Same here, he is my #1 option. I like that he leans a bit towards defense, but with his background in Europe and the NBA he's certain to be a shrewd passing and movement coach. What better introduction into NBA coaching than to be Pop's assistant along with a couple of other talented assistants. He has experienced what it's like for players to put their egos to the side and play team ball, that's what I love the most about him. I think the board unanimously agrees that mismanagement of egos has been a huge problem even in good times. He doesn't seem like he'll take ***** from Harden or Morey either. For me JVG is a great coach but I clearly see a ceiling there. He is too defensively focused and on offense we would essentially be assuming he's a rookie coach, he will have to impress us from scratch. The plus side with JVG is that he has the inside track on how NOT to let another T-Mac situation happen with Harden. He has been watching the game closely and I'm sure he sees where the league is going and where his weaknesses are. Whether he's able to correct his weakness remains to be seen, but I wouldn't be unhappy at all with JVG as coach. It's just Messina has all the attributes of a potential championship coach. It's a riskier option, but one which could reap great rewards for us.
I've obviously weighed in a number of times regarding this debate, but here is what I will leave this with. If the decision is down to JVG, I think you have to wait until FA to see what happens. As long as there is no market for him (it really seems we are the only actual option for him), you can make this decision based on whether we will be fielding a truly competitive team next year. There is no point in going with JVG if you don't have a short term window. He really is not the guy to develop a team long term. KD to Houston currently looks like a complete pipedream. KD on the Thunder is currently miles ahead of what he would probably be with us, although the future of Westbrook has to be on his mind. Needless to say, if the Thunder go all the way, that chapter will have been written. Al Horford to me doesn't really move the needle much. His footspeed is too slow and his other attributes are all good but not great. He also doesn't have that assertive personality that you need out of your secondary star, which I'm certain is not lost on our management. I don't think anyone really sees Horford as the answer, and hence you would really need a combination of sorts (Horford/Conley/Barnes/Batum) to make it worthwhile. By FA, we will have a clear sense of our direction, whether it be retooling or rebuilding. If we go the rebuild route, Messina is 100% my coach. He will be able to instill a true winning culture/system/philosophy, and he will have the creative chops to pull it off. Creativity on offense is something that is undervalued. JVG thrived on mismatches and taking advantage of them. This generally meant that the star player should take most of the shots, because that is a guaranteed mismatch. Thus the rosters he had were generally defensive role players, and then offensive superstars. Unless you have a combination like OKC, it is very hard to pull this off. You need elite rebounding, an agile defense, and enough superstar power to score regardless of defense. Long term I see the respective ceilings as Messina will be more like the SAS JVG will be like OKC All of this is moot anyways, because Messina hasn't even interviewed and I doubt is really on the Rockets radar.
I like that Messina looks like the sort of hardass Italian guy who wouldn't hesitate to sucker punch you in the gut if you gave him lip
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Spurs assistant coach Ettore Messina interviewed for the Rockets' head coach opening last Saturday, a source said.</p>— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpearsESPN) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarcJSpearsESPN/status/732766024458592256">May 18, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Messina or Shaka Smart would be My choices if I had to pick for the team. The tandem of them both would be amazing, but that is just a pipe dream at the moment. But either one I would possibly not mind to be coach. Jeff Van Gundy is vastly overrated on this forum at the moment.
Listening to the interview i gotta admit i'm not very impressed. Do you really think this guy will command respect in an NBA locker room? I don't think he has the personality to lead guys like Harden...we need a badass that demands respect.
If you know your **** really well, players will respect you. It isn't all instant charisma. Why did Larry Brown get so much respect? He understood the game at a level few have, same with Popovich and even Hubie Brown. Players respect coaches that put in lots of work, fight for them and know what the hell they are doing.
