ORLANDO – Opening training camp with a new head coach has become a quite familiar practice for many of the Orlando Magic’s players, but a couple of major differences stood out to them on Tuesday while working for Steve Clifford for the first time.
Clifford, who was hired as head coach last May to turn around the Magic’s fortunes, likes to have his teams scrimmage in camp more than most coaches. Then, there’s this facet of a Clifford practice that resonated with many Magic players right away on Tuesday: The veteran coach demands laser-like focus at all times and he harps on players exhibiting an attention to detail in every facet of the game.
``It’s intense and it’s really attentive – more attentive than I’ve ever practiced with more attention to detail … and just the coach nitpicking every little thing,’’ Magic forward Jonathan Isaac said following the first official practice session of the 2018-19 season. ``Even though it seems like a little thing, (Clifford) believes it will hit us in the butt later (if not corrected), and he’s right.’’
The Magic are attempting to make a big leap in the Eastern Conference standings this season and get back into the playoffs for the first time since 2012. They are confident that Clifford – an assistant coach on that last Magic squad to reach the postseason six years ago – is just the man to lead the franchise there because of his ability to teach the game, relate to players and command respect. Magic forward Aaron Gordon, who is playing for his fifth head coach in five NBA seasons, likes Clifford’s style of truthfulness and tact.
``It was much more detail-oriented,’’ said Gordon, who has evolved into a cornerstone piece of the Magic after posting career-high numbers across the board last season and signing a long-term contract in July. ``We’ve got to do the right things or (Clifford) is going to let us know that we’re not (doing them correctly). That’s great and something that we need with the young guys. We have like 10 guys who are in their first or second years, so we’re just working on building those habits now.’’
Clifford said one of the habits already in place for the Magic is one of hard work and commitment. Orlando had most of its players in voluntary workouts in September and that pre-camp work helped the team with the transition to another new coach. Clifford said that he liked what he saw on the first day, but of course there is still plenty to improve upon going forward.
``I thought the intensity was good and obviously there’s a newness, but I liked the intensity and I thought that they worked hard,’’ Clifford said. ``In September you can only do three-on-three, so with the organizational part (on Tuesday), we’re at the very, very beginning. But I thought practice was good, the intensity was good and it’s just about building it up.’’
The Magic will go through a second practice later on Tuesday night. The team will practice one time on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before being scheduled for an off day on Saturday. Orlando will practice again on Sunday before departing for Philadelphia where it will face the 76ers in the exhibition opener next Tuesday. The Magic will make their Amway Center debuts on Oct. 5 against Brazilian powerhouse, Flamengo.
Clifford, the son of a former high school coach, has drawn ideas from the many NBA coaches that he’s worked for to develop his own style of leadership along the sidelines. Jeff Van Gundy gave him his break into the NBA, and he worked with him as an assistant coach twice – with the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets. That success led to Clifford being an assistant coach under Stan Van Gundy in Orlando from 2007-12 – a period of time when the Magic enjoyed some of their greatest success in franchise history. After another brief stop with the Los Angeles Lakers as an assistant coach in 2012-13, Clifford landed his first head coaching job in Charlotte, where he led the Hornets to the playoffs twice in the previous five seasons.
In addition to installing the offensive and defensive sets that he wants to run this season, Clifford said he will use this training camp to set the standard for what he expects from players in practice. On Tuesday, Magic players got their first dose of a highly intense and detailed Clifford practice session.
``The one thing that we do in training camp (more) when compared to other people, it’s that we scrimmage more,’’ Clifford said. ``We played two full quarters today with the officials. To me, it’s the best way to get the intensity of camp up. We didn’t put as much stuff in and there isn’t as much teaching. Everybody always says `The Van Gundy Way,’ well (more scrimmaging) that’s what Jeff did and that’s what Stan did. The players like it because we scrimmage. We have less stuff in earlier, but to me it’s good for conditioning and good for basic play.’’
Magic guard Evan Fournier, someone who has already earned the respect of Clifford for his offseason work and commitment to being a better player, said he was especially excited about working with Orlando’s new coach because he thinks the team could have a high ceiling this season. He said Clifford’s expectation -- ``just do your job’’ – has already been made clear and the team will make daily improvements as camp progresses.
``The first practice is always kind of the same thing – you wake up early and you don’t even need an alarm because you are super-pumped and excited, but you get a little sloppy (because of the jitters),’’ Fournier said. ``So, we practiced hard, but we were a little sloppy. We did a good job overall, but it could have been better. But there were a lot of positives.
``This training camp is going to be really important for us in understanding what coach wants from us,’’ Fournier added. ``Defensively, with the concepts and techniques – because (Clifford) has a particular approach that we’ve never had here – is very different. Maybe the closest thing was (former Magic coach) Scott (Skiles). But (Clifford) is very different and very detailed about things and he needs discipline. We’ll need some time to adjust, but we’ll be all right.’’
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