The Downbeat #1301 -- The "Stubborn" Edition

Remember when Enes Kanter used to start and play a lot and do hilarious things? Well, without spoiling it, he was nominated for two "Shaqtin' A Fool" awards this year. He was nominated for "worst pass" and "worst shot". Did he win? You'll have to watch.

Yes this stuff is old and the host isn't fun, but it's fun to see Kanter doing Kanter things instead of sitting on the bench.

Spoiler Alert: And somehow Enes now has two more awards than Leo DiCaprio has.

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I . . . I just don't know man. This is taken, with permission and with gracious nomination from many people to talk about, from Moni's amazing Blog JazzFanatical. (Five time in a row winner of the #AllThatAwards)

** Tyrone Corbin, asked what he wants to see from the Trey Burke - Alec Burks - Gordon Hayward - Enes Kanter - Derrick Favors lineup, which made a big push when they were on the court together tonight

You, I don’t, you know, I don’t wanna take anything away from the Clippers. That’s a really, really good ball club, and they’re playing really, really well right now. So, and we’re trying to find, looking at combinations or trying to get some guys some experience against this kind of competition.

Has turning up the defense when teams turn up the defense on you been one of the struggles with that lineup?

Young guys, there’s a lot of things they have to learn, man. You can’t single that out, say one thing. I mean, you see one thing, but that’s not just, one thing lead to another, so it’s a combination of things that young guys have to learn on the fly. We sit there and watch it and you may see one thing and think, "If they do this…" Well, somebody’s trying not to let you do it. If you ever played the game, you understand some of the things that guys have to go through to learn. (Emphasis added by me)

** Corbin on playing Favors and Kanter together and matchups against teams that play two bigs

We’ll look at it. We’ll see where Marvin is. See how much we can get back to. We wanna, you know, we wanna give guys opportunities, but we wanna play a certain way, and we wanna make sure the guys are earning everything they get, and as we see what’s gonna give us the best chance, and not just have guys on the floor.

Yes, read it, and the rest of the post-game talk here.

1. First of all, Corbin appears to just be either stubborn, or disinterested in what anyone else may have to think; or the opinions others may have. (That sounds like a locker room leader to me.) Second, what the heck? Thibs and Vogel have 0 NBA minutes as players and they are coaching the pants off of you Ty. And hey, other people can get to where you are without your specific path. Thibs has been an assistant head coach at the NBA level for almost longer than you've even been involved in NBA basketball as a player and special assistant, and assistant coach, and head coach. (Facts: 21 years an an Assistant at the NBA level vs. 27 years as a player or whatever) It's almost overkill to look at Thibs' entire coaching career and/or assumed level of understanding of the game though -- remember the 21 years is just Thibs at the NBA level as an assistant, not included are his 4 years as a head coach (25 to 27) or his years as an actual NCAA head coach or assistant at the college level, or his own college playing days. Vogel, like Spo in Miami, started off as okay players in college who got breaks in film rooms of NBA teams. They now coach teams with NBA title aspirations - -despite never being NBA players themselves. But hey, Ty is right. The only way to learn about the challenges a professional faces is to be in that profession.

Which is why people who watch ER or Scrubs or whatever have no concept that medical field professional have long hours. Or people who watch procedural dramas have no clue that cops get shot at and are under stress. Or that people who watch Golden Girls have no concept that old women have old person problems. The idea here is that there exists some "in-club" that's a barrier to entry, this secret knowledge, this basketball gnosticism that only former players can know of. And there's no point in trying to explain it to people WHO COVER THE VERY SAME GAMES FOR THEIR JOB. I can understand Ty saying this to me at the combine -- I'm going to be there, I wonder if he will be -- but saying this to professional reporters. That's automatically a hostile answer and somewhat disrespectful.

2. Second, he's not actually trying to get these F5 guys on the court together. Since the trade deadline here is how often, and how much they've played together (in games where all five are healthy):

• Feb 24 (BOS) - 0 seconds
• Feb 26 (PHX) - 0 seconds
• Feb 28 (CLE) - 0 seconds
• Mar 2 (IND) - 524 seconds
• Mar 3 (MIL) - 225 seconds
• Mar 5 (WAW) - 9 seconds
• Mar 7 (NYK) - 0 seconds
• Mar 8 (PHI) - 215 seconds
• Mar 10 (ATL) - 241 seconds
• Mar 12 (DAL) - 107 seconds
• Mar 14 (LAC) - 201 seconds

A week ago they didn't even play one second together. They're playing more now, but usually at the end of the game when the game is already decided. Nice. How are you prepping them to win in this league if they only play with one another as a team when the game is already over?

3. And third: "and as we see what’s gonna give us the best chance," Corbin talking about why you have to play Marvin Williams. Give us the best chance for what? FOR WHAT? To win the game? How many times this season has your BOSS, Dennis Lindsey talked about how this season isn't about wins? It's about Defense, Discipline, and Development? What is your Words with Friends user name, cause I want to play that game against a guy who thinks he can spell "WINS" with three Ds. Your boss isn't grading you on wins. You are grading yourself on wins. Because you are looking for your next job, not looking to do a good one at the one you currently have.

This whole situation is becoming harder and harder to defend. Dennis Lindsey has to take it to the next level with Ty, or maybe he's already cut his losses. I just hope the next coach isn't so stubborn. (Very NSFW -- very stressful situation with fowl language and imagery)

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Do you like Trey Burke? Yes. Do you like March Madness and College Basketball? Also yes. So while there isn't a lot of Trey news to cover right now (he did just have 18 points off of 10 shots, went 2/3 from downtown, 2/2 from the free throw line, and had 4 assists and 1 steal last night) -- we're going to go into a lot of college stuff. Starting with a new daily feature on what happened in the NCAA's last night.

Today's episode will feature Marcus Smart a little bit.

Who does he play like, according to the footage you just saw from a few nights ago?

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So maybe the problem isn't Tyrone Corbin? Maybe you can get away with a head coach who has a very strong way of looking at things *if* you surround yourself with other coaches who are capable of being masters of their own fields as well? If there's too much overlap, or outright group-think, then you're going to be missing out on some important things. I think that's why I like how we've set up SLC Dunk -- while many core beliefs may be aligned, we're all able to work together despite all the arguments we have internally to give comprehensive coverage. Diana is one of the most passionate fans out there. Moni has no peer when it comes to gifs and other fun studio work. Basketball John is great at finding Jazz information. Peter just dominates contracts, the CBA, and the financial aspects of the team and league. And so on. I've gone on before about this, but the reason why I look half competent despite my obvious flaws is because of the people I have working with me and doing the things I'm incompetent at -- so I don't have to.

Clark, Yucca, Mylo all are able to step up and write hilarious posts. (Peter too in his e-mails) Because they do this site isn't bogged down with just post after post of Excel tables and numbers from me.

Maybe Corbin isn't getting the same benefit that I have, because he picked people who just agree with him all the time and have the same traits and flaws? Other teams try to diversify their coaching staff. I've never seen a head coach flat out go and hire 'his boys' before.

One team that definitely didn't do that was the Detroit Pistons when they signed Rasheed Wallace as a full-time Assistant Coach. Sheed may not look like a coach, but he has made a huge difference. If you paid attention back when he was a player he would -- during games -- talk to young players on the bench with a dry-erase pad and help diagram and teach them things on the fly / adjustments to help them thrive.

If you read one post today from another site, read THIS one:

Wallace is the man who popularized the phrase, "Ball Don't Lie." He's the one who, instead of answering reporters' questions at a postgame press conference in the 2003 playoffs, famously repeated, "Both teams played hard," earning himself a $30,000 fine. His total of 317 career technical fouls is the most in history, and he led the league in that category eight times from 2000 to 2010, setting an NBA record with 41 in 2001.

Outspoken but never a self-promoter, Wallace as a player was equal parts intelligent and goofy, unapologetically emotional, honest and playful. He was beloved by teammates for his loyalty and fans for his nonconformity, yet sometimes misunderstood because he didn't care what others thought.

This is not exactly the typical profile of a guy making a transition to coaching mere months after retirement.

"No, never," guard Chauncey Billups says. "Never thought that he would be coaching. Ever. Anybody but him."

Billups played with Wallace for four and a half seasons in Detroit. Bonded for life after winning the 2004 NBA title together, he considers Wallace a brother and sees him the same way he did as a teammate. Returning to the town where he made his name for his 17th season, Billups admits he's never had a coach quite like this.

"He's loud, first and foremost," Billups says. "He just speaks with a lot of substance. A lot of things that he says, he might say it in a different way than a coach might say it, than a regular coach that's been coaching for years, you know what I'm saying? He's got a lot to share, though."

Billups might not have seen this coming, but in a 2008 ESPN The Magazine profile, Joe Dumars, Flip Saunders, Bill Guthridge and Stan Van Gundy spoke of Wallace as a potential head coach. They referenced his savvy, his communication, his recognition of where everyone should be on the court at all times.

- By James Herbert @outsidethenba on Mar 14 2014, 11:41a

I see no possible benefit to keep Karl Malone from being a full-time Assistant coach next year. He would be an asset, especially because he may disagree with the head coach.

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There are only 16 games this season left. Wow. The road games (Spurs, Rockets, Grizzlies, Pelicans, Thunder, Warriors, Nuggets, Timberwolves) look tough. The home games (Magic, Pistons, Grizzlies, Knicks, Pelicans, Mavericks, Trail Blazers, Lakers) are also tough. The games we seem to care about are the games against the Magic and Lakers.

What do the Jazz need to do in order to make sure we don't blow it down the stretch -- especially against these two teams we're directly competing against for ping pong balls?