Tuesday, June 24, 2014

NBA Draft Science

Well, the NBA draft is finally here this week to kick off an off-season full of questions. Will the Heatles break up, with LeBron moving back to Cleveland? Where will all the big-name free agents (Carmelo, Luol Deng, Pau Gasol, Lance Stephenson, Kyle Lowry) go? Will Minnesota trade Kevin Love, and if so, where? And most importantly, how long is this ugly Clippers saga going to drag on, and what will be the end result? In the meantime, let's all enjoy the deepest draft in many years, and potentially one of the deepest ever, with lots of good building blocks and a few potential big-time stars available. It should be a complete reversal of last year's uninspiring event, which featured a crop of players that might produce two or three All-Stars IF everything breaks right.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Influential Coaches #6: Michael Minthorne

Previous entries:
Series Overview
January: Paul Westphal (basketball)
February: Tara Gallagher (basketball/softball)
March: Robert Joseph Ahola (rugby)
April: Rickey Perkins (swimming)
May: Bob Smith & Mike Craig (baseball)

This sixth entry in the yearlong series is the first of three in which the profiled coach is actually someone who is a contemporary, and not only that, but younger than me. Michael also happens to be a rising star in coaching, someone who has made the most out of the opportunities he has gotten and who should receive more (and better) opportunities in the future. And because of the work he does, he has the ability to affect the performances of many more athletes than most coaches.