NBA Chat With Anthony Macri 4/10/12

Coach Anthony Macri is Director of Business Development and a Player Development Consultant for the Pro Training Center. Anthony works closely with NBA trainer David Thorpe, and writes the weekly Coach’s Notebook column for HOOPSWORLD. Coach Macri gets started at his new time of 11am EST every Tuesday.

  1. Sweet Dee

    In his last chat, Derek Page said “LA is better off just keeping Bynum – who may be a better center than Howard in the future with some seasoning….” Really?? Do experts truly believe LA would be better off with an injury prone center vs. a three time defensive player of the year? Can everyone please take their Laker goggles off. Justify someone preferring Bynum over Howard.

    • Anthony Macri

      Good morning everyone! Beautiful day here, and the NBA season is about to hit the home stretch. Love this time of year. Let’s dive into your questions…

      I can’t agree that Bynum is a better center in a vacuum than Howard. Seems a little bit like crazy talk, to be honest. However, that doesn’t mean he isn’t a better fit for the Lakers, specifically. The way he takes up space and the fact that Kobe and others are used to playing with him might make it more palatable to keep him there and focus changing the roster around him rather than bring in another blue chip guy that you have to re-acclimate all over again.

  2. The JOkeShow

    So if the Jazz get 2 draft picks, do you try and trade both + Milsap and Harris for Rondo or just draft a PG and SG or SF, and build them and let Milsap or Jefferson walk after next season?

    • Anthony Macri

      That seems a stiff price to pay for Rondo on the face of it. Would need to think about it a bit, but I guess you could be open to moving parts around. Their current roster isn’t going to win any a conference finals series anytime soon.

  3. Deven

    Hi Coach Macri. This is the second time SAS’s 11 game winning streak(s) came to end while resting the key players. To me, I wasn’t really impressed at all about the Jazz beating the Spurs. It would have been nice to beat SAS with all their guys. As I’m typing this, you can probably tell I’m a Spurs hater. What do you think about Coach Pop resting the key guys with the playoffs coming around?

    • Anthony Macri

      He has done it in years they have won it all, and done it in years where they haven’t. I think he has a pretty good feel for his team (and my impression of San Antonio is that the players there have some input and their opinions are respected). Seems like a good idea to me. I’m just glad I didn’t watch the Spurs to do a breakdown of them when they were all resting, as I had originally planned to do.

  4. Cain

    How good can Gerald Green be? Or better question is what sort of role would he have on a winning team?

    • Anthony Macri

      Scorer off the bench, part-time starter maybe, but not on a championship team.

  5. marvin

    do you think tyreke evans will be traded in off season?? especially with marcus thornton being the kings future sg.

    • Anthony Macri

      Tyreke looks more comfortable off the ball on the wings, and he is probably more effective in that environment. He would do decently at a place with a locked-in point guard so he could focus on personal efficiency. I’m not sure if they’ll trade him (I don’t know what his value would be in the open market) but he is definitely not untouchable.

  6. cain

    which player in the draft will best fit the kings???

    • Anthony Macri

      Probably depends on plans surrounding Evans. I would want high quality guys there, guys like Beal or Harrison Barnes might fit, depending on what pick they get.

  7. Josh

    Why is everyone so surprised about the play of Goran Dragic? He played pro overseas, and learned the NBA game from Steve Nash, now he’s in a position to showcase what he has, did the suns make a bad move swapping him for Aaron Brooks?

    • Anthony Macri

      Good at the time. Remember, some guys need a change of scenery to showcase their talents.

  8. Josh

    Devin Harris, Jameer Nelson and Raymond Felton started slow, but have been playing much better of late, for Harris And Felton, how much good will a training camp do?

    • Anthony Macri

      Not much to be honest. Once you get into your second contract in the NBA, training camp is just a chance to make sure you are in shape and develop a little more timing with new teammates (for the most part). It will help them to be slightly better early in the season than either was this year.

  9. B. Carroll

    Good catching up Anthony,

    How far do you see Memphis going? In their past 10 games against the league’s best teams I haven’t seen a better collection of defense, depth, interior scoring, and quality coaching from any team all season. I feel that this is a championship caliber team right now. Your thoughts?

    • Anthony Macri

      It’s funny, I have had a tough time getting into them as a team, but they are probably going to make a believer out of me. I will watch them this week – maybe go over how they are the Spurs or OKC is the likely Western Conference representative.

  10. LK

    Morning coach, couple questions for you: What are the Hornets best player move this off season? With Melo back to his oldself, should the next trade Amare to another team? Thanks.

    • Anthony Macri

      Not sure on Hornets. Lots to do there, and all parts are inter-related. The Knicks question is an interesting one. I don’t like how Amare, Chandler, and Melo work together. I think either Amare or Melo has to go, and I can’t imagine them moving Melo… you can guess what I think that means…

  11. HoBo

    Hello Anthony, Will Bradley Beal wait until the last second to declare?

    • Anthony Macri

      I think a lot of guys will wait until they absolutely have to. He is probably one of them. Always good to get as much information as possible.

  12. andrew

    Hey coach! Couple questions regarding cavs development.
    1) kyrie irving has surprised everyone. Is there a chance we see the blake griffin effect take hold of him? Meaning hes so incredible out of the gate that his development from then on is much slower then others? Or do u see him growing by leaps n bounds?

    2) where does gee fit in? Do the cavs continue to raise him as swingman or do they use him to plug up holes at 2 guard?

    Im more excited to see how gee developes especially after his growth since last season(and the autographed game jersey in my closet may have sometbing to do with it too)

    Thanks a lot, love the chats man keep it up

    • Anthony Macri

      Irving has certainly been impressive overall. I don’t think there is anything you can say about how one guy handles success against how another guy handles it. By the way, I don’t think it is fair to say that he has plateaued – he is just exploring different aspects of his game. I think he’ll get better over time just like anyone else.

      Sounds like that autographed jersey has a lot to do with it. I think he is a swing though he could occasionally play the 2 as necessary.

  13. JW

    “The one thing about players today is that they’re very sensitive, and
    >very fragile,” Collins said before the 76ers were blown out by the
    >Boston Celtics according to SBNation. “They didn’t grow up with tough
    >coaches. You know, I had my ass kicked since I was six. It’s a
    >different time, and so I treat this team very much with kid gloves. I
    >really do, and I’m still looked at as an ogre.”
    Your thoughts on todays kids in highschool and college sports…DO you agree? Your thoughts on Coach Collins remarks…
    Thanks

    • Anthony Macri

      I go back and forth. I think players respond to aggressive, strong coaching, and I think they respond to discipline at just about any age, as long as they feel the coach has their best interest at heart. Here’s my thing: if Coach Collins can’t adapt his style to the players and get everything he can out of them, then he needs to continue to adapt his style. It’s not like this situation hasn’t happened at every team he’s ever coached. At some point, it’s more about the coach than it is about the players.

  14. JfromPHI

    Watching the 76ers fall the way they are falling is truly heart breaking for us local fans…we had such high hopes for this team and this season…what are your thoughts as to what needs to be fixed with this team? Do you think a guy like T.Evans in Sac (not in long term plans) would fill the role the sixers need for a legitmate scorer?

    • Anthony Macri

      Not a fan of Tyreke there. Like low usage high efficiency scorers. Guys like Kevin Martin.

  15. Patrik

    What’s your opinion on mike brown as a coach?

    • Anthony Macri

      Not a fan of the way he coaches offense, but I think his teams do good things offensively.

  16. matt

    Jose Calderon and DeMar DeRozan for Tyreke Evans and a player to make the salary work (or not as SAK has loads of cap room they never use). Bayless + Evans would be a great backcourt, SAK gets a distributor and a decent SG. PS: I’m a raps fan

    • Anthony Macri

      I don’t think it makes either team markedly better, though a change of scenery for Evans might be good.

  17. matt

    Melo really impressed the other day

    • Anthony Macri

      The best thing about him was the passes he made to open teammates, even after those teammates proved they couldn’t hit shots in that game. I hope that sort of attitude and level of play continues for him.

  18. matt

    Raps were 30th last year in defensive efficiency rating, this year they are 16th, last year they were 21st in offensive efficiency rating, this year they’re 24th. I think Casey has done a phenomenal job given the lack of talent on the roster.

  19. jim

    Ben gordon on toronto….. could he find his lost glory?

    • Anthony Macri

      It is possible but unlikely. Players at his size and given the things he does tend to have a shorter shelf life – once they aren’t quicker / more explosive, they don’t help teams win anymore. Not saying that has happened yet, but I need evidence to the contrary.

  20. Jazzfan

    Just a fun question if you had to decide between a player with great offense and avg defense or a player with great defense and avg offense which would you choose?

    • Anthony Macri

      A lot would depend on the team around that player, but in a vacuum I think it is easier to teach a guy how to defend in a team setting than it is to get him to get better offensively. I’d rather find offensive talents and mold them into good defenders from a team perspective. Obviously from a strict development perspective, I feel that over time I can help a guy get a lot better on the offensive end… but that is harder to do while also trying to win games.

      That’ll do it for me today. Hope everyone had a great Easter and enjoy this stretch run!