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The Czar reportedly wants to get back into coaching, would he be a good fit?

For some reason Flip seems like more of the same to me. An offensive system type guy, doesn't seem like the hard nosed coach the Wizards need. I think any team with Gilbert, Caron and Antawn will score no matter what, and probably be efficient at it. Unless a mean cuss coach comes in and changes the defense I just don't see this team really getting any better. 1st pick or not. The entire culture of the Wiz needs to change. I don't think Flip can bring that.

Flip doesn't do much for me and I don't think he's the guy.
If he was, why wouldn't they simply have hired him when
they fired EJ? Why wait?

I think it has to be someone who has a job now, probably
an NBA job.

20MexicanosIn1Van wrote:The Czar reportedly wants to get back into coaching, would he be a good fit?

Fratello? Hoo boy. Dunno if he's a good fit for the personnel nor the new uptempo league. Fratello always wanted to minimize mistakes by walking the ball up slowly and playing a grind it out style. Defensive emphasis sure, but slow like watching barnacles grow. Maybe he's changed.

I wanted to bump a list I posted earlier with a few tweaks. I would be especially happy with any one of the top four guys.


1. Tom Thibodeau (defensive guru)
2. Mike Budenholzer (assistant with the Spurs)
3. Bill Laimbeer (tough SOB with rings)
4. Dave Joerger
5. Dave Blatt
6. Flip Saunders
7. Elston Turner (assistant with the Rockets)

doclinkin wrote:

20MexicanosIn1Van wrote:The Czar reportedly wants to get back into coaching, would he be a good fit?

Fratello? Hoo boy. Dunno if he's a good fit for the personnel nor the new uptempo league. Fratello always wanted to minimize mistakes by walking the ball up slowly and playing a grind it out style. Defensive emphasis sure, but slow like watching barnacles grow. Maybe he's changed.

Nah. At his last gig in Memphis, he inherited Hubie Brown's uptempo team (10th in Pace the year they won 50 games) and immediately slowed them down. Fratello is absolutely the wrong coach to pair with Arenas, who constantly pushes the pace. Someplace on these boards are the numbers I posted showing that no one in the NBA changed his team's pace more than Arenas. Something like +6 possessions per 48 minutes faster when Gil was on the floor. Fratello usually gets guys to play defense, but he'd be manacles on Gil.

I want a coach who is hungry and on the way up, not a guy who's had his career and looking for one more payday. My mantra is no retreads.

I'm with Doc and TSW - no way do we want the Czar.

Did he want to do that or was he forced to because his personnel sucked and grinding it out gave him a better chance to win?

ZonkertheBrainless wrote:Did he want to do that or was he forced to because his personnel sucked and grinding it out gave him a better chance to win?

Regardless of the overall talent level of the team trying to win with Mike Miller, Rudy Gay and Pau Gasol by playing as slowly as possible was a strategy with questionable efficacy. Fratello might have originally reigned things in because a slow pace allows a good team fewer possessions to be better than his crappy team but there's no evidence that he'd cut things loose if he had a lot of offensive talent. Pass.

Benjammin wrote:I wanted to bump a list I posted earlier with a few tweaks. I would be especially happy with any one of the top four guys.


1. Tom Thibodeau (defensive guru)
2. Mike Budenholzer (assistant with the Spurs)
3. Bill Laimbeer (tough SOB with rings)
4. Dave Joerger
5. Dave Blatt
6. Flip Saunders
7. Elston Turner (assistant with the Rockets)

I love your list. my top five is the same as yours just in different order. I'd be happy with any of these guys.

1a. Bill Laimbeer
1b. Tom Thibodeau
3. Mike Budenholzer
4. Dave Joerger
5. Dave Blatt

I'm with your motto. "No retreads". No Avery Johnson, No Jeff Van Gundy, No Czar, No Flip Saunders.

I want a smart & tough coach who will demand accountability & defense.

Dat2U wrote:

Benjammin wrote:I wanted to bump a list I posted earlier with a few tweaks. I would be especially happy with any one of the top four guys.


1. Tom Thibodeau (defensive guru)
2. Mike Budenholzer (assistant with the Spurs)
3. Bill Laimbeer (tough SOB with rings)
4. Dave Joerger
5. Dave Blatt
6. Flip Saunders
7. Elston Turner (assistant with the Rockets)

I love your list. my top five is the same as yours just in different order. I'd be happy with any of these guys.

1a. Bill Laimbeer
1b. Tom Thibodeau
3. Mike Budenholzer
4. Dave Joerger
5. Dave Blatt

I'm with your motto. "No retreads". No Avery Johnson, No Jeff Van Gundy, No Czar, No Flip Saunders.

I want a smart & tough coach who will demand accountability & defense.

Laimbeer won't stand for soft C and PF play.

I have no problem with this list and in this order.

Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:

Dat2U wrote:

Benjammin wrote:I wanted to bump a list I posted earlier with a few tweaks. I would be especially happy with any one of the top four guys.


1. Tom Thibodeau (defensive guru)
2. Mike Budenholzer (assistant with the Spurs)
3. Bill Laimbeer (tough SOB with rings)
4. Dave Joerger
5. Dave Blatt
6. Flip Saunders
7. Elston Turner (assistant with the Rockets)

I love your list. my top five is the same as yours just in different order. I'd be happy with any of these guys.

1a. Bill Laimbeer
1b. Tom Thibodeau
3. Mike Budenholzer
4. Dave Joerger
5. Dave Blatt

I'm with your motto. "No retreads". No Avery Johnson, No Jeff Van Gundy, No Czar, No Flip Saunders.

I want a smart & tough coach who will demand accountability & defense.

Laimbeer won't stand for soft C and PF play.

I have no problem with this list and in this order.

I'm also pretty comfortable with that list, if not that order. I'd be willing to defer to whatever order among that group the organization is most comfortable with, really. All of those guys have qualities that I would very much appreciate in a coach. Of the retreads I think I'd be most comfortable with Saunders, and if Tibbs wasn't fully comfortable orchestrating an offense it Saunders would make a mighty fine offensive coordinator, if he could be brought in without giving the impression of serving as a fallback if we were to give Tibbs a quick yank (if he would undermine Tibb's authority as the team's top man).

I like the list

Budenholzer
Laimbeer
Tom T

These are my top 3 but I would be happy with any of them.

ZonkertheBrainless wrote:Did he want to do that or was he forced to because his personnel sucked and grinding it out gave him a better chance to win?

You make the call. Looking only at seasons where Fratello coached all or virtually all of his team's games, (so this includes the season where he took over for Hubie in Memphis and went 40-26), Fratello's teams were the slowest paced in the league 5 out of 15 seasons. In Atlanta, when he was coaching Dominique Wilkins, his teams were consistenly among the slowest in the league. Was it personnel? Well, at each stop, the guy replacing him speeds the team up.

Atlanta went from 22nd (out of 27) in pace in his final season to 10th, with largely the same personnel. In Cleveland, the Cavs went from 25th (out of 29) to 3rd, albeit with some roster turnover.

In his final season in Memphis, the Grizz rolled at 89.3 possessions per 48 minutes under Fratello, which would have ranked 28th that season. Under Tony Barone (Fratello got fired after 30 games), they ran at 95.8 possessions per 48 minutes -- 3rd fastest paced in the league.

All that said, Fratello does have a winning record in the NBA and coached some pretty good teams. I don't think he's the right fit with the personnel the Wizards have. I think the Wiz need a greater emphasis on defense while maintaining their aggressive, uptempo offense.

Nice to see that my Laimbeer idea still has legs.

Dat2U wrote:

Benjammin wrote:I wanted to bump a list I posted earlier with a few tweaks. I would be especially happy with any one of the top four guys.


1. Tom Thibodeau (defensive guru)
2. Mike Budenholzer (assistant with the Spurs)
3. Bill Laimbeer (tough SOB with rings)
4. Dave Joerger
5. Dave Blatt
6. Flip Saunders
7. Elston Turner (assistant with the Rockets)

I love your list. my top five is the same as yours just in different order. I'd be happy with any of these guys.

1a. Bill Laimbeer
1b. Tom Thibodeau
3. Mike Budenholzer
4. Dave Joerger
5. Dave Blatt

I'm with your motto. "No retreads". No Avery Johnson, No Jeff Van Gundy, No Czar, No Flip Saunders.

I want a smart & tough coach who will demand accountability & defense.

+1

I'm esp down with the no retreads thing. None of those retread guys floats my boat.
Laimbeer I have some question about but he'd be someone that I would want
to talk to for sure. And I'm def not saying I wouldn't go that route. I know
he had coaching success in the WNBA and obviously as a player in the NBA. He might
work.

tkunit wrote:I like the list

Budenholzer
Laimbeer
Tom T

These are my top 3 but I would be happy with any of them.

Agreed though I want Budenholzer first and foremost. I think former video coordinators make great coaches because they can help players look at tape to correct mistakes and improve. Look at Erik Spoelstra, who has done a great job with his rotations this year (and is bringing along Beasley the right way). I'd settle for Thibodeau but am wary, I heard a rumor he alienates players, but don't all coaches?

Also, for assistants can we get Joerger away from the Grizz, if he's still there?

I hope the Wiz use Obama to the free agents/coaches they want over the next for years. "Come meet the president! He sits courtside and talks smack!"

Who was the first person to recommend Laimbeer? I wish I could search the archives, I bet I would have been close to the top.

ZonkertheBrainless wrote:Who was the first person to recommend Laimbeer? I wish I could search the archives, I bet I would have been close to the top.

I really do think it was me. Early in the 2006-07 season maybe? I remember mentioning it in the old chat format (after yet another EJ engineered loss) and getting a pretty good response.