Just say NO to Thibs or JVG as next HC

If Thibs and MDA were on the same staff it would be a five man rotation.

 

I like JVG

 

JVG would be overqualified, but I'd love him as RGV coach.

 

Good points. Problem here is that game management is probably the most important skill for the next rockets coach. if we only need defense and management, a good assistant can bring the defense (see coach bzdelik). game management comes with experience and experienced coaches will be big name and big salary. that's the problem here.

I'd be very happy with ty Lue for his management. then hire a top defensive assistant. but can we afford him?

Years ago (pre MDA) I made a thread called the little black book of coaches. There are plenty of lesser known candidates still on that list that could help us.

 

ha!

 

Our defense is as simple as our offense. Switch and swarm. Wings have to help an undersized center in the paint
while being able to jet out to the perimeter (using length and wingspan). Increased practice time is all that’s needed
to tighten up loose ends (clean rotations).....leaving poorer outside shooters open.

Timeouts, player rotations, keeping track of fouls are easier than you are leading on. D-rock is right in that Mike
Brase could be elevated to interim/ permanent coach.....but often when the head coach leaves, the assistants
follow. D’Antoni being practically the sole survivor last season of the coaching staff is extremely rare.

End of 2018/19 season D’Antoni offered $5M ($2.5M base)————pre Hong Kong/ pre Covid-19
Salary Cap estimated to be $119M———pre Hong Kong/ pre Covid-19
Salary Cap projected to be $116M———post Morey stand by Hong Kong tweet/ pre Covid-19
Salary Cap projected to be ??? (Huge hit......reading possibly $30 million less)———post HK & post Covid-19
Harden/Westbrook estimated to make $82.5M just between the two players 20/21 season.

Tillman has to invest in plexiglass everywhere in the restaurants and casinos.....high tech temperature scanners.
Restaurants opening to 25% capacity. Manybe going up to 50%. Will it ever go back to 100%. Could be
a loss in revenue of 50% from casinos and restaurants would be a huge hit to the Tillman empire.

D’Antoni gambled on himself (team/players)........then Covid happened. Will things ever be the same?
Sorry but it’s a legit question that no one knows for sure what will happen months from now. NBA lost
revenue on regular season games lost in March/April, which means TV and commercials lost money.
Will it be made up on a playoff format? And how much money?

Tucker wants an extension,
Jeff Green is a free agent
Cabcolo is a free agent

Ibaka is a free agent
Christian Wood is a free agent
Joe Harris is a free agent
Sneed is a free agent
Harrell available?
Etc

Coach doesn’t go against salary cap......but Tillman will cut expenses anywhere and everywhere he can.
That’s a given.

 

John Lucas is the pick because he is a long time Rocket, head coach experience, already here, seems easy going to get along with Harden & Westbrook, he is the development coach now and we need some of that going forward, seems flexible to do it the Morey way, and most importantly he may work for cheap on a hometown discount.

 

Just an update of cheap (first time HC) options that could satisfy the following conditions:

1. cheap asking price becuase of tillman
2. either experienced with following moreyball/analytics, or new and maliable (willing to run Morey's system).
3. with harden/westbrook iso as our offense, and switch everything as our D, we need someone who excels at game management, adjustment, and preparation.
4. some extra defensive know how - switch everything only works if you know how to prepare for the proper switches so your best defender is on their best weapon at the end of the play, knowing how/when to help, etc...

My list in order:

• Becky Hammon - Pop compared her knowledge of the game to kerr, bud, and Avery. known for out of the box strategies as well as situational management. After 4 years under pop, she's not only groomed from coaching royalty but would go a long way to change the narrative of the Rockets being the villains. National sports medial will be rooting for the first female HC.
• Jerry Stackhouse - Won the G-league championship, and finished in second place in back to back seasons. his teams were First in D-rating. Started as an assistant to Casey (defense) before winning his g-league championship and COY. He's known for the game management and defense we need. He could get plenty of offers along with Lue, Atkinson, Jackson, and thibs. Might be out of our price range. Might want to stay in Vanderbilt where he just signed a 6 year deal last year.
• Stephen Silas - was on Morey's short list last time. assistant to Carlisle for 2 years (speaking of game management). Was a Don Nelson assistant in GS for a few years (small ball and creative lineups). Before that he assistant JVG disciple Steve Clifford (defense) in Charlotte.
  
• Rex Kalamian - Assisted 4 HOF coaches in Bill Fitch, Saunders, Karl, and currently Doc. plus assisted, Casey and bzdelik (defense) and gentry (offense) for short stints. he's definitely experienced and had great mentorship. Most importantly he was with Brooks for the entire OKC run where he build strong bonds with the 3 MVPs on the roster. 2 of whom are now on our roster. his relationship with them is so well known that when the wizards thought they were in the race to bring KD to his hometown, they hired brooks and recruited Kalamian (who decided to stay in Toronto).
  
• Adrian Griffin - Ran the defense for Nurse during the championship run in Toronto after 5 years as an assistant under thibs and 3 under skiles, he's obviously known as a great defensive assistant. he also unofficially assisted team usa's minicamps thanks to the thibs connection.
  
• Jay Laranaga - assisted doc and now brad stevens in boston. I'd say that's some pretty great training in management. Also assists mike fratello on the ukraine national team for that added dose of defense.
  
• Lionel Hollins - was on Morey's list last time as well, but as an assistant to MDA. he didn't want to be an assistant and found a HC job elsewhere. Now he's an assistant to Vogel in LA and would be interested, I assume, in returning to a HC job here. he started the grit and grind grizz. He's a defense and game management guy. is he willing to let go of the offense for Morey, harden and rus?
• Mike Brown - yes he's a retread, but he's known as a defensive coach and spent the past few years learning from kerr in GS. He's also a former pop disciple. I believe he was considered as a replacement to Bzdelik, but he went elsewhere.

With everyone looking at Lue, Atkinson, Thibs, Kidd, and other big name assistant coaches, we can scoop up Hammon who is as good as any of them, with the potential to be the best of the bunch. you can also revisit my thread of coaches from before we hired MDA. Lue was my first choice then. He would be my first choice again (because of his game management, championship experience, and knows how to manage superstars), but knowing Tillman probably won't pay I'm keeping him, and JVG off my list. This time, Hammon is the way to go.

 

As I was saying, in terms of salary cap reduction.

https://dknation.draftkings.com/202...-update-news-rumors-report-warriors-bob-myers

As far as M Abdelfattah, he was head coach of the Palestinian national time. I’m sure he was a head coach prior to that. Much like David Blatt was coaching in Russia prior to becoming head coach of the
Cavs. Amazing how LeBron, Love and Irving made Blatt look so good. Same thing I’m sure
with Harden, Westbrook, Covington, and Tucker.

 

Rex is close with Harden.

 

Enjoyed reading this. Also, apparently the Rockets did contact Jay Laranaga last offseason to gauge interest as an assistant to MDA.

 

Since I’ve been the one mentioning Abdelfattah, I will answer as to why I’ve mentioned him.

1) Tillman has been losing money hand over fist due to coronavirus shutdowns in restaurants and casinos.
The future of revenue production from these venues is at question.....especially if those establishments
are not allowed to operate at full capacity because of fear of coronavirus 2nd or 3rd waves or flare ups
in the fall.

Reports are that D’Antoni turned down $5M which was actually a base salary of $2.5M if incentives were not met.
So retread coaches would ask for much the same as D’Antoni ..........$2.5M or greater.

2) Need coach to run the same offense. Rockets were 2nd in points per game, 2nd in ORtg and 2nd in offensive
efficiency. Abdelfattah runs the same offense so there will be little to no noticeable change as the transition occurs.
Why pay a retread coach so much money to run iso Harden....iso Westbrook......and then iso Harden again the whole
game. Our offense is basically Harden penetrate pitch and catch with perimeter shooter and Westbrook penetrate
with pitch and catch perimeter shooter.

Only reason people want a retread coach is to change the offense. I for one just want to improve our perimeter
shooters and maybe add Christian Wood or Ibaka or Harrell as our small ball center.

A Becky Hammon has no Head Coaching experience. Abdelfattah has more experience as actual head coach.
Pop tutelage has Becky changing our offense with more screens. Equates to more double teams on Harden and
clutter in front of Westbrook.

Jerry Stackhouse has been Head Coach at University of Tennessee in 2019. Raptors G-league team. Assistant
with Grizz and Raps (I believe). Abdelfattah has been Head Coach at St Cloud university. Vipers in 2019
(Rockets affiliate) similar to Stackhouse (1 season). Head Coach of Palestinian National team (safe to say that
was not his first stint as a head coach).

3) Harden and Westbrook won’t react well to authoritative Head Coach wanting to change their system. Retread
head coach will want to change the environment of the team across the board. Abdelfattah is passive and
fits well with the Rockets need for, “Puppet Coach.” Should be little to no conflict between Harden/Westbrook
and coach.



Summary:
1) Tillman can’t afford retread
2) Need a young coach that runs our offensive system....because that person will come cheap
3) Cater to our two young former MVP’s by providing them with a “Puppet Coach” like Pat Riley did for
D-Wade/Bosh/LeBron with Spoelstra.

Just my humble opinion of course. I’m sure I’m way off base. Hiring a retread which would be like out kicking
of coverage (since our offense should stay a simple pitch and catch by way of Harden/Westbrook iso), is probably
the best route to go.

 

I don’t agree with Brase if he would accept the job.

I’m saying saying Abdelfattah, but I mean that level of coach......young, inexperienced (puppet) and cheap, but must
have knowledge of our 5-man out sets. Nick Nurse probably won’t come back and Brase may be swept out along
with all the D’Antoni crew. All the remains of D’Antoni’s last crew is John Lucas and the trainer.

I hope Brase does take the job.....but don’t be surprised if Abdelfattah is promoted to be one of his assistants.

You continue to miss the point on experienced coaches vs puppet coaches. I keep mentioning Spoelstra and
you conveniently over look that resume. Blatt did have overseas recognition, but he was brought in to
run a more complex offense than ours. We have a self sufficient well oiled offense that’s top notch efficient all ready.
Puppet coach is all that is needed.....you keep mentioning coaches that will make Harden and Westbrook less
efficient by running plays involving taking the ball out of their hands due to double teams up high.

The next coach must run the same iso play 5-men out. Harden and Westbrook are not going to take well
to a retread coach comes no in and wanting to run different things. I know you like D’Antoni, but he may
have out priced himself for today’s post coronavirus NBA era if $2.5M was too little at end of 18/19 season.

Getting dressed in a tuxedo (retread coach or D’Antoni wanting greater than $3M) for a back yard
bar-b-que (Rockets running simple iso play again and again).

Edited: do you deny LeBron/Irving/KLove made Blatt look much better? I seem to remember Blatt calling a
last second play that involved LeBron inbounding the ball. LeBron called BS in the huddle. Even
the experienced coaches make mistakes.

 

he's close with all the OKC MVPs. Rus loves him too. so does KD and Ibaka.

 

the caveat here is that the MVPs need to respect the HC and be willing to work harder than ever for him (or her). a passive puppet might be able to keep them happy, but where is the accountability to make them play D, reign them in when needed, call them out when needed? They'll be happy with a puppet but they won't win.

The key, IMO, is keeping them happy but also motivated, playing D, and being held accountable. For that you need someone they respect and will listen to.

The other issue with a puppet coach is even though they can just say ISO ball on O and switch everything on D, they need to be able to manage the game. That includes preparation, adjustments, timeouts, subs, play calls, etc... puppets can't do that.

Now JVG and Lue are excellent at game management and respected enough to have superstars allow themselves to be held accountable. They're probably out of our price range as you mentioned about tilman. So which cheap coaches can bring game management, garner respect/relationships, and maybe even bring some defense?

As I mentioned before, Hammon earned respect from all of the spurs superstars, and pop. Kalamian is already loved by harden and rus. Both of them would bring the game management and respect from the stars. Stackhouse is known for management and defense, and would have the respect of the stars as a former star player himself. My second tier would be Stephen Silas or Jay Larranaga who would bring the management but maybe not the ability to hold our MVPs accountable until they are more proven. I think your guy could fit right after them in tier 3. Maybe he's got the game management down, maybe he's willing to let morey dictate the system, but probably (like Silas and laranaga) wouldn't be able to hold harden and rus accountable.

Basically we need management, respect, and defense. the power ranking by those filters is JVG (all 3), Stackhouse (3) Lue (2), Thibs (2), Hammon (2), Kalamian (2), Larranaga (2), Silas (1), Atkinson (1), Hollins (1), Brown (1), Griffin (1). Assuming we can't afford JVG, Lue, or Thibs, I'd look at Stackhouse, hammon and Kalamian. Since stack is known for an authoritarian coaching style, I'm not sure how that translates to coaching NBA stars. Plus he doesn't have the NBA coaching experience/success of Hammon or Kalamian. Kalamian is loved by harden and rus, but I give the edge to Hammon since she can earn the same respect as rex already has, plus we'd be the sports media darlings for hiring the first female HC. the refs might even be told to cheat FOR us for a change.

For any of them (Hammon, Kalamian, Stackhouse) they would need a top assistant who was a former NBA HC. Hollins would be perfect since he also shores up the defense. he's the 3rd coach in LA, and we could make him "associate head coach" here. Now our third spot could go to someone like abdelfatta, just like Chris finch was placed in the 3rd chair after coming up from our coaching farm system.

 

Made for each other.

 

Thibs going to Knicks. It’s almost a done deal