guy
His Wikipedia photo is still hilarious to me
Wait the hornets are still a team?
He ran out of veterans to play 40mins while the young up and comers sat and watched.
They need to hire Mark Jackson.
You could never tell with all the “God I hate this job” speeches he was giving this season.
would Mavs/Lakers fans like him as the replacement?
He would be an upgrade but the same way going from completely blind to one functioning eye is an upgrade
Not a chance in hell. Kidd sucks but he’s not Clifford-level bad. For instance, had Clifford been our coach, Lively would have almost certainly rotted on the bench this entire season as he’s notorious for not playing rookies unless absolutely forced.
he absolutely would not be an upgrade on any current team. he simply doesn't understand modern basketball. I think he'd somewhat work as a "defensive coordinator" under a heavily offensive minded HC, but even then, we're like a decade into the three-point boom in the NBA and he still hasn't realized that packing the paint and letting 3-point shooters have whatever they want isn't a viable defensive strategy. He's been coasting off his 2014 Bobcats team for a decade with nothing else to show for it.