You know who was close alt of times? Dwayne Casey, you know what happened? they canned him and replaced him.
I'm not "abandoning" him because he hasnt won a ring. I'm abandoning him because he is Dumbtoni, aka the dude who couldnt reach the Finals with 3-4 all stars on his team in 8 years in PHX and now couldnt reach the Finals in 4 tries with James Harden. Give JVG 4 all stars and 8 tries I bet he has a ring, he went to the Finals with 1. SVG went to ECF with just Dwight and a bunch of role players. Lots of coaches would have gotten a ring if they were the coach of Nash and the Suns and had 8 years to do it, MDA couldnt even reach the Finals. You are right, we can def do worse. But as we have seen with Mchale "worse" is a 2nd round exit and thats with an inferior cast. What's the diff between WCF exit and 2nd round exit? Not a lot. OTH, we can do better and maybe win a ring before Harden falls off a cliff.
One important thing to point out here: It's NOT always about having the best players and the best coach/s... because that in itself, doesn't guarantee a championship. (although that surely does increase the chances of winning one) In fact, it's probably more important to have THE RIGHT star players, combined with THE RIGHT coach/s. In other words, the relationships and the chemistry between the star player/s and the coach/s are crucial to creating a championship caliber team. It doesn't work just pairing up ANY star players with ANY particular coach. They may not have the right personalities, or the right styles, or the right mindsets... they simply might not be the right fit. One thing that has been shown... in almost all past championship teams, the teams had at least one player who was a genuine LEADER on the court. A player who was practically an extension of the coach on the floor, in terms of leadership. (Magic, Bird, Jordan, Isiah, Dream, Kobe, Lebron, Curry, etc.) These players that kept the team on the right track, kept the team focused, and more times than not... always made the right, winning types of decisions on the court. When to pass, when to shoot, controlling the pace, keeping composure, rallying the team, maximizing possessions, minimizing mistakes, etc. When you don't have those types of player/leaders... then THE COACH has to be that type of leader, and LEAD the team. And the greatest coaches have that type of authority and respect. (Riley, POP, Jackson, Sloan, etc., etc) Unfortunately neither Westbrook nor Harden are in that category of floor leaders like that... and MDA is not that type of leader as a coach. So they simply might not be the right fit, for winning a championship. And at this stage of their careers, none of them may be capable of changing their styles and/or personalities. So if they won't change at all, then the only hope is finding the exact right mix of players and coaches.
I believe that the whole CP/WB scenario is on James. Things soured between him and CP and he wanted him gone. Morey had to do whatever he could to facilitate a trade and here we are. I'm sure he knew Russ wanted a change, and they were able to form their own version of the 'dynamic' duo. Although we'll have to see just how 'dynamic'
Whatever happened to NBA coaching to where Mark Jackson and Ty Lue became 'big names'? Not saying you're wrong...just pointing out the reality is that they're only 'big names' because they played in the league...which, historically, is a really bad indicator of how good you are at coaching. All that Lue, for example, seems good at is being around when Cleveland fired their coach. "I was there!" isn't really a great thing to have be the highlight on your coaching resume.
The phrase 'penny wise and pound foolish' is for situations just like this. If you aren't willing to spend a couple million to maximize your return on the other $140M plus other costs then you're just stupid. Coaching is where you should WANT to invest your money--no salary cap implications, and you get the biggest bang for your buck.
She’s a New Yorker, she gets to live in a nicer city than San Antonio with a more than a million dollar salary
MDA is not perfect, but which coaches are out there who's relatively better and not tied up? For the better candidates, wouldn't they expect market value? (equal or more than what MDA is currently getting) MDA is a 4mil annual. Even Luke Walton makes more.
Video evidence supporting my Jay Wright for next Rox HC campaign! Watch the entire thing and just imagine our roster running these sets. Would be amazing. Oh and Jay Wright has won 'chips in much tougher circumstances, can also coach defense which to some of you might be a shock that coaches can coach both but he can. Smallball oh ****... also I think we have decent guards...
I'm not sure that we have the personell to run this much motion. Too much off the ball movement. Maybe after Harden, Russ and PJ retire.
I would not bring a college coach to handle our 2 stars. I love our guys, but they need certain things around them to excel. Coach has to know how to generate space. Coach has to know how to keep accountable Russ and James. So basically, modern offense with a modern leadership style and a big name these guys look up to. Not a long list right?
