No this guy is terrible... Drawing up a weak ass play during a timeout , while having Lebron ignoring it and doing his thing (scoring) because it had to been a terrible idea. Blatt is terrible....anybody but him....
Blatt doesn't have the respect of many of the bigger players in the NBA based on the LeBron James situation. He was repeatedly disrespected by James and Love and that reputation will be very hard to shake, especially with someone as alpha in personality as James Harden. Something else that I think a lot of fans do not realize is that the Cavs were not running the plays that Blatt called, Lue was calling timeouts without conferring with Blatt and there have been numerous reports of players openly bad mouthing Blatt to opposing players. Now in fairness to Blatt, his offense was completely scrapped early in the season last season when James made it clear he wasn't going to bother to learn the plays and philosophy. I believe Blatt is an excellent offensive coach. I just do not know that he will be able to shed his reputation.
Agreed. I don't think he's being seriously considered for the HC spot. That interview might be for "fact finding" purposes as Deuce pointed out. Plus, Morey has already said they are looking for defense, and Blatt isn't that. I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to see what he thought about being an offensive coordinator / lead assistant for a defensive minded HC like JVG.
I do like idea of Blatt as an assistant. If he's not offered a head coaching job, being an assistant to jvg for a season or 2 could rehab his image. Any hope of this? Even more than Blatt, if jvg is the guy I'd like to see him bring in shane, Sam and Mario as assistants.
The Shane Battier people kill me. . . . . HAS SHANE EVER EVEN COACH A LITTLE LEAGUE TEAM?????? Otherwise it seems like everyone loves his 'heart' Well give him a pair of Pom Poms and a megaphone to shout inspirational speakers Rocket River
I agree, but if he becomes an assistant and learns under a great coach, he would do a solid job as a head coach. When he was a player many of his teammates respected him so much and called him a natural leader.
I'm with you. He's got a reputation for being smart (both basketball-smart and conventionally smart) and he's won championships. Having him learn coaching under a head coach for a few years would be good for him. I could see him turning into a good coach.
Nothing that I've seen. I just think he could be pretty good at it if it's something he wanted to do. He's someone who players would respect and has the brain for it too.
Kerr didn't really give a hint either. Then all of a sudden he had his pick of the Knicks or Warriors. I'd say Shane has all the earmarks Kerr did. I'd love for him to be our coach.
I think it is obvious that Shane has the smarts and experience playing to be a coach and would likely do one hell of a job. Aside from that, my reasoning for adding him to a list of hypothetical assistants for JVG is the fact that he played for JVG and JVG, a guy who treated us to a who's who of former players the last time he was here, loved Shane.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kings coaching candidate Vinny Del Negro is expected to interview with the Houston Rockets at some point, too.</p>— Jason Jones (@mr_jasonjones) <a href="https://twitter.com/mr_jasonjones/status/727950618036310016">May 4, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Time for another update since we’re up to 19 names tied to our search! Lets take a look where those names came from: Reported Interest - Hollins, Smart, Self, Joerger, JVG, Vogel Feigan Rumored - Messina, Boylen, D'Antoni, Smith, Griffin, Larranaga, Hornacek, Sampson Interviewed / Scheduled - D'Antoni, Cassell, Hornacek, Blatt, Silas, Del Negro, Finch The market has changed too, with the Grizzlies and Pacers on the market for a new coach. Here’s what the market currently looks like: Remaining Vacancies Rockets - linked to the 19 names above Knicks - linked to Vogel, Rambis and Blatt Kings - linked to, Joerger, Messina, Jackson, Woodson, Mitchell, Del Negro, Ewing, , McMillan, Blatt, Hornacek Pacers - Joerger, Messina, D'Antoni, Shaw, Jackson, Hornacek, Wittman, Woodson, Boylen, McMillan Grizzlies - linked to Vogel, and expected to look into top assistants like Tibbets and Silas. THE MARKET TIER 1 - Contenders Vogel - Rumored to be the Rockets first choice, but they have competition for him. The Knicks and Grizzlies also have him atop their list. Morey had met with him for 7 hours back in 2012 and know each other from their boston days. Hopefully there is mutual interest, but with strong competitors (Knicks / Grizz) this is no layup. JVG - Seemed to have burned the bridge here with les and Morey. It didn't look like he filled the rockets ideal search criteria (up tempo / open to analytics). There are reports and rumors that he wants the job, and that he doesn’t want the job. He’s no guarantee to even want to return to coaching. If he does want to return to coaching it seems as though he’d be ours if we want him, which actually makes him more likely than more contested candidates like Vogel and Joerger. joerger - Unlike Vogel and JVG, we know he’s interested the rockets. Reports have come out that part of why he was let go was because he was asking for permission to interview with the Rockets and Kings. the Kings have immediately made him top priority, but he’d like to see if the Rockets, and now Pacers, have any interest in him. TIER 2 - Dark Horse Spoiler D’Antoni - Les fired JVG because he wanted “Phoenix style” offense. Here’s his chance to get his guy. Unlike the coaches in tier 1, he’s already interviewed for the job. He checks off a lot of boxes on Les and Morey’s search criteria, but he’s also a top candidate with the pacers so hopefully we dodge this bullet. Smith - I actually had him in my original post in this thread as an option, so i’m pretty proud to see his name come up! I can see a scenario where we miss on the top 3 names on this list, and would then have to decide between D’Antoni and Smith. Like D’Antoni he checks off a lot of boxes on the search criteria. Big name, fan favorite, media would hail it as a great move, possibly the next Steve Kerr, etc... He’s been linked to HC and GM jobs in the past, and if rumors of DM losing power (or being out) are true, Jet is one of the few guys on this list that would make sense as a coach with roster control. Lets not forget that he’s more than a comedian. Most notably played for Dean Smith, Bill Russell, and of course won championships with Rudy T. I think he's been able to express a strong knowledge of the game as an analyst, and would also be skilled as a locker room motivator. He’s also one of the few guys on this list with a championship ring. Hornacek - He’s a good coach. Fans would revolt, but Les and Morey have an obligation to win, and he really is the next best guy out there. Hits a lot of the search criteria too. Dont forget that Les has never hired an assistant, and he’s one of the few remaining decent head coaches on the market. If he was anyone else, he’d be in tier 1, but the hate that the fans would show drops him out of being a contender, for now. TIER 3 - Long Shots Spoiler Cassell - He hasn’t shown anything but player development as a coach, by most accounts isn’t ready to be a HC (and again, Les has never hired an assistant), but fans would be behind this, which boosts him into Tier 3. He’d need an experienced lead assistant like Hollins for X’s and O’s, but that’s manageable. I wouldn’t count him out of the running if we miss out on the big 3 (vogel, jvg, joerger). Like smith, he’s one of the few candidates with a championship ring. Hollins/Messina/Boylen - The poor man’s version of Vogel/JVG/Joerger. Defensive minded coaches with lots of experience. None has been interviewed yet, but there is no point to interviewing them so long as the big 3 are available. If we miss out on the big 3, these guys will get a more serious look. The Rockets have had interest in Hollins for a while, that’s no surprise, and he’s one of the few remaining head coaches on the list. Messina has enough experience and success as a head coach oversees that les could probably waive his “no hiring assistants” preference. Boylen makes Tier 3 as an assistant because of his Rockets ties and the fact that he’s the only coach that has won an nba championship (multiple) as a coach. TIER 4 - Blips On The Radar Spoiler Finch - Probably got an interview out of respect. They like him, but probably (hopefully) not as HC material. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was kept on as an assistant. Silas - This might be one of those interviews “to build relationships for the future” as was reported the Rockets were interested in using interviews for that reason. Smart idea, but he’s not at the same level as other candidates yet. Blatt - This might be one of the interviews meant to “gather intel” as was reported the Rockets were interested in using interviews for this reason as well. He’s got a nice half court offense they might have been interested in learning. Too many better coaches ahead of him for the job, but maybe they'd be interested in using him as a lead assistant to a defensive minded coach. Del Negro - No idea why they keep interviewing him every time they look for a new coach. He never gets anywhere. Self - Good luck even getting him in for an interview. Rockets are ‘intrigued’ by him, but he’s not interested in leaving Kansas. Smart/Sampson/Griffin/Larranaga - This is really digging deep. We’d have to strike out on other, better, defensive minded coaches (vogel, jvg, joerger, hollins, messina, boylen) in order for any of these defensive specialists to be considered. If any of them get an interview its for “gather intel” or “building relationships for the future.” My Takeaways From The Martet: There is stiff competition for Joerger and Vogel. With the Kings putting Joerger first, he may not be on the market by the time the Rockets to come around to him. I like our chances with Vogel because the Grizz are a mess right now and the Knicks are still a year or two away... not to mention he'd have to start using the Triangle. If we do lose out on Vogel, I think our fallback is probably JVG, unless its true that he and Les don't want to work together again. In that case I'd actually lean towards Smith getting the job since rookie coaches are the popular move right now. In the end, I think the Rockets and Pacers are the 2 best jobs on the market because of George and Harden being in their primes, ready to win now, but Vogel isn't going back to the Pacers, so I like our chances of landing him.
