Los Angeles Clippers

This article was initially published by Basketball News on Nov. 4, 2020.
Every NBA team approaches their search for a head coach differently, and no two searches are the same. Here are a few things to consider or put into perspective when it comes to NBA teams&rsquo; coaching searches.
Some teams ask you to draw up plays you&rsquo;d run for their team on a chalkboard in the room before you even sit down. In some interviews, they just want to talk about your philosophies (as far as basketball and life in general). They might ask you what changes can be made to the roster. It all just depends on that team&rsquo;s way of doing things.
My interview with the Chicago Bulls was much different than my interview with the Los Angeles Clippers. They were totally different situations, and other interviews I&rsquo;ve been in were completely different than those. You&rsquo;re never sure what&rsquo;s going to happen until you walk into the interview. Sometimes, you don&rsquo;t even know who&rsquo;s going to be interviewing you.
Sometimes, it&rsquo;s just the front-office staff. Other times, the owner will be very involved. Some teams bring in their team psychologist, and they have a whole list of questions to ask you. They&rsquo;re going to want to know what kind of leader you are, and they&rsquo;re going to want examples -- not just of your successes, but of your failures as well. How did you adapt to change in these particular situations? How do you drown out the media noise? How will you work with the players and management? What is your overall level of commitment?
But it&rsquo;s not just the decision-makers that you have to sell yourself to, it&rsquo;s the players too. And you have to do that 24/7. You have to sell them on what you believe in if you want that give and take and if you want them to buy in. Also, you have to make them understand the standards that you&rsquo;ve set for the team.&nbsp;
Not every job is for every coach. Every coach has different standards, beliefs and teaching styles, and the team you&rsquo;re interviewing with might not share the same philosophy. You really have to know what you&rsquo;re getting into.&nbsp;
When you&rsquo;re interviewing for a head-coaching job, you talk about the roster and you have your own questions that you want answered too. Are they trying to build around a certain player? Are they willing to go into the luxury tax? How much will they involve their head coach in draft and free-agency decisions? For example, some teams want their coach to be very involved and present for every draft workout; others don&rsquo;t want them to focus on that at all.&nbsp;&nbsp;
There&rsquo;s way more research that goes into preparing for an interview than most people can even begin to imagine. You have to know as much as possible about the team. The more details you have, the better. Not only are you doing your homework about the roster, you&rsquo;re looking at how the team is situated going forward too. How many draft picks do they have in the years ahead? What does the team&rsquo;s cap situation look like? You have to research all pertinent information about the roster and the team&rsquo;s flexibility moving forward.
Also, it&rsquo;s important to understand the team&rsquo;s expectations (in the short-term and long-term). Continued team improvement is paramount. Does the team believe they can realistically contend for a playoff position that season? Is there a certain future championship window (depending on all of the talent assembled)?
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Once a coach does get the job, that&rsquo;s when the real work starts. It&rsquo;s very difficult to win at a high level, and it&rsquo;s extremely difficult to win at a high level consistently.&nbsp; You have to lead, and not all personalities are the same or mesh well with certain leadership styles.&nbsp;
Everyone throws around the word &lsquo;culture&rsquo; like it&rsquo;s easy to create. The teams that have been able to create a consistent culture do so from the ownership to the front office, all the way down to the end of the bench.&nbsp;
The biggest keys to success in winning are talent and consistency. When you look at all of these winning organizations, what do they all have in common? They were all consistent with their decision-making. They may have been fortunate with draft picks that turned out much better than they expected or free agents that just needed a fresh start, but that&rsquo;s only part of the equation. 
You need to have a vision for how all of these players are going to fit together. Each player is a piece to the puzzle, and you&rsquo;re trying to emphasize the player&rsquo;s strengths and work with them on their weaknesses. The staff is always working on player development and focusing on the fundamentals, while also learning each player&rsquo;s personality and skill sets to put them in the best position for success. Building relationships with players is always the goal, which allows you to improve players&rsquo; skill sets and ensure that the work they&rsquo;re putting in is not only helping the team but also their individual career.
You can&rsquo;t let rumors about your team, your job security or yourself cloud your vision. You walked into that interview room with a plan and a goal, and you can&rsquo;t let anything or anyone distract you from it. However, it&rsquo;s also vitally important to be flexible and open to making adjustments as you move forward and receive new information.
You have your standards. You have your vision. And you have to be yourself.&nbsp;
Finally, here&rsquo;s something that I&rsquo;ve learned after being around the NBA for many years (as a player, executive and head coach): The most important thing for a coach is time. The more time a coach has, the more they can learn about their team - from knowing everyone&rsquo;s strengths and weaknesses to figuring out people&rsquo;s tendencies to seeing how certain guys play well together. Over time, a coach will build strong relationships with the players as well as others throughout the organization. Trust and loyalty is earned and, if earned, must be reciprocated. And everyone has to be pulling in the same direction in order to exceed expectations and align with the standards set forth.&nbsp;
Time is a coach&rsquo;s best friend.&nbsp;

Former NBA head coach Vinny Del Negro provides a behind-the-scenes look at the interview process for NBA head-coaching jobs.

An inside look at the interview process for NBA head coaches

Candidates for lead assistant role for Portland Trail Blazers and new head coach Chauncey Billups: Former Bulls/Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro, ex-Wizards/Thunder coach Scott Brooks and Lakers assistant Lionel Hollins.
Source: <a href="https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1412970784885149697" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter)</a>
ANALYSIS: Scott Brooks and Lionel Hollins both coached in the NBA this season, as Brooks was the head coach of the Washington Wizards and Hollins was an assistant with the Los Angeles Lakers. Vinny Del Negro, on the other hand, has been out of the NBA since his last year as head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers in 2013. Del Negro most recently worked as a writer for BasketballNews.com.&nbsp;

According to The Athletic, Vinny Del Negro, Scott Brooks, Lionel Hollins are leading candidates for Blazers asst. coach position.

Del Negro, Brooks, Hollins among candidates for Blazers' staff

In this series, Matt Babcock shares his experience growing up around the Milwaukee Bucks organization since his dad, Dave Babcock, has been an executive with the team for 23 years. He also provides an inside look at the rise and fall of the Bucks during the late 1990s and early 2000s. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/breakingnews/growing-up-a-buck-millewahque-milwaukee-bucks-nba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">If you missed Part 1, read it here</a>.
The 1998-99 season would prove to be a very interesting season for the NBA, the Milwaukee Bucks, and especially, me.
To start, in June of 1998, the NBA and the Players&rsquo; Association failed to come to a consensus on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. This caused the owners to lock out the league in July, with no end in sight.
In late August, Senator Herb Kohl, the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, decided to part ways with the head coach, Chris Ford. Shortly after, George Karl inked a four-year contract to become the new head coach. Just a few years prior, George had coached the Seattle SuperSonics to the 1996 NBA Finals where they faced Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. The Sonics featured star players Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, and Detlef Schrempf. That Sonics team took the Bulls, perhaps the greatest team of all-time (with the greatest player of all-time), to six games. 
There&rsquo;s a saying that goes, &ldquo;A team takes on the personality of their head coach.&rdquo; In hindsight, there&rsquo;s no better example of this than that Sonics team. Led by Payton, this team was competitive, fearless, chippy, aggressive and visibly passionate about the game, with a tendency to &ldquo;stir the pot&rdquo; &mdash; just like Karl.&nbsp;
Needless to say, I was excited that George was our coach and that I&rsquo;d have the opportunity to be around someone of his stature. I say &ldquo;our coach&rdquo; because, remember, my dad was serving as director of scouting for the Bucks&rsquo; front office at this time. Little did I know how well I would get to know George Karl...
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Not long after George was hired by the Bucks, I was introduced to him and his son, Coby, who happened to be the same age as me. Since I spent the previous season in Milwaukee hanging around my dad&rsquo;s office and the practice facility, while also serving as a ball boy for the team, I showed Coby the ropes. Although my dad was not a former NBA player or a celebrity head coach like Coby&rsquo;s, it was apparent from the get-go that he and I were &ldquo;cut from the same cloth&rdquo; &mdash; we were true basketball guys. It was in our blood and we lived for the game. We were at the Cousins Center, the Bucks&rsquo; practice facility, where our dads&rsquo; offices were, all the time. All we wanted to do was be on the court or around our dads&rsquo; offices. 
One time, we went to the Cousins Center on a weekend when no one was there and we didn&rsquo;t have a key... so we broke in and the cops were called. We tried to justify it by saying we had to get shots up. We thought our dads would understand. Anyway, we were instantly great friends, brought together by basketball, in this new place called Milwaukee, Wisconsin.&nbsp;
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Now, we just needed the lockout to end and the Bucks&rsquo; season to start.
The lockout ended in January and once the Bucks&rsquo; season got into full swing, every security guard and staffer in the Bradley Center knew us. We had full access before, during, and after games. I&rsquo;m sure some people thought the access we were given was ridiculous, but I wasn&rsquo;t complaining and I certainly wasn&rsquo;t going to pass up on those opportunities. We shot around with the players before games during the informal warmups and I routinely played one-on-one with Glenn &ldquo;Big Dog&rdquo; Robinson before each home game. If you were a Bucks fan during this time, you will remember the &ldquo;Big Dog Yank&rdquo; &mdash; this was Big Dog&rsquo;s step-back crossover move. He embarrassed me with this move many times. Coby and I were regulars in the locker room during pre-game pep talks conducted by George, or pre-game video preparation done by one of the assistant coaches: Terry Stotts or Ron Adams. We heard George rip the team, on occasion, at halftime or after a tough loss and we were also there celebrating with the team after big wins.
That year, our high-school spring break came at the right time. The Bucks were scheduled to play the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat in Florida that week, and I was invited to join. Although the access I had that year was on an entirely different level than it had been in years past, I had still been around plenty of NBA players and exposed to a lot of the behind-the-scenes scenarios within the NBA through my family. However, I had never flown with the team on a road trip.
Before I knew it, I was boarding the team&rsquo;s private plane. I sat near the front with Coby and his dad. I was a 15-year-old kid traveling with the Milwaukee Bucks &mdash; I couldn&rsquo;t believe it. The first stop was Orlando; it was pretty late when we landed. Coby and I slept on cots in George&rsquo;s hotel room. We woke up the next morning, had a quick breakfast, and got on the team bus to head to practice. On the way to the arena, George let Coby and I know that we would be participating in the team&rsquo;s practice. Although practice on the day of a game, commonly referred to as &ldquo;shootaround,&rdquo; is generally very laid back and casual, we would still be doing organized drills led by one of the most famous coaches in sports and with NBA players like Ray Allen, Sam Cassell, Dell Curry, Vinny Del Negro, Glenn Robinson, and Tim Thomas. I thought it was a pretty big deal &mdash; I was nervous. We went through the shootaround, doing different drills with the team, and I did fine. In hindsight, what an amazing opportunity for a young kid.
After the shootaround, we had lunch and took pregame naps. We were on the team&rsquo;s schedule and that&rsquo;s just what you do the day of a game. The first bus was scheduled to leave a few hours before tipoff. There are multiple team buses that go to the arena from the hotel before each away game. Young players that didn&rsquo;t play much would usually go on the first bus to get some extra pre-game work in on the court. Star players that played major minutes didn&rsquo;t go over to the arena as early. Coby and I always got on the first bus so we could get extra time on the floor before the game. I then played my regular one-on-one game with Big Dog whenever he arrived. Once the games started, we didn&rsquo;t have tickets or assigned seats &mdash; we sat on the court next to the team&rsquo;s bench. When players would be substituted out of the game and walk back to the bench we would give high fives along with the rest of the players. It felt as if we were a part of the team and living the NBA equivalent of the movie &ldquo;Almost Famous.&rdquo;
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Unfortunately, the Bucks lost both games on that trip. The first game was versus the Magic and Penny Hardaway, who had 26 points that night. In the second game, Alonzo Mourning&rsquo;s Miami Heat edged the Bucks by a few points in a close game. &ldquo;Zo&rdquo; was a really impressive player to see in person; he was so strong and played with an intensity unlike any player I had ever seen before. I am really grateful I was able to see him up close during his prime. He certainly made a huge impression on me.
So, our spring break was coming to an end. We were on the flight home to Milwaukee after the game in Miami. It was the trip of a lifetime, but I was exhausted. I fell asleep as soon as I sat in my seat on the plane. Halfway through the flight, I was awakened by a nudge. I opened my eyes and it was veteran player, Armon Gilliam, nicknamed &ldquo;The Hammer.&rdquo; He politely asked me if I had the Bible, and I told him I did not. A few seconds later, once Armon returned to the back of the plane, a few of the players chuckled. They were pulling a prank on me by hiding the Bible from &ldquo;Hammer&rdquo; and telling him I had it. I suppose I was being hazed. I felt like I belonged.
George led the Bucks to 28 wins in that lockout-shortened season. That meant they were going to the playoffs to face Reggie Miller, the Indiana Pacers, and their coach, my childhood hero, Larry Bird.&nbsp;
The Bucks were ascending rapidly, and I was along for the ride.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/growing-up-a-milwaukee-bucks-its-reggie-miller-time-indiana-pacers-nba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read Part 3 of this series: "Growing up a Buck: It's Miller Time." </a>
Also, check out Matt Babcock and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com's latest 2021 NBA Mock Draft</a>.

Matt Babcock, who grew up around the Bucks organization, provides an inside look at the team's rise and fall during the late '90s and early 2000s.

Growing up a Buck: George Karl arrives in Milwaukee

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Jadakiss Joins Kenyon Martin&rsquo;s &ldquo;Neat &amp; Unfiltered&rdquo; Podcast as Co-Host
Season 2 starts on Feb. 3 and episodes drop weekly on all streaming platforms
Today, BasketballNews.com announced that NBA All-Star Kenyon Martin has added a high-profile co-host to his podcast &ldquo;Neat &amp; Unfiltered.&rdquo; Chart-topping rapper Jadakiss has joined the show as the co-host, starting with the season-two premier on Feb. 3. One of the most distinctive and regarded voices in hip hop is bringing his talents to the podcast space.
The first season of &ldquo;Neat &amp; Unfiltered&rdquo; featured 10 episodes, with Martin interviewing high-profile guests such as Method Man, Roy Jones Jr, Daniel Wu, Michael Eric Dyson, and Michael Rapaport among others. Season two will feature plenty of big-name guests once again, as well as Martin and Jadakiss discussing sports, hip hop and a wide variety of other topics.
New episodes of &ldquo;Neat &amp; Unfiltered&rdquo; will now drop every Wednesday at noon ET. Each video episode is available on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqbiFlICp8fRLU1kyFuh9tQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube</a> and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/kenyon-martin-podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com</a>, and the audio-only version is available on A<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/neat-unfiltered-with-kenyon-martin/id1541073998" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2QPqI56BKEnTJKiH6VyLhX?si=UCryCAIISF-gPTYK50PMEQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spotify</a>&nbsp;and all other streaming platforms.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Jadakiss is arguably one of the most influential and lyrical rappers in hip-hop, so having him as my running mate on 'Neat &amp; Unfiltered' was a no-brainer," said Kenyon Martin. "We have a game-plan for season two that will be unmatched by any podcast out there. Stay tuned!&rdquo;
"If you know me, then you know I love talking basketball,&rdquo; said Jadakiss. &ldquo;And Kenyon is a long-time friend of mine, so this is perfect.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Kenyon Martin's "Neat &amp; Unfiltered" podcast just made a big addition: Jadakiss is joining the show as co-host! New episodes drop every Wednesday at noon ET, starting with the season-two premier on Feb. 3. <a href="https://twitter.com/KenyonMartinSr?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KenyonMartinSr</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Therealkiss?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Therealkiss</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/RocNation?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RocNation</a> DETAILS: <a href="https://t.co/IYhJbhVPXm">https://t.co/IYhJbhVPXm</a> <a href="https://t.co/jaUSn84Jn8">pic.twitter.com/jaUSn84Jn8</a>
&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1356335201996181505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 1, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Martin, a fearless player who never shied away from confrontation or speaking his mind, played 15 seasons in the NBA with the New Jersey Nets, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, New York Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks. After being named the National College Player of the Year, he was the No. 1 pick in the 2000 NBA Draft. He became an All-Star and averaged 12.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.1 blocks over the course of his career. Martin was a fan favorite due to his style of play and big personality. He also writes articles for BasketballNews.com.
One of his generation&rsquo;s most respected rappers, Jadakiss got his start with the LOX before transitioning to a successful solo career. He released &ldquo;Kiss tha Game Goodbye&rdquo; (2001) and &ldquo;Kiss of Death&rdquo; (2004) &mdash; both of which charted Top-10 and were certified gold by the RIAA. In recent years, he's added voice-actor to his titles (Netflix's &ldquo;Fearless&rdquo;) and continued to release music, including the Fabolous collaboration "Friday on Elm Street" (2017) and "Ignatius" (2020).
&ldquo;Kenyon and Jadakiss have been close friends for many years and they have terrific chemistry,&rdquo; said Alex Kennedy, BasketballNews.com&rsquo;s Chief Content Officer. &ldquo;They both say whatever is on their mind, so this will be fun!&rdquo;
There are now nine shows on the Basketball News Podcast Network, with plans to add several more in the coming months. In addition to &ldquo;Neat &amp; Unfiltered,&rdquo; the network has &ldquo;The Posecast with James Posey,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Rematch with Etan Thomas,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Dunker Spot,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Alex Kennedy Podcast,&rdquo; &ldquo;Dishes &amp; Dimes,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Follow Through with Clipps and Drew,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Sheridan Show,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Keepin&rsquo; It 94.&rdquo;
About BasketballNews.com
BasketballNews.com offers unprecedented access and coverage to diehard basketball fans. The platform features insights from some of the leading minds in basketball including current and former NBA players (such as Kenyon Martin, James Posey, Etan Thomas and Vinny Del Negro) and top journalists (such as Alex Kennedy, Chris Sheridan and Nekias Duncan). BasketballNews.com&rsquo;s staff has worked in and around the NBA for decades, which allows them to provide unique insight in their exclusive articles, podcasts and videos. BasketballNews.com also has statistical data dating back to the 1946-47 NBA season. For more information visit BasketballNews.com or follow on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/basketballnews">Instagram at @BasketballNews</a> and on <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews">Twitter at @BasketbllNews</a>.&nbsp;

Kenyon Martin's "Neat & Unfiltered" podcast has added a high-profile co-host: Jadakiss! Season two begins on Wednesday, Feb. 3!

Jadakiss joins Kenyon Martin’s 'Neat & Unfiltered' podcast as co-host

It&rsquo;s hard to believe that we&rsquo;ve nearly completed the first quarter of the 2020-21 NBA season. It&rsquo;s obviously been unlike any we&rsquo;ve ever seen, and Adam Silver and the league deserve a ton of credit.
So do the players&hellip; And so do the coaches.
I played for the Bucks in 1999 and coached the Clippers in 2011 &mdash; which were both lockout-shortened seasons &mdash; but for coaches, I&rsquo;m sure that this season is unlike any they&rsquo;ve ever experienced. There are some unique challenges, such as playing without fans and the strict limitations on interactions with players. Ttrying to keep players mentally fresh and motivated over the course of a long (condensed) season isn't easy.
On MLK Day, we all saw Steph Curry nail a terrific stepback three over Anthony Davis. He helped the Warriors beat the Lakers, but didn&rsquo;t get the satisfaction of feeling the energy get sucked out of Staples Center. Under normal circumstances, the building would&rsquo;ve gone silent while the Warriors and their fans in the building had their moment. Not this time.
As the scene unfolded, the lack of energy in the building was obvious.
Curry, like most players, feeds off of energy. And if you&rsquo;re playing in an empty arena, mustering the same kind of energy as if you were playing in front of a packed house isn&rsquo;t always easy. In the Orlando bubble, players at least knew they were competing for the championship, but the grind of the regular season sometimes makes it difficult to bring a natural urgency to each and every game. That&rsquo;s where fans often come in. That&rsquo;s not so much the case this season.
For a coach, that&rsquo;s probably just the start.
More than anything, time is the most important thing for a coach. It just feels like there&rsquo;s never enough. Practicing, reviewing film, installing plays and developing relationships are all necessary for a coach to understand how to put their players in positions to succeed on the court. In a condensed season, there&rsquo;s even less of it. And the recent uptick in positive COVID-19 tests within the NBA have only made things worse.
As a result, the league has restricted a coach&rsquo;s access to his team, further shortening the time that they have together.
Coaches enjoy working individually with players more than anything else &mdash; being on the court, tracking a player&rsquo;s development, seeing them improve individually so the group is stronger as a collective. That&rsquo;s what we live for. Those opportunities have now been limited.
Aside from the obvious, the lack of on-court time together also reduces a coach&rsquo;s ability to teach his team how to win. Knowing how to win and learning how to win are two different things. In tight moments that decide games, we tend to pay more attention to whether the ball goes in than whether the ball went to the right place, whether a screen is set at the right angle, whether a cut was properly timed or whether any of the other small factors that increase the percentage of success were executed successfully. With a limited amount of instruction time, it&rsquo;s tough to teach teams how to win, especially younger teams or those with a lot of new personnel.
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Today, coaches also have to deal with something that we didn&rsquo;t in 1999 or 2011: postponed games &mdash; a major potential source of frustration.
Preparing for a game only for it to ultimately not be played breaks rhythm and, in some ways, could be deflating. Guys look forward to competing, and when their ability to do that is taken away, there&rsquo;s bound to be some disappointment.
Coaches, like players, are competitive junkies. When you get on the court, whether you&rsquo;re wearing sneakers or holding a clipboard, you&rsquo;ve prepared to compete. Whether it&rsquo;s scoring, rebounding, setting screens or drawing up plays, everyone is in it together and everyone wants to get a win. Having that opportunity taken away is almost as much of a gut punch as a loss.&nbsp;
That&rsquo;s especially true in a situation where a team has already prepared for a game and traveled to the host city. A postponed contest probably causes some frustration that, at the end of the day, a coach has to manage. When players travel to host cities &mdash; we talk about the &ldquo;Orlando bubble&rdquo; all the time &mdash; they live in a hotel bubble. They no longer enjoy the freedoms of going out to dinner, socializing freely, walking around the city, getting a coffee or seeing friends and family.&nbsp;
For them to make those kinds of sacrifices has to take a mental toll, especially since they&rsquo;re not able to unplug and do the things they&rsquo;d normally do to clear their minds and get away from the game for a few hours. Imagine self-isolating in a hotel room for a day for the sole purpose of playing a game, only for the game to not happen. That&rsquo;s a unique obstacle that nobody&rsquo;s really seen before, and it would surely have a mental effect on a coach&rsquo;s team. Being successful is not only about being physically ready to play, it&rsquo;s also about being mentally prepared to focus. We all need downtime and opportunities to unwind and clear our heads. It&rsquo;s not easy for everyone to do that when they&rsquo;re asked to isolate in their hotel rooms.
Now, just imagine having to do that for two or three days. That&rsquo;s the scenario some teams have faced since they&rsquo;ve been tasked to do something nobody&rsquo;s ever seen before in the regular season: play twice consecutively in the same arena.&nbsp;
Home-and-home series happen frequently in the league, but this season, we&rsquo;re seeing two teams go at it two times in a row in the same city. It&rsquo;s hard enough beating a team two times in a row under normal circumstances, much less in their own building.
When you combine those challenges with the demands of a &ldquo;normal&rdquo; NBA season, it&rsquo;s obvious that the coaches in the NBA today deserve credit for their hard work and dedication. For the most part, thus far, they&rsquo;ve been able to have their teams ready to compete at the high level we&rsquo;ve grown accustomed to seeing. There&rsquo;s no way that&rsquo;s been an easy task.
To put things in perspective, the challenges the league and its personnel face pale in comparison to the unforeseen losses that everyday people have experienced. People have lost loved ones and jobs, and many families are struggling to pay their bills. The sacrifices made by the NBA to continue to present its product obviously can&rsquo;t be compared, but COVID-19 has impacted each and every one of us. We may not be experiencing the virus in the same way, but there are sacrifices being made on all fronts.&nbsp;
Kudos to the league&rsquo;s coaches for doing their part to give us high-quality basketball. If nothing else, they&rsquo;re providing an outlet for us to take our minds off of the everyday reality of this horrible virus.
Hopefully, better days will be upon us soon.

Vinny Del Negro, who played and coached during lockout-shortened seasons, looks at the biggest challenges facing coaches this year.

The unique challenges facing NBA coaches during 2020-21 season

Steve Nash, the incoming coach of the Brooklyn Nets, got peppered with so many different questions about so many different things on Tuesday that he literally ran out of answers.
But the ones he provided were revealing.
Nash is the first ex-player to take on an NBA head coaching job with no prior head coaching experience since Derek Fisher and Steve Kerr did it in 2014. Jason Kidd preceded them in 2013, and others who have &ldquo;jumped the line&rdquo; include Mark Jackson, Vinny Del Negro, Kevin McHale, Isaiah Thomas, Doc Rivers and Larry Bird.
That puts Nash in a pretty exclusive club, and he sounded more than ready to take on the task in an hour-long &ldquo;Town Hall&rdquo; broadcast on the YES Network hosted by Nets play-by-play announcer Ian Eagle.
And despite the offensive talents that Nash will have at his disposal in Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Caris LeVert, Spencer Dinwiddie and Joe Harris (if he is retained as an unrestricted free agent), Nash said his singular focus in discussions with the team thus far has been defensive philosophy. He refused to put a number of how many points he expects opponents to average, but he sounded especially genuine, emphasizing that defense wins championships.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The offense is still to be determined. I don&rsquo;t want to come in with a whole lot of concepts and designs,&rdquo; Nash said. &ldquo;When I played under Mike D&rsquo;Antoni, he let it evolve. We want to play fast, space the floor and incorporate philosophical thoughts that fit our group, but we&rsquo;ve spent recent time building our defense.&rdquo;
The interview was sort of a <a href="https://twitter.com/BrooklynNets/status/1321162538722168835?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">getting-to-know-Nash session</a>, with many of the questions submitted by Nets season-ticket holders via Facebook. Eagle was the only media member asking questions.
Nash said the biggest change that he has seen in the NBA since his playing days ended is the emphasis on analytics, including how they are at the heart of creating defensive strategies and opportunities for three-pointers.
&ldquo;You see that on the floor a lot without knowing how much of it is data-driven,&rdquo; he said.
Nash was hired over the summer by longtime friend and Nets general manager Sean Marks. Nash was a player-development consultant on the Golden State Warriors while Durant was on the team. Nash's assistant coach, Adam Harrington, also worked with Durant in the past as KD's personal coach.
Nash called Kyrie Irving &ldquo;as skilled of a player as I have ever seen in this league.&rdquo; He noted that because they both have played point guard, they share a commonality on the court, as well as a commonality off of it -- related to Irving&rsquo;s offseason donation of $1.5 million to WNBA players who sat out their bubble restart for a variety of reasons.
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Asked by one season-ticket holder to define what &ldquo;success&rdquo; would look like for this team, Nash replied: &ldquo;We&rsquo;re playing for a championship. I don&rsquo;t want to say anything less than a championship is a failure, but we&rsquo;re playing for a championship.&rdquo;
That is music to the ears of Brooklyn fans. New Yorkers have watched the crosstown Knicks fail to make the playoffs in each of the past seven seasons while being spurned by big-name free agents, including Durant and Irving a year ago. This interview also offered a stark contrast between the two metropolitan-area franchises in terms of their approach to engaging their fans. Nash was colorful and engaging, showing personality and humor. Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau is similarly engaging, although he has been kept mum by New York's front office (aside from brief Zoom interviews following the Delete-Eight mini-bubble practices).
Nash said he was impressed by the Nets' 5-3 performance in the NBA bubble despite the team missing so many of its regular players, singling out LeVert and Jarrett Allen as players who were especially impressive.
The geographical separation of the team members due to COVID restrictions has been a hindrance in preparations, but about two months still remain before the season could reportedly begin. The Nets still have to make two draft picks (No. 19 and No. 55) on Nov. 18; Nash said he is largely staying out of the draft process other than offering his opinion when asked, saying that the front office's responsibility.&nbsp;
Nash was barraged with a variety of personal questions including what he can cook best (avocado toast), what his favorite concert was (Jay-Z, Prince, Radiohead), who his favorite soccer players are (Tottenham legend Glenn Hoddle and Lionel Messi), which athlete posters he had on his bedroom wall as a child (Michael Jordan and Darryl Strawberry), his favorite Christmas present (Air Jordan 1s), who he would most like to have dinner with (Barack Obama) and which actor he would choose to play him in a Steve Nash biography (Sean Penn). He had no answer when asked what his biggest hidden talent was.
All-in-all, it was an entertaining and insightful window into a two-time MVP who is better known in Phoenix, Dallas and Canada than he is in Brooklyn, where he lives with his wife and five children.
The Nets are projected as the favorite to win the Eastern Conference by many sports gambling companies, and the expectations are huge after the fan base waited out Durant&rsquo;s recovery from a torn Achilles tendon and Irving endured sporadic injuries that sidelined him for 52 games.
Nash will be the 23rd coach in franchise history.
&ldquo;Over the last five years, I realized I had the itch [to coach],&rdquo; Nash said.
Now he gets to scratch it, and the Nets more than scratched the surface of what kind of a person Nash is with one of the better television interviews that the franchise has produced in ages.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I am not here to raise my profile or get credit,&rdquo; Nash said.
But those things will happen if he leads the Nets to a championship, which is his own stated goal.

Chris Sheridan breaks down Steve Nash's appearance at the Brooklyn Nets Town Hall and what we learned.

Nets head coach Steve Nash: 'We're playing for a championship'

Jimmy Butler finished with 40 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists, and the Heat beat the Lakers 115-104 on Sunday night.

Butler, Heat cut Lakers’ Finals lead to 2-1

Chris Sheridan is joined by Vinny Del Negro and Alex Kennedy to discuss the 2020 NBA Finals and the various coaching vacancies.

The Sheridan Show: Vinny Del Negro, Alex Kennedy talk NBA Finals

There is something pretty disorienting about the NBA's bubble-basketball stage.&nbsp;&nbsp;
You'll notice this if you watch highlights of the 2019-20 NBA season prior to the pandemic and compare it to the on-court product in the bubble. The floorspace is wider without the courtside seats (allowing for deeper inbound passes), the silences are awkward (allowing for audible taunts from seated players) and with the absence of fans in the stands, the emphasis has been on team benches (and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/los-angeles-clippers-dj-andrew-kinzel-nba-restart-orlando-bubble" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bubble DJs</a>) to replicate the mouth-foaming energy and intensity of a packed playoff atmosphere. How has this strange arrangement impacted the actual play? I&rsquo;ve been pondering that quite a bit. 
The first thought that bounced around during the seeding games by players and fans alike was that the lack of peripheral distractions may benefit shooters most (as <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-scoring-up-bubble-offenses-vinny-del-negro-coach" target="_blank" rel="noopener">our Vinny Del Negro wrote about</a>), the assumption being that specialists would replicate their reps in empty gyms. Now that the playoffs have progressed to the Conference Finals, one can&rsquo;t really say whether this has been the case considering cold streaks (and team-wide poor shooting nights versus the best defenses) have been a normal occurrence for all four of the remaining teams. This is not at all to say that series and games have been predictable at all; they&rsquo;re anything but, to say the least. 
The main development that has emerged from this unorthodox postseason is that the lockdown break did nothing to quell existing issues for a certain few franchises. In fact, months apart seems to have exacerbated these problems, causing them to bubble up and spill over during the most inconvenient moments and, in some cases, in monumentally embarrassing fashion.&nbsp;&nbsp;
The first two instances of viewers falling into an alternate reality where up is down were with the collapses of the Houston Rockets and Milwaukee Bucks. Neither franchise is new to the experience of falling short, but there was something especially strange about their postseason demise this year. 
The Rockets raised eyebrows midseason due to the implementation of a full-time small-ball system. Rather than experimenting with this futuristic style of play, they overdosed on it after the acquisition of Robert Covington. A Game 1 win against the Los Angeles Lakers had audiences believing that the Rockets may have been ushering in the inevitable sooner than one would think. With a few simple adjustments of their own, the Lakers presented their own bigger, quicker and more athletic small-ball unit, benching their bigs for the duration of the series and exposing the Rockets&rsquo; dents. These imperfections were largely hidden during the latter part of the regular season by Houston's &lsquo;shiny-new-toy&rsquo; fa&ccedil;ade, but now they became hard to miss.&nbsp;
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As for Milwaukee, a dominant and imposing regular season for the ball club wasn&rsquo;t without skepticism. With the departure of Malcolm Brogdon, questions regarding the subpar guard rotation arose but were quickly shut down by the team's believers. Last postseason, the Bucks lost four-straight games to the Toronto Raptors and everyone treated it like an isolated incident since they ran into a red-hot Kawhi Leonard, a destroyer of worlds. Well, guess what happened in the second round of these playoffs versus the seemingly inferior Miami Heat? The Bucks were eliminated in five games, as Donte DiVincenzo and Wes Matthews failed to fill the secondary offensive-creator role that was once effortlessly occupied by Brogdon. Miami exposed this deficiency, as we had a front-row view of Giannis Antetokounmpo repeatedly forcing the issue right into the same wall he met last postseason.&nbsp;&nbsp;
It would appear to be the luck of the matchup for Miami, but we have witnessed them capture lightning in a bottle once again, commanding 3-1 lead against the third-seeded Boston Celtics (who boast a top-four offense and top-four defense). What was considered a fringe issue with roles and offensive hierarchy (as noted continuously by fans) with Boston&rsquo;s best-five lineup -- consisting of Gordon Hayward, Marcus Smart, Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum) -- has reared its ugly head, made obvious with their struggles to close tight games during their current run. Starting multiple 20-point scorers has seemingly cultivated an environment of offensive &lsquo;pride,&rsquo; for lack of a better word, rendering several players with the belief that they are each at the top of the pyramid and deserving of the most important shots down the stretch.&nbsp;&nbsp;
My hypothesis? The months-long break from NBA basketball broke the manufactured continuity, delicately rocking rhythm and band-aid fixes that these teams had established throughout the season to maintain their excellence. Subsequently, whatever sense of surprise these teams possessed as an upper hand dissipated with every day of the hiatus, giving their opponents ample time to process and game-plan for their gimmickry and/or overly processed, curated systems. 
There is no better example of this than the historic and incredibly entertaining seven-game series between the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets portrayed a stark contrast when placed up against their opponent. There's the Mile-High team that toiled away developing their young superstars, experiencing the formative, coming-of-age necessity of youthful, playoff heartbreak that hardens the soul and deadens the eyes. Denver is poised. Their cutters rotate around Nikola Jokic as if he&rsquo;s moving them himself telekinetically. Jamal Murray is displaying a wholeness and richness to his game that point guards don&rsquo;t typically flaunt until their late 20s.&nbsp;&nbsp;
And then there&rsquo;s the Clippers. The running joke throughout the season was that they sometimes played as though they were random pick-up players put onto the same team, rather than the typical theatrical NBA roster with its scripted roles. At their floor, they looked disjointed on both ends and there were complete breakdowns in communications at times (a la Luka Doncic's <a href="https://youtu.be/Vh9z36rYXXs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">game-winner</a>). After months of shooting down reports about their chemistry issues, the Clippers <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-los-angeles-clippers-kawhi-leonard-paul-george-whats-next-salary-cap-free-agency-trades" target="_blank" rel="noopener">finally acknowledged these problems</a>&nbsp;once they were eliminated by Denver.
This year's playoffs come with unique stressors and they have emphasised the importance of clear leadership, versatility and a willingness to adapt. With that in mind, it&rsquo;s somehow no surprise why certain teams (like Miami and Denver) have thrived in the Orlando bubble. They're looking at a pathway to glory, in spite of the noise.

Some NBA teams played their best basketball in the bubble, while others struggled with this arrangement and its unique stressors.

How the NBA bubble exposed some teams, exacerbated issues

In the NBA bubble, most teams haven&rsquo;t had any trouble putting the ball in the basket. 
In fact, there are shocking point totals and incredible individual performances seemingly every day. On Sunday, the Toronto Raptors scored a franchise-record 150 points in their Game 4 win over the Brooklyn Nets (and their bench combined for a playoff-record 100 points). Hours later, Utah&rsquo;s Donovan Mitchell (51 points) and Denver&rsquo;s Jamal Murray (50 points) had a shootout, marking the first time in NBA history that opposing players have each scored 50+ points in the same playoff game.
Across the board, offensive numbers in the bubble are up from the rest of the 2019-20 regular season - including combined points, made field goals, field-goal percentage, made free throws, free-throw percentage, made three-pointers and three-point percentage.&nbsp;
The NBA&rsquo;s average offensive efficiency was 110.7 points per 100 possessions, per <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/league/summary?season=2019&amp;seasontype=regseason&amp;start=09/29/2019&amp;end=03/21/2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cleaning the Glass</a>. That average <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/league/summary?season=2019&amp;seasontype=regseason&amp;start=06/30/2020&amp;end=08/16/2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener">increased</a> to 113.2 points per 100 possessions during the seeding games. Now, scoring is <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/league/summary?season=2019&amp;seasontype=playoffs&amp;start=08/15/2020&amp;end=08/29/2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener">up even more</a> in the NBA playoffs, as teams are averaging 114.2 points per 100 possessions through Aug. 29.
Prior to the bubble, it had been more than 32 years since every team in a slate of five or more NBA games scored at least 110 points. In Orlando, it happened twice in the span of eight days.&nbsp;
Why are offenses thriving in the bubble? Will this trend continue as the playoffs continue? There are a number of theories as to why teams are having an easier time scoring in Orlando:
TEAMS ARE PLAYING ON THE SAME RIMS AND COURTS EVERY DAY
During a normal season, players are in a different arena on most nights and they have to get acclimated to each building. Every arena is different in terms of the depth perception, lighting, how the ball bounces off the floor, how soft the rims are and so on. In the bubble, all of the courts and rims are the same, so players can get comfortable and find their rhythm easier.&nbsp;
Some players shoot better at home games because they&rsquo;re used to the rims and in a familiar setting. This is similar. Players who adjusted to their surroundings during the early seeding games can just focus on scoring now. They can even build momentum from game to game, picking up right where they previously left off.&nbsp;
THE DARK ARENA IMPROVES SHOOTERS' DEPTH PERCEPTION
Certain aspects of the game environment in Orlando may actually benefit shooters. Since the virtual stands are darker than the on-court lighting and there are black curtains surrounding each court, several players have said that it&rsquo;s easier to shoot in the bubble because their depth perception is better and the rims are more visible.
&ldquo;I feel like it&rsquo;s a hooper&rsquo;s gym,&rdquo; Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker told <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nba/2020/8/6/21356187/nba-bubble-differences-referees-scoring-virtual-fans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Ringer</a>. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easier to shoot in here with [better] depth perception. I love the setup that they have for us. There&rsquo;s not much more that comes with it beyond the game of basketball.&rdquo;
&ldquo;The depth perception on the basket is a lot better, just because you can&rsquo;t see through the backboard, shooting-wise, since it&rsquo;s blacked out,&rdquo; Dallas Mavericks guard Tim Hardaway Jr. told <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nba/2020/8/6/21356187/nba-bubble-differences-referees-scoring-virtual-fans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Ringer</a>.
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SCORERS ARE GETTING TO THE FREE-THROW LINE MORE
As FiveThirtyEight&rsquo;s Mike Prada <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-have-nba-offenses-been-so-good-in-the-bubble/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has noted</a>, every type of foul is being called more in the bubble - shooting fouls, loose-ball fouls, other personal fouls, charges, technicals, etc.&nbsp;
"Teams spent nearly 30 percent of their bubble possessions in the penalty, compared with 26 percent before the break," <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-have-nba-offenses-been-so-good-in-the-bubble/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote Prada</a>. "The average free-throw rate - free throws made per 100 field goal attempts - <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/league/fourfactors?season=2019&amp;seasontype=regseason&amp;start=07/30/2020&amp;end=08/15/2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener">jumped from 20 before the shutdown to 22.8 in the bubble seeding games</a>, a mark unmatched over a full season since 2010-11.&rdquo;
It&rsquo;s possible that the lack of fans at games allows refs to hear more (from contact on drives to certain interactions between players) and call more fouls. Regardless of the reason, offenses are getting more easy points from the foul line than usual.
DEFENDERS USUALLY FEED OFF OF THE FANS' ENERGY
With no fans in attendance, the intensity of the moment changes. Usually, players are energized by the fans&rsquo; emotions. A player may be exhausted, but they still step up on defense down the stretch because they are feeding off of the crowd. NBA fans are incredible and they create a really unique atmosphere at playoff games.&nbsp;
In the bubble, the game atmosphere is completely different; it almost feels more like a pick-up game. It seems like this environment has led to less physicality too. As the playoffs continue, I expect these games and these series to get more intense and physical. Also, without fans, it's possible that scorers are feeling less pressure than usual. While this atmosphere isn&rsquo;t ideal for an NBA postseason, it&rsquo;s what each team has been dealt and whoever adjusts to it best will have a big advantage.
THE LACK OF PRACTICE TIME IMPACTS DEFENSES MORE
Coaches always feel like they don&rsquo;t get enough practice time with their players, but that&rsquo;s a legitimate concern this season. After the NBA suspended the season in March, players had to go home and work out on their own for several months. Teams couldn&rsquo;t do much during that four-month break. Then, once the NBA decided to resume the season, coaches didn&rsquo;t have much time to work with their team and get them prepared before things started ramping up.
This time apart could explain why some teams have taken a step back defensively. Also, there&rsquo;s limited practice time during the playoffs, which makes it tough for teams to bring back players from injuries and reintegrate them into the lineup too. It seems that pausing the season affected teams' cohesiveness, particularly on defense.
WITH NO TRAVEL, STAR PLAYERS ARE WELL-RESTED
We&rsquo;ve seen some extraordinary performances from superstar players in the bubble. In a typical postseason, they&rsquo;d be putting their teams on their back while flying back and forth across the country. However, in the bubble, they simply bus back to their hotel after each game.&nbsp;
That means these star players have plenty of time to rest, get treatment and so on. They don't have to worry about taking red-eye flights and changing time zones (all of which wears you down as a player). These are some of the best scorers in the world and they're a threat to torch the defense any time they step onto the court, especially when they're well-rested.
Now, being in the bubble isn&rsquo;t easy (by any means) because they are away from their family and friends. But if you asked each player how their body feels, I bet a lot of guys would tell you that they&rsquo;re feeling better and more energized than usual.

Former NBA head coach Vinny Del Negro breaks down several reasons why scoring has increased in the bubble.