When Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni spent the start of the 2013-14 season out of coaching, he was not far removed. He spent much of training camp that season with Magic coach Steve Clifford, then the Charlotte coach, with Clifford describing himself as enthusiastically taking notes of everything D’Antoni offered.
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“He’s so smart,” said Clifford, who was a Rockets assistant under Jeff Van Gundy. “I’d say I learned so much from him. Besides working for him, one year in Charlotte when he was out, he came to training camp for like three days and in between practices at night we would just sit and talk.