Don’t celebrate yet…hearing that if Silas wins tomorrow against a Wizards team (without all five of its starters) then he’s back for next season. This is disappointing, as both the Hornets and Wizards have no starters at all playing.
We can't even tank properly. I'm all for competition, but if the other team is playing their 2nd and 3rd unit as starters... winning those games is like empty-stat padding for a coach's W/L record. If Silas start our bench and go balls to the wall; our 2nd unit vs their 2nd unit... then fine; make it interesting. A cold chill when loading tank-a-thon today. And yes Wiz has been playing their bench as starters for the final games. Kuzma already did his exit interview even though there's still a Wizard game left (against us).
I want Ime Udoka as the next coach of the Houston Rockets. I could give less than a damn that he cheated and got caught. That has nothing to do with basketball. He can demand respect as a former player, champion and coach. He can cut through a lot of the BS that other coaches would have to face coming in. That baggage argument against him is weak.
It’s interesting that so many people put so much emphasis on coaching as a big reason teams win. I cited on here several examples of coaches who couldn’t win without star players or couldn’t make it work or go deep into the playoffs even with a very good roster. Jason Kidd couldn’t take the Bucks past the first round and was only 6 games above .500 in his best season. Insert Budenholzer who had vet additions to his team the next year including George Hill, Mirotic, and Connaughton combined with Giannis who was solidifying himself as the best player in the league. He took this team to the Eastern Finals his first year. His team regressed in 2020 but added more solid vets in 2021 including Jrue Holiday, Forbes, Portis and Tucker. This team won him the title. But how much of it is coaching and how much of it is having the right combination of players that can execute the game plan and synergize and work together? How much is just on court know how and in game adjustments from players? And how much of it is players maturing and growing at the right time? Vogel Couldn’t make the big 3 in LA work. Snyder couldn’t get the stacked Jazz into the finals. Nurse inherited Casey’s team and won by adding Kawhi but hasn’t been a major contender since his second year. Kerr inherited the Warriors from Jackson and won a title with Thompson developing into one of the best shooters in the game in his 4th year. Dray was growing into his 3rd year and they added savvy vets in Livingston and Barbosa. But without Klay or Steph or both the Warriors were irrelevant. Teams win when everything comes together at the right time. Player maturation and growth, right personnel to run a certain style of play, flexible coaching who uses his personnel’s strengths, and having dominant players.
Scott Brooks sucks lol. I believe some of you have personal preferences regardless of how bad they are. Mahmoud? That's also a terrible choice
Don't be an idiot. If the Rockets hire a guy like Frank Vogel who's proven to be a good head coach, same with a coach like Kenny Atkinson, and Nick Nurse that would improve the Rockets. They need to hire a proven man who's done it. Not a rookie coach, or a coach with experience but has failed. By the way, Phil Jackson never coached the Knicks. He was hired as President for the Knicks.
I see your point. Not sure what the numbers are in terms of new coaches and success in the NBA but you gotta get your start somewhere. But there’s several coaches with no head coach experience in the league that had success besides Kerr and Nurse. Spoelstra had no experience and won a title. Vogel had success with a young Pacer team. Billy Donovan and Stevens found some success and Udoka took his team to the finals his first year. I think it comes down to organizational philosophy and vision and whether the team believes this coach will take this core roster to the next level or not.
Most first year coaches that have success are ex players. Not sure how Mahmoud rose to the top of the option pool, but no thanks. Let's get us someone that has atleast some experience
If what you say is true, then Silas is either very dumb or just spineless. Why would he willingly look like a bad coach just to benefit a team's future he knew he would not be in? If I were him and got that order from Stone, I would just tell Stone "*** you!" and walk out the door.
Oh man you're making my case for me. Look at those names. How did these guys do after Atkinson? All but 1 regressed. DLo regressed in Minny (essentially got selfish and no defense again) but looks like he's bouncing back under Ham. Allen is the only one who was a legit playoff calibre player. That 18-19 team should not make a playoffs, take a look at the standings. The point of hiring a coach is he gets more out of the team than the sum of parts. He can turn projects and outcasts into viable NBA players. These are elite qualities. Most GM's and coaches would have given up and sought picks, but these guys built without picks which is infinitely harder. Everyone in the NBA said the Nets couldn't tank or make the playoffs and that it would take years to rebuild cause of no picks. That's the coach you want. The one who creates an excellent product on the court. The Nets won 28 games the season before Atkinson took them to the playoffs btw. There's no question it's his doing. So he's good on both sides of the court, gets more out of a squad than the sum of parts and has championship experience. You seem to just not like Atkinson to be honest and that's ok.
No need to be defensive or condescending. You do realize Atkinson coached two losing seasons before he made the playoffs that 3rd year right? You said they were “nobodies” which isn’t true and I stated that these players were mainly composed of vets including Russell and Dinwiddie. The talent was already there in Atkinson’s first year when he won 20 games. This team is nothing like the Rockets and what Silas had to work with in his 3 years here with mainly Rookies and second year players and no vet guidance. The names I mentioned as vets are very skilled and savvy role players that helped guide that team. The core was made up of experienced players who were good and it all came together and not necessarily what one coach did. Silas simply hasn’t had the same talent as Atkinson—lights out shooter in Harris and vet defensive guys like Jefferson and Carrol. It’s not even close. If Silas doesn’t return We will never know what he could do with more vets and a more experienced team including jalen in his 3rd year etc. plus Atkinson regressed the following year. Is this the guy you are defending and want?
Didn't mean to be condescending at all. I think we're going in circles a little bit here. I think your point is that he was unimpressive in Brooklyn and my point is that he was highly impressive. I believe he won more games than he should have every season he was there given the context and roster. That's one of the main reasons he's my favorite choice plus championship experience in a great system as an assistant.
I’m not sure if that’s true. Most of the guys I mentioned besides Udoka and Kerr don’t have NBA experience as a player including spoelstra and Nurse. In fact a lot of the top coaches never played in the NBA. Budenholzer of the Bucks, Taylor Jenkins of Grizzlies, Tom Thibs of Knicks, and Mazzula of the Celtics all never played in the NBA and had success in their first stint as head coach.
“Flexible coaching who uses his personnel’s strengths” is Silas’ downfall. His rotations have also been sh*t since day one.
He played the best players and shuffled the lineups quite a bit to see what works given the roster limitations. Again the objective wasn’t winning but growth as both him and Stone have mentioned several times to the media. A lot of the season is was mixing and matching and seeing what worked. Sengun had defensive limitations and he played the best players in the starting lineup for the most part and mixed it up to match the other team’s lineup (Smith at 5) etc. He staggered Green and KPJ in latter part of season. Eason plays 20 min a game and late in 4th sometimes. The team doesn’t have a solid 1 on the bench and he played the more experienced Nix but gave Ty Ty a shot who wasn’t ready. What should he have been done differently in your opinion to win more games?
It is frustrating for a lot of reasons. We do not seem to be capable of doing anything to the fullest. Half assing or Half silassing in this case both development and tanking.
