Interim Head Coach Jay Triano Thread

[darealjuice]

Figured we might as well have a thread dedicated to Triano since McD has said he's going to coach out this season.

Some articles from the first few days:
AZSports - Triano Holding Players Accountable (plus an interview with Triano online)
Jay Triano holding young team to higher standards

Gambo said on air that "several players said they learned more in one day with Triano than a month with Earl," but you know Gambo.

Still like what I've heard from him and liked the changes I saw for one day. Sounds like he has the right mentality to teach these kids to play basketball the right way, but we need to see results if we have any hope in this team being good again.

[Coogi]

I don't know much about this guy, and one game won't tell us much.. I did like his trigger finger(no pun intended.. love you JJ) when it came to timeouts..

[bwgood77]

Gambo said on air that "several players said they learned more in one day with Triano than a month with Earl," but you know Gambo.

Still like what I've heard from him and liked the changes I saw for one day. Sounds like he has the right mentality to teach these kids to play basketball the right way, but we need to see results if we have any hope in this team being good again.

What's strange is why didn't Earl allow Triano to work with the players more? I mean were the just giving Earl their suggestions and he was trying to work with all the players? Or I wonder if Watson just disagreed with some of what Triano wanted to do and ignored it all. Must have been a strange dynamic.

There are often situations where someone will come in and manage people who have much more knowledge, experience and stuff from them but in that case, you have to empower them and if you don't, they'll be extremely frustrated too watching their boss be an idiot. That must have been the case.

Obviously early still though. Hopefully they continue to learn and grow and play competitively.

[darealjuice]

Gambo said on air that "several players said they learned more in one day with Triano than a month with Earl," but you know Gambo.

Still like what I've heard from him and liked the changes I saw for one day. Sounds like he has the right mentality to teach these kids to play basketball the right way, but we need to see results if we have any hope in this team being good again.

What's strange is why didn't Earl allow Triano to work with the players more? I mean were the just giving Earl their suggestions and he was trying to work with all the players? Or I wonder if Watson just disagreed with some of what Triano wanted to do and ignored it all. Must have been a strange dynamic.

There are often situations where someone will come in and manage people who have much more knowledge, experience and stuff from them but in that case, you have to empower them and if you don't, they'll be extremely frustrated too watching their boss be an idiot. That must have been the case.

Obviously early still though. Hopefully they continue to learn and grow and play competitively.

Yeah I'm pretty curious what the dynamic was with Watson at the helm too. Triano was a pretty well respected assistant coach in Portland and came over here specifically for Earl, so it's interesting that Triano didn't resonate with the way some things were being done. I do appreciate that he's more about making them earn playing time and keeping them accountable with the media than talking about how great they're going to be before they've shown the development.

[BobbieL]

I heard that stuff from Gambo. He repeated it again today that the players tired of the Watson stories about life, family, togetherness, etc

But as far as Triano - I think he is exactly the type of guy needed. Yes, he fits the Sarver pay scale. But they needed just a professional basketball coach. I know I mentioned Jackson but I think Bwg said it best " do not need another coach/preacher" type. Needed a coaching lifer. A grinder. I threw out names like Fizdale, Clifford, Brett Brown. I think Triano fits that. Has coached a lot of basketball.

For the Timeline to work - the young players need to get better and learn how to play the game. I hope - even if an interim - he helps accomplishes that.

[lilfishi22]

I heard that stuff from Gambo. He repeated it again today that the players tired of the Watson stories about life, family, togetherness, etc

But as far as Triano - I think he is exactly the type of guy needed. Yes, he fits the Sarver pay scale. But they needed just a professional basketball coach. I know I mentioned Jackson but I think Bwg said it best " do not need another coach/preacher" type. Needed a coaching lifer. A grinder. I threw out names like Fizdale, Clifford, Brett Brown. I think Triano fits that. Has coached a lot of basketball.

For the Timeline to work - the young players need to get better and learn how to play the game. I hope - even if an interim - he helps accomplishes that.

If we're sick of it, imagine the players having to hear it from the horses mouth every second day.

Still need more games under Triano to really see if he is a positive to this team but what I saw in one game is a bigger improvement than what I saw under a season and a half under Watson. If he can keep teaching, disciplining and developing our young guys, I think we may have a solid HC. What I do like about Triano is that despite having only been HC for three season in Toronto, he's has an extensive experience in the coaching stands which spans almost 30 years. He was an assistant with Toronto for almost 6 years before he was made HC. When things didn't work out, he went back into the trenches and has been an assistant for the past four seasons. Not to mention he's also coached international ball. He might not have been the most successful coach but he does have the experience which is what we're looking for in a HC right now.

[bigfoot]

Triano is going to hold the players accountable by using minutes played. He has said minutes are a motivating factor for players because they all have money. If they aren't going to play hard they are going to lose minutes. I think he showed that in his first game by yanking players who made mistakes or weren't hustling. We will see how this works as the season progresses.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Watson already played Bledsoe and Chriss below 2017 average minutes in all games.

Coaches know what rhetoric to say but proof will be in the pudding.

[grumpysaddle]

Maybe he came over here to be head assistant to Watson knowing full well Watson wouldn't be able to handle it and he'd become head coach sooner or later. Either way, glad Yogi Watson is gone.

[BobbieL]

I heard that stuff from Gambo. He repeated it again today that the players tired of the Watson stories about life, family, togetherness, etc

But as far as Triano - I think he is exactly the type of guy needed. Yes, he fits the Sarver pay scale. But they needed just a professional basketball coach. I know I mentioned Jackson but I think Bwg said it best " do not need another coach/preacher" type. Needed a coaching lifer. A grinder. I threw out names like Fizdale, Clifford, Brett Brown. I think Triano fits that. Has coached a lot of basketball.

For the Timeline to work - the young players need to get better and learn how to play the game. I hope - even if an interim - he helps accomplishes that.

If we're sick of it, imagine the players having to hear it from the horses mouth every second day.

Still need more games under Triano to really see if he is a positive to this team but what I saw in one game is a bigger improvement than what I saw under a season and a half under Watson. If he can keep teaching, disciplining and developing our young guys, I think we may have a solid HC. What I do like about Triano is that despite having only been HC for three season in Toronto, he's has an extensive experience in the coaching stands which spans almost 30 years. He was an assistant with Toronto for almost 6 years before he was made HC. When things didn't work out, he went back into the trenches and has been an assistant for the past four seasons. Not to mention he's also coached international ball. He might not have been the most successful coach but he does have the experience which is what we're looking for in a HC right now.

I personally didn't like the idea of Watson before the 16/17 season for the simple fact is I don't think they interviewed anybody. Like Fizdale went from Miami to Memphis; Thibs was out there (yes, I know Sarver would never pay Thibs) - but even Mark Jackson, Monty Williams (sadly before the death of his wife) - nobody was interviewed. It didn't make sense

I am not saying Triano is going to be Popovich - but his work experience makes him a guy that knows the game of basketball and can probably make players better. And that is what this year is about - getting the young players better, learning how to play the game. Those speeches from Earl are valuable - but it cant be the only thing you got.

[Djedefre]

This is ridiculous. Interim for a whole season. Didn’t we play Triano’s offense for a year and a half already? So, firing Watson just for the sake of it, without any clear plan or strategy. Stop this nonsense and hire a REAL coach ASAP, unless you want another 7 years of drought.

[RunDogGun]

Triano is going to hold the players accountable by using minutes played. He has said minutes are a motivating factor for players because they all have money. If they aren't going to play hard they are going to lose minutes. I think he showed that in his first game by yanking players who made mistakes or weren't hustling. We will see how this works as the season progresses.

I liked his rotations, and his timeouts. Near the end of the game, I yelled at the tv to get Warren out of there. Within seconds, Jackson was getting up, and heading into the game. It will be tough to gauge his coaching for a bit, but I liked what I saw in the first game.

[bigfoot]

Yeah Triano simplified the rotation by going back to classic position basketball. That makes sense for young player who need to become an expert at one position before moving on to the next. Especially on the defensive side of the ball.

James, Ulis
Booker, Daniels
Warren, Jackson
Chriss, Bender
Chandler, Len

Keep that rotation until the young guys figure it out how to play the right way and then add more position-less basketball later on. The position-less basketball really requires vets who know what they are doing and communicate well.

An intriguing idea behind this is what happens with Knight? Pretty obvious he doesn't play this year but at the same time I don't see how the Suns can trade him either. That means he will be on the team next year. Assuming James and Ulis split PG duties that puts Knight squarely as a candidate for the backup SG position with Daniels and Reed. I would like to see how Knight would respond to Triano's coaching style and it is too bad he is injured for the whole season.

[RunDogGun]

Yeah Triano simplified the rotation by going back to classic position basketball. That makes sense for young player who need to become an expert at one position before moving on to the next. Especially on the defensive side of the ball.

James, Ulis
Booker, Daniels
Warren, Jackson
Chriss, Bender
Chandler, Len

Keep that rotation until the young guys figure it out how to play the right way and then add more position-less basketball later on. The position-less basketball really requires vets who know what they are doing and communicate well.

An intriguing idea behind this is what happens with Knight? Pretty obvious he doesn't play this year but at the same time I don't see how the Suns can trade him either. That means he will be on the team next year. Assuming James and Ulis split PG duties that puts Knight squarely as a candidate for the backup SG position with Daniels and Reed. I would like to see how Knight would respond to Triano's coaching style and it is too bad he is injured for the whole season.

I also liked how he brought in the whole front court group at one time, and then gradually brought in the guards. He didn’t wait for someone to be overtired, or really out of effort to make switches. I’m not even thinking about Knight yet, for we don’t know if Triano will be the head coach next year.

[NTB]

Read on Twitter

So we have another story teller?

[Downtown]

Blazers fan here from Vancouver. Triano's bounced around a fair bit and has been around the game for many decades as a player and leader of team Canada as a guard, was the Vancouver Grizzlies PR guy, and has been a coach with both the National team and Raptors, not to mention as an assistant with Toronto and Portland, where the players all said he was great at relating to them. So he's quite experienced and knows the ups and downs.

But when he was the Raptors assistant coach and became the head coach he admitted he enjoyed the lesser pressure of being an assistant coach to being the main guy that makes every decision. So take that for what it's worth since that was quite a while ago and I'm sure he's grown as he's been around longer. In Portland he was quite good as an assistant. Who knows how he will handle the pressure of being a head coach again. But he's been with a few teams and has seen what works and what doesn't as far as different styles.

But he definitely has the experience and knows how to handle players and is a pretty straight ahead sort. One thing I think could be interesting is that since he could be looking at assistant coaches, I would like to see him bring in Shareef Abdur-Rahim to work with the young players. I remember back in Abdur-Rahim's rookie year when they had an autograph session for us fans it was Triano that helped him since Shareef was actually quite a shy young guy in his early days. But Abdur-Rahim has worked as a player developer with Sacramento and is known as a guy who also relates well to players so with the Triano connection he might be worth bringing in as the third, or fourth assistant.

[grumpysaddle]

It is true that Triano was assistant coach in charge of the offense, but I have a feeling Watson didn't exactly take his advice or actually try to run anything Triano wanted to. Triano probably got tired of Watson, like the players did. We'll see what he has to give in the next couple weeks, but if he can get the team to play with effort like they did against the Kings, while also playing as a team and making the extra passes, it will be a significant upgrade to what we've seen in the past few seasons with Hornacek and Watson.

[lilfishi22]

I heard that stuff from Gambo. He repeated it again today that the players tired of the Watson stories about life, family, togetherness, etc

But as far as Triano - I think he is exactly the type of guy needed. Yes, he fits the Sarver pay scale. But they needed just a professional basketball coach. I know I mentioned Jackson but I think Bwg said it best " do not need another coach/preacher" type. Needed a coaching lifer. A grinder. I threw out names like Fizdale, Clifford, Brett Brown. I think Triano fits that. Has coached a lot of basketball.

For the Timeline to work - the young players need to get better and learn how to play the game. I hope - even if an interim - he helps accomplishes that.

If we're sick of it, imagine the players having to hear it from the horses mouth every second day.

Still need more games under Triano to really see if he is a positive to this team but what I saw in one game is a bigger improvement than what I saw under a season and a half under Watson. If he can keep teaching, disciplining and developing our young guys, I think we may have a solid HC. What I do like about Triano is that despite having only been HC for three season in Toronto, he's has an extensive experience in the coaching stands which spans almost 30 years. He was an assistant with Toronto for almost 6 years before he was made HC. When things didn't work out, he went back into the trenches and has been an assistant for the past four seasons. Not to mention he's also coached international ball. He might not have been the most successful coach but he does have the experience which is what we're looking for in a HC right now.

I personally didn't like the idea of Watson before the 16/17 season for the simple fact is I don't think they interviewed anybody. Like Fizdale went from Miami to Memphis; Thibs was out there (yes, I know Sarver would never pay Thibs) - but even Mark Jackson, Monty Williams (sadly before the death of his wife) - nobody was interviewed. It didn't make sense

I am not saying Triano is going to be Popovich - but his work experience makes him a guy that knows the game of basketball and can probably make players better. And that is what this year is about - getting the young players better, learning how to play the game. Those speeches from Earl are valuable - but it cant be the only thing you got.

That was my biggest issue with Watson. We didn't even bother interviewing to see if Watson really was the best candidate. Essentially, McD didn't do his job of doing due diligence. I didn't like Watson during his interim coaching period and while I gave him time to work things out after being signed as HC, he never really improved.

At the very least, Triano has the experience worthy of being a head coach in the NBA.

[lilfishi22]

This is ridiculous. Interim for a whole season. Didn’t we play Triano’s offense for a year and a half already? So, firing Watson just for the sake of it, without any clear plan or strategy. Stop this nonsense and hire a REAL coach ASAP, unless you want another 7 years of drought.

Tough to say how much of Triano's offense Watson really implemented. It's only one game but the ball movement, player movement and even some plays from the first game tells me Triano probably has more in his bag of offense than the 'free-flowing offense' Watson was trotting out for a season and a half.

I think Triano for now is a fine interim HC. There's typically more coaches available in the offseason than at the start of the season.

[Book1Nation]

So far so good 2 games in.

1 lineup I would like to see to close out games with a lead is

Jackson
Booker
Warren
Chriss/Bender
Chandler/Len

Instead of taking Warren out for Jackson the last 5 mins like he has in the last 2 wins, take out the PG. Have Jackson guard the opposing teams PG's on defense, and we can still have Warren out there for his offense.