How do you evaluate a coach without a body of work?

[Ogaju]

You are the GM about to make a coaching hire for HC. How do you evaluate a candidate for that job? What factors are important?

Do you consider x and os?

Do you consider personality?

Do you consider organizational fit?

Do you consider your team’s readiness to compete for a championship?

Do you consider the candidates readiness to coach a championship team?

Do you consider candidates leadership qualities, temperament, and performance under pressure?

Can you consider these and anything else you value of the candidate does not have a body of work?

[nickagneta]

How about all of the above and even some additional things?

[liam]

The team’s readiness to compete is square one. If you don't play hard you don't play should be the number one rule.

[liam]

How about all of the above and even some additional things?

You complicate it and I simplify it. At least there is some consistency about this team! 

[Ogaju]

The team’s readiness to compete is square one. If you don't play hard you don't play should be the number one rule.

So how do you know how your coaching candidate performs if he or she does not have a body of work to go by?

[nickagneta]

The team’s readiness to compete is square one. If you don't play hard you don't play should be the number one rule.

So how do you know how your coaching candidate performs if he or she does not have a body of work to go by?

Since you are obviously talking about Udoka, he has a 9 year body of work as an assistant in the pros and multiple years in Team USA. You evaluate that.

And you evaluate that the same way any competent HR person evaluates anyone. You see where they went to school(Pops University), you check with the school to verify education. You check with previous employers for references(SA, PHI, BKN, Team USA). You check with co-workers that the candidate gives you referrals for,(Tatum, Brown, Smart) and you have long interviews and delve into the candidate's ideas about the position, in depth knowledge of the candidate's knowledge of the company and requirements for the job, how the candidate sees themselves fitting in and how their personality would fit into the workplace.

People coming out of college get amazing, high responsibility and high paying salaried positions in businesses every day with little no experience doing that job. The hiring process isn't really much different between most positions across most industries.

[Ogaju]

The team’s readiness to compete is square one. If you don't play hard you don't play should be the number one rule.

So how do you know how your coaching candidate performs if he or she does not have a body of work to go by?

Since you are obviously talking about Udoka, he has a 9 year body of work as an assistant in the pros and multiple years in Team USA. You evaluate that.

And you evaluate that the same way any competent HR person evaluates anyone. You see where they went to school(Pops University), you check with the school to verify education. You check with previous employers for references(SA, PHI, BKN, Team USA). You check with co-workers that the candidate gives you referrals for,(Tatum, Brown, Smart) and you have long interviews and delve into the candidate's ideas about the position, in depth knowledge of the candidate's knowledge of the company and requirements for the job, how the candidate sees themselves fitting in and how their personality would fit into the workplace.

People coming out of college get amazing, high responsibility and high paying salaried positions in businesses every day with little no experience doing that job. The hiring process isn't really much different between most positions across most industries.

I appreciate the response. The Cs have to hope Ime is a boy wonder that can hit it out of the park, otherwise they must expect his career to take the trajectory of an entry-level hire. Most entry level hires need time to grow. How much time are the Cs willing to give?

[nickagneta]

Given his decade of coaching experience in a non-head coaching position, Ime is well beyond entry level position. He is more like a Harvard graduate with 4-5 years of working experience in the job place. Lets also not forget his over a decade experience as a player. That counts as experience as well.

Udoka is well beyond entry level coming in. He is also only 5 games into his new job. It's like you want to evaluate and condemn a new hire at a management position in any industry after a week on the job. You gotta give that hire more time than a week.   

Unfortunately NBA fandom is such that societal norms get thrown out the window. I say we try something novel, and maybe, just maybe, give the dude some time to learn the position, make adjustments and perhaps evaluate his total job performance with a real world sample size, meaning more than a week in my correlating example or more than 5 games in the real world.

[Ogaju]

Don’t you think that given the level he played at he is more like a Community College graduate than a Harvard graduate. If Ime is comparable to a Harvard graduate, it leaves no room for first-tier players. I just don’t think you can place Ime at the Harvard level in the hierarchy of basketball players.

[Moranis]

Don’t you think that given the level he played at he is more like a Community College graduate than a Harvard graduate. If Ime is comparable to a Harvard graduate, it leaves no room for first-tier players. I just don’t think you can place Ime at the Harvard level in the hierarchy of basketball players.

He played 316 games and started 80 of them in the NBA.  He played in other professional leagues.  You are acting like he played community college ball at his highest stop.

[Ogaju]

Don’t you think that given the level he played at he is more like a Community College graduate than a Harvard graduate. If Ime is comparable to a Harvard graduate, it leaves no room for first-tier players. I just don’t think you can place Ime at the Harvard level in the hierarchy of basketball players.

He played 316 games and started 80 of them in the NBA.  He played in other professional leagues.  You are acting like he played community college ball at his highest stop.

I just don’t agree with the Harvard grad analogy. He was not even drafted to the NBA so a top tier player he was not. Comparing him to the hire of a Harvard graduate is pouring it on. Bottom line is the Cs must not feel they are ready to compete for a championship otherwise they would not have hired an unproven coach. How much time are you willing to give him?

[nickagneta]

Don’t you think that given the level he played at he is more like a Community College graduate than a Harvard graduate. If Ime is comparable to a Harvard graduate, it leaves no room for first-tier players. I just don’t think you can place Ime at the Harvard level in the hierarchy of basketball players.

He played 316 games and started 80 of them in the NBA.  He played in other professional leagues.  You are acting like he played community college ball at his highest stop.

I just don’t agree with the Harvard grad analogy. He was not even drafted to the NBA so a top tier player he was not. Comparing him to the hire of a Harvard graduate is pouring it on. Bottom line is the Cs must not feel they are ready to compete for a championship otherwise they would not have hired an unproven coach. How much time are you willing to give him?

The Harvard grad analogy had nothing to do with his playing career. It had to do with him learning the coaching position under the best coach in the league. Years learning under Pops equals getting an education at Harvard. His playing is just extra experienced gained

[timpiker]

#1 in my book - the players don't quit.