Celtics' Tom Thibodeau to coach Chris Paul and the Hornets?

[Ghazi]

Hornets

[Dunc n Dave]

Is that the best you can come up with? Three games in Chris's entire career?

And you continue to equate getting steals with playing bad defense.

Chris got on this list by only getting steals, because they apparently make up for bad defense.

Love how you twist what I said to deflect. Show me where I said getting steals = bad defense. There are plenty of guys who average a lot of steals and are very good defenders. I did say Chris Paul's defense is over rated because he GAMBLES for his steals, and like gambling in Vegas, you lose more than you win.

http://www.nba.com/games/20100106/NOHOKC/gameinfo.html

At 1:42 of the video denies 6-10 Kevin Durant the ball in a must win situation.

But that doesn't matter, because he gave up 17 points to Mike Bibby.

You use THAT clip as an example of Paul's "stellar" defense???
Durant made a half-ass attempt to come to the ball then stopped, and Paul hardly had to move. It looked like a S Drill at a high school basketball practice. Wow! That really convinced me! You're right, after seeing that play, I now believe Chris Paul is the greatest defender to ever play the game!

And again, the Bibby game was bad but Duhon scoring 18 against him? Duhon was in the worst shooting slump a PG has ever seen early in the year shooting less than 25% and suddenly snaps out of it for one game, conveniently against CP3 and scores his season high at the time. That was the first meeting in November. When they met again in December he tops that game (AGAIN against CP3) going for 22pts on 7-11 shooting, after going 4 of 19 the two games prior to playing the Hornets.

You want more examples? Stuckey lit him up for 26 points. Aaron Brooks for 27 points, Randy Foye for 23, Johnny Flynn for 20. None of these guys are considered Top PGs or even the Top scoring option on their team, except for arguably Aaron Brooks with Houston. I didn't even mention guys like Billups, Tony Parker, DWilliams, etc that also put up 20+ on CP3 THIS season, for obvious reasons. All this happened THIS SEASON... BEFORE Paul went down in late January with his injury.

You can live in the past all you want with your 2009 defensive stats, still doesn't change the fact that Paul is overrated as a defender.

[Pelicans78]

Chris Paul did play with a bad ankle most of the season before his knee injury. He didn't have his lateral movement which is why his numbers were down a bit this season.

Plus, the Hornets have two of the worst defenders in the paint with Okafor and West, and their wing players are slow and terrible as well. CP3 was asked to help double alot leaving his man wide open since no one else on the team were very good defenders. Hornets were a horrible defensive team this season, especially after trading Tyson Chandler.

[redzero]

So, you bring up how Paul playing bad defense last year, then when I show you evidence to the contrary, you try using this year to prove a point, even though he probably played 15 games healthy the entire year AND the Hornets as a whole were bad defensively?

Bull .

[fevertrees]

Rondo is 50x the defender lil floppy is, and that's the reason why HE is in the Finals for the second time while CPFlop is bowling with Lebron!

[redzero]

Rondo is 50x the defender lil floppy is, and that's the reason why HE is in the Finals for the second time while CPFlop is bowling with Lebron!

Those videos were hilarious!

[duncan228]

Thibodeau Meets With Bulls, Could Be Next Coach
By Tom Ziller

It took a few weeks, but the wild coaching carousel is finally picking up speed. Tom Thibodeau, who reportedly has the Hornets' job if he wants it, met with Bulls management Wednesday night in Los Angeles, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. Apparently, that meeting went well, as Johnson's sources report Bulls decision-makers John Paxson and Gar Forman were so impressed with Thibodeau the pair advocated for the Celtics assistant in discussions with team owner Jerry Reinsdorf Thursday. Negotiations on salary and contract length for Thibodeau could be next.

Even though it's June, this would be remarkably swift resolution for Chicago, given the stakes. And by "stakes" I mean the "6-8 elephant in the room," and by "6-8 elephant in the room" I mean "LeBron James." Chicago is one of four teams with both a coaching opening and a legitimate opportunity to employ King James next year. While the free agent has demurred on his role in picking a coach in Cleveland or elsewhere, it's safe to say no team chasing LeBron wants to disqualify himself by choosing the wrong man for the bench.

Thibodeau, however, might actually be the right man to lead LeBron's next team. After all, it's Thibodeau's defense which stopped James' Cavs two of the past three seasons. While Boston struggled to slow the Lakers in Game 1 of the Finals Thursday night, Thibodeau's reputation is impeccable, and James surely knows that as well as anyone. At the very least, hiring Thibodeau wouldn't seem to dampen Chicago as a potential James destination. It's possible it boosts the Bulls' case for LeBron.

[Dunc n Dave]

So, you bring up how Paul playing bad defense last year, then when I show you evidence to the contrary, you try using this year to prove a point, even though he probably played 15 games healthy the entire year AND the Hornets as a whole were bad defensively?

Bull .

What a moron. THIS year is LAST YEAR for every team right now except the Lakers and Celtics. Way to deflect... AGAIN...

[Giuseppe]

Dunc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[redzero]

What a moron. THIS year is LAST YEAR for every team right now except the Lakers and Celtics. Way to deflect... AGAIN...

How am I deflecting, dumbass? You haven't even addressed my post.

I showed you stats showing that CP3 was a good defender in 08-09. You tried to bring up a handful of games from 09-10 as evidence he is a poor defender, even though he was only healthy for the first ten games basically.

Rondo was lit up by Darren Collison for 26 or so points. Does that make him a bad defender? Tyreke Evans lit up Deron Williams for 30. Does that make Deron a bad defender?

[duncan228]

Just breaking.

Sources: Williams to become Hornets coach
By Adrian Wojnarowski

After pulling an offer to Tom Thibodeau, the New Orleans Hornets and Portland Trail Blazers assistant Monty Williams have agreed to the framework of a three-year contract for him to become the team’s head coach, a source briefed on the talks told Yahoo! Sports.

Hornets GM Jeff Bower abandoned his courtship of Thibodeau, a Boston Celtics assistant, on Friday afternoon, and entered into discussions with Williams to take the job. The source says the three years of the contract are guaranteed and the team will hold a fourth-year option.

Hornets star Chris Paul was a strong advocate for Williams’ hire, and sources say he was hoping Bower would turn to the Blazers’ respected assistant.

Thibodeau was the Hornets’ top candidate for the job, but had always preferred to fill the Chicago Bulls’ vacancy. He met with Bulls officials in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, and is now waiting on an offer from the team. The New Jersey Nets also have spoken with Thibodeau, but aren’t expected to hire a coach until after the NBA Finals.

[redzero]

Just breaking.

Sources: Williams to become Hornets coach
By Adrian Wojnarowski

After pulling an offer to Tom Thibodeau, the New Orleans Hornets and Portland Trail Blazers assistant Monty Williams have agreed to the framework of a three-year contract to become the team’s head coach, a source briefed on the talks told Yahoo! Sports.

Hornets GM Jeff Bower abandoned his courtship of Thibodeau, a Boston Celtics assistant, on Friday afternoon, and entered into discussions with Williams to take the job. The source says the team will hold an option for the third season of the deal.

Meh. I'll have to learn more about Monty before forming an opinion.

[Dunc n Dave]

How am I deflecting, dumbass? You haven't even addressed my post.

I showed you stats showing that CP3 was a good defender in 08-09. You tried to bring up a handful of games from 09-10 as evidence he is a poor defender, even though he was only healthy for the first ten games basically.

Rondo was lit up by Darren Collison for 26 or so points. Does that make him a bad defender? Tyreke Evans lit up Deron Williams for 30. Does that make Deron a bad defender?

You are seriously using Tyreke Evans, who averaged 20 ppg as a rookie and was the first option on his team, as an example against Williams' defense? And Darren Collison was regularly putting up 20+ on people with Paul out. He scored 20 or more 16 times last year (09-10 season, just so you don't get confused), and most of those games played over 40 minutes a night, so Rondo wasn't the only guy he lit up.

The only guy I used who was even close to being a 20 ppg scorer was Brooks. Bibby, Duhon, Stuckey, Foye, and Flynn aren't even the #1 option on their teams and played some of their best games of the season vs CP3. You can blame injuries all you want, I still say CP3 is over rated defensively because of the number of steals he gets. He's still a BEAST offensively.

This is all a moot point now anyway, since Thibodeau decided getting the Hornets to play D was not a job he felt like taking on. Good luck to the Hornets next year.

[redzero]

Okay, I'll use an entire season's worth of games to come to my conclusion, and you use half a season's worth of games in which the player isn't even healthy.

Great argument.