Top Ten NBA Coaches

So, since we're in the heart of the NBA playoff season, and nearing the conference Finals, I thought it may be a good time to break down the top 10 coaches in the NBA.

(Well that, and the fact that I didn't have anything else to write about... the top ten list is the savior of the uninspired writer)

As always we will be using a highly specific and advanced system to measure, judge, and properly rank these coaches... namely my opinion.  So without further pomp and circumstance.... my top 10 NBA coaches.

10.  Lionel Hollins - Memphis Grizzlies 

I'm a fan of Coach Hollins.  I like the way he carries himself on the bench.  He did a pretty good job with Memphis this year, losing Zach Randolph for a big portion of the season.  Part of this ranking...being included in the top 10, is living off of last season's knocking out the Spurs in round one.

9.  Mike Brown - LA Lakers

Most Laker fans are not a fan of Coach Brown, and I will admit to being confused at some of his rotations, but the guy did not have an easy job this past season.  He had the Chris Paul trade vetoed, Lamar Odom asked to leave, Pau wasn't himself most of the season because of trade rumors, Metta World Peace got suspended for the first 6 playoff games, and he had to deal with all the Andrew Bynum stuff.  They lost in the 2nd round of the playoffs, but they were in, and could have won 2 of those games...  I liked how he carried himself, didn't make excuses, and accepted accountability.  Remember Coach Brown led LeBron and not much of anything else to the NBA finals, and had the best record in the league 2 straight seasons.  I think he's a pretty good coach.

8.  Scott Brooks - Oklahoma City Thunder

I've been very impressed with Coach Brooks throughout these playoffs.  He has really done a nice job with this Thunder team.  The players all seem to know their roles, there are no surprise rotation changes, and they pretty much play the same way every day.  Consistency is big.  Now how much of this is having a bunch of young stars to build around, and how much of it is coaching?  I guess we'll find out.

7.  Doug Collins - Philadelphia 76ers

Doug Collins is a great "teacher and builder" of teams.  Basically, if you suck and you have some young guys you want to improve, you bring in Doug Collins.  However, after a few years, his act wears thin on NBA veterans and he needs to be replaced.  However, he is a very sound coach, and really does a fine job in getting people to improve.

6.  Rick Adelman - Minnesota Timberwolves

This guy should probably be higher on the list.  Coach Adelman has built a pretty good career, and he's won pretty much everywhere he's went. (Except for Houston).  He was just a few games from making the finals in Sacramento, and actually made it to the Finals with Portland.  The Timberwolves got a good one here, and if they can keep the core of their young team together... they could be a team to watch in coming seasons.

5.  George Karl - Denver Nuggets

He's also never won the big one, but he made the finals once with the Sonics.  I'm also a bit biased towards George because he's a Tar Heel.  And consistently he has taken teams that aren't as talented as the teams he goes against, and stretches out a long series.  I think he's improved as an NBA coach over the years, and honestly his Nuggets team was probably my favorite team to watch during the season... watching Ty Lawson run the break, it was like watching the Tar Heels.

4.  Doc Rivers - Boston Celtics

I don't think I'd have had Doc this high if not for this season.  I wasn't that impressed with the title he won (beat the Lakers in 6 games without Bynum), they couldn't make the finals if one of their players were hurt, and he did have "The Big Three" to lean on.  Certainly he wasn't making any top ten lists the year before Boston acquired Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett.  But he did a really good job this year.  And actually, the job he did this year made me re-think his entire tenure.  He's a pretty good coach.  Although he coaches for the enemy.

3.  Tom Thibodeau - Chicago Bulls

Here's how you know you have a good coach... your team's best player, the reigning MVP of the league gets hurt and plays in only 39 of 66 regular season games, in a compressed schedule, strike shortened season, and you still pull off the best record in the league.  Yes, they lost in the first round.  But they did lose Derrick Rose, again, in the first round.

2.  Rick Carlisle - Dallas Mavericks

Coach Carlisle finally reached the "top of the mountain" last year, and he has been a highly regarded coach in the NBA for many years.  He had been the head coach of the Indiana Pacers when they were given the death blow by the NBA for the Malice at the Palace incident.  He was hamstrung this past season as Dallas chose to let players leave to clear cap space.

1.  Gregg Poppovich - San Antonio Spurs 

Not much more can be said about coach Poppovich that hasn't already been said many other places.  But the fact that he can still have the spurs in a position to be NBA contenders after all these years is just simply amazing.  The only coach that is on Popp's level is Phil Jackson and he isn't in the league right now.  The Spurs have gone from a defensive team, to an unstoppable offense force.  From a team that was post orientated to a team that stretches the floor and hits 3's like no one else.  Popp's ability to get his team to continually be a contender no matter what style, no matter what year, sets him apart from the rest.

Fixing the Lakers at TV Fury.

Yesterday, New York author and blogger Shawn Fury and I did an e-mail exchange it which we attempted to fix the roster of the LA Lakers.

You can read the exchange here.

Thanks to Shawn and fellow site runner Terry Vandrovec for giving me the opportunity to contribute.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

So a few weeks ago, I was just sitting around and I noticed that the coachella music festival had a YouTube channel.  As I was working on a paper for Grad School that weekend, I spent a great deal of time with coachella playing in the background.  (BTW, how cool is it that you can watch free streams from music festivals now?  If they would have had things like this when I was in college, I'd have never graduated... I'd have gotten expelled after watching too many Lollapalooza's).

They had 3 stations or channels or streams or whatever you want to call them.  Usually with a different band performing on each one.  As evening rolled around I had just been really impressed with "We Were Promised Jetpacks", and was looking for who I was going to watch/listen to next.

And then I heard HER.  Check out this clip from that performance, it's short, and you'll see what I mean.

That voice was amazing.  Her band was locked in.  They had an old school kind of groove going on, and the crowd was eating it up.  I must have told my son about 15 times "these guys are amazing!"

And, on top of that... she's quite... how do I put this as not to offend... well OK, I'll just say it, she's gorgeous.  I kept thinking to myself as I watched the performance... "How is this woman not a Huge Star?"

So that night I downloaded their album "Grace Potter and the Nocturnals".  I have to say, it's pretty darn good.  The catchy single "Paris (Ooh, La, La)" is the most commercially successful track.

It just makes me wonder, how or why people become stars?  How do we end up listening to the crap we hear over the airwaves, and not hear people with actual talent?  

They have a new album coming out in June called "The Lion The Beast The Beat" and you can bet I'll be downloading that one as well.

One other thing I noticed in watching YouTube clips, is so many people mention how great a live band they are, and that they are a much better live band than they are on their albums.  And you can see this online... just go look on YouTube... you won't have any trouble seeing amazing performances.

I'll leave you with another clip from that coachella performance I watched that night.  Tell me that band isn't just having a great time?  You Go Grace!  (and your Nocturnals!)

Saying Goodbye to Seau

I didn't want to write this post.

Over the past few weeks, every time I sat down to write something I realized that I needed to cover Seau's passing, before I discussed anything else.

It's hard for me to do this.  As a fan, what words can I use to describe this man, what was it about him that set him apart from so many others?  I never met the man, didn't know him personally, and had no relationship with him other than through my television screen.

In 1999 I was invited to go to the Metrodome to see the Chargers play the Minnesota Vikings.  My brother Rich, and few close friends had tickets to the game and had one seat left to fill, knowing what a Chargers fan I was, I was invited to go.  The Vikings had a very good team that year, this was the season following their 15-1 campaign in 1998, and the Charger's weren't very good, coming off a 5-11 season in which Head Coach Kevin Gilbride had been removed during the season, and interim coach June Jones chose to go coach college ball in Hawaii.

So that brought in NFL Head Coaching newcomer Mike Riley and the Chargers ended up 8-8 that season. However, that day in Minnesota... the Chargers were severely out manned, and they lost that day, 35-27.  I remember leaving the Metrodome just in awe of how good Seau was.  He was everywhere... they'd run a sweep to Robert Smith Seau would make the tackle, they'd throw a pass to Randy Moss... Seau would be there.  He was literally in on nearly every defensive play.  If he didn't make the tackle... he'd be the next guy there.  He was infectious, and to be honest... I didn't even realize Jeff George played QB for the Vikings that day until I looked the game up.  When the Vikings had the ball, I was mesmerized, and my eyes were glued on #55 for the Chargers.

Part of the reason that I've struggled to write this is I didn't know what to focus on.

Was it the way he played?  Passionate, Relentless, Intense.  Yeah, that was part of it.  The guy just played so hard, and with such joy.  I'm the type of guy who never likes it when a defensive player does a "celebration" before a 3rd down play... the offense still has a chance.  However, I couldn't help but grin whenever Jr. would do his trademark "leg kick and fist pump" after a big play.  He couldn't help himself.

Was it because he was a good teammate?  Hearing the stories of guys like Teddy Bruschi (who he only played with for 3 years) rave about what a good locker room guy he was.  Reading this story and hearing about how he took fellow South Dakota State Alum Doug Miller under his wing, just reinforced things I had heard for years about him.

Was it because of his leadership capabilities, how he was respected in and outside of the locker room?  Certainly.  I remember very clearly sitting in Fort Smith Arkansas in July of 1992 and reading a pro football preview magazine (before the Internet days) and reading about how Jr. had assumed a leadership role on the team (even though he was only finishing his second year), and that they were predicting great things for that same team.

Was it because of his humble beginnings?  I suppose so.  He was the son of Samoan immigrants, and he never forgot his background.  He treated everyone with respect (or so I've read).  How he was gracious and humble to all people.  This is someone who not only lived the American dream, but he also remembered what it took to get there.

Was it because of his insatiable work ethic?  ESPN gave a ton of play to Teddy Bruschi's story about when he joined the Patriots, and the training staff was having a fit because Jr. was showing up to work out in the morning at 4 am?  Keep in mind... this was someone in his 17th year in the league... a sure fire hall of famer. This wasn't someone trying to avoid being cut, this was a legend... and he couldn't stand the thought of anyone else outworking him.

It was all these things, and more.  How he was a great person outside of the game of football, winning the NFL's Man of the Year award in 1994?  How he welcomed the poor and disadvantaged into his restaurant in San Diego each Thanksgiving?

He was a 12 (straight) time pro bowler, and 8 time All NFL player at linebacker.
He was the AFC Player of the Year in 1994. (the year the Chargers made the Super Bowl).

He was the first NFL player whose jersey I bought.  I still have it.  I even wore it during the Giants/Patriots Super Bowl when that Patriots team was chasing the perfect season.  Keep in mind... I hated that Patriots team, I wanted them to lose, I was cheering wholeheartedly for the Giants (and the fact that those Patriots had just defeated the Chargers in the AFC Championship game).  Yet, even though I was cheering against his "current" team, even though I wanted the Patriots to lose... I wore Seau's jersey.  Out of respect for what he had meant to me.

I'm not going to go into his death.  What the circumstances were, or whether he had concussions, or suffered from depression, or what.  The truth is we don't know.  No one knows.

So, I'm going to choose to celebrate the man for what he was, and let it be.

Rest In Peace, Junior.

Coming soon... a goodbye to Jr. Seau

Sorry for the lack of blog activity lately.

It's just that, since Jr. Seau's death, I've been planning on writing something... just couldn't bring myself to do it.

And although I've got a few blog ideas in mind, including: best coaches in the nba, new music, a possible idea for a weekly post on Tuesday... alot of things have crossed my mind.  But I gotta get this Seau thing out of my mind.

So, look for it tomorrow.  I'm trying to just get it out there, and get it done.