Kevin Pelton has a fun read over at Basketball Prospectus that classifies NBA head coaches by their lineage, mentors, and influences. Pelton identifies some of the major luminaries who have spawned a coterie of current coaches, people like Dean Smith, Rick Pitino, and Pat Riley. Mike Dunleavy doesn’t fit squarely into any of the categories:
Mike Dunleavy – Del Harris. At South Carolina, Dunleavy played for Frank McGuire, giving him a connection to the Carolina tree (McGuire preceded Smith at North Carolina and influenced Smith’s use of per-possession statistics years before anyone else used them). However, his mentor in the NBA was Harris, first as a player in Houston and then as an assistant coach in Milwaukee. Harris is a follower of Don Nelson, but something got lost in the translation, as evidenced by Baron Davis’ difficulty going from playing for Nelson to playing for Dunleavy.
I’ve always loved the fact that South Carolina during the Frank McGuire era was a factory for Irish guys from the outer boroughs of New York — Bobby Cremins, Mike Dunleavy, Donnie Walsh, etc. It’s curious, though, that Dunleavy’s philosophy draws little inspiration from his teachers.
I had a chance to speak with a veteran NBA scout a few weeks back, and he told me that Mike Dunleavy’s system is the most finely structured in the league. He didn’t render any judgment on the value of Dunleavy’s regimen with the current Clippers roster [this was during the preseason], but said that the methodical nature of Dunleavy’s approach has always impressed him from a preparatory standpoint.
I’ve expressed my feelings on the Randolph acquisition, but as someone who enjoys observing the choreography of basketball, I’m eager to see if Dunleavy has the chutzpah to deploy that hulking, oversized lineup of BD-Thornton-Camby-Randolph-Kaman.
Question(s) of the Day: How would Camby-Randolph-Kaman match up against Peja-West-Chandler on Monday night? How about Camby-Randolph-Kaman against Carmelo-KMart-Nene? The most curious to me is next Saturday against a Miami front line of Marion-Beasley-Haslam. The problem there is that if you assign Camby to Marion, you effectively take Camby out of the middle where he’d be essential in deterring Dwyane Wade from penetrating. Incidentally, who takes Wade?
On the offensive end, the possibilities are fascinating. The most obvious strategy with a lineup that big would be to overload down low with some stack alignments. If you’re a craps player, think of it like this: If a Mike D’Antoni system amounts to playing the “Pass” or “Come Line,” a big Dunleavy scheme would be the equivalent of playing the “Don’t Pass” or “Don’t Come” line. It’s a spread offense turned on its head. You could actually run a double-stack with Kaman/Thornton and Randolph/Camby on either side. Thornton has the ability to pop out and drain a long-range shot; Camby and Randolph have some range; Kaman is a little more problematic because he generally needs a little more space to get and nail that 15-footer.
It’s intriguing stuff. I still don’t like the deal on a macro level, but if Dunleavy is serious about putting all those trees on the floor together, I’ll be one very entertained basketball dork.
38 Responses
“Incidentally, who takes Wade?”
Well, that’s your Clippers’ basic question, no?
With the current roster, the second spot in the backcourt is the issue.
Ricky Davis really should be able to play NBA ball, contrary to the evidence shown this season…
Posted on November 23rd, 2008 at 12:23 pm
And off-topic, may I mention that barring injury, welcome to your 2009 NBA champions, the Boston Celtics.
You can’t play off Rondo this year. And Tony Allen can give them useful minutes. They’re actually better.
Obviously, the phrase “barring injury” in November implies great uncertainty, but if it comes true, I don’t care about the winning margin the Lakers amass, and I don’t care about the greatness of LBJ. What the Celtics have going is essentially unbeatable.
buster Reply:
November 25th, 2008 at 9:09 am
if you watch the game where the pacers blew out boston, you will see they did so by playing off rondo. ….
Posted on November 23rd, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Just in. Clips are dealing Kaman and for Jason Richardson. Deal should get done in the next 48 hrs
Q.D. Reply:
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:29 pm
That cannot be true
Wade Reply:
November 23rd, 2008 at 9:43 pm
I can’t believe that.
Stian Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 12:12 am
You really need to dump your crack dealer and get better drugs.
bongstradamus Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 4:04 am
theres better available. we’re going old remember, we should be going for Vince Carter and Sean Williams and giving up Kaman, Hart and Thornton. We get some X factor on the wing and we get all the blocks and defense we could possibly need off the bench.
Wade Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 8:19 am
This is even dumber than the other guys trade you are calling dumb.
So we’re gonna trade our leading scorer who is under a rookie contract and our youngish center for a vince carter that’s going to leave at the end of the year?
That is the dumbest thing that I have ever heard in my life. All we really need to do is give them a first round top 20 protected pick and he’ll be ours. They aren’t going to get any more than that for him.
bongstradamus Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
For one, Vince is under contract for 4 years. He’s also ten times better than Jason Richardson could ever hope to be. If we want a dominant 2-3, and have to trade a highly touted but randomly delivering center then Vince Carter is the best and most tradeable G/F on the market.
Secondly, Al has been SUCKING MAJOR. I said it before the season and I’ll maintain it. Al was a nice pick, but hes not worth building a franchise around. Vince can do all that Al does, but to a much higher degree.
Thirdly, Sean Williams is the defensive animal that we wish Kaman could be. He also shows flashes of offensive dominance. He got bumped from the projected starting lineup to now riding the pine because of Yi Jianlian and Brook Lopez. He’s 6/11 and a monster on the boards and the blocks.
So when you really break it down, trading Kaman for Vince Carter is a no brainer. I’d much rather pay a guy $14m that I know is going to score 20+ ppg and be consistent than try to teach Chris Kaman how to receive a pass every other night.
Sure, it probably stings to trade Thornton off, but theres a lot you get in Sean Williams that makes it actually worth considering if we’re lacking defense. You just dont find 6’11″ guys with the skills Sean Williams has.
bongstradamus Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Also wanted to point I didnt call anyone dumb, i just said there was better out there and made a suggestion that actually works from the salary cap perspective and would be a deal a GM would actually consider.
Kaman for Richardson straight across doesnt work. Deals still off by $2M. Kaman for Wallace does however work straight across.
Typically you have to give a little to get a little. Giving Kaman is something we’ve been telegraphing which drives his value lower. But we toss Al into the mix and all of a sudden people are going to think twice about a possible deal.
And as we’ve seen, Al is a good player, he had a surprising rookie season, but he’s just not going to break through to being an all-star. He just wont. Trade him now while his value is high and you can still get a bonafide all-star and another prospect with a very real possibility of blowing up into something huge.
Wade Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
I was under the impression that VC was a FA at the end of the year. ‘Sheed is for sure (I’m guessing that’s the Wallace you are talking about). I still think trading Thornton is bad news. We have P. Davis for bench big man work. Plus w/ BD we can go small and run w/ Randolph at the 5.
Aaron Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
He’s talking about Gerald Wallace of the Charlotte Bobcats.
Posted on November 23rd, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Kaman for J Richardson? Didnt he just have his knee scoped a week ago? Thats all we need is a dude on crutches.
Posted on November 23rd, 2008 at 5:06 pm
we better get morrison in the deal too!
Posted on November 23rd, 2008 at 8:30 pm
who trades a top 5 center for an average sg?
Posted on November 23rd, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Only if it was for jordan…Although Morrison in LA, He looks like he can be a porn star by night
josh Reply:
November 23rd, 2008 at 10:05 pm
i didn’t think of that! haha! That’s so true. LMAO!
neiljphx Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 7:21 am
he cut his air super short last i saw. i barely recognized him.
neiljphx Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 7:22 am
he just cut his hair super short. i barely recognized him.
Posted on November 23rd, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Sounds like complete panic mode. Reguardless of what happens this season, the Clippers were in great shape for 2010 -Dunleavy. Not only did Dunleavy wreck the team this year, he’s destorying it for the next 5.
Stian Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 12:17 am
Dunleavy, bad as he might be as a coach, hasn’t destroyed anything yet for the future but moving a young top shelf C like Kaman for some schmuck SG certainly will. I can only laugh at all these simpletons who actually think we were gonna attract a superstar, an all-star or even just a star player in the summer of 2010. People, hel-lo?! This is the Los Angeles CLIPPERS we’re talking about here. Get a grip, please.
Ben Sandoval Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 12:31 am
i am going to have to cold heartedly agree with you Bro
the Clippers should jump on it
id do jason richardson for kaman straight up
but i mean if we can get another player why not
Posted on November 23rd, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Jason Richardson for Kaman?
i would do that in a heartbeat
jason richardson is exactly what we need and what we have never EVER had
an exciting 2 guard that can pump up the crowd with his dunks (and also make outside shots)
damn i hope that really happens that be great
Wade Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 8:14 am
I’m pretty sure that Q did that.
Posted on November 24th, 2008 at 12:30 am
Dunleavy seems to be following in the footsteps of Isiah Thomas. Short term foolishness in the process of wrecking the future. No vet with his heart set on winning would have anything to do with this franchise.
Posted on November 24th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Normally I’d agree. We are the Clippers, free agents don’t want to come here, that all makes sense.
But there are SO many free agents and so few teams that were in a position to offer a big contract that we could have been serious players in that offseason. We would of course have to overbid for players, but look at this list:
LeBron James
Amare Stoudamire
Dwayne Wade
Chris Bosh
Dirk Nowitzki
Josh Howard
Michael Redd
Joe Johnson
Manu Ginobli
Stephen Jackson
Rip Hamilton
Tracy McGrady
Carlos Boozer
Udonis Haslem
I would rather have any of these guys than Zach Randolph. It would have been nice to at least have a shot. Look, I know the LeBron’s of the world aren’t going to be Clippers. I get that. But Captain Jack? Joe Johnson? Josh Howard? It’s not ridiculous to think we’d have a shot at those guys. Instead, we’ll have Zach Randolph. It was a bad trade for us, any way you slice it.
Stian Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 3:08 am
1) If we hang on to Camby we still have capspace even with Randolph on the books.
2) Randolph comes off the books in 2011 so he too becomes a valuable trade asset in another year or so.
3) There is so much turnover in the NBA that teams that might not have capspace now might have it in spades 12 months later. People need to stop trippin’ about us having less CS now than we did 3 days ago.
4) The FA class of 2011 is nothing to sneeze at.
5) LeBron James
Amare Stoudamire
Dwayne Wade
Chris Bosh
Dirk Nowitzki
Josh Howard
Michael Redd
Joe Johnson
Manu Ginobli
Stephen Jackson
Rip Hamilton
Tracy McGrady
Carlos Boozer
Udonis Haslem
Which one of these guys do you think wants to be on the Clippers? The vast majority of these guys will be in their 30s come 2010 – if they are not already – and want to win a(nother) championship. What are the chances that’s gonna happen here?
Posted on November 24th, 2008 at 2:21 am
The wizards just fired their coach as they are 1-10 , clipper 2-11 should be next to have Dunleavy fire himself.
Posted on November 24th, 2008 at 8:08 am
This team got better with Big ZACH & without Mobley & TT. Now trade Ricky & Steve Novak.
With Randolph leading the charge, Kaman, Thornton & Eric Gordon can breathe easy & flourish. Clippers can now score 100+ almost every game(if they don’t…this trade mean nothing)
DAVIS-RANDOLPH-DUNLEAVY trio is here to stay & take this team to next level on consistant basis. Big upside for Clips & upcoming downhill for Lakers.
If Clippers can trade Kaman to get a proven SG, go and do it. We can survive on the paint with Zach, Camby, Skinner, Paul Davis & DeAndre.
Posted on November 24th, 2008 at 8:34 am
just reading the knicks blog and most fans are happy with the trades because they get to go at lebron in 2010 but they think that their playoff chances for this year have dropped because of the loss of Randolph. Thats a good sign for us, he is averaging 20 and 12 so thats not to shabby. There is 69 games left, clips would have to win about 42 or 43 more to make the playoffs, so thats a percentage of .610. I will stay tuned into this experiment
Posted on November 24th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Even if the Clippers assemble a better team, they’re still not going to make the playoffs because of their current record plus the 2 weeks to gel.
Posted on November 24th, 2008 at 9:18 am
LAC is becomming a Trailblazer reunion. The real deal will be w/da Pistons with Kaman going home for Rasheed. Watch and see it happen…isn’t it cool that DTS is footing the bill for MDsr fantasy league team? Oh wait – this is for real? Clippers bad I guess.
Posted on November 24th, 2008 at 9:38 am
MARDY COLLINS INFO:
http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Mardy-Collins-340/
A legit 6-6 point guard. Mardy Collins has great size for the position, and unlike many converted wing to point prospects, really plays like one too. He is not a spectacular athlete, but is highly fluid in his movements, has extremely quick feet and outstanding instincts.
Collins is a highly unselfish player that controls tempo and plays the game with tremendous poise and patience. He’s a coach’s dream since he always plays within himself, never forces things and rarely makes unforced errors. Being smart and fundamentally sound, he seems to have a great understanding of the game; knowing when to look for his shot and when to get his teammates involved.
He has very good playmaking skills, running his team’s halfcourt offense to perfection and executing extremely well. His court vision is excellent, utilizing his height to see the entire floor and being able to make passes that most shorter point guards just can’t, particularly into the post. His passing skills aren’t particularly flashy, as he’s more of your fundamental bounce pass-type who just gets the job done effectively. Typically strict Hall of Fame coach John Chaney appears to trust him with eyes closed.
Collins is an excellent ball-handler as well, dribbling the ball low to the ground with an array of hesitation moves and great confidence. Despite having just an above average first step, he is able to create his shot with ease at the college level thanks to all the many tricks he has in his arsenal, by using his head more than he does his feet. His ability to change gears and keep his man on his heels thanks to his assortment of head and body fakes helps him out greatly in this area. He has a strong crossover that he likes to use to get defenders off balance and either slash to the hoop, possibly using a spin-move, or pull up for the jump shot from mid-range, especially right around the free throw line. Once he gets to the rim he finishes creatively, utilizing his strength and toughness as well as his craftiness to usually score with a layup off the glass, and being just as effective after taking contact.
Collins’ intangibles are outstanding, possessing fine leadership skills and an excellent demeanor on the floor. He’s an intelligent player both on and off the court who does exactly what’s asked of him by his coaches.
The worst thing you could say about Mardy Collins is that he’s a likely role player. His upside is not off the charts, and he will never be the type of player who can consistently lead an NBA team in scoring.
Comments about Collins-
“He’s a smooth player,” said Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski of Collins, comparing the 6-foot-6 guard to former Knicks star Walt Frazier. Collins is one of the better players we’ve played against in the last couple years. We put good pressure on the ball and thought we might be able to wear him out. He didn’t get worn out. He was just there all the time. He’s a really, really good player – and I’ve seen good players… He’s going to be a hell of a player for a long time.”
He’s a bona fide point guard,” said Temple Coach John Chaney of Collins. “His name is never mentioned, but he’s tough as they come. And he wasn’t a point guard when I got him, so I’ve done a hell of a job with him.
… His timing of what to do and when to do it is getting better and better. Whether he scores or not, that’s not what I’m concerned about. I’m concerned about a guy who takes the challenge and that’s what he does. He’s a great leader. He’s turning out to be something special for us.”
“He’s my kind of a point guard,” Chaney said. “He doesn’t throw the ball away, and he can also put everyone in their own room — he’s patient enough to get his shot last as long as he can orchestrate for the other guys.”
He outclassed and outplayed him, there’s no question about it.” — Temple coach John Chaney, on point guard Mardy Collins (25 points, seven steals), who clearly outperformed Wake Forest star Chris Paul (nine points, eight assists) in a 67-64 Wake win on Dec. 13.
Xavier coach Sean Miller: “the guy who has the ball, in my opinion, is as good as any player in college basketball, Mardy Collins.”
Posted on November 24th, 2008 at 9:41 am
First it was Carlesimo (one win)….
then it was Jordan (one win)…….
LET’S MAKE IT A HAT TRICK!
Posted on November 24th, 2008 at 10:03 am
I want to know where this Kamen for Richardson originated. Anybody have a verifiable source?
Posted on November 24th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
It looks like we have to wait until Wednesday to see Randolph (and Collins) make his debut, because it was just reported by 710 ESPN that there was some mix-up with the physicals, so neither Randolph or Collins (or Thomas and Mobley) will be eligible to play tonight. They gone into details on why, but my guesses are either someone didn’t pass his physical or the physicals weren’t completed in time for tonight’s game.
Posted on November 24th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
BD-Thornton-Randolph-Camby-Kaman…there goes your perimeter defense, and probably perimeter offense as well.
Posted on November 25th, 2008 at 7:00 am
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