Coaching Circles

Chip and I were discussing the recent article by ESPN's Ric Bucher about the need for there to be chemistry between the General Manager and Head Coach in an NBA organization. The fact that the Grizzlies hired Marc Iavaroni prior to Chris Wallace hasn't gone unnoticed by me or the majority of the fanbase. That has long been considered one of the cardinal sins of a professional sports franchise, given how closely the coach and GM have to work together in order to put a successful product on the floor.

Nevertheless, as we continued our conversation, we began to talk about the portion of the article where it stated that Celtics' assistant Tom Thibodeau didn't even receive cursory interest this offseason due to his reputation as a "(Jeff) Van Gundy clone" who is "stuck in his ways". It seems that GM's prefer to deal with coaches that can adapt to a fluid situation, rather than insisting on doing things according to their system, no matter what pieces are given to them. But what successful coaches aren't "stuck in their ways"? After all, I don't see Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloan or Larry Brown being lauded for their ability to readily adapt to the changing NBA landscape. In fact, all three of them are known for having a defined system where players can either do what they are told or rot on the bench until they accept that. Greg Poppovich is known for sticking up for his players against the league and the press, but there is no question that his players also know that it is his way or the highway in San Antonio.

Here in Memphis, Hubie Brown was praised for teaching a young team how to win after years of futility. Of course, Hubie also insisted on continuing to run his legendary 10-man rotation, even as it caused fractures in the locker room over playing time, eventually leading to his decision to leave a mere 12 games into the 2004/05 season. This was a familiar pattern for those who had followed Hubie's prior coaching efforts, as he had a well-known reputation for getting results upon taking over a team, only to have the players grow weary of his hard-nosed approach after a few seasons. This is the same reputation that Mike Fratello, the coach that succeeded Brown in Memphis, had also gained over his career. Subsequently, Fratello was also gone in the same span of time (2 years) that Brown stayed. After the interim stay of Tony Barone (i.e. a move that didn't require any extra money to be spent), the team went out and hired the biggest name on the market in Marc Iavaroni last offseason. Is Iavaroni the answer for this floundering team? I think we first have to determine what kind of coach this team needs, which means we need to categorize coaches.

Category 1: Drill Seargents
This coach yells...a lot. They also know how to teach young players how to win. Unfortunately, this approach only works for so long before the players grow immune to it. That typically means their lifespan on one team is only 2-3 years before they have to move on to another team of young players. Of course, on occasion the coach gets a few veterans on his side and they "help" him to keep everyone in line. Examples include Mike Fratello, Scott Skiles, Jeff Van Gundy and Doug Collins.

Category 2: The Motivators
When you hire this coach, you need to "get over the hump". That hump might be getting into the playoffs or achieving further success in the playoffs. This guy gets the absolute most out of his players. He knows how to maximize his team's strengths and minimize their weaknesses just long enough to win a few more games than the team probably should have expected. Like the Drill Seargent, he also tends to wear out a welcome with veterans, but at least he has some success while doing it. Examples include Larry Brown, Hubie Brown, Byron Scott and Jerry Sloan.

Category 3: Eye Candy
Some coaches have just enough success to keep teams interested, but never seem to be able to win "the big one". They look good on the surface, but there's really not enough substance there when it really counts. Typically, these are known as "players' coaches" due to a laid-back approach and a tendency to let things flow, rather than being seen as meddlers. Examples include Rick Adelman, Flip Saunders, Mike D'Antoni and Maurice Cheeks.

Category 4: The Artists
These coaches wind up having carte blance from their teams after taking a tremendous amount of talent and "molding" them into a championship team. These guys usually become legends in the process. They are very good at what they do -- but they also benefit from ready-made situations. Examples include Phil Jackson, Greg Poppovich and Pat Riley.

Obviously, some coaches fit into more than one category or are part of another subset altogether. But by and large, I think that these 4 categories encompass the majority of coaches out there. So what kind of coach do the Grizzlies need right now?

I believe that the team made the correct hire when they tabbed Hubie Brown to become the head coach. He was a teacher, first and foremost. He taught a young team how to win games, which was something they weren't familiar with after a history of epic failure. Sure, they tuned him out after 2 seasons, but he took a 23 win team and turned it into a 50 win team. That is a mini-miracle in itself. However, I think that the team's misstep was to hire a disciplinarian in Mike Fratello as a replacement for the departed Brown. At that point, the team probably needed a more successful "Motivator/Eye Candy" hybrid to take them to the next level after their first taste of the postseason. Someone who had taken teams to playoff success, but had a reputation as a "players' coach". Perhaps someone like George Karl or P.J. Carlesimo -- a "name" coach who might not be able to win the big one, but was able to get his team in position to at least achieve a few playoff series wins.

Of course, hindsight is always 20/20 and I'm not all that interested in rewriting history. So what does this current team need? I am of the opinion that they once again are in need of a "Motivator/Eye Candy" hybrid. They need someone who can lead them to success while getting the most out of them at the same time. Is Marc Iavaroni that coach? To this point, I have my doubts. I cannot figure out which category Ivy fits in yet. On one hand, he is not a yelling, screaming tyrant (like new assistant coach Kevin O'Neill), so he's not a Drill Seargent. On the other hand, he's not a player's coach either, given that there were rumblings of him having an elitist attitude with an air of superiority this past season, so he's not Eye Candy either, even though he did come in with a lot of hype and disappointing results to show for it. Given his status as a rookie head coach last season (he had never been a head coach at any level), I'm inclined to give him one more season to see what he's made of and whether or not his system (whatever that may be) can be successful. This will also help me to figure out if he and Chris Wallace can make it as partners, or if they will become adversaries engaged in conflict. This is just one more question that needs to be answered as we wait to see what this collection of talent can ultimately achieve.

Here is a post I made on the Grizzlies Message Boards last night that I believe is germane to the situation:

I don't believe that Iavaroni's future with the team is tied to his won/loss record as much as the improvement of the team based on some key criteria:

1) Defensive presence - This team has been a sieve for the past two years on that end of the floor. That has to improve, which is one of the key reasons that Kevin O'Neill was brought in. If they show a good understanding of defensive principles, that will go a long way towards retaining Iavaroni.

2) Sorting of the roster - We have too many "talented" guards and not enough minutes to go around. Throw in the fact that we now have two young PF's and two fairly young C's and we're either looking at a return of the 10-man rotation or some upset players. One way or another, some decisions need to be made about who is the "big dog" between Conley/Lowry, Mayo/Crittenton, Warrick/Arthur and Gasol/Milicic. That's not to say that the "loser" of that battle won't have a place on the team, but clearly defined roles will help the growth of the team over the next 2 seasons.

3. Display of intensity and effort for 48 minutes and 82 games - Too often in the past two seasons, we have been treated to a team that played hard for anywhere from 30-45 minutes, but then fell apart and didn't seem to care about winning at the end of the game. On some occasions, they seemed to take the entire night off, which I know is a reality of a long NBA season, but it happened too often for an organization with a dwindling fanbase. If we don't believe that they care, then why should we? That directly affects Heisley beloved bottom line, so I'm sure that it will be a point of emphasis.

4) Good rapport between players and coaches - We heard too many rumors about Ivy having an "elitist attitude" towards others to dismiss it as nothing. If the players don't respect the coach and believe that he respects them in turn, then there can be no relationship between them. Even though Larry Brown and Phil Jackson get under the skin of many of the players they coaches, they still command respect from their players because of the results they produce and because the players know that their head coach understands how to best utilize them.

Those things, more than an improvement in wins, should be the keys to Ivy's season and future with the Grizzlies. Of course, I believe that if the majority of those things come to pass, the wins will take care of themselves.

Addendum: One of my new favorite blogs is Eric Mussleman's blog. Mussleman is a former Grizzlies assistant coach under Mike Fratello and head coach with Golden State and Sacramento. Today he referenced another site which had the list of Hubie Brown's coaching principles. I hope the Grizzlies fans enjoy it as much as I did.

Memphis and West: A Lesson in Failure

“Leaders establish the vision for the future and set the strategy for getting there; they cause change. They motivate and inspire others to go in the right direction and they, along with everyone else, sacrifice to get there.”
-John Kotter

Jerry West has tendered his resignation effective July 1st, 2007. After 6 years at the head of the franchise West has decided the team needs a new voice to lead the franchise going forward.

When West arrived in Memphis he stated his vision to make this a model franchise. While few people really knew what that meant he changed the way the franchise was viewed by the fans and the league with just his presence. He made his first major move when he fired Sydney Lowe only 8 games into the new season. Hubie Brown was hired. Brown brought discipline and a mentality that winning is a process not an end result. He coached the Grizzlies to a 28-46 record that year.

When Brown succeeded the crowds supported Brown not because anyone bought into Jerry West’s vision or even understood what his vision was. They bought into Brown’s vision because he communicated this every night in the press conferences. Jerry West was given credit for being behind everything if Brown was this successful as the coach. Who cares if no one knew what West was thinking in his box in the sky, the success on the court meant he had a plan and we should trust him.

‘Trust in Jerry’ became a popular phrase around Memphis.

The next season the Grizzlies caught fire and during a beautiful 50 win year the Grizzlies could do no wrong. West was a genius winning the league’s Executive of the Year. Hubie Brown won Coach of the Year. Things couldn’t have been better in Memphis. Who cares if no one knew what West’s vision was for the future, the Grizzlies were on the right path.

Then things started to go wrong. First, Brian Cardinal was signed to a free agent contract larger than James Posey’s, the previous year’s team MVP. West paid far over market value for Cardinal and it raised a lot of eyebrows. Players began to express unhappiness with the lack of playing time under Brown’s system that had 10 players basically playing for 24 minutes a game. It really got weird when Brown complained that West was spying on him with an equipment manager. Even though the team was moving into a new arena and coming off a 50 win season and the first playoff appearance in franchise history, it seemed no one was happy. No one was on the same page. There was no shared vision of the future that everyone was working toward.

Then suddenly Brown was gone.

Thanksgiving Day he told the team he was retiring effective immediately due to health problems. In 2 months the Grizzlies had gone from an up and coming NBA team ready to take their place in the upper echelon of the NBA to a team in disarray without leadership and without cohesion. Within 8 days West brought in another old school coach, Mike Fratello, to take over the team. The rumor was that West wanted a disciplinarian coaching the team to control the egos and to get the players to focus on team and not individuals. What was left unanswered was the question of how Fratello fit into Jerry’s vision. Granted Fratello had a reputation as a disciplinarian but how would his coaching philosophy mesh with the vision West had for the team?

Fratello won a lot of games with the Grizzlies but also upset players and fans. West sat alone in his suite watching intensely. Fratello seemed to be the anti-thesis of Brown. He was short and curt in press conferences compared to Brown’s rolling monologues on the game. While Brown seemed to enjoy educating the press about the game, Fratello seemed to be irritated. Gone was the personality on TV that had him called the “Czar of the Telestrator.”

Fratello totally changed the manner of play on the court as well. The Grizzlies went from an up-tempo team that attempted to wear down their opponents with pressure and the depth of their bench to the slowest team in the league that apparently wanted to lull their opponents to sleep. Still West was stoic. The strong man behind his Forum suite’s glass partition never came out and explained how this move was getting us closer to his vision of the ‘Model Franchise.’

The termination of Fratello and hiring of Barone brought along a pronouncement that the team would be changing again to a running up-tempo style and true to his word Barone did give the fans that. He played the youngsters and the team ran the ball. Barone joked with the media, with the refs and even his own players. West barely said a word about how this move fit into his vision of the future.

And no one knows yet what West saw as the future of the franchise.

West has always been quiet, reserved and shy. His press conferences rambled from point to point and he often left people with no idea what he really meant. He did not express his vision of the future of the franchise. No one knew his strategy to get the team there. He motivated people in the short run by reputation but by being too closed and guarded in his plans for the team he didn’t have anyone buy into his vision of the future. People didn’t work together because very few understood what direction they were going.

Hubie Brown coached the team to run and use their athleticism to outscore the opponents. He didn’t run just to run. Everyone had a place on the court and Brown expected them to be in the right place at the right time but pressure and speed were valuable keys to the team’s success. Fratello wanted to control every aspect of the team. He preferred to slow the game down to make sure that he controlled what was happening. The Grizzlies went from one of the higher scoring teams in the league to one of the best defensive teams in two seasons. Under Barone the team became one of the highest scoring teams again in a matter of weeks. At no time were the fans involved or educated about the reason for these moves. What was the vision? West had 4 coaches in 5 seasons (Lowe, Brown, Fratello and Barone-and that isn’t including the 4 game stint of Lionel Hollins) and another one on the way this summer. Where is the plan? One minute the team is running the next they are taking the air out of the ball only to have it refilled with Helium. Is it any wonder the fans turned away?

If leadership is establishing a vision of the future and establishing a path to get you there then West failed to lead this team. A lot of things can be blamed on the owner but the failure to communicate a vision of the future lies at one man’s feet. He may have had that vision (and I suspect he did) but he failed to get the players to buy into it. He didn’t communicate this vision so the fans and the players had a hard time buying into it. Without that commitment and motivation the sacrifices weren’t made to help it succeed.

West is right about the team needing a new voice. Hopefully this time it will be one people can hear both on the team and in the community. To turn this franchise around it will need sacrifice on a lot of people’s parts. Things must change. The team has to create an identity that everyone can rally behind and all of this comes from the leader’s ability to communicate his goals and visions.

West didn’t fail in Memphis because he didn’t have a vision. He didn’t fail because he didn’t make sacrifices along the way to succeed. He didn’t fail because he didn’t cause change. He failed because he kept the vision to himself. Without the understood vision all the sacrifices and effort, all the attempts to motivate and inspire eventually fall on deaf ears. One man can’t do it alone.

Pick a Coach, Any Coach

Lately, there has been a lot of discussion about who the Memphis Grizzlies are going to hire as their new coach for next season. The name on everyone’s lips first is that of Phoenix Suns assistant Marc Iavaroni. Over the weekend, Dick Vitale mentioned that Florida Gators coach Billy Donovan might receive some interest from the Grizz front office, as well. A few other names have been bandied about, too, so let’s explore the options out there.

I'm not in favor of bringing in a coach from the college ranks who has virtually no NBA experience as a player or an assistant, since the differences between coaching the two are miles apart in reality. That's why guys like Marc Iavaroni and Mario Elie are among those at the top of my potential candidates list, while Billy Donovan is on the outside looking in.

I know there has been a lot of talk about not wanting to hire a "retread", but some of these coaches could be good for a rebuilding team (and don't fool yourself into thinking that this team is anything other than that). Names like Rick Adelman, Alvin Gentry, Del Harris, P.J. Carlesimo, Paul Silas, Rudy Tomjanovich and Stan Van Gundy have been mentioned and were hastily dimissed by many fans who screamed for "new blood" at the position. This team is going to have to re-learn how to win after this season -- just like they had to initially learn how to win under Hubie Brown. Will a coach with limited head coaching experience be able to do that? Is it that we don't want to give these coaches another chance based on how the relationships ended with "dragged from the mothballs retreads" Hubie Brown and Mike Fratello?

I think we have to recognize that some coaches are put into situations where it is impossible for them to succeed, so we can't hold that against them in terms of their coaching record. By the same token, you cannot dismiss the mistakes made by those coaches who didn't do enough with the talent placed in their hands *coughDocRiverscough* on more than one occasion. It can be a fine line determining which party a coaching candidate falls into, sometimes.

A name that is starting to receive more consideration locally is that of former assistant Eric Musselman. Rumors abound that he is going to be let go in Sacto, putting him on the open market once again. Rumors from earlier this season mentioned that Jerry West wanted to fire Fratello in the offseason and promote Musselman to the top spot, but was denied the ability to perform this action by the team owners. I believe that Muss was unjustly let go from Golden State, where he achieved more than I thought was possible, given the team he had to work with, and I think that if he is fired from Sacramento it will be undeserved as well. If he were to become available, I'd put him in my top 3 with Iavaroni and Elie. I have a hard time determining why exactly they would want to get rid of him after just one season, though, given the injuries and distractions he has had to deal with. Think about how far Sam Mitchell (a guaranteed lock for the chopping block at the beginning of the season) has come in the space of just one year. Sometimes coaches just need to be given a little more time and patience to see what they can produce. And sometimes they need to be let go before an entire organization is left in ruins.

Right now, my candidate rankings look like this:

1. Marc Iavaroni
2. Eric Musselman
3. Mario Elie
4. Rick Adelman
5. Stan Van Gundy

Feel free to chime in with your own choices or thoughts on mine in the comments.