Championship level teams don't usually get good young talent to develop. It's better to pick up players when they're good and Let the other teams to develop talents for you.
I do not care if Van Gundy does not develop players. We need to put the best team on the floor to win. Winning. My only apprehension with Mr. Van Gundy is that he has potential to alienate his best players. I do not think Francis was a point guard or a "consistent team player", but Van Gundy seemed to develop a grudge, carry it to the media, then under the surface a turmoil develops. Put the best team on the floor- good defense, and do not piss them off for Micky Mouse reasons... or ego ....
Except he's at least been to the NBA Finals. Larry Brown had never won an NBA title till this year. Did that make him an average-quality NBA head coach?
I think Francis should be the an exception. He's a headache for any disciplinary coach, Van Gundy, Riley, Brown, etc.
Riley was not a disciplinary coach he worked his players hard though, he was not the type of coach that criticizes his players in public either, like Van Gundy and Brown. Those kinds of coaches will always find it really dificult to win an NBA championship, it works fine in college, but the NBA is completely different.
duh. I'll give you a list of champion coaches who critisize players in public: Phil Jackson, Larry Brown, Popovic. I think these guys won most of the champs in the last 15 years.
I think all coaches, championship caliber or not, will willingly help develope a young player if that player can be a positive and not a negative in his rookie year. Invariably, this means the kids that are going to be or already are superstars. Can we really call Popovich a good developer of talent? I don't see him that way - but Duncan, and later Parker, came in with enough skills to still be positive players despite some mistakes. Same with Lebron and Paul Silas (who I think is a good coach). What you won't find is championship caliber coaches developing role players. These are the players who make just as many if not more mistakes their rookie and sophomore seasons than the bring positives. Eventually, some of these players are good role players....BUT, if you are trying to win a championship, invariably you're role players need to be veterans.
I love how these armchair NBA coaches like to spew their infinite wisdom....lol Has any one of the many JVG bashers (most of them have chimed in on this thread) ever played basketball on an actual team? coached an actual team? As to the point of whether coaches develop players and winning championships etc......Larry Brown had not won an NBA championship until last year with Detroit, but before that he was still heralded by many as an outstanding coach. It is the the players responsbility to develop his talents and the coaches job to motivate him to do so, not be a baby sitter if the player doesn't put the work in...
Exactly. Obviously, you want to have a good coach who can teach you things you may not know. But at the end of the day, superstars develope themselves.
Oh give me a break. Phil Jackson is the king of tweaking his players through the media. He tends to use low key sarcastic quips, but there is no denying that he rags on guys in public all the time. In the NBA, I'd say 70% of winning the Championship is getting the uber-talented players that you need, and 30% put those players in situations where they can succeed (via playcalling, motivation, developing/aquiring the right role players etc.).
Phil Jackson doesn't do it like Van Gundy, Jackson doesn't sweat the small stuff, Van Gundy can't resist cracking jokes at the expense of his players over things that don't really make a difference. Brown will make excuses and blame his players for things he's at fault for all the time, he did in Philadelphia with Iverson, he did to the Olympic basketball team, and if things go south in Detroit he'll do it to them too. Popovic, I've never payed that much attention to him, but I doubt he compares to Van Gundy or Brown. The only thing that worries me about Van Gundy is that his player relationship skills stink...
Jackson is the exception and carries more credo than any coach right now- he can get away with mild -light hearted jabs at his players. Please recall how he will defend his stars in public. He would defend Shaq and Kobe to the media and spin things so that no egos were bruised. Shaq's weight, Kobe's hot dogging issues were brushed over by Jackson. Jackson handled the heavy topics off camera. With Mr. Van Gundy- I really do not know the full story- so I stand corrected. Maybe his critiscms of Francis (super bowl-missed flight) took place after all efforts on his part to resolve the issues were exhausted. That being the case he was venting to the media??? He was frustrated? If his comments indicated nothing else could be done by him, then Francis was already history when the comments were made- so why make the comments. The sniping by Van gundy to the media made him appear petty and small. He lost respect for me there-even if he was 100% right he did not handle it right. I really do not care if Mr. Van Gundy can develop a player. If he can maintain tough team defense and a reasonably organized offense and not offend his best players in the process. I am OK....
Phil Jackson doesn't do it to make excuses or to deflect blam, he doesn't offend players, especially not his super stars like Van Gundy did to Yao and Francis last season. He pampers egos better than anyone, Red Auerbach was great at doing that exact same thing, both won 9 championships, I think there's a reason for that. I'd say MOST of it is on the players to, but I would prefer a coach that is on my side all the time than one that's only on my side when we win or I play well. Now we have Tracy McGrady who is used to having his tush kissed, Doc Rivers did it all the time (actually he stopped early last season and was promptly canned) and now a days he's Tracy's Ahmad Rashad, Van Gundy will find a way to offend him too, how will he handle that? Like Yao? Who doesn't seem phazed by it. Or like Francis? Who was bothered by it? Just things that worry me about Van Gundy...
Phil Jackson offended his star players on numerous occasions. Bryant even made it clear he wouldn't want Jackson as his coach. But that didn't stop Jackson winning champs after champs. Popovic went off on Parker's comments last year when recruiting Kidd. He put Rose in the dog house for some suspecious reasons. Pop's military background speaks a lot about his approach. Van Gundy defended Francis way more than most of the posters on this board. He even fooled a lot he was buddies with Steve. I don't remember he alienated any of his Knicks players. They all played hard for him, including the notorious Spreewell. Francis was probally the most stubborn player he ever dealt with. He was nice off court, but on the court none of Rudy and JVG could control him, although JVG did mold him to play some team ball.
