humanrefutation wrote:Pachinko_ wrote:Serious question:
Why is it that NBA thinks that Europeans are good enough to play, but not good enough to coach? Even though you can see every second NBA coach is stealing plays from Euroleague.
There's a couple dozen coaches in Europe who would run rings around the Buds of this world, you just may (or may not) need a translator.
I don't think it's just about the language barrier. There's also a huge cultural gap that European coaches have to navigate with working with NBA players. That man management is essential to knowing how to get the most out of your players. That's especially the case in a superstar driven league where if you don't get buy in from the LeBrons of the sport, you might as well pack your bags.
I'm not saying that there aren't any Euro coaches who can it well here. But I imagine that's part of the reason why you don't see more making the leap.
I do think you'll see more making that leap over the next decade or so. European soccer is a reasonable analogue, where you can have Portuguese and Spanish and German and French and Italian managers winning big in the English Premier League. My guess is that it'll take one making the leap and doing it well, and the floodgates will open.
It seems like that was the case for both David Blatt and Igor Kokoškov, both went total player coach next and were much happier. I don’t think most NBA players would have much tolerance for being coached like they played in EuroLeague just like they don’t have much tolerance for college coaches treating them like college players. You need to be both an Xs & Os guy + a leader of men who can balance NBA sizes egos.