Coach of the Year in the 'Degree of Difficulty' Category

by Tom Ziller on Jan 9, 2008 8:10 AM PST in News

Stan Van Gundy mentioned Reggie Theus as a Coach of the Year candidate; I considered it a friendly platitude towards a colleague. But then ESPN's John Hollinger agreed in his Tuesday chat.

Theus has to be up there. He's playing with a skeleton crew and his guys are completely overachieving. We'll see how things go now that he has his players back -- sometimes that first week or two can be tough sledding while the chemistry remixes.

Kelly Dwyer added his own endorsement this morning, going against his opposition to giving the award to coaches who take bad teams to mediocreland.

But Reggie Theus, man, I can see picking this guy for Coach of the Year. I'm cool with handing it to him, he's got the Kings on track to win 33 games, and there is no WAY this is a 33-win team. They play hard every night, they lose close games to teams that out-class (in talent, you should be reminded) them at every position, and Sacramento is always ready to play the next night in spite of the previous game's enervating factors.

He'll never win it -- Doc Rivers will likely get some Kevin Garnet runoff, Nate McMillan's my early choice -- but it's good to see others notice the incredible effort the team's (largely) put up.

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Coach of the year

I'm really pleased that Theus has this group playing well and together. This team was a ticking time bomb for the season.

by Chris The Greek on Jan 9, 2008 10:47 AM PST reply actions

Hard not to be pleased with Reggie

I wonder what this means in terms of the Maloofs/and or Petrie and what it means to moves that NEED to be made in the future. The things that make you go HMMMMM.

I am the stone that the builder refused I am the visual, the inspiration That made Lady Sing the Blues..I'm the spark that makes your idea bright...

by pookeyguru on Jan 9, 2008 11:31 AM PST reply actions

Theus

I bet he loses by one vote

by kingme on Jan 9, 2008 1:07 PM PST reply actions

One vote away

Just like Kevin Martin did last year. It makes me mad, even though the awards mean really don't mean a lot. Kevin deserved it last year, and Theus has done a great job so far this year. He is doing a better job than I ever thought he would.

by spragueito on Jan 9, 2008 1:34 PM PST up reply actions

Consideration

Reggie deserves that, at least. He's getting the most out of his players. Doc should be immediately disqualified because he was handed a roster with three future Hall-of-Famers on it. I don't care if they go 79-3.

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by Evan Dunlap on Jan 9, 2008 1:07 PM PST reply actions

Where Doc deserves credit is

the emergence of Boston's bench. Everyone was killing Tony Allen several weeks ago. Where are those criticisms now? The fact that the Celtics have a good bench, and essentially a cheap productive bench at that, is at least a head nod in the direction of Ainge and Rivers at this point.

I am the stone that the builder refused I am the visual, the inspiration That made Lady Sing the Blues..I'm the spark that makes your idea bright...

by pookeyguru on Jan 9, 2008 1:26 PM PST up reply actions

Doc

We also shouldn't forget that last season Doc was arguably the worst coach in the league and either (1) couldn't get his guys to play hard or (2) was actively trying to lose games. I hesitate to give him any credit at all for Boston's "resurgence".

by Michael Beasley on Jan 9, 2008 1:38 PM PST up reply actions

Well

It seems strange to say this but Doc doesn't really deserve a lion's share of the credit for the C's success. You have to give all the props in the world to Danny Ainge. As inept a GM as I thought he was, he somehow got real drunk with his old buddy McHale and convinced him to give away KG (although Danny was drinking water while McHale was all about the Vodka... classic trick).

by Mityt on Jan 9, 2008 1:51 PM PST up reply actions

I agree

I agree with both of you -- I don't think Doc deserves it. But he'll have a shot so long as a 23-win team gets to 60 or so, KG be damned.

by Tom Ziller on Jan 9, 2008 2:13 PM PST up reply actions

I agree

Yeah, I'd give more credit to Ainge for that bench than I would to Doc. Their best bench players, Posey and House, went to Boston after the Big 3 got there. Not knocking them at all, but their both opportunistic. I wouldn't want to waste my talents either as a role player on a wack team.

by kingsfaninjapan on Jan 9, 2008 2:02 PM PST reply actions

Kill Rivers

But most people around here consider Pop a hall of fame coach (I dont but that's me). He's a guy who's repeatedly said that he will quit after Duncan retires. What the fuck is that shit?

Still, don't forget, Pop has said, repeatedly, that when Duncan retires that he's following him out the door. I think at this point coaching a bunch of 22 year olds through a rebuilding project would be Pop's 7th circle of hell.

If that's just Aaron of Pounding the Rock then so be it.

Here's is the whole thing that Aaron wrote. For the record he can be a homer spurs jackass. To his credit he doesn't deny it either.

My whole 2 cents on the subject.

I am the stone that the builder refused I am the visual, the inspiration That made Lady Sing the Blues..I'm the spark that makes your idea bright...

by pookeyguru on Jan 9, 2008 3:07 PM PST reply actions

Nate MacMillan

With all due respect to Theus and Rivers...C'mon! The Blazers had the same record as us last year and their #1 draft pick is out for the season. Everyone thought Portland would be better but tied for the Northwest lead? Better than the Warriors, Jazz and Rockets? If the vote were held today, it should be Big Mac in a landslide.

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by section214 on Jan 9, 2008 3:53 PM PST reply actions

Yup

Totally agree. On top of everything you stated 214, they're the youngest team in the NBA!

by kingsfaninjapan on Jan 9, 2008 4:37 PM PST up reply actions

McMillan

I love McMillan, he will win, he probably should win, but the Blazers have been amassing top 10 picks for years. Just because McMillan is doing what you're supposed to be doing with Lottery selections (and not doing what our dear friend and former King Mike Woodson is doing in Atlanta) doesn't mean he deserves immediate coronation. Even without Oden the Blazers aren't a bad team. Yes the Kings and Blazers had similar records last year. But the Kings had that record with the triumvirate. You saw what this team looked like the first week of the season, most of us assumed that would be par for the course without Bibby and/or Artest. Now this team is winning games like last night's without Bibby, Artest, or Martin. Willing a team to compete is the most intangible and underrated commodity in the league. And that, in syncopation with a desire to teach even when the bottom's falling out, in syncopation with weathering a lot of early rhetoric about Theus being strictly a Maloof hire/a pretty face/destined for the college coaching catacombs, deserves an awful lot of our accolades. Yes McMillan deserves to win, what he's done is impressive, but I'm still more impressed by Theus, a first year coach who has survived a season that would bankrupt even the most grizzled coaching soul. Is there really any logical reason why we shouldn't be as bad as Minnesota or considerably worse than Memphis?

However the real challenge comes when the stars come back. As Terry Porter and Eric Musselman have proved in seasons past, overachieving with a crappy team does not necessarily a good coach make.

by rbiegler on Jan 9, 2008 4:41 PM PST up reply actions

RB there are alot of good points

There is a logical reason that the Kings are better than Minnesota. They still have more talent. The Memphis thing is a different story. I have no reply for that.

I am the stone that the builder refused I am the visual, the inspiration That made Lady Sing the Blues..I'm the spark that makes your idea bright...

by pookeyguru on Jan 9, 2008 5:54 PM PST up reply actions