JMAC3 wrote:Hornet Mania wrote:Hard no from me on JJ.
Not saying it's impossible he'll be good, but I think he's much more of a gamble than other established assistant coaches. It's nice JJ had playing experience, and I'm sure he's smart (although he has some shockingly bad takes on his pod disrespecting players from past eras) but I'd rather go with an experienced hand.
The list of former coaches without experience is intriguing to be sure, but you also have to control for roster composition. Shaky coaches get dragged to success by top talent all the time. Our roster is simply not as good as the one Kerr, Jackson, Kidd, Nash, Thomas or Bird inherited. Didn't Doc also get T-Mac right off the bat? Del Negro's Clippers are probably the closest to us in talent. They had young Blake Griffin, Eric Bledsoe and Deandre Jordan plus a declining Baron Davis.
KembaWalker's point about JJ trashing us mercilessly after he flames out is also worth considering. JJ is about as much of a gossip as there is in NBA media and has a healthy ego. If he fails as our HC he will not blame himself, I expect he'll say Charlotte is a hopeless franchise and everyone should avoid it for the good of their career to pass the buck and salvage his reputation.
I just see questionable upside, a worrisome downside, and the previous track record of coaches without experience looks less sterling when comparing our talent to the rosters those examples inherited.
I don't really get trying to discount coaches because they had talent, all coaches need talent to win. Pop is a great coach right? Why isn't he winning? Was Phil Jackson actually not good because he had talent?
If JJ could do what Kidd was able to do his first few years in Jersey and Milwaukee that would be a pretty good win in my eyes.
Just stating my concerns. It's worth comparing our situation to the ones where inexperienced coaches have succeeded in the past. Are we similar? I would say not especially.
I appreciate you bringing up the point and compiling the list in the first place, it's been good discussion and food for thought imo, but I remain skeptical.
We also have very different opinions of the competency of Jason Kidd and Mark Jackson, two guys I would say have been dragged to success by circumstance and had to leave before their teams could become contenders. Nash is also hard for me to consider a success when looking beyond pure W/L.