Very interesting David Aldridge column about coaching interviews and a section about Donnie Walsh wanting to interview Jerry Sloan. Worth clicking on the link for the whole thing. here is just the Pacers part. I don't remember ever hearing about Jerry Sloan being a candidate
http://www.nba.com/2016/news/feature...ba:specialst3c
"The first guy, my first interview (in 1985) was Jerry Sloan," said longtime executive Donnie Walsh, who hired the likes of Larry Brown and Larry Bird as head coaches while he was general manager in Indiana. "He said he couldn't take it because he was set up to be the head coach in Utah pretty quickly. And then I chose Jack Ramsay."
Walsh said he had normally had three areas he wanted to explore with potential coaches.
"Usually before I really interviewed them, I kind of knew enough about them, so I had more specific questions," he said. "I wanted to know what kind of style they were comfortable with, without telling them what style I thought was best for the team. Usually when you were dealing with experienced guys, you kind of know they knew every style, so you could get more specific and start applying your team to that.
"Then, the next thing is, what do you like about the team off the court? What are you rules? Do you have a lot of rules? How do you deal with the rules? I had my answer for that, which is you don't overreact. If you say 'be here at 9 o'clock' and he's there at 9:01, you fine him. No conversation Don't make a drama out of it. But I do kind of want to know how they deal with that.
"And, the third thing I tried to let them know was, they're the spokesman for the franchise on a daily basis, which is more than the general manager or the owner or the president. Are they comfortable in that role? I tried to get some feel for that. Most of the time I talked to guys I already knew. So I had more specific things I could talk to them about. Now, I would probably would add 'how much input do you think you should have in the draft, and trades?' Things like that. Because now there are coaches who have all the authority. And I guess I'd want to know how much do you rely on analytics, and how many assistant coaches do you want? A lot of these guys won't let their assistants even talk in practice."
Walsh had two very different Larrys to interview for head coach vacancies.
He played in college at North Carolina with Larry Brown, one of his best friends in the business. So when he wanted to hire Brown in 1993, he didn't have many questions.
"I didn't have to interview Larry; I said 'this is the guy,'" Walsh said. "They were fine with it. They wanted to meet with Larry, so I said okay, and that's basically how we hired him. With Larry, I knew everything he was going to do. And I also knew that in the third year he'd start to get the wanderlust. I said to our owners, 'he's going to be the best coach you've ever seen the first two years.' Then in the third year, he's going to get a little (messed) up. And then the fourth year -- I don't know if he's going to make the fourth year, but if he does, he 's going to be ready to get out of here."
Brown lasted four seasons in Indiana, and then, Walsh had another opening to fill. He reached out to Larry Bird, who was looking for somewhere to make an impact while in an executive role with the Celtics.
"That was a very in-depth interview," Walsh said. "You have to remember; Larry never coached at all. In fact, I remember saying in that one, 'you know, you've never coached. You're going to have to have good assistants; who are you thinking of?' And when he told me (Carlisle and the late Dick Harter), I thought, good, cross that one off; 'cause he gave me the exact right answer on everything I asked him. He was working for the Celtics, but in the front office, and didn't have that much power, and he was getting sick of that. So that's how it got started with me."
He did something that nobody's ever done to me, and I've interviewed a lot of guys. We were down the line by this time. I said, 'Larry, tell me how you're going to deal with this team. You know our team.' He started, 'well, in the first day of training camp, I'm going to do this,' and he took it all the way to The Finals of the NBA, and told me exactly how he was going to do with it. And after he left, after three years, and we made the Eastern Conference finals twice, and The Finals once in his three years. After it was all over with and I went to the next thing, I thought to myself, it's amazing; he knew exactly what he was going to do, and that's what he did."
Stotts got another head coaching job in Milwaukee that again lasted less than two seasons before he was fired in 2007. A year later, he was hired as an assistant in Dallas -- by Carlisle, the guy who'd beaten him out in Detroit, after his first head coaching interview -- along with Dwane Casey.
Stotts became Carlisle's offensive coordinator -- Carlisle had been Bird's offensive coordinator in Indy -- while Casey shaped the defense. In three years, Dallas' staff had put together both brilliant offensive concepts (the "flow" offense) and mastered zone defenses featuring Tyson Chandler in the middle. With vets like Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki leading the way on the floor, Dallas stunned the Miami Heat in The Finals.
And Carlisle pushed both Stotts and Casey -- who'd also gotten a short stint early in his head coaching career, in Minnesota -- to any team that would listen.
"He really had a belief in both of us, and really felt like we were both deserving of the opportunity," Stotts said. "From that standpoint, he was very reassuring -- this job's yours, you're the best guy for it, go in there and be yourself. Because he did have a strong belief in both of us."
Toronto hired Casey right after the Mavs won their title. The Blazers hired Stotts a year later. He first met with GM Neil Olshey in Las Vegas, then with Bert Kolde, Allen's right-hand man, in Portland along with other team officials. The last meeting was across the Atlantic, with Allen.
http://www.nba.com/2016/news/feature...ba:specialst3c
"The first guy, my first interview (in 1985) was Jerry Sloan," said longtime executive Donnie Walsh, who hired the likes of Larry Brown and Larry Bird as head coaches while he was general manager in Indiana. "He said he couldn't take it because he was set up to be the head coach in Utah pretty quickly. And then I chose Jack Ramsay."
Walsh said he had normally had three areas he wanted to explore with potential coaches.
"Usually before I really interviewed them, I kind of knew enough about them, so I had more specific questions," he said. "I wanted to know what kind of style they were comfortable with, without telling them what style I thought was best for the team. Usually when you were dealing with experienced guys, you kind of know they knew every style, so you could get more specific and start applying your team to that.
"Then, the next thing is, what do you like about the team off the court? What are you rules? Do you have a lot of rules? How do you deal with the rules? I had my answer for that, which is you don't overreact. If you say 'be here at 9 o'clock' and he's there at 9:01, you fine him. No conversation Don't make a drama out of it. But I do kind of want to know how they deal with that.
"And, the third thing I tried to let them know was, they're the spokesman for the franchise on a daily basis, which is more than the general manager or the owner or the president. Are they comfortable in that role? I tried to get some feel for that. Most of the time I talked to guys I already knew. So I had more specific things I could talk to them about. Now, I would probably would add 'how much input do you think you should have in the draft, and trades?' Things like that. Because now there are coaches who have all the authority. And I guess I'd want to know how much do you rely on analytics, and how many assistant coaches do you want? A lot of these guys won't let their assistants even talk in practice."
Walsh had two very different Larrys to interview for head coach vacancies.
He played in college at North Carolina with Larry Brown, one of his best friends in the business. So when he wanted to hire Brown in 1993, he didn't have many questions.
"I didn't have to interview Larry; I said 'this is the guy,'" Walsh said. "They were fine with it. They wanted to meet with Larry, so I said okay, and that's basically how we hired him. With Larry, I knew everything he was going to do. And I also knew that in the third year he'd start to get the wanderlust. I said to our owners, 'he's going to be the best coach you've ever seen the first two years.' Then in the third year, he's going to get a little (messed) up. And then the fourth year -- I don't know if he's going to make the fourth year, but if he does, he 's going to be ready to get out of here."
Brown lasted four seasons in Indiana, and then, Walsh had another opening to fill. He reached out to Larry Bird, who was looking for somewhere to make an impact while in an executive role with the Celtics.
"That was a very in-depth interview," Walsh said. "You have to remember; Larry never coached at all. In fact, I remember saying in that one, 'you know, you've never coached. You're going to have to have good assistants; who are you thinking of?' And when he told me (Carlisle and the late Dick Harter), I thought, good, cross that one off; 'cause he gave me the exact right answer on everything I asked him. He was working for the Celtics, but in the front office, and didn't have that much power, and he was getting sick of that. So that's how it got started with me."
He did something that nobody's ever done to me, and I've interviewed a lot of guys. We were down the line by this time. I said, 'Larry, tell me how you're going to deal with this team. You know our team.' He started, 'well, in the first day of training camp, I'm going to do this,' and he took it all the way to The Finals of the NBA, and told me exactly how he was going to do with it. And after he left, after three years, and we made the Eastern Conference finals twice, and The Finals once in his three years. After it was all over with and I went to the next thing, I thought to myself, it's amazing; he knew exactly what he was going to do, and that's what he did."
Stotts got another head coaching job in Milwaukee that again lasted less than two seasons before he was fired in 2007. A year later, he was hired as an assistant in Dallas -- by Carlisle, the guy who'd beaten him out in Detroit, after his first head coaching interview -- along with Dwane Casey.
Stotts became Carlisle's offensive coordinator -- Carlisle had been Bird's offensive coordinator in Indy -- while Casey shaped the defense. In three years, Dallas' staff had put together both brilliant offensive concepts (the "flow" offense) and mastered zone defenses featuring Tyson Chandler in the middle. With vets like Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki leading the way on the floor, Dallas stunned the Miami Heat in The Finals.
And Carlisle pushed both Stotts and Casey -- who'd also gotten a short stint early in his head coaching career, in Minnesota -- to any team that would listen.
"He really had a belief in both of us, and really felt like we were both deserving of the opportunity," Stotts said. "From that standpoint, he was very reassuring -- this job's yours, you're the best guy for it, go in there and be yourself. Because he did have a strong belief in both of us."
Toronto hired Casey right after the Mavs won their title. The Blazers hired Stotts a year later. He first met with GM Neil Olshey in Las Vegas, then with Bert Kolde, Allen's right-hand man, in Portland along with other team officials. The last meeting was across the Atlantic, with Allen.
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