Amin Elhassan on the In The NO podcast

And thats the kind of stuff I am talking about when I say that it's not just about roster upgrades when we look for where this team can improve.

Having a different overall vision, a shared vision, a more process oriented focus can have ramifications on the court and now instead of the sum being lesser than your parts, its greater.

I don't think some of you guys understand how stressful everything was inside that organization. For everyone. How fractured different factions were and that carried over to the players and onto the court.

They don't have that in San Antonio and that is why a scrub like Bryn Forbes can come in and let it fly and turn into a solid piece. Thats why Derrick White can come out of nowhere and take over a playoff game even though he has two "stars" on the court with him.

There will be a totally different vibe in that building every day. Alvin won't have to play babysitter any more. He can be a coach again. His players will know he and the FO are on the same page. That is just as valuable, if not more so, than adding some guy who can score 18 and shoots 41% from 3. At least in the regular season. I am fully aware that elite players win series in the postseason. But one step at a time. Get the culture right, kick butt in the regular season and develop your own guys all while making it more enticing for better players to want to come and join you

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still feel the criticism of him as the Pels coach has been lacking in specific coaching strategy complaints

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The criticisms I've seen articulated largely boil down to

1) Pels lost. Blame the coach (will always happen)
2) Player X isn't getting enough run, the coach is dumb (will always happen)
3) Gentry has a sub .500 record as a head coach, he will always suck
4) He plays music at practice and doesn't yell at the refs enough, ergo he's too laid back to be a good coach

I'm not too sure what the outrage is with his coaching work in NO over the past 2 years. Not a world beater by any means; he's got flaws, but so does everyone. (Pop's players didn't understand they need to foul. What a bum coach!) Gentry has mostly been fine.

Of course that doesn't mean they should settle for fine or extend him. Rather, if we think Griffin knows what he's doing and he thinks keeping Gentry around is the right move, then we should trust Griffin. Let's see what happens over the next couple of years as the Pels transition into a functional organization.

I could go the other way and say, "This guy must be pretty good at something if he keeps getting coaching gigs in spite of his record."

I have always thought that if you have a 'C' roster, other guys could do much better for you than Gentry. Stevens would take a C roster and run circles around Gentry. But if you have a top roster and organizational stability, I would take Gentry over most. I would actually like Gentry more for this years Celtics than Stevens.

Just like players who are really good in some situations and not good in others, coaches are the same. Which is why D'Antoni could be terrible in NY and LA, and COTY worthy in Phoenix and Houston. Very few coaches (like players) are simply universally good or bad.

Just to be fair, I took what Amin said on the pod to heart. I respect his opinion.

I’ll give Gentry a chance under new admin. We will see.

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Just to be fair, I took what Amin said on the pod to heart. I respect his opinion.

I’ll give Gentry a chance under new admin. We will see.

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Same.

But I also said the same thing after Amin came on with Schwan and MM, throwing roses, after we hired Gentry. He's gonna be 65 years old, I won't hold my breath waiting for his career renaissance.

I know the guys joked with Amin about Griffin hiring him, but something like that wouldn't surprise me. Listening to some older podcasts, Griffin was really impressed by teams adding sort of outside the box guys to the mix, like the Clippers hiring Lee Jenkins or the Mavs and Haralabob

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I mean, I had confidence when Griffin was gonna give him a chance. But now that Fun Bunch is..... LETS FREAKING GO, FELLAS!!

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And this is why everyone thinks you’re such a self righteous douche.

There’s simply no need for this but you can’t help yourself.

He also really liked MCW and Anthony Bennett in the draft that year. Shows you that the brightest basketball minds can be very, very right about the future and very, very wrong in the same hour span. It's all a crapshoot.

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Amin actually didn't throw roses on our pod. He said he didn't think Gordon-Jrue-Tyreke would work because there was no clear cut alpha and they all came from losing teams and had bad habits as a result. He was actually pretty dead on about what happened

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I was talking more about his admiration for Gentry, than his take on the team.

I really appreciate Amin's basketball opinions and I don't think you can help but to be excited about the info he gave on the pod. I'd like it if Griffin would actually reach out to him.

I just think he has a really soft spot for Gentry. I remember him advocating for him to get the Cleveland job years ago when Blatt got it.