We gave it a shot with the eatsleepdrinkdrinkdriveeatsleep basketball dude. Failed miserably. At least this is a change.
Something you guys talked about in Louis' great breaking news thread -- and something that the mainstram media folks continue to avoid -- is how this hire reflects on the balance of power in the organization. Like many of you, I'm incredibly fearful the Maloofs pushed this hire right up Geoff Petrie's tailpipe here at the end of the process, not telling me to hire Reggie Theus, but telling him to hire Reggie Theus. The connections and history between Coach Fuller and The Family are too strong to ignore.
But one thing -- only one thing -- gives me some confidence in the whole thing: Geoff Petrie is still standing. I think Petrie is at the point in his career where he won't tolerate more cheekiness from his bosses. This isn't exactly a dream job for Geoff -- he has to move immovable pieces knowing full well no one wants to be his next heist victim. If he thinks he's going to get a ton of interference from The Family, I don't think he sticks around. Why would he? Why would he work his tail off to watch two dudes playing high stakes rotisserie piss it all away? I think Petrie's got more pride than that. And because of that, I feel alright about what got us here. If Petrie were getting ramrodded, he'd be gone. He's not.
As for Theus, at least it will be entertaining. A very sentient thought was made in the below thread, regarding Reggie's credibility in the locker room and how Francisco Garcia is related to that. (Garcia played at Louisville when Theus was an assistant coach there.) Garcia is beloved in that locker room -- I've heard he's Kevin Martin's best friend, he's Mike Bibby's workout buddy, he's close with Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Corliss Williamson, and he's the only guy near Ron Artest. How much of all that is true? Who know. But smoke, fire, etc. If Garcia spreads the good word about Theus before the vultures get to him, the coach is in an infinitely better starting position than Eric Musselman was. Locker room credibility goes a long way, as we saw with last season's disaster.
I refuse to say this is the dawn of a new era, as I'm sure The Family and Coach Fuller and Geoff will say on TV today. The dawn of the new era started last summer, when the franchise cut Rick Adelman loose and blew goodbye kisses to the Era of Glory and Awesomeness. The story of this team, this post-glory era has not been told. Musselman's team was the first part, Theus' team could be another blip or it could stretch for years. But don't get it twisted -- we're still in a deep mess. Hiring Reggie does nothing to change that, unless he can rebound and score in the post.
[[A thousand thank yous to Louis for pulling the late shift with all the breaking news and opinion. (I pick great nights to spend away from the computer and TV and cell phone.) As I said above, great insights from the community, too -- though we disagree on the hire, we get it. The discussion has been great, and I hope it continues.]]