Nice over reaction. Nobody hates Buck. People happen to have differing opinions on the hire. Is that unacceptable to you? Sorry. great hire! yay! Bring back the whole crew from the 90s! Toughness! yay!
What is unacceptable to me, is that people are taking a player known for his high BBIQ and great fundamentals, and are dismissing him as just a "tough guy" with nothing to teach younger players. We aren't talking about some thug here - Williams was a very good basketball player.
I'm leery because he's been out of basketball for over ten years, I'm leery because he was never really known as a "skill" guy and I'm leery because I don't believe you can teach "toughness" (mostly). I hope he works out because it would be a not only a great story, but I think Greg and LMA need better fundamentals on offense in particular (though LMA could stand to learn a thing or two about setting picks and boxing out).
Let's not undersell what Buck brought to the court, and his fundamentals. I think Buck could teach them how to rebound, maybe even better than Lucas could. Buck played 300 more games, and still averaged 10 boards a game (which is more than Lucas). You add 300 games to Lucas's career #'s, and I doubt his #'s would be as impressive. Buck had twice as many years with double digit rebound averages. He also averaged more blocks per game too. Buck was very underrated in the start of his career. He was an 17-12-1 guy for the first 7 years of his career. He was a beast.
I know Lucas was a tough guy. But watching the old 70s games--they were a lot less physical. Buck had to wrestle with Malone and other physical post players. I think Buck's game translates to today's game better than Luke's did.
I think Gary Payton would be a solid addition to the staff. He's been a player development coach (out of Vegas) for the past few years.
I do think people tend to forget how much scoring Buck did before coming to the Blazers. I have to go by stats. I lived in Alaska and didn't even know basketball existed until I moved here in 1987 and discovered the Blazers and have followed them every since. Buck had to have some offensive skills to post the numbers that he did. Buck is a smart man. I personally think that he will translate to coaching or front office work really well whatever he decides to do for his future. Looks like we got a lot of experience with the other two coaches we are hiring. I think we can take a chance with a rookie assistant coach...
I don't want this to turn into some kind of hate fest on Buck -- I loved him just about more than any other Blazer and there's not a snowball's chance in hell the Blazers don't get to the Finals without him -- that said, he averaged almost 4.5 offensive rebounds per game when he was in New Jersey while only attempting about 11 field goal attempts per game; he got a ton of his offense off of putbacks and he shot a ton of foul shots. Buck didn't have a whole lot of finesse or post-ups in his game, so don't expect him to revolutionize the way that LMA and Greg score from the block. On the other hand if there's anyway he can make LMA a better rebounder and defender, and if he can make Greg even better on defense and even better on the offensive boards then I'm all for it. I hope he works out ... for real.
So let me get this straight. According to Nate Buck will more than likely handle the bigs Bernie will do whatever Ociepka will handle the defense Does that mean Mr Sonic is still in charge of the offense?
