He’s still a rookie coach IMO but he has the team playing hard and they are responding well to him. Seems like the players genuinely like him and he has their back in the right situations. Can you ask more of a coach? Maybe but those are definitely intangibles that a coach needs.
That it’s early, but I’ve also had more time to think about it. Plus I watched some Billups highlights and thought about how there’s no way Stotts was able to get on the floor and teach the players like coach Billups is probably able to do. Can’t really rule out the role Billups’ own defensive understanding has on our defensive success we are watching develop and improve. Billups knows the game, was an elite player and champion. I’m much more willing to give him time to see what he can do as a coach. If he can translate and teach his knowledge of the game to the players, then you can’t put a price on how what that can do to help young guys not long in the league like Sharpe and Simons understand and improve their game.
I'm not sure Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloan, or Pop were impressing Jordan, Malone, and Duncan with their on-the-court skills either.
What I love is that he never quits coaching. You see him at every break in the action pulling somebody aside and talking to them. It's kind of related to the trait I saw in him early: persistence. That was what gave me faith in him.
So i started this thread last year. Obviously Chauncy was very new. I have felt this year was his actual first year of real coaching as a head coach. There are starting to be rumbles about how he is doing at this point. I'm changing my overall take. We need to give this coach a chance to work through the things he is dealing with. As we get closer to 20 games he will (And Should) start mixing it up a bit. Chauncy needs to find his true starting rotation and then find his situational lineups that he can use in different situations he comes up against. Next I'm hoping he is talking with Cronin about the things he needs. In my opinion a team is a team all the way to the top. Where has Jody been? Have not seen her in quite a while?
They start that video off with what was possibly the luckiest bank shot i have ever seen. He throws up a prayer and it happened to go in.
CCB has a good problem of having 13 players he can put on the court. With Dame and GP healthy, pulling the right levers and keeping everyone ready and knowing what is expected of them … a balancing act. Getting everyone healthy and playing and figuring out combinations — prior to a consolidation trade — is a big test the Blazers need.