Minnesota Sports Forum

AbeVigodaLive wrote:I think some of most unheralded... but most important... guys in the NBA are the assistant coaches who handle defense for teams. Basically, Thibodeau on the Celtics sorts of guys.

With Saunders known as an offensive guy, I'd like to see the Wolves break from the country club and hire a forward-thinking defensive guy. Sam Mitchell (is he the defensive "guru?") is certainly not that guy.

Great post. Is there a limit on how many assistants you an have? I think there is or was. Cuban wanted to hire a bunch of guys but they couldn't all be assistant coaches or whatever. Maybe I am wrong. We need a defensive guru no doubt. I don't have any names to throw out there though.

monsterpile wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:I think some of most unheralded... but most important... guys in the NBA are the assistant coaches who handle defense for teams. Basically, Thibodeau on the Celtics sorts of guys.

With Saunders known as an offensive guy, I'd like to see the Wolves break from the country club and hire a forward-thinking defensive guy. Sam Mitchell (is he the defensive "guru?") is certainly not that guy.

Great post. Is there a limit on how many assistants you an have? I think there is or was. Cuban wanted to hire a bunch of guys but they couldn't all be assistant coaches or whatever. Maybe I am wrong. We need a defensive guru no doubt. I don't have any names to throw out there though.

That's just it. We don't hear much about them until after they have some success. For example, Ron Adams has been pretty solid in Chicago and in Golden State. But most don't know who he is.

monsterpile wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:I think some of most unheralded... but most important... guys in the NBA are the assistant coaches who handle defense for teams. Basically, Thibodeau on the Celtics sorts of guys.

With Saunders known as an offensive guy, I'd like to see the Wolves break from the country club and hire a forward-thinking defensive guy. Sam Mitchell (is he the defensive "guru?") is certainly not that guy.

Great post. Is there a limit on how many assistants you an have? I think there is or was. Cuban wanted to hire a bunch of guys but they couldn't all be assistant coaches or whatever. Maybe I am wrong. We need a defensive guru no doubt. I don't have any names to throw out there though.

Totally agree. If we can't get Flip replaced, at least get some forward-thinking defensive wonk on the bench.

Q12543 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:I think some of most unheralded... but most important... guys in the NBA are the assistant coaches who handle defense for teams. Basically, Thibodeau on the Celtics sorts of guys.

With Saunders known as an offensive guy, I'd like to see the Wolves break from the country club and hire a forward-thinking defensive guy. Sam Mitchell (is he the defensive "guru?") is certainly not that guy.

Great post. Is there a limit on how many assistants you an have? I think there is or was. Cuban wanted to hire a bunch of guys but they couldn't all be assistant coaches or whatever. Maybe I am wrong. We need a defensive guru no doubt. I don't have any names to throw out there though.

Totally agree. If we can't get Flip replaced, at least get some forward-thinking defensive wonk on the bench.

I'd probably settle for a backward thinking defensive [wonk]. :)

An opDougistic guy would cut Flip a break. With all the injuries we had player unfamiliar with the defensive schemes, plus not enough bodies to effectively practice those defensive schemes.

Flip has been preaching defense this offseason. Unfortunately, I think he believes defense relies more on players' abilities than effective schemes. But since he is going to be here next year, we can hope the defense will be markedly improved with a "normal" season of health...

60WinTim wrote:An opDougistic guy would cut Flip a break. With all the injuries we had player unfamiliar with the defensive schemes, plus not enough bodies to effectively practice those defensive schemes.

Flip has been preaching defense this offseason. Unfortunately, I think he believes defense relies more on players' abilities than effective schemes. But since he is going to be here next year, we can hope the defense will be markedly improved with a "normal" season of health...

he did? I remember last season he wanted to play a bunch of zone, which blew up in his face badly

alexftbl8181 wrote:

60WinTim wrote:An opDougistic guy would cut Flip a break. With all the injuries we had player unfamiliar with the defensive schemes, plus not enough bodies to effectively practice those defensive schemes.

Flip has been preaching defense this offseason. Unfortunately, I think he believes defense relies more on players' abilities than effective schemes. But since he is going to be here next year, we can hope the defense will be markedly improved with a "normal" season of health...

he did? I remember last season he wanted to play a bunch of zone, which blew up in his face badly

That was a funny critique he had of Adelman on the way out. He thought playing more zone in the NBA would have been a better defensive strategy given the personnel and then he proceeded to get torched last year when he tried to implement that strategy.

I agree that we need a defensive guru on the team. 1 guy that comes to mind is Mike Brown. He's a pretty known defensive guru. He got some big time head coaching gigs with the cavs twice and the lakers.

I would like him as an assistant coach in a defense coordinator role under flip. Its a long shot as he is probably is looking for a head coaching job. But flip have respect in the coaching circles and that may make someone like brown agree to work under him as an assistant for a year or two until an opportunity as head coach elsewhere open up for him again.

khans2k5 wrote:

alexftbl8181 wrote:

60WinTim wrote:An opDougistic guy would cut Flip a break. With all the injuries we had player unfamiliar with the defensive schemes, plus not enough bodies to effectively practice those defensive schemes.

Flip has been preaching defense this offseason. Unfortunately, I think he believes defense relies more on players' abilities than effective schemes. But since he is going to be here next year, we can hope the defense will be markedly improved with a "normal" season of health...

he did? I remember last season he wanted to play a bunch of zone, which blew up in his face badly

That was a funny critique he had of Adelman on the way out. He thought playing more zone in the NBA would have been a better defensive strategy given the personnel and then he proceeded to get torched last year when he tried to implement that strategy.

Right, the only difference in our defense when Flip went zone is that it took the opponent 20 seconds to knock down a wide open 3 instead of the usual 10 seconds to get a wide open look at the rim when we played man on man. So he had that going for him....

khans2k5 wrote:

alexftbl8181 wrote:

60WinTim wrote:An opDougistic guy would cut Flip a break. With all the injuries we had player unfamiliar with the defensive schemes, plus not enough bodies to effectively practice those defensive schemes.

Flip has been preaching defense this offseason. Unfortunately, I think he believes defense relies more on players' abilities than effective schemes. But since he is going to be here next year, we can hope the defense will be markedly improved with a "normal" season of health...

he did? I remember last season he wanted to play a bunch of zone, which blew up in his face badly

That was a funny critique he had of Adelman on the way out. He thought playing more zone in the NBA would have been a better defensive strategy given the personnel and then he proceeded to get torched last year when he tried to implement that strategy.

A lot of the guys that would make the zone defense work particularly Rubio were hurt. It made sense to me but the team was decimated by injuries and that zone idea went out the window. I am not saying Flip is a defensive genius but playing some zone defense withbthe players on the roster last year and the year before made sense. This year the only gambler is Rubio.