March sadness in full force for Hornets: Steve Clifford blasts ‘poor effort’ vs. Hawks

Perhaps eventually, the Charlotte Hornets can call the team located down I-85 something beyond a Southeast Division foe. Just not today.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a rivalry,” Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. “Most rivalries are built in the playoff series to be honest with you, I don’t sense any difference coming here than anywhere else.”

State Farm Arena might be the site of the Hornets’ last play-in tournament appearance, the very place that proved to be a house of horrors in 2021. But as Saturday night’s 132-91 loss to the Atlanta Hawks showed, the Hornets are a long way from even sniffing the postseason and are instead finishing up another disappointing, injury-ravaged campaign.

“As soon as we started subbing, our intensity went downhill and we never really got it back,” Clifford said. “That was just as poor an effort, and just for a team that’s tried all year, we didn’t try very hard. We’re not going to be able to do that.

“I thought Miles (Bridges) was really good. And in terms of effort, it ended there.”

The Hornets should’ve been rested enough, given they’ve been on the road since bowing out of town following their March 15 loss to Phoenix. They only practiced twice in the aftermath of last Tuesday’s debacle in Orlando, even getting a full day off to take in Disneyland or anything that else Central Florida has to offer.

Apparently, that still couldn’t give them any semblance of a boost against the Hawks.

“It’s become different over the years, some because of the schedule,” Clifford said, “where we don’t play as many back-to-backs where at times you have two days off between games. That’s when you used to have your better practices and you could do your contact more.”

“Guys are more beat up (now). It’s a different time.”

And having enough of it to go over everything pertinent is a rarity.

“You can do a lot of technique things defensively,” Clifford said. “You can certainly do a lot of 5-on-0 offense,” Clifford said. “You can do breakdowns, 3-on-0 and it can probably be beneficial. I won’t say the name, but one coach told me last summer in his opinion practice used to be to build habits, and now the way we practice is to all stay organized. And I would say I very much agree with that. It’s not going to change back.”

Clifford has his reasons and he’s cited them more than once this season.

“Now you are getting into the whole culture of basketball in our country again, which for most coaches would be a real problem,” he said. “Guys coming into our league aren’t as ready, simply because they are not with their high school coaches as much. They are playing AAU, they come out early, Ten, 12 years ago , the caliber of players that came into our league are much more different than now. They were much more ready to play.

“From a skill standpoint, come in now (they) are much more creative off the dribble, better shot making, better shot creation. Basketball IQ is not even close — (it’s) much, much lower. Guys don’t understand how to practice and it’s tougher because in our league everybody drafts the same — all these 19-year-olds.”

He wasn’t done, pointing to inexperience as a key deterrent to the growth for some teams. Constantly having to develop talent — which is something the Hornets have been tasked with doing since they have trouble attracting premium free agents — is a tricky proposition because it puts extra pressure on everyone to get it right.

That’s why it’s imperative the Hornets ensure there are no repeats of their 2021 draft class. None of the three players they selected are on the team three years later, with all three of them waived. That includes the two first-round picks: James Bouknight and Kai Jones.

If the Hornets are going to pull themselves out of a nearly decade-long malaise, Jeff Peterson, their new vice president of basketball operations, and the organization have to figure out the best formula to make it all work.

“I remember we used to say all the time, ‘It gets late early in the NBA,’” Clifford said. “You bring a guy in who had been in college four years and he doesn’t play well in his first year, those guys would be gone. But you’re crazy to do that now because the guys are so young.

“Everything used to be, you drafted in performance. Now, you’re drafting by potential and it’s much, much harder. Younger players are not as ready to play, and it makes it harder on coaches, but it makes it much, much harder on management.”