Fantastic post - really well written/researched. Yes I wouldn't bother trying to bring someone in mid-season with a lot of potential realistic candidates already holding assistant or college positions. I think I'm most intrigued by Ollie - think he'd love to get back to the NBA and already has a relationship with Harden? Getting Harden's buy in to a coaching decision will be key - and would be a nice add to our crumbling KD recruiting pitch this offseason.
Repped for putting in work. Maybe you can officially do this for Clutchfans since you no longer work for Grantland...
Is Dr. Bobbythegreat on this list? lol Nah, just kidding. Scottie Brooks will be the next Rockets coach.
Smoothie you've done some very impressive work there. Wow I wish I could rep you at least 10 times for this one.
I know you are just trolling, but the fact that I'm willing to look things up so as to know what I'm talking about doesn't mean that I think I am a doctor, it just means that I prefer to have an informed opinion as opposed to the type of completely ignorant opinions that you favor.
This has to be the best post in clutchfans pre-Lin. Great work. If les and Morey can get out of their own way and we can land Kevin Ollie that would be tremendous. Thibs with Ollie as associate head coach or an assistant would be better.
I would be all for Tyronne Lue, he's been next to a nice variety of coaches and reports have been that the Cavs players listen to him more than Blatt. He seems to be ready to take over a team.
i agree that les and morey need to get out of their own way. a lot of the better coaches aren't a perfect fit for what they want. thibs, hollins, boylen, messina, calipari should be tier 1. instead they are probably viewed as poor fits or undervaluing analytics. i would start with the best coaches, and then choose the best fit. les and morey are probably starting with the best fits, and then trying to find the best coach of that bunch. that's how you end up with someone like tyronn lue. he's not the best coach, but he's the best coach out of the list of 'good fits.' still, we could do a lot worse than tyronn lue.
I would hire Hollins. He would play to the teams strong suit, he's a really good in game coach. Guys respect him and he's tough as hell. Harden may have issues because hollins will hold him accountable on both ends. Not only that, his team in memphis moved the ball, no iso.
Ettore Messina found & shaped Manu Ginobili into a player he is right now. We know Harden's game is quite similar to Manu's, and actually before coached by Messina, Ginobili was known as no defense, personal glory oriented type of player -ehm, remind us to somebody indeed. He is a strong proponent for team defensive play, and love to coach PnR half court like he did in CSKA with Teodosic and their talented bigs (just imagine what he can do with Harden, Howard, and Capela here). As much as i hate it for him to coach a division rival, he is more than qualified for the job & in the peak age to be head coach right now. If he can get a ring with the Spurs this season, he is more than deserved to get head coaching gig with other teams out there. An article about Messina & his old days with Ginobili: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/sports/basketball/san-antonio-spurs-manu-ginobili-ettore-messina.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
what a great post--thanks so much. Didn't realize Lue's reputation was as you wrote. Interesting.. would take some effort to get me on board. I think Miller would be a fun hire, but I'm not sure they're willing to go that experimental with Harden's true prime coming up and failure in the recent past.
exactly. that's why i wrote that morey can't afford to swing for the fences on this one. he's got to make a safe choice. high risk / high reward types (such as college coaches) will probably get less consideration. i agree that miller would be a fun hire. i'll definitely be watching more arizona, utah, and uconn games just in case
Steal Luke Walton right now, the GS ball movement is awesome and he has the inside knowledge to beat them. We get it a great young coach and weaken the best team in the league. Winner!!!