Was doing a little research on Westphal when I stumbled across some info on another fourm. Interesting stuff. Westphal inherited the head coaching job from Cotton Fitzsimmons who moved into the front office of the Suns. In his first year he took them to the finals where they lost in 6 games. They made the playoffs every year he was the head coach, but the team never made it back to the finals and the won/loss record slowly declined. After a bad start he was fired by Fitzsimmons, who move back into the head coaching positions. The average age of the team was 29 years of age, and included Charles Barkley and Danny Anige.
He coached highschool ball for two years before getting the head coaching job in Seattle after George Karl was fired. Once again he inherited a talented vetrean team and once again he took them to the playoffs every year he was there. But once again the win/loss record declined every year under him. Once again after a bad start he was fired. The average age of the team was 31 years of age, with no one on the entire team under 27 years of age.
He then landed the head coaching job at Pepperdine. He also inherited a good basketball team. The team fought for the conference title with Gonzaga and was awarded a berth in the NCAA tournament where they lost in the first round to Wake Forest. He coached the team for 5 years, but the team declined very quickly.
So what we can gleen from this is that Westphal is at least a decent coach with a talented and experienced team. We also know that he eventually wears out his welcome for some reason, even with an experienced team. Judging from his experience at Pepperdine, it appears he's not nearly as good with very young players. This is the part that concerns me, since the Kings are a very young team. Last year I had concerns about his rotations and constant tinkering with the starting lineup, but at least he was giving playing time to those players that we percieved as our core players. So I'm confused with just exactly he's trying to do so far this year. Thompson has gone from starter to averaging 14 minutes a game. Greene has gone from sometime starter and regular rotation player to a DNP position on the bench.
Yeah I know that one could argue that Greene deserves his fate for coming into camp out of shape. I can also agree that his minutes should be cut back until he gets back into shape. But to not play him at all, I don't get. I know that some have argued that Thompson has been inconsistent so far. Really! In his first five game he had two that were very good games and three where he couldn't get anything going. Let me see. Landry had 6 games in a row where he stunk up the place and last time I checked he was still getting his minutes. Whats good for the goose is good for the gander as they say.
I'll tell you one thing about young people. They know BS when they see it. They know when there's one set of rules for one person and another set for everyone else. If the one player is Michael Jordan, you can get away with it. Last time I checked there aren't any Jordan's on this team. At least not yet. If you want to let your point guard dribble the ball for 15 seconds of every shot clock, thats fine. If your OK with having a PF that has no idea of what the word pass means and basicly shoots the ball every time he touches it, that also fine. Thats what you decided and your the head coach. But don't go into the locker room at half time and call out Cousins for being selfish with the ball, especially when he only touched the ball a few times and was otherwise effective. And this isn't about Cousins, its about hypocrisy. Vetrean players have all seen it before and don't pay that much attention to it. But young players actually believe in the coach and trust him. They'll also turn on him in a heartbeat if they suspect he's BS ing them.
Westphal needs to revise his approach to his rotations and the way he distributes the minutes. One thing a coach needs is respect and in turn loyality. If Westphal loses the respect of the players he's done.
He coached highschool ball for two years before getting the head coaching job in Seattle after George Karl was fired. Once again he inherited a talented vetrean team and once again he took them to the playoffs every year he was there. But once again the win/loss record declined every year under him. Once again after a bad start he was fired. The average age of the team was 31 years of age, with no one on the entire team under 27 years of age.
He then landed the head coaching job at Pepperdine. He also inherited a good basketball team. The team fought for the conference title with Gonzaga and was awarded a berth in the NCAA tournament where they lost in the first round to Wake Forest. He coached the team for 5 years, but the team declined very quickly.
So what we can gleen from this is that Westphal is at least a decent coach with a talented and experienced team. We also know that he eventually wears out his welcome for some reason, even with an experienced team. Judging from his experience at Pepperdine, it appears he's not nearly as good with very young players. This is the part that concerns me, since the Kings are a very young team. Last year I had concerns about his rotations and constant tinkering with the starting lineup, but at least he was giving playing time to those players that we percieved as our core players. So I'm confused with just exactly he's trying to do so far this year. Thompson has gone from starter to averaging 14 minutes a game. Greene has gone from sometime starter and regular rotation player to a DNP position on the bench.
Yeah I know that one could argue that Greene deserves his fate for coming into camp out of shape. I can also agree that his minutes should be cut back until he gets back into shape. But to not play him at all, I don't get. I know that some have argued that Thompson has been inconsistent so far. Really! In his first five game he had two that were very good games and three where he couldn't get anything going. Let me see. Landry had 6 games in a row where he stunk up the place and last time I checked he was still getting his minutes. Whats good for the goose is good for the gander as they say.
I'll tell you one thing about young people. They know BS when they see it. They know when there's one set of rules for one person and another set for everyone else. If the one player is Michael Jordan, you can get away with it. Last time I checked there aren't any Jordan's on this team. At least not yet. If you want to let your point guard dribble the ball for 15 seconds of every shot clock, thats fine. If your OK with having a PF that has no idea of what the word pass means and basicly shoots the ball every time he touches it, that also fine. Thats what you decided and your the head coach. But don't go into the locker room at half time and call out Cousins for being selfish with the ball, especially when he only touched the ball a few times and was otherwise effective. And this isn't about Cousins, its about hypocrisy. Vetrean players have all seen it before and don't pay that much attention to it. But young players actually believe in the coach and trust him. They'll also turn on him in a heartbeat if they suspect he's BS ing them.
Westphal needs to revise his approach to his rotations and the way he distributes the minutes. One thing a coach needs is respect and in turn loyality. If Westphal loses the respect of the players he's done.
We cant get Adelman back, but we could get the closest thing, Elston Turner.
