missed coaching oppurtunity

[cavincali]

the best coach available last year during the season was mike fratello.

i think he went to the grizz'ls before we fired silas but this guy was an awsome coach. people hated his style of play but people didnt recognize why he did what he did. the team was playing normal paced and was getting stomped for the first several weeks. mike switched to the slow play and we rolled for the rest of the season.

mike uses his players strength of the entire team and makes them overachieve. he allways got the best of our players and i wish he wasnt coaching memphis. i dont even know if he would even want to come back but he would be a great fit for the coaching vacancy.

 

[Karma]

Even though the majority wanted Silas's head, Silas was considered safe for the remainder of the season because he was getting some "results". Of course we all know our standing was inflated by our easy schedule. So by the time the rest of the world woke up to Silas's deficincies, Fratello was off coaching elsewhere.

 

[Pioneer10]

I completely agree the Czar would have been a good choice and he was interested in coming back to Cleveland last year. But Paxson went with Silas to go along with his other luminous choices in Lucas and Whitman.

The problem with this season turned out the ownership change happened too soon or late depending on you're perspective. If the change happened earlier I think we would have had a real shot at Karl or Fratello. Silas has said he pretty much wanted out once the new owner came in but too little to late now

 

[Marty Mar]

If Czar was avaliable, he wouldn't have came here anyways. There were legal issues between The Cavaliers and Fratello, at the end of the story, one side ended up sueing the other.

I don't really remember what the circumstances where, but I do recall that there was a problem.

 

[E-Light]

Fratello loved cleveland. He would have come back if we would of offered him the job. If you see about musselman, who fratello is high on he is pimping him to coach the cavs.

 

[Marty Mar]

Would you come back to coach a team that you had legal issues with?

Czar talks high on the Cavaliers all the time because he is a public persuana, he isn't going to make himself look stupid.

 

[Dungong]

Oh man, the Fratello times were a test of who was a true Cav fan. Those were some hard games to watch, walking the ball up the court every time, having the lowest scoring output, barely sneaking into the playoffs with no real hope of advancing, and other such mediocrity. However, the team DID have an offense in which people moved (after the walking part). Makes you wonder what would happen when you put that team up against run and gun teams like the Suns today.

 

[cavincali]

dun we didnt sneak in that year, we got the 6 seed.

he coached to players strengths, and playing the slow boring game worked for the win total, not to win over the fans.

 

[Glen Infante]

The Fratello days was when I started getting into basketball. We had decent balance of offense that was ran through Terrell Brandon and Chris Mills.

Fratello turned Tyrone Hill into an all-star and he got Hot Rod Williams to be an all star for the 1st time as well.

This guy really brings the games out of the mediocre guys.

 

[TheAdmin]

The Fratello days was when I started getting into basketball. We had decent balance of offense that was ran through Terrell Brandon and Chris Mills.

Fratello turned Tyrone Hill into an all-star and he got Hot Rod Williams to be an all star for the 1st time as well.

This guy really brings the games out of the mediocre guys.

Hot Rod was an all-star? He was a good sixth man but I don't recall him ever being named to the all-star team. I also recall him and Fratello getting into shouting matches after games........

Fratello is a good coach if your goal is to just get to the playoffs. He comes up with a system and sticks with it, players either adapt or get moved to a different team. He did not adjust in games or when players went down with injuries. He is like Silas, a good guy to start a program but not a coach that has the ability to take a team all the way.

 

[Glen Infante]

I just looked over his profile, and I could have SWORN he made the All-Star team one year. Apparently he didn't.

 

[NarlCavs]

I have to agree with Dungong that the games in the Fratello years were painful to watch many times. You can only watch so many 73-70 and 70-67 games. That was the only time I ever considered not watching Cavs games. Not even the 15 win season 2 years ago made me want to stop.
Fratello is a very good coach and did what he thought he had to do to win. It was just ugly.

I don't think Fratello would have come back to the Cavs. There were some issues after his firing. I think that ship had sailed.

It's interesting though that Musselman could be considered a young Fratello type although Musselman is more open minded and offensively minded. He does bring a similar intensity and X and O ability.