Head Coaching Candidates - Finalists Nurse/Atkinson/Griffin - Another New Poll Added

[Frank Nova]

Is there a reason besides the fact he's Spo's top guy?

Well I think it’s a little more complex than that but that’s definitely the basis.. osmosis of learning under Spo for an entire decade has to pay some dividends in my opinion and he’s had nothing but glowing endorsements from Heat players throughout his tenure there. Udonis Haslam won titles with Pat Riley and Eric Spolstra and he’s done nothing but vouch for Chris Quinn when he’s had the opportunity to. Some may take that with a grain of salt but I think it holds some decent weight.. plus he’s young and likely eager to get his own chance and coaching a talent like Giannis will set him up for immediate success so I think Milwaukee is a grand opportunity for an intuitive 1st time HC that’s learned under the Gregg Poppovich of the new era NBA. Heat culture is real and stabilized more so than ever and Quinn has been there since 2014 which makes him part of the pioneering process that is Heat culture 2023. I believe under his own leadership, his hand picked staff and Giannis, great things can happen and he can be around much longer than 5yrs without wearing out his welcome.

If I was a team like Detroit I think I'd agree with you and Quinn would be near the top of my list. But I have some key reservations in that like you said he's been there nearly a decade at Spo's top guy but has yet to get his own job, that seems weird to me. On top of that Spo has never had an assistant go on to be a successful head coach so part of me wonders if Spo is the Belichick of the NBA in that he's great but his assistants don't make great head coaches. I'm not sure I want to risk those things with this team

Spo has only had 2 coaches leave his staff, Dave Fizdale and Juwan Howard. Howard left for NCAA and Fizdale took over an aging Memphis team and a bad Knicks team and flamed out pretty bad I’ll give you that but certainly 2 lackluster rosters that couldn’t be done much with.. Red Auerbach wouldn’t have done much better than the 7 seed with that Memphis team and the 18-19 Knicks were as terrible as you can get. Again, there isn’t a coach DOA that could’ve done any better than Fizdale with that terrible of a roster..

It took Bud 17 years under Pop, it took Darvin Ham 9yrs under Bud before they got their own teams. Quinn being on Spos staff for 9yrs now shouldn’t be seen as a slight.. it’s actually quite common, especially when the staff is strong and the organization continually competes.

Giving a 1st year HC to a bottom feeder team as a trial and error is a good setup for failure, the Detroit job is just as much a graveyard as it is a lucrative opportunity to prove
yourself. Coaching a team like this Bucks is good way to prove you’re capable of handling star players and competing at the highest level like he’s done the past decade. I disagree with you there 100%..

[MVP2110]

Well I think it’s a little more complex than that but that’s definitely the basis.. osmosis of learning under Spo for an entire decade has to pay some dividends in my opinion and he’s had nothing but glowing endorsements from Heat players throughout his tenure there. Udonis Haslam won titles with Pat Riley and Eric Spolstra and he’s done nothing but vouch for Chris Quinn when he’s had the opportunity to. Some may take that with a grain of salt but I think it holds some decent weight.. plus he’s young and likely eager to get his own chance and coaching a talent like Giannis will set him up for immediate success so I think Milwaukee is a grand opportunity for an intuitive 1st time HC that’s learned under the Gregg Poppovich of the new era NBA. Heat culture is real and stabilized more so than ever and Quinn has been there since 2014 which makes him part of the pioneering process that is Heat culture 2023. I believe under his own leadership, his hand picked staff and Giannis, great things can happen and he can be around much longer than 5yrs without wearing out his welcome.

If I was a team like Detroit I think I'd agree with you and Quinn would be near the top of my list. But I have some key reservations in that like you said he's been there nearly a decade at Spo's top guy but has yet to get his own job, that seems weird to me. On top of that Spo has never had an assistant go on to be a successful head coach so part of me wonders if Spo is the Belichick of the NBA in that he's great but his assistants don't make great head coaches. I'm not sure I want to risk those things with this team

Spo has only had 2 coaches leave his staff, Dave Fizdale and Juwan Howard. Howard left for NCAA and Fizdale took over an aging Memphis team and a bad Knicks team and flamed out pretty bad I’ll give you that but certainly 2 lackluster rosters that couldn’t be done much with.. Red Auerbach wouldn’t have done much better than the 7 seed with that Memphis team and the 18-19 Knicks were as terrible as you can get. Again, there isn’t a coach DOA that could’ve done any better than Fizdale with that terrible of a roster..

It took Bud 17 years under Pop, it took Darvin Ham 9yrs under Bud before they got their own teams. Quinn being on Spos staff for 9yrs now shouldn’t be seen as a slight.. it’s actually quite common, especially when the staff is strong and the organization continually competes.

Giving a 1st year HC to a bottom feeder team as a trial and error is a good setup for failure, the Detroit job is just as much a graveyard as it is a lucrative opportunity to prove
yourself. Coaching a team like this Bucks is good way to prove you’re capable of handling star players and competing at the highest level like he’s done the past decade. I disagree with you there 100%..

Bud coming from Pop and Ham coming from Bud were both coming from coaching trees that had proven success stories, Spo does not have that. He's been a coach in this league for 15 years and yet doesn't have a successful head coach to his name, that says something to me. And the fact of the matter is most brand new head coaches fail and sure some are given better or worse situations but more than 50% fail, I don't want to risk giving this job to an assistant that is more likely to fail than succeed, especially an assistant that doesn't come from a system that has produced good head coaches.

[FrieAaron]

The pop coaching tree is like 18 times the size. It better have more successful examples.

[humanrefutation]

Spo is part of the Pat Riley coaching tree, no?

[MVP2110]

The pop coaching tree is like 18 times the size. It better have more successful examples.

Spo literally doesn't have 1 successful head coach in 15 years on the job

[FrieAaron]

The pop coaching tree is like 18 times the size. It better have more successful examples.

Spo literally doesn't have 1 successful head coach in 15 years on the job

And how many people are we talking about total?

[FrieAaron]

Spo is part of the Pat Riley coaching tree, no?

Yes

[Daver]

A couple of years ago

Nick Nurse isn’t shy to call out his players publicly when he doesn’t like their play. And it seems to be working pretty well for him.

When Siakam was having foul trouble in November, Nurse told reporters “he hasn’t been really smart” and he wanted his star power forward to “knock it off.” Siakam said all he cared about was the coach’s conversation with him, not the one with reporters.

“I think for me the most important thing is as long as that same message is conveyed to the person. That’s what I care about. As long as you tell the actual person what is going on, it doesn’t matter what you tell the press,” Siakam said. “If face to face you said that, and that is how you feel, and you have those words, then you agree or disagree and do whatever you have to do to get better.”

Nurse was asked Friday if there’s an art to criticizing players to get the best out of them.

“I don’t know if there’s an art to it,” Nurse said. “But I think if there’s a problem it has to be communicated. If there’s a problem, there has to be a solution.”

The latest example came this week, when Terence Davis absorbed a critique from Nurse one night and played a career-best game the next.

Davis, the Raps’ 22-year-old undrafted rookie guard, had a rough performance in Tuesday’s loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, going 0-for-2 from the field and having his minutes chopped down. Davis had turned over the ball six times in three games to that point and had shot a combined 4-of-13.

“He’s not playing very well,” Nurse said after Tuesday’s game when a reporter noted Davis had played only eight minutes. “It was probably five too many.”

Nurse said with a laugh on Friday that he doesn’t feel grumpier this season, although there have been more bumps in the road. Has publicly censuring a player, which attracts media attention, become part of his coaching strategy?

“I’m not sure I know they’re going to become stories," Nurse said. “Sometimes I’m maybe a little too forthright.”

“There are lots of ways of communication, lots of ways of getting your message across. We’ll explore all those options until we can hopefully help these guys. It’s only for their best interest and the best interest of our team.”

The next night, Nurse gave Davis his first career start. He scored a career-high 23 points in Toronto’s 112-110 overtime victory over the Charlotte Hornets. He hit four three-pointers, added 11 rebounds, five assists and a steal in his 37 minutes and tenaciously defended Hornets star guard Terry Rozier. Davis said he had appreciated Nurse’s frank critique.

“My play was terrible so I think he was just saying for me to play better," Davis said. "That’s part of the game. I accepted the challenge. That’s what I like. I’m into it. All of my coaches have been that way – straightforward. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

I like that maybe bud ahould of did that when necessary after a shi.. loss or bad play instead of always complimenting the opposing team ever post game presser after lets say you get your ass handed to you by 40 to charlotte

[MVP2110]

The pop coaching tree is like 18 times the size. It better have more successful examples.

Spo literally doesn't have 1 successful head coach in 15 years on the job

And how many people are we talking about total?

2, 1 in the NBA, & 1 in college. And that is sort of the problem. Teams didn't even deem his assistants worthy of hiring. I mean maybe Quinn is the exception but that just isn't a risk I'd want to take with a championship level team. Spo would hardly be the 1st great coach in sports to not be able to turn his assistants into successful head coaches.

[MVP2110]

I guess to what I'm trying to say is Chris Quinn certainly isn't my least favorite candidate on this list, but nothing about his resume puts him in the top handful either and I certainly wouldn't want to hire him over guys who have had proven success in this league.

[buckboy]

So how confident is the board that we are actually going to land Nurse now that Woj reported that he is meeting with ownership, yet will also be meeting with Suns/Philly?

If we assume he wants to coach next year then logically that puts us around 33% given i don't think we can state which of the 3 jobs he would prefer. Now that could change depending on if we actually want him although him meeting with ownership is a good sign in that regard, and how much the other 2 teams want him. But without knowing those variables I'll state there is a 33% chance Nurse is our coach next year. The only other guy though I'd give that good of a chance to is Monty

33% Nurse
33% Monty
16.5% Scott Brooks(since we got word he impressed so means he's atleast likely a finalist)
16.5% the rest of the field

1% Daver?

[PG Graveyard]

Have we interviewed Red Auerbach’s cigar yet?

[El Pooch Grande]

Shams on The Athletic now confirming Woj's report that we are in on Nurse...

Carousel continues to spin

As the playoffs roll on, five teams remain in search of their next coach: the Bucks, Sixers, Suns, Raptors and Pistons.

The process is ongoing and fluid for all five clubs that are doing their due diligence to select the coach who best fits their organization. I'm continuing to track each of those situations, and you should expect much more news here at The Athletic in the coming week as the process enters the final stages for each of the teams.

One major name on the carousel is Nick Nurse, who was let go by the Raptors after five seasons that included Toronto's first NBA title. He is expected to begin his formal process with meetings with Milwaukee, Phoenix and Philadelphia and is expected to be in high demand and could possibly have his job to choose from, essentially his own selection process.

[humanrefutation]

Spo is part of the Pat Riley coaching tree, no?

Yes

Then why are we talking about the Spo coaching tree and comparing it to the Pop coaching tree? Pop has been around for far longer and Spo is clearly a product of Riley. Not a fair comparison. It would be more fair to compare Riley and Pop.

[Daver]

So how confident is the board that we are actually going to land Nurse now that Woj reported that he is meeting with ownership, yet will also be meeting with Suns/Philly?

If we assume he wants to coach next year then logically that puts us around 33% given i don't think we can state which of the 3 jobs he would prefer. Now that could change depending on if we actually want him although him meeting with ownership is a good sign in that regard, and how much the other 2 teams want him. But without knowing those variables I'll state there is a 33% chance Nurse is our coach next year. The only other guy though I'd give that good of a chance to is Monty

33% Nurse
33% Monty
16.5% Scott Brooks(since we got word he impressed so means he's atleast likely a finalist)
16.5% the rest of the field

1% Daver?

No horst already called me told him rilaman n skones are much more qualified than me

[MVP2110]

Spo is part of the Pat Riley coaching tree, no?

Yes

Then why are we talking about the Spo coaching tree and comparing it to the Pop coaching tree? Pop has been around for far longer and Spo is clearly a product of Riley. Not a fair comparison. It would be more fair to compare Riley and Pop.

Compare Spo to Bud then. Bud has a much better coaching tree than Spo does.

[ReasonablySober]

Woj sure selling the Sampson thing.

[emunney]

A lot of Spo's assistants get internal promotions on the player personnel side. When you take those guys out, or the guys who already had HC experience when they joined his staff (Rothstein, Smart), there just isn't a lot of wood much less a tree. It's Fizdale, Howard, Dan Craig (assoc. HC of the Clippers), Quinn. May be missing a guy or two but that's pretty much the eligible population.

[MVP2110]

Woj sure selling the Sampson thing.

What did he say?

[ReasonablySober]

Woj sure selling the Sampson thing.

What did he say?

He was interviewed at the combine and talked for a minute and a half about him and the Bucks. There's a clip on ESPN's home page. But the story he refers to is also two days old, so now that Nurse is in the picture it probably means Sampson is out of it.