The Warriors are more or less competing at the same level as last year with Kerr out and the departure of Alvin Gentry. Granted there is a small sample size, but this suggests (a) Luke Walton is a good coach or (b) coaching is overrated in the NBA. I've generally held the belief that coaching is overrated in the NBA and it is largely a player driven league. I feel because of the importance of coaching in other sports (namely football) people make the assumption coaching is important to team success in the NBA. This also leads to my belief that firing Mchale may not make some drastic improvement on the team success. Curious what Clutchfans thinks about how important coaches are (Mchale, Walton or otherwise) to their respective teams.
Coaching falls into three tiers - Terrible coaches who are a true detriment to their team. - Exceptional coaches who can produce at level higher than the individual talent on the team. -Competent, neither hurts nor helps the team. There is like 2 or 3 exceptional coaches. There is like 2 or 3 terrible coaches. There is like 25 competent coaches. The bottom line is that coaching really doesn't matter all that much unless you fall into the extreme good or bad.
It could be that Kerr's coaching was so good last season that his system is drilled into their heads. They don't go from 51 to 67 wins by Kerr being overrated.
I don't see why Luke Walton coaching them is a big deal. I'm sure he's had extensive talks with Steve Kerr regarding the system they run, substitution patterns, etc. Combine that with their talent, and it really shouldn't be hard at all for Walton to step in and do well. I really doubt he's doing anything to elevate them.
System is more important. Like Rockets' system, anyone can run it really once the system is set up. In game adjustment is what distinguish elite coaches from just competent coaches. McHale is a competent coach, he can make the team go with the system, but he's not good at in game adjustments. GS didn't really meet any serious threat during those games, so it is hard to say how good Walton really is, because he didn't really have to do tough in game adjustments.
This is correct. Don't make any assumptions regarding the impact of coaches based on Walton's success. That team is a well oiled machine from last season. They know how they need to play to win, they're blowing out their opponents. They don't even need a coach most of the time. But it took a great coach to get them to that level and that's what Kerr did last year. He (along with the rest of the coaching staff) came up with a winning strategy, he defined roles for their players, he set up the system and drew up the plays. You put McHale in his shoes last year and all you have is a bunch of guys shooting contested threes all the time.
Agree with the last few posts. GSW were set up last year, and are just continuing with the system that's already in place. Their team really hasn't changed at all since last year with the exception of swapping D Lee for J Thompson. Everyone on that team knows what they're doing and don't really need Walton to tell them that. Let's see them in a really close game and see what Walton does then?
Walton is smart enough to know not to ruin a good thing. Good on him, who knows what he's really capable of as a coach though. I will say this, he's sat on the sidelines and have played for some great coaches. I think when he decides he's going to be a highly sought after coach. I think Larvs hit the nail on the head with the subject. As for Walton it's unclear where he fits under all of that, just clear that he understands not to get in the way.
It has little to do with Walton. The system and process has already been established from last year. All he is doing now is piloting on cruise control.
Like I have said numerous times when people talk about Mchale, at the end of the day the players decide who wins the game. Steph Curry is why they are good... If he gets hurt they will suck, very simple. Kerr means nothing to this team nor does Walton.
Defensive and offensive adjustments, along with exceptional substitutions and situational play calling is the system? No, its coaching. Let give the kid credit, he's doing a masterful job at replacing Kerr. If anything, this team is BETTER than last years. Sure the system has something to do with it, but I believe its mostly just the foundation. The execution of play calling, substitutions and situational management is all coaching. I guarantee LOTS of teams have him on their radar if he ever becomes available.
That's going to the extreme. This Warriors team is VASTLY different from the Mark Jackson coached team despite having the same players. Here is the thing though, Warriors are able to build leads when Curry sits! Will they be worse without Curry, no doubt. But I think they will still be able to be a 1-4 seed in the NBA. Their offense generates a lot of open shots and their defense is insanely good.
He's alright, but it's way too early to put him the same breath as Kerr or even Vinny Del Negro. Let me see how he does on, say, the Nets. Oh wait, they just beat the brakes off of us on our home court... But really, the sample size is too small to assess him. If Kerr is out as long as it is expected, I think some evaluations may be valid. Still, it's hard to view him objectively when he's inherited one of the best players in the league, but more importantly, in my opinion, an extremely underrated supporting cast. Shoot, even "Knot Head" (Sorry, Maurice) and a washed up Barbosa are doing work in limited minutes. When JT gets some burn, they may become deeper. He should be playing over Speights, based on career feats. Just wait though...the Warriors are going to face a ton of adversity at some point this year. All championship teams do. I don't know if they have the patience to withstand the pressure of repeating. I would bet money that they crumble, whether it's because of injuries that happen to star players, or when those shots fail to go in some nights. It happens. We'll get to see what Luke is made of around that time. He's not his father's talent on the court, but maybe he's a gem in the locker room. The team likes him, but I think you're going to be accepting of any coach as long as you're winning and the morale is consistently high. The Warriors are interesting to me. With Luke or with Kerr, they're a great team, but they're far from unbeatable. In a 7 game series with the Spurs this year, I'll take the Spurs all day. We haven't seen the damage LaMarcus/Timmy/Manu/TP/Danny/IntrovertedAssassin can do when they're clicking. #GoRockets.
Man you'd think. I said this all last year "They'll face some adversity..." and it never happened. No one got hurt, not a single major injury, not a single bump in the road. To do it two years in a row...I'd just give up. Clearly the basketball gods have a new favorite team. That team has faced 0 adversity. No injuries to key players (while some teams are already dealing with this) blowing out every team, and then every team they played in the playoffs was dealt adversity.
