Valanciunas' team believes that Rockets would select him if he can't reach a buyout

I feel the same. If we get him I hope he's able to come over and play ASAP but if he has to stay 2 years or more overseas IDK. While everyone else gets their 2 year experience in the NBA, he'll just be starting his.

 

Myth: Kevin McHale will improve our big men's game.

 

Take that to Mythbusters, we don't know yet for sure if it's true or false.

 

Remember when we traded for Hasheem Thabeet?

"Memphis spent all their resources on Marc Gasol, Thabeet got no attention -- once we let Carrol Dawson work with him, he's going to REALLY improve!"

And now people suddenly think McHale will be some great improvement over Dawson's 1-on-1 teaching? Please. Not buying it.

 

To be fair, I don't believe did improve other players (Yao/ Jordan Hill/ possibly Patterson) But we don't know what goes on behind the gym, so can't say. At the same time, we haven't seen what McHale can do, so give him a chance.

 

Whoops, that's supposed to be he "I do believe he improved other players"

 

OK on offense. Excellent rebounder. Terrible defense.

 

Newley also has a buyout. So that would not work.

 

Dawson is great with bigs no doubt, but McHale will def help our bigs IMO. Being a damn good player obviously doesn't make you a great coach, but I believe McHale's Passion, the way he communicates and the respect he'll get for playing at a high level in the league, will be a tremendous help.

I've really warmed up to the hire, granted I'm still banking on the team bringing in great assistants.

I'm not saying McHale will be a better teacher than Dawson, not saying he won't be either. I am saying I think KM will bring in a fresh perspective when it comes to developing our young bigs.

 

Whats the difference between Dawson and McHale? Dawson was a tutor. McHale is the coach. McHale will teach in every practice.

 

Only reason why Rubio wants to play for t-wolves now is because he knows Love is beast, and Darko is on the team.

 

We have seen what he has done. Jefferson, Love, Garnett.

 

I know exactly how you feel, but adding a quality piece would excite me. It would make me feel like being a contender was on the way. Then again, I'm not sure if Llull is EVER coming here, so having Valenciunas in Europe would not guarantee we'd ever get any benefit from the pick.

But, you have to take your shots. T-Will was a shot, though one that will probably be a bust. DM needs to take his shot; some will pan out.

 

I don't know -- I don't see McHale having much impact. I've never really read about him in terms of a "big man's coach," and of course being a great big doesn't mean you'll be a great teacher of them as you said (Ewing).

IMO, CD will still be working with our post players even during McHale's tenure. McHale has more responsibilities to worry about than conducting 1-on-1 practice/teaching sessions after and before practice. I think a lot of people assume our bigs will improve because of McHale and I just don't see it -- they would have improved just as much under Rick, JVG, etc.

And please let's not give credit to McHale for Love, Garnett and Jefferson. Actually, I could see some argument for Al Jeff. But Love was a rookie and not even coached by McHale for full season (he's also gotten substantially better each season without KMac.) Garnett was a 9 year vet who was already an all-star and McHale had him for only 31 games. Jefferson improved a bit (won player of the month?), though we're dealing with a small sample size (31 games).

 

If anything, McHale should get credit for helping Garnett grow into the player he is. He spent hundreds of hours working with him.

Al Jefferson was already a fairly finished product coming to Minnesota.
Clifford Ray, who is one of the assistants in Boston, is one of the best big men coaches in the game.
Not only did he help Jefferson become the player he is, but he had a major impact developing Dwight Howard's game the first two years he spent with him.

I do agree with you though that the whole "McHale is going to turn Thabeet and Jordan Hill into Mutombo and Hakeem thing" is quite silly.

 

I def don't see McHale turning these guys into allstars. I doubt Thabeet gets much better. Hill I believe has more of an opportunity to become an impact player, but I'm not banking on that either, not sure he completely has it upstairs.

Once again, I agree great players don't usually make great coaches, I just think McHale's ability to relate and communicate will help tremendously.

LTF, yes McHale will be busy with other things, but maybe not as much per the usual coach, hence the most likely of hiring strong assts.

I'm not saying Mchale will be the saviour of our young bigs, but I do believe he has what it takes to help them improve. How much does Thabeet and Hill want to improve, will they put in the work?

Patterson on the other hand, I believe will continue to get better and better. Will Mchale have a little something to do with that? Yeah, I think McHale can help a player out like 2pat in a big way.

Obviously the jury is still out on what kind of coach/ teacher McHale is or will become. Like I said, I'm warming up to the whole thing, guess we'll see.

 

Found some interesting info..

http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2011/06/11/eurocamp-day-1/

 

I didn't mean it as an indictment on McHale's coaching ability -- I'm in complete agreement with you on the warming to him comment. He's seen as a good motivator and (hopefully) we'll have great assistants surrounding him. (PS: What happened to Joeger talks?!)

I also agree that Patterson will likely continue to develop and get better and better. All I was saying is that I doubt that any of our big men will improve any more than they would have if Rick was still the coach. For example, I don't expect to see any big leaps in Jordan Hill or Thabeets game. I expect a leap in Patterson's game, but I expected that leap even if Rick was still coaching. I think the bigs were put through CD's big man boot camp, whom I respect greatly as a bigs teacher. I don't see Kevin working with them as extensively as an assistant coach/CD could, due to him having several other responsibilities. I believe, all IMO of course, that the training/teaching lessons are generally left to the assistant coaches (Tom Thibs w/ JVG) or outside help (CD).

 

not really jefferson had some really terrible years playing in boston, but injuries played a part in that also.

 

we need an african warrior at center...............