NBA:
The Orlando Magic plucked Billy Donovan from the University of Florida and installed him as their new head coach. I have to say, I don’t really get this move. First, the list of college coaches who have succeeded in the pros isn’t a particularly long list. Besides Larry Brown, I don’t think I can name another NCAA coach that has made the transition to the pros and managed to stick around (although if I’m missing someone, by all means tell me).
Second, the Orlando Magic aren’t exactly teeming with talent. Dwight Howard is young, raw, and still developing. There’s no question that he’s a very good prospect but he’s not quite at the point where you can build a team around him. He still struggles on offense and relies too much on pure athletic ability without having a fallback of solid low-post moves to use when needing to score a basket. I’m not convinced that Darko will ever be anything more than a role player. The rest of the roster has its ups (Jameer Nelson) and downs (JJ Redick). And, unlike the masses, I don’t believe that they’re one free agent (Vince Carter) away from being anything more than first-round fodder in the playoffs.
Third, if Donovan wanted a change of scenery and a new challenge after winning back-to-back titles at UF, I think the Kentucky job was a better career move than jumping to the NBA. In light of how Tubby Smith was forced out of Lexington despite having done an admirable job, I can see why the UK job would be a daunting one. After all, managing the unrealistic expectations of a rabid fan base can be far more difficult than building a program from scratch (as Donovan did in Gainesville). But, given Donovan’s ability to recruit – something Tubby Smith was criticized for – and with the tremendous resources and national cachet that the Wildcats have at their disposal, I thought Donovan could’ve easily taken over for Smith and achieved tremendous success.
Finally, I’m just not sure that the Pitino/Donovan style can work in the NBA over the long-haul. Pitino’s lone success in the NBA was, quite honestly, the 1988-89 Knicks team that won 52 games with a full-court pressure defense. While I’m certainly no expert, I tend to believe that the NBA (like all sports leagues) is a copycat league. And since there aren’t any other teams that employ the press for 48 minutes or rely nearly exclusively on 3-point scoring for the majority of their points outside of the paint, I’m not seeing a real precedent for Donovan’s prolonged success.
I simply look at it this way: since we now know that the choice was between UK and the Magic, I’m having a hard time figuring out why Donovan would rather take over a mediocre team in the NBA, where a coaching lifespan is often less than five years, instead of getting a decade (or more) in the best conference and at one of the NCAA’s historic and elite programs.
A-Rod:
In light of the continued backlash against Alex Rodriguez, I have to ask a question that another blogger posed yesterday:
“Would you rather win shamelessly or lose with dignity? Consider the long and storied – and memorable – history of champs who are shameless, then rack your brain trying to remember the dignified losers.”
Personally, I’d quarrel with the notion that the Yanks won shamelessly or that what A-Rod did was shameless. I’d simply chalk it up to one player using the “black arts” that are often employed by athletes in all sports: stealing signs, talking trash, doing those annoying things that get an opposing player off his game. Nevertheless, the question remains. Do fans truly care about sports etiquette? Does etiquette even matter? Is there any pride in losing “the right way?”
The Orlando Magic plucked Billy Donovan from the University of Florida and installed him as their new head coach. I have to say, I don’t really get this move. First, the list of college coaches who have succeeded in the pros isn’t a particularly long list. Besides Larry Brown, I don’t think I can name another NCAA coach that has made the transition to the pros and managed to stick around (although if I’m missing someone, by all means tell me).
Second, the Orlando Magic aren’t exactly teeming with talent. Dwight Howard is young, raw, and still developing. There’s no question that he’s a very good prospect but he’s not quite at the point where you can build a team around him. He still struggles on offense and relies too much on pure athletic ability without having a fallback of solid low-post moves to use when needing to score a basket. I’m not convinced that Darko will ever be anything more than a role player. The rest of the roster has its ups (Jameer Nelson) and downs (JJ Redick). And, unlike the masses, I don’t believe that they’re one free agent (Vince Carter) away from being anything more than first-round fodder in the playoffs.
Third, if Donovan wanted a change of scenery and a new challenge after winning back-to-back titles at UF, I think the Kentucky job was a better career move than jumping to the NBA. In light of how Tubby Smith was forced out of Lexington despite having done an admirable job, I can see why the UK job would be a daunting one. After all, managing the unrealistic expectations of a rabid fan base can be far more difficult than building a program from scratch (as Donovan did in Gainesville). But, given Donovan’s ability to recruit – something Tubby Smith was criticized for – and with the tremendous resources and national cachet that the Wildcats have at their disposal, I thought Donovan could’ve easily taken over for Smith and achieved tremendous success.
Finally, I’m just not sure that the Pitino/Donovan style can work in the NBA over the long-haul. Pitino’s lone success in the NBA was, quite honestly, the 1988-89 Knicks team that won 52 games with a full-court pressure defense. While I’m certainly no expert, I tend to believe that the NBA (like all sports leagues) is a copycat league. And since there aren’t any other teams that employ the press for 48 minutes or rely nearly exclusively on 3-point scoring for the majority of their points outside of the paint, I’m not seeing a real precedent for Donovan’s prolonged success.
I simply look at it this way: since we now know that the choice was between UK and the Magic, I’m having a hard time figuring out why Donovan would rather take over a mediocre team in the NBA, where a coaching lifespan is often less than five years, instead of getting a decade (or more) in the best conference and at one of the NCAA’s historic and elite programs.
A-Rod:
In light of the continued backlash against Alex Rodriguez, I have to ask a question that another blogger posed yesterday:
“Would you rather win shamelessly or lose with dignity? Consider the long and storied – and memorable – history of champs who are shameless, then rack your brain trying to remember the dignified losers.”
Personally, I’d quarrel with the notion that the Yanks won shamelessly or that what A-Rod did was shameless. I’d simply chalk it up to one player using the “black arts” that are often employed by athletes in all sports: stealing signs, talking trash, doing those annoying things that get an opposing player off his game. Nevertheless, the question remains. Do fans truly care about sports etiquette? Does etiquette even matter? Is there any pride in losing “the right way?”
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