2018-19 NBA Thread

Is there a reason that James Harden is beloved by Adam Silver? He gets more calls than 911

 

Thank about the best teams in the last 4o years, strong coaches are generally a common denominator. Fitch and Jones were strong and assertive with the Celtics. Pat Riley, Phil Jackson, Rudy T, Popovich, Kerr, Daly.

Of the multiple winners Spoelstra maybe an outlier.
Lue is a puppet andLeBron’s common denominator: immascualted coaches.

 

One other thing all of the above coaches had - one of, if not the best players in the league. Riley only got the Lakers job because Magic wanted Westhead gone. You could say Riley was a puppet as well - but won enough that he earned respect down the road. Same with Phil and Kerr - they didn't coach teams up, they manage(d) egos long enough where they were respected as good coaches.

 

LeBron’s been the best player in the game since his 2nd or 3rd season. He ran Paul Silas, Mike Brown and David Blatt out of their jobs, and they were relatively strong coaches. LeBron won 3 times despite weak coaches. Maybe he wins 4 or 5 with a strong coach

 

Sure, it comes down to the best player supporting the coach that can get the most out of the team. I think only the best player's support can make a coach strong, though.

 

What makes Spoelstra a weak coach?

 

LeBron and Riley having veto power?

 

This isn't true. Riley always backed Spoelstra, he was not just a puppet.

 

The players went to Riley to complain about Spoelstra.

Riley told them to shut the fuck up and go back to practice.

Do not think for a second the players are close to being at the same power level as Pat Riley.

 

This is like the stat cited commonly that if you run the ball effectively you're likely to win. Teams that are winning run the ball.
You think of these coaches as strong because they had success and kept their job a long time. What makes Jackson strong? He was a players coach most of his career. He was good at it, and won enough to have more power than (almost) all of his players.

 

Kerr is a players' coach if there ever was one. I, for one, am absolutely shocked coaches with the best players managed to win.

 

I am old enough to remember that Riley got the Lakers job because Magic Johnson didn't like the previous coach and that Riley then had the rep as a laid-back players' coach, which is kind of an easy stance to take when your starting five has two of the top 10 players of all time on it.