As much respect that I have for Clifford as a person/communicator/leader/coach, I think this should actually be a deep discussion with the front office.
After all, its not too often that there are 2 championship winning coaches available to be hired, that are relatively young, and more attuned to the modern game.
Budenholzer and Nurse both have their faults I’m sure, but they’ve elevated their teams to the highest level. You don’t win a championship by accident, even with a great player or even multiple greats on the roster.
I would’ve been fine with going after Quin Snyder after the season, but the Hawks beat us to the punch, and they looked nice and feisty against the Celtics.
Clifford is a great floor setter, but he can’t get anybody over the top. He’s never even won a single playoff series in 9 years as head coach. He’d be the absolute perfect top assistant coach, would get everyone in line, playing hard. But he’s not able to get a team to the next level. And that’s ok - Tex Winter, Johnny Bach, Phil Johnson - all great assistant coaches who were legendary. Cliff should be one of them.
Here’s a look at the coaching comparisons:
Budenholzer:
10 years, been in 19 playoff series, won 11 series, .604 regular season %, .538 playoff %
Nurse:
5 years, been in 7 playoff series, won 5 series, .582 regular season %, .610 playoff %
Clifford:
9 years, been in 4 playoff series, won 0 series, .444 regular season %, .238 playoff %
Snyder:
9 years, been in 10 playoff series, won 3 series, .580 regular season %, .404 playoff %
One of these things is REALLY not like the others. It stands out badly. I do like Cliff the person, but I feel like this is a move you have to make, a move a serious, professional sport franchise would make, especially since Cliff wasn’t even a top candidate last year, and was a last resort when we were flailing.