Seasons Coached: 30 Numbers of years that the team he coached made the playoffs:20 Chris Cohan as an Owner: Join me in Hating Chris Cohan!
I don't think there's anyone here who's really a fan of Cohan. I know that, for me, after Arenas said he would've stayed "if only Cohan would look him in the eye and give him a handshake," that was it. I blame losing Arenas to Cohan. There are multiple sources that have more or less confirmed what happened (although I wasn't there). Basically, Arenas would've taken a one-year deal, on good faith that they would then do a long-term max deal the next year. Cohan couldn't man-up, and so, one of the greatest players in the league left. Of course, he's had injuries, but at the time that happened, GS was the laughing stock of the league. However, this doesn't exempt Nellie from criticism. Two things can be equally true: Cohan sucks, Nellie deserves a bit of criticism. I say that because every coach deserves a bit of criticism. There isn't a perfect coach in the league. Nellie has done a lot of good as a Warrior coach; he's also done some things that I feel deserve criticism. In particular this year, it's over-playing the vets, underplaying the youngs, refusing to discipline the leader (Jax) of the team for insubordination (I still love ya Jax), and refusing to play a real PF next to Beans (up until recently). For the last several years, Nellie has refused to play a real PF at PF. Azibuike...Jax...Maggette... rarely have we seen Turiaf (who is not a natural center) or Randolph or Wright play with Beans. A little, but not enough for me. However, overall, Nellie has made this franchise relevant, and the good definitely outweighs the bad. That doesn't mean there won't be nights that I'll get pissed about the way he mismanages minutes and game situations. But it's all part of being a fan. On the other side, with Cohan, well he couldn't be gone soon enough. It would everyone some good for him to sell to a passionate owner. Also, ditch Rowell along with him. That guy wants to be in the spotlight, but he's never even dribbled a basketball before. He's never set a screen, or thrown a bounce pass, yet he wants to act like he knows the game. He became the laughing stock of the league when he gave Jax the early extension. One of the worst chess moves in recent GM history.
I counted 18 apperances as a coach http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/nelsodo01c.html He's also got a sub-.500 record in the playoffs too. Were it not for having a very talented (and under rated) Bucks team in the 80's his record would be a lot worse too. Nelson's style is not conductive to winning in the playoffs. Sure he'll get a 1st round upset once in a while when a coach/team gets sucked into playing his style, but then the 2nd round comes and disciplined teams that will pound his undersized style on the boards and make his team beat you by the 3.. something that's extremely hard to do for 4 wins. I'm not saying the owner is not at as much fault, but Nelson is a huge part of the issue too.
I don't know if we can even call it a chess move. Maybe a game of Sorry! We love Jax, and at the time, I sort of endorsed the move as a good move, but that was my heart talking. Worst business move I've witnessed in a long time, unless you want to start talking about Madoff victims.
I remember we booed Cohan in front of his family in his own arena on all-star weekend. Yeah! Take that loser!
The Knicks and Mavs teams made the playoffs the years he walked away and was let go.That Wiki story says that Cohan's car was stolen in broad daylight after the Webber trade.
Agree, all coaches are up for criticism and it's typical for all fans to question their teams' HCs. That being said, Nellie has stuck to his guns all season despite major criticism and hes largely proven himself right as far as developing the young players. How much better are Marco, Wright, Randolph, Morrow, etc. this year? Even guys like Biedrins, Turiaf, and Jackson have refined their games noticeably. Nellie's got the young guys producing and playing the right way.
I'm for getting rid of Cohan, but you're comparing apples to oranges. Nelson's teams have never gone deep in the playoffs because of small ball. And then there's the devastation of players and teams that he leaves by the side of the road to all those victories.
Nelson might not be the best coach to win the championship due to his style. However, I will worry about that when we are bounced from semifinal for number of times. At this point, we are struggling to make PO, and Nelson is very good coach to lead this team to PO. To make things worse, we have tons of young and available players, who want playing times. If we hire an unknown head coach, those players will walk all over the head coach demanding playing times. Because of Nelson's reputation, things have been relatively under control. Of course, Nelson is not perfect by any mean. But then, who is better option than Nelson at this point?
Well, I flummoxed that most of you still support Nelson regardless of the warnings. I guess I can understand it, but I can't support Nelsonus anymore, because I have been there and done that. No way am I going to get sucked into the vortex that is Nelsonus. Already, I don't like the AL trade, since Crawford did not work out. It was a panic move by the Warriors and Nelson did not help one bit. He probably was for Crawford at the time because it would get rid of Harrington. Second, what Nelson did afterward was inexcusable -- telling Crawford to opt out. I'm glad Crawford's agent stood up and ripped a new one on Nelsonus. Good GMs don't do the big stoopid like that and they think about what's good for the team long term. Eventually, Nelsonus is going to eat me up, so when that happens, then I'll just take a vacation from the Warriors and this board.
Have you heard of Galactus aka Devourer of Worlds from Marvel Comics? He's like a demigod from outer space and he eats planets. Nelsonus is a parody of Galactus and is known as Destroyer of Teams. I could have made it Devourer of Teams but it sounded cannibalistic. Yet, Nelson looks like he can eat a whole team . Yeah, I should do it .
I like Keith Smart and I think the players respond to him. If he sticks around, I wouldn't mind seeing him take over for Nelson when Nelson's contract is up.
Small ball haters might not like that; after Nellie got ejected today Smart took out Randolph and ran a Monta, Jack, Craw, Morrow, Mags lineup- UGH.
Yeah, but we are not in the position to talk about the championship or anything close to it. Making PO is our first goal, and run-and-gun is actually a very good way to reach that goal. Also, in order for us to become a good defensive team, we also need players who play defenses, both individual and team defense. As we saw in PO couple years ago, Nelson's team can defend to some extent with right players. And, it wasn't like that team was filled with defensive stoppers either. If you substitute Davis, Barnes, and Pietrus with Crawford, Watson, and Magette, no head coach will be able to make this team a good defensive team. I guess we can slow things down and play half court, and that will improve defense somewhat. But, without a star, who can create their own shots, this team will be unwatchable, unless you enjoy watching Jackson turning over half times, Maggette charging toward the basket everytime, or Crawford chucking 3 pts. I would like to see Smart leading the team when this team is in a good position. If he inherited this team this year and saw winning % dropped by half, he would be quickly ignored by other players. Then, players will complain about their minutes and roles on the team, like how many players complain about those this year, and Smart just doesn't have enough reputation to quiet them down. I mean, we saw countless rookie coaches getting killed in a bad situation, and the only way they lasted more than a season was when they had some sort of success (Ex: Muss) or had a fat contract (Ex: Monty, PJ). Smart would not get either in this season or probably next season, and he would be canned before next season ends, while fans think about Davis era or even run TMC era. The only way I can see Smart succeeding in this league is by following AJ route, when this team is in PO and Nelson decides to go back to Hawaii...
One can't go by that whether Smart will continue to play small ball. If he emphasized defense, then the focus should be on a bigger interior. I'm not against playing small ball at times if the situation warrants it and am not a hater. Any coach we hire would be a risk, similar to what the Phoenix Suns went through this season. I think Smart would be someone who knows our system and then add defense to it, so he should improve our team, and I wouldn't call him a rookie coach because he's been with the team longer than Nelson. There are no signs that he would drop the run and gun. That's basic. What we are talking about is adding defense to that style of play. Furthermore, I would separate small ball from the run and gun. That's something Nelson specializes in and about getting mismatches by running players out of position out there. There are too many ifs in your argument for me to reply.
I spoke too soon. But I think at that point (when Nellie got ejected), the game was already out of hand.
Also, at that point, SMart wasn't the head coach yet. He was an assistant who had to take over Nellie's game mid-way through. So it wasn't like he'd prepared his own game plan ahead of time. He was inheriting what Nellie had already planned and what all the assistants had studied. Plus, last night would've been a bad time to push his weight around or pull vets without reason. It would probably be totally different in a fresh season, when he has plenty of time to think about his own preferences, and prepare accordingly, make his own game plans, and get to know his players as the head coach instead of an assistant. It might not look much different from Nellie. But it might. I wouldn't use last night as a barometer. And I do agree with JV, I think Smart would at least demand some defense of his players if he were in charge full time.
