hoopie
Years ago

Are American coaches worth it?

I noticed the other day that Mark Price was sitting with Orlando Magic, as an assistant I think.

From memory, he was also instrumental in getting the South Dragons started, but "had problems with Shane Heal undermining him".

This got me wondering
- how good could the team have been under him?
- what's our experience like when it comes to American coaches anyway? Does their experience and knowledge REALLY help in a country like ours?

I can't remember what happened under Mike Dunlap so I'm sure someone out there can fill in the details pretty quickly.

Have we had any American coaches in the NBL who were successful?

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Couple guys called Brown, Westover and Goorjian had a good run I think?!?

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Dunlop, Goorjian, Brown = great.

Westover = shouted at his players, poor coach with a gun team who got found out in the end

Price = awful, didn't win a game.

End thread.

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pwned  
Years ago

Mark Price is being employed purely as Dwight Howards free throw coach. They brought him in about a fortnight ago.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Westover a poor coach? Who was on the gun team? Stephen Hoare, Tommy Greer, Neil Mottram, David Stiff, a 43 year-old D-Mac, Martin Muursepp, Braith Cox... stop me before I name too many stars of the NBL.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Chris Anstey, Rashard Tucker, Dave Thomas, D-Mac (yes D-Mac, gun point guard even at that age)David Barlow, Mark Worthington, Sam McKinnon...etc etc.

Should I go on?

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Mick  
Years ago

Brian Gorjian is arguably the best coach in NBL history.

In today's game, Woolpert is doing alright.

Case closed.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Westover won a title. And was a long time favoured assistant. You win a title, you're not awful.

6ers could do with an American at this point, not Don Monson, but someone with a different character and basketball culture to the same old.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Name a championship team that didn't have a few stars.
Or even a team that went to 4 straight grand finals... after losing 3 future hall of famers.
Should I go on?

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Tiger Watcher  
Years ago

Hit rate is about the same as Aussie coaches....who cares where they are born as longas they can coach!

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Mick  
Years ago

Agree with Tiger Watcher.

I think Americans generally have a different perspective and a better grasp of the two-man game (ie. pick & roll), something that isn't taught properly at a junior (or senior) level in Australia.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Pfft anyone who thinks that team wasn't incredibly loaded relative to the comp at the time clearly wasn't following the NBL although I was a little bit harsh on Al in my first post.

Look, Al is perfect for an older expirenced team, but wouldn't be good for the group we have right now.

Speak to some past players for more details.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Al won two championships and the tigers went to 4 grand final series when he took over from Lindsay (right after a period where the team changed significantly with a number of Tiger legends retiring etc). If that's not successful, you'd be hard pressed to find many coaches who have been.

The season he got cut was an ordinary one but there were lots of reasons for that which weren't necessarily his fault. It would be great if he came back to the NBL.

Reply #348098 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Hasn't Westover just been named the all-star team coach over in Japan?

Success seems to have followed him all the way there.

Reply #348099 | Report this post


Tiger Watcher  
Years ago

Running the shuffle works no matter where you take it! I think Al's current record in Japan shows that!

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Anonymous  
Years ago

al won two championships, anon. and made it to an additional 2 gf's. he had success with more than one team.

and i think you'd be hard pressed to find a coach that doesn't yell at his players!

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steve  
Years ago

also bruce palmer

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Al Westover is doing very well in Japan, and was indeed named all star coach. There's a good article on the NBL site about him at the moment.
Definitely one of the better coaches that was in NBL, and his lively character is truly missed.

Reply #348117 | Report this post


ANON12  
Years ago

Whilst I realise that Goorjian was born in the USA he came to Australia in the mid 70's as an import for the Melbourne Tigers. He is a great coach, but I'm note sure whether all his coaching nous came from being an American or picking up tips and ideas from his time as a player under Lindsay Gaze. His record as a coach in Australia however cannot be denied.
I know a lot of people do/did not like Goorjian as a coach but he is unfortunately one of those people that gets "white line fever" and go overboard on the court. He is however one of the most approachable and knowledgeable coaches that I have ever met and the 36ers could do worse than get him to caoch the team. At least he would be willing to interact with the fans and the media.

Reply #348288 | Report this post




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