ORLANDO -- For years, any time Steve Clifford came back into contact with players and coaches associated with those early-2000s Orlando Magic teams, his thoughts almost immediately reverted to a zenith moment in a life dedicated to coaching basketball.
Back then, when the Magic were one of the truly dominant teams in the NBA, Clifford thought he had found coaching paradise after tirelessly working his way up from the high school ranks to college and ultimately to the NBA level. Not only was he working alongside of then-head coach Stan Van Gundy – someone he admires and respects as much as anyone in the profession – he was surrounded by top talent such as Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, Jameer Nelson and J.