Knicks Morning News (2018.04.18)

  • [NYTimes] Raptors and Celtics Both Cruise to 2-0 Series Leads
    (Wednesday, April 18, 2018 4:17:53 AM)

    Toronto won the first two games of a playoff series for the first time in franchise history and Boston’s Jaylen Brown scored 30 points against Milwaukee.

  • [NYTimes] On Pro Basketball: Throwing it Back, Miami’s Dwyane Wade Takes the 76ers to School
    (Tuesday, April 17, 2018 11:32:08 PM)

    At this point in his career, Wade isn’t picking up new tricks. Still, he’s finding new ways to use what he knows and dominating the N.B.A.’s hottest team.

  • [NYTimes] Big Pay Raises Coming for G League Players
    (Tuesday, April 17, 2018 5:00:06 PM)

    The N.B.A., which covers salaries in its developmental league, plans to pay G League players $35,000 in addition to housing and insurance benefits for the five-month regular season.

  • [SNY Knicks] Jerry Stackhouse ready for another big jump to NBA head coach
    (Tuesday, April 17, 2018 11:30:36 AM)

    After all the great minds he has been mentored by and the years of NBA playing time under his belt, coaching has always been in Jerry Stackhouse’s future.

  • [NYPost] Mark Jackson’s Golden State tenure may be red flag for Knicks
    (Tuesday, April 17, 2018 9:04:26 PM)

    If Knicks brass has read “Betaball,’’ there are enough red flags about coaching candidate Mark Jackson to stop a NASCAR race. The recently released book detailing the making of the Warriors dynasty painted a bleak picture of Jackson being too resistant to analytics, mismanaging his coaching staff, making an ill-timed, anti-gay remark and harboring a…

  • [NYPost] Thought of ‘brilliant’ Fizdale to Knicks scares Heat coach
    (Tuesday, April 17, 2018 10:17:31 AM)

    Heat coach Erik Spoelstra hopes his former top assistant David Fizdale goes to Phoenix rather than New York. He may have said it facetiously, as a chuckling Spoelstra said he’d rather not compete against Fizdale’s team four times a season. (The Heat face Western Conference teams two times.) Fizdale said over the weekend he will…

  • [NYDN] Isiah Thomas was instrumental in getting Carmelo to Knicks: book
    (Tuesday, April 17, 2018 9:52:05 PM)

    The story is now seven years old, but trading for Carmelo was arguably the most significant move in the last 20 years for the Knicks.

  • [NYDN] Knicks must decide if they can ignore Mark Jackson’s past drama
    (Tuesday, April 17, 2018 9:51:26 PM)

    Mark Jackson’s tenure in Golden State is viewed through two very different lenses.

  • [NYDN] DN Sports Talk Podcast: Knicks talk with Stefan Bondy
    (Tuesday, April 17, 2018 2:16:12 PM)

    Daily News Knicks beat writer Stefan Bondy (@SBondyNYDN) joins the Popcast this week to discuss the team’s ongoing coaching search.

  • 80 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2018.04.18)”

    Since we’ve known that Hornacek was a dead man walking, I have pretty much been all over the place with who I would like to see replace him. Now I am firmly settled in on Stack or Fiz. Nick Nurse would be my 3rd choice since Jay Wright likely isn’t interested. If the FO is as serious about those two candidates as they say they are, then I think they will need to make a quick hire after interviewing them- as I believe there’s gonna be solid competition for their services.

    I’ve been sort of +/- on the Locked on Knicks podcast since Jared Dubin stopped doing it (although it’s been a lot better since the host started doing more Knicks and less shtick), but their show yesterday about all the off-court Mark Jackson stuff really solidified that we don’t want this guy anywhere closer to the team than the announcer’s table. Just too divisive, both in terms of personality and beliefs. There are other choices that are probably at least as good from a basketball perspective and just far superior in terms of the how you might want to run a good organization.

    If no JVG (and I think it’s a huge mistake that they aren’t even interviewing him), then give me Stack, Fiz, or even Blatt. I think there’s zero chance that Jay Wright even seriously considers the job.

    Tomorrow, Frank reads a new article on Mark Jackson, takes another 180 on Mark Jackson. 🙂

    Actually I think Mark Jackson is the one. I just listened to Freddy from Queens on the radio and I am convinced.

    Actually I think I am leaning towards Stackhouse over Fizdale. The Fizdale-Gasol thing feels a bit ominous to me — I am not sure what happened there but it is worrisome that the head coach cannot get along with his star player. JVG and many others have always said that that relationship is the most important — Belichick/Brady, Pop/Duncan, PJ/MJ — you cannot succeed unless the head coach and the star are fully on the same page. How Fizdale let it get so bad with Gasol makes me nervous. I know Lebron/Wade/Ray Allen etc all love Fizdale, but it’s much easier to be the assistant coach and letting the GM/HC be bad cop — not sure if Fizdale as HC knows how to do that effectively.

    What I am loving about Stackhouse is how self-aware he seems to be — basically self-scouting all the time. It takes a certain level of being comfortable with yourself to be able to criticize yourself — to say that as a coach he wouldn’t have liked himself as a player — that says something to me about how secure he is in himself. There’s an article from the NYT about him from last year (h/t to @knicksfilmroom for tweeting an excerpt from it) where Stack reveals that he records himself during practice, motivational speeches to the team, etc etc with the idea that he always wants to get better at everything. I love that.

    It seems to be the opposite of Mark Jackson, who it seems bristled at anyone who he thought might be trying to tread on his turf or give advice on how he could get better at his job.

    As to the coaching choice Mark Jackson never impressed me as being very smart and being smart is an essential characteristic of any type of leader on any level. The Neanderthal stuff bothers me too. The guy was a savant with the ball in his hands as far as running an offense but was one of the worst defenders ever and I don’t quite get how he is some sort of defensive guru?

    Blatt has a flawless W/L record but somehow alienated his meal ticket one of the most talented yet self absorbed babies of this or any era.

    Blatt is a very bright guy and outstanding coach everywhere he has tried (including the NBA) and there is a pretty fair football coach 4 hours north of here who was an abject failure in his first go- round as a HC 🙂

    The latest Dunc’d on Podcast says they have heard that Fizdale, Jackson and Stackhouse are the three main candidates and then adds that Blatt is also a candidate. Based on Frank’s post above and on his track record, I am leaning towards Stackhouse.

    If the Blazers get swept I worry the Knicks will abandon ship on the rebuild and offer Frank Ntilikina, our 2018 1st round pick, and Enes Kanter’s expiring contract for Dame Lillard. Of course that would be right after we give Mark Jackson a 5 year contract to be head coach. Then we’ll be stuck at 45 wins a season between KP, Lillard, and TH2. Am I the only person who feels this way?

    On a more serious note, Jerry Stackhouse, Dave Fizdale, and Mark Jackson are probably the front runners for the Knicks’ position. I’d prefer David Blatt because I think he’s the coach most likely to be patient with Frank Ntilikina and build a dominating defense between France and Latvia. People forget that Cleveland has basically been the same team since 2015 in terms of minutes allocation and were a top 10 defense with Blatt at the helm (well they were 18th in 2015 but in 2016 they were 5th at the time Blatt got fired). Lue took over and the defense has basically been AI hitting the jumper and walking over him ever since. I like the idea of giving Blatt a group of Burke, Ntilikina, KP, and our 2018 and 2019 picks to build around. I think we’d be a respectable two way team that overachieves, and the Princeton connection between Robinson, Mills, and Blatt should give him the pull necessary to keep him around through turmoil. The Princeton connection plus the European background with Frank/KP make him an ideal fit with our current long term infrastructure.

    Well, at least Lillard is actually very good, so that would be a first time in Knicks recent history.

    Man I really fucking hate the Celtics

    I think they’re going to do annoyingly well in these playoffs.

    Stackhouse is appealing but I think I’m a little burned by Derek Fisher to hire another first time coach.

    This whole movement to hire former players before they’ve cut their teeth as an assistant reminds me of when the league was obsessed with drafting high school kids instead of productive basketball players from college. Projecting Stackhouse as a coach based on sound bites and quotes is as difficult as projecting a 16 year old’s likelihood to succeed in the NBA by his vertical leap. There’s too much unknown, and we pick apart the guys with experience too much.

    Maybe I underestimate G-League coaching experience.

    fwiw Stackhouse has a year on the bench as an assistant coach under Casey and 2 years as G-league head coach. That’s something. It’s totally not like Fisher or Kidd.

    If the Blazers get swept I worry the Knicks will abandon ship on the rebuild and offer Frank Ntilikina, our 2018 1st round pick, and Enes Kanter’s expiring contract for Dame Lillard

    You are incredibly underestimating Damian Lillard. That trade would be the best thing that’s happened to us since we drafted Patrick Ewing.

    Today’s task is to research the Fiz-Gasol thing and get to the bottom of it. For the past few days I’ve been googling stuff like ‘mark jackson-insane’ or ‘mama there goes that crazy person’

    I honestly think the main upside of the KP injury is it makes us way less likely to do something dumb this offseason. If the rest of the season had played out like the first half through KP’s injury and we’d ended up with the 34 or 35 wins we were on pace for the temptation would have been much stronger. We easily might have been theoretically “in the playoff hunt” until the last couple weeks (albeit with little hope of actually making it) and that kind of thing is catnip for dumb Knicks management. With KP’s contract situation starting to become a topic of discussion as well I could certainly have seen us springing for a win-now trade. But the way things actually played out removes a lot of that pressure.

    We don’t have that silly self-imposed pressure of having been “close” this year leading to having to try to be in next year, and with KP likely to miss significant time it makes it so much easier for management to sell next year as a transitional one. It’s next summer when you have to worry about us pushing in a bunch of chips to try to speed up the process in my opinion, particularly if KP looks okay coming back from the injury. Between Frank, this year’s pick and next year’s pick we should have some decent pieces to try to snare a big name to go with KP as he (theoretically) enters his prime.

    If I was betting on a date for the next really dumb Knicks trade I’d take Draft Day 2019.

    i think the fizdale/gasol thing is overblown… a declining star player is a tough thing to manage for any coach especially once the wheels completely fell off and the goal of the season became different… hell even spoelstra is having that difficulty now with not even playing whiteside major minutes…

    fizdale does have a strong personality…. but that’s not necessarily a bad thing for our situation… i do think he’s looking for a more veteran team.. namely the cavs or bucks… and i think he’s a better fit there…

    i like what i’ve read about stack… hated him as a player… but he’s grown to be my #1 choice given his work in development and from everything perry and mills have said i think that he might be theirs also…

    I don’t know much about Stackhouse’s coaching acumen, but he’s had numerous fist fights on and off the court. That’s concerning.

    Whoever plays the young guys the most should get the job. Sounds like Stackhouse is the guy.

    also remember that dave joerger once told a reporter that Gasol was trying to get him fired, so it’s not just a Fizdale thing. the Fizdale Gasol stories are all over the place. Some say they didn’t get along from the get, but if you go back there were all these glowing articles about Fizdale visiting Gasol in Europe when he was hurt and telling him he wanted him to shoot 4 threes a game (which he did). it’s hard to say with so little information but it might not be as big as red flag as it seems.

    I also like reading the Stackhouse stuff. Either of these two guys seems like a reasonable choice.

    Yeah more and more I like Stackhouse. He’s done a good job in the D-League and seems like the right kind of guy to work with young players. And I like that line about not liking himself as a player if he was the coach.

    As much as I would love JVG, I kinda get why its a non starter. The past history, while maybe water under the bridge at this point, would come up and the second there was a difference of opinion or the team wasn’t doing well, it would be another media drama fest. Mark Jackson would be worse because of the personal stuff but both are “homecoming” picks and we see how this stuff works out when we do these homecoming moves (Phil, Melo, or whenever they bring in a hometown player that’s a star like Marbury, etc). The fact that he’s a young ex player but is not directly connected to the Knicks past…I like that from a drama free standpoint.

    I like Stack and Fiz for mostly the same reasons- young with coaching experience. In their coaching, they seem competent and like they’re not overwhelmed by the moment- which is what you hope for in a young coach. My only concern would be- given Fizdale’s experience- would he be patient enough and would the FO expect too much too soon? Either way, both options feel like good hires

    Gasol is famously prickly and I think Fizdale was in a tough situation in Memphis because expectations were so out of whack. A lot of people in the organization (Gasol included) still seem to have perceived themselves as the fringe contender they were a few years ago. But their roster was weak even before Conley’s injury issues, and when he went down, forget about it. I think it resulted in him taking a lot of heat that didn’t really belong on him. That said, it seems he didn’t seem to handle it that well and the issues between him and Gasol spiraled. I think he has a good chance to become a really good head coach, but we have a potentially prickly star and perennially misaligned expectations are a big part of what we do around here, so you’d have to be a little worried about him facing the same issues that undid him in Memphis.

    Color me not excited about the prospect of paying Dame Lillard $28M AAV over the next few seasons, mega maxing him after that, and then losing draft picks and the best perimeter defender over the next decade. We won’t end up with Dame Lillard, but the idea of the Knicks doing the most Knicksy thing possible with him is very high.

    If I had to rank the coaches in any order, it would probably be:

    1)Blatt
    2a)Stackhouse
    2b)Fizdale
    3) A surprise out of left field
    4) Mark Jackson

    I really don’t want Mark Jackson. Not because of his potential to divide an organization, but because of his potential to have the media and James Dolan (you just know Dolan would fall in love with him) on his side no matter what happens. I guess he can coach up a defense, though.

    It is fucking delusional to think the Blazers are going to give up their biggest star, who plays the most important position in the NBA, on a #3 seed in a competitive conference for the #8 pick and a rookie who had a historically-bad offensive season to go with his “upside.” Add Kanter’s perception as unplayable in the playoffs — why the fuck are we even discussing this?

    There is not a single person I’ve met in Portland who thinks that Lillard is anything less than a mega-max superstar. Trading him for a guy who shoots .420 TS% and the anemic pick the Knicks fucked themselves into? Give me a mother fucking break.

    And this is from a guy who thinks that Lillard is perpetually overrated.

    Damian Lillard is turning 28 in July. But I agree with Cock, it is pretty delusional to think THAT would be the package for which the Blazers would trade him.

    It is fucking delusional to think the Blazers are going to give up their biggest star, who plays the most important position in the NBA, on a #3 seed in a competitive conference for the #8 pick and a rookie who had a historically-bad offensive season to go with his “upside.” Add Kanter’s perception as unplayable in the playoffs — why the fuck are we even discussing this?

    There is not a single person I’ve met in Portland who thinks that Lillard is anything less than a mega-max superstar. Trading him for a guy who shoots .420 TS% and the anemic pick the Knicks fucked themselves into? Give me a mother fucking break.

    So, we don’t have two mega-stars in Porzingis and Ntilikina? You don’t think they only need more time because obscure stat X has them ahead of Jordan and Pippen at the same age?

    it’s much more likely that mccollum gets traded… and the sixers would be a decent destination for him….

    There is not a single person I’ve met in Portland who thinks that Lillard is anything less than a mega-max superstar. Trading him for a guy who shoots .420 TS% and the anemic pick the Knicks fucked themselves into? Give me a mother fucking break.

    Of course… this is meaningless. What is the definition of a mega max value player? Good value compared to Evan Turner’s 17 million…. sure!

    I’m not so sure I want to be paying a guy 29 million a year for his next 4 years that perennially sucks come playoff time. 33 games >1300 minutes playing to a .092 ws/48. He isn’t a great passer (making his mates appreciably better) nor a great 3 ball shooter…. but he can score on high volume with good efficiency til playoff time comes and defenses get to concentrate and scheme against one way volume players.

    Also calling Frank a 42% ts player is a little disingenuous while factually correct. I’m guessing Lillard wouldn’t have fared particularly well in the NBA during his freshman season at Weber fucking State….

    That isn’t to say the proposed package has great merit, but the notion that Lillard is some sort of demi god because the latte drinking fanbois think so is a pretty funny appeal to “authority” from you 🙂 And he is overpaid if you are thinking he is a star lead dog # 1 player on a championship caliber team, which he certainly isn’t And that should be the standard for a true mega max player.

    Here’s what I gathered from Fizz on the hour I just wasted on the Grizz message board. Again, just my conclusions reading their shit. And let me just say, good fans, but it’s a depressing place:
    -Gasol has a history of being hard to coach
    -Fizz wanted the Grizz to run; Gasol didn’t want to. He also wanted Gasol to shoot 3’s, which he did
    -Fizz supported not resigning Zach Randolph. I guess Gasol was against that
    -Fizz challenged him to be a leader, more aggressive, more vocal. Fans feel Mem’s true leaders over time were Z-BO, Conley and Allen; w/ Gasol being a complimentary piece. Maybe Fizz expected him to be/act like Wade / Lebron / Bosh?
    -It didn’t seem going thru their board that the fans supported the firing, or even had clarity that it was as bad as it was. They mainly blame the owner and GM.
    -There’s a suggesting that ownership fired Fizz shortly before the deadline because they feared Gasol would demand a trade, and they wanted to show him they were loyal to him
    -Man, these fans loved Z-Bo

    So, my Fizz conclusion is, some risk; maybe went thru some learning pains in a toxic environment. Not sure he showed much in terms of developing youth. I’d put him after Blatt on my list.

    Also calling Frank a 42% ts player is a little disingenuous while factually correct. I’m guessing Lillard wouldn’t have fared particularly well in the NBA during his freshman season at Weber fucking State….

    On the other hand, Frank projects more as a Shumpert than a Lillard, wishful thinking not withstanding. Both stats and eye-test results look dire.
    And that’s what people should base their opinions on today. So, yes, it’s perfectly fine to think that Portland would laugh at the fantasy trade.

    On the other hand, Frank projects more as a Shumpert than a Lillard, wishful thinking not withstanding. Both stats and eye-test results look dire.

    Frank not only projects as a far better defender than Shumpert, he is today a far better all around defender at 19 than Shumpert with his gambooling assed ways ever was. Offensively they may be a fair comparison.

    And championships are won basically with defense… ask the Celts dynasty, Knicks two championship teams, the Bulls 6, the Spurs 4 and even the recent Warriors…. not by volume shooters who suck eggs at playoff time. It is really hard to win a champoinship grossly out scoring them without the capability to get stops and extra possessions.

    And championships are won basically with defense… ask the Celts dynasty, Knicks two championship teams, the Bulls 6, the Spurs 4 and even the recent Warriors…. not by volume shooters who suck eggs at playoff time. It is really hard to win a champoinship grossly out scoring them without the capability to get stops and extra possessions.

    I mean both championship Knicks team had excellent offenses (they were ranked higher in ORtg than DRtg during the second), the dynasty Bulls had better offense than defense (being 1st in ORtg by a significant margin multiple times). These are just the examples I’m willing to look up on my phone, so I can only imagine how the rest fare.

    Don’t let it get in the way of your not-quite-factual narrative, though. The truth is that teams generally don’t win 16 games in the playoff without elite MOV, whether that’s due to elite offense, defense or both. The sample size is too large for many scrubbish teams to make it deep. You could have some outliers back when you had to win just two series to be champ.

    I mean both championship Knicks team had excellent offenses (they were ranked higher in ORtg than DRtg during the second), the dynasty Bulls had better offense than defense (being 1st in ORtg by a significant margin multiple times). These are just the examples I’m willing to look up on my phone, so I can only imagine how the rest fare.

    Of course you don’t have time to look up any more because they don’t agree with your position…. you prefer cherry picking data:

    SA was 7, 5, 8 and 7 in OR for their 4 ringzz and were 3,2,1 and 3 in DR

    GS was 2,1 in OR for their 2 rings and 1,2 in DR

    Teams like the Paper Clips led the league in OR in 15 and 14 and never got close and the 2011 Nuggets led the league in OR and went nowhere.

    Of course great teams need a balance to win but it is very hard to win in any sport without a very good defense.

    The Lillards of the world look great on the score sheets during the regular season but not so hot in the playoffs…. I wouldn’t be thrilled to have him on the books for 29 M per year moving forward.

    It seems clear that being in the top five of either category is the bare minimum that you need to be a realistic title contender (of course, there have been some rare exceptions that have won titles without being in the top five of either category, but they are pretty darn rare and if exceptions are that rare, then it probably dovetails well into the idea of a “realistic” contender – if it only happens once every couple of decades, then it is probably not realistic to think that you would be able to do it yourself).

    I think, if I had to choose between which one to be in the top five for a playoff team, I’d prefer to be a top five defense than a top five offense. But you can probably still win with “just” a top five offense.

    Houston is the #1 offense this year, and the #6 defense.
    Golden State is the #3 offense this year, and the #11 defense.

    Those are your two title contenders right there.

    Toronto is the #2 offense, #5 defense but they did it in the weaker conference.

    I never thought the 2013 team was good enough to compete for a championship team even with how good on offense they were. Felton/Kidd/JR/Melo and Tyson even at full power were just too small to deal with the other contenders.

    I was thinking about the inherent racism that is built into the types of coaches that we like. The “process” guys tend to be white dudes, because black guys don’t get the process jobs. That doesn’t mean that black guys can’t be process guys, it’s just that they don’t get those jobs so we never get to know. When black guys get hired, they are almost always hired due to their ability to relate to the players. Then some white guy that you’ve never heard of gets to be the process guy (like a Nick Nurse, a Quinn Snyder, a Budz, a Kenny Atkinson, a Carlisle, a JVG, a SVG, a Thibs) and then becomes a hot coaching prospect because everyone wants a process guy.

    So I totally respect Mills and Perry for wanting to hire a black guy as their head coach, but it pisses me off that the way that the system is set up, the most interesting process guys (like Nick Nurse) are going to be white dudes.

    Now, coaches whose greatest skill is relating to the players do work out a lot when they’re willing to hire great process assistants (Doc Rivers and Phil Jackson are two guys who come to mind), but then you get guys like Derek Fisher who, well, don’t.

    Long story short, I’d like for NBA teams to start giving process gigs to black guys because I want a process guy to coach the Knicks but I also support Mills and Perry wanting to hire a black coach.

    @27 I see somebody is on the warpath and forgot his reading glasses. A motherfucking break you get, sir.

    The Warriors are going to smoke the Rockets. The Rockets have three good players and everybody else has been replacement level or Eric Gordon. The Warriors have 4 HoFers in their prime and a lot more talent where that came from. It won’t be a close series.

    I never thought the 2013 team was good enough to compete for a championship team even with how good on offense they were. Felton/Kidd/JR/Melo and Tyson even at full power were just too small to deal with the other contenders.

    If I recall correctly, they matched up oddly well against the Heat that season, as the Heat really struggled with Chandler and Melo as the two bigs on the court (since the Heat couldn’t go to Bosh at the center with Chandler out there).

    Looking into it, they beat the Heat three out of four games that season. One win was without Melo and one win was without Lebron. The wins, though, were big ones while the one loss was a six-point loss.

    That’s always what drives me insane about 1996-97, the fact that they specifically seemed to match up well against the Bulls that year. They probably would have still lost, but it would have been interesting (they split the regular season series, with the wins being 97-93 and 103-101 and the losses being 88-87 and 105-103. Talk about being evenly matched!).

    Rockets are a ridiculously good team and built for the playoffs with their top three players due to play more minutes and crush opponents.

    The Dubs with Curry are also elite. You are out of your mind if you think a team with a ~8 SRS is going to get swept or anything close to it. I’d bet a huge sum of money on a 6+ game series if everyone is guaranteed healthy.

    APM data suggests that the best defenders might carry 5 points of impact per game and the best offensive players can top 6 points per game in a given season, so if that’s generalizable to team offense and defense statistics (which is an open question), offensive production is modestly more valuable than defense in aggregate, but both can be just as impactful as one another on any given team. Defense doesn’t necessarily win championships so much as being elite at one and being minimally top 10ish in the other is necessary to win chips.

    i don’t think there’s necessarily any racism perse with labeling certain folks ‘process’ guys… i think a lot of the black coaches… assistant or head…. have got their start because of their playing experience in major colleges or nba…. a lot of the white ‘process’ guys have either never played above college or were more ingrained in coaching pedigree…. they come off as more academic in nature since they’re not exactly athletic types…

    stackhouse seems to be that type of person tho…. and he’s black and a former nba star…. all it really takes to be successful anywhere is being able to adapt… and not being too results oriented helps.. and so does being able to see reality…. and that’s really all it is….

    the reason it might be a black/white thing is that white coaches just take different paths to get to where they are than black coaches do in general….

    Long story short, I’d like for NBA teams to start giving process gigs to black guys because I want a process guy to coach the Knicks but I also support Mills and Perry wanting to hire a black coach.

    Interesting analysis, but it misses a structural component. It seems to me the real schism is not just the racially built in biases NBA executives use to evaluate potential coaching hires, but the way that racial differences are structurally built into the very nature of NBA coaching pipeline. Many black coaches are former NBA players and come up through a network system already within the organization with all of the personalized baggage that entails. Hence the reason they are hired to relate to players, since they were players and are part of a very insular and incestuous NBA player culture where jock groupthink, like Mark Jackson’s anti-analytics bias, prevails. More white coaches come up into the NBA from the bottom up like minor league ball players do–from High School to College to Euroleagues to G-League–and are socialized into professional basketball not as players, but as coaches. They acquire valuable experiences of trail and error as head coaches and graduate through the system based upon their performance in that field.

    This is also a part of the reason why I believe so much of the Peter Principle applies to NBA coaching hires. Just because someone is a great basketball player, it does not mean that they will have the tools to succeed as a head coach. So what ends up happening is what happens in all corporate structures, employees who excel in one aspect of the job (playing) are promoted up the hierarchy until they reach the levels of their respective incompetence to do jobs requiring different sets of skills than the ones they excelled in.

    Marv is at the point where he’s a coin flip to identify the correct player or call at any moment

    In other words, we need a complete reformation in the international division of professional basketball labor in order to fundamentally address the racial disparities in NBA coaching hires. There has to be a better way of integrating black personnel into the coaching pipeline system outside of the traditional NBA buddy-buddy system where ex-players, with their own preconceived notions as basketball players, graduate into head coaching ranks. It means addressing the usual dichotomy we see where the professional level “brain” labor (executive work, coaching, etc.) are given to white personnel from High School up and the “physical” labor (playing basketball) is occupied by black personnel. Rarely do you find a black professional basketball coach who was a subpar basketball player like you do with white coaches like Jeff Van Gundy. We need a system where a black Jeff Van Gundy can exist because it means we are graduating coaching talent on similar criteria of success, hence a greater equalization of representation.

    In other words, we need a complete reformation in the international division of professional basketball labor in order to fundamentally address the racial disparities in NBA coaching hires. There has to be a better way of integrating black personnel into the coaching pipeline system outside of the traditional NBA buddy-buddy system where ex-players, with their own preconceived notions as basketball players, graduate into head coaching ranks. It means addressing the usual dichotomy we see where the professional level “brain” labor (executive work, coaching, etc.) are given to white personnel from High School up and the “physical” labor (playing basketball) is occupied by black personnel. Rarely do you find a black professional basketball coach who was a subpar basketball player like you do with white coaches like Jeff Van Gundy. We need a system where a black Jeff Van Gundy can exist because it means we are graduating coaching talent on similar criteria of success, hence a greater equalization of representation.

    Yeah, precisely.

    There’s no way there isn’t a “black Jeff Van Gundy” out there and the current system pretty much prevents us from seeing him (not 100%, of course, but generally speaking).

    The Rockets stand no chance against a healthy Warriors team in the playoffs because the Rockets have one way to beat you, and that’s all based around the pick and roll. D’Antoni is a one trick pony and he is going to get thoroughly outcoached by Steve Kerr. Once James Harden and Chris Paul have trouble, and they will have trouble, Clint Capella’s league leading efficiency will also dip. Trevor Ariza, PJ Tucker, and Eric Gordon will not be saving the day anytime soon. James Harden dances with the best of them, but he does not have more moves than Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson was able to bother him down the stretch of every close game in the Finals. Once you clamp down on James Harden’s stepback he does not know what to do. Oh, and then they have to stop Kevin Durant. The same guy who calmly averaged 35 points a night in the NBA Finals against LeBron James. Don’t forget that the worst defender on the team is armed with the task of keeping Klay Thompson from catching fire and shouldering the load on offense.

    Considering Houston has homecourt advantage in the series, I can see the series going to six games. It reminds me a lot of the Knicks-Pacers series in 2013 where a pick and roll first, iso-Melo second Knicks team lost in 6 to Indiana’s defense. Once the Warriors stop the Rockets’ pick and roll attack, the series is over. The only way Houston has a chance is if Golden State gets cocky, takes all those dumb ass shots early in the clock I hate, and makes those sloppy passes that lead to them losing the turnover and eFG% battles. But a focused Warriors team? Come on.

    There’s no way there isn’t a “black Jeff Van Gundy” out there and the current system pretty much prevents us from seeing him (not 100%, of course, but generally speaking).

    Well, to me, there is – his name is David Fizdale. Here is a man who was a non-star point guard from high school into college, paid his dues as a college assistant coach from 1998 t0 2004, graduated to the NBA level as an assistant coach where he worked for 12 years and then took an NBA level position. This was pretty much the same trajectory as Van Gundy…

    I mean, I should say that we need a coaching system where multiple black Jeff Van Gundys can exist. You will see a David Fizdale and a Dwayne Casey in the NBA. The problem is that they are fewer and far in between than the Stan Van Gundys and Greg Poppovichs of the league.

    LeBron deserves better than this Cleveland team. I know he’s the GM, but his talent warrants more.

    When LeBron leaves the Cavs, what’s the over/under on games before Ty Lue gets fired? 20?

    When LeBron leaves the Cavs, what’s the over/under on games before Ty Lue gets fired? 20?

    My guess is 0.

    I think the worst thing an NBA team could do is what the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks did with Jason Kidd by graduating him to head coach straight out of retirement as an NBA basketball player. Is it any coincidence he crashed and burned in much the same way that Mark Jackson did this season? There seemed to be this faulty logic which assumes that all forms of basketball logic are interchangeable as if a great point guard will have the aptitude to approach the game the same as a coach would. In specialized work environments even the smallest differences in job tasks can make a huge difference. An ultracompetitve, headstrong, and combative asshole may have a performance advantage as a player in a star driven league, but those traits do not translate as well into head coaching where you have to earn your team’s trust, incorporate different ideas into a team strategy, and manage an assortment of personalities into a unified whole. Isaiah Thomas is a perfect example of this very dynamic.

    Kudos to the Cavaliers for finally figuring out that Jeff Green, who has never been a good NBA player, is not a good NBA player.

    Popovich’s wife passed away today.

    That’s sad to hear. It has definitely been a rough year for Pop on all fronts.

    OMFG, Knicks are interviewing Kenny Smith for the head coaching job.

    This is starting to resemble the Trump administration: “Hey I saw that guy on TV, he seems pretty smart, let’s hire him!”

    Kenny Smith interviewed for the Rockets and Darryl Morey, too. He actually won two championships and isn’t crazy, unlike the other point guard from Queens that the Knicks are interviewing.

    The rest of the bum squad on the Cavs have taken 25 more shots than Lebron and have combined for 2 more made baskets

    Oh, I forgot, one more important qualification for Kenny Smith (and Mark Jackson) – he’s New York City born and raised.

    Very important to have a coach who knows the area

    Amazingly, I don’t even think that this would be the worst Lebron Cavs team to make the finals if they get that far.

    I guess it depends on whether you think Love’s injury has made him terrible now.

    Towns look an awful lot like “bad” Porzingis when he’s getting double teamed near the basket and isn’t getting wide open 3 pointers.

    Derrick rose went -10 in 5 minutes lmao fire Thibs

    The rockets aren’t playing well and are 22 up. The Knicks would give more of a fight than the twolves

    Towns look an awful lot like “bad” Porzingis when he’s getting double teamed near the basket and isn’t getting wide open 3 pointers.

    I should add that Porzingis is a better defender. lol

    Of course, I’m not saying that KP is as effective as Towns on offense, but it is interesting how much his game and shot selection has deteriorated (so far) when a playoff level defense focused on trying to take away all his easy looks like they were with KP after his hot start. (and Towns has Teague and Butler on the court with him. KP had Jack and Lance Thomas lol).

    This is the kind of experience that KP, Frank, and the others are going to need eventually.

    Derrick Rose and Jamal Crawford combined for 46 minutes. I don’t think it’s even possible to win when that happens regardless of anything else. They both shot the same amount of shots as Towns and 3 more than Butler.

    Thibs should be fired midseries.

    Whether they took the same amount of shots as KAT is immaterial – KAT looked terrible. Like, worse than Bad Porzingis, without the D. I was thinking how people would be commenting about his play if he were on the Knicks – would have been no mercy. Most of his shots were worse than Rose’s and Crawford’s.

    And Butler is hurt. So I can’t blame Thibs. His team is nowhere near ready for an elite team.

    That would make sense if he was only coaching, but when you remember he actually built this roster and got those players, yeah, not so much.

    Well, sure, Thibs as a GM, no. And Thibs over a season, destroying players’ longevity, no. But he didn’t have much he could do as a coach.

    So basically, KAT looked exhausted. Like everybody who starts on a Thibs team during the regular season.

    I liked how Stackhouse talks about shit more than what he actually says. The ability to admit mistakes, to take on board other opinions.I don’t know that he’d be better than Fizz or Blatt, but he’d be better than Jackson just based on that.

    I think Mills and Perry are very specifically talking about giving a black coach a ‘long leash,’ as that guy put it in that article about Jackson. That’s a small step forward, but it’s a step.

    IMO, Towns doesn’t look bad because of anything Thibs is doing. He looks bad because Houston decided to try to take him out of the series and let guys like Butler, Teague, and Wiggins beat them. It’s basically the same thing teams were doing to the Knicks after KP started the season playing like a super freak.

    The problem for Minnesota is that Towns doesn’t know how to handle it anymore than KP did. So even when he gets the ball he’s often throwing up terrible shots just like KP. The other problem is that the other players aren’t stepping up (Butler may not be 100%) and they are simply the inferior team anyway. But the best is still ahead for a few of their players and this experience will help them.

    If anything, this should be encouraging to Knicks fans. It shows that when a defense focuses on a very efficient scorer like Towns they can even take a player like that out of a game because he’s not a super elite scorer that has the knowledge and skills to deal with it.

    Just before he got hurt, it seemed like KP was starting to figure it all out. It’s part of the learning process. If we can ever put some better scoring options next to him than Lance Thomas (lol), it will make his job easier.

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