I read a post on another site about the dinner. It was pretty informative. I've been reluctant to post anything from there for fear of violation. But if you were there it would be appreciated by myself and I'm sure others if you could give a short critique of what was said.
It was (aside from being a VERY good dinner
) very interesting. Just a kind of meet the new coach thing, so obviously there weren't a great deal of specifics given.For those who haven't read the other site (I haven't, so forgive me if I rehash stuff) Westphal spoke breifly about his past, his break from NBA coaching (to coach his son's college team) and how he stayed current on the NBA while doing the analyst gig.
He was asked if his philosophy was going to be to run, to which his reply was that his philosophy was to figure out a system that played up the strengths of the team and minimized the weaknesses, put that system in place and stick with it. Since the object of the game IS to score more points than the other team, getting up and down the court is something he would like to see, but defense is going to have to pick up as it's hard to run when you are taking it out of the net every time. However, he doesn't like the 'use the whole shot clock and slow the game down so you can lose 85-75 and say you play great defense' (thankfully, because when you are bad this is much like watching paint dry) He seemed to think the team last year was confused. He and his coaching staff are going to demand effort and reward said effort with playing time. One of the main focuses going in (as advised by Hubie Brown when he called him to ask what the heck he should start with) is going to be shooting. Coachie will be helping with that.
Players he mentioned in any detail were
Jason and Spencer- Only real bigs, going to need more production from them, interior defense and rebounding, spoke of Jason having to spend time at the 5, neccecity for small ball at times due to our lack of size as a team. Likes these two, thinks they have a lot of potential.
Beno (someone asked) Beno will be given a clean slate, he has shown he knows how to play the game and can be very effective. He will earn his playing time like everyone else.
Kevin- Very excited about Kevin, whom he called an All-Star caliber player who still has much upside. He was asked about Kev's defense at which point he pantomimed dragging his leg around the stage and said that he wasn't really sure why people expected a guy playing injured to carry the team both offensively and defensively.
Cisco and Nocioni- great hustle players, could get good minutes on any team.
The rooks-
Brockman- already mentioned. Nose for the ball
Omri- Liked what he saw from the kid, thought he was jet-lagged/had no practice time and that led to his slow start in summer league.
Evans- Best player of his age at every level thus far and other stuff we already talked about in the Evams thread.
He spoke of ARCO and the return to how it used to be. Diagrammed a hilariously innovative play on the white board involving Barkley, Oliver Miller and KJ.
I really liked his approach and his demeanor. Something Adelman-like about him, only with a sense of humor.
He said he took the job because 'who wouldn't? An exciting young team with no where to go but up!
I'm sure I forgot a bunch of stuff.
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