Found Objects: Heated Celebration

So I read the Sports Illustrated article, and found these interesting liners in the comments section:

“All you dummies who don’t know basketball impulsively associate Phil Jackson with “automatic championships” without realizing that he had ready-made teams for the triangle in the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls and the Shaquille O’Neal/Kobe Bryant duo in the Los Angeles Lakers.

Del Negro brought the best out of Derrick Rose in his rookie year when the Bulls nearly took down the defending champion Boston Celtics, and looks already like he’s maximizing Chris Paul’s immense talent on this very impressive Clippers squad.”

Last night, Magic Johnson expressed his displeasure of Jim Buss hiring Mike D’Antoni, who is no Phil Jackson. Throughout ESPNLA, today and yesterday, sports talk hosts have arrived to the conclusion that every time there is a ninja trade or hiring, Mitch Kupchak and Dr. Jerry Buss receive all the credit. When something goes wrong, Jim Buss gets the blame. Sound familiar? Donald Sterling danced to the same tune in the earlier years as the Clippers owner. Vinny Del Negro also sang a familiar melody in the lockout season when they got Chris Paul. Anything goes right, praise this guy. Anything goes wrong, blame the other guy.

VDN is no Phil Jackson, either. He’s no Popovich, not even a Tom Thibodeau. Eric Pincus of Hoopsworld considers Vinny as Doc Rivers 2.0, a struggling newcomer with no clue on how to run a team until Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen arrived and formed the Big 3 with Paul Pierce that won them the championship in 2008.

We have to ask ourselves: besides being Italian, who is Vinny Del Negro, really? What has he learned from his two years with the Chicago Bulls and the three seasons with the Clippers? The Clips are on a 6-2 start; naturally, we credit the players, especially Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Chauncey Billups. Derrick Rose in the 2010-11 season blossomed into a contortionist point guard who helped led the Bulls to the Eastern Conference Finals, but Thibodeau receives all the praise, not Del Negro.

In short, who do you think Vinny Del Negro could really become in the future?