Del Negro is just the latest entry in a lengthening line of high-impact, first-time coaches
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Posted October 2, 2008 | By Brett Ballantini
Sources around the league said it. Phoenix Suns GM Steve Kerr repeated it. Chicago Bulls Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations John Paxson insisted on it.
So why, if new Bulls head coach Vinny Del Negro is his own man with a unique vision of bringing Chicago back to title contention, is the entire world busy comparing him with this coach, that player, or some other type of leader?
“It’s the nature of coaching and being in the public eye,” the 41-year-old Del Negro says. “We’re all used to it as players, from an early age: What’s his game like, who does he resemble? It’s natural to do the same with coaches, especially a first-time guy like me.”
Del Negro’s cool reaction to some puzzled expressions around Chicago and the ensuing tsunami of background-check questions and comparative statements means that the rookie mentor passed his first run through the pressure cooker, if nothing else. But the gentility and ease with which this relative unknown handled the pressure of a media and fan base starved to see the Bulls back in title contention spoke volumes about the kind of coach that Paxson handed the keys to the franchise to.
Indeed, of the two men charged with guiding the Bulls, Paxson and now Del Negro, it’s Paxson who decided to maximize risk-reward with his latest hire. And while Bulls nation lost its collective stomach on the team’s roller-coaster of a coaching search, where the car finally stopped—Del Negro’s doorstep—is a move rooted in past success.
It was Paxson who made the first substantial decision of his tenure a far-reaching and ultimately successful one. Dismissing Bill Cartwright early in the 2003-04 season, Paxson had his sights trained on only one replacement: Scott Skiles. It was a bold move, as the tenor of the times found those in the know pushing for a number of “name” coaches—Isiah Thomas among them—to take the helm of a young and confused team.
“I knew exactly what we needed, and exactly the coach who would get us there in Scott,” Paxson says.
In his first year on the job with the Magic , Doc Rivers was named NBA Coach of the Year. Larry Bird is another former player who successfully stepped on the sidelines without having any prior coaching experience.
(Nathaniel Butler/NBAE/Getty Images)
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Skiles was a controversial choice, not just due to a lack of name recognition but for his misbegotten reputation for tempestuousness. While flare-ups with fiery, me-first stars like Jason Kidd or Stephon Marbury might now be seen as character validation for Skiles, at the time he was viewed as a teapot always ready to pop its top.
“Everybody was scared of Skiles,” says longtime Detroit Pistons exec and new Milwaukee GM John Hammond, who just recently hired Skiles to pilot the Bucks. “We [in Detroit] didn’t know why. I couldn’t figure it out. The guy has gotten wins everywhere he’s been.”
If Skiles’s scrappiness made him a prototypical “Paxson guy,” fellow sharpshooter Del Negro has to be considered practically part of the Paxson family tree. Cosmetically, the two played the same position, had careers of similar duration (Paxson, 11 seasons and 772 NBA games; Del Negro, 12 and 771), and briefly even donned the same No. 15 uniform.
Skiles restored order and developed a bond within his team. Now Del Negro is charged with furthering it, with an approach that promises to be both demanding and yet a bit more collaborative than in seasons past.
The rookie coach has been quick to emphasize that all his initial decisions, from personnel to playing style, will be a collective effort among the Bulls’ brain trust. But there’s a sense that Del Negro will look at his Bulls this season a bit more like peers and less like charges who are paid to execute his every whim.
A player’s coach? Get past all the clichés attached to that label and, yeah, it seems like it will fit. But can a rookie player’s coach succeed in today’s NBA?
The trend in NBA coach hiring has certainly been moving away from mindless recycling of the same college of coaches. Such successful mentors as Larry Bird, Avery Johnson and Doc Rivers had no bench experience whatsoever, and all took teams to the NBA Finals as part of their runs in the hot seat.
Rivers, who transitioned from broadcaster to NBA Coach of the Year as a rookie helmsman for the Orlando Magic in 1999-2000 and pushed the Boston Celtics to 66 wins and an NBA Championship this past year, knows both Del Negro and the path he’s embarking on well.
“I know Vinny from San Antonio,” says Rivers of his teammate on the 1995-96 Spurs. “It was my last season and one of his best. Minutes were scarce, so he helped me along my road [to broadcasting and eventual coaching]!”
Rivers shared with Del Negro an easygoing, yet commanding, presence on the floor, one that has suited him well on the sidelines in leading the Celtics renaissance in 2007-08. Now a veteran pilot, the native Chicagoan sees Del Negro as having a good chance to follow in his footsteps of success.
Billy Cunningham's Sixers thrived for eight years, making three trips to the NBA Finals and winning a World Championship in 1983. Only five months after retiring, Avery Johnson took over the Mavericks and directed them to an incredible 16-2 finish and a first round playoff upset of Houston.
(Scott Cunningham & Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images)
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“First, I’d tell Vinny it’s not as hard as it looks,” Rivers says, laughing. “And by that I mean, what’s hard is not what you expect.
“Vinny knows the game, and he knows himself. He’ll be true to who Vinny Del Negro is, and that’s the easy part. It’s the rest, the stuff that’s hard to guard against—be it pressures from outside, keeping your locker room in order, getting back into the NBA grind—that can throw you.”
Rivers inherited a blossoming NBA superstar in Tracy McGrady when he took over in Orlando. Bird took over an Indiana squad from a highly respected veteran coach in Larry Brown, and led the Pacers to two Central Division crowns, three trips to the Eastern Conference Finals and one to the NBA Finals in his three years of bench work.
Del Negro takes the reins of a Bulls team that created as many questions as were answered in 2007-08. Will that make his task drastically more daunting than that of his rookie predecessors?
Not necessarily, according to Bird, who won Coach of the Year in his first coaching season (1997-98). “Of course [talent] is going to help a coach. Talent is what makes or breaks you in this league. I inherited some great players [in Indiana] but we still needed to take steps forward.
“It’s a challenge to take over a team without the benefit of a lot of time on the sidelines. But guys like me and Doc knew the game and had a vision of what we needed to accomplish. I’d won titles [as a player] and felt I had a good picture of how to get the Pacers to the Finals. If Vinny has his own vision and sticks to it, that’s a big plus right there.”
Avery Johnson, another former Del Negro teammate and a person who was briefly attached to the Bulls job this summer, agrees that it’s the coach who makes the team, no matter how much or how little talent is on the roster.
“Of course I’d rather have Dirk Nowitzki at my side than any other power forward,” says Johnson, also a Coach of the Year in his first full NBA season. “And teams that have talent can stumble their way to some wins on their own. It’s those middle-ground games, games that are up for grabs and can go either way, where a coach makes a difference.
“If you’re equipped, you’re going to win those middle-ground games. And most NBA games are right there in the middle, so a strong coach will earn you quite a number of wins each season.”
What all three coaching greats agree on is the need for Del Negro to surround himself with know-how. Rivers had his ace in the hole in Dave Wohl, Bird employed the esteemed Dick Harter and rising star Rick Carlisle, and Johnson learned alongside a future Hall-of-Famer in Don Nelson and called on Del Harris as his consigliere.
“That’s what I mean in talking about the unknowns,” Rivers says. “Vinny on his own, no surprises, he’ll be fine. He knows his stuff. But the things that creep up on you, that’s where your staff, right up to the top, they’re lifesavers.”
“I was a smart ballplayer because I knew how to use my teammates,” Bird says. “I wasn’t going to get into coaching without having the right staff around me, and they made a huge difference with us taking a step forward.”
Only a handful of days after being hired as the new head coach of the Bulls, Vinny Del Negro got down on the court to work out top 2008 Draft picks Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley. Del Negro’s knack for teaching and his ability to relate to players will go a long way to getting the Bulls back on track this season.
(Adam Fluck/Chicago Bulls)
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Johnson had the same experience, and still calls Dallas his “family” and acknowledges how much of a team effort winning in the NBA can be. “Top to bottom, if you’re in a first-class organization, like Vinny is in now, you have a step up on everybody else. Everyone is accountable, ownership to players, and that’s what builds a winning program.”
Del Negro is the genesis of a new era in Chicago, and to his credit, he knows his timing is right.
“There’s no doubt, this is my golden opportunity,” he says. “I’m a student and a teacher of the game, joining an organization that prizes those qualities, in its players, coaches, and fans. It’s a terrific fit, and I’m so grateful that Pax saw me as the missing piece.”
Kerr also sees Del Negro as an ideal fit for the Bulls. “They are a young team [in Chicago] and Vinny is a teacher,” he says. “I didn’t mince words [recommending Del Negro to Paxson]. I didn’t want to lose Vinny, but I know he’s got greater things to accomplish in this game.”
It’s a lot to ask Del Negro to match Rivers, Bird and Johnson as rookie Coaches of the Year, but with a talented roster, No. 1 overall pick and a club aching to put the setback of last season behind it, it might be smart to bet on the newcomer this time around.
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