Seriously? I think it’s not only reasonable, but likely, that a bunch of fans, who watch a ton of hoops, and who know they are gunning for a top pick, have watched MANY more college games of prospects than an assistant coach for a playoff team in the middle of a nba season.
By draft day Igor will know more than us, but at present I think we actually likely have a leg up. You think Igor was watching every Oklahoma, Duke, Arizona, MSU, Real Madrid, Texas, Alabama game during the season? You think he’s watched all the highlight YouTube’s of all these players during the season? Of players he would likely have no idea he might someday coach while he was coaching a PLAYOFF team (aka, a team that wouldn’t be drafting high enough to likely target these kids) during the season? You think he scouted these players already? Why? Because he’s a scout? Uh no, that’s why team hire SCOUTS and have a GM. He was an assistant coach. He was working with players, likely breaking down opposing teams, and working on game plans with Snyder. He wasn’t scouting. That’s not his job. And remember it’s widely accepted that pro coaches eat, sleep, and drink coaching. You think in all his extra hours he’s watching college hoops with an eye towards likely becoming the head coach of a team likely to draft one of those players? You’re digging yourself a hole with a sign that reads “Here lies Stupid” at the top.
Okay... let me this real simple. Let's say you've always wanted to be THE top dog at an Employee Benefits Company. It's been your dream job for decades. Everything you've done to this point in your career has been to get that dream job and then you get a call from 1 of only 30 companies in the world that you'd want to work for... and they're looking at YOU to right the ship, but they are facing a MASSIVE decision... a decision that has a couple different options as far as ways to be successful. Are you telling me that you'd walk into that interview (mind you... it's the ONLY interview you've EVER gotten for that position) and when they asked you which way you'd go, you'd say:
"You know what? That's a good question. I haven't really thought about it all that much."
NO FREAKING WAY. Going into the biggest interview of your life, for one of the most prestigious jobs in the world and getting only ONE shot at it, I KNOW you would have prepped for not only what the company has done in the past but you would be able to talk the positives and negatives of every option on the table for the company moving forward.
Our lotto pick is A FRANCHISE DEFINING move. We stunk all year just to get it. To think a HC candidate would come in and wouldn't be versed on every scenario in the top 4, the strengths and weakness of the top tier players in the draft had and how they'd fit into his coaching philosophy makes zero sense.
So, yes... the moment his agent called him and said you have a shot at your dream job and the biggest decision facing that franchise was going to be the lottery, you'd HAVE to start looking into how to solve that problem because there's no WAY it doesn't come up in the interview.
Think of this another way... take The Batman Franchise with Chris Nolan. The franchise was in complete tatters after Batman And Robyn. WB hadn't made a Batman movie in 8 years after that disaster but it was time get it back up and running. So the studio executives reach out to young up and coming directors to get their pitches and ideas about who they could possibly see playing The Dark Knight. Chris Nolan's agent gets the call... WB wants to interview him!.
Now, up to Batman Begins, he had made Memento and Insomnia, right? Warner's loves his pitch for the world, how it'll function. Then they get to the most important question for any franchise. They've got a couple young actors who they really like... say Christian Bale, Jake Gyllenhaal and Josh Hartnett (all of whom were in the running). Who would be your number one pick for Batman? Do you think when asked that, Chris Nolan said... well, gee... I like Guy Pearce and worked with him but haven't given much thought to the others and haven't seen them in anything.
The draft is the biggest question the Suns franchise has faced since FA back in 2004. To think that a head coaching candidate wouldn't be prepared to talk all angles of it seems wildly unrealistic.
And AFTER he got the job, HIS DREAM, that he wouldn't spend every waking minute of his free time preparing for that dream seems even more unrealistic. Remember, coaches, head coaches or asst. eat, sleep and drink basketball. When finally faced with the ability to be captain of his ship, to think he wouldn't be prepping for that while simultaneously riding out his own job feels incredibly myopic.
There's no way you'd ever walk into an interview for your dream job and be unprepared to answer the biggest question facing the company you were interviewing for. You're smarter than that and I would hope our new coach was too.
