Lock please, thanks. Warriors 2011/2012 Thread Up.

[h1]
[h1]Kawakami: Golden State Warriors' coaching search should be down to two names[/h1]

By Tim Kawakami

Mercury News Columnist

Posted: 05/28/2011 07:29:17 PM PDT

Updated: 05/29/2011 03:56:16 AM PDT





This week, when the Warriors' coaching search heats up at last, they will have a shortlist that should realistically begin and end with two names:

Boston assistant Lawrence Frank, an intense defensive tactician who I believe is the Warriors' best choice, and Dallas' Dwane Casey, a respected big-picture guy who might be the odds-on favorite to get the job.

That's a pretty short shortlist, carved down -- on purpose or by fateful accident -- when Warriors owner Joe Lacob let other teams do some of his screening for him.

Lacob and his lieutenants certainly considered former Cleveland coach Mike Brown, but the Los Angeles Lakers just lined Brown up to replace Phil Jackson.

And Lacob thought about Celtics great Kevin McHale, but the Houston Rockets agreed to terms with McHale a few days ago.

Call it a passive process of elimination: A month after announcing that Keith Smart was out as coach, the Warriors still have no coach and, now, a smaller candidate pool.

Isn't Lacob worried that another team might have plucked the coach who could've/would've been the best fit for the Warriors?

"It's possible," Lacob said recently. "But I don't know who we want yet."

That's an owner's way of saying that he didn't feel so strongly about any one candidate that he had to rush the process along to ensure the hiring.

That's also plausible. With Frank, Casey, Lakers assistant Brian Shaw, ESPN analyst Mark Jackson, former Houston coach Rick Adelman and New Orleans assistant Mike Malone still available, Warriors management probably felt it couldn't go terribly wrong with this hire, if done carefully and in due time.

And it's not as if the Warriors needed to get into any bidding war for Brown or McHale.

But the slow-motion pace of this search also shows that the Warriors also aren't sure they're getting it 100 percent right, either.

Or else Lacob, Larry Riley and Bob Myers (and now Jerry West) would've circled and hired the guy already.

OK, let's go through the reasons why I see Frank and Casey, in that order, as the two best fits for the Warriors' current model "...
[*]There's every indication that Lacob prefers someone who has proved he can be an NBA head coach, and Frank and Casey both have that background.
Frank led New Jersey for five full seasons (and parts of two others), made the playoffs four times and won three playoff series before the roster emptied of talent; he went 0-16 to start 2009-2010 before he was fired.

Casey got only a year and a half in the top spot at Minnesota, brought some order, but was fired with a 20-20 mark in 2006-2007.

"Certainly experience as a head coach would be important," Lacob said. "You'd rather have it than not have it.

"I think his leadership capabilities are very, very important. Command and control. I think a coach needs to have that."
[*]I'm not sure any of the other top names mesh with what Lacob and West are envisioning -- or with a potential shake-up of the Warriors' unbalanced roster.
Shaw, an Easy Bay native, is a very attractive candidate, but if the Lakers know him best and didn't hire him, what does that say about his overall readiness?

And if you're thinking that West's arrival pushes Shaw into the Warriors' top spot, think again: West and Shaw overlapped with the Lakers for only one year.

Plus, Shaw is a Phil Jackson pupil, not a West guy, and that's a very big difference.

Malone is an up-and-comer, but he might not be the guy to command the Warriors' locker room.

Mark Jackson is an interesting candidate, but he has never coached in the NBA or in college.

Adelman is a proven regular-season winner, but he's 64 and does not seem like the long-term answer for a team that needs one.

"I just think it's important that the guy you hire, you make a commitment to," West said last week. "I don't care what happens, you're not going to leave here for three years. You're going to be here for a minimum of three years."
[*]Casey, if hired, would walk into the Warriors' locker room with the cachet of having coached Kevin Garnett and, just this season, operating as Rick Carlisle's top aide for a potential NBA champion.
Frank, if hired, would bring an instant set of core basketball principles, based on hard-nosed defense and sharing the ball on offense.

Frank might be the riskier choice -- who knows how well Monta Ellis, Stephen Curry or David Lee would respond to his demands?

But I also think that makes Frank the best choice left, whether Lacob planned it that way or not.
Click to expand...
[/h1]
 
[h1]
[h1]Kawakami: Golden State Warriors' coaching search should be down to two names[/h1]

By Tim Kawakami

Mercury News Columnist

Posted: 05/28/2011 07:29:17 PM PDT

Updated: 05/29/2011 03:56:16 AM PDT





This week, when the Warriors' coaching search heats up at last, they will have a shortlist that should realistically begin and end with two names:

Boston assistant Lawrence Frank, an intense defensive tactician who I believe is the Warriors' best choice, and Dallas' Dwane Casey, a respected big-picture guy who might be the odds-on favorite to get the job.

That's a pretty short shortlist, carved down -- on purpose or by fateful accident -- when Warriors owner Joe Lacob let other teams do some of his screening for him.

Lacob and his lieutenants certainly considered former Cleveland coach Mike Brown, but the Los Angeles Lakers just lined Brown up to replace Phil Jackson.

And Lacob thought about Celtics great Kevin McHale, but the Houston Rockets agreed to terms with McHale a few days ago.

Call it a passive process of elimination: A month after announcing that Keith Smart was out as coach, the Warriors still have no coach and, now, a smaller candidate pool.

Isn't Lacob worried that another team might have plucked the coach who could've/would've been the best fit for the Warriors?

"It's possible," Lacob said recently. "But I don't know who we want yet."

That's an owner's way of saying that he didn't feel so strongly about any one candidate that he had to rush the process along to ensure the hiring.

That's also plausible. With Frank, Casey, Lakers assistant Brian Shaw, ESPN analyst Mark Jackson, former Houston coach Rick Adelman and New Orleans assistant Mike Malone still available, Warriors management probably felt it couldn't go terribly wrong with this hire, if done carefully and in due time.

And it's not as if the Warriors needed to get into any bidding war for Brown or McHale.

But the slow-motion pace of this search also shows that the Warriors also aren't sure they're getting it 100 percent right, either.

Or else Lacob, Larry Riley and Bob Myers (and now Jerry West) would've circled and hired the guy already.

OK, let's go through the reasons why I see Frank and Casey, in that order, as the two best fits for the Warriors' current model "...
[*]There's every indication that Lacob prefers someone who has proved he can be an NBA head coach, and Frank and Casey both have that background.
Frank led New Jersey for five full seasons (and parts of two others), made the playoffs four times and won three playoff series before the roster emptied of talent; he went 0-16 to start 2009-2010 before he was fired.

Casey got only a year and a half in the top spot at Minnesota, brought some order, but was fired with a 20-20 mark in 2006-2007.

"Certainly experience as a head coach would be important," Lacob said. "You'd rather have it than not have it.

"I think his leadership capabilities are very, very important. Command and control. I think a coach needs to have that."
[*]I'm not sure any of the other top names mesh with what Lacob and West are envisioning -- or with a potential shake-up of the Warriors' unbalanced roster.
Shaw, an Easy Bay native, is a very attractive candidate, but if the Lakers know him best and didn't hire him, what does that say about his overall readiness?

And if you're thinking that West's arrival pushes Shaw into the Warriors' top spot, think again: West and Shaw overlapped with the Lakers for only one year.

Plus, Shaw is a Phil Jackson pupil, not a West guy, and that's a very big difference.

Malone is an up-and-comer, but he might not be the guy to command the Warriors' locker room.

Mark Jackson is an interesting candidate, but he has never coached in the NBA or in college.

Adelman is a proven regular-season winner, but he's 64 and does not seem like the long-term answer for a team that needs one.

"I just think it's important that the guy you hire, you make a commitment to," West said last week. "I don't care what happens, you're not going to leave here for three years. You're going to be here for a minimum of three years."
[*]Casey, if hired, would walk into the Warriors' locker room with the cachet of having coached Kevin Garnett and, just this season, operating as Rick Carlisle's top aide for a potential NBA champion.
Frank, if hired, would bring an instant set of core basketball principles, based on hard-nosed defense and sharing the ball on offense.

Frank might be the riskier choice -- who knows how well Monta Ellis, Stephen Curry or David Lee would respond to his demands?

But I also think that makes Frank the best choice left, whether Lacob planned it that way or not.
Click to expand...
[/h1]
 
Could be because he is a former player without any head coaching experience, who is known for a being a motivator.
 
Could be because he is a former player without any head coaching experience, who is known for a being a motivator.
 
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