Steve Clifford is out as the Charlotte Hornets HC

Steve Clifford is out as the Charlotte Hornets HC

Let’s get to let’s get into this uh Steve Clifford I I wouldn’t call it a bombshell Hornets again having a rough season injury uh lamelo ball shut down all of that but Brandon Miller is I mean we all know that he is the thing like he

Is going to be part of their core um did the Steve Clifford end 2.0 did that in any way Catch You by surprise it didn’t Adam and I I think honestly the the the part that stunned me a little bit is that Jeff Peterson and ownership were

Open to bringing him back I think that’s just more of an indication that they feel that Steve got a raw deal with this team when you have Lamela ball only play 22 games this season and 58 games over the course of the last two seasons you

Kind of feel like you want to see what he can do with a full deck of cards but between his injury and Mark Williams injury and still working with a relatively young roster they did make some moves at the trade deadline to really improve things and and kind of

Give you at least a sense of having some more veteran leadership on the team I think there is a sense and a desire from a lot of hornets fans to want to see what a new coach can do maybe an ascending type coach uh Unfortunately

They were kind of left at the altar by Kenny ainson two years ago and so you were robbed of the ability to see what an ascending head coach could do with Lamela ball and I think with new ownership in place a new man in charge of picking the players and Jeff Peterson

They want to see what they can get in terms of trying to have somebody new potentially lead this ship I mean I mean I know that the trade deadline it was successful the outgoings uh they brought in draft picks but those draft picks don’t land for a couple of years I

Believe for the most part um uh what are the prospects and how can you build around the core that you’ve got right now well I think you you you added a lot of Veteran leadership with Grant Williams and Seth Curry guys who had kind of been through the wars a little

Bit and even some other pieces that are great for rotation like a Trey man I think Trey man brings you something that maybe you didn’t get a little bit with Terry roier you get a little a little bit more size and a little bit more kind

Of tenacity and an ability to drive the ball maybe a little bit more on defense as well than you had with Terry and you also get you know a player in Davis Berton who can be a great player Off the Bench in terms of three-point shooting

And even a guy like vasam meic who honestly is a very big by low candidate who as a 30-year-old rookie uh really kind of found his Groove in this latter part of the season with the Hornets uh after not really being used and being trapped on that roster in Oklahoma City

Uh is it a complete roster by any means no not necessarily at all I think you still need to get maybe one more type Superstar player in here to kind of gel with Brandon and lamelo and you also need some health I mean that that’s the biggest thing right now that’s been the

Problem with the Hornets is that they’ve not really had an ability to put forth what they would call a representative roster for anything more than maybe one or two games this season and that’s the thing that uh whether or not you make moves to change that or uh or try to

Make uh different moves to try and get them players in here you got to at least have players who are more available to play than what the Hornets have had over the course of the last two seasons what what is the sense about the durability of Lamela it’s in question right now uh

Adam I think the the fact that it’s the same type of injury gives a lot of people some Paw I don’t want to call them out from that sense personally just to say cuz you I I can’t be inside that young man and know what’s going on with

His ankles but I do feel like there are some questions about whether or not he can be someone who handles an 82 game schedule again very few players now in basketball play 82 games anymore but I mean c can we get 65 could we get 70

Could could it be a scenario that you know you’re having to basically deal with him as a part-time player and get you know somebody who might be stronger than a two but not quite a one type Point guarden here that can be that supplementary role when you don’t have

Lamelo on a a daily basis it it is definitely in question and I think a lot of the part of the question uh Adam is the fact that we have seen Brandon Miller emerge and seen players really gravitate towards him I think we all kind of wondered whether or not lamelo

Was going to turn into a leader uh but now it almost seems like Brandon Miller has supplanted that role and and lamelo is probably more content with being somebody who just lets his game do the talking but uh that is something that I feel like is is a very intriguing spot

To watch over the course of the next season or two is how lamelo’s play does the talking as opposed to you know the leadership role that many thought he probably assume that it seems like BR Miller now has will Pik does uh postgame work with the Hornets is joining us here

On the Adam Gold show by the way if you’re watching on uh YouTube or if you catch this in the best of uh for the crown uh always repping Charlotte FC uh actually as change before I go to Steve’s plus conference at four o’ quite

All right quite all right I I I dig that uh I dig that hoodie um you know when you were going down the roster I actually thought you had flipped over and started to talk uh about about Charlotte FC so but I do want to ask you

This cuz to me as as you’re describing the lamelo ball issue two things ran through my brain uh the first uh one of which was um Steph Curry had major ankle issues for the first part of his career to the point where as the warriors were winning titles Curry was playing on

Maybe the worst ever contract for somebody who was in a like a top five NBA player who was on his second deal it was legitimately like a 4-year $40 million deal that’s like midlevel exception Steph Curry but he kind of overcame that and the other part was all

The Ball Brothers have had injury issues I just wonder if they played too much ball uh pardon the pun uh as kids if they played too much or uh is it just a freak thing it’s it’s very much a thing you can inquire about Adam just because

You know we’ve yet to see Lonzo Lonzo missed the whole season this year and uh feels like he’s miss the last three it it’s it’s uh definitely a a COR lary and anytime you have something like that you wonder if it’s of a bit of a genetic

Trend uh the curry point is something that we’ve brought up a lot here in Charlotte in terms of you know that off season where he really took the the time and made a regimented change to his off season workouts uh he did more deadlifts he did more uh more uh exercises to try

And strengthen those ankles to where it wasn’t hurting him on a day in day out basis I think if you’re going to be a player of lamel bal’s caliber you have to seek out Steph I mean you know Dell’s literally right here you can you can basically say Hey you know make the

Connection happen uh just cuz uh there does seem to be questions about his durability and and the thing that people keep on saying is that you know the silence around the injury M doesn’t do a lot of media uh and when he does do media he doesn’t really say a whole lot

Uh so the silence around all that is something that’s very very defining uh but I also think too it just comes down to the fact that you know this isn’t something that should have taken this long to heal is he sitting because the organization wants to or because he

Wants to all those are unanswered questions now at this point all right let me uh let me throw one more thing at you before we let will pic go Willie Pyle on Twitter what is the type of coach that they’re looking for they looking for uh young offensively

Oriented uh Steve Clifford was a little bit of a kind of an old school guy in my opinion uh he certainly had some things to say earlier in the season I don’t remember the specifics but he was fairly critical of some of the players not specifically to the Hornets but the

Players who come in who are high draft picks who just aren’t ready to compete in the NBA but they they get drafted because this is the way the league does it he was probably more critical of the teams than he was the players uh but

What is what is the next coach what is the type that they looking for well it’s funny you mentioned that about Clifford and and the criticism he was doing that the J toose how ready Brandon Miller was to play in this league and so I think he was he being complimentary about Brandon

And somewhat uh I guess admonishing other players who potentially were were coming through the ranks uh they for a young coach from what I can gather Adam they’re looking for somebody who’s an ascending coach uh the name Charles Lee has been brought up uh he’s the top assistant in Boston has connections with

Ownership and uh with Jeff Peterson the chief decision maker uh going back to their combined time with the Atlanta Hawks when he was an assistant there uh guy like a Jordi Fernandez out of Sacramento is somebody who I’ve also heard on a couple of different things uh

They did this two years ago I think a lot of the same names are going to be in play I would be shocked if it’s somebody who is not getting their first head coaching job I don’t think you’re going to see a retread here I think you’re

Going to see somebody who is an ascending talent and somebody who can grow with the organization and somebody hopefully that like you said maybe has an offensive mind and potentially a uh a pedigree with building and uh being able to Mentor point guards like the Hornets will’ll have here with with M ball

Having only played 58 games over the last two seasons 58 over the last two seasons we don’t have to go any further than that uh will palasik who plays all the games you are you are an Iron Man my friend I appreciate your time at Wily PE

Style thanks for the time man I’ll talk to you soon always good to chat Adam thank you I dig the I dig the hoodie I do I do dig the hoodie

Will Palaszczuk, Charlotte FC PxP/covers Panthers and Hornets, on where the Charlotte Hornets might be heading and a look into our other Charlotte teams.
How do they get traction? LaMelo Ball and his future with the Hornets looks like…? What does Will believe pushed Steve out as head coach? What lead to this? What “type” of head coach might the Hornets be looking for, for next season? Which names are running in the rumor mill currently?

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