James Bouknight Speaks on his Relationship with Steve Clifford
At Hornets' media day James Bouknight was not discrete with how he felt about the coaching change. When asked if the fresh start under Steve Clifford was good for him, he said;
“Yeah, I think so. Yeah. I don’t really want to get into it. I just want to focus on this year and what we got going on now.”
There's no question that Bouknight was disgruntled with his playing time last season. He had a slight altercation with ex-coach James Borrego against the Miami Heat in early February. He showed his displeasure as he got up from the bench to confront Borrego's, but his teammates held him back and then he left to the locker room. After that the two seemed to sort it out a little bit off the court, but Bouknight only checked into 3 games after that altercation. In those three games, he didn't record more than 5 minutes.
Thankfully, Bouknight seems to already have a much better relationship with Hornets' new coach Steve Clifford. It's ironic to call Steve Clifford a new coach, but none of the players currently on the team were coached by Clifford in his time prior in Charlotte. James has already spoken on how much Clifford believes in him and how important he's been to him as he said,
“When you have a coach that believes in you, it’s dope. There’s nothing like it. I met with him every day at 8 a.m. during Summer League to watch film and understand what is expected of me.”
Obviously that shows how much Clifford cares about his players and how he's dedicated to helping improve them each and every day. Clifford is clearly making an effort or build a relationship with Bouknight and show him he's invested in his success. Obviously, this is an encouraging sign for James Bouknight getting more minutes this season, but Bouknight isn't getting carried away.
"I’m not expecting anything. I am looking forward to earning every minute I play."
That's a great mindset for Bouknight to have going into the season. As it was evident last season, nothing is given to you in the league. Bouknight was out for the entire summer league because he had to have surgery on his broken pinky finger this off-season, but he has continued to prove his work ethic and dedication to the game. The second year guard looks to earn some quality minutes off the bench for the Hornets.
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