Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
It’s likely that the Charlotte Bobcats are going to give Steve Clifford a lot more time to get the job done as head coach than they gave Mike Dunlap.
Despite seeing an improvement in the number of wins to 21, Dunlap didn’t do enough to impress his bosses after one season. There wasn’t very much improvement with the younger players and that’s why Dunlap was brought to the team. It was thought that could be an excellent teacher to the younger players and perhaps he was. But it didn’t happen on the court, especially with highly-touted rookie Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
Clifford most likely will get at least two years to do something with this franchise, maybe three. Rather than being a teacher, Clifford will be asked to be a coach. With the players the Bobcats give him for the 2013-14 season, he’ll be asked to blend his players together into a workable unit that can beat any NBA team on any floor. They may lose a lot of games but the Bobcats need to show they have a chance to win in all of their losses.
With Gerald Henderson, Kemba Walker and others, Clifford will have some talent to work with especially if the Bobcats make wise choices during the draft and trading process. He’s likely to have more talent than Dunlap did. The Bobcat fans certainly hope that’s the case. Something like 30 to 35 wins would be nice, but Clifford won’t have to sweat it his first season. His second season will be a different story.
