Who Will Coach The Sixers Next Year

[Skates]

Also, I'd like to see a cach who doesn't live and die with Small ball.  Not only will it work better to get Brand in a conventional line-up, but I'm sick of Thad at PF.  Te guy has a great future at SF but only Hakim Warrick upside at PF.

Amen to that.

I am still not a fan of Collins, I think he is one of those coaches where everything is about him and not about the team.  As far as him having a Sixers connection or being a Philly guy, I could care less.  Finances may play a role too.  They still owe Mo some money and a guy like Eddie Jordan will probably come cheaper than Collins.

[bebopdeluxe]

Skates:

Jordan has had exactly one head coaching gig...Collins has had three.

Collins has inherited teams that won 30, 28 and 19 games respectively, and improved them all - in some cases DRAMATICALLY.  I want to see what he can do when he gets a team with talent from the jump.

At one point, I thought that the Sixers needed an offensive coach - so I was on board with Jordan.  No more.  The new coach MUST be able to teach defense and get the team to buy into his defensive principles.  Both Chicago and Detroit improved their team defense DRASTICALLY when Collins got there.

Collins will cost more than Jordan...if that is the reason why we hire Jordan, I will freaking hurl.

[tk76-]

Bebop, you have sited that Iguodala wants Collins.  Where did you see this?

It does make sense.  Iguodala probably thinks Collins will centerpiece him similar to how Collins used MJ and Hill.  Of course Iguodala is not on those players level, so it would be interesting to see how it woks out.

When you parallel the current Sixers to the early Bulls there are some interesting parallels.

Low IQ center:
Sam is like Edwards and Cartright.  Eventually maybe Speights as an upgrade if he can improve on defense/boards.

High post PF with good defense:
Brand fills Ho. Grant's role.  less athletic but similar skills

Pippen/MJ stud long wings:
Obviously no one close to that superstar level, but Iguodala/Young would try and fill the role of scorers, long defenders and the focal point of the offense.  They would share these roles.

Offensive smaller guard (non-PG):
Lou or ideally a better defensive 3pt shooting combo guard (think Jack/Hinrich) would fill the Paxon/BJ Armstrong role.

...So granted we are not looking at the Bulls V2.  Not even close.  But the point is that the pieces fit the general scheme.  The level of success would depend on how well Brand/Iguodala/Thad play.  But at least this is a scheme where the current Sixers can fit without getting an eliite PG.

[bebopdeluxe]

tk:

I replied to this post over on RealGM...1) Kate Fagan's source said that the players are favorably disposed to Collins; 2) while I am not buying the CSN report that says that Iguodala (who is from Chicago) grew up a huge fan of Collins' Bulls teams (unless he was an unusually aware 5-year-old), Iggy is a huge MJ fan...would guess that these guys are at least acquaintences...and we know that MJ is a Collins fan...

I would agree with the tenor of your post - I think that Collins is the guy who is the most qualified (of the guys that are being discussed) to take the current personnel on this roster and - with the addition of our own John Paxson - mold these guys into a better, more consistent TEAM.

[carolina blue]

My choices:

Jeff Van Gundy
Bill Laimbeer
Tom Thibodeau
Mike Budenholzer

[tk76-]

Carolina, can you really see this group thriving under JVG?

I agree they need better defense, but if you try and run a slow down offense with this group you are asking for ugly, and wasting some of their natural talent on the break.

[Skates]

If you want Collins on a short term basis, fine.  He seems to me to be a guy who has a very short shelf life as a coach.  Would he do better with better talent, perhaps.   Or he may run into problems sooner like he did when those teams he caoched became more talented.  I still feel a little burned by the whole LB ego trip era, and at least I knew he was a hall of fame caliber coach.  Maybe age and a little while out of coaching have mellowed Collins opinion of himself, if so, then I would be more interested.

JVG seems a poor match for this team style wise.

[carolina blue]

Carolina, can you really see this group thriving under JVG?

I agree they need better defense, but if you try and run a slow down offense with this group you are asking for ugly, and wasting some of their natural talent on the break.

I'd like to bring in an established coach, I'm not really hung up on style.

You can't run unless you get a stop, so a greater emphasis on defense should provide more opportunities to run anyway - few coaches decline chances for easy baskets.  Being able to score on the break doesn't necessarily require talent, scoring in the half court does.  IMO, they need somebody to teach them to be effective in the halfcourt game - enough talent is there.  As far as "ugly" goes, I don't care what wins look like.  How "slow" can you run an offense with a 24 second shot clock?

Save for JOB, the Sixers have been coached by a bunch of softies since LB left - JVG will bring some toughness and some credibility having 4 50-win seasons under his belt.

I'm also not locked in to any of the young guys on the roster - I'd move Young, Williams or Speights in a deal for a piece that is a better fit.

[Derek Bodner]

I somewhat agree with Carolina.  being a "slow it down" coach doesn't necessarily mean avoiding fast break opportunities.  I think it has a lot more to do with how you work the shotclock when forced into a half court game.

[bebopdeluxe]

There is a clear difference between a coach/team that only knows how to run an offense at a crawl (which is what JVG reminds me of) and a coach who has the system and DISCIPLINE to get his team to run thier sets (and run them CORRECTLY...all the time) when the fast-break opportunity is not there.  As a player or as a coach, I don't remember Doug Collins to be this crawl-it-up-the-floor type of guy.  For, me the focus is defense anyway - and while JVG certainly has coaching bonafides when it comes to coaching D, it was my impression that Detroit was a top-3 defensive team when Collins coached them...yes?

Again - I am looking at Collins as a 3-year deal...with hopefully somebody like Snow waiting in the wings.

[Skates]

Snow, interesting thought down the road. I always felt that Kevin Ollie will eventually be a good coach too.

[carolina blue]

Arguing that Collins' teams play at a pace that is different than Van Gundy's is (IMO) incorrect.  If you look at where Collins coached teams rank in total points scored/allowed relative to the rest of the league, his teams are consistantly in the bottom 3rd in points scored and in the top 3rd in points allowed - to me that indicates a slow paced game.

Even when he had Michael Jordan averaging 30+/gm his teams were in the bottom 5 in the league in scoring.

Link to Collins Coaching Record

[rickortreat]

The best teams in the league are good defensive teams, and the Sixers need a defensively oriented coach.  That doesn't mean a fast or slow pace - pace is a function of the team's offensive character- the ability to create a good shot early in the clock in non-fast-break opportunities.

It's clear that all teams suffer from offensive break-downs, and it is this performance that allows the opposing team to go on runs.  It seems to change from game to game, and even good teams like Orlando and Boston and LA suffer from it.

The Sixers seem to be one of those teams that can go on tremendous runs, only to find themselves unable to buy a bucket. It still isn't clear if Brand is the solution for the Sixers dry spots, but even if he is, we need another shooter who can spread the floor. A coach who understands how to use the unique speed of the Sixers in the half-court should be able to work wonders with this group. Miller is the best point we have, but he's not fast enough to run it, we need a point with quickness to burn to get the most out of Young and Iguodala slicing to the rim, off screens by Brand and the other big.

Who is the best offensive-oriented coach with a good understanding of defense available?

Anyone think Mike Fratello would be a good fit?  Hubie Brown?

[Skates]

A quote from today's Eddie Jordan interview story that made me happy:

A source close to the Sixers' situation has said Stefanski would not feel pressured if another team offered Jordan a head coaching job. The team's search is likely to include candidates who are assistant coaches with currently active playoff teams.

Other than Thibodeau, who are the other hot assistants still coaching in the playoffs?

[DuckyNinja]

I'd imagine whoever the assistant for San Antonio is would be a hot name.