Sources: Rockets brass planning to discuss bringing in Mike Brown as an assistant to help defensive

He might want to stay in Miami, but not be sold on the future. Therefore he opts in to give Riley a year to show him how he'll fix things.

 

They're definitely not gonna allow a circus like 2011. It'll be just like Dwight last year. No words from June on. Just rumors and the random report from WOJ.

 

Cyber, have you heard whether CP25 is going to be open to playing with Melo or is he still wanting to be that 3rd guy.

I'd have to imagine he'd love to get paid and have a chance to win a championship now, which is what Melo would give him.

He could start at the 3 with Melo at the 4 and I think we would be fine.

 

Cyberx,

Any word on how the Rockets feel about potentially bringing in Melo or another superstar? Specifically, how do Harden and Howard feel about it?

 

Cyberx,

are the rockets interested in hiring an assistant they think could one day replace mchale, or do they still have full confidence in him and just want an assistant?

hollins would've been my first choice to replace mchale this summer, having him as an assistant is the next best thing IMO.

reminds me of when the knicks brought in woodson as an assistant to run the defense for mike d'antoni in NY. he eventually replaced d'antoni. similar planning here?

 

Now that it looks like Hollins will be the nets head coach, how long until the announcement of the hiring on Brown?

 

brown or woodson.

both are average strategists who prepare well for games but fail at in game adjustments. neither would be able to replace mchale as head coach like hollins would.

missing out on hollins was as disappointing to me as missing out on a major free agent. obviously i'd rather have lebron, melo, bosh, or love, but hollins probably could've made as big of a difference as anyone else the rockets could go after.

having a team of all stars with a coach who can't get out of the first round is useless.

 

JVG !!!!!

 

Have to agree with you about about the big importance this offseason in getting a very very good defensive coach.

 

Mike Brown is a perfect example of social skills trumping actual vocational skill. The guy is absolutely clueless at coaching, yet gets paid millions because he is a personable guy.

 

To me, hiring an assistant because you like him as a head coach if/when you fire the head coach rather than because of his capability to do the assistant coach job is not a really a smart plan.

If you really have so much doubt about your current head coach, you might as well fire him and get the guy you really want. Putting in an assistant for the purpose of being ready if/when you fire the head coach doesn't seem to create a good working atomsphere-- not only for the coaches, but also for the team overall. I don't think the whole Woodson/D'Antoni thing worked out, for example. Woodson got some improvement out of the team for a year and a half, but he, too, got fired pretty quickly.

There are instances where an assistant gets elevated as a head coach and had pretty good success, but the ones I remember are not the "Woodson/D'Antoni" situation-- more like where previously unknown younger guy got elevated: JVG, Lawrence Frank, Vogel.

 

...and Rudy T! Don't forget him. (He wasn't even the lead assistant on Don Chaney's staff. That was one Carroll Dawson, who didn't want the job and thought the younger Tomjanovich would do a good job.)

 

Sounds like someone we have now..

 

Larry Drew is available.

 

This is true in theory, but that's not what's going on right now from the looks of it. If McHale is out there seeking out assistants who have head coaching experience, then it wouldn't make sense that these guys are being brought in to replace him.

What it looks like is McHale and Morey always agreed that McHale needs guys under him who are in charge of defense/offense, and that these choices are McHale's choices, and their success/failure is on McHale. This is actually a great system where you avoid the JVG problem: coach is awesome at defense, terrible at offense, no one can tell him to fix it.

In McHale's case he is really good at motivating guys to play hard, he seems to be an attraction for FA's and he understands what it takes to win a championship. But the rarest and most important skill McHale has is being able to acknowledge his own weaknesses, and proactively working to address the team's staff to mitigate that.

Coaching has evolved towards this, and I think it's great. Mike Brown and Mike D'Antoni should never coach a team because they don't seem to grasp the concept that winning is offense minus defense. Neither offense alone wins championships, nor defense alone. Theoretically the next Mike D'Antoni and the next Thibodeau could be assistants under McHale and he could channel that into a team that maximizes its strengths in these two areas.

I really like that. I was ecstatic to hear McHale is interviewing high calibre coaches to be his assistant. Shows that he knows his own weaknesses and isn't worried about anyone taking his job - because this organization is looking for a different type of coaching system. He cares first and foremost about winning. That's fantastic because a stubborn McHale would be a big nightmare.

 

Of course!

Pat Riley and Phil Jackson, too, in terms of examples from a couple decades back.

I don't really remember examples of the "Mike Woodsons" (former head coaches serving as assistant then taking over when the head coach gets fired) taking a team to a whole lot of success.

 

Lol... I remember when he was coaching the Lakers, the defense sucked, and ESPN710 was saying, I thought this guy was supposed to be good at defense

Good luck with that ****

 

i wouldn't say CD didn't want the job. his eyesight and other health restraints payed a role in him passing.

 

Mike Brown's token excuse for when his team loses: bad transitions defense

Reporter: Lakers only scored 70 points last game, why'd you guys lose?
MB: Uhhh, our transition defense was poor, uhhhh, need everyone to be on the same page