Coaching Vacancy Over; Larry Drew Named HC

[HMFFL]

Nate McMillan looking to shake up his staff

Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan is poised to shake up his staff, and it appears he has targeted longtime NBA coach Bernie Bickerstaff to serve as his right-hand man.

Sources say lead assistant Dean Demopoulos and assistant Joe Prunty will not be retained, which comes after assistant Monty Williams left the team to become the head coach of New Orleans.

McMillan on Sunday said he is “looking to make changes” with his staff but refused to say which coaches will be replaced. When asked if Demopoulos and Prunty were given two weeks notice earlier this month, McMillan was short.

“I don’t want to go into that,’’ McMillan said.

Demopoulos on Sunday said he is under contract until June 30, and has not been told one way or the other on his status for next season. He has coached with McMillan for nine seasons, including four in Seattle.

Dean Demopoulos would be a good option for us. I believe we interviewed him for our head coaching vacancy, but I like the idea of adding him as Larry's right hand man.

[evildallas]

^^^ I agree with that suggestion. I'm not understanding what's going on in Portland. First Pritchard is on the outs after being the master of the draft for last 4 or 5 years and stockpiling talent like few others. And now the coaching staff is jumbled. The only area the Blazers have been short in is health. I'm not sure how changing assistant coaches solves that. Someone is restless.

[parson]

Since this thread is about Larry Drew being named our new Head Coach, let me put this lil quote in that I found over on the Miami board:

Lane1974 wrote:

Hawks hire some guy named Larry Drew for 1.5 million a year, it screams of "impending lockout" and "we don't expect JJ back", doesn't it?

Kinda food for thought...

[azuresou1]

Eh, I was kind of under the assumption that both those things were pretty much sure things.

[parson]

So instead of Collison being wasted behind Bibby....they get a bunch of crap picks and Mike Bibby being wasted behind Chris Paul?

Not arguing for the trade - and I'm not sure about the pick's value - but Bibby would not be "wasted" behind Paul. He's a good example of a player for whom "more would be less" in that he'd produce better with more rest.

[HMFFL]

Players say Drew isn’t Woody 2

I talked to some players this weekend, and all of them said they expect LD’s approach to be different than Woody’s. Drew often ran the second-team offense in practice and was said to deploy creative sets, with one player describing them as a “fun” departures from the isolations. Another player said when things went badly for the Hawks, LD tended to be more of an “encourager” than a “screamer” and focused his energy on laying out a detailed plan for how the Hawks can get better.

The players have better insight into LD than the rest of us, and so it’s significant that he enjoys wide support among them. But they can’t be sure how Drew the assistant will work out as Drew the head coach. His relationships with players will be tested. Now LD has the final say on how the run the team, including playing time and touches, and players inevitably aren’t going to like some of his decisions.

The players credited Woody with creating a loose atmosphere that made it enjoyable for them to come to work but then they didn’t get serious when it was time to do so. Woody backed off from the long, hard and frequent practices players didn’t like and in the end they didn’t work as hard as they should. Woody gave them on-court freedom (especially J.J.) and instead of taking that trust and becoming a free-flowing offensive team, they became a selfish “get mine” kind of team–and resisted Woody’s efforts to get them to share the ball.

[dms269]

He was on 680 this morning talking. He said that he set down with Teague after the press conference and told him that he needs to develop a starters mentality. He said he is quick, fast, and break down players if he chooses, and is very good defensively.

Sounds like Drew is gonna make Teague a starter next year.

[HMFFL]

Larry Drew On 790

Larry Drew On 680