Rockets name Kelvin Sampson as lead assistant, hire J.B. Bickerstaff as assistant.

I'm guessing Jerry Tarkanian and Dave Bliss were unavailable.

Of all the basketball minds out there is a guy tainted with scandal who had to resign in disgace from previous coaching jobs the best possible choice?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say no.

 

Let's also not forget Scott Skiles, whose teams always seem to be at the top of defensive efficiency rating.

Again, I'd argue that it's hard to say how good Kelvin Sampson really is.
We'll have to wait and see IMO.

 

I'm with you, and not even comparing to Adelman's staff. I happen to be on the boat that thought it best he, and his entire staff, depart. Great coach, but not the right fit at the right time anymore. Moreover, I was never super impressed by his assistants - not that I was privy to any real knowledge on their day to day roles, but I just didn't see Elston Turner as some kind of defensive specialist.

That said...

seems like a stretch. Yes, Sampson's name has popped up increasingly as a "hot" assistant coach. But there seemed to be others that were hotter - Budenholzer, Brian Shaw, Joerger, etc.

With regards to Bickerstaff... not that I'm an assistant coach expert, I know more than the average fan but less than a lot of you, but really? Who even knew he was an assistant coach? And for that matter, how can anyone really gauge his "up and comingness" based on his work with the Timberwolves?

I think the point you are making is we got the best we could get, and they are a solid group... which I think IS true... but that's a far cry from "outstanding coaching staff"

Rather, I think the following is a more apt comment with regards to the hires:

All THAT said, I don't really care THAT much, because I think tanking in 2011-2012 is the best course of action for the team.

 

I think Sampson and Joerger would both have been great hires.

Sampson has more of a proven track record overall in his career.

Joerger is more of an up-and-comer. I wouldn't be surprised if he was stringing along the Rockets, waiting to see if he could get the Lead Assistant gig in Memphis after Johnny Davis left.

Still, Sampson's a very good hire, IMO.

 

I like the hires overall. Hope to see more development types (bigs coach, etc) added. A lot of the young guys need serious mentoring.

I'm guessing Joerger was one of those rumored to be turned off by the assumptions that Finch was being groomed for head coach. Sampson will be rock solid, but I'd be much more at ease with someone not angling to better deal us at first opportunity.

 

Def. Efficiency = Points allowed per 100 possessions.

Good point about Bogut though.

How about this then. Milwaukee was dead last in Def. Efficency in 07-08. Scott Skiles, Kelvin Sampson & co. took over in 08-09 and got them to #15, despite Bogut only playing 36 games.
To think they'd finish 2nd and 4th in DEF EFF the following years with Bogut again missing a good amount of games is pretty incredible.

 

The bucks suck they have one of the worst point guards and bench in the league. I would like to see what sampson can do here with this group. So is finch gonna be calling plays from the press box with a head set on??? Ha

 

emjohn, to be honest, I think the whole "out clause" issue is not a big deal.

Most NBA teams will not stand in the way of their assistant coaches being able to leave to take a head coaching gig elsewhere. Teams develop bad reputations around the league for doing that and will not get the same consideration from future assistant coaching hires in the future if they pull those sorts of shenanigans.

All that clause does is expressly state in writing what the team would likely do anyways.

 

Fair enough. I think it was definitely a joint effort type deal... but that said, I DO actually think Sampson is a solid solid coach.

But his actions also speak of extreme selfishness - how do I cheat the system? how do I ensure I can still become a head coach? etc. That's not to say I wouldn't be looking out for myself as well... but is to say, I'm not completely sold on ho wmuch focus he'll put into the job, especially in the offseasons.

big picture point, this has a much better chance of becoming a train wreck (interesting head coaching hire, lead assistant with a free pass to interview with whomever, whenever, young "potentially" good up and coming assistants, average NBA level talent, etc.) than surprising us all and becoming a well oiled machine.

but again, the best thing that could happen to them, imo, would be needing time to adjust to the coaching, maybe a couple random but completely recoverable injuries, etc. that result in a 6-10 type lotto pick, that might jump into the top 3 with the right ping pong ball bounce.

 

Eh. The BEST thing would be for the Rockets to win the championship and for the Knicks to land the #6 pick. :grin:

 

Fine. The best possible thing!

 

Wish they hired Bruce Pearl instead of J.B. Bickerstaff and than you would have McHale, Sampson, and Pearl. Three of the biggest cheaters. Who knows maybe they hire Pearl to be the head of the Rio Grande Vipers.

 

good discussion...some basketbal strategy talkl!!!

I pretty much hate using football analogies to explain bball. I'm not really sure what this O-coordinator and D-coordinator means in terms of coaching a game. Does soccer or hockey do this?

The reason the football coordinator system doesn't work is simply because JVG's (or Thibodeaux's) defense does not work if he is running Rick Adelman/Finch's offense. It is very important to stop easy buckets to have a stellar defense, and that starts with stopping fastbreaks and limiting turnovers. You can't have your cake and eat it too, in the NBA, like you can football. This is a constant motion sport, and offensive strategy is much more tightly coupled to defensive strategy in bball vs football.

I don't see how you can run an Adelman offense and ever achieve a Thibodeaux defense. Hence, why the Bulls offense looks so simple sometimes in the playoffs.

 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/7649858.html

 

No many on here would say the chip would hold back our development and we should instead tank so we could get two top 6 picks.

 

Jonathan_Feigen
David Kahn said J.B. Bickerstaff is close to a deal with Rockets but still talking to Timberwolves.

 

You're certainly right to some extent, though I'd argue that one doesn't necessarily preclude the other. It's really about balancing it out.
Some thing that help your defense, hurt your offense and vice versa.
That's why teams rarely, if ever (I'm not totally sure, but I don't think it's been done; certainly not in recent history) rank 1st in both offensive and defensive efficiency. You'd have to have a crazily talented team and well coached team to do so. It's rare enough that teams rank top-5 in both categories.
So essentially you're trying to take the best of both worlds (Adelman's offense & Skiles' defense) and with the help of the FO and McHale merge it into something even better. I'm by no means a biological expert, but I think that's kinda how evolution works.
And that's bascially what we're trying to do. Evolve into a better team.
Whether or not we've picked out the right genes to do so remains to be seen

 

These are top notch quality assistant hires. I like what Kevin Mc Hale is doing so far and Morey.

 

One of the big weaknesses of motion offense is transition defense. The reason is because motion offense is predicated on picks and cuts to lose your defender, but when a turnover or rebound occurs, now you have to find HIM!

Compare this to surrounding Hakeem Olajuwon with 3-pt shooters trying to pass the ball to him...or Yao. Those (largely) stationary 3-pt shooters are designed to give Yao space AND get back on transition defense. And keep the damn turnovers low.

You call it balancing. that's right. you have to balance. What you can't do is have a defensive coordinator who wants to limit TOs and have 2 guys positioned to play transition defense, then have an uber creative read n react offense to go with that. imo, they are mutually exclusive. It's like asking Buddy Ryan to coach the 46 with Kevin Gilbride's Run n Shoot!!!! Someone might get hurt.

but let's not get into football analogies.

 

Why should you care if some guy committed some recruiting violations if he's being hired for an NBA position and by all NBA accounts, he's done a fine job of coaching?