CHARLOTTE -- Playing a round at the Joe Maus Foundation Celebrity Golf Tournament on Monday, Hornets forward Frank Kaminsky talked to NBC Charlotte about the firing of head coach Steve Clifford after five seasons.
"It was a shock to me," said Kaminsky. "Having the whole organization kind of change in such a short amount of time because you didn't play to expectations is really frustrating as a player."
Despite trading for All-Star center Dwight Howard in the offseason, and Kemba Walker making his second-straight All-Star Game, the Hornets finished 36-46 and missed the playoffs for the second-straight year.
Clifford, who is tied with Allan Bristow for the longest tenure as a coach in franchise history, was fired by GM Mitch Kupchak just three days after Kupchak was introduced.
"For some reason he always wanted to be the guy that took all the fall back," Kaminsky said of Clifford. "And it’s just frustrating as a player knowing that we didn't play up to expectations and play up to things that were laid out for us so he could be successful as a coach."
Kaminsky, the team's first-round pick in 2015, can count 2017-18 as his best season as a pro. Coming off the bench, he set career highs in shooting percentage (42.9%) and three-point percentage (38%).
Like every player on the roster, he met with Kupchak in an exit interview.
"There’s really no sense of direction as to what was going to happen," Kaminsky said. "Obviously he’s a winner. He’s been around a lot of winning cultures as a GM. Hopefully he can bring that to us."
