Final Round-Up: Nets Coaching Candidates
May 21, 2010 2010 Offseason, Coaching, Coaching Moves, Coaching Search, Devin Kharpertian, John Calipari
So for the last four days, your favorite four NetsAreScorching writers have discussed the potential of some of the most likely coaching candidates for the New Jersey Nets next season. On Monday, Dennis Velasco argued that Coach K’s college experience and respect throughout the league made him a viable candidate. On Tuesday, Mark Ginocchio posted about Tom Thibodeau, the assistant coach at Boston, explaining that his coaching roots (a Jeff Van Gundy disciple) and commitment to defense make him a great candidate for the job. On Wednesday, Devin Kharpertian took that commitment one step further, noting that Jeff Van Gundy’s pedigree was too important to overlook. Yesterday, Sebastian Pruiti made a great case for former coach Avery Johnson, citing his ability to maintain the Mavericks as an offensive force while improving them on the defensive end.
Now, if we were to ask each writer to name one more candidate that they would be interested in seeing, who would it be?
Sebastian: For the past few months I have been on the Eddie Jordan bandwagon, and even though I may be the only one, I think the Nets need to look at Coach Jordan as a serious candidate. Yes, I do realize that he has been fired twice in the past two years, but in both instances I think he had a raw deal. First in Washington he had to deal with a ton of injuries, and second in Philly, he had to deal with 2 bloated contracts. Anyway, the reason I am all for Eddie Jordan (besides the fact that he is already familiar with the Nets – he was a former assistant) is because of his system. I have always been a sucker for motion offenses in the NBA, and I think the Nets’ roster is perfect for a motion offense (I have been saying this for a few years now). To run a motion offense you need a center who is comfortable playing on the outside who can pass, check. You need scoring options from the wing, check. Finally you need a scoring PG, check. That might be the most appealing aspect of Eddie Jordan, you don’t need a pure PG for his system to work. As much as I love Devin and his abilities, he isn’t a true point guard. He is more of a scoring, ball dominating point guard. You saw what Jordan was able to do with another PG with those qualities in Gilbert Arenas. While Eddie Jordan isn’t the flashy name Nets’ fans would want, if the Nets do go after him, don’t be disappointed.
DV: Everyone that follows the NBA closely and pays attention to not only player contracts, but coaches’, you know that the Holy Grail of all sideline stalkers will become a free agent after the NBA Finals when he wins an 11th championship ring. Yes, I’m predicting the Los Angeles Lakers will repeat and that Phil Jackson is a possible candidate to consider for the Nets. Sure, it’s a possibility as small as the size of Megan Fox’s acting ability, but she still gets work, right? So, why not pine and hope for Jackson, arguably the best NBA coach ever, to come back East and turn the Nets into a dynasty? Sure, there’s only one Kobe Bryant, but the Nets have a great chance to sign LeBron James, who has done… great… in the… postseason… yeah. Hmm. Is it a conflict of interest if we ask Michael Jordan to sign with the team for a season or two and inject him with HGH and liquid from the object of Ponce De Leon’s affection, the Fountain of Youth? It is? Well, regardless, Mikhail Prokhorov has tons of money and maybe, just maybe, Jackson will consider taking the greenbacks, as well as the challenge of making the Nets relevant again with the bonus of the Nets having some nice young players that is a LeBron away from easily making the playoffs in the Eastern Conference next season, and who knows in the next five? The added bonus is that Jackson would be able to stuff in his former employer’s face, the New York Knicks, on their own turf.
Devin: I can’t even deny that John Calipari is a giant sleazeball, so I won’t even try. But damnit if he doesn’t get the job done. He’s been in the coaching world for almost 30 years (he started at 23) got the respect of important players in the league, and regardless of the veracity of the CaLeBron rumor the ties between the two are impossible to deny. If Worldwide Wes is as popular as we all think he is, then having Cal as a coach could seriously influence the LeBron James sweepstakes. As a coach, he’s been around this organization before, was the creator of the “dribble-drive” offense that Devin & Brook thrived in and is the kind of guy who might mesh with a Russian billionaire pretty well. Also, I know it’s a long shot, but John Wall LOVED playing for Calipari, and if he has any say come June 24th…
Of course, there are other longshot candidates that we haven’t had a chance to mention – Rick Pitino, Mark Jackson, Jay Wright. But given what we’ve heard, what we know, and what we expect to come, you can bet on one of the guys mentioned this past week to be manning the sidelines next season.
UPDATE – Mark: Ok, ok, I’m here. Sorry folks, I picked an interesting week to be traveling the Southeast of the United States. Let me dissect one of the remaining candidates if I can – Mark Jackson. I think Jackson would be an interesting coaching candidate, but I just wish the guy could get a job as an assistant somewhere first, but he reportedly thinks it’s an unnecessary career move. I guess he’s got a great fallback job as an NBA analyst for ABC. I actually really enjoyed his time with YES and thought he was a great compliment to Ian Eagle and Marv Albert. Anyway, I think with Mikhail Prokhorov saying he’s looking for a guy with NBA experience, it would disqualify Jackson as a candidate. Plus if Prokhorov is serious about getting this franchise to the Finals in five years, he really needs to hire a guy who’s not going to spend a few seasons finding himself as a coach.
Nets on the Net: 2/14/10 Edition
Feb 14, 2010 Brook Lopez, Coaching Moves, Nets on the Net
While denying interest in the Nets head coaching job, give Mike Krzyzewski some credit for humor: “I’ve not been contacted by anybody,” Krzyzewski said. “The guy’s Russian, right? You think he’d hire a Polish guy?
CBS Sports continued to push a scenario straight out of my worst nightmares by speculating that John Calipari could take the head coaching job if offered by the Nets.
Awww… LeBron James is complimenting the Nets again: “The Nets have a lot of talent,” said James, a six-time All-Star in seven pro seasons. “I think Brook Lopez one day will be an All-Star. I don’t see why they are where they are at this point in the season.”
Al Iannazzone on the current state of the Nets: The Nets are in the midst of the best week of their season: they can’t lose a game, and some actual excitement is being generated by the team.
The futility of the Nets is part of the Washington Post’s All-Star break report.
Nets on the Net: 12/3/09 Edition
Dec 3, 2009 Coaching Moves, Del Harris, Izod Center, John Wall, Kiki Vandeweghe, Losing Streak, Nets on the Net, Rod Thorn, Yi
Chris Sheridan of ESPN is inside the Nets locker room last night, being all nice and observational.
Ian Thomsen of SI is the next in line to question the Nets “heart.”
As part of the 0-18 celebration, Ken Berger looks back at 18 moments of infamy for the Nets.
Here’s Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski’s take on the record.
The always great Basketball Prospectus dissects the Nets woes.
Some signs of the times. Literally.
Here comes the calvary, and it includes new assistant coach Del Harris.
Rod Thorn and the rest of the front office need to live with the choices they made.
Mavs owner Mark Cuban throws his support behind the Nets.
Jason Kidd, always sympathetic. Dirk Nowitzki on the other hand has Kiki Vandeweghe’s back.
Deadspin live blogged last night’s game.
Mitch Lawrence of the Daily News is circling next week’s game against the depleted Bulls as potential victory #1 for the Nets, which would bring their record to 0-20.
John Brennan of The Record talks about the Nets futile start, and their plans to move to Brooklyn, is affecting attendance at the Izod Center.
Fanhouse makes the case for new Nets coach, Patrick Ewing (?). Stan Van Gundy certainly makes the case as well.
NBA.com speculates that people will want to coach the Nets moving forward.
Chad Ford of ESPN Insider continues the NBA 2010 draft discussion, and predicts the Nets would go John Wall if they got the #1 pick in June.
Nets Daily looks at the relationship between Yi Jianlian and Del Harris.
Hey, Yi might be back next week.
Kiki Vandeweghe To Take Over As Head Coach
Nov 30, 2009 Coaching Moves, Kiki Vandeweghe
Well, it’s practically officially: Kiki Vandeweghe will be the next head coach for the Nets, taking longtime coaching veteran Del Harris as his assistant, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein. The Nets will formally announce this sometime on Tuesday, according to the report.
Vandeweghe, the current Nets GM who has no prior coaching experience, reportedly didn’t want to take the position without a season veteran coach on the bench to assist him. That’s where Del Harris comes in, who was named coached of the year in 1995 while in Los Angeles, and also has head coaching experience in Milwaukee and Houston. Last season, he served as an assistant coach/mentor to Vinny Del Negro in Chicago.
Assistant Tom Barrise, will likely coach Wednesday’s game at home against the Mavericks, according to Stein. Kiki’s first game will probably come Friday against Charlotte (hey, nice timing… a team the Nets could beat).
Personally, I’m glad the Nets went in this direction. Yes, Kiki has no coaching experience whatsoever, but I think a team that is in shambles like the Nets are right now, needs a new voice. Promoting one of the assistants would be rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship. Obviously, there’s no guarantees that Kiki will do any better than the current Nets assistants, but at the bare minimum, he’ll get to utilize the talent he assembled for the roster the way he envisioned it while acquiring these players.
A Look at the Nets Coaching Options
Nov 30, 2009 Coaching Moves
As the Nets look to move on from Lawrence Frank, they now need to name an interim coach to take them through the rest of the season. Common sense says the Nets, who are a financial mess, will promote someone in-house to take over head coaching duties. Here are some of the possibilities:
Kiki Vandeweghe – The Nets GM, Kiki was looking like the odds-on favorite if you believed last week’s media reports. But since the Frank firing, reports say the team may be backing away from Vandeweghe, and looking instead to one of the team’s current assistants. It’s not as if Kiki would have brought something definitively special to the table. He has no head coaching experience, though he’s earned some praise for his talent recognition while working in the front offices of Dallas and Denver. Regarding his work as GM in New Jersey – since he assembled this losing roster, is it only fitting that he should be the one to coach it?
Tom Barrise – Barrise got the call last night against the Lakers and the game resembled the first 16 games of the 2009-10 season. The Nets got blitzed early, were inept offensively for most of the first half, and fell into a hole they were never able to climb out of. There was even some Bobby Simmons playing PF for those longing for Lawrence Frank’s coaching decisions. Still Barrise is a guy who’s paid his dues for 14 years in the organization, first as an advanced scout and then as an assistant. He’s a Jersey guy through and through – born in Paterson, with coaching experience at Ramapo, William Patterson, Farleigh Dickinson and St. Peter’s – which could make him a hometown favorite.
John Loyer – Loyer’s in his first year as an assistant coach with the team, after spending four seasons in that capacity in Philadelphia. A word that comes up often when discussing Loyer is “respect.” Yes, he has no head coaching experience, dating back to his days as an assistant at the University of Cincinnati, but the current roster reportedly is already a fan of his.
Doug Overton – In his second season as an assistant coach, the longtime NBA point guard is an interesting dark horse candidate to take over for Frank. I personally wonder how his relationship with Chris Douglas-Roberts would impact Rod Thorn’s decision to promote Overton. Both CDR and Overton have downplayed it, but both have engaged in some public screaming matches with each other in front of the media, including most recently during a game in Milwaukee where Overton was barking orders at CDR and the guard snapped back “we’re losing!”
Roy Rogers – Another dark horse, Rogers has earned some praise in his two years as a Nets assistant because of his work with the Nets bigs – notably Brook Lopez. He does have some coaching experience in the NBA D-League as well, which could help his cause. A former NBA first round draft pick in 1996.
The Open Field – Again, it’s doubtful, but the Nets could reach outside the organization for help. The names that are out there? Well, Patrick Ewing is reportedly already lobbying for a chance. Other names with NBA head coaching experience include Avery Johnson, Sam Mitchell, Reggie Theus, PJ Carlesimo, Terry Porter and Eric Musselman.
Brian Hill Leaving For Detroit
Jul 24, 2009 2009 Offseason, Brian Hill, Cheap, Coaching, Coaching Moves, Sucks
It is official, Brian Hill is leaving the Nets. Fred Kerber reports:
“Brian is going to Detroit,” team president Rod Thorn said. “He is a terriffic coach and a better guy. Solid all the way. He did a great job and we hate to lose him. His coaching credentials are impeccable.”
You guys already know how I feel about it, but the move makes sense for Coach Hill, who ends up getting a multi-year deal and he doesn’t have to take a 50% paycut. There is no question in my mind that the quality of the playcalling will go down this year.
Still undecided is Coach Roy Rogers, who has been offered a multi-year deal by Rutgers. No word on when the decision will be made.