This is the tale of three NBA coaches who are making the game fun this season, and how now fans might start paying attention…
Thanks to a football game nobody in their right mind watched.
You see, every team in every sport has a Jameis Winston. It’s just that, in most cases, you’d never know it.
If the Cleveland Browns were serious about winning more football games in a lost season, they’d play aerially challenged Dorian Thompson-Robinson at quarterback, push tushes on every play and hope to bore the opponent to death.
But as everyone who watched Monday night’s inexplicably scheduled Browns-Broncos game now realizes, Kevin Stefanski is not that type of coach. When he goes to the craps table, he doesn’t play the “Don’t Pass.”
He pushes his chips onto boxcars.
Sixty minutes of wow-did-you-see-that football later, Jerry Jones is kicking himself, asking his son: Why don’t we have Jameis Winston as OUR quarterback?
And they say rolling the ball out there died with Jerry Tarkanian.
Enter Chauncey Billups, Jordi Fernandez and Taylor Jenkins. Three men totally unalike, but each with his own version of Winston.
And thanks to the original, maybe now we all recognize it.
These three NBA coaches woke up Friday morning with a grand total of 33 wins and no spots in the NBA Cup quarterfinals. And no doubt they are perfectly happy about that.
Likely, their fans are, too.
Because for Jenkins, this season isn’t about November and December. It’s about April and May, and hopefully next spring as well.
And for Billups and Fernandez, it’s about June, July, and, oh, sometime around 2028.
In all three cases, the coach is attempting to build a contender. Wishfully thinking, a champion. And he’s doing it with little guys.
Small-minded, perhaps. But at least it’s a plan.
Billups’ Trail Blazers would love to add Cooper Flagg next season, which means losing as many games as possible between now and the draft. But it’s going to take more than just a Flagg to deliver a banner.
With Anfernee Simons, Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson, Portland has the makings of a championship backcourt. And Billups’ green-light approach is flaunting it big-time.
The coach hopes some big (size and stature) NBA free agent is captivated by the rapid-fire style of play and the opportunity the Trail Blazers present.
What they need is a younger Jerami Grant, and the brilliant aspect of Billups’ game plan is it helps the former star turn back the clock. No, not to help Portland win more games now. Rather, to help them win more games in the future.
The better Grant plays in a style that suits his play perfectly, the more likely he could turn into this year’s Pascal Siakam—the trade magnet for a younger forward, a first-round pick, or, hopefully, both.
Fernandez has the same plan in Brooklyn, only with a much tougher sell. He doesn’t have Jameis Winston; he has Aaron Rodgers.
And who would want him?
Enter Ben Simmons, the NBA’s ultimate enigma. At about half-a-million a game, no less.
Don’t look now, but the Dunderhead From Down Under has registered a heartbeat of late. Credit Fernandez, who, like Billups, is making the Flop For Flagg campaign enjoyable … thanks in large part to little guys Cam Thomas and Cam Johnson.
They appear now to be the future of the organization, but let’s be honest: With the most blue-chip draft picks this side of Oklahoma City and—as soon as Simmons’ contract expires—a boatload of money to spend, the future is truly in the future.
Fernandez earns early Coach of the Year consideration for getting Simmons, at least on most nights, to buy in. The more times SportsCenter trumpets him as a Second Coming (of himself)—swiping passes, rebounding misses, leading fast breaks… everything but shooting—the more likely someone will be desperate enough to give him a shot down the stretch.
It just takes one.
It’s a Hail Mary, but so far, at least the football looks pretty in flight.
Somewhere in between Grant and Simmons on the dependability spectrum lies a third potential hopes-lifting acquisition this season: Marcus Smart.
Make no mistake: Jenkins has more important things to do in Memphis than to devise fun ways to showcase the former standout. And, frankly, everyone knows Smart, so the Grizzlies need not apply lipstick.
If only Smart would do his part… and it’s just not happening.
But there are glimmers of hope. Like Wednesday’s difference-making effort against Sacramento. Put him on the Kings, and they win the game. Hmm …
Unlike Grant and Simmons, the turtle-like Smart has gotten little enjoyment from his coach’s attempt to speed up the game. Few—if any—teams play at a faster pace than Memphis, which in the long run should assure Ja Morant a spot on the All-NBA team and Desmond Bane an All-Star Weekend invitation.
The Grizzlies are winning, which should get them the free advertising TV time the Trail Blazers and Nets are unlikely to receive. And they are entertaining, which sells as well.
If Smart were smart, he’d realize that more efforts like Wednesday’s would increase the chances of moving vans showing up and taking him to a more desirable home. He’s a perfect fit with the Knicks, who have an old-school coach who speaks his language, and he’d be close enough to get the Celtics’ attention with his revenge-minded trash-talking.
At what cost? Tom Thibodeau is so old, he probably doesn’t even realize he has Pacome Dadiet on his roster. It’s a deal.
Grant, Simmons and Smart. Three useful talents, but three guys in bad situations for three different reasons.
All have a good chance of being elsewhere after the trade deadline… thanks to Billups, Fernandez and Jenkins taking a page from Kevin Stefanski and making the game fun.
