GMs Bullish On Kevin Ollie As NBA Head Coach

Laimbeer · Post #1 » by **Laimbeer** » Tue Apr 8, 2014 7:49 pm

Kevin Ollie has instantly become one of the hottest coaching commodities in basketball after winning the 2014 National Championship in his second season at Connecticut.

NBA teams will certainly pursue Ollie given his excellent reputation over a long career as a player.

“It’s just a matter of time,” said one NBA general manager. “The league will come calling. He’s a great communicator and has a calm demeanor. This win alone, however, doesn't just tilt the scale. It breaks it.”

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/23 ... Head-Coach

The Penguin · Post #2 » by **The Penguin** » Tue Apr 8, 2014 8:13 pm

A Troy Weaver (Thunder assistant GM, turned down the Jazz GM job in 2012) and Kevin Ollie GM-Coach pairing would be high on my wish list.

Ghost · Post #3 » by **Ghost** » Tue Apr 8, 2014 8:14 pm

Meh. I don't get what all the hype is about with him. I know he's professional and classy and he can motivate his players. Them are all great things, sounds like he could handle being in the spotlight. He's also played in the league and apparently his players like him.
However, what did he really do with UConn? Is he an offensive or defensive minded coach? What type of schemes and system does he use? All I seen vs. MSU, Florida, and Kentucky was: space the floor. Set some high ball screens for Napier or Boatright. Drive or just pull up. Make the right decision. When you have arguably the best player on the floor in Shabazz, who loves having the ball in his hands like that .. of course it's going to work out when he's feeling it. It just sounds a lot like Mark Jackson to me.

Q00 · Post #4 » by **Q00** » Tue Apr 8, 2014 8:39 pm

Ghost wrote:Meh. I don't get what all the hype is about with him. I know he's professional and classy and he can motivate his players. Them are all great things, sounds like he could handle being in the spotlight. He's also played in the league and apparently his players like him.
However, what did he really do with UConn? Is he an offensive or defensive minded coach? What type of schemes and system does he use? All I seen vs. MSU, Florida, and Kentucky was: space the floor. Set some high ball screens for Napier or Boatright. Drive or just pull up. Make the right decision. When you have arguably the best player on the floor in Shabazz, who loves having the ball in his hands like that .. of course it's going to work out when he's feeling it. It just sounds a lot like Mark Jackson to me.

I kinda feel this way too. I know he said he wasn't a Cinderella team, but he really was. I think he's got potential to be a great coach, but its way too early to say that yet. All he really did was get hot for a few weeks in a tournament that really didn't have any superpower teams this year. I also think he got some help from Calhoun and others. They said during the MSU game that he called Larry Brown and basically asked him how to beat Izzo.

I'm not discrediting him for being resourceful and putting it to use, but if he doesn't have those resources in the NBA will he still be the same coach?

I think there just isn't enough of a resume there to take a chance on him, for a team that desparately needs an experienced guy. They need a Larry Brown or Jim Calhoun more than the young guy they mentored.

If they do go the college route Id rather get a longtime coach like Izzo, Calipari, Donovan, etc rather than a guy who had 1 great tournament run.

That said, what he did with UCONN is what I could see Chauncey doing with an NBA team. Its too bad he doesn't want to coach because I think he could be great.

ImHeisenberg · Post #5 » by **ImHeisenberg** » Tue Apr 8, 2014 8:44 pm

This is just hype. Let's see him build a body of work like Coach K or Izzo before everyone goes nuts over him.

rock digger · Post #6 » by **rock digger** » Tue Apr 8, 2014 9:16 pm

Ghost wrote:Meh. I don't get what all the hype is about with him. I know he's professional and classy and he can motivate his players. Them are all great things, sounds like he could handle being in the spotlight. He's also played in the league and apparently his players like him.
However, what did he really do with UConn? Is he an offensive or defensive minded coach? What type of schemes and system does he use? All I seen vs. MSU, Florida, and Kentucky was: space the floor. Set some high ball screens for Napier or Boatright. Drive or just pull up. Make the right decision. When you have arguably the best player on the floor in Shabazz, who loves having the ball in his hands like that .. of course it's going to work out when he's feeling it. It just sounds a lot like Mark Jackson to me.

This is hardly an accurate representation of Ollie and his coaching ability. If you were watching the national semifinal game against Florida, you would have seen that UConn was getting totally destroyed for the first 11 minutes on the scoreboard. This was due in large part because of Florida's dominance inside and on the boards. What did Ollie end up doing to counteract this disadvantage? He actually did something most people would think is highly illogical and went SMALL instead of big. He ended up having Daniels play center and trotting out a small lineup and that ended up completely shifting the momentum of the game. Ollie did something that most coaches can't; he adjusted his gameplan mid-game, mid-period, and that ended up winning the game for his team.

Any organization without a premier coach would be lucky to have Ollie.

Kilo · Post #7 » by **Kilo** » Tue Apr 8, 2014 10:21 pm

I think we could do worse than hiring Ollie this off-season, but I don't think he leaves UCONN just yet either.

Laimbeer · Post #8 » by **Laimbeer** » Tue Apr 8, 2014 11:00 pm

Kilo wrote:I think we could do worse than hiring Ollie this off-season, but I don't think he leaves UCONN just yet either.

If he has any desire to be an NBA head coach, better to strike while the iron is hot.

jfuchs91 · Post #9 » by **jfuchs91** » Tue Apr 8, 2014 11:18 pm

Speaking as a rare UConn/Pistons fan, I don't really think Ollie leaves UConn. He went to UConn and has always said that it was the place that built him into the man he was; especially under Jim Calhoun's tutelage. Calhoun hand-picked Ollie as his replacement and Ollie has said time and time again that UConn is his dream job and he hopes to be there as long as Calhoun was.

However, I think there's little doubt how much respect Kevin Ollie has from all around basketball circles. He survived 13 seasons in the NBA because of what an unbelievable professional he was. He was a leader; he motivated others around him to be great. And this run he had with UConn just showed how great of a basketball mind he has too; taking out the likes of Tom Izzo, Billy Donovan, John Calipari, and Jay Wright along the way in just his second season as head coach.

The Clevand Cavaliers signed Ollie and told him to "teach LeBron how to be a professional." There's a reason Kevin Ollie lasted 13 years in the NBA while barely playing. And he had a similar role on the Oklahoma City Thunder. Watch this video of a conversation between Kevin Durant and Bill Simmons earlier this year. Durant was merely asked about the importance of veteran leadership, and he brought up Kevin Ollie:

http://youtu.be/7mM9gWvLguk?t=7m45s

"Kevin Ollie, he was a game changer for us. I think he changed the whole culture in Oklahoma City. Just his mind set, professionalism, every single day. And we all watched that, and we all wanted to be like that. It rubbed off on Russell Westbrook, myself, Jeff Green, James Harden. And then everybody who comes through now, it’s the standard that you’ve got to live up to as a Thunder player. And it all started with Kevin Ollie."

Blkbrd671 · Post #10 » by **Blkbrd671** » Tue Apr 8, 2014 11:30 pm

Kilo wrote:I think we could do worse than hiring Ollie this off-season, but I don't think he leaves UCONN just yet either.

i know we can do worse.

Blkbrd671 · Post #11 » by **Blkbrd671** » Tue Apr 8, 2014 11:31 pm

Laimbeer wrote:
Kilo wrote:I think we could do worse than hiring Ollie this off-season, but I don't think he leaves UCONN just yet either.

If he has any desire to be an NBA head coach, better to strike while the iron is hot.

agreed

Post #12 » by **Snakebites** » Tue Apr 8, 2014 11:31 pm

If GM's are really bullish on him then whether we want him or not is irrelevant.

He'll have more intriguing offers than the Pistons.

Ghost · Post #13 » by **Ghost** » Tue Apr 8, 2014 11:59 pm

Snakebites wrote:If GM's are really bullish on him then whether we want him or not is irrelevant.

He'll have more intriguing offers than the Pistons.

Like the Lakers rumor that came up fast.

Ghost · Post #14 » by **Ghost** » Wed Apr 9, 2014 12:11 am

rock digger wrote:
Ghost wrote:Meh. I don't get what all the hype is about with him. I know he's professional and classy and he can motivate his players. Them are all great things, sounds like he could handle being in the spotlight. He's also played in the league and apparently his players like him.
However, what did he really do with UConn? Is he an offensive or defensive minded coach? What type of schemes and system does he use? All I seen vs. MSU, Florida, and Kentucky was: space the floor. Set some high ball screens for Napier or Boatright. Drive or just pull up. Make the right decision. When you have arguably the best player on the floor in Shabazz, who loves having the ball in his hands like that .. of course it's going to work out when he's feeling it. It just sounds a lot like Mark Jackson to me.

This is hardly an accurate representation of Ollie and his coaching ability. If you were watching the national semifinal game against Florida, you would have seen that UConn was getting totally destroyed for the first 11 minutes on the scoreboard. This was due in large part because of Florida's dominance inside and on the boards. What did Ollie end up doing to counteract this disadvantage? He actually did something most people would think is highly illogical and went SMALL instead of big. He ended up having Daniels play center and trotting out a small lineup and that ended up completely shifting the momentum of the game. Ollie did something that most coaches can't; he adjusted his gameplan mid-game, mid-period, and that ended up winning the game for his team.

Any organization without a premier coach would be lucky to have Ollie.

I didn't get to catch the majority of the second half of that game, but I did see them when they were down and then started getting hot shooting 3s and a few and-ones or transition buckets got them back in the game pretty quickly. Floridas whole idea was to key on Shabazz and he only got 6 shots... So I guess job accomplished, but it didn't result in the win. Florida still shot 1/10 from 3, and 14/20 from the FT while lacking a player capable of stepping out and guarding someone on the perimeter like Daniels. It's not like he had the same effect vs Kentucky. I dont think that's a coincidence.
Good for him trying something different by playing small and trying to speed up Florida who everybody knew liked to slow the pace down. Especially after having such a sluggish start and not getting anything going.