When Canzano Asked Bayless..........

[andalusian]

He inherited that squad. SHit, I could have coached that team. It's just like when people look at Avery Johnson's coaching record and claim he was a great coach. He also was handed a talented roster.

He inherited a team that went 39-42 in 1996-1997, and was bounced in the first round in 1995-1996.

Learn to use Google, then post.

 

[hypnosmurf]

How about hall of famer and former Blazers player-coach Lenny Wilkens.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

What interesting is you rarely see star players turn into good coaches. It's the journeyman/ role players that tend to succeed.

Larry Brown is the obvious counterexample.

Nellie has his number retired in the Garden. I know this because he pointed it out to the team when it was Run TMC and Mitch Richmond looked at him, astonished, and said "Coach - you played?"

 

[The_Lillard_King]

Shouldn't the responses in this thread be Canzano is a jerk and I don't care what he says.

If Canzano raises something positive like Blake being a good coach, it leads to discussion.

If Canzano mentions something negative, than he is a jerk who is jut trying to stir shit up.

 

[PapaG]

I think both are examples of great players who become lousy coaches, to be honest. Kevin McHale and Bill Laimbeer are probably better representatives of their respective teams.

Bird coached a team to the NBA Finals and had a .68.7% winning percentage as a head coach in three years in the regular season, with 61.5% in the playoffs .

 

[mook]

Bird sucked as a coach? He took a team with Reggie Miller and lots of role-players to the finals...

* 1998: 58–24, Eastern Conference Runner-Up
* 1999: 33–17, Central Division Champions, Eastern Conference Runner-Up (note: season was shortened due to lockout)
* 2000: 56–26, Eastern Conference Champions, NBA Finals Runner-Up

That's immediately what I thought. Well, I didn't have specific records in mind, but whatever.

Off the top of my head, Larry Bird is probably the best combination of player/coach there's ever been. A guy who absolutely excelled in both roles.

The only reason he stopped coaching is that he went into the job saying that a coach is only at his best for 3 seasons. He was then offered a management position.

If we could somehow pry Bird away to coach our team, I'd be ecstatic.

 

[THE HCP]

Shouldn't the responses in this thread be Canzano is a jerk and I don't care what he says.

If Canzano raises something positive like Blake being a good coach, it leads to discussion.

If Canzano mentions something negative, than he is a jerk who is jut trying to stir shit up.

I can't speak for other people, but it doesn't matter if it's a fluff piece or not. What did he expect to accomplish other then to upset Blazer fans.

 

[ABM]

Shouldn't the responses in this thread be Canzano is a jerk and I don't care what he says.

If Canzano raises something positive like Blake being a good coach, it leads to discussion.

If Canzano mentions something negative, than he is a jerk who is jut trying to stir shit up.

I like listening to Canzano's radio guests. He can embellish them.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

I can't speak for other people, but it doesn't matter if it's a fluff piece or not. What did he expect to accomplish other then to upset Blazer fans.

To inform readers something we didn't know about the star of the team.

Not a huge Canzano fan, but unlike Blazer spokespeople, I don't think it is his job to always put positive spins on things or not report something because it might reflect badly on a player.

If Roy only did this once and Canzano made it sound like he always does it, that would be wrong of him. If he wasn't suppose to add his opinion in, taht would be wrong of him. But isn't wht he reported and giving his opinion what he gets paid for?

 

[Minstrel]

As I recall, KC Jones was a pretty successful player-turned-coach.

 

[BLAZINGGIANTS]

Knowing the bits I know of Bayless, I figured he'd say himself.

 

[Minstrel]

Knowing the bits I know of Bayless, I figured he'd say himself.

I think Bayless wants to play, not coach. Though, I guess if he were coach, he could put himself in the game 48 minutes per game.

 

[STOMP]

If we could somehow pry Bird away to coach our team, I'd be ecstatic.

that and trade for Marko Jaric and we're golden in Stern's NBA

STOMP

 

[ABM]

Knowing the bits I know of Bayless, I figured he'd say himself.

He said no way he wants to be a coach. When Canzano asked him what he'd like to do when his playing days are over he responded, "I want to own something." (as in a business, I'd imagine.)

BTW, he LOVES Portland. Says that he's really been enjoying the "seasons" here and that he loves walking all over town. Used to live in Lake Oswego, now lives somewhere in Portland itself.

 

[LittleAlex]

Ding!.....Ding!.....Ding!.....Ding!.....Ding!.....Ding!.....Ding!.....Ding!.....Ding!.....

I was surprised.

The best players turned coaches have typically (though not always) been mediocre to flat out bad NBA players.

So Blake is more than qualified.

 

[mook]

The best players turned coaches have typically (though not always) been mediocre to flat out bad NBA players.

Maybe because it's not the best players who need the most coaching on a team. Shaq or Duncan or Chris Paul are going to be who they are going to be. You can tweak around the edges some, but they are what they are.

Maximizing guys like Blake or Outlaw or Sergio is a different matter, though. They've been the best or second best player on every team prior to the NBA, but suddenly they are forced to deal with being a role player.

Understanding how to make that happen would seem to be a pretty difficult but incredibly important part of the job of coaching. A guy who was a former role player could probably do it better than a guy who was always a star.