Word: coachly
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...Isn’t that what great teachers, what great educators possess?” wrote Steve Bzomowski, who was Assistant Coach at Harvard when Duncan was on the varsity men’s basketball team, on his blog. “The unwavering belief that their pupils can and should and will succeed.” —Staff writer Vidya B. Viswanathan can be reached at viswanat@fas.harvard.edu...
...their designer suits and million-dollar salaries, most coaches have less power than many fans realize. "It's often said that the NBA is a players' league," notes Van Gundy, who was fired in 2007 after a relatively long run of four years as coach of the Rockets. "What's left unsaid is that it's also a league about the guys who pick the players, the general managers." Not only do they make most of the big player decisions on trades and free-agent signings, but they also get a lot more face time with the people who sign...
...same time, the NBA, like most other pro sports leagues, is full of copycats, which means the kind of coach or team that management wants can change very quickly. The Phoenix Suns win by playing an up-tempo style? Maybe we should do that. Oklahoma City fired Carlesimo after a brutal start? The other coaches will fall like dominoes. "Once there's blood in the water, people don't think they're keeping up with the times," says an NBA source familiar with coach-management relations. "These guys can't help themselves...
...Today's media landscape only intensifies the pressures. The folks in the owner's suite can't avoid the rants of the bloggers who are calling for the coach's head. "Owners are sensitive to how they are perceived in the marketplace," says veteran agent Lonnie Cooper, who holds the unfortunate distinction of representing all six of the coaches fired this season. (Aspiring coaches, don't duck if you see him - Cooper represented Hall of Famer Chuck Daly and all-time wins leader Lenny Wilkens during their coaching careers; Rivers, whose champion Celtics are an astonishing...
...Even if this year's coaching moves backfire, don't expect a more patient approach to return. Coaches will no longer get the chance to grow with their players. "I wouldn't cement this year's record. It's one of those things that will get broken in the next year or so," says Van Gundy. "I don't think anyone cares about how the coaches are treated." Except, of course, for a fellow fired coach...