Cliff Clinkscales: Canadian Basketball Lifer to KW Titans Head Coach
KW Titans
Head Coach
From Jamaica, New York
đ Tenure (As Player): 2013-2019
2016 NBLC Champion
2017 All-NBLC
The 2023-24 Basketball Super League season saw a familiar face once again on the courts in Canada, but in a very different way fans were used to seeing him.
After seven years as a player, Cliff Clinkscales now has a seat on the bench in his new role as head coach of the KW Titans, after previously serving as an assistant under the departed Neal Foreman. After an uneasy start to the season, Clinkscales led the Titans to a four-game unbeaten streak at the end of January to a 6-2 record in February, then on a 10-1 run of games into the final stretch of the season.
Clinkscales led the Titans to the top of the table and the first seed in the playoffs, where they swept past the Newfoundland Rogues to make their second finals in Canada. They lost in four games to the London Lightning, but it was a dramatic turnaround after finishing last the season before. For making all this happen, Clinkscales was named the league's Coach of the Year.
Clinkscales brought with him to the head coach role the benefit of his six years playing pro in Canada. The knowledge of how the game is played in Canada from his time spent in the BSL's predecessor, the NBL Canada, proved invaluable to the Titans in their first season under him.
Playing at point guard, Clinkscales first joined the Halifax Rainmen in 2014, playing just eighteen games but he registered a double-double in seven post-season games, where Halifax exited in the Atlantic Division finals to the Summerside Storm.
It was enough for the Rainmen to retain him for the next season, where he played in 45 games and he and the team reached their first NBLC Finals, but lost to the Windsor Express in controversial circumstances.
In 2015-16 with the revamped Halifax Hurricanes, Clinkscales assumed the starting point guard role and recorded eight double-doubles on the season and led the team with 8.0 assists. His prowess to move the ball around was most evident when he recorded a career-high 16 assists against the Windsor Express on March 18th.
The team finished first in the Atlantic Division and reached the NBLC Finals without dropping a game. There, though they went to a deciding game against the London Lightning, Halifax went one better than last season, bringing home the trophy.
The following season Clinkscales started in every game for the Hurricanes, leading them to first place in the Atlantic Division and reaching their third NBLC Finals, but they were unable to protect their title and lost to London in six games. However, his individual efforts saw him named to the All-NBLC second team.
In 2017-18 he posted his best results in four years, finishing with 8.0 points and 7.5 assists in 54 games. Ultimately it was deja vu for the team all over again: Halifax finished as the top seeds for the playoffs, and reached the finals, but again lost to the Lightning. Still showing loyalty to Halifax, his sixth season with the team saw him remain productive in scoring and assists. However this time Halifax were eliminated in the division finals by eventual champions, Moncton Magic.
For the shortened 2019-20 season, Clinkscales started in his every appearance for the Hurricanes and recorded 7.4 points and career-best 4.0 rebounds and 10.1 assists per game. That season ended without a champion, and ultimately brought the curtain down on one of the longest-running tenures in the NBLC. Clinkscales retired as the NBLC's all-time leader in assists and named to the league's tenth anniversary team.
Prior to his professional career, he first came to the attention of the basketball world after an outstanding tenure at Shores Christian Academy in Ocala, Florida. This saw him recruited to the DePaul Blue Demons in 2004.
There he was a solid role-player and his skills as a passer first flourished. He twice played in the NIT with the Demons, reaching the competition's quarter finals in 2007. He ended his four years at DePaul as a starter and having recorded more than 1000 career assists, the fifth man in the team's history to do so.
Turning professional in 2008, he was drafted by the Erie Bayhawks in the NBA D-League. He played 82 games across two seasons for the Bayhawks, with a stint with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in-between, after which he went on to play for the Panama City Breeze before finally making the move to Canada.
As a player, Cliff Clinkscales's consistency, work ethic and above all loyalty to his team made him one of the most popular players to tread the Canadian courts. His skills and ability to finish also making him one of the country's most notable players. What he learned as a player he now imparts as a coach and has proved just as effective in his new role, as he leads one of the most dynamic and exciting teams to emerge from the Basketball Super League.
Updated from the originally published article on August 20th 2024.
