I am aware he doesn't have the job (yet), but the one thing that concerned me about Olshey's presser yesterday was that he seems to be in love with Kaleb. It seems to be more about a personal relationship than it is about his qualifications as a coach. I was reading Quick's article about the coaching search today, and his concerns echo the same sentiments that I'm feeling. Kaleb seems like a great guy, and he works very hard, plus the players love him.... but that doesn't make him a good head coach. In fact, it scares me because I don't want another Maurice Cheeks on this team. Nice guy, players loved him.... terrible coach. I found it interesting that Monty Williams would say this about Canales "Kaleb is a hard-working guy and has great relationship skills," Williams said. "But that's all I'm going to say about that." That's a guy who used to coach with him. Doesn't strike me as a glowing endorsement. I don't want to pick Kaleb just because we're going young and we don't have high expectations in the immediate future. I'd rather bring in someone with some experience and a pedigree around the league, like Mike Malone. Kaleb is still very young, and he still has a lot to learn about being a head coach. If the team wants to keep him around and groom him, that's great. I'm all for it, but we are at a turning point and we need the right guy at the helm to lead this team. Here's the link to Quick's article. http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/i...sider_coaching_search_should_extend_beyo.html
If Olshey does retain him I don't think it means Canales is coach for life or anything. Maybe he's being given a shot with a rebuil ... er ... retooling team. If he can hack it great, if not at least he can say he say he got a fair shake. If the team still sucks in a year and is showing little growth and Kaleb is still the man then we can start to worry
I hope they come to their senses soon and hire Malone. The other option would be to hire Sloan and let Caleb learn under him as the lead assistant, a position he has never held.
You know, I would have said that a few days ago, but the guy wouldn't shut up about Canales all day yesterday. Hopefully he's just being nice, but it scared me a bit. The last thing we need is a head coach who is besties with the GM.
I have the same concerns. But after listening to the press conference again, I think Olshey just likes to talk (I think he even likes to listen to himself talk). So hopefully, just as easy as he talks up Canales, he will talk about why it made sense to hire "X" coach
I'd rather see them hire someone else, but I don't really care if they hire Canales either.....They can call it a retool, but it essentially going to be a rebuild with some nice foundation (LA, Batum) pieces...so props on the use of semantics by them....I guess.... Just remember that while Canales is the touchy\feely ah gosh isn't that special flavor story of the month...if he does become head coach, all that inexperience and flaws will start to show themselves next year...and he may find himself looking for a new place to land 2 years down the road....at the end of the day you have to know how to coach, just being an energetic good guy won't be enough to carry you through....and those players who love you now, will eventually turn on you when the losses start piling up.... I think the natural progression for him would be as an assistant coach for a few more years...I question his handling\control of game flow and his ability to see\adapt\exploit...opportunities\adversity\mismatches and actually RUN set plays\movement in offense...rah rah speeches alone are not going to cut it....
The reason why I would mind wasting time on Canales is because we might lose out on a good coach like Malone or Shaw. Why not give Malone a chance? The guy WANTS to coach here. He's considered the best assistant in the league and it would give him a chance to start fresh with a new team and instill his philosophy on a bunch of rookies/free agents. We've wasted enough time with McMillan.... it's time to get some new blood in here.
Look, I agree with you, I think if your going to draft youth then it would be much wiser to have a good teaching coach..... Canales is a good workout coach, nice guy, hard worker...but a teacher? I would question that....and while everyone was singing his praises near the end of the year, no one was apparently watching the games where often he looked overmatched....They guy is a like a green tomato, needs to grow ont he vine some more, it is not ready for consumption yet....
I respect Monty Williams and he has worked with both Canales and Malone and it's clear that his strong favorite is Malone. And I don't think it has anything to do with them having the same agent; as Quick implies. So, yes, at this point I think it would be the wrong move to hire Canales.
I think Kaleb will have a hard time transitioning from friend/workout buddy to boss/figure out authority.
Ohshit was in interview mode. He was self-promoting, with a big tent attitude of, come on in, everyone's welcome, I won't fire anyone. He walked in and Cubby Canales hugged him for 30 long seconds in front of the cameras. Reeling from romance with tiny hearts floating in a ring around his head, Ohshit promised that everyone would keep their jobs. When he wakes up cold sober and deletes the messages from their common agent LeBron LeGary, Canales will be an assistant coach again.
Olshey is a salesman. He is going to pump up Kaleb in the case his other choices follow through. He needs a few back up plans. And he needs to get fans excited, so he is saying all the right things. Plus a new guy does not want to create a bad atmosphere, so he is pumping everyone up. I hope they hire someone else and keep Kaleb too.
Eric Gordon said the guy told him multiple times he wasnt going to be traded. Gordon was traded and no longer trusts Olshey. The guy is just saying that, it doesn't mean he is going to hire Kaleb. I fully expect him to bring someone else in and have Kaleb stay as an assistant.
What if the guy they bring in doesn't want Kaleb as his assistant? Are we going to make decisions for him or allow him the autonomy to choose his own staff? I don't think a highly regarded coach like Sloan will take to well to someone telling him who he is going to staff. He would probably tell them go to hell. Literally.
