- New Magic coach Steve Clifford is bringing in two of his former Hornets assistants in Pat Delany and Steve Hetzel, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets. Both worked under Clifford the past four seasons. New Knicks coach David Fizdale was interested in bringing on Delany to his staff, Stein adds.
- UCF forward A.J. Davis, the son of former NBA big man Antonio Davis, will audition for the Bulls, Pacers, and Magic, a league source tells Michael Scotto of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Duke center Wendell Carter Jr. has workouts on tap with six lottery teams in this year’s draft, he told reporters today. Carter, whose first workout of the pre-draft process took place today with the Bulls, also has auditions lined up with the Mavericks, Grizzlies, Magic, Knicks, and Cavaliers, per Nick Friedell of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
It’s not clear if Carter will ultimately add more workouts to his schedule after completing those six sessions, but the teams he named today present a pretty clear picture of when he can expect to be drafted. Each club on his list holds a top-10 selection, ranging from No. 4 (Memphis) to No. 9 (New York). Ian Begley of ESPN.com tweets that several people in the Knicks’ front office are “enamored” with Carter.
In his latest mock draft, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony has Carter coming off the board at No. 7 to the Bulls. For his part, the young center said today he has heard he could be drafted anywhere from No. 3 to No. 12, Friedell notes.
A freshman for the Blue Devils last season, Carter averaged an impressive 13.5 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 2.1 BPG, and 2.0 APG in just 26.9 minutes per contest. He also recorded a solid .561/.413/.738 shooting line in his first and only year at Duke.
11:29am: In addition to Young, Kevin Knox and Anfernee Simons will also work out for the Magic this week, tweets Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders.
9:54am: Oklahoma guard Trae Young has a private workout scheduled this week with the Magic, according to Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com. Zagora, who previously reported that Young will work out privately for the Knicks, writes that the nation’s leading scorer will fly to Orlando following his time in New York.
The Magic currently hold the No. 6 pick in the NBA draft, making Young a viable target for the club. Outside of perhaps power forward, Orlando isn’t loaded with talent at any position, so the team isn’t a lock to target a point guard, but that spot figures to be an area of focus this offseason. The Magic traded away former first-rounder Elfrid Payton at this year’s deadline, and currently have D.J. Augustin and Shelvin Mack atop their depth chart.
In his most recent mock draft, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony has Young going to the Magic at No. 6, writing that the youngster’s “offensive profile is tailor-made for today’s NBA.”
Young, a 6’2″ guard, led the NCAA with 27.4 PPG in 2017/18, en route to a first-team All-American season. He also ranked first in APG (8.7), and chipped in 3.9 RPG and 1.7 SPG.
Magic swingman Terrence Ross suggested in a comment on Instagram that he intends to be in attendance for Young’s workout with the team this week.
Canada Basketball has announced its preliminary 18-man roster of players who have been invited to participate in training camp and exhibition play ahead of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Americas Qualifiers next month, reports Josh Lewenberg of The Sports Network.
Among the 18 named individuals, eight played in the NBA last season – Khem Birch (Magic), Chris Boucher (Warriors), Dillon Brooks (Grizzlies), Cory Joseph (Pacers), Jamal Murray (Nuggets), Kelly Olynyk (Heat), Dwight Powell (Mavericks), and Tristan Thompson (Cavaliers).
The preliminary roster also includes former No. 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett, as well as three other G League players – Aaron Best, Olivier Hanlan, and Kaza Kajami-Keane.
The remaining six players are former first-round pick of the Magic, Andrew Nicholson, former college standouts’ Iowa State’s Melvin Ejim, Baylor’s Brady Heslip, and Gonzaga’s Kevin Pangos, as well as brothers Phil Scrubb and Tommy Scrubb.
As also highlighted by Lewenberg, notable absences include Trey Lyles (Nuggets), Nik Stauskas (Nets), and most glaringly, Andrew Wiggins (Timberwolves). Per Lewenberg, multiple sources indicated that one factor in Wiggins’ decision to decline Canada Basketball’s invitation is his strained relationship with national team head coach Jay Triano, who left Wiggins on the bench during the final moments of a qualifying game for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The Magic officially decided on their new head coach this week, announcing the hiring of former Hornets coach Steve Clifford on Wednesday. Clifford reportedly agreed to a four-year contract to become Frank Vogel‘s replacement in Orlando.
As Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel details, president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman and general manager John Hammond – who interviewed Clifford for the Bucks’ job in Milwaukee back in 2013 – met with him twice this time around. The first of those meetings happened on May 16, with the second taking place on May 24. Weltman and Hammond liked what they heard in those sessions, and their deal with Clifford reflects that — the final year isn’t a team option, sources tell Robbins.
“I’m not betting on something that I don’t know,” Weltman said on Wednesday. “Steve Clifford has proven himself to be an elite-level NBA coach in addition to having great personal skills, player-development abilities [and] all the organizational bullet points that we had hoped to address.”
Here’s more on the Magic’s new coach and the search that led the team to him:
- Despite being rumored to have significant interest in Raptors 905 head coach Jerry Stackhouse, the Magic never interviewed Stackhouse, sources tell Robbins.
- University of Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, cited as a Magic candidate, confirmed that he met with the club “multiple times,” as Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston relays. However, Sampson said that he’ll remain at his current job with the University of Houston.
- Before hiring Clifford, the Magic made plays for “some big fish in the collegiate ranks,” according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). One of those targets was presumably Tom Izzo, as the Michigan State head coach was linked to Orlando last week.
- One possible factor in the Magic’s decision to hire Clifford? His impressive work in games against Orlando. As Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer notes, Clifford’s Hornets had defeated the Magic 11 times in a row prior to his ouster in Charlotte.
The Magic are hiring Steve Clifford to be their new head coach, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. League sources tell Wojnarowski that Orlando has reached an agreement on a four-year contract with the former Hornets coach. Meanwhile, the team has confirmed the deal in a press release.
According to Wojnarowski, Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman views Clifford as the right combination of “tactical coach, teacher, and disciplinarian for a young, developing roster.” Clifford met with a team ownership group on Tuesday and is expected to be officially introduced at a press conference on Wednesday, Woj adds.
[RELATED: Five Key Offseason Questions: Orlando Magic]
Widely respected in coaching circles, Clifford led the Hornets to a 196-214 (.478) record over five years, including back-to-back 36-46 seasons before he was dismissed last month. Prior to taking over as head coach of the Hornets, Clifford held a number of NBA assistant jobs, including one in Orlando from 2007 to 2012 under Stan Van Gundy, so this is a reunion of sorts for him.
Clifford, who was let go by Charlotte at season’s end, expressed a desire to coach again next season and interviewed for the Suns’ and Bucks’ jobs before they hired Igor Kokoskov and Mike Budenholzer, respectively.
The former Hornets head coach missed 21 games last season due to sleep deprivation and severe headaches, but Wojnarowski indicates that Clifford is in good health now, and Orlando’s doctors are confident that he’s ready to resume the “full-time grind.”
Having assumed control of Orlando’s front office in 2017, Weltman and GM John Hammond are looking to put their own stamp on the organization after firing Frank Vogel at the end of the regular season. According to Wojnarowski, Weltman and Hammond had interest in hiring Clifford five years ago when both executives were members of the Bucks’ front office. However, he landed with the Hornets instead at that time.
No team’s coaching search this spring has lasted longer than the Magic’s, as the club spent nearly seven weeks seeking out Vogel’s replacement. The franchise will bet on Clifford being a long-term solution on its bench after having gone through four other head coaches since Van Gundy’s departure in 2012.
The Magic didn’t publicly confirm which candidates they were interviewing for their head coaching vacancy during their lengthy search. However, University of Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, Trail Blazers assistant David Vanterpool, and Spurs assistant Ime Udoka were among the contenders who reportedly interviewed for the position. Orlando also met with David Fizdale before he was hired by the Knicks.
The Pistons and Raptors are now the only two teams still on the lookout for new head coaches, as our tracker shows.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The Magic have found themselves in the NBA’s version of no-man’s land in recent years. The franchise hasn’t secured a playoff berth since Stan Van Gundy coached the club back in 2012. However, a rebuilding period with Rob Hennigan at the helm topped out at 35 wins in 2015/16. Over the last two seasons, Orlando’s win total has been on the decline again, and the club now appears fully immersed in a re-rebuilding process under new management.
Magic general manager John Hammond and president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman, who assumed control of the front office in 2017, haven’t yet put a stamp on the franchise with an impact acquisition, but they’ll have a chance to do so soon when they name a replacement for former head coach Frank Vogel, who was let go at season’s end.
Here are five key questions facing the franchise this summer:
1. Who will the Magic hire as their new head coach?
Of the eight teams who have conducted head coaching searches this spring, five have made a hire, and two others arrived late to the market after dismissing their former coaches in early May. That leaves the Magic, who fired Vogel the morning after the regular season ended, as the team with the longest-lasting search for a new bench boss — Orlando’s search will hit the seven-week mark this Thursday.
The Magic have kept things very close to the vest as they interview candidates. Several potential contenders have emerged, including Trail Blazers assistant David Vanterpool, Spurs assistant Ime Udoka, former Hornets head coach Steve Clifford, and University of Houston coach Kelvin Sampson. However, there has been little indication which way Orlando is leaning.
With few clues from the Magic, we can only speculate on which candidate might become the new head coach in Orlando, but it would make sense for the team to follow a similar blueprint to the Hawks. Atlanta, in the midst of a rebuild, opted for an experienced assistant – Lloyd Pierce of the Sixers – who has a strong player development background, but no NBA head coaching experience. The Magic could use someone with a similar skill-set, rather than opting for a veteran head coach with a mandate to get the team to the playoffs right away.
2. What will the Magic do with the No. 6 pick?
A year ago, the Magic used the sixth overall pick to draft Jonathan Isaac, a raw, athletic forward with tremendous potential. The pick made sense for a front office led by Weltman and Hammond — in their previous jobs in Toronto and Milwaukee, respectively, those execs rolled the dice on similar projects, for better (Giannis Antetokounmpo) or for worse (Bruno Caboclo).
If the Magic follow a similar path this year, the team may be hoping that a player like Mohamed Bamba or Jaren Jackson Jr. is still available at No. 6. However, there’s another intriguing option who should be on the board when the Magic are on the clock — Oklahoma’s Trae Young, the nation’s leading scorer in 2017/18. A popular college player, Young could help generate some interest in a franchise that lacks star power. More importantly, he’d provide a huge lift to a backcourt bereft of dynamic playmaking.
- While it remains to be seen whether Mike Woodson will formally join the Suns‘ coaching staff, as rumored, the team has hired another assistant, bringing aboard Magic assistant Corliss Williamson. Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic has the story on the hiring of Williamson, who appeared in over 800 regular season games as an NBA player.
3:29pm: Izzo won’t be the next head coach in Orlando, a source tells Graham Couch of The Lansing State Journal (Twitter link).
11:03am: As they continue to seek out a replacement for Frank Vogel, the Magic have expressed interest in longtime Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo, league sources tell Michael Scotto of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Izzo, who has led the Spartans to seven Final Four appearances and one national championship, has been the head coach at Michigan State since 1995. He has been involved with the program even longer than that, having originally been hired as an assistant all the way back in 1983.
Given his long-standing connection to Michigan State, Izzo seems unlikely to have serious interest in the Magic job. He has been pursued by NBA teams in the past, having been linked to the Lakers, Cavaliers, Timberwolves, and Pistons at various times within the last several years. However, he has always elected to remain at MSU; university president John Engler even said earlier this month when the Pistons job opened up again that Izzo is a “Spartan for life” and wouldn’t be a candidate for the Detroit job.
While it’s possible that Izzo will reconsider that stance at some point – the recent Larry Nassar scandal at MSU could be a factor – it would be a surprise if the Magic job is the one that ultimately brings him to the NBA. Having undergone a front office change last summer, Orlando is in the midst of a retooling period and doesn’t have a franchise player on its roster.
Still, the fact that the Magic have apparently reached out to Izzo signals that the team is casting a wide net in its search for a new head coach. We passed along details on the team’s newest candidate, Steve Clifford, earlier today.