That's part of my concern. I would prefer someone with real experience coaching judging coaching decisions in hypos at an interview. More importantly, I would prefer the GM (who has not coached) not refer to the answers to those hypos as the critical factor that made McHale his choice...for a lot of reasons. I posted those reasons earlier.
this. i'd rep you, pgabriel, but i have to spread it around again. and having him say that the key factor in this whole interview that distinguished mchale was his answers to in-game coaching hypos? that's mind-numbing to me. it's not that they asked these questions..it's that somehow our GM thinks he has the "right" answers...that there ARE "right answers...and that he as a GM was most persuaded by that.
that's not the point. i guess those questions have to be asked, but for justice to do a whole article on it? i guess morey was trying to avoid saying, "i really liked kevin because he won't get in the way of my personnel decisions"
It was only one part of the article. Plenty of other things discussed. Plenty of other things discussed during those interviews, too. They took 20 hours after all.
i don't know. but if in-game coaching decision is my number one criteria, i'm gonna make sure we have someone in those interviews who has experience in the real of in-game coaching. if that was done...great. but what i read here is that morey, himself, was most persuaded by his answers to those in-game coaching hypos.
I agree in general...but people seem to be saying that they prefer coaches to judge coaching moves in interviews. I don't see how that is possible. Also, it is Richard Justice. Let's keep that in mind.
This is the quote I'm talking about. If Darryl didn't say this, then we're wasting our time: "We analyze the heck out of those game situations," Morey said, "and Kevin hit the ball out of the park. It made me realize how smart he is and how he knows his stuff. That was the moment for me. Believe me, he's going to know what to do at the end of games."
I prefer morey not to be in charge of hiring a coach, but that's a whole nother discussion. I do want he and the coach to have a great relationship
i'm not sure it is a whole other discussion, frankly. there are certain things I would DEFINITELY want morey's input on in hiring a coach. there are other things where his experience in evaluating would be limited. in-game coaching decisions is probably chief on that list for me, frankly.
CD, who sat on the bnech with Rudy, is still employed by the team. I'm sure there are plenty of people in the coaching ranks with whom Morey has discussed these topics-- JVG, who attended Morey's conference, for one. It's said they've also spoken a lot to each candidates' former players and colleagues and watched/broken down a ton of tapes, so it's not like everything depended on the interviews, or even that one moment during the 20hour interview process. So, whether a former coach sat in on the interview or not is not all that relevant and it seem petty to complain about it especially in light of the rest of the homework the team did about each candidate.
If this isn't a true statement...or Darryl didn't make it...then, as I said, we're wasting our time. Otherwise.... "We analyze the heck out of those game situations," Morey said, "and Kevin hit the ball out of the park. It made me realize how smart he is and how he knows his stuff. That was the moment for me. Believe me, he's going to know what to do at the end of games."
Maybe a lot as a ratio to the teams who ask such test questions. Some GMs and presidents were ex coaches. CD is on our staff. Maybe you hire a consultant if you want to evaluate their answers to in-game situation hypotheticals. But, I assume not too many teams use Morey's approach in trying to see if their scouting statistics align with the coach's answers. And in the end, maybe Morey did have consulting from qualified coaches, and maybe he didn't really mean to say McHale answers were the #1 influencing reason he picked him vs all McHale's other skills and experiences.
HOWEVA i have told the story on this site many a time that morey's kid and my kid played 5-6 year old ball together. morey did do some coaching, so maybe that counts. and with that, happy friday everybody
It is a fair point. To me, the coaches Morey is interview should know more than Morey about this stuff. I do think, though, that Morey has some interesting "stats- based" ideas on coaching moves during a game. Which I'm sure would be controversial on this board.
We disagree, but I interpreted that as the Rockets were otherwise impressed with what McHale brought to the table and the knowledge he showed as a tactician put it over the top. Whether that's their genuine feelings or its just PR spin is another matter. I guess you don't feel Morey has the proper experience or background to assess tactics. In my view, tactics is one facet of coaching that a stats-oriented analyst who has been in the NBA for several years could have a pretty good handle on. That said, tactics is but one aspect of basketball. You can know all the right tactics, but that doesn't guarantee you can put together a championship quality roster with a championship-level coach.
I agree but feel that you are missing the point here. This process was never about finding a qualified experienced head coach in the vein of Adelman. No, it was about the following of an agenda - Morey's - to prove the his brand of MoneyBall will work in the NBA and as a consequence, that coaching qualifications really don't matter. As such, he was looking for someone who would validate his agenda which is why there was such a premium placed on McHale's interview performance rather than his qualifications as a real coach. McHale was shrewd enough to say exactly what Morey wants to hear and said it with brilliance, flair and whit and that sealed the deal. So far, all the McHale PR has centered on his "leadership" qualities and his "fantastic". You will notice that any mention of McHale's coaching acumen is nowhere to be found until today when Dick Justice got the PR blitzkrieg rolling by reading from the official script as Morey and Les emerged to blow sunshine up everyone's collective behinds. After today's announcement, I am certain that the balance of power in the West just shifted to Houston because after all they just hired a coach who is a "leader" and a fantastic interview to boot.
From Morey's interview with Jim Rome today (me paraphrasing): [rquoter] Rome: Did he just kill it in the interview? Morey: I'd say he was a little bit of an outsider, he did kill it in the interview, but anybody can talk a good game in an interview. we really studied the players he worked with how they got better. how he got better as a coach between his 1st and 2nd stint. how he did better than the coach he took over for in both his stints. how he was Coach of the Month his second time until Al Jefferson went down. studied all those things, did a lot of background, he really throughout the process kept impressing us more and more. Rome: what did he say during the interview that impressed you the most? Morey: I knew Kevin from my time in Boston. we did a lot of joint workouts with Minnesota while he was there. I knew him as a person. I was just trying to get to the heart of, was he a leader, was he a guy who wants to improve, was he an intelligent high basketball IQ guy. i think its rare to find a guy as intelligent as Kevin be a former player. the best ones become good coaches, and I think that will be the case with Kevin. [/rquoter] From the account here, it doesn't seem like there was just one thing that sold Morey on McHale. They did the background, and then liked what they heard in the interview. Its more fluid than "Oh, you answered all my hypothetical scenario questions correctly. Kevin McHale -- you are hired!"
