J.B Bickerstaff Post Game Press Conference (1st win)

They did not get a day of work with JB. On game day, all they do is a shoot around, which was cancelled because of the firing. Today (Thursday) and Friday will be their first practices with Coach JB.

 

same here, the last thing we need is a scott brooks

 

I want to say this about Bickerstaff vs McHale.

I think there is a reason why great players make usually bad coaches. I'm talking all time greats as McHale is. I think part of it is they see things through the eyes of a player. That is "Just play better. That's all you have to do." great players tend to think that if they play how they are capable of they will find success. It's no coincidence to me that McHale's main thing was just getting the players to play harder.

With guys like Bickerstaff...who did not have a successful career as a player it's something more. THIS coaching thing IS his legacy. Mchale has his playing days and the glory of that to always fall back on. Bickerstaff doesn't. Therefore he has to go out and prove his worth to the players with his strategy, adjustments, and all of that stuff.

Now we see how hungry he is for success as a coach. Is he going to just think what McHale did was enough? Is he going to learn from his mistakes and learn more about the game? I think that's the big question here for JB moving forward. He has to be sponge and he has to be determined to squeeze every ounce of talent out of this team.

It will be interesting to see how he responds and reacts. He did do some things different yesterday and that was with no practice or shootaround so for me that was promising...but to be fair to McHale we do not know if that was the plan all along going into that game.

What I hope for is that JB is ready to again squeeze what he can get from out of this team. If Brewer is playing like crap to throw in KJ and see if you can get something out of him. Exploit match ups like we did last night. Defend situations differently like we did last night and just adjust on time.

For him it's very important for him to get early success as he does not have a legacy of being a great player to fall back on. The players will only respect him if they can believe he's helping them win.

Also to not blame the players so much as Mchale did in post game conferences. That was very annoying.

 

This is an interesting perspective that I somewhat agree with.

 

Interesting perspective but:

Lenny Wilkins
Larry Brown
Larry Bird
Rudy T
Doug Collins

Were all fairly successful during their playing days and transition fairly well as a coach.

 

I'm not saying I completely disagree with what you said because it could be true but I think it just depends on who can or can't get into that coaching mind/perspective.

 

I just can't believe Les Alexander wants to throw away a completely salvageable season just to save a few million...

 

Exceptions that prove the rule.

 

Thank God we do not have to listen to McHale anymore. He never gave any insight and with his words like "no zip, no pop, no pep n our step..the game is simple, it's basketball, just play harder..no effort out there, ask them, I don't know".

 

Those are good examples though, I think Doug Collins is a great example. I think some guys are just able to separate from being a player from a coach. I think the best coaches are usually guys who barely had much of a playing career. They've spent their life mostly watching better players play and they have never had the ability to ignore strategy in favor of ability.

I just think they are forced to look at the game differently because of that and they are a little more accountable for coaching mistakes.

I've always had a problem with McHale's press conference because it was always about how the players need to just play better and things would fix themselves. They just need to make their shots. I mean yes that's true but someone looking at the game differently may think "Maybe I need to get them better shots."

It's like if Curry were to become a head coach 25 years from now I could imagine him saying "They just need to make their shots. Nothing I can do about that." and I mean...that's easy for him to say right?

But yeah I agree that there are those like the coaches you named that were able to get into the coaching mindset. I'm not sure McHale ever got into that mindset. I remember him talking about how the guys shouldn't be tired because back when HE used to play they had 3 games in a row and used to play through injuries and had to travel to the games on foot through the snow etc etc...I mean the point being is he's looking at it through his eyes and not that of the team.

Perfect example. If McHale was having a problem scoring againsts a player back in his day how would he approach that? He'd think "I need to just play better, need to play harder." and that's completely fine.

When Harden struggles I doubt his mindset is to give up. He wouldn't be this far if that was his mindset. His mindset is to do more. So what does he do? He starts forcing things. He starts jacking up shots. He starts to hog. Now it's on the coach to reign him in, either run some sets to give him easier shots or a favorable match up and not let him ram his head against a wall.

 

You would not include Riley and Jackson?

I think the power in being a former player is you can get into the heads of players
All the Xs and Os in the world don't mean isht if they not 'playing hard'

Rocket River

 

They weren't exactly all star players during their day :grin:

 

How many hall of fame players have failed at coaching?

 

There is no way to know whether Bickerstaff is a good NBA head coach based on last night.

To those saying he was animated, it was his first game as a head coach at 36 years old, of course he is going to be excited. I don't think there is any connection between an animated coach and winning, the players on the court are not paying attention.

What did I notice last night?

Well it took nearly 50 points from James Harden (with 19/20 from the line), with Howard playing for the Rockets to beat the Blazers... and that doesn't even take into account it took a lucky low percentage three by Brewer to get there.

I saw nothing special or all that different than McHale. Honestly, the change in the back court was already going to happen and had been discussed by McHale.

I have no idea if JB will be good, but the Blazers game didn't really tell us anything except the Rockets won't be good overnight.

 

^^so players never look at the coach, during a game?

I think they definitely notice. How can you not?


It's going to take time for JB to implement everything he wants...a couple weeks....for now, the easiest thing to change was effort and they brought it late, when they needed to. I'll take that for the first game. That alone would probably have them at 7-5, had it happened all season.

 

I tend to agree. I'm actually pretty optimistic about Bickerstaff long-term, but I'm not drawing definite conclusions from one game.

 

Not many all-time greats turn out to be great coaches. In any case, JB sounds promising.

 

FIFY . . .

 

No, I don't think players are looking to see if their coach is standing up or sitting down or is animated. There have been coaches successful with all of the above.

Never played in the NBA, but in college never thought about it, was too concerned on assignments to ever even give it a though.

 

Three or for years ago I said I thought he would be an NBA head coach. He is very sharp (like his dad) but far more polished and classically trained for coaching. Having said that, I am not sure I like experimenting with this club. They are ready to win now and the organizational foundation outside of the front office just isnt there. JB has a weak supporting cast of assistant coaches which are crucial for a young coach. He doesn't have a GM or VP that used to be a head coach to rely or learn from.

Maybe JB will be able to establish his own culture, but it will be tough with just McHale leftovers. Even very good ideal Rocket-like coaches such as Carlisle and SVG failed in their first stop.

Morey is an elite GM, but whether it is JB or another coach, he needs to accept that some coaches know better than him. Elite assistants like Gentry, Adams, Carlisimo, Malone, and Lue matter...