RealGM

Posted: **Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:10 pm**

No real reason I bring this up (except that it could've conceivably been the hot topic right now on this board had we not dodged that bullet last summer).

I just read Paul Shirley's book "Can I Keep My Jersey?" and he's got some interesting insight into this from a unique perspective (having played for Tim Floyd at Iowa State and then again in training camp with the Hornets).

A part of me was intrigued by the prospect of training camp with the Hornets just to see how Tim Floyd would go about coaching a professional basketball team. I played for Floyd for two years at Iowa State before he left Ames for the thankless job of replacing Phil Jackson as coach of the Chicago Bulls. I had heard from varied sources what Tim Floyd: Version 2.0 Pro was like, but was intrigued to judge for myself. (Most reports out of Chicago leaned toward a mellowing I thought to be impossible fro one of the most intense coaches i have ever seen in action.)

Watching Coach Floyd do his open-the-season speech in New Orleans was surreal. it had never occurred to me that I would be on the receiving end of such an event again. The first time I was subjected to the experience, I had walked to the team meeting with absolutely no idea what to expect. It was my third day on campus at Iowa State. I could barely find my way to class each morning, so I was in no way prepared for the three-hour monstrosity that passed as our welcome meeting. I had never seen such intensity. To consider interrupting Coach Floyd as he stood at the front of the room going through the twenty-page booklet he had prepared for the occasion was seemingly to consider having one's person, along with one's basketball career, thrown out the nearest window. I left the meeting with sweat running down the inside of my shirt. I was scared.

Fast-forward to the Hornets' welcome meeting. The atmosphere was slightly more relaxed than it had been in college, not in small part because we were all seated at a swanky restaurant in the French Quarter and not in a dimly lit basketball office in Ames, Iowa. The proceeding with the Hornets were delayed about forty-five minutes while we all awaited Baron Davis' arrival. When he did grace us with his presence, he was neither frazzled by, nor apologetic for his tardiness. (I think his basketball upbringing might have been a mite different than mine.) Stacey Augmon drank five Heinekens through the course of the evening and seemed much more interested in the events in other areas of the restaurant than anything his coach was saying. Meanwhile, Coach Floyd seemed relieved just to get through his opening remarks without being shouted down from the microphone. It seems that coaching in the NBA takes a slight change in mind-set from coaching in college.

Practice is not exactly the same either. NBA players are not used to a lot of, shall we say, criticism, so Coach Floyd is forced to be a bit more positive than I remember. The famed intensity is still present, of course. But now after a defensive breakdown, instead of spewing forth a rant containing several unprintable expletives and an allusion to the fact that the player's mother was not known for her defensive ability either, he will say something like, "That wasn't really what I had in mind there, George, why don't you try it another way?" Which, of course, is hilarious to me, because I know exactly what is whizzing around in his head. The player involved, having had no prior experience with the man, has no idea of the bulled he just dodged because he plays for the New Orleans Hornets in 2003 and no the University of New Orleans in 1992. (Floyd coached at UNO earlier in his career).

Anyways, I just figured it might be interesting to some of you like it was to me.

Posted: **Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:04 pm**

Clearly, NBA teams are meant to be coached by NBA developed coaches.

Posted: **Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:18 pm**

I'd say it's more than a slight change in mindset. I think it's a huge change. These are men, not kids. The game itself is different. The crowds are different. The expectations are different.

It really is a lot more different than people give it credit for.

Posted: **Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:28 pm**

Because you cant yell at an NBA player to get them to play better. You have to actually be a good coach to beat NBA offensive and defensive sets.

Posted: **Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:36 pm**

Many times, college coaches are brought in to coach teams that already suck or are trying to rebuild. I've noticed that this tends to be overlooked by the media in general.

Posted: **Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:39 pm**

Gerhalt11 wrote:I'd say it's more than a slight change in mindset. I think it's a huge change. These are men, not kids. The game itself is different. The crowds are different. The expectations are different.

It really is a lot more different than people give it credit for.

I guess it didn't come off that way, but he's being sarcastic when he says that. The entire book is like that. He's actually trying to say that it's a huge change.

Posted: **Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:15 pm**

There is only one difference that a coach has to consider when making the leap from college to the NBA and that's The Players Union. In college if a kid doesn't want to follow your system you can cut him from the team and get rid of his scholarship. In the NBA if you bench a player because he doesn't agree with you, the file a petition to the Players Association and then it can turn into a genuine legal battle. LAME!!! I would have benched half 3/4ths of the NBA if I was a coach.

Posted: **Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:41 pm**

craig01 wrote:Clearly, NBA teams are meant to be coached by NBA developed coaches.

Let me point out that early in Stan Van Dame's career he was a college coach and be his own admission not a very good one. This of course is his pre-blood sucker/pat taking him under his wing days.

Just thought I would let that out.

Posted: **Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:45 pm**

rurouniad wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Let me point out that early in Stan Van Dame's career he was a college coach and be his own admission not a very good one. This of course is his pre-blood sucker/pat taking him under his wing days.

Just thought I would let that out.

But he learned to coach in the NBA, from the NBA.

NBA coaches really have to work through the NBA during their development to truly understand how to deal with it.

Posted: **Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:26 pm**

Most successful coaches to make the transition from college to the NBA went through the process of being assistants for many years in order to learn the system before they became head coaches.

Posted: **Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:57 pm**

craig01 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

But he learned to coach in the NBA, from the NBA.

NBA coaches really have to work through the NBA during their development to truly understand how to deal with it.

I said this in my post. Well at least how he learned to coach in the NBA from the NBA.

It wasn't meant to argue the fact but rather make it more defined. It is possible for a head coach in college to be good in the NBA. Van Gundy is proof of this reguardless of the arguement. He made the jump and came out better.

Posted: **Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:02 pm**

I read the book about a year ago...thought it was a great read.

It's a lot harder to better somebody who is already where they want to be (elite league), rather than trying to improve somebody's game so they can get to the next level (payed...).

Posted: **Fri Apr 11, 2008 5:54 am**

Any man can be a leader of kids. It does someone special to lead men. Most college coaches fail because they lack the leadership capabilities to lead men.

They also fail because its easy to effect the game at the college level. A team can go into a zone in college and the other team looks lost for 10 minutes. You do that at the NBA level and it might be effective for 2 possessions. Players are so smart that you have to work harder as a college coach to effect the game.

RealGM

Why college coaches fail in the pros?

Why college coaches fail in the pros?