Bee: Musselman's staff is being formed

[SacTownKid]

http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/14270418p-15081231c.html




By Melody Gutierrez and Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writers

Published 12:01 am PDT Thursday, June 22, 2006 var ppn='Page C9';if(ppv==1){ppn=''+ppn+'';}document.write('
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Right staff, wrong seats.
Eric Musselman sat at Arco Arena on Wednesday, watching the Monarchs game across from the bench he'll assume in October and flanked by coaching types whom The Bee has learned are part of his new staff.

Musselman said one contract, in particular, has stalled any official announcement, though he expects one by the end of this week or next.

"It's been hectic," Musselman said. "Hopefully, it will calm down."

New York Knicks assistant Brendan O'Connor, who was reported to be joining the Kings weeks ago, attended the game with Musselman. The new faces began with San Diego

State assistant Mark Hughes, who was also with Musselman. Hughes -- who won a national championship with Michigan as a collegiate player and played in the NBA, Continental Basketball Association and Europe -- was formerly an Orlando Magic assistant (2003-05) and a head coach for Grand Rapids of the CBA from 1997 to 2002.

Also in attendance and a new name was Clay Moser, a former president and head coach of the now-defunct Great Lake Storm of the CBA. The season before joining the Storm, Moser was an advance scout for Musselman with the Golden State Warriors.

T.R. Dunn, one of four Kings assistants dismissed with former head coach Rick Adelman, will be retained, as well. Former Memphis video scout Jason Hamm, who was not in attendance, is also on board. Hamm has been working out Francisco García at the practice facility often of late.

The likely final addition whose contract may be stalling matters is Denver assistant Scott Brooks, who has been reported to be joining the Kings. Musselman said the list of quality assistant coaches made the job more difficult.

"It was the only (head-coaching) opening, so there has been a lot of qualified guys contacting us," he said. "We want to get the guys who fit in with our program the best."
Several Kings -- including Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Mike Bibby and García -- have been working out around town.

"It's good to see so many players around," Musselman said.
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[Rome]

well glad to see this new staff being formed. I hope these guys really make an impact towards the team in the defensive areas.

 

[Sac.Kings]

well glad to see this new staff being formed. I hope these guys really make an impact towards the team in the defensive areas.

word.

 

[MadMKEkf]

Interesting report -- When all is said and done -- out of say a 100% --
I wonder how much of an impact assistant coaches make on a team?

[If 100% is the way the team performs, how much is due to the assistant coaches?]

 

[SacTownKid]

Well, Musselman said his assistants are very important and he runs his staff like an NFL team where the assistants work in specific areas. At practice and such the players will move from station to station working on different aspects of their game. He also said that way when the players have a question during a game about a specific subject they know exactly who to see.

 

[Warhawk]

Interesting report -- When all is said and done -- out of say a 100% --
I wonder how much of an impact assistant coaches make on a team?

[If 100% is the way the team performs, how much is due to the assistant coaches?]

I bet it varies team-by-team.

How much of the gameplan is from the coach and how much from the assistants? Do you consider offseason training (like Garcia is doing now) to be part of it? I would think so. Personality plays into it (smoothing ruffled feathers, etc). I don't know if anyone who hasn't coached or played could give an answer to this, and I bet all the answers would be different.

I doubt Larry Brown and Nellie use their assistants the same way, for example, especially over the past couple years for the Mavs before Avery took over.

 

[Tha rizzock]

Thanks i just wanna win baby

 

[venom_7]

i really wish they'd bring ET back

 

[Kingsgurl]

Turner will probably go where Adelman goes, he seems pretty loyal that way. His comments when Adelman was canned probably nixed whatever chance he had at returing here, not that he seemed all that eager to.

 

[kingsfanofthemonth]

Not to dissapointed to see ET go but I'm happy to see that T.R. Dunn is coming back. Isn't he the one who came up with the defensive game plan when we beat the mav's in the high 80's? The players were gave whoever it was a lot of credit for the win.

 

[Kings113]

Sounds good to me.

 

[hammystyle]

Its interesting, theoretically it'd be nice to have an old vet out there along with all these young firebrands, but I couldn't tell you if it made any difference. The guys he's hiring seem to be in the same mold as him in that they got into coaching at youg ages, can't be too bad to have a bunch of coaching die-hards.

 

[Mike0476]

I was listening to Sportsline today and got this tidbit:

EMuss will have his coaching staff much like an NFL team with an offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and player personnel (match ups).

To prepare the team, he will use movie clips and power point presentations. The way he described it, it sounds a lot like how a captain taught us in class while I was in the Air Force. I loved the captain's teaching style. It was effective and I learned it lot because of his teaching style so I feel good about how EMuss will coach and prepare the Kings.

 

[sauce-26]

Hopefully this all looks as good as it sounds. I remember when I played football in high school during two a days (I lived in Arkansas at the time, so anybody down south knows exactly how hot and humid it gets down there, especially when you have pads on) we would go from coach to coach working on different aspects of technique and agility drills.

 

[Kings113]

Its interesting, theoretically it'd be nice to have an old vet out there along with all these young firebrands, but I couldn't tell you if it made any difference. The guys he's hiring seem to be in the same mold as him in that they got into coaching at youg ages, can't be too bad to have a bunch of coaching die-hards.

Hughes/Dunn/Brooks all fit that, being ex-players in the NBA.

 

[BK_KingsFan7]

The only name I recognize from there is Scott Brooks. Does anyone know what kind of player he was? Was he a defensive-minded player?

 

[Bricklayer]

The only name I recognize from there is Scott Brooks. Does anyone know what kind of player he was? Was he a defensive-minded player?

Hardly. He was Jim Les. Short unathletic 3pt specialist.

 

[Rain man]

Hardly. He was Jim Les. Short unathletic 3pt specialist.

But- he did give a lot of effort on the floor. he is one of those guys that survived on effort, hard work, and heart. He had very little skill (other than shooting), but he still managed to bounce around for quite a few years. A lot of players did much less with much more actual skill in the NBA, so at least you can say he is a competitor.

Plus- I think he is a local boy (he is from Lathrop-near Stockton- if I remember correctly).

 

[hammystyle]

But- he did give a lot of effort on the floor. he is one of those guys that survived on effort, hard work, and heart. He had very little skill (other than shooting), but he still managed to bounce around for quite a few years. A lot of players did much less with much more actual skill in the NBA, so at least you can say he is a competitor.

Plus- I think he is a local boy (he is from Lathrop-near Stockton- if I remember correctly).

Scott Skiles also wasn't much of a defender, but that's all he preaches. It's tough to guard guys who are a lot bigger and faster than you, so to do even a decent job you have to practice excellent technique and effort. That said, I have no idea what kind of defensive coach Brooks is. I know TR Dunn is supposed to be a pretty good one, he might be the D-Coordinator so to speak.

 

[Bricklayer]

Scott Skiles also wasn't much of a defender, but that's all he preaches. It's tough to guard guys who are a lot bigger and faster than you, so to do even a decent job you have to practice excellent technique and effort. That said, I have no idea what kind of defensive coach Brooks is. I know TR Dunn is supposed to be a pretty good one, he might be the D-Coordinator so to speak.

TR Dunn was a very good defensive player -- he and Elston were both pure defensive specialist guards back in the 80's. Poseys, Hassels, Bowens.

Now is he actually a good defensive COACH? Eh...not so clear. Denver, his home franchise, didn't seem too broken up about letting him go before last season, and of course last year with both he and Elston there we nonetheless sucked on defense until Ron came. Its hard to tell -- Maloof idiocy aside personnel is critically important to playing good defense -- but who knows how good TR really is given the undistinguished 2nd or 3rd assistant resume.

 

[hammystyle]

TR Dunn was a very good defensive player -- he and Elston were both pure defensive specialist guards back in the 80's. Poseys, Hassels, Bowens.

Now is he actually a good defensive COACH? Eh...not so clear. Denver, his home franchise, didn't seem too broken up about letting him go before last season, and of course last year with both he and Elston there we nonetheless sucked on defense until Ron came. Its hard to tell -- Maloof idiocy aside personnel is critically important to playing good defense -- but who knows how good TR really is given the undistinguished 2nd or 3rd assistant resume.

Could be that TR didn't get along with George Karl very well. He wouldn't have been the first. But you're right, I have no idea. I couldn't really tell you that anyone is a good assistant unless they have been a head coach before or at least been interviewed for opportunities like Iavaroni in Phoenix. Based on that its tough to get excited about the assistant coaching hires, but who knows? Musselman has been around for long enough and worked with enough different people that he probly has a good idea who the best ones out there are. I guess my main hope is he gets guys good at player development, and guys who maybe have different viewpoints then he does.