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I can't help but hope that Florida hires Gregg Marshall.

They will swing for the fences. $EC has plenty of money to spend on basketball coaches.

They'll throw money at him, but Marshall has shown to be a pretty astute observer of the landscape. Whoever takes the Florida job right now is in a no-win situation. Following Donovan is going to be tough. Big shoes to fill. Plus he is in a conference where the best he can probably do is finish second. I bet the next coach at Florida is a bust due to expectations.

Isn't that why Grant went back...???... To be the interim failure following Donovan, all while maintaining program/coaching-style consistency.

I'm actually more interested in the OKC part of the equation. People always knocked Brooks for not being that strategically minded, losing despite having two top ten players on his team, etc. I don't know what to make of it, but the truth is that injuries are the prime reason they didn't meet expectations these last few years.

Another thing that kind of bothered me was when a winning team fired a winning coach in pursuit of winning more. Brooks is not in the upper echelon of NBA coaches, but they were always in the conversation. It'd be cool if Donovan was the next Kerr for them, but its pretty risky. Not only are you in the West with all those monsters floating around, but you also have to contend with the fact that Durant will probably peace out if you mess up. He has to hit the ground running.

I think that Grant, and likely a big part of his staff, will go with Donovan.

My sense is that Florida is not really set up well for a good year next year anyhow. That might factor into Donovan moving on now, might not be a big part of it. Anyone who takes the job is in rebuilding mode to start with, and that's *before* any players or recruits move on due to losing their coach.

I don't think that Marshall will take it, but Florida is no doubt a better job than Alabama is. I was just contemplating the bleating that would ensue if Florida could hire him.

(04-30-2015 01:34 PM)Hopeful Wrote:  I'm actually more interested in the OKC part of the equation. People always knocked Brooks for not being that strategically minded, losing despite having two top ten players on his team, etc. I don't know what to make of it, but the truth is that injuries are the prime reason they didn't meet expectations these last few years.

Another thing that kind of bothered me was when a winning team fired a winning coach in pursuit of winning more. Brooks is not in the upper echelon of NBA coaches, but they were always in the conversation. It'd be cool if Donovan was the next Kerr for them, but its pretty risky. Not only are you in the West with all those monsters floating around, but you also have to contend with the fact that Durant will probably peace out if you mess up. He has to hit the ground running.

You have to consider also that management was to cheap to keep Harden, who was one of the best two players this year. I think Durant will be gone as soon as he is a free agent. Westbrook too. It will be a tough gig for Donavan in a couple of years.

(04-30-2015 01:46 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(04-30-2015 01:34 PM)Hopeful Wrote:  I'm actually more interested in the OKC part of the equation. People always knocked Brooks for not being that strategically minded, losing despite having two top ten players on his team, etc. I don't know what to make of it, but the truth is that injuries are the prime reason they didn't meet expectations these last few years.

Another thing that kind of bothered me was when a winning team fired a winning coach in pursuit of winning more. Brooks is not in the upper echelon of NBA coaches, but they were always in the conversation. It'd be cool if Donovan was the next Kerr for them, but its pretty risky. Not only are you in the West with all those monsters floating around, but you also have to contend with the fact that Durant will probably peace out if you mess up. He has to hit the ground running.

You have to consider also that management was to cheap to keep Harden, who was one of the best two players this year. I think Durant will be gone as soon as he is a free agent. Westbrook too. It will be a tough gig for Donavan in a couple of years.

Presti has been pretty suspect to me every since the Harden situation went down. That was pretty silly to me to begin with, but I've heard that Donovan is actually friends with Presti so maybe he can talk him into more reasonable decisions in the future or something.

Harden was the one they let go. People forget how god awful he was in the finals. There was no way to sign durant, Westbrook, harden and ibaka. Somebody had to go, I don't think that was being cheap. Plus, harden probably wanted a chance to not be the third wheel.

As far as Florida goes, they weren't in good shape for next year. They had two guys leave for the draft who might not even be drafted. The team was average as it was last year. It's going to likely take a couple years to right that ship.

We should go after UF signee Keith Stone again.

It may be faulty memory, but I don't think Florida had ever had a championship competitive football team before Spurrier returned as FBHC and never had a championship competitive basketball team before the current BB coach. Their two major men's sports programs don't have the decades long records of excellence in either sport found in several of their contemporaries.