Nurturing Nature

Last week, during a Cleveland win over San Antonio, Mike Brown and Gregg Popovich left three timeouts each on the table. Confident in the ability of veteran players to execute quality possessions, the coaches allowed the play to flow back and forth. The Spurs lost 90-88 but Manu Ginobli released a steady, open, and transition jumper from the foul line as time expired.

After a 6-5 shootout win over Pittsburgh, Bruce Boudreau commented that one of the first moves that he became Washington coach was to make the Capitals a four-line team. Rather than over-emphasize match-ups - dumping the puck to initiate line changes, losing puck possession while focusing on the other team - Boudreau felt that all eighteen skaters should know how to play against everyone and understand that the coaches believe in their abilities

Subtle coaching strategies may pay dividends when motivating apprehensive players like Andrea Bargnani, who according to Sam Mitchell is still learning his position and probably according to Leo Rautins needs to learn that he can succeed in the Association. After scouting, drafting, or recruiting nature, the trick is to nurture a Caron Butler, not destroy a Kwame Brown.

According to the Harvard Business Review, the two most important managerial behaviours are enabling people to move forward in their work and treating them decently as human beings. The latter was evidenced by the coincidence of ‘progress events’ with ‘interpersonal events’ whereas the former was driven by multiple factors. Good managers provide direct help and adequate resources and time, react to success and failures with a learning orientation, and set clear team goals.

Maybe Tom Coughlin’s sideline tirade towards New York kicker Lawrence Tynes was not an example of a learning orientation. But it didn’t bother him, unlike Michael Jordan’s legendary tirades towards Kwame Brown in Wizards practices, because of Tynes’ personal constitution and Coughlin’s awareness of this. The Toronto Raptors’ coaches should set clear goals and follow-up while players and peers monitor his mental attitude and provide personal support.

"Il Mago"

Lately criticism has abounded concerning Raptors forward AndreaBargnani, initially justified, now provided by columnists seeking topics, attempting to feed a need. Evaluating Bargnani is challenging, on account of several injuries affecting his performance since late last season. Foot and knee injuries have deprived “Il Mago” of his quickness and first step. The first months of his career had been promising and raised everyone’s expectations.

Now, the knives are out. But anyone who writes off a draft pick in their second year is asking to become a victim of other general managers, ignoring the precedent set by Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, and Kevin Garnett, the last three M.V.P. winners who struggled mightily during their second seasons.

Obviously, Bargnani is not at this level - the entire draft class was considered weak at the time - but pundits have been disappointed by a range of talents, from Tracy McGrady to Kwame Brown, so any number of paths are possible.

Andrea Bargnani stated the Raptors’ first few games of 07-08, playing a quasi-Euro centre next to Chris Bosh’s power forward. After a number of underwhelming performances, he was bench in favour of Rasho Nesterovic and coach Sam Mitchell has inconsistently dispersed minutes since. Now, as of Saturday’s game in Phoenix, the Italian is back in the starting lineup, apparently to stay.

Nesterovic is a vastly underrated defender who possesses an array of post moves. Despite occasionally poor shot selection, he deserves to start in the Association. Toronto will suffer if he continues to be DNP-CDed. Bargnani could become stronger but if he followed Nesterovic’s example of persistence he would immediately become a better defender. Adding more inside post moves to his game would allow him to become more like Arvydas Sabonis, and other players who combined inside and outside games.

Starting again as Toronto’s centre, Bargnani performed much better in his increased role. In addition to improving his ability to defend, he could develop his decisiveness and confidence in order to play with more aggressiveness, draw fouls, and shoot higher percentage shots. Few possess Bargnani’s skill set but it is meaningless if he doesn’t use it to the fullest extent.

Jamario Moon should be benched in favour of Bargnani. Certainly, Moon’s “joie de jouer” and vertical leap have endeared him to Toronto fans but he performs inconsistently and if anyone should give up minutes, it is him.

Currently, Moon’s main flaw is a tendency to force outside shots and avoid driving to the basket to force contact. This is similar to what Bargnani should improve so if he doesn’t want to play with more intensity, Moon should continue to receive the benefit of the doubt. But Jamario Moon does not need to play forty minutes per game so there is certainly room to scale back his burn.

This decision is slightly complicated by Toronto’s system, which works best when sparked by the defence. The offence struggles the most when the players (Jason Kapono, Carlos Delfino, T.J. Ford) jack bad outside shots. The last thing the Raptors need is more weak defence and outside shooting. Attacking the basket, posting up, cutting, sharing the ball, making reasonable outside shots: all attributes of Bargnani’s that can jumpstart the Raptor’s motion offence -- if he wants to.