Detroit, who may well end up as Eastern Division Champions, is still
a mystery to me. Like a cheap Timex, they somehow just keep ticking.
They rank 24th in salary but 4th in overall record at 47-26, establishing
Rick Carlisle as a strong candidate for Coach of the Year.
QUESTION: HOW MANY ADDITIONAL VICTORIES PER SEASON IS A GOOD
COACH WORTH?
Define good coach. KC Jones was a very good coach for the mid 80s Cs, by
record a not very good one anyplace else, and would be a disaster with this
current bunch. It's more a function of the particular team personality,
talent level, and internal leadership and how the coach matches up with
those things vs a strict formula. Phil Jackson has never pretended to be an
X and O genius (Jimmy Rodgers OTOH was, and a horrible coach), but was the
psychological master who got MJ to accept that it was a team game if he
wanted to win championships vs scoring a lot of points and has so far
managed to balance the ego dance that is the Lakers. He's a great coach
where the relative talents and egos mean that that's what's most needed,
but not necessarily on a team that needs an X and O genius more than a
motivator. Rick Carlisle to a certain degree has built a team in his own
image as a player, and is thereby probably in better sync with them to
maximize what they have than another sort of coach might be.