I originally posted this at BBF during the first search that led to Vinny, in which I stated my support for Thibo, according a criterion I suggested for discriminating between coaches. I hope you don't mind my tooting my own horn (cause I think I'm right and have come up with an important idea), but I'd be interested to hear what you all think. I'm prompted to do this because of Sam Smith's latest article on Thibo: Here's the link to the thread, and here's the original post:
It very well might depend on the circumstance. Is the Type A coach also able to get the most out of a good team that has improved? Even if he hasn't improved it himself. Like, if I could pick a guy to coach a team in the finals for me, I might very well pick Skiles over Thibs. If I were picking a coach to get me to the finals by turning my raw assets into more capable players, it would probably be Thibs. At this point, picking a coach seems a lot like picking out a car to me. Most of them come with some sort of significant compromise from what you'd really want.
Well, I'd say that putting Skiles in to coach a team to a championship season would be a mistake, realistically. The guy is a good strategist and has a good system, but he's overbearing and doesn't know how to cowork with his stars. And even though Thibo is not setting the world on fire, I still think this guy is a potentially great coach who can do it all. I just think that his ability to add to the games of great players is just a precious commodity. But he's not a great coach yet, because he hasn't proved that he can take the heat of being the man in front. He shows disdain for emotional motivations...it's unrealistic to expect your team to do the same. He needs a few lessons from Phil in keeping balance and using emotions and intellect to communicate and motivate his players. So I guess the jury's still out, but I would give him a long leash because of what he brings already.
I think Skiles was a hell of a situational coach. What I was getting at there is that I think he's great into a game-time situation. Like, a particular series. It's the long slog of seasons after seasons of growth and development that made him overbearing. I think of Thibs as (preliminarily) looking much better in this respect, but I think as far as in game tactician stuff, he's looking a little overrought actually.
I guessed that was your point regarding Skiles. And I agree that Thibs does seem to lose his head a bit in the heat of the moment. I suppose that's where having been a successful player matters, and why Phil is such a great combination of the traits you want to see in a coach. Anyway, Thibs isn't there yet, so we'll have to see how he balances it all out. He might go all Lee Elia on us, but I think that the team will make a break through of sorts in the next month and start putting it together.
