I'll admit the only reason I was ok with it initially was because I did my homework when the alternative was Jackson. It felt retready to me but then I realized he's really not all that old, and he checks off a lot of boxes I wanted (ie. top assistant, hungry, etc) and as a bonus if he failed here he probably was going to be out of chances. Then his assistant hires were basically everything else I wanted.
I had him more in that class of guys like McMillan or Stotts. Totally not fair but it's not like I spent a lot of time thinking about who else LeBron had to run with in Cleveland before he left the first time.
I tend to think that his biggest growth was learning to balance what he asked from players with feeding their egos after whatever happened in Los Angeles.
And Monte for GMOTY
After watching Brown this season, I think we have a much clearer idea. How in the world were we ever ok — even for a moment — with the likes of Luke, Avery, etc??
That’s interesting, because they all seemed to be mentioning that in training camp interviews as well. Fox and others remarked about how they all knew what they were going to be doing when, who was doing what, and how they were purposefully mixing things up for some variety after the first few days. I’ve admired how carefully the players have avoided criticizing the previous regime, though I would love to know the real scoop!
