Steve Kerr had never coached before. Hell, I don't think he'd even been an assistant before taking over the Warriors. Phil Jackson was an assistant under Doug Collins before being promoted to head coach for the Bulls in 1989. Gregg Popovich had been a college head coach and assistant coach and GM in the NBA before he took over for Bob Hill in 1996. Rudy T had been an assistant under Don Chaney before replacing him as head coach in 1992. And those are just a few examples off the top of my head. Know what all those guys have in common aside from never being a head coach prior to getting those respective gigs? They all won NBA titles within a year or two. Would I prefer an experienced head coach or veteran assistant coach replacing McHale? Absolutely. But this idea that a rookie coach can't lead an NBA team to a championship is BS. If the talent is there(and it is) and the coach knows what the hell he's doing, he doesn't need years of experience on the sidelines in order to succeed.
My only reservation with JVG is that he will not get along with Harden. It seems like Harden needs a player's coach. Remember how quick Steve Francis was gone after JVG took over?
All true. Never said that it couldn't work, but just me personally, I would be much more comfortable with someone who's a little more seasoned.
Add Brad Stevens to the rookie list as a head coach along with David Blatt (not saying hes any good though) and Terry Stotts. Not saying theyre going to win a chip or two but they also dont have a roster to do it either. Well, Blatt does.
JVG would get along with Harden, if he can get along with a similar mentality in TMac then Harden and he would be fine. DD
Im not on the fire coach wagon at all but just for the hell of it Sam Cassell. Jeff van Gundy as 2nd choice.
Did help he worked in a front office before, knows about making roster moves, scouting involved. Sure Kerr was blessed to get the Warriors job but he wasn't just an out of the blue choice.
Shaka Smart. OK, not realistic, but JVG and Thibs would be my first choices since The Mayor was hired by the Bulls. Heck, Adelman?
By that logic, you're calling Doc Rivers a bad coach. (He had 3 hall-of-famers on his championship team)
Personally I don't think he did that great a job in the Phoenix front office. He wasn't horrible, but no one will mistake him for Jerry West. My point is though that he went from GM and TV analyst to head coach having never even been an assistant. Yes, he did play most of his career for Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich, arguably the two best NBA coaches in modern times which had to help, but the dude took the Warriors from first round fodder to 67 wins and an NBA title in his rookie season. There are numerous examples of rookie head coaches being that final piece to bring a team together and take them to the next level, including Rudy T with the Rockets. And with all due respect to the 1994 Rockets, they did not have the kind of overall talent that this roster has. There is no excuse for a team this loaded to be struggling like this, especially at the defensive end.
Why not zone up against a poor shooting team like the Nets. Mavs won a chip by exclusively deploying zone defense
Count me in on the bandwagon for THIS GUY: Spoiler I don't, however, see that happening this season and I think dobro explained pretty well why a mid-season coaching change is a bad move all around: Its a tough situation, for sure, and with this much talent on the roster, its reasonable to think that the onus is on the coaching staff to maximize that talent.
I don't know why you guys are under the assumption that we would have to keep a Mchale assistant coach. Right now is not "mid-season". Also I would rather sooner than later. That way the players have more time to get used to the coaching change.
