By Wendell Maxey via Hoopsworld: http://www.hoopsworld.com/Blogs/CourtsideBlog.asp?GAME_ID=28868&LEAGUE_CODE=NBA
Cool. Thanks for sharing. KP got some props from Larry Brown. I guess that's better than an "F U" from some anonymous GM, huh?
Larry Brown thinks Nate's a good coach? Go figure. But what does he know about coaching anyways. A LOT (and I mean A LOT) of people on this forum (think they) know a lot more about coaching than Larry and Nate put together.
And that is why you add someone like Vince Carter to put us over the top this season. If we can get Carter for table scraps, we would be stupid not to do it. He could be that piece that put pulls it all together. We've seen this team's potential, but they have been unable to maintain a high level of play consistently. Sometimes they coast (like tonight). Someone like Carter could stop that.
I agree. I'm surprised Larry Brown didn't call him out about his offense, defensive scheme, inability to get GO the ball more, and his lack of success as an NBA coach. Larry Brown clearly doesn't understand basketball near as well as the posters on here...
They coasted a little on offense, but defensively I thought the team actually played the pick and roll better than I've seen them do it in ... well ... I can't remember us ever playing the pick and roll well defensively. But in any case, I'd love to add Vince to this roster. He wouldn't be a long term answer at the 3 and he's never been what I would call a lock-down defender, but he'd give us more than we are currently getting on a consistent basis from the small forward spot.
I agree, but we don't need him to be the longer term answer, because we have Batum and Martell. If Vince can hold down the fort for 3-4 more years while either Batum or Webster develop, that would be ideal. That's the thing that people need to wrap their heads around. We can afford to bring in an older star because we don't need any more young guys. We have young talent at every position. We can bring in an older star, let him start until his tanks are empty, and then move one of our young guys into his spot. It's win/win.
I think you misunderstood (or I did a poor job of being clear) I like Batum as the long term answer in a few years when he's not so raw offensively and he's put on a little bit more muscle. I'm totally OK with adding an aged vet who will only be around for 2 or 3 years while some of the youngins mature into their roles.
it wouldn't be possible to do a worse coaching job than larry brown did in his two jobs prior to becoming the bobcats head coach.
Maybe so, but wasn't Larry Brown the coach at Kansas when KP helped the Jayhawks to the national title?
Regardless, I'll never open my pie hole and say that I know more about basketball (or coaching basketball) than he or Nate or pretty much any NBA coach does. It's pretty comical that the CPA's, janitors, truck drivers, sales guys, marketing people, high school kids and etc. on here often tell these guys how to do their jobs.
Fair point, yennie...but what about the other side of that argument? If a truck-driving, high-school CPA who cleans his own bathrooms can see things like: we're giving up a great many points on pick-and-roll defense, there's a pretty extreme correlation between 3pt shooting and wins for this team, and Greg Oden's picking up a ton of fouls by switching onto a PG 18 feet from the hoop...if THAT guy can see it, you don't think Sloan, Jackson, and Popovich can? And devise a way to use it against us?
Fair point on your end as well. However, unless I'm privy to all the things that go on in every practice, in the locker room, team meetings and such, I'm not going to mouth off and say that Nate isn't doing anything to address any of the dozens of things we wannabe coaches accuse him of every single day. We've got a loaded owner who's demonstated time and time again that he's willing to spend the money to put a winning team on the floor and a GM that just about everyone thinks walks on water . . . so I'd have to trust that they have some inkling of intelligence when they put their heads together and went out and got a coach for this team. Bottom line for me is: I don't propose do know more about basketball than Nate, KP, Paul Allen or anyone else in the Blazers front office. And I certainly don't think that I know more than ALL of them put together. And anyone here that thinks that, is either an ass or needs to be hired on by the Blazers PRONTO!
What two jobs would that be? Yeah, the Knicks were a disaster, but that was more the fault of the GM than the coach. And, the job before that was the Pistons. In two season's in Detroit, he took the team to two NBA finals. They beat a Lakers team featuring Shaq, Kobe, Malone and Payton the first time and lost to the Spurs in 7 games the second time. And you consider this a bad job? Seriously, two finals appearances in two years? I'd take that anytime. BNM
knicks and team usa. i guess brown technically was still the coach of the pistons the season after that, but he was already trying to get out. eh, i guess that's bad wording too. i always just think of his last two jobs being the knicks and team usa though team usa was during his time with the pistons. with the knicks, they won 33 games the year before larry brown. with larry brown they won 23 games. the next year with isiah, back to 33.
