What the Dan Hurley-Lakers Saga Says About How We Value NBA Coaches | The Ryen Russillo Podcast

Russillo talks about why Dan Hurley turned down the Lakers' head-coaching job, why he may have chosen to stay at UConn, and why the criteria for a good coach in the NBA are always changing.
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[@Sr_Lobo_92]

I think this segments speaks more about press coverage and human nature in general than actual NBA coaches

[@David-iv6je]

The press has become a tabloid click machine. There was always that, but now it's on steroids.

[@emunety]

I think a big explanation why there are so many retreads that nobody has the balls to say out loud is- There just aren’t that many people that WANT to be coaches in the NBA.

[@christopherriordan2057]

Fans have VERY SIMPLE MINDED opinions on things and 100% rely on results based analysis…. The point of the media is to go deeper and push back on those not confirm and cement them

[@zxcvb3772]

Completely agree. Look at what Joe Mazzulla had to deal with from the fans when the Celtics lost the last few seasons, especially with the controversy regarding Ime Udoka. Thank God Brad Stevens is not stupid like the fans, and Brad didn't build a team full of DIVAS like the Lakers.

[@evansiegel9261]

This was a great pod.

[@whiteundershirts]

Feel the exact opposite about Doc. Consistently underperforms with veteran teams (even his 2008 team had to play 26 out of 28 games) while his most impressive accomplishment since then was taking a young Clippers team led by Tobias Harris and Gallinari to 48 wins and the playoffs.

[@Dont-Ask-Me-My-Name]

Agree, I like Terry Scots 4sure, he got the best out of Dame & CJ and they made the playoffs almost every season in a talented west. I've been a Jason Kidd supporter since he played Giannis at the point &helped put him on the path to superstardom. And I think Scot Brooks is a very good coach &I feel like his reputation has gone into the toilet recently

[@ronnenvallejo7444]

Woj has a close relationship to the Hurly family and wrote a book on the dad years ago. This was also a favor to JJ being they are both Espn affiliates so it just helps out JJs career, whether he’s hired or not .

[@blackcat4859]

How has this helped JJ?

[@ronnenvallejo7444]

@@blackcat4859 Both of his podcasts gets more traffic and the fact he’s even considered, the average nba watchers now know his name.

[@iwannatalktosampson5852]

Hurley staying at uconn was a smart move . Why leave to go to the Lakers who will fire you the moment they have a chance to do it. If you don't go on a deep run with a mid roster it's on you instead of blaming the gm for building a mid roster outside of bron,ad, Reaves

[@aanderson7983]

I have nothing against Spo. But it's interesting how the media gives him all the credit when the team is good, and no blame when they are bad.

[@christopherriordan2057]

Yes!! I hate results based analysis.. obviously results matter and correlate to these conclusions but just because a team wins the title doesn’t make their coach the best in the league or their best player is the best in the league

[@willcrockett2579]

It’s just inevitable with something like coaching. As fans we have such a limited perspective on how a coach is doing. We aren’t sitting in on team meetings, practices, film sessions. Those things matter in evaluating a coach

[@laffo1980]

College coaches would be crazy to go into the nba. They are two totally different games . College game is basically fiba rules ,coaching fundamentals, have 24 sec offences, still use big men and offensive rebounding is still important. Nba is a defenceless, 3point shootout/scrimmage/streetball league , non stop iso and 7 sec offences . All future nba coaches will be clipboard interns (that never played ) who rise up thru the coaching staff of a nba franchise

[@willcrockett2579]

Pretty weak take on NBA basketball. Defenseless? Seriously? Just because the defense looks different doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

[@laffo1980]

@@willcrockett2579 a weak take is cherry picking 1 point to base your whole argument on, against the 7 or 8 I make . Bold strategy cotton

[@ncaudle]

Russillo is the Eminem of sports media. Dude doesn't breathe O2 IMO

[@Watchingvideoslikeu]

What makes Hurley different from Billy Donavan? He also won b2b titles in college and recruited better talent to a non-traditional power in Florida. He’s been a fine coach not great, not terrible. Hurley isn’t even recruiting nor coaching NBA lottery talent at UConn so we have no clue if he can even handle NBA players. Atleast Brad Stevens was coaching Gordon Hayward in the final decade of NCAA basketball talent. The top picks in the draft aren’t even college players anymore they are either foreign or take alternative routes to get to the league.

[@andrewbaker3855]

Russillo you are all over the board with this take. In nearly back to back paragraphs you say "judging coaches is entirely subjective and based on empty platitudes/stats", then say "Dan Hurley is better than Darvin Ham"... having never coached an NBA game in his life. "Dan Hurley turning down the Lakers is NOT an embarrassment". It ABSOLUTELY is, to me it signals the end of the "mystique" of Lebron James. Great player, yes, Coach Killer/Buck Passer, also yes. To me this was the first of soon to be many: "Time for you to hang it up Lebron". Moments to come.

[@barakesmith-washington6946]

lol okay

[@jamesmiller5331]

Who says LeBron and the posse didn't sabotage the hire? I mean for the Lakers to go that direction.... I don't see LeBron waiting until year 21 to allow a franchise to drop anchor and start building up

[@blackcat4859]

​@@jamesmiller5331How would they have sabotaged the hire when the Lakers made Hurley an offer?

[@abelarson3389]

@@barakesmith-washington6946 fr buddy just wanted an excuse to shit on Lebron for some reason

[@biggains9216]

There is no evidence to back up the statement of LeBron being a coach killer. Name any coach you want and I will tell you why they were a bad coach and why that led to them being fired.

[@Watchingvideoslikeu]

Better than Darvin Ham, who in back 2 back years went to a conference finals and won the inaugural in-season tournament?

[@universoullifebalance]

Belichieck gets dumped on for what he’s done without Brady yet Pop without Duncan has been a complete disaster but he gets no smoke 🤔…Pop should’ve been fired

[@ollytropics1735]

Kawai left ya silly Billy they were set up fine prior to that

[@bashiriasad789]

Nah, it's different in Basketball. Especially because of the fact that Pop is in a small market, won FIVE CHIPS, and(which is equally important), he went over 20 years winning at least 50 games. His coaching tree is a winning one as well! As long as he garners high esteem via USA Basketball and the league, he'll be able to call his shot.

[@universoullifebalance]

@@ollytropics1735 how many chips without Duncan does he have again???

[@ollytropics1735]

@@universoullifebalance shiiii you're right if you have to rebuild then you're a bad coach.

[@universoullifebalance]

@@bashiriasad789 Pop is dated and overrated…

[@SneakyJB]

I get frustrated with how narrow minded you are. Your example literally excludes Frank Vogel

[@SneakyJB]

Do you still watch the nba? I don’t think so, atleast anymore

[@AA-x3e]

Best Mexican food in Connecticut... hahaha😂 man that's hilarious

[@YouTubricant]

Did anyone else try to wipe Ryan's smoke detector off their screen because they thought it was a water or spit droplet?

[@heroxdemon2248]

Within the first 10 seconds😂

[@David-iv6je]

Well heck, let's get crazy. Is Phil Jackson an all-time great coach? Discuss.

[@zxcvb3772]

The only metrics we can go by is by the achievements, and by the achievements, yes, Phil Jackson is an all time great coach. However, there is also someone like Erik Spoelstra who doesn't have much achievement and is widely regarded as one of the best coaches as well, and there is also someone like Doc Rivers who have some achievement but is entirely overrated and always under achieve.

[@Ryan-by8ui]

Coaching in the NBA is weird. I mean the Celtics are so talented there’s probably 20 other guys in the league that could have them in this position in the finals. Maybe they lose a few more regular season games with a different coach, who knows. But it would be really tough to screw this up. Little Billy from row 7 could have gotten them past the Heat and Cavs in their current state.

[@Shortballa11]

right. The celtics philosophy is throw up a bunch of 3s. Thats failed and they still win lol.

[@Obiamajoyisrmd]

@@Shortballa11throwing up a bunch of threes really hasn’t failed. The outlier was Houston but their issue was the guy leading in attempts also had the highest time of possession. Other guys can’t get a rhythm so it will fail

[@David-iv6je]

Celtics problem has been getting guys not to play iso hero ball. My theory is Jrue got them to stop that, where Smart was doing it himself, plus flopping and whining. I'm not giving it to Mazzula when Jrue did the same thing in MIlawaukee

[@Obiamajoyisrmd]

@@ern-cap you’ve got a point

[@Shortballa11]

@@Obiamajoyisrmd its definitely failed. last year its why they lost and this year it wouldve been exposed but they are just too good. The fact they only scoring like 105ppg and winning shows how elite their defense it. ANd Jrue Holiday having a high IQ and getting easy buckets is honestly a saving grace. Which goes back to how talented this group is, not exactly coaching

[@joshkelly482]

20k followers in 5 yrs bro? Someone can do that with a gimmick dance, trick, or some snake oil. Having said that- you’re authentic. That’s what matters

[@SharpwithanE]

For the algo

[@aanderson7983]

Lebron won championships with 3 different coaches. None of those coaches won before or after winning with Lebron. What other star player in NBA history can say that?

[@WonderBoy2811]

If you think doc rivers is a good coach you just shouldn’t be allowed to talk basketball

[@ineedsaltplease620]

Ryen you were wrong about the heat last year just move on

[@SneakyJB]

This is why you are in a cheap hotel and put out bad nba takes lol

[@Mskedu47]

No one wants to live in LA

[@nicolasstaudt5714]

Is Russillo's right hand on meth?

[@insiderh669]

if Joe Mazzulla is about to win a championship, how important is coaching really?

[@ollytropics1735]

​@@ern-capbut the players have said that the coaches implemented the system....

[@slightexag]

@@ern-cap Coaching is about higher order priorities, like offensive approach, defensive scheme, how to set up players to succeed, how to encourage players and create a productive environment for them to improve and meet their potential, how to create a team identity around certain concepts and points of emphasis. You think Jayson Tatum, Trae Young, and Kevin Durant are doing that kind of shit? You think Tatum is designing principles and schemes? Impossible. They are the execution of a larger principle in a context created by coaching staffs. There are good development coaches and bad playoff coaches like Doc Rivers. There are mediocre coaches of both, like Monty Williams or Steve Nash. There are good playoff coaches like Pop, Spo, Steve Kerr. There are levels of coaching execution and some schemes that work better for certain rosters than others, like how Carlisle on Indiana focuses on pace. To call coaching a hoax is an extremely ignorant point with no basis in fact whatsoever.

[@jamesmiller5331]

Coaching is important in ways such as Rick Carlisle politicking with the referees after game 2 in the second round. Phil Jackson used to do that type of shit. You have to have someone leading the squad for sure but at the end of the day it's a player's League. There are a lot of people that could have coached these Celtics to the finals.

[@Anthonydu01630]

@@ern-capIt’s both dummy, but the coach can only play a certain scheme if he has the personal, for exemple if Mazzula had KAT has a 4 instead of Tatum, they’d be fucked just like the Wolves even tough they had an even better defender/rim protector than Porzingis … Jason Tatum unlock that defensive scheme because he is able to guard Gafford or Lively, so when they screen for Luka, instead of Porzingis ending up guarding him it’s Tatum, who is an elite perimeter defender, and Porzingis can stay under the rim and he can roam in the paint, preventing lobs and corner 3’s … So it’s both, the Wolves could have done it with Naz Reid, who can guard the perimeter better than KAT, or even Kyle Anderson who is strong enough to guard Gafford/Lively, but their coach didn’t have the balls to do it, or just didn’t think about it.

[@umberto488]

​@@ern-capspoken like someone with little knowledge on the matter