Sweepea

So…………….the question in the thread….where are Coach James’ doubters.

We had discussed Coach James’ history in integrating true big men into his teams. In the main, those who chose to discuss this topic agreed that he has yet to prove he can do that.

I see it as important because unless he can and ensure that he at the very least controls the rebounding on the defensive end, he cannot win a game in Europe. In ULEB and EuroLeague (I have no experience of the FIBA Cup) a team has to rebound the ball to have a chance (or have a lucky night and shoot the lights out all game which is highly unlikely because the shots will be taken away through coaching).

So there is the first question. Can Coach James take a 6’9’+ , back to the basket type player (not a slasher and scorer) who’s job is to rebound and play D, and integrate him into a traditionally small, quick, athletic team to good effect.

As soon as he does, and he wins a ULEB game or two, the whole budgets argument is dead….because you can’t beat a team with 7 times your budget can you? Well don’t tell Coach Hurley that!

Next is an issue raised by a Heat fan, board moderator and general all around boss type of character (I can’t find better words to describe JimW who is a bit of a wordsmith and generally runs rings around most fans who end up seemingly feeling scolded)).

Now Jim claims that at the end of his tenure at TVT, other teams all knew his plays when they met for the 3rd time in a season and he stated "other teams worked out the playbook and were effectively in the TVT dressing room. One can look at this in many ways. Here are three.

As JimW suggests, Coach James is more experienced so it doesn’t happen now.

Well I don’t recall it happening with the perennial challenging teams with the superb John McCord (maybe for another day but I thought John McCord in his first stint at TVT was just outstanding and watching him lock down the Manchester Giants at Wembley for the last 5 minutes was a sight to see), big Tony Holley and the talented but undisciplined Casey Arena. So then, apparently it happened in later years and now it doesn’t.

In the days when it was supposedly happening, who were the opposition coaches? Could it be Donewald (say what you like, he can coach and has been in the NBA and is now at UAB I think), Nurse, Mimms, Finger, Finch were coaches who could exploit the situation better…it’s a bit different to Ford, McCauley, Mooney, Davis etc.

Let’s look at this for a minute.

I’m told Coach James is a coach who really places a lot of emphasis on what his team does as opposed to what the other team is doing. It sounds obvious and all coaches do of course, but some place a bit more emphasis on what the other team does. Essentially it boils down to execution but on different ends of the floor although there is a subtle difference. This approach needs two key ingredients:

Players who can execute the coaches belief at the game end

Players who believe in the coaches methods.

If one is missing, it won’t work. The coach’s job is 90% out of game time and 10% in it. So if a certain group, of players (or different groups) over a few years failed (as JimWs observations suggest, then is this not a failure on the coaches part in either recruitment or preparation? If so, then we have another question raised. It never used to happen, then it did, now it doesn’t but on this basis could!

On the Heat Forum, a very good thread was started by poster called Bagger. At least it was good until it got dragged down the road of budgets which has to be the all time most boring topic.

However some interest was generated and I thought I’d follow it up through BadaBall in the hope some of the more irrelevant posts do not tarnish a good debate.

The debate is essentially this. Coach Paul James at the Guildford Heat has achieved a great deal in the last 2 seasons at Guildford. Still there were and maybe still are those who doubt him as a coach. The thread starter asks "where are all the naysayer’s now"

I personally put across a question or two that could still be asked about Coach James and although one or two people got the idea and began to agree or disagree, the thread sadly was littered by "yes but he spent more than we spent" or "yes but they are a bigger budget team so that’s why we can’t win a ULEB game".

These weren’t the worst but for those who regularly read the BBL and Heat boards (I read em all) you won’t be surprised to see some really pointless stuff posted.

So to avoid all that stuff, here’s the debate continued, on BadaBall.

First of all (and for those who read my first article on Badaball) I will continue to try to put into perspective the myth that is budgets and try to bring coaching into perspective. There are hundreds of examples across sports.

The obvious ones are in football such as how can Barnsley beat Liverpool and Chelsea. Why is the final league table not a reflection throughout of the team’s budget? If it was, there is no point playing. It would be something like Chelsea, Man Utd, Newcastle, Spurs, Liverpool, Man City, and then maybe Arsenal. It doesn’t work this way.

An excellent case study in basketball is the High School in Jersey City USA, St Anthony. A high school that has no gym to speak of, no endless staff, barely money to open the school doors, very few superstar players, lowly paid teachers, a tough neighbourhood with temptation on every corner.

St Anthony is one of the most successful powerhouses in US High School Basketball, regularly beating the teams with all they could ever want and bigger, better players.

Why? How?

Easy!

They have a truly great coach who through his methods, work ethic and talent, overcomes all the negatives year after year after year.

Now it’s grossly unfair to compare Coach James to Coach Hurley. My point is really to show that things like budgets can be overcome and that the direction of the thread need not go there.

It is true that many fans are passionate and see anything other than glowing praise for their man as unfair and inappropriate criticism, normally ending either in abuse or an inane comment.

Don’t try to tell me that Coach James didn’t believe deep down that he could win a game or two against the bigger budget teams. He would back himself to take at least one of those games.

There is NO way in the world any coach can make up for the kind of difference between Badalona (the eventual winners) and Guildford, but you can count on it that he believed he could win a game or so, irrespective of budget. So I hope we have overcome this one or at least those obsessed by it can appreciate where I’m coming from.

Lastly, there is a question mark about player relations or team chemistry. In general, he is a players coach, meaning players like him ad like playing for him. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes not. At the pro level, I would suggest to a degree it’s a positive. However, when John McCord finally parted, he was an unhappy basketball player who couldn’t wait to finish the season and leave. Chi Lewis Parry just walked away. Casey Arena went off the rails (misinterpreting driving on the golf course is OK allegedly) . Simon Ogunlesi lost the plot every week .

Why and Why? A player who walks away because he is not getting PT (playing time) is not a player properly in the team system and within discipline. Sadly, I am no longer close enough to the British game to know the ins and out but in general, there have been some issues of discipline which can raise another question

So there we have it. 3 questions! Essentially can he only coach a small quick team of athletes at BBL level or can he adapt to what is needed to win at any level? Is he predictable to the extent that talented coaches can exploit him and does he have the discipline required?

One question though. What are we comparing to or trying to achieve? One can pick holes in all coaches.

The fact remains, he has won every trophy available to him domestically in 2 years (and within the first 3 years of the franchise being in existence). He has recruited a team completely of his own making (Dorsey aside) and all things considered, in my opinion is the best coach the BBL has to offer at this time.

If the measure is can we place him in the legends of the game at the coaching level (mind you there are not many…..Kevin Cadle basically) then no. Can we place him in among the generally accepted excellent coaches like Finch, Brandon, Mimms, Nurse, Donewald, Whelton, Baker Not for me…not yet.

But compare him to the other successful Brits, Bett, Peers, Scants, and for me, he’s as good if not better. He may not have the Xs and Os of a Dunning, Garbeletto or Titmus but he has other attributes they don’t and in today’s BBL game he pretty much has the required package.

Added to that he’s a real gent, who I covered when he played and was always approachable with none of the arrogance we so often see in this sport.

My position is simple. I am not a naysayer but I think he has more in the tank and given a chance will answer the questions I’ve raised positively. I hope the Heat invest in him. Send him to camps with the top Euro and US coaches and support his development like any other career. Let him build on his contacts and I think he will be a big part of driving British Basketball forward.