Stifle Tower
Punch Bowl Re-Filler
So the fact that Corbin is american and just in right place and right time when he was handed the coaching position by the Jazz makes him better then Tanjevic who happens to live in Europe, won multiple titltles on multiple levels but never even applied for NBA coach job? So ridiculous it is not even worth arguining anymore. The mere lucky fact that Corbin ended up as coach of the Jazz does not make him good coach. He did not win anything prior to it with any team, no other NBA team was considering him for coaching position. At the end of the day I think he will end up like numeorus losing coaches in NBA - with losing record and out of the league.
Corbin was respected around the league as an assistant and did have a few interviews previously. From the DNews after Corbin took over from Sloan:
"Corbin has been a candidate to fill a handful of other head coaching vacancies the last few offseasons. He interviewed with the New Orleans Hornets last offseason before they hired Monty Williams. In past offseasons, he interviewed for vacancies in Chicago, Phoenix and Seattle before the franchise moved to Oklahoma City."
Part of the problem is that Corbin was the 2nd assistant. Jazz lost two coaches in Sloan and Johnson. And Corbin was left with Layden and Hornacek. That wasn't a very strong group. Bringing in Lowe may/may not have helped. Lowe certainly has a lot of coaching experience, but hasn't produced much in other places.
I think we have to just throw away last season in terms of Corbin's evaluation. There wasn't a real training camp; there were few days off (other than travel days). Ty made some defensive changes, but really had no time to impact the offensive system. Let's see what he does this year.
I'm not claiming he's the answer. In fact, one of the reasons for bringing in Lindsey may be to get rid of Ty at the end of the year. It's a perfect scenario as new GM's generally have the say in who they want to work with. KOC can simply say Steve is the new GM and the decision on retaining Ty or hiring a new coach is Lindsey's call.