Monday, February 16, 2009

Coaching is a constant sales job

BOS President of Basketball Ops Danny Ainge coached the Suns for four seasons in the late 1990s, going 148-99 (including playoffs).

As this article describes, "Ainge hasn't coached since, but he uses that experience to aid him in his front office role with the Celtics."

"It was a great experience," Ainge said. "I'm glad that I coached. It helped me in the job that I have now . . . I thought I could get people to do things and get players to work harder. It wasn't as easy as it appeared to be. I thought it would be better.

Coaching is more difficult than I thought it would be, especially with grown men. It's a constant sales job. But I liked the people I was coaching with a great deal. It's a great experience. It helps me understand that when things happen so many of us immediately go to the coach for blame. If the coach would have done this or that . . . That's an easy solution.

I watch our team practices. I watch what we do and the emphasis. Sometimes it doesn't look the same on the court. I think we need to be a lot more tolerant of coaches. I'm more into blaming players in the final stretch than coaches."