I don’t agree with this. Taking a team with talent already isn’t that harder than a group of inexperienced and unpolished players in my opinion. Who knows what JB would have done this year. Many coaches in sports never got the chance to complete what they built but instead a new guy comes in and reaps the reward. Phil Jackson did this to Doug Collins. Stan Van Gundy and Riley. David Blatt and Ty Lue. I never said playoffs mattered. My point is winning a few more games with an experienced vet team with 2 all stars means little to me. The hard coaching work is establishing a culture, identity, and work ethic and building a group of young men into playoff contenders is much more of praiseworthy effort.
The Cavs fired JB for a reason. They finished last season very poorly and it was widely know Mitchell and the other key players couldn't stand him anymore. It wasn't a matter of not getting the chance to complete anything because it was obvious they were going no higher with him. You can either fire the coach or get rid of the players. Having a fresh voice from a coach far more versed in Xs and Os has taken the Cavs into the nosebleed area of the NBA. That wasn't going to happen with JB. Maybe he's learned from the Cavs experience and the Pistons players will continue responding to him over the next several years. I wish him well because, right now, the Pistons are my favorite team in the Eastern Conference because of Cade.
Thats all subjective. Again I don’t agree with coaches getting fired when they built a winning culture and had input in player personnel to play their style. Unfortunately players get coaches fired. Doesn’t mean the coach was bad it means there’s more behind the scenes that may have nothing to do with coaching acumen.
Imagine if players were treated like coaches. Several players hated playing with Kobe. Imagine if teams judged players on how they get along with other players. He would be long gone. But since he’s an all star elite player the front office and ownership capitulates to their demands. Unfortunately coaches aren’t treated this way despite great coaching ability and acumen.
Franchise players are 100x more valuable than a coach. This is why they are retained almost at all costs. When a coach loses support of several key players on a team, he's gone, especially when performance on the floor changes to reflect their lack of support. If players tire of listening to a coach, it's over for them. Don Chaney got fired from the Rockets because the players quit on him. His "coaching acumen" didn't change one bit.
I get it. I just don’t fully agree with it. There’s power dynamics and powerful players like Kobe and Lebron have great influence. Take Robert Saleh of the Jets. He never had a good QB and Rodgers was terrible yet he was scapegoated. You see the same recurring theme throughout sports. Likewise terrible teammates and people like Kobe didn’t lift people up and his approach worked for some not all. Unfortunately coaches do not operate under the same standards. I have said all along players make the league go. Not coaches. But in this case we are talking about coaching awards and performances and a guy simply winning a few games more with a stacked team doesn’t merit as much praise to me than a guy taking an unheralded and inexperienced to new heights. I forgot Mark Jackson. I have no doubt he would take the Warriors to the finals and win at least 1 title
To each his own opinion. You and I have completely opposite views on JB's final year with the Cavs and Mark Jackson with the Warriors. There is a reason JB got hired right away and Mark Jackson never sniffed another NBA job.
