TORONTO – Coaches often say that their individual styles of running a team are shaped largely by an amalgamation of the coaches that they either played for or worked for previously.
In the case of Orlando Magic head coach Steve Clifford, that is certainly true – especially as it relates to Stan Van Gundy.
Clifford was an assistant coach under Van Gundy in Orlando from 2007-12 and the two of them helped the Magic reach the NBA Finals in 2009 and the Eastern Conference Finals in 2010. Previously, Clifford had been family friends with Jeff and Stan Van Gundy as fellow high school and small-college coaches in the Northeast.