Amar posted his thoughts on the Sidney Lowe hire last night and I wanted to add a little bit here. Corbin obviously knew Lowe from their playing days in Minnesota when they were teammates on the expansion TWolves team. What their relationship has been since then I don't know.
I do wonder though what Corbin saw in Lowe that prompted him to bring him on as an assistant. Going based on Lowe's professional and NCAA coaching experience though doesn't instill a lot of confidence in the decision. Of course Sloan didn't have the best resume either when he was brought on as an assistant with the Jazz. I'm not comparing the two obviously but Lowe has bounced around with very little success record-wise. It may be that his best role is as an assistant. When Corbin promised an exciting announcement in regards to a coaching hire, I have to say this didn't really fire me up.
Lowe was criticized for his time at NC State for not getting the team into the NCAA tournament and only making the NIT a couple of times. From what I've read, he didn't get his team to play defense well and he may not have been getting the most out of his team.
With that said, I'll have to roll with Corbin's decision here and trust he made the right hire. I don't know if he had discussion with other former Jazz players and what the interest was there. Most would have like to have had Malone come on board but I don't know if that was happening anytime soon. For a rookie head coach, having a personality like Malone may not have worked. Maybe as Corbin gets more established and when Malone's kids are done with school, it's something that could be entertained.
As I've said with almost every other move, now we just need a season.
A few items of interest gleaned from the online chat with Devin Harris on ESPN.com
On Derrick Favors:
I think he can be very talented. He's only 19 last year. He's probably the strongest 19 year old I've seen. Once he understands how to play, he'll be one of the best power forwards in the game.
On players losing sympathy from the public with the lockout
It's a tough situation. We're trying to stand pat with the union. We understand our points and what we're trying to get across. It's never a pretty sight for owners and players to fight over percentage points. It's ugly all around.
Can the Jazz make the playoffs?
I do. I do. The Utah fans are not used to losing, so I can see us bouncing back from last year. The young and veterans coming together for a nice year.
On heading overseas
I don't know. It's a tough question. I'm a new family man. My daughter was just born. If we're talking about February and March, then you might be silly not to look at it. I would say no, but things can change.
Looks like Hayward didn't have to worry about that silly training camp interfering with his Starcraft tournament that starts today at IPL 3. Here's the prize money breakdown:
1st: $30,000
2nd: $12,000
3rd: $8,000
4th: $6,000
5th - 8th: $3,000
9th - 16th: $2,000
17th - 32nd: $1,000
I'm assuming OGTime is still eligible for prize money even though he's probably getting paid to promote the tournament.
Nice work by memoismoney with this highlight reel of Malone
Thursday poll...