d'antoni?
- Thread starter reyes13
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=LarryLegend=
Starter
I bet he goes to Toronto or Chicago....as for here.....I would rather have Rick back then him.
nbrans
All-Star
I feel like D'Antoni is overrated. He deserves credit for opening up the Suns' offense and just let Nash run wild, but he's really not a very good Xs and Os coach, especially on defense. The Suns should have never lost Game 1 in that series -- all they had to do was stop San Anotnio from hitting a three as regulation and overtime were winding down. Anything but a three and Phoenix wins. Not once, but TWICE San Antonio got wide open threes. It was so idiotic.
Amanjoy
Bench
If Theus is so bad... why are analysts praising him for doing what he could with what he had in Sacramento? Stan Van Gundy, Marc Stein from ESPN.com, and Ric Bucher all praised Theus for what he did in Sacramento. If people think Theus micro-manages too much, the definition of micro-manager is Avery Johnson!!! Avery was blessed to have Dirk in his prime, along with flourishing players like Josh Howard and Devon Harris, not to mention the help of great players in the last hurrah's of their careers...Stackhouse, Jason Terry, etc. He doesn't have that kind of depth if he comes to Sac. Plus, his teams have a tendency to lose to teams with 1 great player and a bunch of Tito Jacksons (Miami, GS, & New Orleans).
jimbodan
Bench
Never said Theus was bad. I think he did an ok job. I just think Avery is a lot better. Ownership keeps preaching defense, well Avery is the guy for that. He also brings a winning attitude and a lot of intensity. I am not expecting Avery to come in here and turn this current set of players into NBA champions. What I want is a guy who can teach players (preferably new young talent) how to play the game the right way and instill discipline and defense into them. I think Avery would be better for that then Theus.
Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Theus remains a guy on the edge. Could go either way with him. I can easily lay out scenarios where he is here 5 years, or scenarios (mostly centered around his enormous ego and ability to alienate) where he is gone by the All Star break next year. And so maybe he is a guy who could coach you to a WCF. Its possible. Then again, maybe he is a guy who is inherently flawed and self destructive.
The interesting thing about having an Avery Johsnon out there is that you KNOW he is capable of coaching a team to the Finals. You KNOW he is capable of winning 67 games with a team. Because he's done it. Not "we hope our guy might do that one day." Not "well maybe." He's actually been there. Which does not mean in any way that he's guaranteed of doing that every year (obviously), or guaranteed of doing that here. But it does mean that you KNOW he is capable of it. And that is hard to ignore. Well unless you are the Maloofs -- its the same thing they set aside when they ousted Rick. The only thing you did not 100% know with Rick is whether he could win a title (althgouh he has come so close that it seems clear that we're talking one ball bounce the other way and it happens). But you KNEW he could do everything else...because he had done it. You could win 60 with him. Win your division, get deep into the playoffs, reach the Finals. And KNOWING you had that capability out of your coach should have made everything else a little simpler. You simplify the equation, know the coach can get it done if the team is right, and just focus on personnel. Avery has less experience, but potentially offers the same sort of stability.
If we fail next year, is it the players? Is it the coach? You won't really know. Neither have proven they can win anything in the NBA. The axe probably falls on the coach in that case. So then what? Do you keep the players again to see how they do with yet ANOTHER coach? The problem is that you just are not sure about anything, and it leaves open too many possibilities. The attraction of a guy like Avery is that you could say, ok, we know if we put the right team in place for Avery, he will win 60 games for us. We did not win 60 games, so therefore let's change the team. And he would come with a contract and reputation giving him stability and authority in the locker room. Guys would know he would be there. Reggie pisses you off, you say "screw you Reggie", and if enough of the team does that he is lucky to even make it to the end of the season. Then as a player you get to start over with a new guy. But a young big name coach comes in, is given the keys, is going to be around for a long time, and suddenly he has long term authority, and you as a player now have to do your best to make it work, because he's going to be there.
Reggie is very likely to return, but you get a young coach with Avery's resume suddenly hitting the market, there are a LOT of advantages over the current situation. He has authority. He says "look guys, I know how to win", and guys have an actual reason to believe him, both as a coach and from his playing days. Reggie does not have to be a bad coach for there to be a potentially significant upside.
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Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
I believe this year is guaranteed, adn then we have an option year.
The thing is, we let it ride, it does not work, an Avery Johnson is maybe not out there anymore. And then we are back to sifting through older coaches or unproven guys. Its rare that a guy who is both young AND proven pops open.
Vlade4GM
All-Star
I don't really like Avery though, I think he's overrated. I still take Brian Shaw, while unproven I think he's going to be a good coach once he gets the opportunity and he'd be a good fit here.
Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
But you've got nothing at all to base that on other than partisanship. Nothing.
And that is the difference. Opinions that "this guy is going to be great" are like *******s. Everybody has one about somebody. 90% of them are wrong. When you get a guy where you KNOW they can, because they have, and recently, that is entirely different. If Reggie ever acheives the things that Avery already has, he will have had a helluva career. But its all just hope in his case. All just speculation. With Avery it is realized fact. He's years younger than Reggie, has a 194-70 career record (.735) has two 60 win seasons and a 50 win season to his credit, and has been the Finals. Those are facts. Things to hang your hat on. There is no 100% anything. But there is alot closer to 100% when dealing with things already realized than dealing with hopes/dreams/wishes.
Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
I liked Shaw last summer, and think that he was Geff's choice too. But I am not going to agitate for replacing Reggie with him, because he is just as unproven. He was a better candidate last summer, but now Reggie has a year under his belt, and Shaw does not. If anything Shaw is the greater risk.
Just like last summer, where I liked Shaw out of the unknowns but where Stan Van Gundy (before using us) was the best candidate because you KNEW what he could do, this summer that KNOW what he can do guy is Avery. All of these other guys are "hopes". And so you give them short term "I hope" contracts and see what happens. But you get a guy who's been to the mountain...that's the guy you commit to, and then not worry about the coach again for years.
nbrans
All-Star
I like Avery a lot and think that down the line he's really going to be a great coach -- he had some rookie-esque stumbles these past couple of years, but that goes with the territory.
But I am really skeptical that Avery would come to Sacramento, and I'm not terribly interested in doing the whole Phil Jackson/Stan Van Gundy thing all over again. Been there done that.
But I am really skeptical that Avery would come to Sacramento, and I'm not terribly interested in doing the whole Phil Jackson/Stan Van Gundy thing all over again. Been there done that.
