Which team is the Nuggets’ biggest impediment to a second straight title? ESPN’s panel of experts believes the Bucks, Warriors, Suns and Celtics are all potential threats to a Denver repeat. As for just making the playoffs, the Mavericks, Bulls, Timberwolves and Pelicans are among a group of teams that can’t afford to fall short of postseason participation or else risk major rebuilds or superstar demands for trades.
We have more from around the basketball world:
- Former NBA guard Tyler Ennis has signed with Italy’s Gevi Napoli Basket, according to a team press release. A first-round pick in 2014, Ennis has not played in the NBA since the 2017/18 season, when he appeared in 54 Lakers games. In recent years, Ennis has played mainly in Turkey. He also had a stint with the Raptors’ G League team.
- The trade demands of James Harden and Damian Lillard, along with Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s future with the Bucks, are some of the storylines that will be closely followed this NBA season, The Athletic’s Sam Amick writes.
- Who are the top five coaches in the NBA? Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times tackles that subject, ranking the Heat‘s Erik Spoelstra and the Spurs‘ Gregg Popovich first and second. The third choice may surprise some people. Cowley rates the Knicks‘ Tom Thibodeau at that spot due to his ability to take downtrodden franchises and make them playoff teams.
“Another round, make this one a double”. Boylen crushed his napkin and aimed it at a nearby trash basket but fell short.
“Do you really think that bum is the third best coach in a league that won’t even hire me?” he slurred to no one in particular.
He chewed on an ice cube while reading the craigslist wanteds, and sighed.
This deserves more love
The nuggets are going to have a tougher time than most realize. They played Just Three Guys Off the Bench the entire playoffs and lost two of those guys to free agency. That’s not easy to work around. The West is so tough that the Nuggets reaching the finals will be very difficult.
The nuggets have all their picks to trade for bench help. Jackson will be better with a trading camp under his belt. It is hard to repeat we shall see.
DEN doesn’t have a single tradable FRP. But they do have a bunch of younger players they’ve drafted the past couple of years from which they believe they can form a good bench unit. They fit the Booth template, and are (or should be) relatively NBA ready. Defensively, I doubt they have a problem. Offensively, they’ll need Jackson or another veteran to supply scoring off the bench.
I’ve had some things going on the last few months health wise, so I’m just not totally aware of the rookies/draft/summer league situation for the first time in maybe like half of my life, but before I get a chance to look at teams heading into training camp the way I normally do, off the top of my head, I really like Sacramento as a contender, among some more obvious others
Health is going to be even more significant this year than ever, and close games will be a deciding factor with seeding, and of course, terrible coaching/rotation decisions obviously impacts everything
Hope you feel better. Health problems suck, especially when they pile up like that.
Appreciate the sentiment. Hilariously, since I wrote this, I got sick lol, but it’s at least a minor issue. Good b/c I was just sick for like a month straight, and was only better q few days before this…but having another eye surgery in a couple of weeks, so that should also take me out a while. Might not be able to do my normal pre training camp, and pre regular season picks for the first time in I dont even know how long. I guess it’s fair. My long streak of picking the champion ended this last year (even though I had them as contenders before the season). 14 years was a good run
Also funny, my own team took me out lol, though that was also in part b/c of Mikr Budenholzer. I did think we could beat them, especially once I realized their rotation decisions, but thought they would play differently
Ditto. Hope you find all the health you need.
The Bulls didn’t improve at the number four position and going into this season with the same team from last year except with the addition at PG isn’t going to get them far in the playoff hunt.
They should have traded everyone they could and did a proper rebuild.
Williams is a SF and not a small PF and without a legit PF to play that position along with questions at PG the Bulls are not going anywhere.
I LOVE SPO, but he’s not above Pop!!
Thibs is under appreciated.
I like Thibs a lot but skipping over Steve Kerr is shocking.
I would personally rank them:
1. Spoelstra
2. Kerr
3. Thibs
4. Malone
5. Pop
I have long felt that while Pop is still a very good coach, the Spurs have also had a lot of other things going for them. The entire organization is very well run. Put Pop in Brooklyn or Philly and I doubt he looks as good. Thats why I give Thibs extra credit. He not only did a solid job, but he did a solid job in two pretty dysfunctional organizations (at the time) in Bulls and Knicks.
The coaching across the board is also a lot better than it was 12 years ago when Pop was building his resume. Back then, people were ready to hand D’antoni a nobel peace prize for his revolutionary coaching concept of “whatever, just shoot quickly”.
Rating Pop below Thibs, who almost got fired before the Knicks got Brunson, is insane to me. Yes, he’s a good coach, but he doesn’t have the degree of postseason success that Pop, Kerr, and Spoelstra have. I would even put Malone over him. Thibs is an elite regular season coach, but he falls off a fair bit in the playoffs, and always has.
1. Spo
2. Pops
3. Kerr
4. Malone
5. Thibs
I would potentially move Kerr down, because he’s only ever had success with the one group, though I don’t think putting Malone over him is quite fair.
Pops gets a bit more credit because he adjusted to the shifts in the league to keep winning titles in three different decades, and already has a young squad on a good track after rebuilding for just two seasons. That’s honestly impressive from a coach who never had to rebuild before.
Lol, that “revolutionary” idea influenced most modern actions that are used to create advantages in today’s era. I won’t even get into ranking Thibs above Pop, lmao.
Thibs? Really? This guy was on his way out before the Knicks got Brunson, now he’s a top three coach? Is this Cowley guy serious?
He’s ahead of Steve Kerr? Mike Brown? Ty Lue? Rick Carlisle? Monty Williams?
I can keep going as there are many younger coaches in the league that I would rather have leading my team.
Maybe it’s just me.
I like that you mentioned Mike Brown. He seems to always get hired but is now finally tasting some success on his own, perhaps after Kerr tutelage? Kerr is a Pop and Phil Jackson disciple so add in all those things and a few years of experience has paid off for Brown. Go kings.
Mike Brown unfortunately never got a real, actually fair opportunity beyond Cleveland. He had to rebuild his rep, but I’ve always felt he was a really good coach, especially defensively
Also, I’m pretty sure he was originally from under Popovich
I hate to break to 2k nation, but if former NBA coaches (and not a writer) did the determination, Thibs would probably be 1st. Nothing mystical about it such as “downtrodden franchises” – his teams just consistently win above their talent level. That’s rare in any professional sport, but particularly the NBA. Of course, what would former NBA coaches know about coaching, compared to Cowley and 2k’ers.
No one is suggesting that Thibs is not a good coach, it’s just the Knicks were flailing about in play-in territory until Brunson came to town.
Let’s not act like he took this year’s Houston Rockets to the semis.
And he didn’t make DRose an MVP. He had to run DRose into the ground to have any success with the Bulls.
He is adept definsively, but significantly lacks in efficient utilization of personnel. All and all an above average coach who needs to thank his bosses for getting him Brunson otherwise he is unemployed.
You obviously don’t have clue as to what coaching is and isn’t, but you somehow stumbled into one correct statement, even with deficient reasoning. YES, Thibs didn’t make Rose an MVP. You know why? Because HCs don’t make guys MVPs. However, Thibs did make it possible for Rose to win the MVP. Simply because no Thibs, no 60 win season, and no 60 win season, no MVP. FYI, Bulls were a .500 team the year before, and Rose wasn’t even an All NBA player.
Efficient utilization of personnel? Is that a 2k thing? Are you good at it? In basketball, the end of coaching is the personnel usage that gives the team the best chance to win. W/L record in light of talent. Pretty simple. But perhaps not simple enough for some.
To my knowledge, Thibs’ job was never in jeopardy, and it would be an insult to Leon Rose to suggest it was. You’d have to be a moron to fire a guy with a winning record (or even a .500 record) when he just replaced a guy who was 17-65 and 4-18 with the same players. Leon may or may not turn out to be a good FO chief, but he’s no moron.
When you see how Toppin plays under Carlisle, then you will see effective utilization of personnel.
If not for Brunson signing, Fournier would’ve still been logging 30 min a game last year, Knicks lose play-in and yes, management would have canned him. Thibs should actually thank Cuban for undervaluing Brunson.
Open your eyes, coaches with above .500 records get fired often. Nurse, Bud, Monty, Doc just this offseason alone.
And enough with the 2k references, I’m in my 40s and haven’t played 2k since I was in college and Allen Iverson was on the cover.
You may not play 2k any longer, but it appears you still understand the game in its terms. Anyway, a coach is evaluated on his ability to get the most (wins) out of a team (not necessarily an individual player). Toppin performance in IND is irrelevant to whether he was used well here. ing well elsewhere has nothing to do with Thibs. The only question that matters is whether Toppin getting more minutes in lieu of Randle or someone else would have resulted in more wins than the 45 we got. Fournier’s situation is no different whether Brunson is here or not.
Yes, coaches get fired for all types of reasons, some are moronic. Generally, though, coaches that get fired for being .500 (or better) have talent that justifies the FO having expectations (not just hopes) of being better. That doesn’t describe the NYK the past few seasons, although going forward it might.
And how would you know this probable outcome?
This isn’t even really a debate. Not to say Thibs can’t coach, nor that you’re incorrect in his teams are consistently competitive, but it is still 1. Pop , 2. Spo.
I think it probable based on knowing what coaching involves, and having listened to what many coaches have had to say about their peers. Though, I guess it depends on which former coaches are involved.
If I had any interest in debating you, I would have responded to your post above. Pop and Spo were great at having rosters with multiple HOF level talents in their prime. To me, that has nothing to do with coaching. But if, to you, that’s the essence of great coaching, then it figures that you’d have those two at the very top.
What each person uses to grade the efficiency of a coach is entirely subjective, but I do agree with what you seem to be suggesting: that it’s more than just W-L and titles. By your standards, George Karl is above Spo and Pop. And that’s fine. I just don’t agree.
What about Spo reaching the finals this year? Just a case of luck with Giannis injury?
Your opinions are your opinions and more power to you. But I’m taking Spo over Thibs. I’m taking Carlisle over Thibs. I’m taking Pop over Thibs.
And the Knicks won 10 more games last year from the year prior and reached the semis. Is that all Thibs? Looks more like the Brunson effect to me.
@WhoGotDaProps – I would never argue anyone else’s list. Pop and Spo have done some impressive coaching jobs, and some not so impressive. Thibs too. I look more at the ratio of one to the other, year over year, job over job (if applicable), out or under performing reasonable expectations. You also have to factor in that Pop and Spo have an easier path to a good coaching job in any year owing just to the gravitas and empowerment they have within their organizations. Pop works for himself, essentially.
I respect both Pop or Spo, although the former mostly as an executive. I would also respect any surgeon with a great success rate, even if he only operates on patients with minor conditions. It doesn’t mean I can’t save my highest respect for surgeons that take on patients in critical condition, and consistently outperform expectations, even if their success rate is lower.
If I could pick any current NBA HC for a generic team (not critically ill, but not a contender), it would be Micheal Malone (not Thibs). And I would have said the same thing prior to last season, and, NO, its not because I think Jokic was overrated in any way.
@DXC – Point taken. And Malone is a choice I wouldn’t talk anyone out of though my pick for a generic team would be Will Hardy.
I don’t have any interest in debating you DX; I even left you a like as a fix for that frail ego boost. If you want to punish coaches for success, be my guest. Obviously, you know all the experts!