Monty brings Batum back down to Earth

[Driew]

Losing Monty Williams is going to hurt this team big time.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Yeah it is going to hurt if/when Monty moves on to better things ... unless of course that better thing is a head coaching job here in P-Town.

It also speaks well of Nicolas that he's as receptive to real constructive criticism as he is.

 

[STOMP]

though I wish him and everyone the best, being head coach is at least partially about selling season tickets and I don't see Monty as very intriguing to an owner in this respect. Regardless of whether he deserves a HC job, dude isn't famous/has little pull.

STOMP

 

[ehizzy3]

damn...2 bad this is montys last year, most likely.

 

[Nikolokolus]

though I wish him and everyone the best, being head coach is at least partially about selling season tickets and I don't see Monty as very intriguing to an owner in this respect. Regardless of whether he deserves a HC job, dude isn't famous/has little pull.

STOMP

You really think who the coach is influences season ticket sales? I guess it's possible, but I'm having trouble of thinking of a single time when I've ever been more or less excited to watch this team based on who the coach of the Blazers was or wasn't.

I do think that the 'name' of the coach seems to be much more important in college as far as creating buzz or recruiting, however.

 

[STOMP]

You really think who the coach is influences season ticket sales?

Not in all cases, but yes for a vast majority

STOMP

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

Well, a head coach needs to do a lot more than than notice what criticism an individual player needs and how to give that criticism. Monty is obviously an ideal assistant coach (and should be compensated in such a way as to keep him here), but I don't know if he has done anything to show he would be an outstanding head coach.

 

[Driew]

but I don't know if he has done anything to show he would be an outstanding head coach.

Maybe not on the NBA level but definitely on the college level.

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Monty is a stud. Without a doubt one of the best assistant coaches in the NBA. I hope hope hope he stays, but cant blame the guy for wanting a head coaching job. He deserves it.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Well, a head coach needs to do a lot more than than notice what criticism an individual player needs and how to give that criticism. Monty is obviously an ideal assistant coach (and should be compensated in such a way as to keep him here), but I don't know if he has done anything to show he would be an outstanding head coach.

I dunno, I thought he did a pretty nice job subbing in for Nate on the sidelines when he was down with that busted Achilles.

 

[maxiep]

Monty is a stud. Without a doubt one of the best assistant coaches in the NBA. I hope hope hope he stays, but cant blame the guy for wanting a head coaching job. He deserves it.

He's a rising star in this league. He was thought of having a lot of potential when he was with the Spurs and he's demonstrated much of that potential as an assistant for us.

 

[mook]

All I could think of while reading that article was, "And how again was Hedo Turkoglu supposed to fit this team?"

Because the point of the article seemed to be that our starting small forward shouldn't focus on his offense because there's plenty of that already. What we really need is for that guy to be a stopper.

How again was Hedo Turkoglu supposed to fit this team?

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Have we all become manic depressive? Can we just appreciate a good thing (actually two - because Batum is receptive to Williams' advice) without moaning about how it can't last?

 

[STOMP]

All I could think of while reading that article was, "And how again was Hedo Turkoglu supposed to fit this team?"

Because the point of the article seemed to be that our starting small forward shouldn't focus on his offense because there's plenty of that already. What we really need is for that guy to be a stopper.

How again was Hedo Turkoglu supposed to fit this team?

playing devil's advocate/making my best stab guess at it, I think they would have had him pulling a good chunk of his minutes at the 4. He's at least as big as Travis and along with being an outside threat he has more of an off the dribble game to threaten the D with from the perimeter. There would still have been 20-25 MPG for Batum to earn as he can guard most anyone 1-4 and fit in with most anyone as an off the ball perimeter threat.

Fortunately things didn't work out and they signed the guy that many here thought made far more sense when we were bantering potential additions last offseason. I've thrown out multiple times my guess that Miller's agent's asking price going into Free Agency probably was well above what he ended up signing for. By the time Portland signed him they were the only team left with anything above a MLE offer

STOMP

 

[mook]

Yeah, STOMP, that was probably the vision. Plus we were supposed to have two fantastic defensive centers to clean up mistakes.

Still though, it was a ton of cheddar to throw at another iteration of Frye/Outlaw.

 

[jlprk]

I predict Monty Williams stays. There are many outstanding assistant coaches in this league, and the ones who become head coaches usually do so when the head coach is fired midseason.

 

[LittleAlex]

You really think who the coach is influences season ticket sales? I guess it's possible, but I'm having trouble of thinking of a single time when I've ever been more or less excited to watch this team based on who the coach of the Blazers was or wasn't.

I do think that the 'name' of the coach seems to be much more important in college as far as creating buzz or recruiting, however.

I think it could happen for sure.

For example, if Portland fired Nate and brought back Cheeks I would be far less inclined to go to games since no matter how good the players would be Cheeks would find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.