I think coaches lose their players very easily these days, their voices become white noise, or they don't evolve way too often. Typically a coach won't progress or evolve until he loses his job. I think expectations and early success can also be the undoing of a coach. You overachieve early and that's the bar you've set. That's why it's really impressive when you have coaches like Pop, Spo, and Phil before that. Sustaining, changing with personnel, and staying power is what separates the herd.
Could be a very interesting playoff race next year if both Kawhi and Giannis are out next season. Takes two of the top 4-5 teams out of the race.
i think carlisle's in that group, too (took three very different teams at different times to conference finals, made lemonade in dallas for a decade). phil and spo both impressed me most when they took meh rosters and did great things with them after they'd already proven they could take big-time rosters and win. same with pop, too. i wanted to see what happened when TD retired, and he's still putting a much more competitive team out there than he should be. i don't know who's going to be next in this group, but there's not an obvious candidate right now. nick nurse has done some spo-like things, but then toronto was pretty gross this year. sucks. wanted to see giannis get a ring in milwaukee. i liked the way they built that team, and i think it could be a blueprint for other non-glamour destinations to get a title (you don't have to tank, you can develop and reclaim guys, make smart trades, etc.). i don't feel as good about the other teams left. atl just feels too lucky, like an ncaa cinderella. clips are generally odious because clips. suns aren't bad, though booker is bit of an a**hat. i guess cp getting a ring (though i have mixed feelings about him) is an appropriate thing given how great he's been over his career. i'd also giggle a bit at harden/houston, as i thought he was the reason they actually contended with gs while everyone fawned over harden and dantoni. so yeah, that's the order: mil (out) suns atl (still unlikely) clips (ugh)
Yeah, you're right about Carlisle. The only current knock with him is he couldn't make it work with Luka. Had he figured that out, that's job security for another 10-15 years. The others in that group made it work with their superstars. Although in a different universe, we could be saying the same about Spo, because Bron tried to run him out of town before they found their groove. There was one January where we was dead man walking then they ripped off some crazy run and figured it out together in the process. Yeah, I don't see any current coach who is close to getting into that club. We haven't seen him coach yet, but I think Billups could be a really good one but that Portland gig is an awful way to start a career.
no one's talking about it, but i think carlisle didn't feel like working for cuban for another decade. cuban's a lot better than dolan, but he gets in his team's way a fair amount, too. ironically, cuban was one who once valued carlisle as much as #2 player, essentially. and while that might be overselling it, i'm not sure dallas won't miss him. again, they're banking on kidd and the nike guy's connections to bring more talent in the hopes that overcomes the loss in coaching advantage (which they had on basically a nightly basis). people talk trash on dallas's record since their title in the playoffs, but they pushed some of the league's best teams to the brink during that span. the year the spurs last won it, dallas (with monta ellis as its second-best player) pushed them to 7 before they just ripped through everybody else en route to a title. they gave the clips fits without porzingis last year, and they pushed them to the brink with healthy kawhi this year. none of those teams had any business doing that.
And with the teams that are left and the injuries that have occurred, either one of them could be defending NBA champions.
Well, I certainly don't want to say he won't, cause judging by my newly found jinxing powers, it would almost assure he is going to blow his hamstring into smithereens.
Suns are shooting lights out but still only up 43-35. Cousins pisses me off, he’s such an a** for no reason, hate seeing him contribute.
Ugh I feel dirty rooting for a Chris Paul team, what a ridiculous soccer flop he just pulled on Cousins. Disgusting antics. Then I remember this guy owns the Clippers
paul definitely flopped, but cousins definitely threw the bow. refs made the right call there, T but not flagrant. had paul not taken a dive, though, they don't make any call. and mark davis seemed heavily invested in getting the clips back in that game in the second half, btw. couple weird calls.
