I can't help but feel sorry for the guy. Was it really his fault? Was it DanTony's fault that the Sun's lost?I kinda have to say yes. They both failed to adjust their team to their players.
I think a really good example of someone doing just that is Adleman (who, not surprisingly, was my pick for coach of the year). I mean, he lost a 7'6" 20 and 10 guy, and they kept winning. They are giving the Jazz a run for their money with three hobbled guys( alston, tracy, battier)
How are they still winning? Gotta be the coach.
Why didn't the Mavs win? Gotta be the coach...right?
12 comments:
Speaking of Battier, here is a nice quote from him about his injury:
"It's the playoffs, so I just spit on it and go," Battier said.
nice qoute.
David Aldridge, says Antoni will resign, probably early next week. I don't know how, but he usually knows this stuff.
good one.
i hear you on avery, but i don't think the suns could have won that series no matter what. spurs looked too good.
i mean, do you just fire every coach that isn't pop every year? come on.
front office: "hey coach, it's review time! is your name greg poppavich?"
coach: "um...no?"
front office: "clean out your desk, loser!"
I love the Little General and I've got to give credit to first-names-last-name for turning the Suns into such a fun team to watch but both have their faults and owners/GMs who aspire to be great (like Dallas and Phx do) can only accept near perfection.
I know I'm repeating myself about coaching style but I'm pretty sure Avery's downfall is that he's a screamer. I could be wrong about that but screamers seem to really only have success with their teams for 1-3 seasons before players are just tired of it and stop playing as hard for them because they've heard it all before. That seems to be what happened to Dallas but I have no real evidence of that.
As for DanTony he's a 3rd tier coach similar to Don Nelson. All offense. Until this season after they got Shaq, I never saw/heard him ever say anything about defense to his team in a huddle. He could win in a league that doesn't play defense (like the Italian league) but until Phil & Pop retire (1st Tier) his teams will never be able to beat theirs (given approx equal talent). If they're gone though, I think he'd have a decent chance of upsetting the 2nd tier coached teams (which would be 1st tier then I guess?). Anyhow, Steve Kerr played for Phil Jackson and for Gregg Pop so I know it's killing him to see his talented players give up easy baskets.
It's not too far of a stretch to imagine Avery & D'Antoni swap jobs, huh? Not likely but certainly possible right?
I bet Carlisimo is kicking himself for taking the Seattle job now :)
And finally, as I see it, given close to equal talent, if I was a GM, I'd hire in the following order (note both Tier1 were Kerr's coaches):
TIER1:
Phil
Pop
TIER2:
Rick Adelman
Jerry Sloan
Larry Bird
Byron Scott
Rick Carlisle
JVG
Avery Johnson
TIER3:
SVG
Don Nelson
Mike D'Antoni
Mo Cheeks
Mike Brown
Heh, now you got me curious. If you got a tier assignment for any of these guys, what it be?
Mike Fratello
Larry Brown
Scott Skiles
Flip Saunders
Pat Riley
Rick Carlisle
Nate McMillan
Doug Collins
Reggie Theus
Mike Fratello
Rudy Tomjanovich (Is he compeltely retired?)
S
yea i shouldn't have dissed phil like that. i can't keep him off the 'not fired' list cause of MJ if pop gets to stay despite timmy.
and what about mike fratello? (j/k tom ;)
isn't he that greaseball guinea daego goomba whop announcer (i'm looking at you jimi)? the one that looks like a goodfella? i didnt realize he was a real coach. i thought he was just one of the extras from the sopranos that got tony to knock a few heads to get him a courtside seat.
Oh man. That joke really was for me. That's the first time I laughed out loud at this blog. And I was laughing before I even saw my name.
Point goes to Jake.
haha gotcha!
I considered 3 of those guys but didn't include them for a few reasons.
Let me start with:
Pat Riley
Rudy TomJohn
Both Tier1 coaches in their prime, didn't consider listing either as I'm pretty sure neither will coach again (could be wrong about Rudy but the Lakers hired him 2-3 yrs ago and he re-retired due to health only about 10 days into the season... wierd [or Kobe scared him away]).
Larry Brown-
Though I think he fits best in Tier4 (below), I could definitely see an arguement for tier2 and maybe even for tier1. He's just got issues. I don't know what they are necessarily. I'm convinced he's an X's and O's genius but he's also got run away bride syndrome. As a GM, I wouldn't hire him unless I was ok with the fact that I'd be on the hunt again in 2-3 yrs.
Tier4 (good teacher; young teams; probably have to replace in a couple of years to grow; would be fantastic college coaches, if they'd accept it, in order):
Doug Collins
Larry Brown
Mike Fratello
Scott Skiles
The problem with these guys is that I may be type casting them. I don't think I've seen any of them coach a veteran team so who knows. Maybe they'd all thrive on a team like the Pistons (as Larry Brown did).
I haven't paid enough attention to know enough about Reggie Theus though he's got promise based on what he did this year. I'm unsure about Nate too... he had a great start this year in Portland but the only successful season he had in all of his years in Seattle was his last one. Maybe he's growing as a coach though, who knows. If I had to, I'd put both of the in Tier4.
Finally, Flip. I wish I'd watched more regular season games of his so I could give you a better opinion. Unfortunatly, I'd probably put him in the tier3 for right now because I haven't seen evidence that he creates a team that can either A) excel defensively or B) makes great in-game (or even game-to-game adjustments). I always kinda figured that the defense the Pistons play was a throw back to Carlisle and Brown. I know he's had a few respectable regular season records but even that is usually evidence of an offensively minded team that can't play lock down defense or make the necessary X & O adjustments against a higher tiered coach. I think best cased scenario, there will always be 2-5 coaches out there who I'd give odds to in a 7 game series (again, given equal talent - luckily, the Pistons have superior talent to a vast majority of teams).
I like how you pointed out the ability to adjust, especially during the playoffs.
I haven't seen Washington adjust yet. Or Toronto for that matter, but thats over with.
A couple of those guys, i hardly know (like McMillan) but threw them in cause they seemed like good ones to throw in.
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I think Flip does pretty good with defense. Det was first in ppg allowed this year. That is largely due to the fact that they slow games down and both teams get fewer possessions. But all their other defensive numbers are near the top or at the top too. Larry Brown hasn't coached there for three years. So i can't give him much credit for this year's defense.
To me, it seems each year the Piston players have bought a little more into Flip's philosophies. Contrasted to the first year, where it seemed they weren't really interested, and Flip didn't want to meddle too much with a system that worked so well the two years prior to his arrival. But now, i think Flip has added a good amount of his own flavor to the defensive foundation already in place in detroit.
As for in-game adjustments. That could definately be a big weakness of his. I know it is something i question at times. They normally play lockdown defense very well. But, with a weakness to make strong in-game adjustments, nightmares like (as i am sure you were thinking of) Cleveland in game 5 last year can happen.
I also know the pistons hate to double anyone, they are just too macho for such sissiness. So i always wonder if such problems are more with the players or the coach.
All that being said, philosphies may be a bit different in detroit this year. A loose interpretation of what rasheed said the other day, made me believe they know they will have to-and are planning to- double D Howard (though a seldom as they can get away with).
Also, once (if you believe Chauncey the other day) the pistons got out of their take-it-easy mentality they aquired with several weeks of having their seed locked and only playing 20 minutes a game; and they adjusted to the playoff mindset PHI had for a while now, as they fought to make the playoffs and for seedings they have been rolling nicely. And they have even made some good in-game adjustments.
So maybe, just maybe, Flip has learned some stuff, and the players have learned some stuff, and they will not return to the funk of yesteryears or of the first few games of the playoffs.
David alridge again provided all the coaching change gossip one can handle last ngiht.
Mark Jackson is still the front runner for the Nicks job. But Avery and D'antoni (pending resignation) will be interviewing with them too.
Chicago will also interview Avery and D'Antoni.
Dallas, i kinda forget what he said, but they are interested in, among others, Flip Sauners, lol. But of course, he was not avaible--at the moment.
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Erik Spoelstra, the new 37-year-old Dutch-Irish-Filipino-American Miami Heat Coach started in the Heat Video room in 1995 and worked his way up. The couple respectible people i have heard talk about him have very high praise for him. The day Orlando closed out the raptors, i watched SVG's post-game pressor. He spent half of the time he was there just gushing about Spoelstra. D Wade largely attributes his rise to superstardom to him.
Anyway, sounds like he could be good. Will be funny seeing him on the sidelines though, standing next to Mourning (if he comes back). He looks more like our age than 37.
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