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The all inclusive potential coach guide (2020-2021)

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Nook, Sep 14, 2020.

  1. Deuce

    Deuce Context & Nuance

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    Side benefit of this is it would turn the VILLAIN ROCKETS on it's head. It would be a HERO move for the media.
     
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  2. treyk3

    treyk3 Member

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    **** the media. Adam Silver and the Zebras on the other hand. I’ll take their approval.
     
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  3. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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    [JF] History of great expectations for Rockets means greater challenges

    [...]

    The next coach will be brought in to win big. Mike D’Antoni had the best winning percentage in franchise history, second-best in the postseason. From the day the new coach wins the press conference — and the coaches the Rockets are certain to explore are the types that will excel on that stage — that individual will be tasked with doing more than had been done by the immediate predecessor.

    Rockets management knew that D’Antoni excelled. The team’s expectation was that they would bring him back. Assumptions elsewhere were that a disappointing five-game conference semifinals beatdown by the Lakers would end his tenure. He might have assumed that, too. And perhaps negotiations would have gone sideways as they did last summer. But the Rockets did not intend to spend the offseason looking for a new coach.

    [...]

    Harden and Westbrook have three years left on their contracts, both with a player option in the final season. The next coach will be tasked with getting them over the hill the Rockets have not conquered in 25 years. He or she also will likely have more seasons on a contract than the current stars.

    To get there, you will hear the trendy buzzwords — accountability, culture — but that will be true with every job that is filled this offseason. It is not as if though those qualities were lacking or were ever not valued, no matter how they were labeled.

    But with the Rockets determined to maintain much of their offensive style, believing it best for the times and certainly for the talent on hand, something less tangible has to improve to take that long-sought next step.

    Improving the roster could be at least as difficult. The Rockets have few options with a payroll that starts with Harden and Westbrook paid $82.5 million next season and $88.5 million in 2021-22 and with Eric Gordon owed roughly $75 million over the next four seasons.

    Going to their version of a process, trading talent for assets and accepting the pain of losing seasons, is not an option, something general manager Daryl Morey has never done and owner Tilman Fertitta said he never would do. The Rockets once again don’t have their first-round pick this season (or a second rounder) and the Thunder own lightly protected Rockets first-round picks after Westbrook’s and Harden’s current contracts along with the right to swap draft order in 2021 and 2025.

    [...]

    If finding the coach to drive the Rockets to their next step were not challenging enough, the Rockets might seek someone to eventually coach a very different team, likely with different goals and expectations.

    Of the former head coaches who are potential candidates, Tyronn Lue has a ring. The idea that he reached the Finals three times only because he had James is ludicrous. No coach ever has reached the Finals without great players. If anything, his experience on those runs should benefit him. His ability to relate and challenge players could fit well.

    The Rockets, however, could also look to find their own Nick Nurse, who for a time was their own Nick Nurse when they had him run their G League team. They know Kenny Atkinson from his time in player development for them and he did get the Nets to play just the way the Rockets want to play in terms of style and competitive energy. The same can be said for his former assistant Jacque Vaughn.

    The Rockets also find themselves in a search at a time particularly strong with assistants ready to move up. Adrian Griffin, Ime Udoka, Darvin Ham, Stephen Silas and Wes Unseld Jr. could be good fortune for the teams looking for the next star. Between them, they have had apprenticeships under Nurse, Tom Thibodeau, Gregg Popovich, Mike Budenholzer, Rick Carlisle and Michael Malone.

    The coach they choose could be — and probably should be — not the one that fits the profile they determine through this week’s meetings, but which answers the difficult questions about how to improve.

    The roster will be difficult to change, though that will still be viewed as Morey’s department. One would think after spending first-round picks like quarters at a toll booth, they will hang on to the ones they still have.

    The Rockets could be moved by an argument in favor of sticking with the style and philosophy, but with greater variety of skills on the roster. They have always been driven by their convictions. So, they took everything to extremes, filling the floor with stationary shooters orbiting Harden with Harden handling the ball in the middle on one end and playing a switch-everything defense on the other end.

    The extremes, however, made it difficult to fill a roster with players that could excel at both styles. There can be big men that can shoot in the Rockets’ offense, but not switch effectively in their defense. Others might have ability to switch, but not shoot 3s.

    The defense improved since the restart. It was better since the move to full-time smallball and outstanding in the first round. But a team that shoots more 3s than any ever has and is left to rely on them in crunch time of close games, does not shoot them very well.

    Gordon’s struggles were clear in the second-worst 3-point shooting season of his career. Westbrook has never been an efficient range shooter. Even Harden, after a spectacular start to the season, made just 32.2 percent of his 3s after the start of the new year.

    The Rockets made and attempted more 3s than any team, but their 34.5 percent 3-point shooting ranked 24th in the NBA. There are few playmakers to generate easy shots or make things easier for Harden and Westbrook. They found a way to fit with one another but do it largely by taking turns.

    Given the roster constraints, coming up with a path to take the Rockets from good to great will be the challenge for the next coach. He or she will have to inspire players, but first convince Morey and Fertitta there is a way to get that done.

    There are tougher jobs out there. There usually are. But the Rockets’ position is particularly demanding if only because excellence is not considered good enough. That has brought disappointment, often bitter disappointment, at the end of end of the past four seasons. But it will also tell a prospective coach that this organization will not consider good to be good enough. That’s what coaches should want, even if it has made the end of even good seasons so agonizing.
     
  4. Rudyc281

    Rudyc281 Member

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    No interviews as of yet?
     
  5. Corrosion

    Corrosion Member

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    I'm down for Becky too .... That's the top of my want list followed by Silas or Atkinson. After that its a steep drop off.

    I don't want anything to do with Lue or Jackson.
     
  6. juanm34

    juanm34 Member

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    No top tier coach will be lining up for this small ball position.
     
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  7. treyk3

    treyk3 Member

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    The only top tier coach on the market is Mike D'Antoni. Everyone else has a huge question mark as to how good they will be in their career.
     
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  8. Rocketsfan3422

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    I think we should just pick the Coach based on the color of his skin
     
  9. raining threes

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    LMAO
     
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  10. D-rock

    D-rock Member

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    Rockets obviously were taken by surprise with MDA decision.

    A list of potential candidates is being reviewed.
     
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  11. amaru

    amaru Member

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    Upping the risk profile
     
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  12. Icehouse

    Icehouse Contributing Member

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    Maybe el cheapo thinks hiring the first female will make him more $$ and goes for it.
     
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  13. treyk3

    treyk3 Member

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    Dan Craig - His players rave about him and he is considered a strong culture guy.


    I'm adding him to my big time interests.

    He's young, he's experienced (head coach in D-League one year, won, and was immediately called back up) and he's coaching this Miami Heat team. I want a sustained culture. His resume mirrors Spo. Riley knows talent. It's time to finally take something from Riley.
     
  14. studogg

    studogg Contributing Member

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    Does she get to bring Tim Duncan in his prime?

    Pop’s style worked with someone who’s personality was more military subservient than modern nba. He lost his relationship with Kawai and has generally lost the city.

    Becky has been an apprentice under an old school coach with mediocre results. I’d like to see her get more experience under a different tutelage tree.
     
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  15. treyk3

    treyk3 Member

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    Why not Matt Brase?

    Culture Reset?

    It's right under your nose.



    Just an idea.

    Pat Riley took over for the Lakers the season after losing to the Rockets in the playoffs in 1981. He was age 36 and had been an assistant there for two seasons prior. He would win the first season taking over. He would go on to be one of the greatest coaches ever and one of the top basketball operations guys ever after that.

    Matt Brase could take over at age 38, he's been an assistant with the Rockets for two seasons. He sees what works, he sees what doesn't. He was in with RGV as head coach prior to that and with the Rockets prior to that in basketball operations. Seems like a guy we could set up for success now and later.
     
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  16. tycoonchip

    tycoonchip Member
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    How is D'Antoni the only top tier coach on the market? Has he won any championships? He might be the oldest coach on the market but no way the only top tier.
     
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  17. treyk3

    treyk3 Member

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    Read the whole thing you quoted. There’s plenty of guys with ELITE potential. Only MDA is guaranteed to be able to coach at his level. The resumes just aren’t there. Top tier potential? Sure. Thibs is probably in that category with MDA. He’s elite, he’s coached a long time and had success various places. Can he win it all ? I don’t know. I want a risk. I want a coach with elite potential Who fulfills it here long term.

    Atkinson, Hammon, Udoke, Dan Craig, Silas, Finch, Brase, Hardy and Joerger would all completely intrigue me.

    everyone should read this about Brase. He’s going to be a head coach one day, why not here and now? He’s been working with Harden since 2014. He’s been a head coach in the DLeague and he’s actually probably running more of this team than we think.

    https://tucson.com/sports/arizonawi...cle_620bcb6b-a13d-52f1-863a-b2917752eddf.html
     
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  18. Rudyc281

    Rudyc281 Member

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    Still no interviews?
     
  19. D-rock

    D-rock Member

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    Does Brase have the killer instinct, ability to step on a team's neck when its down?

    This is one of the faults MDA was supposed to have (except for 65 win season when Rockets blew out everyone).
     
  20. Downtown Sniper

    Downtown Sniper Contributing Member

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    Reading through Nook's post - as soon as I saw the name mentioned - what you commented is the very first thing that popped into my head.

    I would do it purely for the fact it would put the organisation into a positive light for once with the national media.
     
    Deuce likes this.

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