Laimbeer and Theus- New Assistants

I agree that that angle is worth watching, but this is different than when McHale made Casey hire Wittman as an assistant. If they don’t do what they’re here to do, they’ll be gone before Rambis is, IMO.

Specialty-wise, I’m sure Rambis will be involved on both sides but maybe just implement his system and let the other guys run it on a day-to-day basis. If I had to guess, I’d say Wohl and Theus would be more related to the offensive side and Laimbeer to defense, but he’ll probably spend some time working with Love’s pick-and-pop and 3-point shooting.

They’d certainly beat any other collection of assistants in a pick game of 5 on 5.

Where do you get the notion that Rambis has weak people skills and is annoying? He was assinged to defense on the lakers team and doesn’t really sound like they tuned him out .. so where is there any hint of people not liking him?

Both of these guys are winners, to win you have to have your players on the same page, so don’t see why you’d think these guys won’t get our players motivated.

But think you’re advocating a worst-case scenario. I read the Charley Rosen piece about Rambis, and he did say it was possible that Rambis can change his habits a little bit. I’m also a bit wary of what Rosen says because he’s buddies with Phil Jackson. Personally, I think it’s possible Rambis was playing the heavy because it was necessary to keep a talented team focused. It’s a bit worrying, yes, but I’m willing to give it a shot. If he or the others don’t work, they’ll dump them after a couple of years, and in between, the team doesn’t have to worry about keeping their own free agents because they control the process for the guys they’d want to keep.

Also, not all assistants are necessarily “people persons.” From reading the Jack McCallum book about the 05-06 Suns, it was very obvious that some assistants focused on working with players and some were focused on Xs and Os. Wittman is a good example of this; he would seem to be a lot like Laimbeer, and he was part of some very successful teams. There needs to be balance, but it’s too simplistic to say that highly-intelligent people are often substandard teachers, and teams needs good systems and good strategies as much as they need good teachers.

Just respect him and get the job done. I’ll take leadership over likeability any day.

I don’t think that Laimbeer is even an introvert, and I’d guess Theus isn’t, either, considering his lengthy TV career before going into coaching. But with every coaching staff, there are the guys who are more player-oriented and the ones who are more strategy-oriented. Of course there’s overlap, but I’d be surprised if, say, Tom Thibodeau had any pet player projects with the Celtics like Clifford Ray did with Kendrick Perkins. If they bring back Bickerstaff, that’s another player-oriented guy.

Also, it’s obvious that Laimbeer and Theus want to be head coaches in the NBA again; it’s why they took this job. If they can’t do what Kahn wants them to do (develop players and be good strategically), they won’t be getting hired as a lead assistant somewhere else or as a head coach somewhere else. Simply put, they have a motivation to work well with these players.

Flashbacks to the Princess Bride.

and I’m telling you, they won in spite of Theus in 2007-08. He didn’t run anything for his best offensive player (Martin) and he never figured out how to use Francisco Garcia (a player he coached in college). He let Chuck Person devise and run his defense! Chuck Person! He blamed the media and (!) bloggers for the team’s failure.

The Kings won more games in 2008 than 2007 because a) Musselman was such a complete and utter disaster and b) Brad Miller was in the best shape of his life thanks to a hard offseason program from Kings strength and conditioning coach Daniel Shapiro. Theus was not a good coach.

It just seems like their profiles are due to their coaching careers as much as their playing ones. Rambis had some exposure because he was the only white starter with an added hook (the glasses), interim coach, and assistant coach for a “glamor” franchise, Laimbeer has some because he was on title teams and a successful WNBA coach who had a brief run as a studio analyst on ESPN, and Theus has it because he was a TV analyst (and Saturday-morning TV star (?)) for almost a decade before entering coaching.

I get what you’re saying, but when I think “high profile players,” I see more of the perennial all-star type (Laimbeer and Theus were All-Stars but not perennial ones) like Isiah Thomas, Kareem, and Larry Bird. These assistants weren’t great players, so their egos weren’t stroked to the same extent when they played.

Jackson, Brian Shaw, Rambis, Kareem, and Craig Hodges.

Not exactly high profile (except Kareem), but I would say they were successful last year. Also a ton of rings between them. (27, 28 maybe)

The only team in the NBA where all of the coaches are former NBA players? The L.A. Clippers. If the Wolves don’t hire any other assistants besides Wohl, Theus, and Laimbeer (sounds like Bickerstaff is still in the mix), they’d be the second.