I agree that AM would be a good coach and mentor. But, he's been working with one of my top recent Blazers, Brian Grant - a guy that was a gentle warrior with class.
And how many of the previous "Premier" centers of the league had a some bad ass big man from the past coaching them? You are putting too much stress on coaching. It only does so much. The drive of the player to be an elite level player is much more important than any coaching. Did Patrick Ewing have a former bad ass center as his personel coach? Nope? What about David Robinson? Nope. What about Hakeem Olajuan? Nope. What about Kareem Abduul Jabaar? Nope. See the pattern? The player makes the player. Not the coach. If you are looking for some player to come in and turn Oden into a demon of a player it's not going to happen. That is in the hands of Oden himself. Nobody can do the work for him.
In fairness, I bet all of them, except MAYBE Kareem, attended Pete Newells big man camp . I know Shaq, Hakeem and Walton all did. They seemed to think coaching was important?
It was always my impression that Zo had better physical gifts than BG. BG was an overachiever and he did so with big doses of hard work, heart and preparation. The reports are that G.O. benefited greatly from working with BG this summer, both mentally and in his low-post game. I think there have been many second or third tier players who became good teachers and coaches, but I haven't noticed many all-star level guys who were. BG is here, he seemingly wants to be here, he was successful in getting the maximum out of his own abilities, he has already successfully worked with G.O., and it is doubtful Zo would want to leave Miami to come here anyway. I'll let the Blazers Brain Trust decide who to hire to work with Greg -- but I hope it's Brian Grant.
