With the NCAA Tourament upon us, it seems like as good a time as any to remind everyone that there is a canyon between coaching in college and coaching in the NBA. There is more than a generation of evidence which clearly illustrates that any NBA team hiring a head coach directly from college is making a huge mistake. P.J. Carlesimo. Tim Floyd. Leonard Hamilton. Lon Kruger. Mike Montgomery. Jerry Tarkanian. Rick Pitino, who failed twice. Even John Calipari, who is
Good afternoon, Adam. Hope you are having a nice time filling out your NCAA bracket. I imagine you have Duke winning, since you got your undergrad degree there. A word of caution: Beware Larry Brown’s SMU Mustangs in the South Regional final. It’s fun filling out an NCAA bracket, isn’t it, Adam? So many games between teams that almost never play each other. That’s what makes it so special. Which brings us to the upcoming NBA playoffs, which are not going to be
Let’s start at the top on a busy Monday. The top of the DraftKings salary scale, that is. Russell Westbrook $12600 did it again yesterday — not quite a trip-dub (36 PTS, 11 REB, 6 AST) but another huge victory. [Read more…]
The 2014-15 NBA regular season continued on Sunday, March 15. A perennial All-Star returned from an extensive injury absence, a number of championship contenders clashed and a number of superstars put forth outstanding performances. Here’s how it all transpired. [Read more…]
The NCAA Tournament field is set. The favorite is Kentucky. My best first-round game to watch is SMU-UCLA, Larry Brown’s present against Larry Brown’s past. My favorite player is D’Angelo Russell of Ohio State. My old team, the Manhattan Jaspers, have a chance to earn a head-on collision with John Calipari’s SuperTeam. The best point guard not named Emmanuel Mudiay is … I’ll get to that. I promise: It’s here in this column, which runs a little long. My apologies, but I’ve got a lot
I once heard the statement in coaching, “if you are a great coach but a weak recruiter, you will get fired. But if you are a great recruiter and even a fair coach, you will survive.” Obviously, the goal is to be both. But it does explain the importance in college basketball of getting the best players. Ever since I started coaching, I have always been compared to John Calipari more than any other coach. I guess it’s because I made
Typical for this time of year, an eight-game Sunday tips off at 1:00 EDT, when the national TV doubleheader features four terrific teams. Enter All-Day or Early-Only contests to use those players. [Read more…]
Rudy Gobert had a coming out party for the NBA during the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge with 18 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks for the World Team. The Utah Jazz eventually traded Enes Kanter at the deadline, which promoted Gobert into a full-time starting role. Since then, Gobert has averaged 10.5 points, 14.1 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game while shooting 57 percent from the field. Another big man who’s played well lately has been New Orleans Pelicans star Anthony