duncan228
12-02-2009, 12:01 AM
Vandeweghe knows Nets present huge challenge (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/Vandeweghe_knows_Nets_present_huge_challenge.html)
Mike Monroe - Express-News
First order of business for the new coach of the NBA's only winless team: Buy some new clothes.
Kiki Vandeweghe's reputation as one of the NBA's most laid-back personalities began in his first season. Then, he famously lived in a Denver apartment with one piece of furniture and wore the same gray sweater through an entire season.
On Tuesday, he wore a coat and tie to the press conference at which his new duties with the Nets were announced but admits he needs more David Stern-approved duds to patrol the sidelines.
He will take over head-coaching duties Thursday, and by the time his new position becomes official, the Nets probably will have established an all-time low for start-the-season futility. Assistant Tom Barrise, who took over for Lawrence Frank on an interim basis, will be in the hot seat for tonight's game against the Mavericks. Barring an upset, Vandeweghe is apt to inherit an 0-18 team when he makes his NBA coaching debut.
“On some level,” he said in a Tuesday afternoon phone interview, “I am excited, but let's not sugarcoat it. This is something I haven't done before, and the team is going through a very, very tough time.”
Vandeweghe's move from the front office to the bench continues something of a trend. Earlier this season, GM Jeff Bower took over as the Hornets' coach after Byron Scott was fired. Portland's Kevin Pritchard finished out the 2004-05 season on the bench, then went back to the front office when Nate McMillan was hired.
Vandeweghe, too, wants to go back to the front office, but that will depend on what Mikhail Prokhorov decides about the team's basketball management when, and if, he is approved as the team's new owner.
“This job was taken,” Vandeweghe said, “because we needed to do something. I understand it, but it also was taken with the caveat I'd go back to the front office.”
Working the sidelines, he said, will give him a different perspective from which to evaluate the players who will be available in next summer's free-agent market, when the Nets will have about $30 million in salary-cap space to spend.
“It's a different look than sitting in the stands and watching them,” he said. “Do I know the players? Of course I do, but it provides a different kind of look I think will be very beneficial that you just don't get in the stands.”
Vandeweghe will try to get the Nets running more, which is what you'd expect from someone who played for Doug Moe and sat behind Don Nelson's bench in his only assistant coaching stint.
He won't be a screamer but insists he will leave his easy-going persona at the door on game nights.
Could he be the NBA's most laid-back head coach?
“It's possible,” he said, “but I'm not always the nicest guy in the world, either. Nobody gets to an NBA level, even as a player, without having a little bit of an edge.”
Moe, the ex-Spurs coach who had Vandeweghe as a Nuggets rookie, often screamed at him in practice in hopes he could send his laid-back player over the edge.
Vandeweghe rarely accommodated.
“I'm going to have to call Doug,” Vandeweghe said. “I'll bet he's laughing his ass off.”
Mike Monroe - Express-News
First order of business for the new coach of the NBA's only winless team: Buy some new clothes.
Kiki Vandeweghe's reputation as one of the NBA's most laid-back personalities began in his first season. Then, he famously lived in a Denver apartment with one piece of furniture and wore the same gray sweater through an entire season.
On Tuesday, he wore a coat and tie to the press conference at which his new duties with the Nets were announced but admits he needs more David Stern-approved duds to patrol the sidelines.
He will take over head-coaching duties Thursday, and by the time his new position becomes official, the Nets probably will have established an all-time low for start-the-season futility. Assistant Tom Barrise, who took over for Lawrence Frank on an interim basis, will be in the hot seat for tonight's game against the Mavericks. Barring an upset, Vandeweghe is apt to inherit an 0-18 team when he makes his NBA coaching debut.
“On some level,” he said in a Tuesday afternoon phone interview, “I am excited, but let's not sugarcoat it. This is something I haven't done before, and the team is going through a very, very tough time.”
Vandeweghe's move from the front office to the bench continues something of a trend. Earlier this season, GM Jeff Bower took over as the Hornets' coach after Byron Scott was fired. Portland's Kevin Pritchard finished out the 2004-05 season on the bench, then went back to the front office when Nate McMillan was hired.
Vandeweghe, too, wants to go back to the front office, but that will depend on what Mikhail Prokhorov decides about the team's basketball management when, and if, he is approved as the team's new owner.
“This job was taken,” Vandeweghe said, “because we needed to do something. I understand it, but it also was taken with the caveat I'd go back to the front office.”
Working the sidelines, he said, will give him a different perspective from which to evaluate the players who will be available in next summer's free-agent market, when the Nets will have about $30 million in salary-cap space to spend.
“It's a different look than sitting in the stands and watching them,” he said. “Do I know the players? Of course I do, but it provides a different kind of look I think will be very beneficial that you just don't get in the stands.”
Vandeweghe will try to get the Nets running more, which is what you'd expect from someone who played for Doug Moe and sat behind Don Nelson's bench in his only assistant coaching stint.
He won't be a screamer but insists he will leave his easy-going persona at the door on game nights.
Could he be the NBA's most laid-back head coach?
“It's possible,” he said, “but I'm not always the nicest guy in the world, either. Nobody gets to an NBA level, even as a player, without having a little bit of an edge.”
Moe, the ex-Spurs coach who had Vandeweghe as a Nuggets rookie, often screamed at him in practice in hopes he could send his laid-back player over the edge.
Vandeweghe rarely accommodated.
“I'm going to have to call Doug,” Vandeweghe said. “I'll bet he's laughing his ass off.”