The Off-Season Thread, Non-Draft Discussion

[rockymac52]

That may be the case, I'm just skeptical when it comes to former (current, I guess, in this case) players entering front office roles. I haven't met Mo Evans, so I can't really definitively comment on whether he's worthy of a front office job, one way or the other. So I'll try my best to avoid doing so.

I just think that sometimes we, as basketball fans, get caught up in labeling players as future coaches and/or executives. Most of the time it's just because that player happens to be decently articulate (a quality that most NBA players, sadly, do not even come close to possessing).

His involvement and leadership within the NBA Players Association is impressive, and I fully understand why it would lead us to believe that he's the type of guy who has a future in the front office, but that's just on the outside looking in. You can't forget that both Evans and Derek Fisher might simply be the most intelligent and articulate veteran players in the NBA. There's 450 players in the NBA. They're not going to march out a guy with anything less than 5 years experience for one of those positions. There's only about 200 of those. Almost all of those 200 guys have zero interest in taking on those positions. The fact that Evans and Fisher do is a good sign, no doubt. I'm just saying, it doesn't mean they're incredibly intelligent or anything like that. They may very well be, but I dunno, just color me a skeptical pessimist.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Yeah, Evans is a smart dude. He's going to end up in someone's front office, or on a coaching staff.

I'm sure the Wizards would have had more wins with Mo as player coach than they did with Flip coaching.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/WAS/2011.html

That isn't exactly a compliment. Suffice to say I agree that Evans is a smart guy. He's certainly articulate and media savvy. He appears to be a good guy, too. I wouldn't be surprised if he does well in coaching.

[montestewart]

That may be the case, I'm just skeptical when it comes to former (current, I guess, in this case) players entering front office roles. I haven't met Mo Evans, so I can't really definitively comment on whether he's worthy of a front office job, one way or the other. So I'll try my best to avoid doing so.

I just think that sometimes we, as basketball fans, get caught up in labeling players as future coaches and/or executives. Most of the time it's just because that player happens to be decently articulate (a quality that most NBA players, sadly, do not even come close to possessing).

His involvement and leadership within the NBA Players Association is impressive, and I fully understand why it would lead us to believe that he's the type of guy who has a future in the front office, but that's just on the outside looking in. You can't forget that both Evans and Derek Fisher might simply be the most intelligent and articulate veteran players in the NBA. There's 450 players in the NBA. They're not going to march out a guy with anything less than 5 years experience for one of those positions. There's only about 200 of those. Almost all of those 200 guys have zero interest in taking on those positions. The fact that Evans and Fisher do is a good sign, no doubt. I'm just saying, it doesn't mean they're incredibly intelligent or anything like that. They may very well be, but I dunno, just color me a skeptical pessimist.

I remember being skeptical of that new thang of athletes wearing vanity non-prescription glasses, apparently to appear more thoughtful, I guess. Some of us just wear them to see. Still, you figure that in any given group, 10-20% will have smarts that stand out, even in a group of athletes that have (most of them) focused largely on sports at the expense of academics. Many of the true ninnies don't make it beyond their rookie contracts, with quite a few veterans hanging on as much by smarts and savvy as by talent. I don't know what his degree is in, or if he even has one, but Evans is smart, and so is Fisher, along with a number of others: Shane Battier, Ray Allen, Tim Duncan, Pau Gasol, and Grant Hill all come to mind, but so does Tyson Chandler, who didn't even go to college. Jeff Green, Emeka Okafor, Jeremy Lin, Matt Bonner, Danny Granger, Chris Bosh, Thaddeus Young, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash...there are a lot of smart guys in the NBA.

[DCZards]

I remember a poll of NBA GMs in the early 1990's where they were asked what current NBA player would most likely be an NBA coach someday. There was one overwhelming choice---Doc Rivers. Sometimes it's pretty obvious who the smart/leader guys are.

[Nivek]

There are a lot of smart guys in the NBA. Not necessarily educated, not necessarily articulate or forthcoming in interviews, but smart as hell. There are dumbasses too, just like there are dumbasses anywhere. In my time working as media at NBA games, I was pleasantly surprised at how different players are from how they're typically portrayed in the media. There's often a big difference between a guy's personality in interviews and his personality during normal, human-to-human interactions.

A few guys stood out to me for being smart and educated: Shane Battier (of course), Bryant Stith (valedictorian of his high school class), Derek Fisher.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I remember a poll of NBA GMs in the early 1990's where they were asked what current NBA player would most likely be an NBA coach someday. There was one overwhelming choice---Doc Rivers. Sometimes it's pretty obvious who the smart/leader guys are.

I agree.

Brian Scalabrine strikes as a guy who is very smart, very well respected on and off the court, and a leader. He will be a head coach and or a key front office type down the line

Kyrie Irving might just be 21 years old but he's nothing short of a natural leader.He's going to have a long playing career, but after that he's probably going to great heights in coaching or managment.

When Brandon Roy does hang them up I could see him coaching.

Chauncey Billups is practically a coach on the floor now.

Kevin Love will probably become part of ownership or management if not a head coach.

Of the current Wizards, Bradley Beal fits the profile of a future coach. So does Shelvin Mack.

[Nivek]

One guy who I got to know quite well when he was doing player development work for the Wizards ought to be coaching somewhere right now: Mitchell Butler. Very smart, good talker, good listener, quick to grasp some of the nutty stuff I would bring to him. He helped me a TON when I was doing my defensive tracking project -- Mitchell and Tom Young were the most interested and insightful about what I was doing. Mitchell was also HUGELY generous with his time and contacts. He helped me get my first meeting with the Wiz front office.

He decided to work with an agent rather than getting into the coaching grind. Better hours, better schedule, comparable money -- at least to what he'd have gotten as an assistant coach.

[dobrojim]

If Mitchell had only had a jumper...great first step

[montestewart]

and, he had the Butler-Cam

[closg00]

Grunfeld: 2012-13 Wizards 'more physical' and focused on defense

Washington Wizards Team President Ernie Grunfeld addressed the media Tuesday afternoon in a half hour talk focused on team chemistry, defensive improvements, and the desire to build a more physical team around franchise point guard John Wall.

http://www.examiner.com/article/grunfel ... ts_article