Lebron James and the desperation of Gilbert's offer to Tom Izzo The Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that Dan Gilbert has offered Michigan State coach Tom Izzo a deal worth about $6 million a season for up to five years, with perks such as using one of Gilbert's private jets. According to the Plain Dealer, "Conventional wisdom within the NBA is that no established coach could accept the offer to replace Mike Brown without knowing LeBron James' future plans. Gilbert appears to have tried to get around that uncertainty by offering big money and long-term security." Tom Izzo is apparently making around three million a year at Michigan State. Like everyone else, I've been anxiously trying to read the ripples to discern the free agent jockeying that is going on beneath the surface. Regardless of whether Izzo signs the offer, I don't see how this bodes well for the possibility that Lebron returns to Cleveland. Tom Izzo has never worked a day in his life in the NBA. He was D-II All-American and never came close to playing for an NBA team. He was head coach at Ishpeming High School, an assistant coach at Northern Michigan University, a part-time assistant at Michigan State, an assistant coach at University of Tulsa, and a Head Coach at Michigan State. None of that screams NBA. This doesn't mean Izzo will be a bad NBA coach if accepts the position, of course. But he is in company with the heaps of other NCAA colleges who have struggled to make the transition, until he proves otherwise. Everything about the move smacks of a desperation. It's a franchise trying to stay in the spotlight when the talent is no longer there to justify it. I can't imagine any NBA player wants to play for a college coach with no pro experience. And the fact that Gilbert had to offer 6 million, and Izzo still hasn't accepted, shows how people with more access than us think the odds of Lebron returning to Cleveland are slim.
I dont blame Cleveland for trying to do something that will keep 'bron there. Izzo is a good coach, but it's rare for a college coach to come into the NBA and do just as well as they did in college.
Coach K and Izzo are the two college coaches IMHO that you would gladly take over the assistant coaches being hired. Let's face it --- none of the coaches that have had fantastic success at the NBA level are available. And they have had fantastic success on a different level.
I wouldn't bet against Coach K but I would still have doubts. From what I've heard, his whole thing at Duke is developing fundamentals and the pushing his players towards improvisatory free-flowing type of play. That's exactly the opposite of what an NBA coach does, which is trying to build strict structures and the players are genius enough so that improvisation just happens.
I think we're in agreement but I didn't express myself well. My impression is that Duke skips the highly structured step and moves directly on to the improvisation; whereas NBA teams need a structure to be effective, and then you design room for improvisation out of the structured offense.
