NBA 2010 offseason

[mshiflet]

[mshiflet]

Danny Ferry's out. Chris Jent (LBJ's personal shooting buddy/coach) is the new Cavs GM. Gotta say I'm pretty shocked on both fronts.

[jon abbey]

the ESPN article says Chris Grant, presumably a different guy? Chris Gent used to play for Ohio St., as I recall.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5252256

[mshiflet]

Whoops. Yeah. Misheard it. Assistant GM promotion makes much more sense.

[mshiflet]

Also, study up on Jent. Don't be surprised if he ends up wherever Lebron does. Homie dragged him all the way to China last year. He's also on the Cavs' head coach short list, presumably as more of a 'look how far we'll bend over for you, Lebron' move than a serious candidate.

[Captain Hate]

Chris Gent used to play for Ohio St., as I recall.

You recall correctly. He missed a short shot against Meeechigan's Fab 5 that would have put O$U in the final four. He was a pretty good player who just gagged when it was time to make a big shot.

[BoBetter]

Everything just keeps getting weirder and weirder. Clearly, no one really knows what has and is going on right now.

[undo]

did someone say 'weirder and weirder?'

http://www.harlemglobetrotters.com/

from windhorst's twitter feed:

'In a serious effort/marketing move, the Harlem Globetrotters are making a pitch to sign LeBron & Dwyane Wade & offering ownership.'

'Will offer 51 percent of of revenue from licensed merchandise sales with no limit plus part ownership. Well, they haven't lost since '71.'

'RT @mikegonzalez If he chooses to sign with anyone else but Globetrotters, then we'll know that winning is NOT his top priority.'

[BoBetter]

Yeah, it's so f-ing ridiculous at this point. Everyday, he's the top story, and it's all rumor and speculation.

The longer he waits to verbally commit, or whatever, the more it hurts his chances of having a winning situation.

He can verbally commit right?

[Captain Hate]

Avery Johnson to the Nets; great hire for them.

[BoBetter]

Avery Johnson to the Nets; great hire for them.

yeah, if you like loudmouthed, low IQ coaches....

[Captain Hate]

Avery Johnson to the Nets; great hire for them.

yeah, if you like loudmouthed, low IQ coaches....

Avery was able to take Nellie's perpetual choking dogs to a Finals and a 2-0 lead before the SHF's zebras did what people are probably bored hearing me bitch about. I think he always got the most out of his players while having to deal with Cuban torpedoing him by giving away young talent for Jason Kidd behind his back.

Or let me put it this way: Would you be more confident with Tom Izzo (an excellent college coach but that doesn't always translate well in the NBA) or Kelvin Sampson as head coach?

[Enforcer]

I haven't commented on this, but I don't think there's any reason to believe Izzo's success as a college coach will translate to success at the NBA level.

[BoBetter]

Avery Johnson to the Nets; great hire for them.

yeah, if you like loudmouthed, low IQ coaches....

Avery was able to take Nellie's perpetual choking dogs to a Finals and a 2-0 lead before the SHF's zebras did what people are probably bored hearing me bitch about. I think he always got the most out of his players while having to deal with Cuban torpedoing him by giving away young talent for Jason Kidd behind his back.

Or let me put it this way: Would you be more confident with Tom Izzo (an excellent college coach but that doesn't always translate well in the NBA) or Kelvin Sampson as head coach?

He also let a team that had the best record in the league and a more talented roster lose to drunk ass Nellie's 8 seed team that didn't play defense and turned the ball over every 3 possessions, and didn't have any good big men. He lost that team VERY quickly. How many seasons did he coach there? 3? The rest of the league haven't been knocking down his door for a reason. He's even a below average TV personality. The guy has never impressed me with anything he's ever said regarding the game of basketball. I can't say that about the majority of the posters here.

As for Sampson and Izzo, I just don't know. They both have been successful in college, especially on the defensive end. I don't think I would be any more excited about coach K. I don't think we can really know if they're up to the task until they try, because certainly not many college coaches have made the jump. I kind of have a good feeling about Izzo. He just seems to have all the tools, like Larry Brown, but who knows.

I basically like Izzo over most of the alternatives, even if it's a risk. I think a good solid coach can adapt when they have a player like Lebron....

I mean, who else should we hope for? I'm just not sure at this point. I still don't have a good feeling about Lebron staying. Gilbert just seems so desperate right now.

[Noj]

Avery certainly wasn't a low IQ player, and I imagine he can be an inspiring leader/speaker. Doc Rivers seems to be a coach of the same mold--less X's and O's and more motivational speeches. Coaching staffs seem to function well when they have a combination of both.

[Enforcer]

I sure don't wish this doofus on bo or Cap. Ouch, hope this is just a wild rumor.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5270166

[Captain Hate]

He also let a team that had the best record in the league and a more talented roster lose to drunk ass Nellie's 8 seed team that didn't play defense and turned the ball over every 3 possessions, and didn't have any good big men.

That was a perfect storm of matchup shit. Golden State was undefeated against the Mavs during the regular season for whatever reason. I'm not sure why a complete garbage team like GS did so well against them but reverted to shit against everybody else but it happened all season.

The rest of the league haven't been knocking down his door for a reason.

The rest of the league is made up of fuckheads and dunces for not telling Stern to hit the bricks. I think Avery has what Mike Brown lacked: The ability to unload on guys when they were slacking on defense. I don't mean just yelling for yelling's sake; it's a fine line which I don't believe Brown was ever comfortable doing but Avery was able to get those massive Dallas underachievers to be on the cusp of a championship.

I agree with Nags on Izzo; I think he'd be a fool to leave a situation in Michigan State that works perfectly for his personality. He'd go to a situation in which he has to adapt his coaching style to a bunch of alpha males who are used to telling everybody to fuck off. Maybe he could make it work but he'd be the great exception to the rule. I never took K seriously when he was fucking around with the Lakers; I viewed that as bending Duke's asshole president Brodhead over so that if he brought a recruit in with more unconvicted rape charges than Sheldon Williams, he'd be admitted with no questions asked. K was able to coach the Dream Team fine but that was international competition and if you're not as dumb as John Thompson you can usually make it work.

[faster]

He also let a team that had the best record in the league and a more talented roster lose to drunk ass Nellie's 8 seed team that didn't play defense and turned the ball over every 3 possessions, and didn't have any good big men.

That was a perfect storm of matchup shit. Golden State was undefeated against the Mavs during the regular season for whatever reason. I'm not sure why a complete garbage team like GS did so well against them but reverted to shit against everybody else but it happened all season.

I'm not sure if I agree, but the conventional wisdom at the time was that Johnson overreacted to some close, flukey regular season losses to GS by going smallball, and by doing so, played right into Nellie's "drunk ass" hands. Real contenders, after all, play their game and don't bend at the will of lesser squads, I guess is the thinking.

[Captain Hate]

It was a strange situation and one in which Avery didn't distinguish himself; I can't argue that. And one that people will remember for a long time. Still Cuban sending a shitload of talent to NJ for Jason fucking Kidd really opened a trap-door on the team that made a mediocre situation unbearable.

[jon abbey]

kind of surprised none of you mentioned this already, but Don Nelson was the previous coach in Dallas and Avery Johnson learned under him, so it's not too surprising he figured out how to get in their heads and steal a series. I like Avery Johnson a lot, I doubt there are ten coaches better than him in the league.