oops, forgot to add the thank you message there It's totally cool for Dan and Del to treat us fans so dearly! okay... "It's awesome dude!"
This is absolutely the most unbelievable thread we've had! Props to TD! Major props to Del Harris too. What a great guy.
One of the most impressive threads of all time. I don't want to be a downer, but if I were you I'd throw in a little ass kissing right about now. If I'm Del, after the string of questions that has been somewhat nonstop, I'd be beginning to wonder whether this joker who's emailing me thinks it is an eternal free pass to bug me. Don't want to kill the goose laying the golden egg. BTW, this thread reminds me how much I used to be impressed by Del Harris. The guy isn't exactly Mr. Excitement, but he's about as solid as they get. People talk about prima donna players, but can anybody imagine Phil Jackson putting down his "Mr Miyagi/Zen Master/David Carradine in Kung-Fu" persona in order to answer these types of questions? IMHO, we are now in the era of the prima-donna coach, but Del's about as old-school as you can get.
P.S. I'd be intrested to know what Del sees as his biggest contribution to the National Team. In otherwords, what particular insights into skills/traning/the way the team does business/etc has he seen as in need of his particular attention, or something like that.
That last one was the best of all! I think Del opened up when you brought good 'ole memories to his mind. Way to break the ice! Keep up the good work TD
PPS Out of respect, you might want to give him a chance to adjust the rate at which he recieves questions or something so that if he was in a really busy or in a really bad mood he could beg off for a while without having to be rude about it.
Finally, WOW! That was a heck of a crack on Shaq. Better be careful that that one doen't get picked up by some media hound looking to make a name. You might want to make sure that he understands that his responses can be read by anybody verbatim!
Dadakota nailed on the head. With the questioned geared more toward him as a coach, he opened up a whole lot more. Well done...well done.
My degree is Broadcast Journalism. I was a sports anchorman for a couple of years on small TV stations. I finally left because the money was so lousy when you were starting out. Good job, lousy pay, lots of moving early in your career. You learn a lot about how to get people to talk to you though. DD
Great thread! Thanks TD and Del! BTW, could we make the thread sticky? It already dropped to the fifth page.
----Original message---- From: Me To: Del Harris Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 22:37:29 +0000 Subject: Re: e-mail interviews Hello Del, As always, many, many thanks from everybody enjoying your insight. This weeks questions: - What are the goals of the CNT? Please include the Athens Olympics as well as the Beijing Olympics if you know. Who have set them? - What do you consider some of the biggest cultural differences that you have encountered while coaching the CNT, both on and off the court? Any funny anecdotes? - As teams like your Mavericks and our Rockets are experiencing changes at the point guard position, we would love to know what you, as an NBA coach, think separates a starting NBA point guard from a back-up point guard on a championship contending type team. (for example personality, skills, experience etc.) Thank you very much. Yours sincerely, Daniel Malberg ------------------------------ ----Original message---- From: Del Harris To: Me Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 23:08:22 Subject: Re: e-mail interviews 1. Goal setting for the national team would depend on whomever you talk to, I suppose. It really doesn't matter what anyone has set as a goal. The only goals that make any sense are two: to try to improve as you go and to try to win the next game you play. Golf offers an easy example---you can set a goal to shoot a number, but it makes no sense to concentrate on that number at the outset. The only thing that matters is the next shot. You can't shoot 70 on the first tee---all you can do to help your goal is to hit a good fairway drive and that is what you should concentrate on. So, if anyone has set some arbitrary goal, it matters not to me. As for setting goals for 2008---what a silly exercise that is at this point. The goal should be to improve and when 2008 comes around to do the best they can do---they should try to win each game as it comes along at that point. 2. From a cultural standpoint the Chinese people are far more respectful of authority and are intent on learning. They put a high degree of emphasis on understanding what the appointed task is and to try to accomplish what is set before them. It makes them great to coach. They are not by nature aggressive except in traffic and wherever there is a line such as at a market, airport, etc. I wish they were as eager to get in front of a rebounder as they are to cut in front of the car in the next lane in traffic. Driving is a thrill a minute in Beijing. 3. As for point guards, they come in all forms and I don't know of any formula it takes for one to be a champion. My initial idea is that they have to have a really good supporting cast. A general without an adequate army is no\ going to be a champion in most cases. Given equal forces I would say' that the ability to compete under pressure and maintain the ability to make good decisions with the ball at that time would be the most vital aspect to being a winner at the point guard from the offensive side of the ball. On the defensive side, it is important for a point guard to set a tone defensively, tho many champion point guards did not do this (Magic Johnson, Tony Parker, Billups, etc) so defense is not as big a factor as the offensive. as his ability on the offensive side.
Hi. Sorry if some of you think I’m not participating enough in this thread but I’ve been kind of busy in real life. I really try to get a feel for what you guys want to know as well as keeping the questions interesting and up to date with what’s going on on the board. Also, I don’t mind this not being a sticky, it’s kind of nice the way it cools off after a couple of days and then I bring it back from the dead, like page 6 or something, at the end of each week. Hope you liked this week’s interview, q # 1 was an earlier suggestion and it seemed interesting, q # 2 was more along the lines of up-beat q’s that DD talked about and # 3 I thought would provide good input to all the current talk on the board. Hope you like the answers, I sure did. Helping me pick questions would also if you guys along with suggesting would comment on each other's questions to. Thanx. Bye, TD.
How true. Being a "California Good Driver" award winner, I refused to sit in driver's seat everytime I was in Beijing.
They are not by nature aggressive except in traffic and wherever there is a line such as at a market, airport, etc. I wish they were as eager to get in front of a rebounder as they are to cut in front of the car in the next lane in traffic. Driving is a thrill a minute in Beijing. I dont think it's due to aggression people cutting lines. It's more because of frustration. Who wouldnt be if it has to share scarce resources with other 1.3 billion fellow countrymen, if it experienced the old socialist's order especially during the cultural revolution. Here in L.A. the driving manner is far worse than what I had experinced in Ohio.
Funny stuff from Del. Maybe we need to convince Yao that getting rebounds is like standing in line to get his drivers license renewed.
