Hoopsworld: PDX and NYK will likely throw a lot of money at SVG this summer

I've always been a dunleavy fan.

 

Wrong system and players built around him. Aldridge is a perfect compliment to Williams. Let's not forget how good Utah was with him either. We would have two allstars. Deron is a superstar. If we land a good pick, we could have a solid 2nd or 3rd option. Hickson is a great bench player as well. If we get a starting quality SG via free agency, than Matthews and hickson would be great bench players.

 

Wrong system and players built around him. Aldridge is a perfect compliment to Williams. Let's not forget how good Utah was with him either. We would have two allstars. Deron is a superstar. If we land a good pick, we could have a solid 2nd or 3rd option. Hickson is a great bench player as well. If we get a starting quality SG via free agency, than Matthews and hickson would be great bench players.

 

Personality.

 

Whoever we hire won't be good enough for a lot of people here. SVG would be an ok hire considering. D'Antonio would be the only "big name" hire I would be way against.

 

Van Gundy's first year coaching in Miami was Wade's rookie year. There was no Shaq. Wade missed 20 games and the highest PER on the team was Lamar Odom's 18.5. That team had three players with PER > 14.0 (Odom at 18.5, Wade at 17.6 and Eddie Jones at 16.7). They had no all stars, two below average starters and a very weak bench full of below average cast-offs and role players. Yet, SVG managed to get that squad to the second round.

Compare that to the first time Nate took the Blazers to the playoffs. Brandon Roy was in his third season, healthy and had a PER of 24.0 (7th in the league) was 6th in WS and WS/48 an all star, 2nd team All NBA and 9th in MVP voting. Nate had a roster full of above average players. He had SIX players with PER > 15.0 (Roy = 24.0, Aldridge = 19.1, Oden = 18.1, Rudy = 15.5, Joel = 15.4, Outlaw = 15.1). That team was stacked from top to bottom, inside and out - and all players were healthy going into that series. Yet, Nate McMillan couldn't even get them past the first round. In fact, in spite of home court advantage, he couldn't even get to a 7th game in the first round. Given the talent McMillan had, that series against Houston was a total failure on his part.

Wow, are you really this clueless, or is it all part of your act? That season, Shaq played the first two games and then missed the next 19 games due to injury (sprained ankle). It was no coincidence that Pat Riley took over as head coach the exact same day Shaq came back from his injury. Riley was just waiting for his opportunity to swoop in and "lead" the Heat to a title. A healthy Shaq made that possible.

And for the record, Van Gundy wasn't shit canned, he resigned. At least that was the official word. It was obvious at the time he was forced out, and it was even accurately predicted, in advance by several sports writers, including Adrian Wojnarowski, who wrote in July (Van Gundy resigned in mid-December):

"Pat Riley needs to stop framing this as some noble return to his passion, and tell the truth. His ego could never stay in the background and let Stan Van Gundy get the shot at bringing that championship parade to the shores of Biscayne Bay.

Suddenly, coaching the Heat is a glamour job again, and Riley's ego would never let him sit that out. If Riley will want to insist this was a hard choice based purely on the best chance for a championship, or finding the best coach for the job, ancient NBA history backs him. It's just that modern history doesn't. Across the past two seasons, almost no one in the league has coached better than Van Gundy."

And BTW, the season before he was "shit canned", Van Gundy led the Heat to a game seven in the Eastern Conference Finals against the defending champion Pistons - and the Heat might have won that series in six games had Dwyane Wade not been injured and missed game six (the Heat were up 3 games to 2 at that point).

Stan Van Gundy may, or may not be the right guy for the job, but he's infinitely better, and has a far superior track record, especially in the post season than the guy we just fired - your man crush Nate McMillan. It's laughable to even compare the two. Van Gundy's teams almost always make it past the first round (one exception), McMillian's teams almost never do (again one exception).

BNM

 

Look back at every coach PA has ever hired and their relative qualifications, experience and lack of media attention.

There's a pattern there.

 

I stand by most post, and your spin doesn't really matter to me. Why not address Shaq calling out SVG, and not respecting him at all? Perhaps you can tell me again how Derrick Williams doesn't play SF? You disappeared after that disaster, right?

What has SVG done with elite talent/MVP caliber players? NOTHING

 

Here is BoobNoMore's ideal coach Stan Van Gundy's idea of pick and roll defense late in a game from tonight.

Yeah, let's have the Blazers hire this guy!! :MARIS61:

[video=youtube;gsuAuE__H_k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsuAuE__H_k&feature=player_embedded[/video]

 

I hate to break it to the coach haters on this board, but unless they want to give Rick Patino's full court pressing experiment, we're most likely going to hire a coach that depends on isolations and pick & rolls in clutch situations. There are so many theories on how to defend the P&R out there because it's probably the hardest play to defend. If it were an easy way to defend it, everyone would do it the same way and teams wouldn't run it all the time.

 

What does a player getting injured have with his coach's idea of how to play defense? If that's the case, I guess we should blame all of Oden's injuries on Nate's defensive strategy.

This is a ridiculous strawman, even for you, the king of the strawman argument.

OK, you win. Ryan Anderson got hurt, therefore Stan Van Gundy is a horrible coach in spite of his regular and post season winning percentages. What tremendous insight!

BNM

 

You mean Stan. Not Steve.

 

Got Wade out of the first round his rookie year. Got Dwight Howard to the NBA Finals. His teams also traditionally play very well om the road though I'm not sure about this year. Anyway, he's hardly done "nothing."

 

there you go. PapaG just got owned. No two ways about it.

 

Tince, why would you object so strongly to D'Antoni?

 

Switching Ryan Anderson onto Ty Lawson is just brilliant coaching. If Nate did that, you'd be writing yet another Hate Nate book on how shitty a coach he is and how he can't defend the pick and roll. SVG has been called out by Shaq as being not up to the task, Dwight Howard apparently will stay if Orlando only if the Magic get rid of him, yet that's the guy who the Blazers should hire.

Classic.

 

Got shit-canned because he lost his team, and the team went on to win the title that year.

I'll keep saying it until the day I die. It's the players, not the coach, although the only empirical data says that changing coaches in Miami brought them a title.

 

SVG has coached an MVP-level player every season as a HC, and he's made two conference finals and one NBA Finals.

Hire him! He's the guy that gets you a title after you fire him during the season.

 

If Deron Williams signs in Portland and the Blazers get lucky in the lottery, whoever coaches the team will have a huge advantage over most other coaches in the league. Two All-NBA players and perhaps an impact rookie, along with some decent role players.

Conversely, if NJ keeps their pick, the Blazers pick 12th or so, and no other star player signs during the summer, it won't matter if Red Auerbach's ghost comes back to coach the team. It takes a certain level of incompetence to mess up elite talent; for an example, Mike D'Antoni this year in New York is probably the best example of the last few years.

 

papa - if it's the players and not the coach then why do you care so much?