Potential Coaching Candidates

[The Great One]

I'd be good with any of Messina, Udoka, Jasikrururlus. Messina is still my #1 choice.

Watch Masai hire Nurse lol.

[Bendit]

@Goldblum

RE Stack's playing days my impressions of him was a fairly selfish type on O (getting his shots) and not particularly aggressive on D even though he had the length and speed. All in all not a favorite of mine. So I was quite surprised how he adapted (and succeeded) at the coaching game.He was also more expressive emotionally on court than he was off it as a h-coach. I suppose there is no accounting about the "real" person especially when one is not upclose and personal sometimes. Re Kidd, he had a great feel on court of the game. Again, I thought he jumped in too fast to coach... my experience has been the great players rarely make great coaches. He hasn't lit up the coaching ranks yet so we shall just have to wait for at least another gig.

[JimiCliff]

If it turns out to be Sarunas Jasikeviscius... I wonder whether JV gets stapled to the bench as he did last time he played for his country (or was it the time before?) or whether his usage triples and he becomes the unanimous NBA MVP.

And dooooooooon't effin tell me it'll fall somewhere in between.

I remember during one international tournament - maybe the only one they played together - they had pretty remarkable chemistry. A whole lotta alley-oops. And this was a very young JV, and Sarunas was making a point of looking for him. Moreso than any else on the team, and more than any other Lithuanian player I've seen since.

So, yeah - I think JV will be happy to see him.

[Primer]

Lewenberg's article says we are expected have a coach before the draft on the 21st.

https://www.tsn.ca/sources-nurse-rem...arch-1.1104202

I really think we can't fuck this one up looking at the 4 remaining candidates.

For those sour on Nurse, check this quote from the article:

In early-April, just before the end of the season, Yahoo polled over 30 high-ranking NBA executives to see who the top head-coaching prospects are among the league’s assistants. Nobody got more votes than Nurse.

[planetmars]

Going to take a while to get his name right.. but Coach J looks like a gamble worth experimenting on to me. Would prefer him over Messina. Like that he's younger (42) and has recent success which matters in this "new" NBA.

[Hotshot]

Going to take a while to get his name right..

I hope he gets hired just to listen to Barkley butcher up his name.

[MixxAOR]

Going to take a while to get his name right.. but Coach J looks like a gamble worth experimenting on to me. Would prefer him over Messina. Like that he's younger (42) and has recent success which matters in this "new" NBA.

Its Jazzy cabbages

[S.R.]

I agree these are all good enough choices at this point. I was least sure about Stack, at best his resume is what Nurse had before he also put in several years at the NBA level. I think Nurse would be good, Messina and Saskatchejuvias are the most exciting picks, other Spurs assistants like Udoka and Hammon seem destined for a HC job at some point and will deserve it, not sure their time is now.

[Joey]

I mostly just want Saras at this point so we can keep seeing all the creative ways people are spelling his name. Haha

[inthepaint]

Hire him now

Lots of intelligent off-ball movement on these, I like it. I can picture guys like Poelt, FVV and Wright really blossoming on this.

[LJ2]

So all it took was a few YouTube videos to get everyone on the bandwagon for someone they had no clue about 24 hrs ago. Not saying he won't be good, but there is no doubt in my mind that any of you know why you're supporting this guy LMAO

[The Coach]

I'm all in on Sarunas. The only guy mentioned yet that excites me.

[white men can't jump]

So all it took was a few YouTube videos to get everyone on the bandwagon for someone they had no clue about 24 hrs ago. Not saying he won't be good, but there is no doubt in my mind that any of you know why you're supporting this guy LMAO

Well, he was a very strong leader as a player and a guy who did his fair share of winning. He also played for Obradovic, arguably one of the best basketball minds in the world. He played in the NBA a bit, so he's not someone with no exposure to the game and locker rooms over here. He comes from a country that's largely had to rely on smart basketball, as a tiny nation without much of a talent pool.

I think you're also missing a key factor for most fans on this board: we do not want the guy the Raptors pick to be a coach whose name we've heard regurgitated around the league every few years when there's a coaching vacancy. There is no obvious great choice out there. If the Raptors hire someone like Mike Brown, Steve Clifford, Monty Williams, Frank Vogel, Mike Woodson, any Van Gundy, etc...it would probably make me a little sick.

The other 3 names tweeted out earlier today are all guys who would be first-time NBA head coaches as well. Messina is the closest one to being proven, as he won a ton in Europe. Nurse is considered a strong basketball mind, but has head coached in pretty awful leagues and is the only one tied to Casey's time as a coach. Udoka has never had a head coaching job of any kind and no one has a real idea of what kind of coach he'd make, but has the Spurs brand associated to him.

If you're going on most obvious merit, Messina is the best choice and it's not close. But when you look at the rest, Jasikevicius may represent a sort of middle ground. He'd be among the younger options, but has at least some proven success as a head coach (which Udoka doesn't) and at a higher level than anything Nurse worked as a head coach.

[MixxAOR]

So all it took was a few YouTube videos to get everyone on the bandwagon for someone they had no clue about 24 hrs ago. Not saying he won't be good, but there is no doubt in my mind that any of you know why you're supporting this guy LMAO

hey it was a few tweets actually

[inthepaint]

So all it took was a few YouTube videos to get everyone on the bandwagon for someone they had no clue about 24 hrs ago. Not saying he won't be good, but there is no doubt in my mind that any of you know why you're supporting this guy LMAO

Actually, I'm not necessarily supporting the guy. Just making a layperson (fan) observation on how the sets on those videos have the kind of off-ball movement that could work well for us. Many other coaches could very well do that as well. Also, there's a lot more to a coach then having a good playbook (leadership, relationship with players etc..)

The truth is, aside from front-office burner accounts here, no one has the access/resources/ability to scout/meet with these guys and and make a professional managerial decision on who to hire. If they did, they'd be part of an NBA front office somewhere. Pretty much all we can do is be arm-chair GM's with tweeter and youtube as sources. And therein lies the fun. Imo, nothing wrong in speculating, imagining or even "getting behind" potential new coaches/players. (actually, that's what drives majority of fan-forum chatter when your team is out).

Like, if we can't make a fool of ourselves by backing our horses and pretending to know what's best and what's gonna happen in the summer, what the heck are we gonna do till October?