An Izzo Post-Mortem

by AncientMariner on Jun 16, 2010 10:44 AM CDT

All of these will be personal opinions, some of them gleaned from common sense and from various and sundry articles and stories in the past couple of weeks. The opinions may be wrong, and you may disagree with them, and if you do disagree, hey, it's okay, for after all, this is what we are here for, to have discourse, one fan to another, about this sport, and this team, that own so much of our souls.

Let's consider why, exactly, Tom Izzo rejected the Cavaliers.

I am not inclined to think that Izzo flirted with the Cavs because it was a slow couple of weeks in East Lansing and he had nothing better to do. I think that he sincerely considered coming to Cleveland, and that he would, in fact, have signed with the Cavs if he had any inkling that LeBron James was going to stay.

Now it may be said that LeBron is being shrewd and not tipping his hand before July 1st, and that he did not wish to have any say-so in the coaching choice, because if he had taken a definite stand, it would have showed his cards before he sat down at the table. If LeBron had said "Oh yes, if the Cavs get Izzo, I will surely stay", he would have taken away all of his leverage with other teams, for if he had endorsed Izzo and then changed his mind about staying and left, he would have been reviled in Cleveland and not trusted wherever he ended up, for his deception. And if he had said "Izzo might be a great choice but it won't matter who the coach is unless I get an offer I can live with"...then Izzo surely would have bailed out much sooner.

It is quite obvious to see that Izzo was only going to come to Cleveland if he could ride on the back of a superstar once he got here. It was never about being the coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and all about possibly being the coach of LeBron James. And with James's silence, with James's refusal to budge from his self-imposed moratorium on giving any clues before July, Izzo did the only safe thing he could do, and hedged his bets, choosing to stay where he is adored rather than to take a leap into the unknown and perhaps, in five years, finding himself in the company of Mike Brown.

Egos have a lot to do with professional sports nowadays, and the good coach or manager has to not only be a good strategist and tactician, he must also be a psychologist, able to meld a unit of ridiculously wealthy athletes into a cohesive entity, and able to turn their focus to winning at all costs, not to winning because "I am the star and I performed remarkably tonight". Izzo may well have taken a hard look at the difference between staying with his eager bunch of college players and going headlong into a situation where the inmates, frankly, seem like they are sometimes running the asylum.

One note in passing, an even more personal opinion: LeBron, you could have made this whole situation better by being like Dwayne Wade. Wade is also coming up on free-agency in a couple of weeks, but, unlike LeBron's silence, Wade has stated plainly and unequivocally that it is his wish to stay with the Miami Heat, if the right deal can be worked out.

If you had done that, Mr James, if you had just come out and given a clue, which you are allowed, after all, to do...this whole process, instead of being nightmarish and tedious, could have gone smoothly, whether you said you really preferred to stay in Cleveland or whether you said you wanted to try those supposedly greener pastures so many Cleveland "heroes" have sampled in recent years.

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It's been said before but bears repeating....

College coaches are usually great because they are great recruiters and control freaks that can get 18-21 year olds to do what they say by generally running roughshod over them. That is all Izzo has proved he can do.

In the NBA, the circumstances and differences are stark. The coach is not the center of the universe as the players are. The players are mature ( more or less) but still require deft handling and motivation. However, they can’t be bullied to perform and execute. They also know the difference between a good X’s and O’s guy and a good strategist. They generally respect coaches that have played in the “association” but will question and can become become resistant to those who have not.

As we have witnessed for the last two years, the regular season means nothing once the playoffs start. You must make in-game and game to game adjustments to win. Izzo has not proved he can do this at all. In the NCAA you win and go on to the next game but playing a seven game series against the some of the best players on earth is vastly different.

I doubt Izzo would have succeeded here or anywhere else in the NBA. This worked out for the best. Gilbert tried to make a splash but it was ill-considered.

I'm Polish...what's your excuse?

by Juannieboy on Jun 16, 2010 12:45 PM CDT reply actions

good analysis Juannieboy

by AncientMariner on Jun 16, 2010 12:51 PM CDT up reply actions

also, I can’t think of any NBA championship team that had a coach with one , let alone two, Z’s in their name.

I'm Polish...what's your excuse?

by Juannieboy on Jun 16, 2010 3:38 PM CDT up reply actions

LOL I love this post ^^^ I second that though about Izzo just because he has a great track record in the college ranks does not I REPEAT does not mean he would have shined in the NBA ranks. Hell look at Adam Morrison, and Christian Laetener…prime examples of players who did extremely well in college, and were nothing in the NBA. Coaches are the exact same way…Pitino, and the rest have been decent at best, and well short of the Phil Jacksons of the NBA.

by phoenixphire on Jun 16, 2010 10:14 PM CDT reply actions

Very Incisive, Ancient Mariner, And It Sure Sounds Like LeBron Will Be Leaving.....

Cleveland has had informal discussions with Milwaukee assistant Kelvin Sampson and former Atlanta coach Mike Woodson, both of whom could get interviews. But the Cavs only spoke with them as a safety net in case the whirlwind courtship with Izzo dissolved.

It did, and Izzo admitted the uncertainty about James’ future was a major factor.

Izzo didn’t speak directly with James, but got some needed information from people close to the All-Star.

"I felt comfortable with the things I needed to know," Izzo said. "If LeBron would’ve stayed, that doesn’t mean that I would have been there. It was not the only factor. Was it a big factor? Sure it was."

by BrownsCavaliersIndiansForev on Jun 16, 2010 10:28 PM CDT reply actions

A little bit of speculation

We don’t really know what Izzo is thinking – although your scenario of Izzo’s thoughts could be true, it’s not necessarily true. Personally, I don’t think Izzo wants to be Lebron James’ coach necessarily – I think that he’d be willing to coach any decent NBA team. He just doesn’t want to be part of a huge rebuilding effort, which is what the Cavs would have to do if Lebron leaves Cleveland. I think it’s not so much that he wanted to coach Lebron, it’s more like he didn’t want to coach a Lebron-less Cavaliers team.

And to Juannieboy’s assertion that Izzo couldn’t make it into the NBA – that assertion is a blanket statement on college coaches, not Izzo in particular. I’m not saying he will definitely succeed, but it’s best to give the man a chance. Yes, college success is not equated with NBA success, but just because there are many Adam Morrisons and Christian Laetener, doesn’t mean there arent’ Kevin Durants as well. Obviously, Durants are extremely rare and don’t appear often, but there is no indication that Izzo cannot possibly succeed. After all, success in the NBA can be attributed to excellent assistant coaches as well, as NBA coaching staffs are full of talent that college coaching staff don’t necessarily have. If Izzo were to bring in assistant coaches with NBA coaching experience and familiarity with NBA playbooks, and he is willing to listen to them and mesh ideas together, I believe that he may very well be one of the few college coaches that CAN succeed in the NBA.

by B- on Jun 16, 2010 11:06 PM CDT reply actions

I think you have to agree that the skill sets you need as a college coach are very different than the skills you need as a NBA coach. Maybe Izzo could develop them and maybe he could not. The question is how long would it take him to gain the trust and respect of the players? How long to learn how to make in-game and game to game adjustments? He would have a very short learning curve. We just don’t know but these are the reasons college coachs don’t suceed in the NBA. What leads anyone to think that Izzo would break the trend?

I'm Polish...what's your excuse?

by Juannieboy on Jun 18, 2010 8:37 AM CDT up reply actions