I'm an OG Warriors fan & I'm a HUGE fan of Don Nelson & his out-of-the-box coaching philosophies...
I couldn't help but think about Nelson's time at Golden State & how he turned it around in the late 80s with Nellie Ball... which is just small ball... and how that philosophy kinda changed the NBA... I'm not sure if Tark was influenced by Nellie or the other way around, but both knew that athleticism & fast pace could wreak havoc on slower, bigger teams.
I was thinking about Nellie ball & googled it yesterday.... sure enough, there's a wikipedia page about it... here→ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Ball
After reading through it, I'm convinced that Otz is a big a fan of Nellie Ball... but unlike Tark and probably closer to what Nellie was about, Otz looks for character & hardworker over character & athleticism (not say Tark didn't want the hardworker too, because if they didn't have that, he'd flush them out of the program)...
I do think that unless TJ can find the guys similar to Augmon, Anthony, LJ, etc... that had all three attributes (hardworker, character & athletic as hell), that there will be a national-contender type ceiling on the program...but it will certainly be a program that will win/contend for the MWC year in and year out.
I love this quote from Hardy, “He (Otz) has phenomenal offensive strategies,” Hardy says. “Stuff that I’ve never seen. Just his ability to keep defenses guessing, putting guys in different positions. Sometimes it may look like I’m playing the 4 spot, but really it’s just putting me in a spot to attack where I’m at my best.”
the FUTURE is bright, and hopefully long with Coach Otz as the Rebel coach.
I couldn't help but think about Nelson's time at Golden State & how he turned it around in the late 80s with Nellie Ball... which is just small ball... and how that philosophy kinda changed the NBA... I'm not sure if Tark was influenced by Nellie or the other way around, but both knew that athleticism & fast pace could wreak havoc on slower, bigger teams.
I was thinking about Nellie ball & googled it yesterday.... sure enough, there's a wikipedia page about it... here→ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Ball
After reading through it, I'm convinced that Otz is a big a fan of Nellie Ball... but unlike Tark and probably closer to what Nellie was about, Otz looks for character & hardworker over character & athleticism (not say Tark didn't want the hardworker too, because if they didn't have that, he'd flush them out of the program)...
I do think that unless TJ can find the guys similar to Augmon, Anthony, LJ, etc... that had all three attributes (hardworker, character & athletic as hell), that there will be a national-contender type ceiling on the program...but it will certainly be a program that will win/contend for the MWC year in and year out.
I love this quote from Hardy, “He (Otz) has phenomenal offensive strategies,” Hardy says. “Stuff that I’ve never seen. Just his ability to keep defenses guessing, putting guys in different positions. Sometimes it may look like I’m playing the 4 spot, but really it’s just putting me in a spot to attack where I’m at my best.”
the FUTURE is bright, and hopefully long with Coach Otz as the Rebel coach.
