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2014 NBA Coaching Carousel thread

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Mizzougrad96, Apr 22, 2014.

  1. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    My limited dealings with Ewing weren't that bad, but he has a pretty longstanding reputation for being difficult.

    We are beginning to see a few more "former superstars as head coaches" but Kidd and McHale are really the only ones who really fit that bill among NBA coaches. Hornacek and Rivers were very good players, but not superstars.

    I think Harper will be a very good coach. He has a well-deserved reputation as being a great leader.
     
  2. Jake_Taylor

    Jake_Taylor Well-Known Member

    Isn't a big reason there aren't many superstars who decide to coach because they don't necessarily want to go through the grind or work their way up? That clearly isn't the case with Ewing.


    heyabbott, Broadnax's record isn't good, but who is going to win at Savannah State? That was easily the worst program in the country when he took over. I was just pointing out he's been a head coach for a while. Still, very little Georgetown coaching tree to speak of.
     
  3. Liut

    Liut Well-Known Member

    I didn't see the presser but heard most of a fairly lengthy interview with Francesa. Fisher seemed to emphasize how much he's his own man and won't be a puppet.
     
  4. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    I think the dig at superstars, and it's this way in all sports, is that they often can't comprehend that players aren't as dedicated as they were as players. I know that was the biggest issue with Magic Johnson during his short coaching stint. People said the same thing about Mike Singletary.

    In baseball, there are a ton of former catchers who are now managers. In the NBA, it seems to be a lot of former point guards.
     
  5. heyabbott

    heyabbott Well-Known Member

    While the cost of an NBA head coach is going up, the value of so e of these coaches is going down. Fisher's best quality for this job at this time? Best baby sitter available.
     
  6. amraeder

    amraeder Well-Known Member

    Cavs likely hiring Maccabi Tel Aviv coach David Blatt
    http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2014/06/cleveland_cavaliers_in_negotia.html
     
  7. BenPoquette

    BenPoquette Active Member

    I hated dealing with Ewing. Had to do a feature on his work with Dwight Howard in Orlando...two hours before the game he was on the floor, working with Howard. He came to the bench to towel off and there I asked him if he had a few minutes when he was done working Howard out. He told me to wait right there, that he would come over. When they were done, Ewing started towards the tunnel. I went over to him and asked him if it was a good time to talk. He said, "Nope." That's it. Said "nope" and walked into the locker room. Never came back. I went into the locker room to look for him and he was gone. Nice guy.
     
  8. exmediahack

    exmediahack Well-Known Member

    Two words why Patrick Ewing will never be a head coach in 50% of the NBA markets:

    GOLD CLUB.

    The only time it was okay for Ewing to fire his shot off the back of the rim.

    Whatever team hires Ewing as head coach will have a few days of Deadspin rehashing the Gold Club testimony which would have played a larger role in the last decade if not for the Palace Brawl and the Donaghy Scandal. In conservative markets, Gold Club is a turnoff. In more liberal markets, Gold Club can be seen as anti-woman. No one wins.

    Add in:

    - Ewing is a former center and the NBA is more guard-focused than ever before. Sure, you need a center's presence to win the title but you can win 52 games a year with good guard play and a weak center.
    - Does John Thompson's legacy hinder Ewing? A Hall of Fame coach but his media relations with reporters was extremely tense (and understandably so, given what the JT Hoyas were often called). Perhaps that is why Ewing isn't getting a look.
    - Also, if Ewing is hired as a head coach and it doesn't work out (a strong possibility), would firing Ewing bring a Jesse/Al/NAACP headache to the ownership?

    There's a lot of reasons NOT to hire the guy, especially as NBA coaches are, generally, disposable except for elite and proven coaches.
     
  9. JC

    JC Well-Known Member

    Black coaches never get fired in the NBA.
     
  10. exmediahack

    exmediahack Well-Known Member

    Ewing comes from a different place than most other former NBA players/stars. He - and his college team - were seen as this Evil Empire by much of the white college basketball fan base and the white media. Ewing and the Hoyas were also seen as conquering heroes to many African-American basketball fans, and understandably so. (Once Georgetown faded, UNLV took over that role until 1991).

    If you hire Ewing and then, two years later fire Ewing and hire a white guy, it is worth the potential land mines?
     
  11. exmediahack

    exmediahack Well-Known Member

     
  12. Jake_Taylor

    Jake_Taylor Well-Known Member

    If Mark Jackson coaches the Warriors to their best season in years and is replaced by a white broadcaster with no coaching experience and there are no cries of racism, then nobody is going to take racism accusations seriously if Ewing or another black coach gets an opportunity, doesn't win and gets fired.


    Ewing is likely never going to overcome his surly reputation, but like I pointed out before he's not the only big man with a lot of years as an assistant who hasn't gotten a head coaching job.
     
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