Discussing Potential Coaches Thread

[eltacoman]

he is a good coach i think he never missed the playoffs right 12 year vet .... i hope we bring in a big man coach for mcgee blatch pesh and hopfully blake ... if he sees mcgee working hard on his game like Howard did flip would play him ....so Ewing or Abdul-Jabbar would be nice too
and keep Hoopla around .... not sure TT would come in as a assistant but some one with a defensive mind would be nice to have around mybe a young up and coming defensive assistant ... but this is not a bad first step to next season ... this the way we ball lil FLIP

[FreeBalling]

Didn't Saunders have a 3000 page offensive playbook ? I wonder if we will play any D.

[Rafael122]

I think you mean Al Saunders. There's no way an NBA coach could have a 3,000 page offensive playbook unless its the same set of plays copied on the back of each sheet of paper.

[Tyrone Messby]

Yeah you must be thinking of Al Saunders and his 700 page playbook. I'm not sold on Flip though. But I guess he could manage to get us past the second round.

[Devilzsidewalk]

Flip does have a notoriously huge playbook, probably not 3000 pages though unless there's ample doodling involved

[doclinkin]

Maybe he has a defensive scheme that maximizes our potential on defense? We know Dominic and Haywood can defend, its the other 10 or 11 guys that I'm worried about.

If you saw much of James Harden this year you saw something like a Flip Saunders defense. He runs a match-up zone or a man-to-man defense that starts out disguised as a match-up zone. In Detroit the key player was Tashaun Prince who would even be the '1' in a 1-2-2 configuration, but whose versatility and length was used to create ball pressure on the perimeter.

It requires smart players to really maximize the scheme, takes a piece of time to get it. Sort of the corollary to the triangle offense, call it the 'triangle defense'. But when clicking it doesn't require the most athletic players in the game (See James Harden...). Principles are good: defend against penetration, defend the perimeter.

Actually I found a good synopsis here:

http://emuss.blogspot.com/2008/10/flip- ... -zone.html

-- Three rules of his defense: 1. No layups; 2. Contest all shots; 3. No second shots.

-- Don't defend non-penetrating passes, i.e., passes that go away from the basket. Conversely, defend all penetrating passes.

-- When you double the post, the shot will come from the opposite corner.

-- In transition defense, force the offense to make one more pass.

Apart from the defensive intelligence aspect, we have decent players to fit the scheme. Length in guys like Dom, BigDaddyWookie, Nick, Haywood. Trick, as always, is finding the right mix at both ends.

[mhd]

Looks like a done deal per Michael Lee in the Post. Also Sam Cassell will be brought in as an assitant!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01290.html

[doclinkin]

Caron sounds unenthused:

Saunders has been rumored as the next coach for some time and forward Caron Butler was asked about him after practice on Sunday. "It's nothing written in stone yet," he said. "Obviously whatever happens will be decided by upstairs and we got to follow suit. Once I hear something that will be the right time to comment."

I like the idea of Sam Cassell on the bench though. If Flip is a quiet calm nice guy, well Sam ain't quiet a-tall...

[mohammed10]

Looks like a done deal per Michael Lee in the Post. Also Sam Cassell will be brought in as an assitant!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01290.html

You know, I like the idea of bringing in double S and double L as an assistant. As another suggested a while ago, what about Patrick Ewing as an assistant, to help the development of our young bigs?

[MJG]

Cassell as an assistant is much more interesting. I think Bill Simmons wrote an entire column once about how he thought Cassell should become a coach. That's obviously not a two-thumbs-up endorsement, but it's enough that my interest is piqued.

[mhd]

At keast Sam can teach the rest of guys how to look the exact same after 15 years in NBA

Sam looks EXACTLY like he did as a rookie. He hasn't aged a day.

[doclinkin]

Cassell as an assistant is much more interesting. I think Bill Simmons wrote an entire column once about how he thought Cassell should become a coach. That's obviously not a two-thumbs-up endorsement, but it's enough that my interest is piqued.

Here's one of the Bill Simmons love letters to Baltimore's ugliest:

The Sports Guy wrote

"See, it's the little things with Sam. We always hear the whole "This guy's a winner, he's teaching them to win" refrain with sports, but I watched it actually happen with Sam and the Clippers -- little by little, game by game, week by week, month by month. Baby steps. Almost like watching my little daughter. From the first game in Seattle, Sam made this team his own, scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter, including a couple of dagger threes, followed by Sam skipping around the court doing his "I have giant testicles!" dance, then screaming in the postgame interview, "I told you! I told you this was a different team! This ain't the same old Clippers anymore!"

[Benjammin]

It seems like a done deal now. I do like the idea of Sam Cassell; he could be an excellent mentor for Gil. I'd like to see a quality defensive assistant and big-man coach as well. Flip apparently doesn't care for young players so if the Wizards don't get Griffin, then I think the chance of the pick being dealt with filler for a veteran/young veteran player is pretty high.

Overall, I think the hire (if true) is a safe, if uninspired move. I am especially concerned that Flip as a player's coach will not demand what is needed from Gil, AJ, and Caron on the defensive end.

[nate33]

Some league insiders thought the Wizards needed a strong-willed coach to handle a quirky personality like Arenas.

"If that's what they need or what they think they want, then that isn't [Saunders]," the Eastern Conference executive said. "He's a nice guy. He doesn't want any confrontations. He won't want any trouble with Gilbert or Caron or Antawn. The top players, he's going to do his best to make sure there are no problems."

Enough said.

[closg00]

Oh-well, lets deal with what will be our new reality, Flip will be our new coach. Let's hope that Wes Unseld Jr. and the rest of the old-gang are swept out as-well. Please bring-in some quality assistants and a big-man coach....and I hope what the Det poster said about Flip not-playing the bench isn't true.

[LyricalRico]

I've always had Flip near the top of my list. I will agree that he's not as overtly practical as Thibbs (defensive genius) and he's not as edgy as Laimbeer (tough guy) - the other guys in my Top 3, with the order changing depending on my mood. But Flip will maintain the offensive efficiency and will at least have the team playing average defense (primarily through zone sets, which could be the best bet considering out personnel).

And even if this move wasn't on the top of your list, Flip with Cassell as an assistant is still an improvement over EJ/O'Koren regime.

[yungal07]

At keast Sam can teach the rest of guys how to look the exact same after 15 years in NBA

Sam looks EXACTLY like he did as a rookie. He hasn't aged a day.

do aliens age like humans do?

[Pollinator]

Flip has been to the conference finals how many times?

Sign the man before he talks to anyone else.

[likwitdesi]

We need to get Flip players who will fit his system. I think he is going to love McGuire because he is perfect for his zone defense scheme.

In regard to the draft, I think this makes Stephen Curry and Jack McClinton rise up our draft boards. We lack a pure shooter on this team and, with a scheme so reliant on shooters, we need to get someone.

[LyricalRico]

In regard to the draft, I think this makes Stephen Curry and Jack McClinton rise up our draft boards. We lack a pure shooter on this team and, with a scheme so reliant on shooters, we need to get someone.

Without offering an opinion on Curry/McClinton, I do like that Ernie is apparently making this move at the beginning of the offseason. This will allow them to start working on trades right away, as well as maximizing the draft by fitting the pick (assuming we keep it) to the incoming coach. Even if you don't like Saunders, I think Ernie is making the move at the right time.