Potential Coaching Candidates

[white men can't jump]

For the people who are big JV fans and want to move on from DeRozan, Ettore Messina sounds like your guy:



https://www.denverstiffs.com/2015/3/...ettore-messina

Personally don't think JV is good enough to warrant being made a focal point like this, nor does it really fit the modern NBA game that well, but I know some people here do so figured I'd post this for that lot.

I don't want JV to be the focal point, I just want him to not be an afterthought because our offence is frankly better when he's involved.

I want a coach who will bitch at Kyle and DeMar for not passing to an open JV, or JV with a mismatch. How many times have we seen the other team be forced to switch, and our guards wave off JV to go iso, only to settle for a long jumper over a bigger, slower player? I would like a coach who's like "why the fuck didn't you pass to Jonas? He had Barea guarding him in the paint for fuck sake".

Let Jonas finally figure out exactly what his ceiling is, and hopefully it's not too late for that. If he can play 28-32 mpg, and get you 15-20 pts with 10+ boards basically every night, while continuing to improve his passing, 3pter and D, that's basically an all-star caliber C and one of the best two-way Cs in the league.

[white men can't jump]

I like this. If we keep Demar, we really need to get him in the post more after some off ball movement as opposed to putting him at the top of the key where guys sag off of him.

Yes, post touches don't all have to be for JV. DeMar has a great post game, especially on smaller wings/guards (when he doesn't settle for jumpers).

[Mack North]

It's gotta be Budenholzer, right? It feels like too much of a risk to take on a completely new head coach and potentially drag the Raptors back 2 or 3 steps. And I don't think it's going to be internal promotion, because that's hard to sell - you're basically throwing Casey under the bus and saying he didn't listen to his assistants who were really the geniuses with the ideas on how to beat Lebron.

Coach Bud is also 0-8 against Lebron in the playoffs but at least he's renowned for his tactical abilities. Though, for the most part there's long term and short term tactical stuff. Dwane and the Raptors were always pretty good at the long term "how we'd like to play in general" stuff, it's the short term he struggled with. And Bud really hasn't had "short-term" tactical success either. But at least it's a new smart voice with new ideas.

I'm really hoping it's not this guy. I'll take either Van Gundy before this guy.

[slaw]

Stackhouse's interview with Magic apparently didn't go well

Apparently, Orlando has not even interviewed him. I don't know how to post from twitter but the Orlando beat guy has said this story is 100% false.

[MixxAOR]

Apparently, Orlando has not even interviewed him. I don't know how to post from twitter but the Orlando beat guy has said this story is 100% false.

ah ok. didn't know that. fucking press

[slaw]

I'm really hoping it's not this guy. I'll take either Van Gundy before this guy.

Dude, he's a coaching genius! Or, at least he was a couple years ago. There are so many coaching geniuses I tend to lose track....

[Shaolin Fantastic]

Yikes. One guy with NBA head coaching experience? I would be shocked if Ujiri turns the reins over to a first-time coach. That would be so risky as to be reckless. If Raps are so enamoured with the Spurs coaching tree, then Budenholzer is the guy.

If you're making NBA head coaching experience a requirement that severely limits our options. Basically means the only choices are Budenholzer or Blatt.

Brad Stevens is the best coach in the NBA right now besides maybe Pop. Zero years of NBA head coaching experience before he was hired. Oh wow! That's funny! Popovich also had... you guessed it... zero years of NBA head coaching experience before he was hired by the Spurs.

Terrible restriction to place on a hire. Idc about optics, we need to get the best.

[octothorp]

It depends on so much else. If the plan is to take a step back, trade some or all of the core, rebuild around the young guys, then that leaves a pretty wide swath. You could go with guys who have never been an NBA head coach, including promoting someone internally, getting another assistant from around the league, or even grabbing someone from Europe (I've always wanted the Raptors to get Obradovic). If the plan is to keep the current core together and take a couple more shots with them in the next couple years, that's totally different as you need a coach who can hit the ground running, which means either an elite, veteran NBA coach, or maybe someone internally if you think there's someone there who was being limited by Casey.

[slaw]

If you're making NBA head coaching experience a requirement that severely limits our options. Basically means the only choices are Budenholzer or Blatt.

Brad Stevens is the best coach in the NBA right now besides maybe Pop. Zero years of NBA head coaching experience before he was hired. Oh wow! That's funny! Popovich also had... you guessed it... zero years of NBA head coaching experience before he was hired by the Spurs.

Terrible restriction to place on a hire. Idc about optics, we need to get the best.

I'll say I am doubtful that there will be any search. I don't think Ujiri fired Casey to conduct a coaching search to see if an assistant coach somewhere wants the best available job in the NBA. He already has someone.

[golden]

If you're making NBA head coaching experience a requirement that severely limits our options. Basically means the only choices are Budenholzer or Blatt.

Brad Stevens is the best coach in the NBA right now besides maybe Pop. Zero years of NBA head coaching experience before he was hired. Oh wow! That's funny! Popovich also had... you guessed it... zero years of NBA head coaching experience before he was hired by the Spurs.

Terrible restriction to place on a hire. Idc about optics, we need to get the best.

But Stevens was brought in during a hard tank phase and allowed to get his feet wet with the NBA style while absorbing losing seasons. Anybody coming in to the Raps situation would be expected to get to the ECF. I think you need NBA head coaching experience for that... unless Masai is going to break up the core.

[Jclaw]

I'll echo the JV stuff. It just seemed like JV never had the trust of Casey. He would get pulled for making the same mistakes others did with no consequences. He had trouble guarding Love? So did everyone else. At least he could score on Love. I'm usually on Casey's side but he did confuse me with his playoff lineups. The starting line up got you off to half time leads in both games (and an impressive 1st quarter lead in game one). First he takes out Serge for game 3 (a bit more understandable) but then he takes out JV for game 4. When you listen to visiting broadcasts of games, you often hear announcers questioning the lack of a role for JV. I'm not expecting him to be the saviour but it would be nice to see him have the same leash as everyone else. Should be interesting to see if there is a difference.

[slaw]

But Stevens was brought in during a hard tank phase and allowed to get his feet wet with the NBA style while absorbing losing seasons. Anybody coming in to the Raps situation would be expected to get to the ECF. I think you need NBA head coaching experience for that... unless Masai is going to break up the core.

Yeah, I've been saying this reminds me of the year Detroit fired Carlisle to bring in Larry Brown. I won't belabor the point but I think Masai already has a guy and I'd be stunned if it's a first-time head coach.

[Shaolin Fantastic]

I'll say I am doubtful that there will be any search. I don't think Ujiri fired Casey to conduct a coaching search to see if an assistant coach somewhere wants the best available job in the NBA. He already has someone.

Yeah, I've been saying this reminds me of the year Detroit fired Carlisle to bring in Larry Brown. I won't belabor the point but I think Masai already has a guy and I'd be stunned if it's a first-time head coach.

Ah my bad, I see your point. Personally I don't even think we should be trying to win with this roster, the talent isn't there. But it could be a situation where he's bringing a guy in who he thinks can win the title.

Speaking of Carlisle... there were some rumors he might leave Dallas.

[white men can't jump]

But Stevens was brought in during a hard tank phase and allowed to get his feet wet with the NBA style while absorbing losing seasons. Anybody coming in to the Raps situation would be expected to get to the ECF. I think you need NBA head coaching experience for that... unless Masai is going to break up the core.

But Ainge gave him a 6-year contract...because they might have losing seasons and he wanted him to be the coach when things turned around. And also because it gave Stevens the clout he needed to command respect as a first-time coach by showing the organization was committed to him long-term.

And they ended up only having 1 non-playoff year under him when many thought it would take 3-4 seasons just to get back into the playoffs. In his 2nd year he took a roster that still looked like it was tanking into the 1st round.

If you think you've got a coach with that kind of ability, I don't think NBA experience matters in the slightest.

[Rudy Bargnani]

One candidate the Raptors are expected to pursue as a replacement is former Atlanta Hawks bench boss Mike Budenholzer, according to sources: https://t.co/3BZSJCQDRs

— Michael Grange (@michaelgrange) May 11, 2018