Yes! I think his culture of winning and then surrounding himself with others who had been there and done that (coaching) along with a team that had been built wonderfully. That's the problem it's hard to find a coach with a winning culture. They simply don't come around very often.
All great points. And I completely agree with pulling from successful coaches' trees to find special coaching talent. And even more with building a culture by having the right staffing at every position. Even if that requires firing everyone in basketball operations. Kerr came into an organization that was already consulting with Jerry West. West was tasked with helping make the Warriros a great organization as well as a great team and he saw Kerr as part of that. West liked him because he had experienced success as a player, been an assistant under a great coach, and had experience as a GM. Kerr knew how to "build and maintain" a team, in Wests' words. The thing I don't like about coaches like Thibs is that they thrive on negativity and conflict and don't appear to help an organization be great. Further, Thibs won't maintain a great team. He doesn't have foresight for the long arc. Just whatever it takes to win today, even if it ultimately leads to more losses next week. Even if it disrupts the workings of the org. I am not asking for an inexperienced coach. I just don't want to see Les' star chasing philosophy spread to coaches. Don't be afraid to bring in someone fans don't know; someone the media isn't familiar with.
You said a mouthful! Its one thing as I've become older I've noticed that wherever you go you can observe some people are good leaders and others are good managers, and some are both. Then you have the what I like to call the "trend setters" or those capable of creating a winning culture. I feel like there are a lot of coaches out there who are good managers, but are not capable of setting a trend or a "winning culture". The three we've discussed so far (Kerr, Pop, Pjax) are trend setters not just managers or good leaders. I think you're quite astute by bringing up the fact that West is a huge factor in all that. Good leadership and a winning culture has to begin at the top. Something that I feel very few NBA organizations truly have.
Fair points. And a great way to put it. It puts hiring staff right up there with striking it big on lotto picks. Very tough to do. But at least the hiring process isn't limited by randomness as in getting the 1st pick of the draft. Les can bring in great basketball minds and let them do their jobs, even if it means not signing Lin or passing in a big name free agent or taking a losing season for draft position. But Les has to do that. And I am not sure he has patience for rebuilding the org culture at his age.
Hire a coach or lose your job Morey. I hate to say this because he's great GM. We didn't fire Mchale for JB to take over. did we? If you did, you are stupid. HIRE A ****ING COACH!
The problem with hiring a no name or developmental coach is that the players wont respect him as they would someone with a pedigree. This team needs someone that will command respect.
I guess if you define being ready as more years as an assistant coach, then he was more ready than JB. But I would also argue that someone might have been an assistant for 21 years for a reason.
