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00:00 Yeah, I got coaching at 10% and I got luck at 10% so that that equals out to a hundred
00:06 I'm assuming my math is correct here. So yes
00:09 coaching I
00:13 Don't think Steve Clifford is immune from criticism by any means
00:17 But I'm just not sure what more he can do from his point of view that would put this team like over the top
00:24 He's been dealt a bad hand
00:27 injuries, which we'll talk about here in a second the lack of depth the lack of desire which we just talked about that want to
00:33 on the defensive side of the court and
00:35 his best players
00:37 When healthy even when healthy like even when they are healthy this team just isn't good enough on most nights against most teams
00:44 So I do believe that coaching has an effect on
00:47 In the NBA, I wouldn't say that coaching is irrelevant
00:51 But I do think it has more of a swing if you're like a top five coach or a bottom five coach in terms of
00:57 Like up or down. I think a lot of the coaches that are kind of falling in between they do matter
01:02 But I feel they have less of an effect and I kind of find myself
01:06 evaluating Clifford
01:08 anywhere from like, you know the 17th to
01:11 20th 23rd best coach in the NBA
01:14 I haven't sat down and kind of ranked them all but he's kind of in the middle and I think just based on pure talent
01:20 This team doesn't have it
01:22 I think one thing that is really hurting him is like the roster continuity and the playing groups is just not
01:28 Consistent and Clifford's even mentioned that these guys are playing with different players every single night
01:34 And so for that to happen, there's no consistency and I will say this like Clifford has been known
01:40 To get his teams to play better and to overachieve
01:45 Especially as the season progresses, but I almost got my doubts on that
01:49 Like I feel it's gonna be an uphill battle for him come February March April if he's still around
01:54 So I'll just say 10% on coaching. I'll pass it over to you
01:59 I think there's a lot of things that are out of his control. Could he do better in certain situations?
02:03 Yes, obviously, he's very defensive minded and he's not getting this team to perform on that end of the court. I think offensively
02:11 He's not a guy that is a you know in tune to the more progressive and
02:16 New age offense. I don't think his sets are as particularly, you know creative as maybe James Borrego
02:23 but I think I think the standard that he's trying to hold these players to is high like I obviously we don't know all the
02:30 ins and outs of of
02:32 How he handles the players, but I you know, I go to practice like he's saying, you know all the right things
02:37 But I have it down to 10% I don't know where you have coaching for you
02:42 so I had coaching at 10% as well, but
02:45 But I've changed while listening to you speak and actually increase it to 12 and a half percent
02:50 the reason being is because I
02:53 Well, no you I just I know my feeling I think was a little bit more critical than yours
03:00 And we but we have the same
03:02 Okay, I felt like I need to bump mine up a little bit more to reflect that and also because when we post these two
03:10 Pie charts if we just have the same percentages for everything. It's gonna look really stupid. So
03:14 I take what you say. I I understand the criticism like, you know
03:19 Sorry the excuse which is well you not have the playing groups and I get that equally this is the NBA right and
03:28 Every team struggles to have the playing groups to see the Phoenix Suns you see even the Minnesota Timberwolves
03:34 I've had guys in and out of the lineup and I know the Charlotte Hornets have probably had it worse than most but
03:39 There's you're never gonna have all the guys that you want playing in playing groups like three four weeks in a row
03:45 That they all know what each other do that just very very rarely happens
03:49 So I think I understand why Steve keeps saying that and if I was coach I'd be saying the same thing
03:55 But you've got to be able to adapt on the fly here because that's what happens in the NBA. I
03:59 Think the coaching for me
04:02 The first 15 games is basically what I'm judging off this season because the last five to eight because of injuries you can throw them away
04:09 Like there is very little you can tell out there when you've got Nathan Mensah guarding Joel Embiid
04:14 Like this is nothing to do with coaching in my opinion, but in those first 15 games
04:20 I think there were a lot of things in there that I thought were were red flags for me
04:26 Let's start with training camp. And this is something Steve Clifford
04:29 I think Steve Clifford's approach to training camp is pretty outdated
04:32 you know, he talks about how he likes to just come in and scrimmage and they do a lot of contact and
04:38 How most teams now don't do that they you know, put the defense they put their offense in
04:43 But he says it's how the Van Gundy's used to do it and guys like it. I understand why guys like it, right?
04:49 It's like everyone prefers playing matches than doing training, right?
04:52 but training is really important and normally that's what you do and
04:57 Steve Clifford's teams have generally start the season poorly over his coaching career like they've got better as the year have gone on
05:03 But equally I think there's something around this team looks unprepared and unorganized early in the season
05:08 Because I don't think they're putting in their offense and the defense early enough letting their players get adjusted to it
05:14 You saw in the start this season the shot profile of this team's the first 10 to 15 games was archaic
05:21 I mean they were taking and making the least threes in the NBA by far and they've gone some way to offset that now
05:28 But why does that have to take so long, right?
05:31 You know the defensive side of the ball you look at every defensive metric right now. They're 26 in transition offense studies
05:39 They're bottom five in transition defense bottom five in defense in total 24th in rebounding 24th and fouling
05:47 28th in defensive shot profile distribution
05:49 There's just not really a good aspect you talk about Steve Clifford
05:53 ideology he's not getting players to execute and
05:58 Yes, this is the ever-along battle between like players and coaches who's responsible
06:03 but part of your job as a coach is to be able to communicate things in a ways and coach things in a way that land
06:09 And that the players then can take absorb and then execute that and I think Steve Clifford's identifying the right areas
06:16 You know foul trouble etc, but we're not seeing progress now in year two with a lot of the same players
06:21 You know some of those very same players who were here last year are
06:25 Making these same issues. So, you know the rotations don't bother me
06:29 I see so many people complaining about rotations the entire time and
06:34 Just every single coach the NBA gets flat from their fan base about rotations. There's always some guy they'd rather see over some other guy
06:41 For me, it's nothing about rotations. It is about how they're ready to start the season
06:46 some of the you know, the lack of ability to turn coaching points into reality, but
06:53 They just you don't see that reaction game to game. You don't seeing that improvement
06:57 So that's that's my big thing from my end
07:01 I I think I am more concerned especially this year about the coaching
07:06 I was not impressed with this first 10 games, which is a soft soft schedule
07:09 Yeah, Charlotte needed to go above 500 and they just did not look ready for the season to start
07:14 Yeah, that is true. Obviously that was it without miles bridges as well. So I wonder like, you know, if you took that
07:21 11th game to like the 20th game to see how those numbers would pan out
07:26 But those are all valid points in terms of the coaching. I do have a quick question for you
07:30 I mean, this is kind of a sidetrack question. Do you think the Hornets should have ever fired Borrego? I
07:37 Mean I was on the track record at the time saying no, I was shocked that they did it
07:42 I still didn't think they should have done it
07:45 Look, there was obviously things going on internally there like on the surface. It was absolutely bonkers, right?
07:52 They was at 43 and 39 wins in two years made the play in
07:57 Seems to be going in a good way. The mallet ball was playing well
08:00 I
08:02 Think there was clearly for me
08:04 I was the way I was put it is like the the players internally maybe just I was
08:10 Theorized they didn't have support for James Borrego because I couldn't see any of the reason
08:15 you would move on from him as a coach unless all of your players were going to your front office or your owner and
08:21 Saying this guy is is not the coach that we need
08:25 That was my theory. I still guess I lean on that today
08:29 But they brought in obviously a very clearly a defensive first coach and Steve Clifford since but let's just be frank
08:35 The defense was 20th last year as it was the same the year before when James Borrego's here and this year
08:41 It's due to be actually the worst defense worse than any James Borrego era
08:46 you know the weird zones that were introduced were strange sure, but they were actually kind of effective and
08:53 Despite finally having a shot blocking rim protector, which this team was cry out for in the James Borrego years
08:59 This team has better defensive talent now
09:01 then James Borrego had and is a worst defense so I
09:05 Can't tell you without being in those coaching sessions. Like you said to know exactly what happened
09:11 But if I was surprised when they did it I would have kept James Borrego in place
09:16 No, I lean that way as well. And I think with the new owners, you know moving forward with the new coach
09:22 I think one of the biggest things obviously if a coach is not performing or if something like that is happening behind the scenes
09:28 You know, you need to make a change
09:29 but I think establishing continuity and longevity with a head coach is so so important in today's NBA and
09:36 so for you know Clifford to be I guess this is his last year of his contract to know that it's kind of like a
09:42 lame-duck coach and the players know it - I can tell you that right now the players know that Steve Clifford is not choosing the
09:48 starting line of next year that is just so
09:50 unlikely to happen and that kind of stuff matters when you someone's trying to hold you to be accountable if you know
09:56 They're not gonna be here in a matter of months. Yeah, like you just take that a little bit less seriously
10:01 It's just you just do yeah, and that but that's not on Clifford, right? No. No, absolutely not that comes back to player responsibility
10:07 Yeah, so I just think that like obviously, you know
10:10 You want to pick the best coach for the best for the players that are on the court?
10:13 But you know give give the coach a little bit more of a runway to work with three four years
10:19 And I know that the situation with Clifford was so different with the way that they had to hire him last minute
10:25 But you know having that longevity we talked about longevity and continuity with the players. You need to have that with the coach
10:30 I think I think that's probably one of the most important things to have just to kind of build that up with the players
10:36 So, how would you feel Richie?
10:40 Mike Budden laws if he was appointed right? Well goes back to Atlanta with rich now the current
10:46 You know currently a free agent coach after leaving the Milwaukee Bucks
10:50 They would have to pay him a lot of money to come here
10:53 He would have to want to come here
10:55 But would you be happy with a Mike Budden holes or appointment because he was unpopular by the kind of the end in
10:59 Milwaukee like people, you know playoff bud was a definitely a thing that people criticized
11:05 But you talk about a two-way team that Milwaukee Bucks team was you know, pretty impressive in that side really experienced coach
11:12 Is that a guy who you think would uh would be of interest?
11:15 Yeah, I mean, I think without knowing the other names that would be out there
11:19 He obviously has established himself as a guy in the NBA that has proven to work
11:24 Obviously he had Giannis onto the Kumpo to kind of
11:28 Spearhead that offense and helps put pressure on the rim
11:32 I do think that there's some similarities with the way that they can use
11:35 Mark Williams and Brooke Lopez obviously Lopez has a three-point shot that Mark Williams does not have as of now
11:41 But on the defensive side of the court, I can see the the way that they kind of funnel
11:45 You know teams towards Mark Williams and things of that nature
11:49 So I think the experience I think going with the guy that has experience probably would be very beneficial
11:54 Part of me wants to know like oh
11:57 Do we get a young and up-and-coming guy that can kind of relate to the younger guys?
12:00 But I feel like that's kind of resorting to what the Borrego hire was and using that as a player development hire
12:06 So I would not mind getting a guy that has been established in the league
12:10 For years and like I said, just make sure that there's some kind of concrete
12:15 Three-four-year runway that he can have and kind of build that relationship