FanHouse Marc Iavaroni

By theory, the NBA Draft Lottery (Tuesday at 8:00 PM ET) is left to randomness. But what if basketball karma dictated the results? Good triumphs over evil. Fairness and compassion reign. Robert Horry does not exist. It's a wonderful world.

Close your eyes and imagine how the ping pong balls would bounce if karma ruled tonight's lottery ...

As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.

"The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress." -Philippe de Comines

It's also paved with the 2008-2009 Memphis Grizzlies and their fans.

The Grizzlies entered the season with a bizarre self-awareness. They were a young team with a coach that preached speed and aggression, but who had been told by his boss to instill defense, or else. They had lost their longtime franchise player in a rebuilding trade that resulted in much of the league mocking them, then pulled off a brilliant draft day trade to acquire O.J. Mayo. They had a deep set of guards, a great combination of young frontcourt players, returning superstar Rudy Gay, and a possible superstar in O.J. Mayo. And they were still expected to only win only 20-25 games.

Technically speaking, the Grizzlies aren't the youngest team in the league -- Golden State and Portland just barely edged them out.

But in terms of players who actually play the most minutes, there's no doubt that the Grizzlies lead the way: they start three rookies (O.J. Mayo, Marc Gasol and Darrel Arthur), a second-year point guard (Mike Conley) and a third-year small forward (Rudy Gay) who's the old man of the group at 23 years old.

With that much inexperience, it's not a surprise the team is just 4-13 ... but at least one player thinks they probably could be better. When asked if he thought the Grizzlies were a well-coached team, Gay gave one of the worst endorsements of a coach I've ever seen.

Yesterday my colleague Tom Ziller talked about how some NBA teams are embracing blogs in the wake of ever-shrinking coverage from slowly-dying newspapers. He referenced the Golden State Warriors but could have just as easily been talking about the Memphis Grizzlies, who have routinely offered the excellent 3 Shades of Blue blog exclusive sit-downs with owner Michael Heisley, GM Chris Wallace and, today, head coach Marc Iavaroni.

It's a win-win situation for everybody involved -- the team gets a few thousand words of coverage during the dog days of September and the blog gets some well-deserved publicity. Fans of the team win, too, especially considering Chip from 3 Shades asked tough questions and prints Iavaroni's complete, in-depth answers and not just a boiled down one-liner readers would have received from a traditional reporter constrained by inches on a dead tree. The whole interview is worth reading, but here's my favorite highlight:

3SOB: It was reported that you played the devil's advocate on the O.J. Mayo trade. What were the reasons against the trade and what arguments were being made in favor of it?

MI: I think again another healthy situation. Here we are in what used to be called the war room but here we are in the draft night and frankly I think it was positive. We said let's look at everything. Now if someone wants to brand me the devil's advocate as several people were saying that is fine. I've never been a sheep. Mr. Heisley has never been a sheep. Heisley has always led by leading and I am the same way. Obviously, foremost on my mind is that we were a young team and we were going to get younger. Like it or not I tend to develop affinities for players in my corner and one of those players was Mike Miller.

It's been almost two years since Larry Brown's debacle in New York ended, and to the surprise of, well, no one, he's hoping to get back on the sidelines. From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

"I've got to figure out if I can get a coaching job," Brown said. "I want to get back so bad. I'm so bored."

[...] "I just miss it. I don't miss the games so much, but I miss being around the coaches and the players. I still have something to offer. . . . After my last experience [in New York], I just want to go where I can do a better job and move forward."

For the time being, Brown has sated his coaching jones by assisting Mo Cheeks in evaluating players, as well as helping out at Villanova practices. In fact, he doesn't care if he coaches in the pro game or returns to his college roots, he just wants a job -- any job (so long as it's a head coaching job, natch -- he's turned down offers to be an assistant for the Celtics as well as Marquette over the past 12 months).

Let's get one thing straight: Marc Iavaroni made his name as a defensive mind, and his greatest contribution to the Suns was his work with Amare Stoudemire. That said, there's no way the point guard position doesn't loom large in his plans as Memphis's head coach. Good thing his Grizz drafted highly touted prospect Mike Conley, Jr., who as a nineteen year-old will have a lot asked of him.

From an Q&A with the Memphis Commercial Appeal, here's Iavaroni outlining what he wants in a point guard. I wonder if he hasn't been a little spoiled by his experience with Steve Nash:

Someone who understands that he has to give himself up in order to make his teammates better without making himself worse. He has to be someone who can keep the confidence of his teammates up and keep his own up ... He's got the ball in his hands, and people are going to be watching him all the time. This is going to be a point guard directed offense. That's why there is a little more on the point guard in this situation.

And that's the abridged version! Look, Iavaroni is a smart guy; he knows how unique Nash is. Conley will be his own player, and probably only benefit from his coach's time with the best. Still, reading that Nash-inspired rhapsody, you wonder if there might be some awkward growing pains in their relationship.

It could be posturing from a reluctant owner, but Michael Heisley told the Memphis Commercial Appeal all the reforms his basketball team made have not translated to increased ticket sales this summer. If Heisley's truthful, this is sort-of depressing for me, as Memphis is probably the most interesting team in the league going into the season.

Rudy Gay was last year's most exciting rookie. Pau Gasol is very nearly elite. Hakim Warrick is top 5 in the league with regards to vicious dunks. Marc Iavaroni gets a chance to debut his Spurs on skateboards philosophy (which admittedly, I invented from inference and could be the furthest thing from the truth). Darko Milicic will be unleashed. Mike Conley and Kyle Lowry could form Ford&Calderon South. Juan Carlos Navarro could nag Pau til he shaves. Mike Miller could contend for second runner-up in the All-Star race. Jerry West could invite Bootsy Collins to the suite again.

I don't think Memphis is playoff ready... but quality is not an exclusive indicator of entertainment factor. (See: San Antonio, Charlotte.) The Grizzlies are so far removed from their 'good but wholly predictable' roots (see: Battier, Shane & Fratello, Mike)... so maybe it will take a while for greater Tennessee to get on board. Maybe those intriguing college Tigers have folks turning elsewhere with their expendable dollar. Maybe this Memphis team will be fantastic on TV, but useless live (like Atlanta). All I know is if I was within spitting distance of the FedEx Forum, I'd be approving Heisley's decisions with my dollar. This team will not be boring.

A few days ago, I was all about SVG heading to the Magic. According to the New York Daily News, Orlando has some other plans for their head coach of the future:

Orlando wants to go up-tempo and has identified Suns assistant Marc Iavaroni as a top candidate for its coaching vacancy ... But the best thing about Iavaroni, as far as Orlando is concerned, is that [Amare] Stoudemire has blossomed under his tutelage. That makes him an ideal fit for the Magic's Dwight Howard.

Pretty potent stuff, even if it's out there as a rumor. Over the last calendar year, we've heard that Howard wanted to develop a perimeter game, that he was the successor to Shaq in the post, and that Young Thunder is so raw offensively that he's stunted. It would seem that the first priority with this potential stud is to get him more consistent scoring on the block.

As we've told you before, Iavaroni is one of the most-coveted candidates this off-season. But what's made Amare flourish so is that he's now comfortable shooting jumpers and even putting the ball on the floor. The Suns All-Star still doesn't have much of an arsenal down low. Not saying that it has to be so starkly either/or with Howard, but looking to Iavaroni wouldn't be a vote for developing an old-school center.

Now the Magic have fired -- err, "reassigned" -- Brian Hill, who's going to take the reins? The hot name in Florida is definitely Billy Donovan, he of the two-time defending NCAA champion Gators. Donovan has been waiting to get his contract done with the University of Florida, and he's already expressed at least some interest by meeting with the Grizzlies last month.

Donovan is an attractive option on several different levels, not the least of which being leveraging the excitement of his hiring into support for a new arena. Plus, Donovan's coaching style would be a nice change of pace for the Magic, who are hoping to adopt a more up-tempo approach than what Hill was apparently comfortable employing.

That said, I'm guessing Donovan is a pipe-dream. He's got a good situation in Florida, even with the core of his champion squad leaving for the draft. And he'd almost certainly want a great deal of control over personnel decisions, something that current GM Otis Smith might balk at. If he talks with the Magic, I'm guessing it's just because he wants to spur along his negotiations with Florida.

So who is it going to be? Well, if the Magic are looking to pick up their tempo, you have to imagine Jeff Van Gundy is already ruled out, and considering all of the youth on the team (and the potential presence of restricted free agent Darko Milicic), you can probably cross Larry Brown off the list. Obviously, any number of candidates may eventually come out of the woodwork (no one was talking about Sam Vincent or Rick Adelman as potential hires a couple of months ago, and they've each landed jobs), but I'm hoping that this is the team that lands current Suns assistant Marc Iavaroni.

For better or worse, the Raptors are keeping Sam Mitchell: Doug Smith reports in the Toronto Star that Mitchell has agreed on a three-year deal with an option for a fourth. Is it the smart move? Well, it's certainly the least disruptive, bringing back the coach who guided the team to their first ever division title. That said, he's also the coach that guided the team to a first-round playoff exit, and now that he's had success, it'll take a lot more than 47 wins to garner Coach of the Year honors (or as they say in Canada, "honours") next season. Dave Feschuk writes in the Toronto Star:

At age 43, Mitchell coached this past season like he was still hungry, still improving, still seemingly bent on proving his critics wrong.

He is a man possessed of rough edges, but above all, an edge. Colangelo can only hope that, with a new pile of guaranteed money in the coach's pocket, Mitchell is sufficiently possessed to keep it sharp.

We've all heard about players relaxing the moment they get the big contract, but does the same apply to coaches? Mitchell will reportedly make $4 million a year (before various bonuses), which is more than double the $1.6 million he made this past season.

But even if he doesn't relax, a lot of people suggested he was out-coached in the playoffs, which begs the question: was Toronto's regular season success the result of Mitchell's suddenly apparent coaching acumen or Bryan Colangelo's ability to evaluate talent, overhauling the roster with useful role players like Jorge Garbajosa and Anthony Parker while making a shrewd trade to pick up T.J. Ford? If you can't tell from the tone of this post, I'm guessing it's the latter. That's nothing against Mitchell, who had the Raptors running a clinic on ball movement on most nights this past season, but count me among those who believe Colangelo might be missing out on the next big thing in Marc Iavaroni.

Previously on FanHouse:
We Are All Waiting on Iavaroni
Wait, So Sam Mitchell Is Staying?