The news that Tom Izzo may just be the next coach of the Cavaliers is shocking, but mostly because it’s hard to believe Izzo would leave a program he has built into one of the country’s best college basketball teams year in and year out.
Many critics are pointing out the failure rate of college coaches going to the pros, such as Mike Montgomery, John Calipari, and P.J. Carlesimo. However, the thing that most of these people don’t realize is that those guys all took over poor teams.
If LeBron James stays with the Cavs for the 2010 season and beyond, the wine and gold would still be one of the NBA’s elite teams.
Calipari took over New Jersey in 1996-97 with the Nets coming off a 30-52 record. He went 26-56 in his first year, but took the team to the playoffs in year two with a 43-39 record. He was fired after a 3-17 start the following year. The key additions for the second year were rookie Keith Van Horn and guard Sam Cassell.
The best players on those teams were Cassell, Van Horn, Kendall Gill, and Kerry Kittles, a rookie in Calipari’s first year.
Montgomery took over Golden State after years of 38 and 37 wins under Eric Musselman. The Warriors won 34 games in each of Montgomery’s two seasons, so basically the team wasn’t very good before he got there and outside of one season (’07-’08) where they won 48 contests, the Warriors have been a lottery team.
Those teams were very young, led by a group of 24 and 25 year olds such as Jason Richardson, Baron Davis, Troy Murphy, and Mike Dunleavy. Perhaps Montgomery worked through the growing years, and Don Nelson reaped the benefits a few years later when the team went 48-34.
Carlesimo took over the best team, as the Trail Blazers went 47-35 the previous season under Rick Adelman, and was bounced the first round of the playoffs in Adelman’s last two seasons. Under the former Seton Hall coach, the Blazers won 44, 44, and 49 games, and lost in the first round of the playoffs in each year.
It certainly doesn’t look like Carlesimo was over matched. He did have a well-publicized problem with Letrell Sprewell while the pair was in Golden State, but it looks like he did a solid job in Portland.
Others say the “profile” of a successful NBA coach these days is that of a former player, usually a successful one. What is that profile based on? There really haven’t been many different teams that have won titles in the past 25 years, as the Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, and Spurs have dominated the league. And Phil Jackson has won 10 of those titles while coaching the best players in the sport (Jordan, O’Neal, Bryant).
The more realistic formula for a successful coach is to get a superstar player. That’s more of the reason that a team wins than the playing experience of the coach. Gregg Popovich has four rings to prove that theory.
Besides, prior to the days of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, many coaches with college experience were successful in the NBA. Bill Fitch built the Cavs into contenders after leaving Minnesota, and won a title with the Celtics. Dick Motta won a championship with the Bullets. John McLeod took Phoenix to The Finals after coaching at Oklahoma.
By the way, one of Fitch’s players at North Dakota became a pretty successful NBA coach…Phil Jackson.
Tom Izzo is a very good coach. Is he a good fit in the NBA? Can he handle the idiosyncrasies of NBA players? Can he handle coaching guys that make more than him? We don’t know the answers to those questions. However, he does know the game, and if he has talent he can win.
It’s a bold move by Dan Gilbert to go after the Spartan head coach. But isn’t that what we want from the guys who own our sports teams?
JK
Cleveland Sports Perspective 