Chris Finch Interview
Here are his thoughts about coaching from the Houston Rockets NBA website:
"CF: So what can you apply from what you learned from that experience to where you are right now at the start of training camp? CF: That’s a great question. What you see there is a total dedication to everyone’s craft. Being among all those athletes, you see them getting up early every day, training, eating right, totally dedicated to their moment. And some of those people, their moment comes and goes so quickly: You have a qualification round, and they have to either qualify or they’re done, so four years of hard work can be gone in an instant. Everyone is just laser focused, ready, and all their energy is going to that single moment. Then after they’ve had their chance or success they relax and party (laughs). But it’s all business before that and it’s just an incredibly pure environment from a preparation, readiness and excitement standpoint, and that’s what training camp should be. This is our pure environment and this is where we get to mold and prepare and get ready for the season and figure out who we are. Now Olympic athletes, they know who they are – they just have to do it. But this is our time: We’re away from Houston and all our energy should be going into preparing our team and our players should be preparing themselves for a great season. JCF: I know you believe in freedom on offense and virtually no freedom on defense. What do you want to define this team offensively? CF: I want us to always be on the attack. I want us to look and feel like a herd of horses coming down the floor every single time. I want us to really, first and foremost, put the defense under pressure every way possible and I want to see us share the ball. We want to run and keep the tempo high, but to do that we have to value the right shots and we have to do it unselfishly. JCF: And what are your defensive goals? CF: We need a total dedication to keeping the ball out of the paint; helping each other and making a wall of defenders anytime the ball gets near the paint and then challenging from there out. We really feel like if we do those two things – play with some tempo, space and freedom on offense, and we play with some physicality and sell-out to protect the paint on defense – then we can really take a step forward even from where we were last year. With a younger team, with a less experienced team, those will be challenges but it won’t keep us from making the improvements that we want to make as a team."
While Finch would be a very nice blend, we have more to go.
Next: George Karl