This is a quote from an article I posted the other day by Sam Smith.
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http://www.pistonsforum.com/nba-stuf...istons-33.html)
I was thinking about this the other day after talking to Scottie Pippen about the possibility of him coaching someday in the NBA. I told Pippen he needed coaching experience first. He asked me why. So why does someone have to sit next to a coach for years or coach in the minor leagues or overseas before becoming an NBA coach? Why isn't making split second decisions in the biggest games ever enough experience? Pippen had a good point. Larry Bird never coached. But he got a pair of good assistants, went to the NBA Finals, and was coach of the year. Doc Rivers never coached and was coach of the year in Orlando. Avery Johnson barely was an assistant. Pat Riley was mostly a broadcaster. Don Nelson was trying to get into referee school. Isiah Thomas never coached and had a nice three-year run with the Pacers. Doug Collins was a natural without any real experience other than studying the game every day of his life and being an NBA All-Star.
So, Bill doesn't have any NBA coaching experience, so what? I agree with Sam. Knowing the game is more important than having sat beside a mediocre coach as an assistant.
Whether Bill could manage NBA players or not seems to me a very real question. Certainly the style of coaching I read about that he shows in the WNBA wouldn't fly. He'd lose the players in a week. (As he has lost some of the WNBA players. Perhaps there would have been more titles with that bunch with another coach, who knows.) But that all assumes that Bill isn't smart enough or able enough to know how to adjust his style to the situation.
That seems to me to be the real question.