Coaches Critique



Hollywood lost one of the great ones this past week with the passing of Dennis Hopper. Hopper played a bunch of legendary roles over the years. However, one role struck a chord with me more than any other. He played Gene Hackman's brilliant and troubled assistant coach, Shooter, in the movie Hoosiers. According to Shooter, he knew everything there ever was to know about the greatest game ever invented. If Shooter was actually a real person and not a fictional character, I'm sure he'd have his own blog and would thouroughly enjoy fully critiquing the overall coaching performance of the four head coaches who brought their teams to the NBA conference finals. So in honor of Shooter and Dennis Hopper, here's my breakdown of the performance of Stan Van Gundy, Alvin Gentry, Doc Rivers, and Phil Jackson followed by a few short points about the Boston/L.A. final, which is Christmas in June for a hardcore basketball fan.

Before I get into the particulars of the job that Stan Van Gundy did in the playoffs, I want to clearly state that I like Stan. i like the fact that he looks exactly like porn star Ron Jeremy. I like the fact that he dresses like he's going out with the Soprano crew for goomah night. I like the fact that he shares DNA with my favorite basketball announcer in the world and most of all, I generally like the job Stan does coaching the Magic. With all that said, this past Eastern Conference final was not Stan's finest moment.

The Celtics determined right from the start of this series that they were content to let Dwight Howard beat them inside. The Celtics were determined to smother Orlando's perimeter shooters and they were prepared to live with their center Kendrick Perkins playing Howard straight up. The Celtics play tenacious half court defense and were successful in keeping Orlando's shooters from hurting them. For Orlando, there was a possible solution to this problem that was relatively simple, yet the Magic did not take advantage enough.

In last year's Eastern Conference finals, the Magic faced a Cleveland Cavalier team that for the exception of one player, was nowhere close to as athletic as the Magic. The Magic spent the entire series pushing the ball up the floor creating easy baskets, open transition threes, and forcing Cleveland to play at a pace where they were overmatched. Cleveland had a difficult time slowing the pace down because they play without a pure point guard. Mo Williams may look like a point guard, but he's nowhere good enough to play one on TV. And because Cleveland could not slow down the tempo, Orlando disposed of them in 6 games.

For the exception of one player, the Celtics core players are old, slow, or a combination of both. They play a very aggressive brand of half court basketball. Boston's kryptonite is having to spend extended periods of time playing in an up tempo game. They were forced to play up tempo far too little by the Magic. In the games where Orlando chose to push the tempo, they won. The Magic outscored the Celtics in every fourth quarter of this series. Granted we can throw game three out because it was a blow out, but to me that fourth quarter advantage is a clear sign that the Celtics are susceptible to being worn down late in games and the Magic did not take advantage of it at all.

Don't get me wrong here. In no way am I implying that it was as easy to play fast against this year's Celtics as it was against last year's Cavs. The Celtics have a point guard in Rajon Rondo who controls tempo as good as any guard in the league. Rondo is a superb athlete with a clear knowledge of the fact that his team plays better slow, even though he plays better fast. Cleveland didn't have a point guard. They had a chucker who's best trait was his willingness to defer to LeBron James much of the time. But the Magic made it easy for Rondo. Magic point guard Jameer Nelson is a decent up tempo point guard who Orlando did not have for most of last year's playoffs. When Nelson pushed the ball in this series, opportunities opened up for Orlando. There was one point during game 4, when Stan's brother Jeff was screaming to the viewers that Orlando needs to run, run, run. Instead they allowed Rondo and Boston to impose their tempo and now the Magic are playing golf while the Celtics plan for the Lakers.

The other spot where I thought Stan goofed was how little he played backup center Marcin Gortat together with Dwight Howard. If the Magic were content allowing the Celtics to slow down the game, then Stan had business going big to match up with the Celtics' size. Stan played Gortat and Howard together for only one long stretch in game 5, and that was in response to the Celtics being short on bigs due to Perkins' ejection and Glen Davis' concussion. The argument against playing Gortat and Howard together for long stretches is that it would bog down the offense, but with the Celtics guarding the three point arc aggressively, wasn't their offense bogged down already? Having Gortat in the game with Howard as a second shot blocker/inside help defender certainly would have assisted in keeping Paul Pierce and Rondo away from the rim.

And that leads to my final issue with Stan before I leave him alone. Pushing the tempo for a three point shooting team like the Magic is not rocket science. In the way Stan spoke after and during the games, and frankly, with the way his brother harped on playing fast during the telecasts, it was apparent that Stan wanted Orlando the up the tempo. But there seems to be an issue with Stan having the ability to get his message through to this group. Now before we all go blaming Vince Carter for this, which is convenient, but unfair and not accurate , it is important to note that at two separate times during last year's playoffs the Magic were close to a player mutiny against Stan. Stan yells an awful lot, and habitual yellers almost always end up delivering a stale message after a certain amount of time, regardless of the sport. Coaches who ride players like Stan does, have a shelf life. Food for thought.

Alvin Gentry took over the Phoenix Suns’ job in the middle of the 2008-09 season under tough circumstances. Suns GM Steve Kerr was attempting a makeover of the Suns style of play at the beginning of the 08-09 season. He had traded for Shaquille O’Neal at the prior trade deadline and fired head coach Mike D’Antoni at season’s end, all with an eye on creating more of a defensive identity for the Suns. He hired Terry Porter as head coach to execute this vision.
Well, Kerr’s vision was slightly impaired from the outset to say the least. The Suns were disappointing on both ends of the floor. Porter was fired midseason, albeit unfairly, because the Suns were not where Kerr thought they should be. In retrospect, trading for an aging, overweight center who can’t defend the pick and roll as a lynchpin move to establish a new defensive identity was like planning to stay dry in a monsoon with only a newspaper overhead. When Porter was fired, Gentry was given the job on an interim basis. Gentry immediately reinstalled the Suns up tempo style and although the Suns fell short of the playoffs in a stacked Western Conference, he managed to make basketball in Phoenix fun again.
In the offseason preceding this season, Kerr did Gentry an enormous favor (no pun intended) in offloading Shaq onto Cleveland for a few expiring contracts and a used gymbag. This was like a 400 pound weight being removed from the Suns. Strike that, it WAS a 400 pound weight being removed from the Suns. Gentry had the Suns playing a up tempo game, but still emphasized half court defense. Gentry also used an old Hubie Brown staple of rotation management by using an entire second team for stretches of the 2nd and 4th quarter of games. This became extremely beneficial when his bench guys had confidence in big spots and he was able to get plenty of rest for his two oldest starters in Steve Nash and Grant Hill, but I digress. The ultimate result was a 54-28 record and the third seed in the West.
Gentry did his best work in the playoffs. He kept the Suns focused against an undermanned Portland team. It became easier for Gentry to get his guys’ attention after they lost game 1 at home to Portland and they took care of Portland in 6. The Spurs were next for Phoenix. Gentry did an outstanding job in this series getting his guys to continually push the tempo and take advantage of George Hill’s inexperience as a point guard by getting him to play at Phoenix’s pace. Gentry also ran a ton of pick and roll with Tim Duncan guarding the screener. This was unstoppable for Phoenix in this series because Duncan’s deteriorating foot speed made it impossible for San Antonio to defend. You do not see many playoff series where Gregg Popovich gets outcoached, but Gentry did it here in a Phoenix sweep.
Interestingly enough, Gentry probably distinguished himself the most in the series in which the Suns lost. After getting soundly beaten in the first two games of the Western Conference finals by the Lakers, Gentry made some crucial adjustments to get the Suns back in the series. Offensively, he moved Amare Stoudemire a little further from the basket, giving him more room to use his quickness to beat Pau Gasol and/or a hobbled Andrew Bynum. And in the last 4 games of this series, Stoudemire shredded the Lakers. The other big move that Gentry made was to incorporate a 2-1-2 zone defense. The zone was a great wrinkle allowing Phoenix to hide their biggest defensive liability in Channing Frye so they could keep him on the court for his perimeter shooting. Furthermore, in the words of my man Shooter, the Suns made the Lakers “chuck it from the cheap seats. “ For the sole exception of Kobe Bryant, it took the Lakers awhile to adjust to the zone, and they didn’t have anyone who could guard Kobe anyway. So, when the Lakers started running their offense through the high post in gane 5 and had the 2-1-2 figured out, Gentry switched to a 1-3-1 zone which helped the Suns make up an 18 point deficit from late in the third quarter to tie the game with 3.5 seconds left. And if it were not for a missed box out by Jason Richardson and the sheer determination of my man Ron Artest (have the Ariza fans converted yet?), the Suns may have had a different result in that game.
The roughest part of this series for Gentry is that he almost coached a perfect series. Once the Lakers figured out the 1-3-1, Gentry went back to man to man to keep them off balance. He made one crucial mistake down the stretch of game 6, and that probably cost the Suns that game. In game 3 of the San Antonio series, Phoenix backup point guard Goran Dragic went on a scoring binge that would have made Drazen Petrovic proud. Dragic scored 26 points in 17 minutes, leading Phoenix’s second team to a road victory and a 3-0 lead in that series. Gentry never put his first team back on the floor. He brought Nash in to play with Dragic and shoot free throws in the last two minutes, but he let his second team finish what they started.
In game 6 of the Laker series, Dragic was elbowed in the head by fellow countryman and sworn enemy Sasha Vujacic. Dragic proceeded to go on another scoring binge and before long, the Laker lead was down to 5. With 4 minutes left in the game, Gentry inexplicably pulled his entire second team including Dragic to let his starters finish. Gentry’s best move was to keep Jason Richardson on the bench next to him and leave Dragic in the game. The Lakers could not stop him after he took the elbow to the head. And he finished the loss on the bench next to Gentry. The only defense for Gentry is the old adage, dance with the one that brought you. Still, an outstanding job by a great coach who really really surprised me. He matched wits in two straight series’ with the best of the best, Popovich and Phil Jackson.

I have never been a fan of Doc Rivers, the coach. I thought he underachieved in Orlando. And I flat out thought he was a bad hire for the Celtics. All Doc has done in his 4 years on the job is shut me up and he's on the verge of doing it again. Everytime I hear Doc talk to his team or about his team, I get this feeling that he was separated from Herm Edwards at birth.
Doc is not the best tactitician. Very frankly, its hard to discern the difference where his influence ends and ace assistant coach Tom Thibodeau's begins. But the one thing that is undeniable is that the Celtics play a team oriented style of basketball. If there were being judged on American Idol, Kara Dioguardi would tell them that they know who they are and they stay true to themselves.
You can't deny that this is one of the best help defense teams I have ever seen. As individual defenders, they're not bad. As a unit, they are outstanding. When it comes to playing defense off the ball, there is no weak link. That is a clear reflection of a team who plays with discipline and selflessness. These are traits that should always be credited to the head coach. Granted, his roster is long on veterans with championship experience, but Doc is still the one that keeps these guys playing the game in a way which accentuates the Celtics' strenghts. They keep the tempo slow. The funnel penetrators to towards the middle of the floor where they have help. They share the ball. They set good screens and they physically back down from no one. But none of this qualifies as Doc's greatest accomplishment this season.
Doc spent the second half of the season with a fractured locker room. There was a clear divide between his young guys and his old guys. Plus, he was saddled with an overweight Rasheed Wallace, who's indifference towards the game and his own personal conditioning was disrespectful to the Celtics and to the game itself. Boston's big three (Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce) were butting heads with Rajon Rondo. Rondo has developed a reputaion for being difficult to coach, surly, and nasty to deal with. But when Rondo emerged at the start of the playoffs as an elite point guard capable of leading any team deep into the playoffs, Doc got everyone to fall into line behind Rondo and Boston hasn't looked back. Doc has been able to get his guys to buy into the concept that we don't have to like each other to stand up for one another. The Celtics function as an on court family. They don't always like each other, but the act to the outside world like they love each other. A classic example of what Boon tells Otter in Animal House. "They can't do that to our pledges...only we can do that to our pledges." Doc has fostered an environment where the whole is truly greater than the sum of the parts. I tip my hat to a guy I considered a bad hire. He has been the right coach for this team. Now we get to see if his magic has run out.......

Discussing Phil Jackson has always been somewhat of a conundrum for me. His results speak for themselves. He is the most successful coach in NBA history. And his 10 championship rings are symbolic of the greatness he has achieved in doing his job. Yet, more times than not, I have consistently disagreed with a lot of the methodology employed in his achieving such extreme and historical success.
Ultimately, Phil was created a unique and legendary legacy through his success in coaching superstars. One of the biggest fallacies about NBA coaches is that its easy to coach the best players. Its actually extremely difficult. Firstly, the superstar always has more power with ownership than the head coach, so its never your typical coach/player relationship. Its more of a partnership, except your partner has all the leverage. Just ask Mike Brown. He did everything he could to try and please LeBron, even at times giving guys playing time against his better judgment to be politically correct in his own locker room and got fired anyway. Jackson built his reputation through his relationship with Michael Jordan. He sharpened that reputation through his relationship with Shaq and Kobe. Then he lit a match to his relationship with Kobe by penning a tell all book about what a petulant immature child Kobe was, and then managed to rebuild that relationship a year later. Then, he goes on to win a title with Kobe and is now about to play for another one. He has cemented himself as the coach every star wants to play for. This is a legendary accomplishment that may not be replicated in our lifetime.
This skill that Jackson has to coach superstars has become the ultimate coaching band aid. The perpetual presence of a superstar on his roster has bailed Jackson out of many matchup and tactical mistakes. On this particular team, Phil’s band aid is the great Kobe Bryant. Phil has the luxury of doing things like keeping Derek Fisher in a mismatch (i.e Russell Westbrook in this year’s first round) because Kobe will bail him out. He can be slow to make adjustments to Phoenix’s zone defense because Kobe will bail him out. Phil has mastered the luxury of margin of error strategy wise because he is the pre-eminent coach to the superstars in the history of the league.
One of the other more interesting aspects of the way Jackson coaches are through his motivational techniques. Where many coaches choose the direct route in communicating with players, Jackson does things like handing them books to read to make them think. He uses quotations and historical references. He gives quotes to the media designed to send messages to players, but never his superstars. But probably the best thing he does is the public messages he sends referees through the media to try and park an idea in an official’s head for a future game. He almost always absorbs a fine in doing it. But it’s a very smart motivational ploy in the fact that by writing a check for a fine in the name of attempting to influence officiating makes his players feel like he’s in the trenches with them. He does things in a very unorthodox fashion, but frankly, that’s the thing that makes him the most successful coach of all time.

Now onto the finals….


This year’s finals reminds of an old advertising slogan from Old Milwaukee Beer. A bunch of guys sitting around a campfire toast with their cans of Old Milwaukee while exclaiming the slogan, “it doesn’t get any better than this.” Of course those guys were sleeping outside with mosquitos drinking watered down swill from a can, but I digress. As basketball fans, we’re drinking Cristal and eating caviar while relaxing on a gorgeous yacht. We have been blessed with the best matchup we could ever want with great players, great teams, and most importantly, historical significance.
Lets be logical about this and throw the 2008 matchup out the window. Even though there are very few new players from 2008, too many guys are just different players than they were that year. I’ll break this down from both sides.
If I’m Boston, the first thing I understand defensively is that odds are, I will not stop Kobe. However, if I shut down the guys around him and turn him into a high volume shooter while eroding his shot selection, I’m a step ahead. So, ultimately, the Celtics have to make sure to defend the post well and watch Fisher on the perimeter. Essentially, double Gasol in the post off of Artest and Odom, but don’t lose Fish. And whatever you do, guard Kobe the best you can, but don’t double him. Kobe can’t beat you alone, but he’ll bury you with help. Rondo cannot wander off Fish to help. Pierce should be Boston’s main double teamer assuming Allen guards Kobe.
Offensively, if I’m the Celtics, I’m a little concerned. Paul Pierce has been Boston’s best scorer in the playoffs and he’s about to be smothered in a way he’s not used to. Ron Artest put Kevin Durant in his hip pocket in the first round and he’s about to do the same thing to Pierce. Boston would be smart not to force it and let Pierce’s offense come passively. Odds are, the Lakers will guard Ray Allen with Fisher. The Celtics need to set plenty of low screens for Allen to make Fisher fight through traffic. Getting Allen going should be of paramount importance to Boston. Also, I bet Boston goes to school on the fact that Pau Gasol didn’t look great guarding Stoudemire in the last 4 games of the West final. The Celtics must re-commit to getting Garnett the ball in the post. Garnett was a great weapon in the second round against Cleveland. And getting Garnett the ball on the low block is a key to Boston creating foul trouble and exploiting L.A’s lack of quality depth with their bigs. If two of Gasol, Bynum, and Odom have foul trouble consistently, the Lakers will struggle.
If I’m L.A., understanding that Pierce should be taken care of, my main focus is to keep Rondo out of the paint. That primary responsibility will fall to kobe. I actually think Kobe will do a great job of this. Because of the inconsistency in Rondo’s perimeter shooting, he needs to be funneled to the outside areas of the court more than actually be guarded. Reducing Rondo’s penetration can make Boston’s offense stagnant. Also, whenever Bynum is on the floor, I’d have him cover Garnett. It will make Garnett’s life tougher on the low block, and if Garnett pulls him out to the perimeter, even better. The idea is to turn all of the Celtics into jump shooters, because with Ron Artest on the floor, Ray Allen is the only one who can consistently hurt you from there.
Offensively, if I’m L.A., I’m going to start Kobe in the post and invite Boston to double him. If they don’t, Kobe eats them for dinner. If they do, the Lakers end up with cutters and shooters galore. I would also post up Artest a lot, just to wear Pierce down a little. The other thing that will help the Lakers is to spend some time pushing the tempo. Remember, the Celtics lost every fourth quarter to Orlando. If they’re forced to run early, their advanced age will cause them to run out of gas late. I wouldn’t worry so much about getting Gasol too involved early. His stengths play into the teeth of Boston’s defense and he’s going to be a very important factor for the Lakers defensively and on the glass. Of course, if Garnett, Perkins, or Wallace start with the stupid fouls, Gasol in the post is just what the Lakers could use to land any of them on the bench for an extended period of time, which will allow the Lakers to dominate the rim. Glen Davis is not a solution for Boston in this series. Gasol and Odom are brutal matchups for him.
I have been underestimating the Celtics since before the playoffs. Remember, I’m the guy who declared that their championship window closed on Rivers’ and Danny Ainge’s fingers, so my prediction should come with a grain of salt. I see the Lakers finishing this in 6. Keep in mind that four times in the last two seasons, the Lakers have been tough enough to keep quality opponents from taking them to a game 7. They finished Denver and Orlando in 6 last year and Oklahoma City and Phoenix in 6 this year. The only team to take them to a game 7 in the last two years was last year’s Rockets. So, the Lakers did the most prudent thing. They went and signed Houston’s best player. Lakers in 6.
Giddyap. Y’all be cool.

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